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.

December 30, 1967

The Hockey News December 30, 1967

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02786/3296543-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="266" height="431"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Marsh</figcaption></div>DETROIT, Mich. &mdash;Bruce MacGregor felt like he was on a treadmill.Back to the Kid Line,&rdquo; the redheaded Red Wing said after general manager Sid Abel assigned him to a line with rookies Gary Marsh and Gary Jarrett.&ldquo;I told Sid it took me seven years to get off the Kid Line and now I&rsquo;m back on It,&rdquo; he grinned.&ldquo;When I first came up I was on a line with Alex Faulkner and Larry Jeffrey and we were the kids.&rdquo;MacGregor I first came up I was on a line with Alex Faulkner and Larry Jeffrey and we were the Kids.&rdquo;MacGregor started the season with the HUM Line, Paul Henderson on left wing and Norm Ullman in the middle. But the Hummers weren&rsquo;t making pretty music, Abel was pretty fed up and he broke up the line during a game with Montreal.Neither Ullman nor Henderson had been skating, scoring or digging the way Abel figured they should. MacGregor was skating and digging but couldn&rsquo;t score.So, applying the old formula for slumping lines, Abel shook thoroughly and distributed the members over three different units and he reaped immediate results.Henderson got in on an Alex Delvecchio goal with the first line, Ullman scored three goals and MacGregor and the Kid Line broke up a wild-scoring game with the Canadiens.MacGregor&rsquo;s &ldquo;Kid Line&rdquo; mates accounted for three goals, Jarrett scoring twice and Marsh, playing only his third NHL game, scored his first goal.And MacGregor played with a nose broken the previous night in Montreal and he played without so much as a band-aid.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03642/3296536-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="1148" height="791"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRUCE MacGREGOR&hellip; Back With Kids&rsquo;</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I think it was (Jacques) Laperriere who hit me in the corner,&rdquo; MacGregor said. &ldquo;My head hit the glass and my nose must&rsquo;ve hit one of the support stanchons.&rdquo;MacGregor went off for brief repairs and was back in the game.However, surgery was required to fix the nose &mdash; &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t breathe through it.&rdquo;Abel wanted to delay the surgery because of three impending game against East Division rivals but MacGregor&rsquo;s breathing problem settled that fast and went into the hospital.MacGregor&rsquo;s nose, Ted Hampson&rsquo;s sore shoulder and groin and Henderson&rsquo;s scoring drout had Abel puzzling over his lines going into the holidays. He called up Jimmy Peters and Doug Roberts from Fort Worth to help out during the emergency.&ldquo;We may move Henderson back to right wing to see if that will get him going,&rdquo; Abel said. &ldquo;But we probably wouldn&rsquo;t do that until after Christmas. &ldquo;Henderson, a natural right hander, has been playing left wing most of the last two seasons and playing it at a 20-plus goals per season pace.He scored 21 in only 46 games last season, being sidelined first by a breathing malady and then a badly pulled groin.With that sort of production in only 46 games, the Wings were thinking in terms of 30 or more goals for Henderson this season. He scored nine in the first 21 games and then went eight games with only one goal.While Henderson was having his difficulties, rookies Jarrett and Marsh were steaming on the third line. Jarrett, who previously played both right wing and left wing in the minors, was switched to center because of Hampson&rsquo;s injury.Marsh, called up from Fort Worth, so the brass could take a look at him under NHL conditions, was on the left side and was very impressive and aggressive.There&rsquo;d been some talk that Jarrett shied away from checking but he disproved that in a weekend series with the Canadiens and added two goals besides.&ldquo;He can skate and he sure can shoot a puck", Abel said of Jarrett.Marsh is the fifth youngster the Wings have looked at in Abel&rsquo;s &ldquo;Wing of the Week&rdquo; campaign. He said he was going to watch the team&rsquo;s five top farmhands for several games each and then decide which one or two would spend the rest of the season with the Wings.Marsh, 21, was the last of the five and, because of Hampson&rsquo;s injury, was the only one who got full ice time. The other candidates are Doug Roberts, Jimmy Peters, Rick McCann and Ron Anderson.Expansion hockey critics foresaw football-scoring, type games for the NHL but they figured those kind of scores would come when new division rivals met or one of the old boys clobbered the inexperienced young new boys.No one figured it would happen in a game of the season took place at Olympia and the Wings beat the Canadiens, 8-6.Norm Ullman and Jean B&eacute;liveau each scored three goals, Gary Jarrett and Henri Richard each scored two. Eleven of the 14 goals were scored by centers making it a big night for the pivotmen.And going into the game Montreal&rsquo;s Gump Worsley ranked No. 1 among the NHL goalies, the only man with a sub-2.00 goals against average. The Wings&rsquo;Roy Edwards ranked second. Both yielded six goals and the Habs&rsquo; Rogatien Vachon was touched for two.And when was the last time anyone scored eight goals against the Canadiens? No one knew. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

MacGregor Sparks New Unit Before Suffering Nose Break

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03499/3296212-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg"></div>OAKLAND, Calif.-Larry Popein, 37-year-old former New York Ranger, who has toiled the last seven years for the Vancouver Canucks, is getting another crack at the National Hockey League.Popein, a quick skater despite his advancing years, was purchased from the Rangers last week, and made his first appearance in a Seal uniform against the tough Eastern Division leading Boston Bruins.He played well. He got a goal and added some badly needed zip to the Seal offense, zip that produced a surprise 4-1 victory over the Bruins.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04332/3296205-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="258" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Popein</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Larry is a skater,&rdquo; says Seal aide Gord Fashoway. &ldquo;He gives us something that we&rsquo;ve needed, speed up the middle.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s in as good a shape as he was last season (when Seal coach Bert Olmstead was at Vancouver), but he&rsquo;ll get there,&rdquo; says Fashoway.&rdquo; And that&rsquo;s good to know. He gave us a good game and we know he&rsquo;ll get better.&rdquo;As for Popein, he was pleased with his first try for the Seals, but noted with a puff that he was a little tired.&ldquo;I felt pretty good at the start,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;But I really got tired in the third period. I&rsquo;ll feel a lot better too, once I get into the swing of things here.&rdquo;In the following a game, a 1-0 loss to the period Minnesota North Stars, Popein again was pretty good and Olmstead allowed that he had been pretty consistant in both games.Larry is a fine addition to the Seals and he certainly will help the offense. He isn&rsquo;t a goal-scorer, his record shows that and Olmstead knows it, but he&rsquo;s a good team man who gives it everything he&rsquo;s got.Popein once centered for Dean Prentice and Andy Bathgate when the three played in New York, but that&rsquo;s been a few years ago. Prentice is in Detroit, and Bathgate is in Pittsburgh. &#9632;

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Popein Gets 2nd Try At NHL With Oakland

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01836/3296650-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02749/3296643-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="1247" height="2319"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRANK ST. MARSEILLE &hellip; Goal Sinks Seals</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NHL Summaries

<div class="byline">BY NORMAN MacLEAN</div>NEW YORK. N.Y.&mdash;&ldquo;As Phil Goyette Goes, so goes the Rangers,&rdquo; says Emile Francis the Blueshirts dandy little General ManagerCoach.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01813/3295977-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="266" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Nevin</figcaption></div>The rabid denizens of Ranger-ville who have seen the New Yorkers flounder at times during a surprising first half of the season have learned that the key to Rangers fortunes is the health of the 34-year old Phillipe Goyette, a five foot eleven inch 170 pound center from Lachine, Quebec via the Montreal Canadiens.When Goyette was racked up by Detroit RedWing rearguard Gary Bergman late in the second period of the December 6 New York-Detroit game, he was unable to play in the third period. The Blues promptly dissipated an early lead and wound up with a 3-3 tie. Goyette, who was suffering with a badly swollen thigh and leg was also unable to play against Boston on December 7 and Detroit on December 9. Both games were lost causes as far the Rangers were concerned.With Philipe back at his accustomed center ice spot between the old smoothies, Donnie Marshall on the left and Captain Bob Nevin on the right, New York won the December 10th meeting with Montreal by a 3-2 count. Goyette proved to be one of the best players on the ice. He scored one goal on a neat pass from Nevin and in the late stages was a constant thorn in the side of his former Canadien mates as they tried in vain to get the equalizer.On December 13, the Broad-wayites were bombed 5-2 in Chicago by the Stan Mikita led Windy City dwellers. Mikita scored twice, once while flat on his stomach, but Goyette chipped in with two assists, his fourteenth and fifteenth of the season to go along with eleven goals, in at least keeping the score respectable.Francis, in a post game analysis said, &ldquo;Alright I grant that Mikita should be the First Team All Star center, but Goyette should rate strong consideration for the second team berth. Last season he was overlooked because he started slowly and did not really get too many goals, finishing with only twelve. This season he has both the goals and the assists&mdash;and is the man that holds our Number One line together.&rdquo;Both of Goyettes&rsquo; passes were converted by Bob Nevin, who thus joined Phil as the top Ranger goal maker with eleven. Nevvy had a twenty nine goal season two years ago and is aiming for more of same after a somewhat poorer 196G-67 campaign when a bad knee slowed him.Evidence that Goyette was a big part of the Nevin success story unfolded during January of 1906. Phil was speared by Boston bad man Ted Green and spent a month on the sidelines. During this entire period, Nevvy failed to score even one goal.Nevin says, &ldquo;There is no doubt that Goyette is one of the finest centers in the NHL today. He always passes the puck to you and he is thinking ahead of the play most of the time. Phil and Donnie (Marshall) seem to know where I will be without even having to look for me.&rdquo;Goyette was obtained by New York from the Montreal Canadiens in the summer of 1963 along with Marshall and Goaltender Jacques Plante in the fabulous trade which also sent Lorne &ldquo;Gump&rdquo; Worsley from the Rangers to the Canucks. He did not really welcome the transfer, as home, family and sideline businesses all were located in Montreal, but nevertheless his first season in Gotham marked his biggest ever in the NHL. He slammed home 24 goals and added 41 assists for 65 points in 67 games.&ldquo;During part of that season, I played with Andy Bathgate before he was traded and later with Camille Henry and Rob Gilbert. Late in the season, Nevin joined us in the Bathgate trade and eventually Bob and Donnie and I got together. Marshall and Ihadplayed together with Canadiens, but we never had played on the same line there. Donnie was almost exclusively a penalty killer, while I played with Andre Pronovost and Claude Provost. Blake, who had Jean Beliveau, Ralph Backstrom and Henri Richard ahead of me at center used for defensive checking in the main,&rdquo; recalls Phil.The chain smoking, scholarly appearing Ranger leader is off to the finest start of his career-and now feels that the trade to New York was his big break. It enabled him to play regularly and to prove that he is an offensive center of note. Also, Goyette did have the satisfaction of playing on five Stanley Cup winners with Montreal and thus really has not missed out on much in the way of hockey team titles. On a personal basis, however, he is bereft of any trophies&mdash;and like most veteran players will tell vou that winning is more important than gaining a spot on the All Star squad.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02750/3295970-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="616" height="589"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHIL GOYETTE &hellip; Makes The Blues Go.</figcaption></div>Phil is a Lady Bynger who digs in the corners&mdash;and off his first half season play should also be in the running for the Lady Byng Trophy. He is without a doubt the Rangers&rsquo; Most Valuable Player so far, but probably cannot stack up against such as Bobby Hull etc. in the Hart competition.Goyette has three power play goals and three winning goals in his bag already and leads the club in both of these departments. He has played in all but two games and his health, which caused him to miss most of the latter part of the 1964-65 season, has been better than ever in the last five seasons. Phil suffers from bronchitis and believes that antiflu shots that the Rangers take in Fall Training Camp have helped his health in each of the last two seasons.Goyette has one additional value, which does not often show in the box score. He is perhaps the best face off man in the National Hockey League and is constantly dropped into key situations by Francis for just this specialized purpose.Francis griped, &ldquo;We lost the game in Detroit on December 9 because Goyette was not with us. Two of their goals were scored from face off situations&mdash;and Phil probably would have won them for us. He is a master at winning the draw and getting the puck to either a defenseman when in our zone, or to the blue line when on attack.&rdquo;Since the saying &ldquo;As Goyette goes, so goes New York,&rdquo; is basically true it must be stated herein that Rangerville was looking forward to a rebirth of the Blueshirt attack as the key Christmas part of the schedule approached. With the Goyette line in fine form and the Jean Ratelle-Vic Hadfield-Rod Gilbert trio again picking up the tempo, it is to be hoped that Eddie Glacomin in goal will be able to look forward to a little more offensive support. The keys will be the continued fine form and goal scoring of Nevin who has the ability and legs to get 30 goals and be a big man on the first line and the return to goal scoring form of Rod Gilbert who should get 30 goals but right now has an inexplicable 5. If Gilbert and Nevin both go at top speed the one weakness the Rangers have shown so far will be eradicated&mdash;and Ranger fan can hope for a run at the upper spots In the NHL.BLUE CHIPS: Ranger players, wives and officials enjoyed the annual Christmas party at the Garden even more than usual this year as they knew that the Blues Christmas engagement was in Philadelphia this season only 90 miles down the Jersey Turpike and that they could spend the morning with their families &hellip; Camille Henry just might be brought back from Buffalo to bolster attack &hellip; Ron Stewart, the quipster and Vic Hadfield, the practical joker have the Blueshirts&rsquo; dressing room in a perpetual state of uproar these days. Stewart had no inkling of trade winds and on last day with the Blues (St-Louis variety) he practiced with the expansion team and was almost floored when traded later that day &hellip; Eddie Giacomin has proven to be steady and sharp since his return to the nets. The onus of the New York problem is in the goal scoring or lack. A check of the records show the following comparisions from this year to last season after 27 games had been played. Gilbert has 5 goals compared to 16. Hadfield has 10 compared to 5. Nevin had 7 and now has upped it to 11. Marshall has dropped from 14 to 6, while Geoffrion is down from 5 to 3 and Reg Fleming from 9 to 7 &hellip; &#9632;

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Goyette Rates Nod As All Star; “He’s Key Ranaer,” Says ‘Cat’

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0001-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-01195/3297617-1-eng-US/f0001-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">HAPPY NEW YEAR!Ready to greet the New Year with hockey stick in hand is six months old CAL WHITING, son of Montreal photographer Aussie Whiting.</figcaption></div>CHICAGO, ILL.When the hockey experts sat down at the start of the season to do their prognosticating, they quickly singled out the Chicago Black Hawks as the &rsquo;team to beat&rdquo; in the East.Unfortunately, the Hawks picked the first six weeks of the 1967-68 season to play their worst hockey. The club was besieged with contract problems and injuries struck hard at the club.Hawks&rsquo; coach Billy Reay managed to retain his composure through it all &mdash; even to the point where the team was languishing on the very bottom of the NHL, hardley a dignified spot for last year&rsquo;s league pennant winners.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-02167/3297610-1-eng-US/f0001-022.jpg" title="f0001-02" width="284" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body">Billy Reay</figcaption></div>While Reay and the Hawks sweated out the uneasiness, the Chicago coach was philosophical.&rdquo;&ldquo;If we can get all our players on the ice at the same time we will certainly be back in the thick of the race,&rdquo; prophesized Reay. The Chicago coach looked like a true prophet these past few weeks as the Hawks began to make their move. They piled up three wins on home ice and steamrollered past Boston.The Hawks finally rode into first place all alone before the Christmas weekend as the result of extending their current record to 7-1-3 in the last 11 games. Not bad for a team that lost its first seven and had only two wins in the their lead off 14 games.While the Hawks are burning up the Eastern Division, the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings continue their game of tag over first place in the West. The Flyers are on top with three straight wins in which they have allowed their NHL opposition to score only one goal. The Kings are sticking close on their heels with the halfway mark near in the 74-game schedule. &#9632;

