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

January 4, 1969

The Hockey News January 4, 1969

For a fellow who missed 22 games last season with a lung infection, Oakland Seals&rsquo; Billy Hicke has been breathing pretty good lately.The onetime Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers&rsquo; castoff personally took charge last week as the Seals continued to be a hit on the ice although being a marked flop at the gate.With Hicke leading the way the Seals moved into second place in the Western Division last week with wins over Philadelphia Flyers and the then Eastern Division leaders, Boston Bruins.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04313/2505208-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="266" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body">Billy Hicke</figcaption></div>The diminutive right winger snapped a 1-1 tie against the Flyers with his 10th goal of the campaign at 12:29 of the third period, and the marker carried the Seals to a 2-1 victory.The Seals then startled the hockey world bywalking into Boston at a time when the Bruins were at their hottest and promptly cooled off the home club 3-1. Hicke merely scored the first and last goals of the game and set up the winner by Mike Laughton.The latest Hicke explosion places him among the top 10 scorers in the NHL with 12 goals and 22 assists for 34 points &mdash; only three less than Western Division leader Red Berenson of St. Louis Blues.At that rate, Hicke should shortly pass his last season&rsquo;s 40-point total. Barring injury he is also a cinch to better his personal single season goals high of 21, a plateau he also hit last year.El Producto and THE HOCKEY NEWS are pleased to salute the player-of-the-week in the West:Billy Hicke&hellip;Oakland &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

NHL Player Of The Week — IN THE WEST

<h2>WED. DEC. 11</h2>OKLAHOMA CITY 3 at KANSAS CITY 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0489/2506125-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="585" height="713"></div>TULSA 3 at DALLAS 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0537/2506118-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="586" height="776"></div> &#9632;

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CHL Summaries

<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-136/2506392-1-eng-US/f0022-132.jpg" title="f0022-13" width="569" height="269"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Dec. 20Doyton 2 at Toledo 2Columbus 9 ot Port Huron 11Des Moines 4 at Muskegon 4Sat. Dec. 21Doyton 4 ot Fort Wayne 1Port Huron 3 at Muskegon 7Des Moines 2 at Toledo 3Sun. Dec. 22Muskegon 3 at Fort Wayne 5Toledo 1 ot Doyton 8<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Dec. 25Port Huron 2 at Des Moines 9Columbus 2 ot Fort Wayne 3Toledo 2 at Muskegon 0Thurs. Dec. 26Port Huron 4 ot Des Moines 5 &#9632;

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LOOKING AT IHL RACE

<div class="byline">BY BOB ELMER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01444/2505610-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="565" height="579"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEKE MORTSON &hellip;Incurred Wrath</figcaption></div>BALTIMORE. Md. &mdash;Ever since the Baltimore Clippers entered the American Hockey League in 1962 most hockey buffs have regarded their Expressway Series with the Hershey Bears as one of the loop&rsquo;s chief rivalries.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02373/2505603-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="271" height="415"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Arbour</figcaption></div>Not so this year.After but three games, it has become quite apparent that Baltimore&rsquo;s newest foes are the Buffalo Bisons &mdash; 18 players, some members of the hierarchy and a fistful of fans.So far. a total of 199 penalty minutes have been meted out to members of both clubs. Included in this rash of infractions are two match penalties (Ron Attwell of the Bisons and John Arbour of the Clippers); and three ten minute misconducts (Billy Knibbs and Bob Ash of Buffalo, and Baltimore&rsquo;s Willie Marshall).However, the biggest culprit and principle villain isn&rsquo;t mentioned above. That would be Baltimore&rsquo;s 34-year old center Keke Mortson who has accumulated 29 minutes in the sin bin against the Buffaloes. In fact, partisan Bison fans will tell you that it was Mortson who created this entire &ldquo;thing&rdquo; between the two clubs.On December 1. the Clippers absorbed a 5-0 whitewashing in Buffalo ad early in the proceedings Mortson attempted in his words to &ldquo;bat in a flying puck that Villemure did not appear to have under control.&rdquo; The fact that Mortson was standing directly nose-to-nose with the little Frenchman in front of the cage, and that Mortson&rsquo;s stick flicked the tip of Villemure&rsquo;s mask, and thereby caused some blood to emanate from Gil&rsquo;s proboscis caused great resentment among the netminder&rsquo;s afficiandos.For the remainder of that evening, most of coach Shero&rsquo;s super heroes kept chasing Mortson around the rink to the vociferous vocal urgings of their partisan patriots in the stands. A total of sixty minutes in penalties was exacted in that one.Five days later hostilities resumed in Baltimore and although it was the Bisons first seasonal appearance in the Civic Center, the visitors didn&rsquo;t come down handing out Christmas cards. Instead referee Yves Tessier handed out a record breaking 91 minutes in penalties including match banishments to Attwell and Arbour, and a trio of ten minuters. This game ended in a 4-all stalemate with the Bisons taking a 2-0 first period lead, forging a 3-1 advantage midway through the middle stanza before goals by Marshall and Jean-Marie Cossette within 30 seconds of each other effected a 3-all second period st andoff.Matching goals by Norm Beaudin and Jim Morrison in the finale completed the scoring which was interspersed between the 91 total penalty minutes. On December 15, the teams met again in Buffalo with Bob Jones, Guy Trottier and Larry Hornung scoring for Buffalo and Cossette with two lamplighters and Jim Bartlett registering for the But the game produced 48 panalty minutes and an off-the-ice riot among the players of both sides and some Buffalo enthusiasts. Once again Mortson was the Bisons target as his fight with ex-Clipper Ron Ingram in the last three minutes of the game precipitated the &ldquo;blood bath&rdquo;, as the wild melee erupted in the corridors outside the players dressing rooms.Strangely enough, were it not for a decision by the Baltimore management two years ago. most of the Buffalo players would have been wearing Baltimore uniforms. It was during the summer of 1967 that the Clippers brass decided to build a team by independent purchases rather than remain a development club for the New York Rangers. It was then that New York bailed out the Buffalo franchise which was extremely shaky following the collase of their agreement with the Chicago Black Hawks, and continuing failure to buy their own players. &#9632;

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Bisons, Clippers Knock Heads On Ice

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0001-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-01136/2506568-1-eng-US/f0001-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Injury Puts NHL Goaling Iron Man Out</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-02109/2506561-1-eng-US/f0001-022.jpg" title="f0001-02" width="1752" height="1217"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-0347/2506554-1-eng-US/f0001-032.jpg" title="f0001-03" width="269" height="327"><figcaption class="caption-body">BAUN PLAYING LIKE ALL-STAR</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Broken Jaw May Cost Hull NHL Scoring Lead -ON THEINSIDE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03485/2504355-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg"></div>(Standings on Friday, Dec. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02567/2504362-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="188" height="198"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Fri. Dec. 20St. Louis 1 at Oakland 0Sat. Dec. 21Boston 0 at Montreal 0Detroit 3 at Toronto 8New York 2 at St. Louis 2Philadelphia 2 at Los Angeles 1Minnesota 3 at Pittsburgh 1Sun. Dec. 22Montreal 5 at Boston 7Toronto 2 at Detroit 3Minnesota 2 at New York 4Pittsburgh 1 at Chicago 3Philadelphia 1 at Oakland 2Wed. Dec. 25Toronto 4 at Chicago 3New York 2 at Philadelphia 2Oakland 3 at Boston 1Detroit 3 at Pittsburgh 6St. Louis 2 at Minnesota 0Thurs. Dec. 26Toronto 2 at Montreal 4Oakland 1 at New York 3Pittsburgh 2 at St. Louis 3Minnesota 4 at Los Angeles 4<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Fri. Dec. 27Philadelphia at DetroitSat. Dec. 28New York at MontrealLos Angeles at TorontoBoston at St. LouisChicago at Minnesota (afternoon game)Oakland at PittsburghSun. Dec. 29Montreal at New YorkBoston at DetroitLos Angeles at ChicagoOakland at PhiladelphiaTues. Dec. 31Montreal at PittsburghMinnesota at DetroitWed. Jan. 1Oakland at TorontoDetroit at ChicagoSt. Louis at Los AngelesThurs. Jan. 2Pittsburgh at MontrealBoston at New YorkChicago at PhiladelphiaFri. Jan. 3St. Louis at OaklandSat. Jan. 4Chicago at Montreal (afternoon game)New York at TorontoBoston at MinnesotaDetroit at St. LouisPhiladelphia at PittsburghSun. Jan. 5Montreal at ChicagoToronto at PhiladelphiaMinnesota at New YorkPittsburgh at DetroitLos Angeles at Oakland &#9632;