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Chicago Flexing Muscles As Halfway Mark Nears Fivers, Kinas Battle In West

Following are the latestplayer movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>BOSTON &mdash; Barry Gibbs, defenseman, returned to Oklahoma City of CPHL. Andre Gill, goalkeeper called up from Hershey of AHL.DETROIT &mdash; Ron Anderson and Jim Peters, forwards recalled from Fort Worth of CPHL.CHICAGO &mdash; Al Lebrun, defenseman, called up from Dallas of CPHL.PHILADELPHIA &mdash; Ian Campbell, forward, recalled from Seattle of WHL.TORONTO &mdash; Darryl Sly, defenseman, called up from p Rochester of AHL.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>BUFFALO &mdash; Roger Lafreniere, defenseman, returned to Omaha of CPHL.HERSHEY &mdash; Bruce Cline, forward, rejoined team from inactive list.ROCHESTER &mdash; Bill Swee-ney, forward, secured from Vancouver of WHL in exchan-ge for player to be named later.PROVIDENCE &mdash; Jimmy Powers, forward, secured from Seattle of WHL on loan for season<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>VANCOUVER &mdash; Billy Mc-Neil, forward, rejoined team from inactive list.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>TULSA &mdash; Jim Keon, forward, dropped from roster.DALLAS &mdash; Jim Graham, defenseman, recalled from Columbus of IHL<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>FORT WAYNE &mdash; Roy Davidson, defenseman. traded to Toledo of IHL, in exchange for Dave Parenteau. forward.TOLEDO &mdash; Bill McLeod, defenseman, loaned to Knoxville of IHL.COLUMBUS &mdash; Gerry Fleury, goaler, loaned to Toledo, of IHL.MUSKEGON &mdash; Willie Terry, defenseman, quit team.PORT HURON &mdash; Pete Shearer, forward, placed on waivers<h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>SALEM &mdash; Stan Cook, defenseman. placed on waiversJERSEY &mdash; Pierre Roy, forward, sent to Johnstown of, EHL.NASHVILLE &mdash; Claude Bernard, forward. secured from Salem of EHL. &#9632;

Movements of Players

<div class="byline">BY BOB HARRIS</div>MONTREAL, (Que.) &mdash;The possibility that the brilliant Bobby Hull will one day surpass even the greatest scoring exploits of the memorable Maurice &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; Richard and the indefatigable Gordie Howe, isn&rsquo;t unreasonable to say the least.Truth of the matter is that if the glittering left winger of the Chicago Black Hawks maintains his current pace of scoring goals, he could conceivably become the NHL&rsquo;s greatest all-time scorer if he chooses to stick with the game rather than retire before his time as he has so often threatened.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03471/3296053-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="611" height="932"><figcaption class="caption-body">GORDIE HOWE &hellip; He&rsquo;s Still No. 1</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01818/3296046-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="608" height="1069"><figcaption class="caption-body">JEAN BELIVEAU &hellip; Slipping as No. 3</figcaption></div>The feeling is that as long as Hull remains healthy, he&rsquo;ll continue to play regularly and enhance his chance of finishing his career with in excess of 700 goals - the target of the present day all-time scorer, Howe.The latest scoring breakdown shows Howe with a leading 664 goals after 22 seasons in the big time. The retired Richard is still No. 2 with 544 but in view of Hull&rsquo;s rapid progress, there is little doubt the great Richard&rsquo;s position is in jeopardy. Hull has already tallied 27 times this year to raise his lifetime mark to 397.There&rsquo;s a fellow named Jean Beliveau in between with a career high of 410 goals, but the once prolific Canadiens&rsquo; captain&rsquo; position is beginning to deteriorate because of injuries. This season he has managed 11 goals to retain his No. 3 position but Hull continues to close the gap too fast for Beliveau&rsquo;s liking.The Chicago Golden Jet has already hurdled Bernard Geoffrion, shunting the Boomer into No. 5 spot. Plagued by ulcers and other injuries, Geoffrion has seen only sparse action in 22 games and has scored but three goals. His total of 391 keeps him solidly in fifth place since the retired Ted Lindsay follows him with 370 in sixth position.But behind the Boomer there is a collection of NHL veterans who are pecking away at the NHL&rsquo;s &ldquo;Big Six&rsquo; and before long, even the Boomer may be treading on thin ice.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04276/3296039-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="373" height="648"></div><h2>EXPANSION SCOREBOARD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02692/3296032-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="476" height="60"></div>The special cartoon drawing of Bobby Hull seen on this page was provided for THE HOCKEY NEWS by Art Brewster of Los Angeles, Calif. &#9632;

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Hawks’ Ace Bobby Hull Making Biggest Strides In All-Time Race

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01871/3296084-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"></div><h2>Rinks Should Separate Players From Spectators</h2>Hockey News Editor:At this time, I would like to offer my opinion on a situation which has existed in NHL rinks for quite some time. This of course, is the situation whereby players and team officials of visiting hockey, clubs become involved with the home-team&rsquo;s fans.At least once every season we see an example of this involvement. The most recent case being the attack by a fan in Los Angeles on Montreal Canadien coach Toe Blake.Your correspondent, Bill Libby, mentioned in a recent HOCKEY NEWS that some sort of protection be provided for visiting teams in the form of protective screens, or plexiglass separating players and fans.This is precisely the same idea that I have been advocating for years. In a first class league like the NHL, it is ridiculous that the players be subjected to not only dangerous debris thrown into their bench, but even physical abuse by some fans. (Eg. the Blake incident)Rink owners have protected fans for years with plexi-glass around the rink. Now let&rsquo;s see them give their players the same protection that they give their fans.DON PARNELL Peterboro. Ontario<h2>Leafs&rsquo; &lsquo;Old Guys&rsquo;Still Team To Beat</h2>This is in reply to a letter in the Nov. 4th issue of the HOCKEY NEWS which was signed by a person who called himself &ldquo;A Maple Leaf Hockey Fan.&rdquo; Judging by the team of defensemen he suggested Punch Imlach should employ, I can only suggest that the &ldquo;Maple Leafs&rdquo; to whom he expresses his undying loyalty must be last year&rsquo;s Victoria Maple leafs.somehow find it hard to believe that Tim Horton, a second team all-star last year, has slowed to almost a complete halt. On the night of Nov. 4th, Horton stickhandled through the entire New York team before beating Ed Giacomin on one of the prettiest goals that have been on televised games in a long time.That same night, Marcel Pronovost, skating like a rookie, scored the winning goal in one of Toronto&rsquo;s most important games so far this season. While this is only one game out of 74, I feel that it is indicative of the type of all-out effort these &ldquo;washed-up has-beens&rdquo; on the Toronto defence supply regularly.I also enjoyed Capt. George Armstrong&rsquo;s &ldquo;pitifuldisplay&rdquo; recently against Detroit and Montreal. In the two games, Army managed a mere seven points.For the past several years, everyone has been predicting the demise of the Leafs because of the large number of older players on the team. However, the Leafs have managed to win four Stanley Cup in six years with these &ldquo;old guvs",EARLE MCCURDY&mdash;, St. John&rsquo;s. Nfld.<h2>Gump Worsley Still Habs&rsquo; &lsquo;Man In The Net&rsquo;</h2>Hockey News Editor:I would like to state that Lorne (Gump) Worsley is neither washed up or on his last legs. The way the critics wrote him up, you would think that he was lucky to be on skates. Let me point out that John Bower is 41 and Terry Sawchuk is 38. They are far from being &ldquo;through".At 38 Gump has a few more good years left. Rog Vachon is good but is still green. When the chips are down Gump comes through. If Bobby Hull rates Gump, the toughest man to beat, he must be right. For my money, Worsley is still Montreal&rsquo;s &ldquo;man in the nets&rdquo;&hellip;TONY GOSI LING Chatham. Ontario. &#9632;

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FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">By Ken McKenzie</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02827/3296136-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="452" height="475"></div>BILL PUTNAM, president of the Philadelphia Flyers., gave us a personally conducted tour of the beautiful new Spectrum and it compares favorably with any of the new arenas in the National Hockey League. We had dinner in the ultramodern Blueline Club prior to the game. This is a private dining and drinking club in the Spectrum for season ticket holders to Flyers games and their friends. It is very well appointed and is proving very popular with Flyer fans. We arrived the day the Blue-line Club received its liquor license&hellip; The Flyers tied St. Louis, 2-2, in a well-played contest which was throughly enjoyed by the 8,000 some odd fans &hellip; Two boyhood chums, Dickie Moore and Larry Zeidel, opposed each other in this game&hellip; Moore, the Comeback Kid, was playing for St. Louis, while Zeidel, the 39-year-old defenseman, was protecting the Philadelphia goal &hellip; Zeidel is the only Jewish player in the National Hockey League&hellip; Moore and Zeidel hail from the same area of Montreal and used to sell newspapers together in that city&hellip; Moore, incidentally, has been playing well since he joined the Flyers and has already scored two goals for the team&hellip; General Manager Bud Poile did a superb job in drafting at the NHL meetings and the Flyers possess more good players on their roster right now than they can dress for any single game. They probably have more depth than any of the expansion teams&hellip; In Poile and Coach Keith Allen, the Flyers boast a potent one-two punch&hellip; Captain Lou Angotti has been a big disappointment to date and the Flyers wish someone would start a fire under him&hellip; The usherettes at the Spectrum are adorned in very mod outfits and they are the best-looking group of gal ushers we&rsquo;ve had the privilege to scrutinize in recent years&hellip; Scotty Bowman, St. Louis coach, is very disenchanted with his club&rsquo;s schedule. He thinks it&rsquo;s the worst of any team in the league&hellip; &ldquo;Ten times this season we oppose a fresh club after we&rsquo;ve played the night before", he informed&hellip; We&rsquo;ve heard schedule grumbling from a couple of NHL coaches this year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03722/3296129-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="273" height="475"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Putnam</figcaption></div>WE READ recently where Stan Mi-kita of the Chicago Black Hawks likes to shoot pool in the nude. That&rsquo;s some past-time&hellip; Eddie Johnston, Boston goalkeeper. has lost considerable weight since last season. The slimmed-down Eddie is playing sounder goal in the Boston nets than previously&hellip; Punch Imlach&rsquo;s ulcer has been acting up already this season. Isn&rsquo;t it a little early in the campaign for this to happen?&hellip; Bill Putnam, Philadelphia prez, is one owner who doesn&rsquo;t want to see two sets of individual trophies, one for the established section and another for the expansion clubs. &ldquo;I think we have an excellent chance of winning the Veziqa Trophy this year due to the brilliant goalkeeping of Ber nie Parent and Doug Favell&rsquo;, stated Putnam&hellip; One of the best hockey play-by-play announcers to make the scene in the United States is Stu Nahan, originally from California but of recent date, Philadelphia &hellip; Stu handles all the Flyer games over radio and does all of the road games except those played in two California cities over television. We guested with him on radio over Station WCAU, a 50.000-watter heard all over most of the States and Canada, and on TV between periods on Station WKBS&hellip; Stu will be working on the CBS-TV network along with Jim Gordon of New York. This pair of U.S.-born and developed sportscasters will handle all of the CBS National Hockey League telecasts this season&hellip; Gene Hart, who does a splendid job as PA announcer at the Flyers&rsquo; games, also looks after radio when Nahan is pre-empted by TV commitments&hellip; Nahan also. broadcasts the Philadelphia Eagles NFL games&hellip; The Flyers have been averaging around 8,000 fans per game to date&hellip; Ed Conrad, Philadelphia correspondent for THE HOCKEY NEWS, is president of the Philadelphia Hockey Writers Association&hellip; Leo Ornest, long-time pal and former West Coast correspondent for this paper, puts out the program for the Flyers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04620/3296122-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="273" height="475"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stu Nahan</figcaption></div>MONTREAL CANADIENS are expected to make a trade shortly&hellip; Keith Allen figures Moore will help St. Louis. &ldquo;Moore&rsquo;s gotta help&rsquo;em. He&rsquo;s always been a winner and he brings a winning attitude", said the Flyer coach&hellip; If certain members of the Maple Leafs fail to improve their play Punch Imlach plans to demote them to the minors&hellip; Pierre Bouchard, 19-year-old son of the former captain of the Montreal Canadiens, the one and only Butch Bouchard, is playing defense for the Junior Canadieus of the OHA Junior League&hellip; Montreal&rsquo;s Bobby Rousseau has discarded, his helmet. He was anxious to do anything that might improve his play or give him a mental lift. He has picked up several points since discarding his helmet&hellip; Bill Chadwick, ex-NHL referee, is working on the Ranger radio broadcasts in New York with Marv Albert&hellip; Bill&rsquo;s son Bill Jr. is 6&rsquo;4", weighs 220 lbs. and is a standout tackle with St. Lawrence University&hellip; Emile Francis was telling us in New York last week that the main trouble with the Rangers is they can&rsquo;t score goals. He also bemoaned the fact that Rod Gilbert hadn&rsquo;t been doing any scoring. That same evening Gilbert score three goals for the Manhattanites to pace the Rangers to a win over St. Louis&hellip; Columbus is starting to be the hockey city predicted by the experts. Crowds are averaging close to the 5,000 mark and interest is mounting all the time&hellip; The International Hockey League is enjoying its finest season in years&hellip; Carl Brewer of Muskegon has done a lot to create fresh interest throughout the loop &hellip; To all the readers of THE HOCKEY NEWS a Most SINCERE HAPPY NEW YEAR!<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05495/3296115-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="275" height="473"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Chadwick</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-02

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY SPENCE CONLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01805/3296174-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="254" height="464"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Baun</figcaption></div>OAKLAND, Calif. &mdash;The Oakland Seals are in the midst of their second major road swing East, a swing that could have a significant Impact on their eventual chances for a playoff position in the Western Division title race. They&rsquo;ve got to do better than they did on the last one, however.The last time the Seals went on a long Eastern swing, they went on a six-game losing streak and eventually went on to a 14-game winless streak which plopped them off the top and Into the cellar-a position from which they&rsquo;ve moved very little since that time.Highlight of the trip was a two-game visit to Montreal, with games also In Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, St. Louis and Detroit.The Seals clipped the Canadiens, 2-1 in their only game so far this season, are 1-1 with Boston, winning 4-1 and losing 2-1 in Beantown. They&rsquo;ve managed a tie in their only game with Chicago, 2-2; are 1-0-1 with the Redwings, and have yet to defeat either the Blues or Pittsburgh.Of the seven games, five are with established teams and unless the picture changes drastically, the Seals won&rsquo;t gain much ground.In 11 games with Eastern clubs before the trip, the Seals had only won two (over Boston and Montreal) while losing seven, and getting ties in two.Seals&rsquo; Capt. Bob Baun, the exToronto defensive standout, admits that he&rsquo;s been surprised by the showing of the new division against It&rsquo;s established foes.-&ldquo;Expansion is much better than I thought it would be,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The new teams are better and that proves that enthusiasm and spirit is accomplishing something &mdash; it certainly makes up for a lack of overall ability and depth.&rdquo;Baun believes however that the new year will prove the turning point and that from that point on, as the older clubs begin to really unify, the new teams will win fewer and fewer games.&ldquo;Those teams should really get going after the first of the year. To me, the teams in our division aren&rsquo;t as tough or aggressive as the older ones. St. Louis has impressed me in that respect, for being as far down as they are. They have been far more aggressive than any of the others, in my opinion. But I don&rsquo;t think they are that good (the Seals lost twice to the Blues, 1-0, 3-1), they don&rsquo;t have many fellows who can move. But they did have something that the other teams didn&rsquo;t have, and that&rsquo;s toughness.Baun doesn&rsquo;t see any teams in the expansion, however, which &ldquo;are the sort to get excited about as a potential winner of the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;But In his own division, Baun likes Los Angeles, Philadelphia (&ldquo;I do and I don&rsquo;t) and Pittsburgh (&ldquo;They play well have good hockey guys&rdquo;).<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02687/3296167-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="1271" height="1695"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hardest working netminder among the 12 NHL teams is Oakland&rsquo;s CHARLIE HODGE, who has played in 28 of Seals&rsquo; first 29 games making him the league&rsquo;s most durable puck stopper.</figcaption></div><h2>Baun Calls LeafsFor Stanley Cup</h2>OAKLAND, Calif. &mdash;Who does Bob Baun like for the Stanley Cup Series in the East? The Maple Leafs, of course.&ldquo;Toronto is the team to beat, from what I&rsquo;ve seen. I can&rsquo;t see anybody else stronger than them anywhere. Center is their strong point and if their defense holds up, especially Stanley and Pronovost.&ldquo;Chicago blows hot and cold and Boston, well, a lot depends on Bobby Orr. They really miss him.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0005-01

Second Eastern Trip Seen As Key To Seals’ Chances For Eventual Playoff Spot

<div class="byline">BY LOU PRATO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01903/3296243-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="290" height="471"><figcaption class="caption-body">Red Sullivan</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH. Pa.&mdash;When Coach Red Sullivan opened preseason training for his Pittsburgh Penguins last September he promised he would have a hard checking, aggressive team.At times, the Penguins have lived up to the promise. But in the last month the promise has been broken so often that the Penguins have seldom resembled the type of club Sullivan had pictured.When the Penguins lose the reason can almost always be traced to inept checking. And when they win it&rsquo;s the bruising body contact which is usually responsible. The main difficulty, it appears, is that the Penguins lack consistency.&ldquo;No doubt about it,&rdquo; Sullivan agrees. &ldquo;Our checking has been inconsistent. I realize you can&rsquo;t check every night, particularly when you play three games in a five day stretch. Checking takes a lot out of you and your body can only take so much punishment.&ldquo;But we have to check more and harder than we have been. When we check hard, we play better.&rdquo;Just why the Penguins have been erratic in the checking department is difficult to comprehend. For one thing, most of the players were known as good checkers with their old teams prior to the expansion draft. Adding a coach with the background and technique of Sullivan should have almost guaranteed a team of enthusiastic body crashers.Even some of the players find the situation inexplicable.&ldquo;It is just one of those things,&rdquo; says Art Stratton, who has suddenly developed into the hottest scorer in the NHL&rsquo;s Western Division, &ldquo;as a whole, our defense and forwards are not knocking the other team around in our own end. We hold our own in the other team&rsquo;s area but not our own. We&rsquo;re just standing around looking instead of going for the body and taking the guy out. As a result, the guy gets a clear shot at our goal and scores.&ldquo;We know the problem and we&rsquo;re constantly working on it. Even when we practice between games we work on the checking. But we can&rsquo;t seem to gain any consistency.&rdquo;When the Penguins are checking hard they are definitely difficult to beat. Toronto and Chicago found that out in mid December.The penguins invaded Toronto for the first time this season on Dec. 13 and the Maple Leafs may have thought they had a soft touch. Pittsburgh went into the game with just one win in five games and all four defeats were by whopping scores. Yet the Penguins, suddenly turned into ice tigers, surprised Toronto 2-1 and followed that win up three days later by holding the Black Hawks to a 1-1 tie before a hometown crowd at the Civic Arena. &#9632;

f0006-01

Sullivan Says Checking Holding Penguins Back

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02727/3296274-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg"></div>OVERALL WON AND LOST RECORDS THIS SEASON BESTWEEN NHL TEAMS(Statistics include Gaines Of Wednesday, December 211) &#9632;

f0006-02

HOW NHL TEAMS COMPARE

<div class="byline">&#x2013; PRATO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01844/3296305-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="251" height="464"><figcaption class="caption-body">Earl Ingarfield</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH. Pa. &mdash;Earl Ingar-field, the Penguins number one draft choice and front line center, has returned to the lineup for the first time in two months but it may be several weeks before he can resemble his old self.Ingarfield was sidelined on Oct. 25 when he fractured his right knee in a collision at mid ice during a game with the Oakland Seals.He played for the first time since that injury in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s 1-1 tie with Chicago Dec. 16. But in spot action it was obvious the 33-year-old centerman had not fully recovered.&ldquo;Earl has a long, long way to go and he knows it,&rdquo; says Coach Red Sullivan. &rsquo;Ht&rsquo;s tough coming back at mid season after an Injury like that. But he&rsquo;s an old pro and he knows what he has to do.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all up to him, now. When he&rsquo;s working out with the club or in a game he has to push harder than he did before. He has to work harder than he did in training camp but I know he will. He&rsquo;s that type of player.&rdquo;Ingarfield&rsquo;s Injury wrecked what had been a productive Penguin front line. Before the Ingarfield injury, wingman Andy Bathgate was scoring goals at a feverish pace. But without Ingarfield as playmaker, Bathgate and the other front line wingman, Captain Ab McDonald, faltered.&ldquo;I think what hurt the most is that he was doing so well when he got hurt,&rdquo; says Sullivan. &ldquo;He was just starting to wheel. We just didn&rsquo;t have anyone who could fill the job.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Bobby Dillabough or Paul Andrea. They have done the best that was possible. But they just couldn&rsquo;t play like Ingarfield did.&rdquo;Ingarfield will probably wear a knee brace throughout the season. &#9632;

f0007-01

Tough Ice Comeback Faces Vet

<div class="byline">BY DAN MOULTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02727/3296336-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chicago left winger DOUG MOHNS is interviewed by HARVEY WITTENBERG on WBBM after a recent game. All Hawk home games are aired by the Chicago station with Wittenberg at the mike.</figcaption></div>CHICAGO, III. -Assistant trainer Don (Sock) Uren has been given two big assists during the Black Hawks&rsquo;surge that has them battling the Bruins for first place in the Eastern division.After he&rsquo;d blanked the Toronto Maple Leafs recently to pull the Hawks into a dead lock with the Bruins, Goalie Denis DeJordy credited (Sock) with helping him solve a skate problem, which Denis feels, prevented him from playing up to his full abilities early in the season.And Stan Mikita gave Sock a large measure of the credit for an equipment innovation which allowed Stan to play the night after the right ear was torn in two, horizontally, by a puck fired by linemate Doug Mohns that bounced off a Pittsburgh player&rsquo;s skate.&ldquo;For the first several weeks of the season I was having trouble staying on my skates, particularly when I&rsquo;d move out to try to block and angle or get a rebound,&rdquo; said DeJordy. &ldquo;Finally, (Sock) and I got together for about an hour and went over everything about my skates. We discovered a couple of problems, corrected them, and everything has been fine ever since.&ldquo;I can move around now with a lot more confidence andit&rsquo;s helped my play tremendously.&rdquo;A little conference with Coach Billy Reay also helped, Denis confessed.&ldquo;A month or so ago, just before we were to play against the Canadiens in Montreal, Billy told me I&rsquo;d been wandering too much,&rdquo; said Dejordy. &ldquo;He suggested that I just stay in the net and make them try to beat me.&ldquo;I started to follow the advice and found that I was able to handle most of the shots much more easily. But I think the work Sock and I did on my skates was the most important thing.&rdquo;Uren entered the Mikita case when it was feared that Stan would have to miss the game with Toronto because there was no way to protect the injured ear with the headgear available.Seventeen stitches had been required to repair the torn ear, which was swollen twice its normal size and there wasn&rsquo;t room under the earflap of the standard helmet.&ldquo;I was seeing a few stars and seeing some bells when we got home from Pittsburgh but I fugured I&rsquo;d feel fine by game time,&rdquo; said Stan. &ldquo;The only problem was protecting that ear.&ldquo;Finally, I came up with this idea,&rdquo; he said holding up a regular helmet, the right ear flap of which had been replaced with a metal cup which normally affords another type of protection for hockey players.&ldquo;I got the idea but I didn&rsquo;t figure out how to attach the thing to the helmet,&rdquo; said Stan, with a laugh. &ldquo;Then Socko started to figure and finally he rushed out to find the Stadium engineer, Harvey McNally.&ldquo;It was getting pretty close to game time and Harvey had only 15 minutes to work but he did a tremendous job.&rdquo;Stan, who had been scratched from the starting lineup, was able to join his surprised teammates for the final five minutes of the pre-game skate, then go on to turn in a solid performance during the game, in which he picked up his 18th assist by getting the puck to Mohns for a shot on an empty goal in the last minute of play.The whole thing came as a surprise to me,&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;I had already counted Stan out of the game and was hoping that he&rsquo;d be ready for the next one.&ldquo;You have to give him, Sock, and McNally all the credit. It was a great piece of work by all three.&rdquo;It also served to point out why Mikita is one of the great players ever to perform in the NHL. Nothing stands in the way of his getting on the ice, it is at all possible.HAWK TALK - Just when it began to look as though the Hawks &rsquo; physical problems were behind then, Gilles Marotte came up with a knee Injury during the game in Pittsburgh.Al Lebrun was called up from the Dallas Hawks of the Central League as an emergency replacement, but rookie Tom Reid worked in Marotte &rsquo;s place with Pat Stapleton and turned in a solid performance in his first full-time stint in the NHL.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t too surprised,&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;Tom has done well each time we&rsquo;ve called on him.&rdquo;Bobby Hull is playing despite a painful shoulder injury which has taken some of the zip out of his shooting &hellip; Pat Stapleton&rsquo;s play has returned to the level of brilliance that made him one of the toughest rearguards in the league last year &hellip; Pit Martin still has regained top form after injuring his ankle in November, although he has been turning in sound performances as center for Bobby Hull and Chico Maki. &ldquo;He still can&rsquo;t stop on his right leg,&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;Pit has to keep moving and make the big circle while forechecking. &#9632;

f0007-02

Hawks’ Trainer ‘Sock’ Uren Helps Put Dejordy, Mikita Back On Ice

<div class="byline">BY GEOFFREY FISHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01891/3296374-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="610" height="1449"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM ROBERTS&hellip; Becoming A Leader</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02793/3296367-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="1257" height="1783"><figcaption class="caption-body">You would have to go a long way to find a more rugged brother combination than the Picards of St. Louis. Hard-hitting NOEL, left, is the Blues&rsquo; &lsquo;policeman&rsquo; and few NHL forwards take liberties with the heavy checking defenseman. Roger, a forward is currently down in the CPHL with Kansas City but he, too, is a solid body checker.</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS, MO.&mdash;To the Sid Salomons, Lynn Patrick and Scotty Bowman: A merry Christmas and a hope that Santa will put some goals in your socks and take the holes out of your sticks.It&rsquo;s not all bad, fellas. The Blues have proven that they can stop the best of &rsquo;em. You&rsquo;ve gotta defense that acts like a combination of Perry Mason and Clarence Darrow. That goaltanding duet of Hall and Martin may handle more rubber than Goodyear but ten will get you 20 that if they had been around they could have stopped the Johnstown Flood with a pair of pads and a stick.Item: In a five-game stretch between Ded. 9 and Dec. 16 Glenn Hall was beaten just five times for a per-game count of 1.00 goals against. In those five games he made 129 saves.There&rsquo;s that Al Arbour sticking that face of his with the eyeglasses on right in the path of those bazooka shots headed in and you can be happy that you&rsquo;ve got A1 out there.Traditionally this is the season of peace on earth, goodwill towards men but it&rsquo;s been observed that these Blues, many of whom have a reputation for roughouse tactics, have been overplaying that good will Mt.Item: In six meetings with the Philadelphia Flyers, the Blues lave lost five and tied one to gain a single point out of a possible 12. In those six games the Blues were as tame as pussy cats, except for Noel Picard. Your muscleman rang up a most innocent total of 26 minutes. As for Picard, he was charged with 39 minutes, mainly due to that post-game disagreement with that gentleman known as Larry (The Rock) Zeidel.Now, it&rsquo;s all well and good that Philadelphia is known as &ldquo;The City of Brotherly Love&rdquo; but don&rsquo;t you think the Blues have carried that consideration a bit too far?Nevertheless as the old year rolls away and 1968 looms ahead you fellas have some cause for optimism.Item: With a third of the season gone, the Blues defensively were ahead of the record of the Chicago Black Hawks who won the NHL championship last season. The Black Hawks had 170 goals scored against them last year. The Blues are operating at a goal-against rate that would total only 155 for the 74-game season.Now, that would seem to leave to management the matter of how to match the Black Hawks last season&rsquo;s goal scoring mark of 264 or 3.7 per game without kidnapping Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Kenny Wharram. The Blues have been scoring at a rate of less than 2.00 goals per game.If the old veteran Dickie Moore can keep his patellas from collapsing he should be able to anchor a forward line that can fill a net with rubber saucers.Item: Dickie Moore in a wheel chair can outscore or set up a linemate better than most players in the expansion league. Dickie needs legs on his line and Scotty needs a cutie around the net. You gave him the legs. Gordon (Red) Berenson has the makings of a superstar. He is one of the strongest forwards on an attacking situation that this league will see. If you need a sworn statement to this we can give you the name of a certain muscular veteran of the Flyers defense who is willing to testify. He broke two sticks on Berenson one recent night just by trying to keep the Redhead from setting up in front of the net.You have the makings of one of the top candidates for Most Valuable Player in the expansion division in Jimmy Roberts but he&rsquo;s a digger that will help anywhere.Item: What about bringing Wayne Rivers back from the Kansas City farm club and allowing him to ride shotgun on the right wing with mates Moore and Berenson. Rivers can find the net and with Moore and Berenson setting him up you might have the nuclear warhead you&rsquo;ve been seeking.The new year should hold great promise for the Blues. They have proven they can beat the best (Boston, Toronto and Detroit) and they have proven they can come storming from behind like a cavalry charge at San Juan Hill.Item: The scene at Madison Square Gardens Sunday night, Dec. 17 with the Blues down 3-0 and fighting back to a 3-3 deadlock before eventually sputtering out. So keep your chins up, fellas. The new year could be your year. &#9632;