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THE NHL SCENE

NEW YORK, N.Y. &mdash;With sulky driving Gilles Villemure in the nets, the New York Rangers defeated the Minnesota North Stars 4-2 on Dec. 22nd, and brought a smile of relief to the face of Bernie &ldquo;Boom Boom&rdquo; Geoffrion.&ldquo;Now if we can put a few wir, toghether, we can get right back in there,&rdquo; said Geoffrion. &ldquo;I thought Villemure did a good job and also have to tip my hat to Reg Fleming. Reg played his best game of the season and for this game, at least, we did not miss Rod Gilbert.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04355/2504393-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="259" height="437"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gilles Villemure</figcaption></div>Villemure, a 28-year-old crew cut minor league veteran has been up before and even recorded a shutout in a New York uniform last season. He stopped 22 shots in recording his victory.Emile Francis, the New York General Manager said, &ldquo;Villemure gave us all a wonderful Christmas present. He couldn&rsquo;t have arrived at a better time &mdash; along with the must victory he brought with him.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Rangers Call Villemure To Snap Losing Streak

<div class="byline">BY NORMAN MacLEAN</div>NEW YORK, N.Y. &mdash;There were but twelve seconds left on the scoreboard clock in the sold out St. Louis Arena when Red Berenson won the faceoff to the left of New York&rsquo;s netminder Eddie Giacomin and flashed a backwards pass to Noel Picard at the Blue line. Picard unleashed a desperation shot at the Ranger goal and Giacomin lunged and stopped the disc. It fell at his feet and Berenson pounced on the loose puck and flicked it past Eddie for the tying goal in a 2-2 game. There were but 12 seconds left and the St. Louis Blues had resorted to the desperate strategy of pulling Goalie Glenn Hall for a sixth attacker.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01592/2504324-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="279" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rod Seiling</figcaption></div>This marked the eighth straight New York game without a win, during a streak broken only by two ties. During this skein, the Rangers dropped from first place to fifth and Rangerville began to panic. They finally broke the drought on Dec. 22 with a 4-2 win over Minnesota with Gilles Villemure in the nets.A very concerned General Manager Emile Francis cautioned against the excessive use of the panic button with the reminder, &ldquo;In 1967-68 every team except Boston was in both last and first place in the standings &mdash; and the Montreal Canadiens, the ultimate pennant winner was last early in January. It is a matter of getting our men back on the beam. True, Rod Gilbert&rsquo;s injury has hurt, but Rod was not playing that well prior to the losing streak, which started while he was still healthy.&rdquo;During the drought, which saw the Blues bring up right wing Wayne Rivers as a replacement for Gilbert and then return Rivers to Buffalo of the American Hockey League, New York&rsquo;s big problem has been a horrendous scoring drought. Literally, the boys in Blue cannot put the puck into the ocean. In the eight games, they have totaled 13 goals, which might go big in the Expansion Division but just doesn&rsquo;t cut the mustard in the Eastern bigs.In the same eight games the opposition scored 28 goals, which also is not up to standard, although Giacomin could hardly be faulted for most of them. In the St. Louis encounter, Eddie frequently came out of the net to clear the puck up the ice, something his defensemen have not been doing too well of late. And he played the final half of the third period with a badly bruised left shoulder &mdash; an injury which resulted in Villemure&rsquo;s recall.&ldquo;Jim Neilson and Rod Seiling have not played as well this season as last,&rdquo; noted Francis.&rdquo;Seiling has had a number of minor injuries and this has hurt him. Last season Neilson was really booming out of our end with the puck and he also played a very good point on the power play. These boys are good, sound players who will work out of this slump. Sometimes, a change made just for the sake of making a change is bad.&rdquo;The Ranger power play has been an almost total failure &mdash; and the loss of Gilbert is one of the reasons. It must be pointed out that Boom Boom Geoffrion, who was the New York point man last season, was ill much of that year and that Gilbert, Neilson and Seiling took up the slack for the Boomer. This year, with Geoffrion ensconced as coach, it was assumed that the power play would improve under the guidance of the Boomer and with the youth and fire of the above three players. This had not happened so far.Another Ranger concern was the apparent inability of Phil Goyette to score as in the past. Goyette had three goals in 27 games and two in fifteen as we went to press. To this observer he appeared tired &mdash; and Geoffrion did replace him with Walter Tkaczuk for one turn on the Number One line with Donnie Marshall and Bob Nevin in the St. Louis game. Marshall also appears to be off his game in recent efforts. Both are at an elderly age. Goyette being 35 and Marshall 36, where athletes can suddenly get old. Goyette still makes all of the moves as in the past and probably will bounce back as he has always done, but there is still concern about Phil and Donnie.Geoffrion professes surprise that Gilbert meant so much to New York.&ldquo;It is hard for me to believe that one man can apparently mean so much to a team. One problem, besides the power play, has been the apparent lack of sock in the Rangers&rsquo; play. For this reason, we brought up Dennis Hextail, who can play both center and wing from Buffalo. Dennis hits them in rock &rsquo;em sock &rsquo;em style and may take up some of the slack caused by the loss of Orland Kurtenbach for the season,&rdquo; says Boomer.Hextall is being used on the third or checking line with Ron Stewart and Dave Balon. So far, he has proved to be combative and effective. Reg Fleming has taken Gilbert&rsquo;s place on the Jean Ratelie, Vic Hadfield trio and did score the New Yorkers opening goal against the Blues on December 21. Reg continued the good work against Minnesota when he got the game winner and was the #1 star of the night.Francis points out, &ldquo;The line of Fleming, Hadfield and Ratelie was very successful the later half of 1965-66 when Gilbert was out with his second spinal fusion. Fleming is not a Gilbert but he does a workmanlike job. Also, Gilbert may be back in about two weeks, which is a big gain from the original four to six weeks estimate by the Doctors.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Inability To Put Puck In Net Has Rangers Singing Blues