f0008-01

Spare Offense Puts Strain On Club Defense

<div class="byline">BY TOM MONAHAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01867/3296412-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="280" height="468"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Johnston</figcaption></div>BOSTON, Mass.&mdash;Bobby Orr Is unique among athletes. He dislikes attention.Two weeks ago the Bruins&rsquo; outstanding sophomore defenseman suffered a cracked collar-bone in a collision with Toronto&rsquo;s Frank Mahovllch that the doctor figures would keep him out of the lineup for three weeks. The Bruins promptly lost three games in a row &mdash; their longest losing streak of the season.Two of the defeats were at home to Los Angeles, 3-1 and Montreal, 6-2, and the rabid galleryites started a new chant &ldquo;We&rsquo;re Number Four without Bobby Orr".Since the B&rsquo;s had lost only five games previously with Orr In the lineup, It did seem obvious that Orr&rsquo;s absence was an Important factor in all three games.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02775/3296405-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="1282" height="1473"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Boston Bruins without BOBBY ORR are not the same rollicking crew that blistered the NHL at the out set of the year. Orr himself scoffs at stories he&rsquo;s sorely missed-claiming Bruins operate as a team-hut fact is the B&rsquo;s aren&rsquo;t winning without their injured ace.</figcaption></div>But Orr cringes at any mention of the fact that he is the most important of all the Bruins.&ldquo;That is ridiculous,&rdquo; says the 19-year-old native of Parry Sound, Ont. &ldquo;No one man is that Important in hockey. I hope I can contribute something to the team but this is a team game and one man doesn&rsquo;t make all the difference.&rdquo;This isn&rsquo;t the first time Orr has taken umbrage at being singled out as someone special.A year ago as a rookie in training camp he refused to pose alone for photographers.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t done anything,&rdquo; he told them. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll get into a picture with someone else on the team but not alone.&rdquo;Earlier this season when the Bruins Instituted a policy of Informing fans of a player&rsquo;s Injury and Orr was the first player who had to leave a game, he was disturbed at the public address announcement because the felt he was being singled out for special consideration.Although the fans may be going somewhat overboard in claiming the Bruins are a fourth place club without their young defensemen there are many around the National Hockey League who agree that the Bruins do miss Orr greatly.&ldquo;Of course they have to miss Bobby,&rdquo; says Chicago Coach Billy Reay. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great hockey player and take a great hockey player out of any lineup of any team and he will be missed.&ldquo;Orr has got to be worth three goals a game to Bruins not from both an offensive and defensive viewpoint. He is a good scorer and he sets up scores and the way he blocks shots is uncanny.&rdquo;Orr also pooh-poohs this ability in stopping opponents shots as any special ability.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just lucky, that&rsquo;s all", he says. &ldquo;I just happen to be in the way sometimes when the other team Is shooting.&rdquo;General Manager Milt Schmidt disagrees with Orr on this point.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know whether it has something to do with his vision or what,&rdquo; says Schmidt. &ldquo;But anyone who stops the number of shots Bobby does isn&rsquo;t doing it by chance.&ldquo;He has great reflexes and he seems to sense when a player is going to shoot and he moves quickly to cover for the goalie.&rdquo;And there is no doubt that Schmidt and everyone else connected with the Bruins will breath easier when Orr does return to the lineup.It is refreshing, however, to know a 19-year-old athlete who is on his way to becoming one of the all-time greats in his profession yet regards himself as just another guy on skates.Coach Harry Sinden reorganized his lines to snap the Bruins put of their slump last Saturday night with a 5-2 victory over the Kings at Long Beach &hellip; He moved Tommy Williams back to left wing with Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge and switched Eddie Westfall to right wing with Eddie Shack and Derek Sanderson &hellip; Williams opened the season with Esposito and Hodge and the trio worked well together, even though Williams normally is a right wing &hellip; Eddie Johnston had just returned to the nets after sitting out two games when he broke a bone in his finger and was sidelined, Andre Gill of Hershey was called in to act as standby &hellip; The B&rsquo;s play Oakland at the Garden Christmas night and Chicago at home Dec. 27 &hellip; They are on the road again for six straight games. &#9632;

f0009-01

Bruins Feeling Loss Of Starry Bobby Orr

<div class="byline">BY GLENN REDMANN</div>TWIN CITIES, Minn. &mdash;Twelve months ago, Wayne Connelly was part of Boston&rsquo;s annual line-shuffling plummet to the cellar of the six-team National Hockey League.Today, the hard-skating 27-year-old Minnesota right winger is nearing the completion of his second month on the North Stars&rsquo; most productive line &mdash; and he couldn&rsquo;t be happier if someone walked up to hand him a crisp, shiny thousand-dollar bill.&ldquo;You have no idea what it means to be put on a line and left there,&rdquo; said Connelly recently after contributing two goals to the Minnesotans&rsquo; 4-0 victory over Los Angeles&rsquo; surprising Kings.&ldquo;I think Wren Blair (the Stars&rsquo; general manager-coach) deserves a lot of credit for leaving Andre Boudrias, Dave Balon and myself together.&ldquo;There was a streak of about eight games or so not too long ago when we didn&rsquo;t win a single game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d have to say that Wren might&rsquo;ve been justified to do some shuffling around during that bad streak, but he didn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;When you take a bunch of guys who&rsquo;ve never played together before and put them on the same team, I think it&rsquo;s pretty important that they learn what each other&rsquo;s moves are.&ldquo;Apparently, Wren felt that the only way we could accomplish that is by sticking with us just as long as he was satisfied that we were putting out for him.&ldquo;They way things have turned out (only one loss in their last seven games at this writing), we&rsquo;d like to think his sticking with us has paid off.&rdquo;Connelly, who after scoring 36 and 45 goals for San Francisco in the 1964-65 and 1965-66 seasons only to drop off to 13 last year with Boston, wanted to make it clear that he wasn&rsquo;t putting the rap on Bruins&rsquo; coach Harry Sinden for what Wayne considered a subpar campaign a year ago.&ldquo;Harry had to make changes,&rdquo; offered the 5-foot-10, 170-pound native of Rouyn, Que. &ldquo;He had no choice once the club started going bad &mdash; anyone else in his place probably would&rsquo;ve done the same thing.&rdquo;When Connelly was picked by Minnesota in the fifth round of the historic expansion draft last June, he was neither surprised to be left unprotected or disappointed.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01881/3296443-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="587" height="1268"><figcaption class="caption-body">WAYNE CONNELLY &hellip; Scoring Key Goals</figcaption></div>At the time of his signing in August, Wayne said, &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t that I didn&rsquo;t like playing in Boston, but let&rsquo;s face it, now I&rsquo;ve got the opportunity to make a fresh start with a new club.&ldquo;And it means having a chance to shoot for a championship and spot in the playoffs &mdash; something that was very nearly impossible the years I was in the Boston organization.&rdquo;Once again, Connelly wasn&rsquo;t trying to knock the Bruins. He simply stated that Boston just couldn&rsquo;t compete with Toronto, Montreal or Chicago &mdash; so that left the Bruins with just one chance for a playoff spot &mdash; and Wayne didn&rsquo;t recall where the Beantowners beat out either Detroit or New York a single time since the 1961-62 season, his first in Boston.Connelly&rsquo;s two-goal night against the Kings &mdash; he scored his team&rsquo;s first goal at 1:09 of the first period and also the last with only 1:15 left in the contest &mdash; was his second of the season.The first came in St. Louis, but oddly enough, neither were considered to be as satisfying to him as was a 75-footer that slipped past Chicago backup goalie Dave Dryden on Dec. 3 to give the Stars a 4-3 win on the Hawks&rsquo;ice.Despite the fact that center Boudrias and left winger Balon are frequently used to kill penalties &mdash; the two former Montreal chattels rarely have allowed the opposition a power play goal &mdash; Wayne&rsquo;s line leads the team with 25 goals.This isn&rsquo;t mentioned to discredit Blair&rsquo;s other two lines, one comprised of center Bill Masterton and wingers Ted Taylor and Bill Goldsworthy, and the other of center Ray Cullen and wingers Parker MacDonald and Bill Collins.Matters of fact, Connelly is quick to point out that the recent surge of the second and third lines &ldquo;has made our job a lot easier.&rdquo; MacDonald for instance scored four goals in a five-game stretch recently and the No. 3 unit had 11 in that seven-game streak when the Stars&rsquo; only loss, a 3-2 setback to Pittsburgh at home was followed by a 7-4 victory the next night on the Penguins&rsquo; ice.That streak, incidentally, seems to have quieted one rumor which had Blair the general manager firing Blair the coach in favor of John Muckier, GM&mdash;coach at Memphis.&ldquo;I doubt if that was ever very close to coming off,&rdquo; said a member of the North Stars front office. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t look upon Wren as the type who&rsquo;d desert a ship regardless how fast it was sinking. If this club&rsquo;s is to have some success in its first season, I&rsquo;m sure the one place Wren would want to be around playoff time is right behind the bench.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-01

Steady Work Pays Dividends For Stars’ Wayne Connelly As Blair Sticks With Ace

<div class="byline">&#x2014; REDMANN.</div>TWIN CITIES, Minn. -The turnstiles clicked merrily in the only three December home games played prior to Christmas by the Minnesota North Stars &mdash; but the difference between crowds for games against established East Division competition and that of the new West Division visitors was widening.Following the club&rsquo;s 13th home date at spanking new Metropolitan Sports Center on Dec. 13, home attendance was 146,274 an average of 11,252 per opening. This is rouchly 78 per cent of capacity.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02748/3296474-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="262" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body">Waiter Bush</figcaption></div>A breakdown of the eight games against West Division clubs revealed that 76,304 turned out for an average of 9,538. This total might easily have been higher had the Dec. 13 game against the L.A. Kings not been televised.Without the boob tube, this game might easily have drawn 12,000 customers. But with it, only 7,917 showed up for the Stars&rsquo; 4-0 victory. It was the second smallest crowd of the season here.As for the five games against East Division teams &mdash; two each against Chicago and Toronto and one against Montreal &mdash; the total was a bountiful 69,970 which is just a shade under 14,000 per tilt. Three of those contests &mdash; the two against the Hawks and a Saturday night tilt against the Maple Leafs &mdash; were sellouts. The Leaf game drew a season high of 15,128.Nobody, but nobody is disappointed with attendance figures here so far. President Walter Bush believes that 400,000 for a season total is not out of reach. Our guess would be more like 375,000. &#9632;

f0010-02

North Stars’ Proxy Aims For 400,000 Attendance

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01868/3296505-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

NHL SCORING RACE

<div class="byline">BY GIL SMITH</div>MONTREAL, QUE. &ndash;There aren&rsquo;t too many of us left who believe in Santa Claus, but a lot still feel that New Year is a time for resolutions and fresh starts.At any rate let&rsquo;s hope the Montreal Canadiens feel that way, as they put the memory of 1967 firmly out of mind and look bravely to better days ahead.They&rsquo;ll need a lot of things, including luck, if they&rsquo;re to fashion success out of a season that&rsquo;s been a near disaster at time; yet, they can still do it if they start to play with the confidence, authority and dedication that a team with their roster should be capable of.So, Happy New Year and best wishes to &rsquo;them all, including some specific ones to the following:Jean Beliveau: Good health, good luck and good playmaking, without which the team would be in a lot more trouble than they are. Nothing is tougher than being an ice-leader, but big men have big responsibilities.Henri Richard: May you continue to dazzle them with your skating, but may you also convince yourself that anyone who can average 22 goals a year for 12 years has a shot to be proud of.Ralph Backstrom: If they all worked like you, half the problems would be over. But, work takes energy; so does worry. May your energies be saved for work.Robert Rousseau: May the Power of Positive Thinking life you to the heights. The talent you already have.Yvan Cournoyer: The need is great. May you still have time for another 25-goal year.Gilles Tremblay: The hope is you&rsquo;ll stay injury-free&hellip; and come to realize that going after rebounds is the difference between 15 and possibly 30 goals a season.Dick Duff: At your best you can skate, shoot, score and check. Here&rsquo;s hoping that 1968 finds you at your best.Claude Larose: As there are 37 games in the second half, let&rsquo;s hope you play them all.Claude Provost: Spirit doesn&rsquo;t know the meaning of age. You&rsquo;re getting younger all the time.Mickey Redmond, Jacques Lemaire, Danny Grant: In some ways, at least, you&rsquo;ve become nearly as well-known as the original &ldquo;Kid Line&rdquo; from Toronto. You&rsquo;re not likely to achieve their proficiency on ice, but keep up the refreshing hustle.John Ferguson: Keep punching. The goals will come and the opposition will remain convinced that honesty is the best policy.Jacques Laperriere: May you avoid second-half let downs, and so continue to be Canadiens&rsquo; best defenseman.J.C. Tremblay: Borrow Rousseau&rsquo;s book on &rsquo;&rsquo;The Power of Positive Thinking.&rdquo;Ted Harris: May you hit your stride, &mdash; and the opposition. &mdash; in the second half.Terry Harper: Don&rsquo;t despair. They booed Butch Bouchard too, you know.Serge Savard, Carol Vadnais: Think of the future.Gump Worsley: They may bench you once in a while, but think of the net profit since joining Canadiens.Rogatien Vachon: At 22, time is on your side. So, Good Luck as you look ahead.<h2>NHL Player Of The Week &mdash; IN THE EAST</h2>Among the members of the Canadiens who have been castigated for their lack of scoring this season is one Robert Rousseau.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01852/3296581-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="275" height="394"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Rousseau</figcaption></div>The fast-skating Montreal right winger pumped 19 goals last season past NHL netminders and 30 the year before. This season Rousseau had only six in his first 30 starts and the wolves were beginning to howl.But the explosive Canadiens&rsquo; star decided on a psychological move that he thought might change his luck. He discarded his protective helmet. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll try anything to start scoring again,&rdquo; Rousseau was quoted as saying.It didn&rsquo;t take long for Rousseau to break out and while he only shot two goals in his last three games, he did manage to rack up an additional six assists for an eight-point performance.THE HOCKEY NEWS is pleased to salute the NHL&rsquo;s player of-the-week in the East:Bobby Rousseau&hellip;Montreal<h2>NHL Player Of The Week &mdash; IN THE WEST</h2>Bernie Parent of the Philadelphia Flyers was a late starter this season because of contract difficulties but the club&rsquo;s top netminding expansion pick is fast regaining the form that first attracted the Flyers&rsquo; attention in the summer draft.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03581/3296574-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="310" height="410"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bernie Parent</figcaption></div>Parent and his goaling partner, Doug Favell, have combined to register three shutouts this season for the Flyers to lead the rest of the NHL goaltenders with the best goals-against average.Parent collected his initial shutout last week as the Flyers cooled off the hot Minnesota North Stars and their sensational goaling, Cesare Maniago, by lambasting the Stars 6-0. It was Parent&rsquo;s first &rsquo;zero&rsquo; of the year and helped club officials regain some of the confidence they placed in the former Bruin puck-stopper at the outset of the year.THE HOCKEY NEWS is pleased to salute the NHL&rsquo;s player-of-the-week in the West:Bernie Parent&hellip;PhillyThe editors of HOCKEY NEWS wish to announce that, because of the Christmas holiday, publication date had to be advanced not allowing us to include weekend games of Dec. 23-25 in this issue. They will be carried complete in the next issue. &#9632;

f0012-01

Fresh Start Seen Target Of Canadiens

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02739/3296612-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0012-02

LOOKING AT NHL RACE

MONTREAL, Que.&mdash;The so-called advantage of home ice will be working for the Montreal Canadiens in the first month of 1968.They play seven of 11 slated contests in the Montreal Forum, commencing with a home date against Toronto on January 3rd.Of their four away-games, three are within the space of a week, from the 7th to 11th inclusive. The other is at Boston on the 25th.Actually, home ice hasn&rsquo;t proved too much of an advantage for Canadiens so far, this season. Of 13 games in the Forum, to date, they&rsquo;ve won five, lost three and tied five. That&rsquo;s 15 out of a possible 26 points. Their road record is much worse, however. In their first 17 games away this season, Habs won five, lost ten and tied two for 10 points out of a possible 34.Jean Beliveau was the best goal-getter at home during the above-noted games. He had six goals. Yvan Cournoyer was next with five, followed by Jacques Lemaire with four. On the road Ralph Backstrom was the leader with eight goals, followed by Beliveau, Cournoyer, Lemaire and Gilles Tremblay with five each. &#9632;

Big Home Ice Edge For Habs In January

<div class="byline">&#x2014; By Bill Libby</div><h2>Seals To Vancouver?</h2>THE MORE vehemently NHL and Oakland officials deny that the Seals are going to be moved from Oakland, possibly at mid-season, possibly to San Diego or Seattle, possibly even back to San Francisco but probably to Vancouver, the more convinced we are they are on their way. Methinks they protest too much. Such things always are denied, anyway, even while the bags are being packed. We could be wrong, of course. We have been before. Once that I can think of, off-hand. But if we&rsquo;re wrong this time, what was Barry Van Gerbig doing in Vancouver last week? Looking for snow? While pledging any NHL financial support that may be needed. Clarence Campbell made a strange statement: &ldquo;Internally, the nature of the Seals organization makes it difficult to raise funds quickly.&rdquo; There&rsquo;s a comment calculated to foster faith in the franchise.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01838/3296719-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="276" height="484"><figcaption class="caption-body">Barry Van Gerbig</figcaption></div>The Seals couldn&rsquo;t land a radio contract, which : was a tipoff to area disinterest, and which makes it easier to move. No strings. In L. A., both of Jack Kent Cooke&rsquo;s teams, the basketball Lakers and hockey Kings, are carried on the same radio station. When there&rsquo;s a conflict, the Lakers go on live, while the Kings follow on delayed tape. Hockey fans are howling, but the sponsors figure the established Lakers lure a larger audience, &rsquo; many of whom will linger with the Kings &hellip; The broadcasting team of Ken &ldquo;Jiggs&rdquo; McDonald, a budding star, and knowledgable veteran color-man Ed Fitkin is improving rapidly, incidentally; getting more objective, more relaxed.Because of his Lebanese ancestry, Philly spare John Hanna is called &ldquo;The Camel Driver&rdquo; by his mates &hellip; Half of the coaches in the Western Division are red-haired &hellip; A couple of L.A. hockey fans, Howard and Linda Leight, eat little more than lettuce, nuts and goat&rsquo;s milk&hellip; It&rsquo;s amazing how much information you can get from this column &hellip; The L.A. team wound up its six-game schedule in Long Beach, where they have red and yellow goal lights instead of red and green and place the face-off circles in a different place every game &hellip; A traffic accident draws more fans than a hockey game in Long Beach. And there&rsquo;s more noise and fun at a funeral. Which is what hockey games in Long Beach are like. Rich Roberts, a great hockey writer, is wasted here. The real reason the Queen Mary was brought to Long Beach was to evacuate the desperate residents.<h2>L.A. Crowds To Leap</h2>WITH THE opening of his Forum, Cooke expects hockey attendance to leap from an average of 7,000 per game to 10,000 per game. It is a fantastic building &hellip; Fans can&rsquo;t smoke in the seats in the Spectrum in Philly, only in the corridors. They&rsquo;d lose us. We puff constantly. Without it, we begin to shake.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02724/3296712-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="279" height="478"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marcel Pelletier</figcaption></div>Philadelphia certainly has changed Marcel Pelletier. He lives quietly in the suburbs in New Jersey with his family, he swears. And he travels with a priest, Father Noel Wall. Philadelphia owner Bill Putnam is an imaginative gent who has put the padre on the road with his flyers including Pelletier, now an executive with a brief case. Few need The Father&rsquo;s services more than Marcel, who has so much to confess we envy him. Incidentally, Marcel Jr. scored six goals in a kids&rsquo; game recently. That&rsquo;s more goals than goalie Marcel scored in his entire career, much as he wandered away from the nets. Jerry Sawchuk, Terry&rsquo;s boy, is another offspring doing well in kids&rsquo; games, only he, like his dad, kicks out goals and scores shutouts. I wonder if he talks to reporters?Manager Bud Poile and coach Keith Allen have done a remarkable job with the Flyers &hellip; We&rsquo;ve seldom seen a happier dressing room than Philly&rsquo;s after they beat L. A. recently. The Flyers were banging on a piano and threatening to throw owner Putnam, fully clothed, into the shower. Then they returned home and let down, losing to Chicago before a crowd of more than 14,000 fans. Big league hockey suddenly has caught on in a big way in the City of Brotherly Love &hellip; Despite their slow start, the Hawks will repeat as NHL pennant-winners this season. And this time, they&rsquo;ll win the Stanley Cup playoffs, too. I think Philly will win the expansion division flag. Maybe with less than a 500 percentage. After a third of the season, only L.A. and Philly were above 500 in the Western Division, while only Montreal was below it in the Eastern circuit. Remember, you read it here first.<h2>Kings Bounce For Red</h2>ASK RED KELLY a direct question and you get an indirect answer. The rookie L.A. coach talks like a politician, which, of course, he was. He&rsquo;d as soon knock mom or country as he would one of his hockey players. Which is all right, even if it&rsquo;s hard on writers. He does seem to be doing an excellent job. Red&rsquo;s wife, says she can&rsquo;t imagine what Red says Andra. Apparently, she has as much trouble with him as we do.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m dying to sneak into the Kings&rsquo; dressing room between periods,&rdquo; she admits. &ldquo;He never uses profanity. He never says a cross word to the kids. He never loses his temper with me or anyone. So I don&rsquo;t know how he gets the message across to the boys, but he does it. No one could figure out how he could coach because he never raises his voice above a whisper, but I always knew he&rsquo;d make a fine coach. He loves the boys on his team and they quickly come to love him.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03566/3296705-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="251" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jacques Plante</figcaption></div>Andra is wrong on only two counts. He does use profanity. With him, the word &ldquo;hang&rdquo; is profanity. He says things like: &ldquo;So and so is a hang of player. He made a hang of a play in that second period. And he took a hang of a check to do it, too.&rdquo; We in L.A. now have a new standard for rating Red&rsquo;s remarks. A three-hang comment is outstanding, two hangs good, one hang fair and no hangs poor. Also, Red does lose his temper with someone. Me &hellip; If he or anyone wants to write me, the address is 4534 Pinafore St., L.A., Calif. 90000. But no profanity, please. Just praise &hellip; Elmer Ferguson, the veteran Montreal writer, said it: &ldquo;Jacques Plante now admits he&rsquo;s wrong when he said it would take ten years for the expansion clubs to achieve equality with the established clubs. I said it would take three years. I can&rsquo;t wait ten years. I don&rsquo;t expect to be around that long and I want to see it.&rdquo;As long as the NHL is changing things around, they should revise the playoff format in each division. The first place team should play the fourth place team and the second place team the third-place in the opening round. The pennant winner has earned the right to open with a softer touch. They should not be penalized for having done better. And there should be no reason for anyone to suspect a team would rather finish fourth than third, thus drawing an easier opening foe &hellip; Maybe hockey should have two referees, one handling the action from each end, the way it&rsquo;s done in basketball. There&rsquo;s too much going on, especialy away from the puck, for one man to see it all. And there are too many infractions sneaked in subtly when the ref isn&rsquo;t watching. However, maybe not. Maybe we&rsquo;d get too many penalties and the game would become a parade of power-plays and penalty-killers. Heaven forbid that hockey turn into anything like basketball. &#9632;

f0014-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES. Calif. -The third of four brand new indoor arenas opening this winter was to take its place in the National Hockey League on the next to last day of the year as The Forum, Southern California, not Montreal variety, was set to debut on U.S. national television over the CBS network.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04410/3296750-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="276" height="471"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jack Cooke</figcaption></div>The opening was fit into the schedule on Saturday afternoon so it could get wide video coverage as the first attraction, the Los Angeles Kings hosting the Philadelphia Flyers, on the new series of Saturday or Sunday afternoon NHL contests. An afternoon date with network TV was considered preferable to a night date without.It is fitting that the opener be on TV because it was the lure of TV money that hastened NHL expansion, and it is the success of the video series that will determine the wisdom of the NHL doubling its size to include coast-to-coast geographical representation in the U.S.Prior to the opening of the $18,000,000 Forum, the $6,000,000 Metropolitan Sports Center opened in Bloomington, Minnesota, between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the $12,000,000 Spectrum opened in Philadelphia, providing plush playgrounds for the Minnesota North Stars and Philadelphia Flyers. Following the opening, possibly a month from now, New York&rsquo;s new Madison Square Garden Center, an estimated $25,000,000 portion of a vast complex atop Penn Station in midtown Manhattan, will open its doors.With expansion, the NHL also gained fairly new and highly attractive buildings in Pittsburgh, the Civic Center, and Oakland, the County Arena. With attendance low in Oakland, it is rumored that the NHL will permit the franchise to be shifted into Vancouver, where a new building also is about to open, though that remains conjecture as this is written.Hockey is primarily responsible for the costly construction that has taken place, though other attractions are prominently featured at most of the new buildings. The Los Angeles Lakers, the best draw in the National Basketball Association, will share The Forum in Southern California, along with all the special attractions that can be lured away from the seven-year-old and still beautiful L.A-Sports Arena, whose future now looks black.For example, no sooner do the Kings and Lakers move into their new home than they will be away the greater part of two weeks while &ldquo;Holiday on Ice&rdquo; fills the place. Later, The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus will move in for two weeks. Jack Kent Cooke&rsquo;s staff also has booked everything from pop-music concerts to indoor auto-racing.Cooke launched plans for The Forum while he was bidding for the NHL franchise and could not come to terms with the Sports Arena management. Many doubted the ambitious and powerful sportsman&rsquo;s ability to pull off his most - exciting promotion, but now it is a reality, and a rousing one at that.The Forum is located in suburban Inglewood, on L.A.&rsquo;s Western border, enjacent to the Hollywood Park horse-racing facility. The Building is circular, ringed with 80 Roman columns. Inside, the seating area is built steep, so seems intimate. There are no obstructions. Fans in the farthest pews feel close to the action. Dining and drinking facilities are exceptional. Dancing will be done when the Kings win.Frankly, it is the most beautiful indoor sports palace this writer ever has seen. Cooke should be and clearly is enormously proud of it.His hockey team, having had to play 11 games in the Sports Arena and six games in the neigh-boring Long Beach Arena while waiting for the Forum to be finished, will be happy to move into its own building at last, though it will take the Kings awhile to adjust to new surroundings.The Kings, punchless and playing poorly of late, have done well overall, however, as gypsies, having established themselves as expansion tenders. They averaged around 7,000 fans per game in their temporary quarters, which is disappointing, but expect to do much better in their permanent home.The Forum will hold more than 19,000 persons for conventions, more than 18,000 for boxing or wrestling, more than 17,000 for basketball, and more than 15,000 for hockey. The specific seating capacity for hockey has been set at 15,655. How often the Kings fill it remains to be seen.If opening attendance is not up to expectations, it probably will be because tickets are not yet available, even as this is written. Cooke&rsquo;s organization is not yet organized, which is costing him considerable customers and much money.Our long-range guess is that if the team continues to do well, hockey tickets will be hard to get in L.A. within three years. And in this sport, once a winner finds fans, they will support even losers, as has been proven in New York and Boston in previous seasons. &#9632;

f0014-04

CBS Set To Televise Opening Of Forum As Kings Face Flyers

<div class="byline">By Bob Liadley</div><h2>EYES ON NHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01815/3296809-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="594" height="978"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK McCANN</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02720/3296802-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="316" height="494"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM PETERS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03587/3296795-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="569" height="906"><figcaption class="caption-body">RON ANDERSON</figcaption></div>FORT WORTH, Tex &mdash;She was a sweet little old lady &mdash; probably somebody&rsquo;s grandmother &mdash; but when the enemy player skated past her on his way to the penalty box she reached over the protective plexiglass and dumped a cup of crushed ice on his head.This otherwise gentle soul, avenging a wrong she felt had been committed against one of her team&rsquo;s players, epitomizes the enthusiasm of fans here for the Fort Worth Wings, the city&rsquo;s newest team and its representative in the Central Hockey League.They are not just THE Wings, they are OUR Wings, and if they came into this north Texas city filled with anxiety over whether their new sport would be accepted in a strange town, it was dispelled immediately by the warm reception they were given.&ldquo;In other parts of the country you hear a lot about Texas hospitality,&rdquo; said Wings coach Fern Flaman, &ldquo;and most of the time you put it down as exaggerated malarkey. But the people of Fort Worth have really lived up to that reputation. They&rsquo;ve been absolutely wonderful to us.&rdquo;The team, in return, responded with a winning performance that included eight straight victories at the outset of the season, including six before the home folks.Is it any wonder then that in a few short weeks the young skaters with their &ldquo;Yankee sport&rdquo; have captured the hearts of so many fans?Then, too, the adulation of the fans might be a mean of saying &ldquo;thanks&rdquo; to the team for finally giving the city a winner at which to point with civic pride.The local college football team has enjoyed little success in the past few years, the local minor league pro football team staggered to a 3-11 record in its maiden season, and the Dallas-Fort Worth entry in the Texas League (baseball) finished in the basement the past two years.OUR Wings, on the other hand, have been in first place in the Southern Division of the CHL for the first five weeks of the season, and although the campaign is still in its infant stages there&rsquo;s already murmur about unseating the Oklahoma City Blazers as CHL champs.When the Wings opened shop here in mid-October there were 4,600 fans in attendance.Some were former hockey fans who had been forced into hibernation when the Fort Worth Rangers of the old U.S. Hockey League disbanded 17 years ago.But most were motivated by curiosity about the game that wore the reputation of the &ldquo;fastest on earth. &ldquo;The Wings, naturally, were anxious to please. And they did. They shut out the Houston A polios 3-0 to launch themselves on the eight-game win streak which included three consecutive with-washes.Since then the fans have been pouring through the Will Rogers Coliseum turnstiles at the rate of better than 4,000 per home engagement, despite competing with &ldquo;king football.&rdquo;Flaman has been delighted with the enthusiastic following his club has won, but Just as impressive to him has been the relationship of team and community off the ice.&ldquo;The people have been wonderful,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;inviting us to various civic and private functions, giving us carte blanche at some of the country clubs, and practically handing us the keys to the city.&rdquo;Flaman has been kept busy as a luncheon and breakfast speaker, has been called upon to introduce members of the team to organizations in the city, and even offered two 45-minute lectures at a local junior college which was filmed for instructional use.&ldquo;Everywhere I go people want to talk hockey,&rdquo; Flaman said. &ldquo;And my phone is always ringing with calls from fans who want to know about my players&rsquo; marital status, about future games, about rules, and, yes, even to tell me how to run the club.&ldquo;But that&rsquo;s okay, too, because it shows they &rsquo;re Interested,"he said.That Interest probably reached a peak when the Wings met the Oklahoma City Blazers early in November in a clash of unbeatens. The 6,800-seat Coliseum was crammed to the hilt and 600 had to be turned away at the gate.Following the Wings&rsquo; 3-1 victory, fans formed a human corridor through which the players filed toward the dressing room to thunderous applause.Let&rsquo;s call it hockey fever. It&rsquo;s contagious, it&rsquo;s spreading, and it&rsquo;s threatening to become an epidemic.Hopefully, there is no cure for it.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-05338/3296788-1-eng-US/f0015-052.jpg" title="f0015-05" width="589" height="1124"><figcaption class="caption-body">FERN FLAMAN &hellip; Wings&rsquo; Straw Boss</figcaption></div>The editors of HOCKEY NEWS wish to announce that, because of the Christmas holiday, publication date had to be advanced not allowing us to include weekend games of Dec. 23-25 in this issue. They will be carried complete in the next issue<h2>CPHL Point Race</h2>LEADING SCORERSIncluding Games of Sun. Dec. 12<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04456/3296781-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="633" height="663"></div> &#9632;

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New Fort Worth Wings Win Hearts Of Fans

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-06281/3296840-1-eng-US/f0015-062.jpg" title="f0015-06" width="959" height="972"></div> &#9632;

f0015-06

NED SINGER’S HOCKEY SUPPLY CO.