<div class="byline">BY TOM MONAHAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01592/2504424-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GERRY CHEEVERS &hellip; Keeps On Smiling And Playing</figcaption></div>BOSTON. Mass. &mdash;His name is Gerald Michael Cheevers. He is 28 years old and is job is one of the most precarious in professional sports.With the Bruins his nickname is &lsquo;Cheese.&rsquo; This is a play on his last name but also stems from the fact that he is always smiling.Cheese is the Bruins&rsquo; goalie and going into the holiday season he had played 22 straight games with the knowledge that the only way he could be replaced was a serious injury.The reason for this demand on Cheevers&rsquo; talents was an unusual injury to Eddie Johnston.The veteran Johnston was hit on the head by an errant puck in pregame practice at Detroit on Oct. 31. He was hospitalized for 18 days and it was only 10 days ago that Johnston was able to rejoin the club for actual scrimmage.For back-up behind Cheevers the Bruins first had rookie Colin McCormick and then he had youngster Joe Junkin.While the Bruins have confidence that both McCormick and Junkin can become National Hockey League goaltenders, there was little thought of taking Cheevers out of the nets even for one period of rest.Cheevers&rsquo; record of 12 wins, six ties and four losses is enough explanation for Coach Harry Sinden&rsquo;s reluctance in taking the applecheeked goaler out of the nets.There is another explantion, however. Sinden believes Cheevers is the most underrated goaltender in the league.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll grant that Gerry is unorthodox,&rdquo; says Sinden. &ldquo;He moves around and does acrobatics that no other goalie in the league will attempt.&ldquo;But he is one of the quickest goalies I ever saw on skates and he has one of the best sticks in the league.&ldquo;I call him the defenseman&rsquo;s best friend. Sure Gerry comes out of the net to clear the puck. But when he does it, at least 99 per cent of the time he has control of the puck like a forward&ldquo;He not only clears the puck from the rear but he passes it out so we can get the offense started.&rdquo;Gerry listens to all this and still just smiles.&ldquo;I used to be a forward,&rdquo; he likes to say.That was a long time ago and it does account for some of his ability to handle the puck and to skate.But even more important is the fact that Cheevers never has put the blame on a teammate for goals scored against him.&ldquo;Nothing happened in front of me,&rdquo; is his customary answer as when Detroit poured seven goals past him in Detroit the night of Johnston&rsquo;s injury for a 7-5 victory. &rdquo;There were no bad breaks. I just blew it. Just say I was dumb.&rdquo;Yet Cheevers rapidly is gaining a reputation as a money goalie.On Dec. 21, the Bruins moved into Montreal with first place at stake. Cheevers shut out the defending Stanley Cup Champions.The only difficulty with that was that Tony Esposito also blanked the Bruins.But the next night in Boston the Canadiens put on a 3-0 charge against Cheevers in an attempt to crack the Bruins. The fact that they had radar on their sticks was a compensating factor, however.Gerry hung tough, and the Bruins came back to move into the Eastern Division lead with a 7-5 victory.&ldquo;I knew we&rsquo;d win all along,&rdquo; cracked Cheevers. &ldquo;I was positive the Canadiens couldn&rsquo;t score on me all night long.&rdquo;Gerry still doesn&rsquo;t know when he&rsquo;ll get relief from his job. But it doesn&rsquo;t seem to bother him.&ldquo;I hope Eddie is back soon,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;but only because I know that he is healthy. He&rsquo;s a great guy and a great goal tender. We need him but until he is ready to go I&rsquo;ll do my best to fill the job.&rdquo;A job that he fills very, very well. &#9632;

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Cheevers Playing It Tough In Goal To Spark Bruins

BOSTON. Mass. &mdash;Rookie netminder Tony Esposito of Montreal Canadiens has done relatively well for a youngster since coming into the National Hockey League three weeks ago as an emergency replacement.He&rsquo;s stopped some of the best and hung up two shutouts. In fact the only guy who&rsquo;s giving him any trouble strangely enough is his older brother. Phil of the Bruins.The night Tony broke into the NHL with Montreal, the Boston Bruins were doing the firing at Tony. What happened, the game ended in a 2-2 tie and yes, Phil got both Boston goals.Last weekend the Bruins were blanked by Esposito in a 0-0 sawoff but the next night in Boston, the Bruins hammered Tony for a 7-5 win and brother Phil was right there with two of the Bruins goals.You might think that&rsquo;s not being very brotherly but that&rsquo;s the way the two Esposito boys like to play it. Fast and hard. That&rsquo;s how they got to the big time by being hard nosed competitiors.They never talk on the ice but one would have to think Tony will have a few choice words for Phil when the two get home to the Sault after the end of the 1969-70 hockey season. &#9632;

B’s Phil Esposito Hard On Brother Tony

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01654/2504479-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"></div>THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded October 1st, 1947Published weekly except monthly June through September by Ken-Will Publishing Co. Ltd. 1434 St. Catherine Street West Montreal 3, Canada.Kenneth W. McKenzie President and PublisherWilliam Z. Stevenson Managing DirectorYearly Subscription Rates: $5.00 in Canada and the British Commonwealth $6.00 in the U.S.A. and $8.00 in Foreign CountriesPostage paid at Rouses Point, N.Y.Authorized as second class mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa and for payment of postage in cash.Printed in CanadaVol. 22 MONTREAL, JANUARY 4. 1969 No. 13<h2>&ldquo;Overrated&rdquo; Imlach Gave Stars Away</h2>Hockey News Editor:When all the facts are placed on the table Punch Imlach in the most overrated coach in the N.H.L. Toronto is located in the centre of hockeyland and also has an excellent established farm system. With this environment, the Leafs should be battling the Canadiens for first place.Imlach has given away a Stanley Cup, Championship team. Below is a list of exLeafs, who are still with other NHL teams.In goal we have, Gary Smith, Terry Sawchuk, Don Simmons and Gerry Cheevers.On defence the ex-Leafs are Al Stanley, Larry Hillman, Duane Rupp, Arnie Brown, Rod Seiling, Bob Baun and Kent Douglas. Carl Brewer, now coaching in Finland, may eventually play for the Wings in Detroit.The fowards still active are, Dick Duff, Bob Nevin, Larry Jeffrey, Ron Stewart, Ed Shack, Jim Pappin, Garry Unger, Peter Stemkowski, Frank Mahovlich, Brit Selby, Bill Flett, Ed Joyal, Wally Boyer, Billy Harris, Gerry Ehman, John Brenneman and Orland Kurtenbach.ALWYN SIMS Port Arthur, Ont.<h2>NHL Expansionists Should Include San Diego</h2>Hockey News Editor:I have read with interest, a letter from one of the Vancouver readers, claiming what a great hockey town it was.According to my calculations the average attendance per game so far this season has been about 6,000 as compared to San Diego&rsquo;s 9,500 and this was accomplished during a period when 100,000 people see the football games on Saturday and Sunday at the same time.TED J. BALA San Diego, Cal.<h2>New Playoff System Proposed for NHL</h2>Hockey News Editor:Reader Glenn Wojtech&rsquo;s letter in the Nov. 30 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS has started me thinking about changing the entire structure of the Stanley Cup playoffs.In the first round, instead of the current Series A (first-place team vs. third-place team) and Series B (second-place team vs. fourth-place team), I propose that the division champion play the fourth-place finisher and the runner-up team meet the third-place club.This would enable the division winner to have the privilege of playing a supposedly weaker team. After all, they did earn their division title and should be entitled to meet a softer opponent in the first playoff round.Conversely, the number two team should be made to play the number three team for the simple reason that they (the runners-up) should not be given an advantage in the playoffs by having to meet the weaker fourth place squad. This should be done in each division.In the second round, the winner of Series A (1 vs. 4) in the East should meet the winner of Series A in the West. At the same time, the winner of Series B in the East should meet the winner of Series B in the West. This should be done to start playing the inter-division games in the semi-final series instead of the finals.In the final series, the overall Series A winner should meet the over-all Series B winner. This would bring together the two best teams.I feel this system will stir fan interest and encourage the players to put out that litt.e extra.MEL CHASAN, Flushing, N.Y. &#9632;

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FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02606/2504531-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="329" height="456"></div>&bull; BOSTON&rsquo;S TOMMY WILLIAMS, one of the two United States-born and developed players in the NHL this season. spent three hours on the operating table having damaged knee ligaments replaced. It was very serious knee surgery and the doctors told the Bruins&rsquo; management not to count on him anymore this season &hellip; Eddie Shack, another valuable member of the Bruins, has been sidelined of late with a torn muscle in his shoulder &hellip; Dickie Duff, Montreal&rsquo;s veteran left winger, had this to say in a recent speech to the Food Service Executives Association: &ldquo;In professional sport, it doesn&rsquo;t matter whether you win or lose. Just don&rsquo;t lose&rdquo; &hellip; Coach Boom Boom Geoffrion of the New York Rangers is more than a little perturbed about the lack of muscle on his club. &ldquo;Only two of my players do any hitting and they are Vic Hadfield and Reg Fleming,&rdquo; he said the other day. &ldquo;The team has looked timid for the past 10 games and I&rsquo;m looking around for some hitters&rdquo;&hellip; Pit Martin, Chicago&rsquo;s rugged little center, received a freak 10-stitch cut above the eye in a freak accident. Rod Gilbert&rsquo;s stick cut Martin&rsquo;s helmet and the plastic from the helmet cut him &hellip; Referee-in-chief Scotty Morrison&rsquo;s two boys are showing real promise in minor hockey. &ldquo;I hope they are better scorers than their father,&rdquo; jokes Scotty, who was an honest little player as a junior 20-old years ago &hellip; Walt Tkaczuk, New York&rsquo;s brilliant rookie center, is another National Leaguer born outside Canada. He first saw the light of day in Germany. However, his parents are Ukrainian who moved to South Porcupine, Ont. when he was two years old.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03514/2504524-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="257" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dick Duff</figcaption></div>&bull; CLANCY, The King&rsquo;s Own Story, as told to Brian McFarlane, is the name of a new book published by McGraw Hill, Canada. Full of anecdotes the book recalls the highlights of the fabulous career of one of hockey&rsquo;s most beloved characters. It was Clancy who made such immortal sayings as these famous: &rdquo;I&rsquo;ve got only one tooth in my head and that&rsquo;s the one that has to be aching&rdquo;&hellip; And: &ldquo;Me? I&rsquo;m the big wheel from Maple Leaf Gardens. The one that doesn&rsquo;t turn&rdquo;&hellip; Or: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t finish fights. I just start them&rdquo;&hellip; Toronto Maple Leafs have been playing their finest hockey in two years of late &hellip; A.K. Cowen, executive secretary of the Kinsmen Rehabilitation Foundation of British Columbia, advises that his organization will sponsor &ldquo;Schmockey Night&rdquo; at the Vancouver Coliseum on January 30. &ldquo;Schmockey Night&rdquo; has been an annual event in Winnipeg for 16 years and it is a real fun evening for all the members of the family &hellip; Cyclone Taylor, one of hockey&rsquo;s immortals, is chairman of the Night, while Neil Colville, former player and coach of the New York Rangers, is his co-chairman. Walter &ldquo;Babe&rdquo; Pratt, another hockey great of yesterday, is also on the committee Says 25-year-old Dennis Hextall, called up from Buffalo to the Rangers: &ldquo;Either 1 make it in the NHL or I go back to Manitoba and become a dentist&rdquo;&hellip; &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll play the Russians anytime,&rdquo; said Punch Imlach. &ldquo;But it will have to be under our rules. They get their way in everything else these days, but if they want to play us at our game it will have to be under our rules.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04446/2504517-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="239" height="461"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dennis Hextail</figcaption></div>&bull; BOBBY ORR likes to do things in living color. Just before Sports Illustrated took a color photo of the Boston rookie three years ago, he wound up with a deep gash across the nose. Recentlv he had an appointment for the same magazine and had to pose with a partly blackened eye the result of a flipped puck by Montreal&rsquo;s Jacques Lemaire &hellip; Boston Garden is really packing in the fans this season. Although the club sells only some 8,000 season tickets, the last Montreal game was sold out nearly a month ahead of time&hellip; Minnesota North Stars averaged over 12,600 for their first 14 home games. The larger Montreal Forum is also drawing huge crowds. The lowest so far was 15,527 for a game against Los Angeles &hellip; Philadelphia&rsquo;s Allan Stanley who recently reached the 1,200 game mark in the NHL. hopes to pass Bill Gadsby later this season as third all-time leader in games played. The Detroit coach played 1,248 games &hellip; New York Rangers recently conducted a highly-successful coaches clinic at Madison Square Garden. Hundreds of amateur coaches on all levels throughout the Metropolitan New York area were on hand. It was run by G.M. Emile Francis, Coach Bernard Geoffrion and the entire team. &ldquo;I think we are really fostering improved coaching standards in our area,&rdquo; said Francis &hellip; Montreal Forum fans are still talking about the classic game between the Bruins and the Canadiens which ended in a 0-0 tie. &ldquo;Scoreless games are usually poor but this one could have been 10-10 if the goalies hadn&rsquo;t been so hot,&rdquo; said Gump Worsley in praise of Tony Esposito and Gerry Cheevers &hellip; Toronto goalie Johnny Bower is happy that his old buddy George Armstrong decided to come out of retirement. The goalie had problems with the habits of some younger team-mates. &ldquo;It took me five years to get used to sleeping in the same room as the Chief.&rdquo; relates Bower. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like sleeping on the prairie because regardless of the temperature he always has the window wide open. The young guys close the window and I want fresh air&rdquo; &hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05395/2504510-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="241" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">Allan Stanley</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-06321/2504562-1-eng-US/f0004-062.jpg"></div>(Statistics includes games of Thursday, Dec. 26) &#9632;

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EAST-WEST SCOREBOARD:

<div class="byline">BY PAT CURRAN</div>MONTREAL, Que. &mdash;Only one point from two crucial games with the Bruins dampened the spirits of the Canadiens at Christmas time as they dropped from the Eastern Division lead for the first time this season. The defending league and Stanley Cup champs also were without a victory in four starts against Boston as they counted heads from a battle with the flu that hit the club in mid-December.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01612/2504600-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="244" height="465"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gilles Tremblay</figcaption></div>Team captain and spark plug Jean Beliveau missed one game and played two others at half speed while fighting off the fever. Leftwinger Gilles Tremblay was the worst of the lot, confined to his home for a week and missing three games. Then another portsider, hardrock John Ferguson had to sit out the scoreless tie and the letdown 7-5 loss to the Bruins.The bright spot as Canadiens closed out 1968 rested on their fine record compared to the same time last season. They had 17 wins, seven losses and seven ties for a point into second place below Boston. They wallowed in the cellar in 1967 on only 11 victories, 13 setbacks and seven ties.Coach Claude Ruel also looked on the bright side towards a Happy New Year from the expected return of one of his regular goalies. Rogatien Vachon was due to have the cast removed from his fractured right hand and hoped to be back with the Habs for another run to first place against Toronto and a home-and-home series with New York.At the same time, Ruel looked back with satisfaction on the efforts of Tony Esposito, 25-year-old brother of Boston&rsquo;s Phil who filled in adequately when the chips were down. Before the Canadiens fell apart in the third period of their last visit to Boston Garden, Tony had been unbeaten in seven games of three wins and four ties. He missed a few soft shots but also stopped enough hard ones to chalk up two shutouts.Tony the goalie&rsquo;s effort in an unusual scoreless stalemate Dec. 21 was part of one of the greatest hockey games produced in the Montreal Forum in many years.Zero games are usually trials of boredom but this one had just about everything any fan desires. Only thing missing was the scoring simply because Esposito and Gerry Cheevers matched superb efforts from start to finish.Esposito was called on to make 41 stops as the hustling Bruins outshot the home team and won new respect from the crowd with brilliant saves at the expense of brother Phil, Ron Murphy and Fred Stanfield when he appeared to be at their mercy at 10-foot range.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02561/2504593-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="1192" height="1577"><figcaption class="caption-body">TONY ESPOSITO &hellip; Doing Superb Fill In Net Job</figcaption></div>Cheevers drew only 34 pucks but never enjoyed a better game in miraculous stops against Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard and Claude Provost.The two top teams in professional hockey played the game as it was in the old days and observers all down the line voted it as the greatest show on ice in a long time.Boston Coach Harry Sinden callet it &ldquo;The best game I&rsquo;ve seen since I&rsquo;ve been in the league.&rdquo;Claude Ruel said he had never seen &ldquo;so many players on two teams work so hard.&rdquo;Veteran broadcaster Danny Gallivan compared it to the great Detroit-Montreal struggles of 10 years ago.And the huge 17,563 crowd, seldom satisfied without a Montreal victory, stood up and applauded both teams at the finish.It was a man&rsquo;s game of robust checking and hitting in which Referee Bill Friday might well have been given star rating on his fine night&rsquo;s work. He called enough penalties to keep the game in hand but never threatened to spoil the thrilling contest.So much has been said and written about Russia wanting to challenge the NHL that fans voiced disappointment the pseudo world amateur champs hadn&rsquo;t seen this classic. If a Soviet hockey spy had been here he might have quickly sent this wire to Moscow: &ldquo;sedejta vasha rodina!&rdquo;Stay home! &#9632;