<div class="byline">BY CHARLEY BARTON</div>BUFFALO, N.Y. &mdash;The long-awaited arrival of another first-rate center in the person of Joe Szura was expected to make championship material of the Buffalo Bisons.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02557/3296885-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="589" height="1035"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOE SZURA&hellip; Lands Back In AHL</figcaption></div>Szura, the American Hockey League&rsquo;s first-team all-star center two years ago, was loaned to the Bisons by the Oakland Seals after the New York Rangers sold Larry Popein to Oakland.The Rangers made Szura available to the Bisons by selling Popein, who was in his eighth season with Vancouver In the Western League. The Bisons are the Rangers&rsquo; No. 1 minor league affiliate, and the Bisons also have a secondary working agreement with Oakland.Szura, who was 29 Dec. 18 and spent his birthday driving cross-country from Oakland to Buffalo, was drafted by Oakland from the Montreal Canadiens after spending five seasons with Cleveland In the AHL. His goal production with the Barons reads 15-2329-46-27 and his assists are 2944-30-30-42.The Bisons&rsquo; need for Szura was emplasized by alive-game winless streak after another center, Billy Knibbs, was hurt. Knibbs suffered a tear fracture in his left ankle in a 4-3 win over Quebec, and the Bisons lost three and tied two before shading the Aces by a 4-3 score again.Knibbs was still on the sidelines, but was keeping in shape riding the training-room bicycle and was expected back on skates early In January.&ldquo;You have to be strong down the middle in this game,&rdquo; said Fred Shero, the Buffalo coach.&rdquo; Szura gives us the extra strength that every top club needs.&ldquo;When Knibbs gets back, and with Gerry Ouellette and Larry Wilson going well, and Dennis Hextall doing a real good job, we&rsquo;ll be tough up center. We should start moving up towards the top.&rdquo;The Bisons returned defenseman Roger Lafreniere to Omaha of the Central League in exchange for Sheldon Kannegeisser, and the youngster made an Impressive debut In Buffalo. A defenseman, Kannegeisser played several shifts on the forward line and scored a spectacular goal with a blinding turn of speed cutting in off the wing.ALONG THE BOARDS-Two popular Buffalo sportsmen and business executives, Don Altman and Ray Well, are cochairmen of a group planning a &ldquo;night&rdquo; for Frank Christie, the Bisons&rsquo; trainer. Christie, in his 21st season with the Herd, will be honored Jan. 28, when the Bisons&rsquo; oppose the San Diego Gulls &hellip; First reports that the Bisons&rsquo; Bob Ash had suffered a shoulder separation proved erroneous when It was learned the young defenseman was only bruised by a hard check.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04343/3296878-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="597" height="877"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRANK CHRISTIE &hellip; Night In His Honor</figcaption></div><h2>How They Stand</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07182/3296871-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="684" height="1720"></div> &#9632;

f0016-02

NHL Seals Loan Szura To Herd

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06201/3296916-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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AHL Summaries

<div class="byline">BY SHEL FULLERTON</div>CLEVELAND, Ohio - It&rsquo;s elementary, Dr. Watson. Take away a lot of. veterans, put them on National Hockey League expansion rosters and openings are created for a flock of newcomers on American Hockey League clubs.When the end of the season rolls around, it is going to be one whale of a job to single out one AHL rookie and to say to him, &ldquo;You are the best of a big lot.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03446/3296954-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="256" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wilf Martin</figcaption></div>Of course, it&rsquo;s far too early yet to be stewing and fretting over who will be the eventual recipient of the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Trophy, which goes annually to the league&rsquo;s outstanding newcomer.It&rsquo;s not too early, though, to point out that the battle for the coveted award should be the best since Its first was passed out at the end of the 1947-48 season to Cleveland&rsquo;s Bob Solinger.In Cleveland this season, there are no less than five serious candidates to follow in the footsteps of Solinger, Wally Hergesheimer in 1950-51, Bo Elik In 1956-57 and Les Binkley In 1961-62.The still unbelieveable Cleveland Barons are getting top rookie performances from Jim Paterson. Norm Ferguson. Wlif Martin, Doug Piper and Gary DesJardins. All five definitely are in the running for this year&rsquo;s rookie award.They are not the only candidates, of course. Almost every AHL team has one or more new-comers who also are making their marks. What makes the Cleveland quintet so outstanding Is that their performances boosted their club into, the league lead from the outset of the campaign and have been keeping It there ever since.As of December 16, Paterson had tallied 12 goals and 23 assists for 35 points and a spot near the league leaders in scoring. Ferguson&rsquo;s 13 goals led the Barons and his 15 assists gave him a total of 28 points, second high on the club. Martin was 8-7-15, not bad for a boy Stepping up from an International League club.Piper has been a defensive standout from the start and, while it is more difficult for a defenseman to win the award than a forward, he has to be considered to be in the running.Desjardins, in goal, leads the AHL in shutouts and in goals against average.Adding to their luster, Ferguson is one of two American Leaguers to tally more than one hat trick and Paterson, on December 18, joined the three-goals-in-one-game crowd when he rifled a trio of tallies past Rochester&rsquo;s Bob Perreault in a single period.The season still has a long way to go but don&rsquo;t bet that these five youngsters will not continue to figure in rookie award talk.<h2>EXPANSION SCOREBOARD:</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05250/3296947-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="908" height="198"></div> &#9632;

f0016-03

Barons Boast Five Youngsters For AHL’s Garrett Rookie Award

<div class="byline">BY JOHN TRAVERS</div>HERSHEY, Pa. &mdash;Veteran winger Bruce Cline came out of retirement to the complete surprise of coach Frank Mathers and the sharpshooting forward will get &ldquo;a real good chance&rdquo; to make the Hershey Bears club.The 35-year-old Cline, who after better than a dozen years in the American League decided to hang up the blades last fall, quit a coaching job with an amateur team in Drummondville, Que.&ldquo;I just didn&rsquo;t see eye-to-eye with club officials on certain matters,&rdquo; said Cline. &ldquo;The club is going to Europe for a tour and I made my decision to step out before the trip. It was a tough decision to make. &ldquo;Cline, the seventh leading goal scorer in AHL history, notched 28 last season in aiding the Bears to the Eastern Division title.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t been scoring too well on the right side,&rdquo; said Mathers. &ldquo;Maybe Bruce can help. We&rsquo;ll give him a good chance to make the team.&rdquo;Cline will practice for some ten days before getting a whirl against AHL opponents.&ldquo;I feel good,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My weight is about the same. I never did have any problem with weight. If I can help the team I&rsquo;ll be happy. I think Hershey has a good club with some fine young players.&rdquo;The Bears, who hit a slump through the early part of December, rebounded with a roar, rapping Buffalo, 5-2, Dec. 16 and then hanging a 7-1 defeat on the Rochester Americans the next night.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a question of one or two guys letting down during the slump,&rdquo; said Mathers, &ldquo;but rather eight or nine.&rdquo;Mathers figures with a long home stand ahead and with four games in hand on the Eastern pacesetting Springfield Kings as Christmas neared, his Bears will get rolling again to challenge the Bay State outfit for the title.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02484/3296985-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="531" height="658"><figcaption class="caption-body">BY VIN CIMINI &hellip;By passes European Trip</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-02

Veteran Bruce Cline Quits Retirement To Rejoin Bears

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01547/3297016-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0017-01

AHL Scoring Records

<div class="byline">BY VIN CIMINI</div>PROVIDENCE, R.I.&mdash;&ldquo;Jumbo&rdquo; Jim Powers is a name new to American Hockey League play but fast becoming recognized as a by word for danger about the circuit.The 31-year-old Powers came to the Providence Reds on loan from the WHL&rsquo;s Seattle Totems, his home for six and a half years where he had scored 183 goals and had played on the same line with the great Guyle Fielder, the Western Hockey League&rsquo;s top scorer on nine different occasions.It was obvious from the first time he stepped on to AHL ice that he still had the savvy and the &ldquo;touch&rdquo; which had made him one of the Pacific coast&rsquo;s top snipers over the past decade.That first contest on Eastern ice as a member of the Reds took place in Baltimore, on the same day he had arrived from Seattle. Jim wasted little time in celebrating his American League debut as he scored an unassisted goal against the Clippers&rsquo; Joe Daley. And what&rsquo;s more it was his first AHL shot.Expectations as to the added punch Powers would inject into the Reds&rsquo; offense had been high and by the time he had completed his first game on the Reds&rsquo; home ice surface, his name beamed in the conversations of everyone who had witnessed the Reds&rsquo; 8-3 romp over the Eastern Division leading Springfield Kings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03401/3297047-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="570" height="549"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM POWERS &hellip; An Instant Success</figcaption></div>Before the game Powers&rsquo; presence posed a problem to coach Dave Creighton.&ldquo;We had been pretty successful with our first two lines but our third line just couldn&rsquo;t get untracked,&rdquo; stated Creighton after the game. &ldquo;I had been meaning to try out an idea that Buster (Buster Clegg) and I had been thinking about give it a whirl.&rdquo;The idea was to move Reds&rsquo; team captain Jim Mikol off his natural right wing post and move him to the opposite flank, a position from where he had scored 88 goals as a member of the Cleveland Barons at the beginning of his professional career.This would mean that young Bob Leduc, who had been having his early season troubles on left wing, would be displaced by Mikol&rsquo;s new assignment. But Bobby, who once scored 55 goals as a pivotman with Sudbury in the Juniors and who broke in with the Reds as a centerman, was moved into the center slot by Dave.Powers would be used at his normal right wing position.It&rsquo;s rather early to make any predictions but if that new line&rsquo;s performance on that night and in the games that followed had any significance at all the Reds&rsquo; would seem most certainly to have built themselves one &ldquo;honey&rdquo; of a line.In the first four games Powers&rsquo; played on that new line he had socred four goals (one game winner) and Leduc was simply brilliant. Together the line had amassed 17 points and the once unproductive third line had become the Reds&rsquo; most potent contingent.It would seem highly improbable that one man&rsquo;s coming could greatly enhance the fortunes of a whole team but Powers&rsquo; arrival seems to have done just that. &#9632;

f0017-03

Reds Search For Player Help Turns Up Hot-Scoring Powers

<div class="byline">BY JOHN WHITE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01553/3297099-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="307" height="527"><figcaption class="caption-body">Billy McNeill</figcaption></div>VANCOUVER, B.C. &mdash;It wouldn&rsquo;t be entirely fair to fault the writers and br ao dc asters of the Western Hockey League who early last November shrugged off the Vancouver Canucks as a last place club.The Canuks, after all, skated off the ice in Springfield on November 5 with a record of exactly one victory, plus two ties, in 12 games.This record certainly didn&rsquo;t portend any battle for a championship.But the trouble with early-season forecasting is that you can be looking at the wrong players &mdash; players who &rsquo;ll be long gone by Christmas.And this was one of the stories of Vancouver&rsquo;s surge back into conteJtion &mdash; with a 10-7-0 record in the Canuks&rsquo; next 17 games after the low point of the season on that November 5 night in Springfield.The Vancouver roster at the start of the season did not Include goalie Tony Esposito &hellip; strong defenseman Bob Lemieux &hellip;fiery winger Ron Boehm &hellip; winger Terry Clancy &hellip;Then came the next shocker &mdash; Billy McNeill was coming out of retirement to join the Canucks.And there was a hot, if entirely unconfirmed rumor, that Len Lunde might be swinging West, too.Suddenly, it was a brand new season. The Canucks could come on to take their first regular-season title (for the entire WHL) since 1960.&ldquo;The big turning point", says new Canuck coach Jim Gregory &ldquo;was when we got Esposito from Cleveland. With Esposito in goal, we won 10, lost 8 and tied 1 of his first 19 games".Esposito, a tall rookie who played college hockey at Michigan Tech, headed into Christmas week with a 2.57 goals-against average &mdash; quite a reversal from the 5.10 mark posted by Jean-Guy Morrissette in Vancouver&rsquo;s first 10 games.Even Esposito&rsquo;s 2.57 record was misleading, in a sense. In his first four games, while adjusting a bit, he allowed 16 goals. In his next 15 games, he allowed just 33 goals for a torrid average during this stretch of 2.20.Torrid seems a fair word when you consider that the lowest goals-against mark in Western League history for a full season was the 2.40 posted by Lorne (Gump) Worsley for Vancouver back in &rsquo;54.After a mid-season game in Portland, you could count Coach Hal Laycoe of the Buckaroos among the believers.In the first period of that clash, the Buckaroos outshot Vancouver 18-7. Yet the score at the end of the period was 1-0 for the Canucks.&ldquo;I have never seen a better half-game than Esposito played against us", said the Buckaroo skipper. &ldquo;He was brilliant".The key to a real second-half explosion by Vancouver could be the &ldquo;unretiring&rsquo;&rsquo;center &mdash; McNeill.In both the 1964-65 and 1965-66 seasons, McNeill was voted the Western Hockey League&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player.In &rsquo;66, he scored 102 points on 40 goals and 62 assists. A season earlier, his record was 88 points on 29 goals and 59 assists.McNeill had five solid shots with the Detroit Red Wings&mdash;and a bit of a sixth one the last time up &mdash; and never quite fulfilled what seemed tremendous potential in the National Hockey League.But he always has been a Western League riot.His career record in the WHL, in fact, is a staggering total of 420 points in only 260 games.It was no secret that McNeill and former Canuck Coach Bert Olmstead, now with the California Seals, were not&mdash;to put it mildly &mdash; the closest of friends.And McNeill &ldquo;retired&rdquo; after six games last season in which he already had scored eight points.McNeill, although a professional since the fall of 1955, is no greybeard.He&rsquo;ll be just 32 years old next January 26, and should be good for at least five solid seasons.The key to his success could be his attitude.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03340/3297092-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="575" height="1092"><figcaption class="caption-body">RON BOEHM &hellip; Point-A-Game Pace</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04261/3297085-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="586" height="1078"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB LEMIEUX&hellip; Shored Up Defense</figcaption></div>The editors of HOCKEY NEWS wish to announce that, because of the Christmas holiday, publication date had to be advanced not allowing us to include weekend games of Dec. 23-25 in this issue. They will be carried complete in the next issue.&ldquo;Well", shrugged Coach Gregory. &ldquo;He came to us. We didn&rsquo;t come to him. He said he wanted to play".There was no problem documenting the help given the Canucks in their surge back into contention by winger Boehm and defenseman Lemieux, sent to Vancouver from the California Seals.Boehm collected four goals and five assists in his first 10 games, and one of his goals was a game-winner.Lemieux, besides steadying a Canuck defense that tends to wander in search of people to knock down, collected 11 points in his first 12 games with Vancouver.And he scored the game-winning goals in two victories over his ex-teammates, the Seattle Totems.Boehm and Lemieux, of course, ran 1-2 in voting for Western League Rookie of the Year honors last season.As predicted in an earlier story in The HOCKEY NEWS, veterans Phil Maloney and Bruce Carmichael snapped out of mild early scoring slumps to pace the Vancouver attack.Carmichael, soon to rank among the top ten Western League goal scorers of all time, sniped just one in his first 11 games, then collected 13 in his next 17 games.Maloney scored points in only four of his first 11 games. Then he collected points in 15 of his next 18 clashes.The Canucks continued to be a tough team, too, with Tracy Pratt and Larry Mavety running 1-2 right straight through Christmas in penalty minutes in the Western League - and rugged Larry McNabb standing by with those big, active fists whenever help might be needed by any Canuck.In fact, as Christmas approached, the Canucks were having just one major problem.They were forgetting what time the games were supposed to start.After 27 games, Vancouver had skated off the ice with a first-period lead only three times.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what it is",sighed a perplexed Coach Gregory. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why they wait to get started".But that night in Portland, the Canucks got the first-period jump on the Buckaroos on that brilliant goaltending of Esposito and went on to win 4-1.&ldquo;Well", smiled Gregory when 19was over, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s four times with a first-period lead, : eh?&rdquo;He appeared to be looking forward to considerably more punctuality in the future.<h2>How They Stand</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02450/3297078-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="334" height="608"></div>The editors of HOCKEY NEWS wish to announce that, because of the Christmas holiday, publication date had to be advanced not allowing us to include weekend games of Dec. 23-25 in this issue. They will be carried complete in the next issue. &#9632;