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Canadiens Topple From Lead After Weekend Bruin Series

MONTREAL. Que. &mdash;&ldquo;The Bruins stole the game from us and now we get robbed on the bus.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s how one of the irate Canadiens put it after their recent trip to Boston Garden where they blew a 3-0 lead to lose 7 5 and their personal effects were stolen in the meantime.During the game, thieves broke into the parked bus awaiting to take the team to the airport and seven of the players lost their luggage.In addition, defenceman Jacques Laperriere lost his valuable contact lenses. One of the Montreal hockey-writers wound up without his Typewrit er, two already written columns and reams of statistics which he had kept and valued since the start of the NHL season. &#9632;

Bruins Steal The Game, Thieves Clean Out Habs

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01682/2504655-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DANNY O&rsquo;SHEA &hellip; Minnesota North Stars</figcaption></div>The Minnesota North Stars picked themselves a big one when they signed rookie Danny O&rsquo;Shea to a professional contract. The 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 195-pound former star of Canada&rsquo;s National hockey team, is one of the NHl&rsquo;s largest centremen. The tall, talented pivot belonged to the Montreal Canadiens, who traded his rights to the North Stars. O&rsquo;Shea figures the deal opened up a chance to play regularly in the NHL, an opportunity he may not have received with Montreal&rsquo;s talent-rich champions. &#9632;

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MEET THE ROOKIES

<div class="byline">BY LOU PRATO</div>PITTSBURGH, Pa. &mdash;The Pittsburgh Penguins need a leader!It is as simple as that!Although the Penguins have not been as bad as some people had predicted neither have they played as well as they can.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02549/2504686-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="257" height="425"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lou Angotti</figcaption></div>As a result, the team is struggling to remain in contention in the NHl&rsquo;s Western Division. And despite two losing slumps, they have succeeded. But their success &mdash; if one can call it that &mdash; is due mainly to the inconsist entcy of other division teams and not because of superior Pittsburgh performances.Yet, if the Penguins had a leader they probably would be battling St. Louis in a tight race for first place. The potential is there. But there is no one on the club who can take charge &mdash; who can add the spark that generates a winning spirit or who can make the big play that gives a team impetus.For evidence, one has to go no further than mid December and analyze what happened to the Penguins. On December 11 the Penguins played what was perhaps their finest game of the year and soundly beat Minnesota, 4-2. The victory placed the Penguins on the verge of second place and within striking distance of St. Louis.But in the next game, Pittsburgh was beaten by Los Angeles 3-2. The Penguins played well, but the Kings just played better. That defeat appeared to take something out of the Penguins.The next night Boston overwhelmed Pittsburgh 5-3, outshooting the Penguins by nearly 21. A few nights later, Philadelphia humiliated Pittsburgh with an 8-2 victory that knocked the Penguins back into last place. In later games, they skated as if in a daze.This is where a leader would have made a difference. He would not have allowed a defeat in a key game to shatter the confidence of his teammates. His performance on the ice would have buoyed sagging spirits.If the Penguins do have a leader, he certainly has been keeping in the background. Coach Red Sullivan seems to feel that Earl Ingarfield is that leader. After all, Ingarfield is the team captain and at his best he&rsquo;s an aggressive, stylish skater and a dexterous stickman.&rdquo;If Ingarfeld was doing better, we&rsquo;d be doing better,&rdquo; Sullivan says. &rdquo;He&rsquo;s not really disappointing me. It&rsquo;s just that he&rsquo;s the man who can pick up the club.&rdquo;Yet, Sullivan might be placing too much significance on Ingarfield as the team captain, rather than Ingarfield the center. Just being a team captain doesn&rsquo;t make a man a leader. Two other Penguins were captains of their teams last season &mdash; Lou Angotti in Philadelphia and Bob Wyotowich in Minnesota &mdash; and last year&rsquo;s Penguin captain, Ab McDonald, is now playing for St. Louis.Perhaps Angotti and Wyotowich are no more capable of becoming the team&rsquo;s leader than Ingarfield.Among the many Penguin veterans there may be a man who is the leader Red Sullivan is looking for and desperately needs to save his team. Maybe it&rsquo;s Leo Boivin or Bill Harris. Or perhaps it&rsquo;s Charlie Burns or Ken Schinkel.But maybe the Penguins simply don&rsquo;t have a leader on the current roster. Their leader from last year, Andy Bathgate, is now playing for Vancouver in the Western League. Because of the current plight of the Penguins, there are many people in Pittsburgh who figure the team could do worse than recall Bathgate.Yet, Sullivan and General Manager Jack Riley say they would be the first to want Bathgate back if he could do the job &mdash; and they claim he cannot.So, if it&rsquo;s not Andy Bathgate; and if it&rsquo;s not Earl Ingarfield or Dune McCallum, just who is the leader of the Pittsburgh Penguins?The answer to that question holds the secret to the playoff chances of the Pittsburgh Penguins this season. &#9632;

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Struggling Penguins Hunting New Ice Leader To Lift Club

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>NEW YORK &mdash; Gilles Villemure, goalkeeper, recalled from Buffalo of AHL.MONTREAL &mdash; Bob Berry, forward, recalled from Cleveland of AHL and later returned. Jules Drouin, forward, recalled from Houston of CHL.DETROIT &mdash; Pete Mahovlich, forward, recalled from Fort Worth of CHL.MINNESOTA &mdash; Bill Goldsworthy, forward, recalled from Memphis of CHL.PHILADELPHIA &mdash; RosaIre Paiement, forward, and Bob Taylor, defenseman, assigned to Quebec of AHL.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>QUEBEC &mdash; Dennis Plant, forward, recalled from New oJersey of EHL.PORT HURON &mdash; Joe Cooper, defenseman, released.MUSKEGON &mdash; Bob Perani, goalkeeper, secured from Springfield of AHL. Norm Descoteaux, defenseman, obtained from Amarillo of CHL. Jim Whittaker, defenseman, sold to Syracuse of EHL.<h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>CLINTON &mdash; Maurice St. Jacques, forward, secured from Cleveland of AHL on loan.SYRACUSE &mdash; Dave McMillan, defenseman, signed from Noranda. Ont.NASHVILLE &mdash; Claude Bernard, forward, sent to Syracuse of EHL on waivers.CHARLOTTE &mdash; Frank Golembrosky, forward, picked up from Dayton of IHL on waivers.NEW JERSEY &mdash; Roy Pugh, forward, dropped. Bill Christodal, forward, recalled from inactive list. &#9632;

Movements of Players

<div class="byline">BY ED CONRAD</div>PHILADELPHIA. Pa. &mdash;If you&rsquo;re looking for a Cinderella story in hockey, you needn&rsquo;t go any farther than a soft-spoken rookie in the Flyers&rsquo; lineup named Dick Sarrazin.If you check the team&rsquo;s individual scoring, you&rsquo;ll find that Sarrazin is right up there among the leaders. Not bad for a guy who didn&rsquo;t show up on the scene until just a month of so go.And not bad for a guy who was given his walking papers in the Eastern (amateur) Hockey League two short seasons ago!Sarrazin, a right wing, had been called up from the farm club Quebec Aces when the Flyers ran into a critical problem at right wing late in November. They lost Gary Dornhoefer, Leon Rochefort and Rosey Paiement all at about the same time due to injuries.&ldquo;We brought up Dick on an emergency basis to get us over the hump,&rdquo; explained coach Keith Allen. &ldquo;But, I&rsquo;ll tell you, there&rsquo;s no way this kid will be heading back to Quebec in the foreseeable future. He&rsquo;s been doing quite a job.&rdquo;Sarrazin helped the Flyers snap out of their 11-game winless streak with a two-goal effort in a 31 victory over the New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden. Then, the very next game, he pushed two more shots into the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; net to trigger anot her triumph.It meant that after 10 games with the Fivers &mdash; the first time he has been up in the NHL &mdash; Sarrazin had totaled 12 points. He had scored five goals and had contributed seven assists.The dozen points carry more weight than apparent at first glance. That&rsquo;s because the Flyers were caught in the grip of a scoring drought during the winless streak and Sarrazin seemed to be figuring in on just about every goal.&ldquo;I was pretty scared when I came up for my first game against the (Detroit) Red Wings.&rdquo; recalled Sarrazin, who scored a goal and an assist in his NHL debut. &ldquo;After having a good first game, I wanted to prove to the Flyers that I wasn&rsquo;t just a one-game player.&rdquo;This has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Dick&rsquo;s offensive contribution in his nine games thereafter has cancelled out any return ticket to Quebec.&ldquo;I really wasn&rsquo;t worried about being sent back to the Aces (where he played as a first-year pro last season),&rdquo; explained Sarrazin. &ldquo;I knew that the Flyers would give me a chance someday, if not this year, then next.&ldquo;Of course, I never worried about the prospect of going back to Quebec.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s a fine attitude for a guy who came very close to giving hockey a thumb of his nose and going into some other livelihood not that long ago.Two years ago, Dick was cut by the Johnstown Jets (EHL) and was on the verge of giving up the game. However, he still had confidence in himself and managed to hook on with the Jersey Devils of the same league.This was at the time the Flyers had just received their franchise and Vic Stasiuk, now coach of the Aces, worked Sarrazin into the lineup. The hard-working youngster impressed not only Vic but also Flyers&rsquo; GM Bud Poile and coach Keith Allen, who were seeing a lot of Devils&rsquo; games with their eye toward the future.Sarrazin made a fine impression because, during training camp the next season &mdash; Philly&rsquo;s first in the NHL &mdash; the Flyers acquired his pro rights from Detroit. Dick was assigned to Quebec and, showing great improvement as the season went along, helped the Aces advance to the finals of the AHL&rsquo;s Calder Cup playoffs.This season Sarrazin started out with Quebec and, because of the Flyers&rsquo; apparent strength at right wing, seemed destined to finish out the year with them.&ldquo;Then one night Vic (Stasuik) came over to me and asked how my elbow was,&rdquo; remembered Dick. &ldquo;Someone had stepped on it with a skate a few games before and I had to get 27 stitches. Well, when Vick asked me that, I sort of figured something was up. Sure enough it was. After the game he told me to pack a suitcase and fly down to Philadelphia to join the Flyers.&rdquo;Sarrazin, of course, figured he&rsquo;d be back with the Aces before the week was out. He was wrong. He just may never again be an Ace in Quebec, not as long as he&rsquo;s proving exactly that for the Flyers. &#9632;

Flyers’ Rookie Sarrazin Clinches Spot

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01634/2504765-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL Goalkeepers’ Race

<div class="byline">by STAN OBODIAC</div>TORONTO, Ont. &mdash;Ever since the famous confrontation between owner. Stafford Smythe and managercoach Punch Imlach, the Toronto Maple Leafs haven&rsquo;t lost a game.They have been unbeaten in six games. The Leafs won five and the tie was with the NHL leaders, Montreal Canadiens. At the same time they have kept themselves about a half a dozen points out of first place.Their spirit lately is incredible.Just last weekend with less than five minutes to go the western leaders, St. Louis Blues, had Leafs down 2-1 in the Gardens. Suddenly Tim Horton brought cheers from a crowd that was already shuffling out of the rink by beating Glenn Hall. It was Tim&rsquo;s 99th goal of his long NHL career.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01667/2504796-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="256" height="450"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Henderson</figcaption></div>Then Paul Henderson scored another, which may turn out to be the most disputed goal of the winter. Incredibly, the Leafs had won and maintained their unbeaten streak.Said leafs&rsquo; executive vice-president, Harold Ballard, &ldquo;Church isn&rsquo;t finished until the choir stops singing.&rdquo;To some people, including all the St. Louis Blues, it looked as if Henderson&rsquo;s shot hit the top crossbar and rebounded back. It looked to the crowd as if north end goal judge Eddie Mepham thought so too as he didn&rsquo;t flash his red light. But referee Vern Buffey, who was on the play, signalled that the Leafs had scored a goal.You can imagine how disconcerted the Blues were as that made it six games they haven&rsquo;t won a game.Owner Sid Salomon Jr., who took in the game from the press box, certainly was not going to award his Blues any special prizes for that game. Recently he gave Red Berenson a station wagon for scoring those six goals against Philadelphia.Jacques Plante, who sat out the game because of stitches in his head from an errant puck, approached Blues&rsquo; vice-president Lynn Patrick, &ldquo;What are you going to do about it? That goal wasn&rsquo;t in. It hit the cross-bar. We can&rsquo;t be beat that way.&rdquo;The television replay showed the puck coming back from the net or bar at an angle of 60 degrees.After the game the press room debate was on. Two dozen reporters were asking everybody whether they thought it was in or out, and they were even getting opinions fron ushers.In or out, Paul Henderson got the first star of the game. Hall was going to be chosen five minutes from the end, but he wound up Number Three instead.They play hockey on ice &mdash; it&rsquo;s a slippery surface! &#9632;