f0018-01

Rejuvenated Canucks Bounce Out Of Doldrums

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK SANTANIELLO</div>SPRINGFIELD. Mass.&mdash;Despite their ups and downs so far this season, the Springfield Kings likely will ring in the New Year either in first place in the Eastern Division, or quite close to the top A far cry from last season, when the club was in constant bickering and in fourth spot.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01534/3297130-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="257" height="452"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Mosdell</figcaption></div>Recent addition to the team was giant defenseman Wayne Mosdell. He came to the Kings from the Memphis club of the Central Pro League. For a while last season, Wayne played here under owner Eddie Shore. Later on, he was sent out for further experience by Shore.In fact, owner Shore took a great liking to the 6-4 defenseman, who might not be the greatest player in the league. But the youngster hustles, skates hard, works diligently, is not afraid to lean on opponents. He is a definite help to the local group of defensemen.The Toledo club of the International League refused to part with defenseman Al Willis, since they, too, were short handed in that spot. The addition of Mosdell, son of former Montreal Canadien star Ken Mosdell, was major improvement. Wayne&rsquo;s dad also began his pro hockey career under Shore.The Kings face a busy time. Saturday, Dec. 30, Bill Sweeney, former local star, returns here with the Rochester Americans Ina big home game. Sunday, Dec. 31 the Kings journey to Quebec City for a game with the Aces, then another game Tuesday, January 2. Saturday, Jan. 6, Baltimore comes in for a big test.The team hopes regular back stop Jacques Caron remains with the Kings. He was used as fill in goalie by the Kings since Terry Sawchuck was hurt. Bob Perani, the Muskegon amateur, came here when Caron was called away. He will work behind George Wood.Dennis Rathwell has been a big help to the Kings the last few weeks. He gained a starting job on the Western trip and is becoming an important man in the team&rsquo;s attack. He hands out plaity of hard checks along the boards while doing his job.The Kings have been getting good, general all around play from Doug Robinson, fourth leading scorer in the league; center Howie Menard, Gerry Foley, Jim Anderson and Yves Locas. Randy Miller has also been very sharp with this season. These boys are the heart of the Springfield attack.Brent Hughes, Poul Popeil, Larry Johnston and Jim Murray have been steady, but over worked on defense. Bill Smith and Roger Cote helped out on defense when Hughes was called to LA and Johnston missed some time with a broken thumb. &#9632;

f0019-01

Kings Flirting With First Place, Get Solid Ice Play From Mosdell

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02456/3297161-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0019-02

WHL Summaries

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div>ROCHESTER, N.Y.&mdash;The Rochester Americans have the American Hockey League&rsquo;s fourth all time point producer, the third leading playmaker of all time and the 11th best goal scorer in history. Who is it?Dick Gamble you say? Uh, uh. Good try, though. Gamble is fifth in points and third in goals.-Would you believe Bill Sweeney? That&rsquo;s right, the Bill Sweeney of Springfield fame.The Amerks picked up more than three wins in five tries on their tour of the Western Hockey League early in December, they picked up Sweeney, too. Rochester boss Joe Crozier made the deal (at this writing, an undetermined player for Sweeney) while the Amerks were in Vancouver to play the Canucks.Sweeney had been under suspension by the Canucks for a couple of weeks, Crozier heard he was available and promptly made a pitch for him.There&rsquo;s no doubt that if Bill Sweeney wants to play hockey more than anything else, he can play hockey better than almost anybody else.He turned pro with Providence in 1957-58 and won American League rookie of the year honors while scoring 31 goals and assisting on 46 others and a tie for seventh in the scoring standings. With Buffalo the next year (the New York Rangers shifted their working agreement), Bill had 31 goals and 44 assists for eighth in the point race.Springfield was Sweeney&rsquo;s next stop, and after &ldquo;warming up&rdquo; with 37 goals and 59 assists for 96 points and second in the point list in 1959-60, he won three straight scoring crowns with 40 goals and 68 assists for 108 points in &rsquo;60-61, was 40-61&mdash;101 in 1961-62 and 38-65-103 in &rsquo;62-63.He&rsquo;s the only player in AHL history to win three straight scoring championship and to score 100 points in three different seasons.Bill sagged to 25 goals and 48 assists in &rsquo;63-64, 13 goals and 31 assists in only 51 games during 1964-65, 22 goals and 37 assists in &rsquo;65-66 and had 16-goals and 50 assists for the strife-ridden Indians last season.Trouble in training camp this fall cost Sweeney a chance to make the Los Angeles Kings of the National League&rsquo;s expansion division and to return to Springfield. He was sold to Vancouver for $15,000, but again had difficulty and was suspended by coach Jim Gregory. &#9632;

Americans Hope Deal For Sweeney Pays Off

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04174/3297216-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0020-04

Central Hockey League Game Summaries

<div class="byline">BY MATT DENNIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01379/3297261-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="261" height="478"><figcaption class="caption-body">Len Haley</figcaption></div>TULSA, Okla. &mdash;As the Tulsa Oilers were perched atop the Northern Divion of the Central Professional League after 24 games, they were also the high-scoring club of the entire eight-club I circuit.And at the completion of those 24 games, Len &ldquo;Comet&rdquo; Haley was leading the CPHL point-getting parade showing 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points.Hockey enthusiasm is high in Tulsa and the fans have shown a full scale interest in the Oilers&rsquo; new coach John McLellan and the new faces like goalies Al Smith and Serge Aubry, defensemen Gord Nelson, Randy Murray and Mike Pelyk and forwards led by Haley, Andre Hinse, Gerry Meehan, Len Baz y and Gary Unger.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02287/3297254-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="262" height="461"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dennis Gibson</figcaption></div>Haley turned pro back in 1951 and has travelled the minor pro circuits almost exclusively. He had 30 games over two seasons with the Detroit Red Wings but the rest of the time was spending his winters in places like Glace Bay, Nova Scotia; Edmonton, Alberta; Saskatchewan; Brandon, Manitoba; Hershey, Pennsylvania; San Francisco and San Diego, California and Seattle, Washington.It was on Canada&rsquo;s east coast at Glace Bay where Haley picked up the nickname &ldquo;Comet&rdquo; and veteran hockey coaches along the pro trail speak of Haley as &ldquo;an honest player who will give you his best in a manner that the fans like and thereby lends a great deal to the image of the game.".Firing from the right side at five-foot-six and a &ldquo;lightweight&rdquo; at 160 pounds, Haley is an inspiration and fine example to younger players.Working with Hinse and Meehan, the trio comibed for 76 points over the first 24 Tulsa games of which the Oilers only tasted defeat eight times.Nell Clark joined the Oilers from Phoenix of the Western League.FORT WORTH - Coach Fern Flaman was happy to welcome Rick McCann back to his Wings after the young centerman was called to Detroit for three games. Flaman&rsquo;s joy was tempered as the parent Wings called up 12-goal sniper Gary Marsh but the veteran coach stated, &ldquo;I think it is a mark of distinction that the Detroit Red Wings look upon the talent we have here as of high caliber. Now these fans know that they are looking at young players perhaps only a stride away from major league recognition. They are developing and this is my job here&mdash;to help them on the way up the pro hockey ladder.&rdquo;Doug Roberts lent power up front for the Wings on coming to the team from Detroit counting four goals and three assists in his first five games.KANSAS CITY &mdash; Doug Harvey&rsquo;s amazing Kansas City Blues have issued a challenge to Tulsa for the leadership of the Northern Division although they have battled through a multitude of roster changes due to injuries on the parent NHL St-Louis Blues.Max Mestinsek, injured in an auto accident before the season, is due to be in action shortly with the Blues.The Blues attracted 38,659 fans through the turnstiles for their first eight home engagements.OKLAHOMA CITY - Dennis Gibson, fast-developing as one of the prize rookie prospects of the season in the league racked up his second shutout blanking Omaha, 2-0.Coach Murray Davison has kept the Blazers within range of pace-setting Fort Worth in the Southern Division while hit by injuries. Amateurs Gerry Mazur, Meehan Bonnar, Clem Tremblay and Dave Armstrong all have been returned to their respective clubs and Wayne Cashman and Brian Bradley are working themselves back into form after being sidelined with injuries.Veteran leftwinger Ron Murphy was sent to the Blazers from the parent NHL Boston Bruins to work back into condition after being out since October with a shoulder injury. Murphy scored a goal in his first game with the Blazers.MEMPHIS &mdash; Chuck Goddard came back into the South Stars when Carl Wetzel was forced to favor an injured leg. Lou Kazowski was hoping to get back into action after a separation and Bill Taylor is playing while trying to recover from a knee operation during the training camp.Coach John Muckier was pleased with the offensive output of Bob Charlebois who notched 23 points over the first 21 games.DALLAS-Jack Stanfield notched the league&rsquo;s second penalty-shot goal of the season as the Black Hawks bowed 4-1 on Kansas City ice.Centerman Brian McDonald had to sit out a game with a bruised wrist and Bobby Schmautz suffered a 10-stitch gash on the side of his head but both players were producing at better than a scoring point per game.Mike Chernoff returned to the line-up after missing six games with a foot injury.OMAHA &mdash; Cal Purinton, a converted defenseman now on the left boards, has provided plenty of checking help for his linemates Juha Widing and Bill Fairbairn as the trio came up with 37 points over the first 20 games.Goalie Gary Kurt, who turned down a baseball tryout with the Detroit Tigers in favor of hockey, is showing better each time out working as the backup netminder behind Jack McCaran.HOUSTON &mdash; Coach Ray Kinasewich welcomed Bryan Watson to the Apollos as &ldquo;the type of player who can really check and that&rsquo;s what we need. He plays up front or defence and with his experience will help us.&rdquo;Garry Monahan was sent back to Houston from the parent Montreal Canadiens due to his lack of scoring in the NHL but as Kinasewich stated, &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll snap out of the slump here. He&rsquo;s a mighty good hockey player, with great potential.&rdquo;Goalie Ernie Wakely, a slow starter, is rounding into top form and it showed as the Apollos starting their climb back with a three-game undefeated streak dropping Omaha and Memphis and tieing Fort Worth.The editors of HOCKEY NEWS wish to announce that, because of the Christmas holiday, publication date had to be advanced not allowing us to include weekend games of Dec. 23-25 in this issue. They will be carried complete in the next issue.<h2>How They Stand</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03242/3297247-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="350" height="652"></div> &#9632;

f0020-01

Oilers Solid As New Faces Pick Club Up

<div class="byline">BY HARVEY POLLACK</div>NASHVILLE, Tenn. -Normally the addition of a veteran defenseman strengthens an ice hockey team, but the reverse has been true in the case of the defending champion Nashville Dixie Flyers in the Eastern Hockey League competition.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0499/3297306-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="256" height="464"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cliff Pennington</figcaption></div>The player in question is Lloyd Hinchberger skipper of the Southern Division team which has been struggling in an effort to take over the division lead from Greensboro. Hinchberger decided to become a bench coach this year and thought that with Norm Ryder, Leo Olivier and Flo Pilote he was well fortified in the back line.But an injury to Ryder proved a rude jolt, and other mishaps eventually forced the aging Hinchberger to don his skates. It was necessary because of the emergency, but it didn&rsquo;t prove a good move. Lloyd at first showed the rustiness of not playing, and then later when he supposedly was in condition, he discovered he couldn&rsquo;t keep pace with his young rivals. What&rsquo;s more, he also found it much more difficult guiding his forces when he was out on the ice.So he decided to return to the bench and operate with three back liners in Pilote, Olivier and Andre Aubrey. For a stretch it seemed to help the Flyers as they drew within four points of Greensboro. But a crushing home loss to the Gens caused them to slip behind again. In any event, Hinchberger doesn&rsquo;t intend to put a uniform on again unless the situation really becomes desperate.The Flyers thank their lucky stars that they were able to get Cliff Pennington for he has proven a life saver in the forward category, especially as a sub for the departed Ted McCaskill and George Standing. Without him and Wally Sprange, the team&rsquo;s attack would really be low.KNOXVILLE: Knights held to seven shots on goal in first two periods of game at Charlotte. Goalie Caye Cooley despite a sore throat and a painful shoulder has picked up 3 shutouts to lead league. Ref Art Casterton suffered cracked ribs in Knights-Florida game. Ken Turlik and Ken Rodgers drew praise from coach Pat Egan. Ex-Knights have been plaguing team.&rsquo;SALEM: Rebels continue to experience tough luck and club&rsquo;s new-winning streak reached 22 games. Dave Lucas complains &ldquo;the team skates well but doesn&rsquo;t finish off its shots.&rdquo; Defenseman Stan Cook placed on waivers. Bob Zu pan having tough luck in cage. Lucas still looking for help as team&rsquo;s chances of a playoff berth dwindle.FLORIDA: Rockets had five game unbeaten streak as they sought to rise in standings. Club blanked at Knoxville. Gerry Lemire suffered pulled groin muscle and spent some time in hospital. Defensive play of Marc Brunet and Jim Lorette has helped club&rsquo;s surge. Harrison Gray&rsquo;s two shutouts doubled his total of las season. Billy Glashan&rsquo;s two goals tied Nashville.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0584/3297299-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="613" height="801"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON DAVIDSON&hellip; Four-Goal Game</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND: Ducks have vastly improved record at one third juncture compared to year ago, boasting almost twice as many points. Acquisition of Wayne Doll has lifted team. Coach Gene Ach-tymichuk thinks the Ducks can land seconde place. Dwight Winters is club pacesetter in points and goals. Ducks didn&rsquo;t lose any of nine straight home contests. Winters bothered by bruised arm.JERSEY: Coach Gordie Stratton scored a hat trick in first 10 minutes of game with Syracuse. Claude Boucher also turned trick in same game. Ray Crew&rsquo;s services secured from Muskegon. Acquisition announcement of Al Sarault from Knoxville evidently premature. Pierre Roy, who was here on loan from Greensboro was sent to Johnstown to make room for Crew.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0673/3297292-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="590" height="797"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON CARTER &hellip; Leads South Scorers</figcaption></div>CLINTON: Ian Anderson was on emergency call with Baltimore as long as the Clippers calls didn&rsquo;t Interfere with Comets log Billy Heindl&rsquo;s goal saved 5-4 win at Syracuse. Bill Bannerman and Ed Skyhar had wingding at finish of game. Anderson bounced out of Jersey game for decking Wayne Kitchen, pushing a linesman giving ref Ted Dally some backtalk, Don Davidson had 4-goaler vs Johnstown. Howie Dietrich&rsquo;s hat trick beat Jersey.CHARLOTTE: &ldquo;Checkers have done better against bottom teams than against leaders. Checker fans call Nashville&rsquo;s Joe Zorica, Flo Pilote and Neal Clairmont, &ldquo;whinemakers&rdquo; because of their conti nual beefs with officials. Claude Ouimet&rsquo;s 22nd goal left him one under last year&rsquo;s total. Jack McCreary, Charlotte&rsquo;s nominee, for EHL Rookie of Year. Art Hart played despite losing 15 teeth to the dentist two days earlier. Ron Spratt on disabled list with head injury. Jim Lane due back any day after breaking hand in second game or season.NASHVILLE: Flyers picked up Claude Bernard from Salem. This is Claude&rsquo;s third EHL team this year as he started with New Havan. Wally Sprange&rsquo;s goal with 13 seconds left tied Florida. Wayne Clairmont&rsquo;s goal with 12 seconds left tied Knoxville. Matt Thorpe had 48-saver against Florida. Cliff Pennington out with tonsilitis for a stretch.GREENSBORO: Gens blanked for first time by Knoxville, dropping only second game in 15 starts. Club won 10 out of 13 road games to keep lead in South. Don Carter paces South in scoring and is experiencing one of his best years in 9 EHL campaigns. Gens held Nashville to 3 shots in one period. John Murray in toughest part of schedule with 18 road games in 29 starts.NEW HAVEN: Blades have found difficulty beating Blazers at Syracuse, losing three straight there. Blake Ball is well en route to landing the penalty laurels. At last count he had cleared the 150 minute mark &hellip; Club&rsquo;s hold on third place is being menaced by Long Island. Al Johnstone&rsquo;s two shutouts tie him for division lead.SYRACUSE: Blazers continue to be lions at home and lambs on road. They whipped New Haven and Jersey here and just missed beating Clinton for a second time. Bill Lastic&rsquo;s tally nipped Blades. Chris Finnerty had a battle with 250 pound Ray Crew at Jersey. Benny Greco scored two goals vs old Jersey mates. Goalie Roger Wilson didn&rsquo;t let 6 stitch head cut stop a win over New Haven.JOHNSTOWN:Jim Mair served with civil suit and an arrest warrant for an assault on a Syracuse fan. Defenseman Pierre Roy, on loan from Greensboro, and Meehan Bonnar from Dayton are latest additions. Bo b Delcourt placed on disabled list with broken toe. John Nickerson bothered by bruised foot. Wayne Wilson on crutches for spell with knee injury. Billy Ives has returned to action after being hurt in a pre-season exhibition. &#9632;