f0008-01

Imlach-Smythe ‘Showdown’ Ignited Lethargic Leafs, Now They Can’t Lose Game

<div class="byline">By BUI Libby</div><h2>Being A Hockey Wife Can Be Hectic</h2>THE FAN &mdash; Slender and pretty, wearing glasses, she sits alone at the hockey games in Los Angeles. Behind her one night were a group of husbands and wives. One of the husbands was explaining hockey to one of the wives, not his own. He was from Denver and he knew all about hockey because he went to the Western League games there. This was a National League game between Detroit and L.A., and he was telling the wife to watch for Gordie Howe, number nine, who was the greatest player ever, although now past 40. When number nine skated out, the husband pointed him out. The lady said he certainly didn&rsquo;t look 40. The man said he certainly didn&rsquo;t play like he was 40, either. He was, we might point out, Frenchy Lemieux, number nine of the Los Angeles Kings who is 23 and who would have been flattered. Later they complained that for a great star he certainly didn&rsquo;t show them much in this game, which would not have flattered Lemieux, who held Howe without a goal.The wife pointed out one Los Angeles player and wondered why he wore a helmet and mask. The husband said, &rdquo;because hes chicken. Any of them can wear those things if they want to, but most don&rsquo;t, and what it comes right down to is he must be chicken or he wouldn&rsquo;t be wearing one.&rdquo; The player was Jimmy Peters of the Kings, who donned the helmet and mask to protect a fractured jaw, with which he continued playing.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02585/2504827-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="585" height="873"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL WHITE &hellip; Best All-Round IN NHL?</figcaption></div>The trim, bespectacled lady sitting in front ot them did not say anything because she has accustomed herself not to saying anything to the fans. She was Gail White, the wife of Bill White of the Kings, and she says she tries not to listen to what the fans are saying, although it is hard sometimes. She and Bill are both from Toronto, where they met and were married and where they still live during the off-seasons. They have three daughters, and the oldest one, six, has just started school, so soon she will have to think about settling them in L.A., which she does not want to think about because she prefers Toronto.They live in an expensive apartment house in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, a few blocks from the Kings&rsquo; home Forum because there are no nearby places that are nice and are not expensive, and they pay a lady to baby-sit so she can attend each of the 38 or more home games, which runs into money, too. A lot of their players and their wives and families live in the building, so they are friendly because they have not had time to make many new friends in their new winter hometown. However; the season tickets the Kings provide the players for their wives are scattered around the Forum, possibly because they do not want all the wives to sit together, which could lead to arguments among the wives and friction among the players.Gail White used to sit with Gordon Labossiere&rsquo;s wife, Claire, but Gordon was sent to Springfield, so now Gail was sitting alone. It is not a crowded section and there were empty seats around her and she seemed a little lonely. &ldquo;Claire said she&rsquo;d never been to Springfield and she liked cold weather so she thought it would be fun,&rdquo; Gail White said. &ldquo;Yes, I guess she was rationalizing. What else could she do? She was lucky in that she had no kids to have to move around. I&rsquo;ve been lucky in that we haven&rsquo;t been bounced around, which so many in hockey have.&rdquo;Behind her. a fan yelled at one of the Kings&rsquo; players, &ldquo;Send the bum to Springfield.&rdquo; White spent seven straight years in the minors, the last five in Springfield when Eddie Shore owned him and would not let him go. and Gail said Bill was disgusted and talking of quitting until expansion, when Los Angeles finally brought him up to the majors last year at 28. He is not as spectacular as Boston&rsquo;s Bobby Orr, but he may be the best all-around defenseman in the NHL. which shows that the major league brass did miss some good prospects in the minors, although it will be awhile before the Eastern Division people admit there is a player as good as White is in the new Western Division.He is so good, no one yells at him much, which they do at the other players, often profanely. When the Kings were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs in a 9-4 game lastseason, the fans threw garbage at goalie Terry Sawchuk and screamed obscenities at the players until most of the wives fled their seats in distress. Gail White was the last to go. sitting tight-lipped and angry, until, finally, she too could take it no longer and walked away weeping.Now she sat there quietly urging on the players wigh words spoken aloud, but softly: &ldquo;C&rsquo;mon. Brent.&rdquo; &ldquo;C&rsquo;mon. Dave.&rdquo; Her voice rose in intensity a little when she said. &ldquo;C&rsquo;mon Bill.&rdquo; When he shot from the blue-line and the puck went in and it was announced he had scored the goal she came to her feet cheering and applauding. He spoke to the referee, however, and the official skated over to the scorekeeper and they corrected it because Ron Anderson had deflected it in. She sagged a little, but said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right. We got the goal, which is what counts, and Bill did get an assist.&rdquo;<h2>Wouldn&rsquo;t Like Husband To Fight</h2>WHITE IS a cool player, who does the job with skill. He is not a hitter and seldom gets into fights. There used to be a player in New York who always got into fights and his wife used to yell, &ldquo;Kill the bum.&rdquo; Gail says, &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t like it if Bill got into fights.&rdquo; The husband behind her was telling the wife he hoped there was a fight, because that was really fun and it got pretty bloody sometimes. A puck hit Gary Bergman of Detroit in the mouth then and he went down bleeding and Gail gasped and covered her mouth and closed her eyes for a moment, while they helped him off and scraped the blood off the ice. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been very lucky in that Bill&rsquo;s never been hurt bad.&rdquo; she said later. Bergman had a four-tooth bridge broken and required four stitches in his upper lip. The husband behind Gail was telling the wife that Bergman&rsquo;s accident was nothing compared to some beauties he&rsquo;d seen.After the game Gail waited in the lobby with the other wives for their husbands. Fans waited there, mostly kids, to get autographs.Bill Gadsby, the Detroit coach, has an agreement with his wife that he has to start any conversation on the drive home because after some games he doesn&rsquo;t feel like talking. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s never come to that with Bill and I.&rdquo; Gail White said. &ldquo;Although he&rsquo;s often very quiet. He takes the game very seriously&rdquo;. &#9632;

f0008-02

Hockey Ad Lib

3247 W. Lawrence Ave Chicago 25, III. Phone Keystone 9-5044BRAND NAMESC.C.M.&rsquo;COOPER WEEKSBAUERHYDEWINWELLJOHNSONAERFLYTENORTHLAND<h2>MAIL ORDERS</h2><h3>FILLED PROMPTLY</h3>(Use the order form below) Check off desi red Item Insert size where required<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02612/2504980-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="394" height="376"></div>HOCKEY JERSEYSToronto, Chicago Montreal, New York Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles, St Louis, Minnesota, Pittsburgh.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03534/2504973-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="765" height="71"></div>HOCKEY STOCKINGS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-04454/2504966-1-eng-US/f0009-042.jpg" title="f0009-04" width="761" height="36"></div>HOCKEY PANTS(All with braid trim)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-05359/2504959-1-eng-US/f0009-052.jpg" title="f0009-05" width="756" height="205"></div>Actual waist size(Hockey pants automatically oversized. We will size accordingly.)NHL HOCKEY CRESTS(All washable Swiss embr. emblems)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-06308/2504952-1-eng-US/f0009-062.jpg" title="f0009-06" width="763" height="345"></div>(Add 50c per emblem sewn to jerseyi)HOCKEY SWEATSHIRTS(Chicago, Boston, Montreal New York, Detroit, Toronto)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-07273/2504945-1-eng-US/f0009-072.jpg" title="f0009-07" width="748" height="72"></div>HOCKEY GLOVES<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-08252/2504938-1-eng-US/f0009-082.jpg" title="f0009-08" width="743" height="341"></div>HOCKEY SHINGUARDS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-09245/2504931-1-eng-US/f0009-092.jpg" title="f0009-09" width="756" height="170"></div>HOCKEY ELBOW PADS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-10225/2504924-1-eng-US/f0009-102.jpg" title="f0009-10" width="747" height="143"></div>HOCKEY HELMETS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-11196/2504917-1-eng-US/f0009-112.jpg" title="f0009-11" width="742" height="107"></div>(One size only fits all)GOALIE GLOVES<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-12158/2504910-1-eng-US/f0009-122.jpg" title="f0009-12" width="746" height="136"></div>GOALIE PADS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-13141/2504903-1-eng-US/f0009-132.jpg" title="f0009-13" width="748" height="164"></div>GOALIE MASKS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-14115/2504896-1-eng-US/f0009-142.jpg" title="f0009-14" width="749" height="74"></div>TOUQUES<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-1593/2504889-1-eng-US/f0009-152.jpg" title="f0009-15" width="684" height="37"></div> &#9632;