f0021-04

Hinchberger Goes Back On Bench In Bid To Lift Nashville To Top

LEADING SCORERSIncluding Games Of Sun. Dec. 10<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01230/3297351-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="662" height="1264"></div><h2>Hockey Races</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02169/3297344-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="668" height="1072"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Tues. Dec. 19Sherbrooke 4 at Granby 2St. Hyacinthe 2 at Victoriaville 8Thurs. Dec 21Sherbrooke 3 at Drummondville 6Nationals 0 at St-Hyacinthe 3<h2>Looking At EHL Race</h2><h2>WESTERN CANADA JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 22)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03123/3297337-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="342" height="426"></div>The editors of HOCKEY NEWS wish to announce that, because of the Christmas holiday, publication date had to be advanced not allowing us to include weekend games of Dec. 23-25 in this issue. They will be carried complete in the next issue. &#9632;

f0021-01

Point Race

<div class="byline">BY BOB REED</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01251/3297396-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="279" height="485"><figcaption class="caption-body">Moe Bartoli</figcaption></div>TOLEDO, O. &mdash;In the wake of the annual All-Star game, governors of the International Hockey League and other interested persons around the circuit were speculating about the game&rsquo;s future &mdash; if any.The sixth in the series was staged in Dayton and while the attendance &mdash; 2,965 &mdash; was the second largest in history, following St. Paul&rsquo;s 3,541 turnout the first year &mdash; there was the feeling that the mid-season &ldquo;classic&rdquo; Is still not an unqualified success.The host Dayton Gems won, 6-1, against an array of good individual but unorganized hockey players. For one thing they were far from the original selections, three of them &mdash; Mery Dubchak of Fort Wayne, Carl Brewer of Muskegon and Stan Maxwell of Toledo&mdash;were Incapacitated and had to be replaced on short notice to the substitutes.Various changes have been suggested. One being that the game should be staged later In the season, especially since the All Stars are selected by the players, who in this Instance at least, included many new ones who had hardly had the opportunity to judge the ability of all (Des Moines and Toledo had not even met).It was generally agreed that the game, if continued, needs greater all-round promotion and league effort, possibly something to attract the fans, such as individual contest between recognized leaders in various departments of the game.What is often overlooked is that the game is not Included on season tickets, eliminating anywhere from 500 to 1,000 regular fans who must be sold all over again by the host team.The game itself was far more Interesting than the score Incicated with goalie Rick Best and center Cliff Bristow the stars of the winning Gems. To the credit of the All-Stars, they gave it their best efforts. As Coach Jerry Toppazzini commented, &ldquo;It was difficult to play as a unit, being together for the first time". Moe Bartoli of the Columbus Checkers, spoiled the shutout for young Best when he netted a long slap shot at 16:11 of the third period.FORT WAYNE The Komets made a deal with Toledo, returning defenseman Roy Davidson in exchange for Dave Parenteau, rookie who plays either center or left wing. Parenteau had eight goals in 22 games with the Blades. The Komets also brought in Tom Mikkola, center who hails from Sudbury and played the last three years for Michigan State University &hellip; Rookie Bob Baird, another ex-collegian, hit his 11th goal &hellip; The Komets were tied by Des Moines on a goal registered at the final buzzer, which automatically turns off the red light.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04123/3297389-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="600" height="967"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB BAIRD&hellip; Hot-scoring Rookie</figcaption></div>TOLEDO The Blades loaned defenseman Bill McLeod to Knoxville of the Eastern League &hellip; Home attendance was up 6,000 for the first 13 games &hellip; Chick Chalmers notched his 350th league goal &hellip; Defenseman Marcel Goyette, secured from Port Huron, was not expected to report until after the holidays &hellip;COLUMBUS Coach Moe Bar-toll introduced a new scheme when he placed his team In front of a TV monitor, where they analyzed their mistakes. He also employed chalk talks &hellip; Regular goalie Gordon Dibley was expected back in action. He has been replaced by Gerry Fleury on loan from Toledo and by Al Melanson from the Boston Bruins &hellip; Defenseman Hartley Estabrooks went out with a knee Injury.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05104/3297382-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="616" height="970"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHICK CHALMERS &hellip; Reaches IHL Milestone</figcaption></div>DAYTON Cliff Bristow moved up to replace suspended Bob Bailey on the first line. The Gems were also expecting a rookie center from the Boston Bruins &hellip; With Bailey gone, the Gems still had three among the league&rsquo;s top ten scorers &mdash; Bob Regis, Don Westbrooke and Barry Merrell.MUSKEGON Goalie Bob Pera-ni went to Springfield of the American League to fill in briefly for Jacques Carron, who went to Los Angeles to fill in for Terry Sawchuk &hellip; Defenseman Willie Terry left the team and returned home because of the illness of his father &hellip; Goalies Perani and Tim Tabor were standing 1-3 in the league&rsquo;s goals-against department &hellip; Bryan McLay registered his 400th IHL assist.DES MOINES - Trevor Fahey collected his 11th point since joining the Oak Leafs &hellip; Another newcomer, Art Chlupka, scored his tenth goal in eight games. Defenseman Joe Kiss scored a tying goal at Fort Wayne just as the final buzzer sounded.PORT HURON - Coach Terry Topazzlnni was planning to get back into action at the request of club president John Wlsmer. Toppazzlnni fined the entire team $25 each after two 8-3 losses at Des Moines &hellip; Pete Shearer, 25-year-old winger was placed on waivers for &ldquo;indifferent play&rdquo; &hellip; Rookie defenseman Kevin Smith decided to return home &hellip;<h2>It&rsquo;s Twins For The Hebentons</h2>PORTLAND, Ore. &mdash;The youngest 38-year-old in professional hockey, Andrew Alex Hebenton of the Portland Buckaroos, is passing out cigars two at a time.Hebenton&rsquo;s lovely wife, Gail, presented the all-time Ironman of hockey with twins, a boy and a girl, on December 7.The new arrivals are Timothy Brent and Melanie Christine. The Hebentons have two other daughters, Terry and Kare, and one other son, Clay.And here&rsquo;s a tip for Buckaroo rivals:Don&rsquo;t count on Hebenton retaining that sweet disposition that won him most-gentlemanly player awards in both the National and Western hockey leagues.His wife has confided that she expects a bit a middle-of-the-night feeding help for the next weeks. &#9632;

f0022-01

IHL Ponders All-Star Game Future; Chalmers Counts 350th Loop Goal

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIORStanding On Wed. Dec. 20<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02182/3297434-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="669" height="719"></div><h2>LOOKING AT IHL RACE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03157/3297427-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="678" height="1316"></div> &#9632;

f0022-02

Hockey Races

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01229/3297472-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="612" height="831"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICHIE BAYES &hellip; A Future Maple Leaf</figcaption></div>TORONTO ONT. &mdash;Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Black Haks undoubtedly are watching the progress of the Ontario Junior Hockey Association scoring race with added Interest. Both have a stake in the leaders.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02180/3297465-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="286" height="475"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Webster</figcaption></div>Ricky Bayes, who started his junior career in St. Catharines three year-ago is having a sensational season with the Marlboros, a Toronto farmclub.After a fairly modest start he now has 23 goals in 23 games and, with 29 assists, has a total of 52 points, five more than his closest rival Tom Webster of Nia-gara Falls.Chciago Black Hawks own Webster&rsquo;s professional fights and he is expected to advance into the Central Pro League next season with Dallas.Webster, back in action after an injury, has 47 points, one more than another Chicago chattel playing with the Marlies, Terry Caffery.Phyl Myre of the Flyers continues as the top goaltender with a 2.53 average in 24 games with Gerry Gray of Hamilton (2.70) and Dave Hainsworth of Kitchener (2.75) second and third.During the Christmas and New Year season most people would prefer to be at home rather than involved in travelling.This particularly holds true for junior hockey teams in the OHA.A total of 13 games were played during the seven days preceding Christmas week and road teams only managed to salvage two wins and a draw.St. Catharines Black Hawks edged London Nationals 3-2 in London, first place Niagara Falls Flyers disposed of the cellar - dwelling Ottawa 67s by a 6-0 score in Hull and Hamilton Red Wings gained a 5-5 tie in Montreal.With the exception of those three games all visiting teams were treated in a most inhospitable manner by the clubs playing before their home fans.The first place Niagara Falls Flyers, after losing 6-2 in Oshawa, came up with their first win in eight starts, 7-1 before 3,200 fans at the Falls Memorial Arena.The victory boosted the Falls into a four-point margin over Kitchener and Toronto Marlboros but the Rangers have three games in hand, the Dukes two.The Rangers played 500 hockey during the week, tying Peterborough 2-2, defeating the Petes 7-1 the following night, then losing7-2 in Toronto.The Marlboros, paced by Bayes, had a perfect week with home ice victories over Oshawa (8-6) and the Rangers.Ottawa, still having a miserable first season in junior A hockey failed to pick up a point.They were beaten three times in four days&mdash;twice by the Falls and once by Toronto and have only one victory and two ties to show in their first 24 starts.It&rsquo;s possible that they will be given a lift when they move from Hull to their new quarters at the soon-to-be completed Ottawa arena but it would require a supreme optimist to predict any hope of catching one of the eight playoffThe editors of HOCKEY NEWS wish to announce that, because of the Christmas holiday, publication date had to be advanced not allowing us to include weekend games of Dec. 23-25 in this issue. They will be carried complete in the next issue. &#9632;

f0023-01

NHL Teams’ Young Chattels Fly High In Scoring Race

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04106/3297510-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="344" height="670"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03138/3297503-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="313" height="657"></div> &#9632;

f0023-04

Looking At OHA Race

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0673/3297548-1-eng-US/f0023-062.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0585/3297541-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="565" height="1368"></div> &#9632;

f0023-06

Hockey Crossword

<div class="byline">BY OLIVER LEHTO</div>SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. &mdash;Lloyd Bentley returned home from the Niagara Falls Flyers training camp in September determined to return next season, and stick.So far the gifted puckster&rsquo;s on track.The 16-year-old center star, captain and league-scoring leader in the NOHA Junior &rsquo;A &rsquo; League with the Sault Greyhounds, has everything a hockey player, hopeful of a bright future in the pro ranks, should have.And most important he has that commodity that has to come from within, namely hockey sense".His coach with the Hounds, Walter Dubas, reaffirms this. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s still young and growing and nowhere near his peak. But he shows all the qualities needed in a great player. He knows what to do with the puck and he can score goals.&rdquo;Bentley could&rsquo;ve stayed with the Ontario Junior &rsquo;A&rsquo; Flyers. However he elected to return home rather than start the season in the Flyers Junior &rsquo;B&rsquo; affiliation.The boy is young yet. His dad, Emerson, a hard-worker in the minor hockey program in the city and a top local athlete in his playing days, influenced his son&rsquo;s decision to come home. &ldquo;Another year here won&rsquo;t hurt him and it&rsquo;s a good league to toughen up in,&rdquo; said the elder Bentley.But rest assured that the bird-dogs will be pounding on the door of the Bentley residence long before this season is over.If you&rsquo;re looking for more reasons, just read on friend.Bentley, in his rookie year with the junior club, has fired 23 goals in 19 games as of December 13. Along with 17 assists he&rsquo;s setting the pace atop the individual league scoring race.The still-maturing youngster now stands at close to six feet and weighs a solid 170 pounds. He skates strongly, is deceptively fast, and can make an opposing defense and goalie look awfully silly when he bursts in with a full head of steam.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01232/3297579-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="555" height="671"><figcaption class="caption-body">LLOYD BENTLEY &hellip; Has Hockey Sense</figcaption></div>His goal total is well over a quarter of the Greyhounds team output and he&rsquo;s been out two games with a back injury.The Sault club, practically an entire rebuilding project from the championship combination of the year previous, is making the skeptics sit up and take note.Pre-season predictions gave the Hounds a good chance of making the playoffs in the five-team loop. But certainly no threat for a repeat championship. With a bunch of 15 and 16-year-olds, everyone stroked them off.However as of the December 13 weekend the youthful Sault team was rubbing shoulders with the Garson Combines, practiclly a complete holdover aggregation from the 1966-67 campaign.The Hounds are tied for the top. And a lot of the onus has to go to Bentley, who has taken over the duties of team leader. Coach Dubas shudders at the thought of having to go without his blossoming performer. But he&rsquo;s a realist and knows that the inevitable has to come.Lloyd was the spark in the Sault Contractor midget club&rsquo;s march to the Northern Ontario championship last season. He came up with the junior team for the playoffs and scored a couple of key goals against the Cornwall Royals in the Eastern Canada Memorial Cup quarterfinals.He may&rsquo;ve looked a little out of place then but Bentley has grown over the summer and he definitely rates as the top performer in the Northern junior loop this season. Certainly the leading rookie-of-the-year contender.Many of Bentley&rsquo;s goals this season have come on breakaways.This is where he puts his hockey-know-how to practice. The Hounds use his fast-breaking moves to their advantage and when the opportunity presents itself the defense dumps the puck out near the center ice area.Without fail they&rsquo;ll find Bentley roaming and breaking fast, too fast, for any unprepared defenders working too far up ice. And when the raw-boned youngster breaks in on goal, the chances are nine-to-10 that he&rsquo;ll blink the light. &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

December 30, 1967

MacGregor Sparks New Unit Before Suffering Nose Break

Popein Gets 2nd Try At NHL With Oakland

NHL Summaries

Goyette Rates Nod As All Star; “He’s Key Ranaer,” Says ‘Cat’