f0009-02

NED SINGER’S HOCKEY SUPPLY CO. SKATE EXCHANGE

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div>DETROIT, Mich. &mdash;Nothing warms Bill Gadsby&rsquo;s old defenseman&rsquo;s heart more than a well-delivered bodycheck or the sight of a defenseman working over a forward in the corner.Bob Baun has given him that this season and, from the start, the dark-beared, tough-looking Baun has been the Red Wings&rsquo; best defenseman.That might cause a few snickers when you glance at the goals against column in the Eastern Division standings.But Gadsby doesn&rsquo;t snicker or crack a smile when he says emphatically &ldquo;Baun is playing All-Star hockey.&rdquo;In one game at Olympia Baun drew three ovations from the crowd when he left the ice after his turn, a mighty rare compliment for a defenseman.Baun&rsquo;s performance has surprised many. For the eight years he was paired with Carl Brewer in Toronto &mdash; &ldquo;We were like brothers&rdquo; &mdash; Baun was one of the best defensemen in hockey. He did the heavy work; Brewer had the finesse.Since Brewer retired from pro hockey, a move partially triggered by Baun&rsquo;s contract difficulties with the Leafs, Baun hasn&rsquo;t been quite the same. When Brewer left, Marcel Pronovost, acquired that spring in a trade with Detroit, became Baun&rsquo;s partner.But they just didn&rsquo;t fit each other.&ldquo;I got hurt (knee) and when I got back, Marcel got hurt,&rdquo; Baun said.Baun played only 44 games that season, just 54 the next and the Leafs let him go to Oakland in the expansion draft. Baun had an idea he wouldn&rsquo;t be protected so he was ready to move.&ldquo;We liked our home in Toronto, it was a lovely home, but we wanted a new environment for the kids and decided to raise them in the country so we sold our house and moved out.&rdquo;They moved to a farm outside Toronto where Baun fattens up beef cattle for the market.Then came the draft and the Bauns bought a home in California. But nothing went right. The Seals were the worst team in expansion, had the worst attendance and management errors just compounded the problems.&ldquo;It was disheartening to play with so few people in the stands but I liked the challenge. I was really interested. I didn&rsquo;t think we were that bad a club.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01650/2504858-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="532" height="1326"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB BAUN &hellip; Best Defender</figcaption></div>The Seals, needing offense, and backup help, traded Baun and Ron Harris to Detroit for Gary Jarrett, Doug Roberts, Howie Young (then sent to Chicago on waivers) and Chris Worthy. It&rsquo;s had dividends for the Seals against Detroit with Worthy backstopping a 2-1 victory over Detroit and Jarrett scoring the winner and in a 6-0 shellacking of the Wings in which Jarrett got a goal and an assist.But Gadsby feels Baun has been a dividend for Detroit. The Wings needed a tough defenseman. &ldquo;In the games I saw last season the other clubs just streaked over the blue line without getting hit,&rdquo; Gadsby said.Does Baun feel he&rsquo;s playing as well now as he did with Brewer?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing a different style now. I&rsquo;m passing the puck far better. In Toronto I made the one pass to Carl when we were coming out of our own zone.&ldquo;Now I&rsquo;m moving it up to the forwards a bit better. I&rsquo;m shooting the puck a little better although I shot it pretty well then, too. I think I&rsquo;m carrying the puck more now.&rdquo;Is he playing more consistent?&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know. I like to think that I&rsquo;m a student of the game but I can&rsquo;t really put my finger on it. Usually I think probably too much about the game and this year I came into it with an open mind.&ldquo;After the trade I wasn&rsquo;t too sure just what was going to happen. I wasn&rsquo;t sure whether the trade would be good for us &hellip; but the Red Wings have been tremendous in helping me and my morale is up&rdquo;.Baun is a thinking hockey player. He gives the impression of being one of the enforcers from those old Chicago gangland movies but there&rsquo;s another side to Baun, the man who dresses like a country squire &mdash; the farm, the successful businessman &mdash; part owner in a General Motors dealership.The morning of a recent game in Boston he was out shopping in Harvard Square and came back, with a book on Andrew Wyeth, the American painter who specializes in Pennsylvania and Maine country scenes.He&rsquo;s taking flying lessons, he drives a sports car &mdash; &ldquo;I guess that&rsquo;s more my image,&rdquo; he smiled.He&rsquo;s a chef and not the bacon and eggs or hamburgers on the grill kind of chef.&ldquo;I pretty well move into everything. I have a very easy palate. I go French cooking, Italian, German &hellip; I move right around, I don&rsquo;t stick with one.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always liked to cook and my first year in pro hockey I lived with five other players in Rochester and that&rsquo;s where I really started. I cooked &mdash; that was my main duty.&ldquo;I come from a German-Ukrainian-Polish background and my mother made all the Ukrainian and Polish dishes so I knew them.&ldquo;And Italian became a first love of mine. I have a friend who owns a very fine Italian restaurant in Toronto and I can cook in his restaurant any time I want to &hellip; not just spaghetti and lasagna &hellip; there are many fine Italian dishes.&rdquo;Bob Baun obviously is a man of many interests.Foremost now, though, is hockey and while he speaks softly, so low you almost have to strain to hear, he carries a big stick.Baun&rsquo;s always liked bodychecking hockey, the kind he learned from the start in the Toronto system.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s less of it now &mdash; the game has changed drastically. It&rsquo;s more offense now. And, with the travelling, like we played six games in nine nights recently, you couldn&rsquo;t play hitting hockey every night and have anything left at the end.&ldquo;And the fans seem to enjoy more scoring, too.&rdquo;But Baun says if he had his druthers, he&rsquo;d take the old style.Are there any clubs around now that are like the old hard-hitting Leaf clubs?&ldquo;I think Boston would like to think they are but they just don&rsquo;t have the savvy to go with it,&rsquo; Baun said.What about the oft-criticized Red Wing defense?&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t think we have a bad defense. We haven&rsquo;t been all that consistent. We&rsquo;ve had problems working with our wingers &mdash; we aren&rsquo;t communicating with them as well as we should be &hellip; we&rsquo;ve got to talk a little bit more. We might be a little too offensive-minded in our zone, too &hellip; the forwards spending too much time at the points.&ldquo;Some games we look real good. You&rsquo;ve got to remember that we have an awful lot of very young players and it takes time to learn. I think there&rsquo;ll be more improvement in the second half of the season.&rdquo;Many people look at the Red Wings, at the age and time in grade of Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio, and almost automatically write them off as an old club but this is a team you need a scorecard for. The Wings usually are carrying five players who are no more than second year professionals.Baun says it&rsquo;s the youngest club he&rsquo;s played on since he broke in with the Leafs.That was in 1957 and this is Bob&rsquo;s 12th full season in the NHL. During that time he built a reputation as one of the league&rsquo;s toughest defensemen. But you&rsquo;ll notice Baun, for all his roughness, doesn&rsquo;t go in for rampages, like John Ferguson, Reg Fleming or Ted Green, or knock down, drag&rsquo;em out fights.&ldquo;I find it&rsquo;s hardly worthwhile. It takes more out of you than it does probably a guy like Green or Ferguson. I&rsquo;ll never back down from them but I really don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s necessary. It might be necessary to them. I think if you play the game properly and play it the way I do, it&rsquo;s tough enough.&rdquo;Baun has just one regret. He&rsquo;s only 5-feet, 9-inches tall and gets a lot of elbows in the face.&ldquo;I just wish I was three or four inches taller.&rdquo;Gadsby will take him the way he is. &#9632;

f0009-01

Gadsby Flips Over Baun’s Play, Claims Rearguard An ‘All Star’

<div class="byline">with ED FITKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01667/2505018-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="322" height="430"></div>PERHAPS IT MAY SEEN INCONGRUOUS that a player in the NHL could be too polite for his own good. But in Gordie Howe&rsquo;s opinion, one of Bobby Hull&rsquo;s biggest problems when the Golden Jet broke into the NHL at the age of 18 was his virtual hero-worship respect for the big stars of the game.&ldquo;Bobby would go out of his way not to hit them,&rdquo; Gordie said during a recent informal press conference in Los Angeles. &ldquo;That hurt his play. Not too much, though, because he seems to have done quite well since. Me? No. I didn&rsquo;t pull back. I came from the Jack Adams school. He made it plain he didn&rsquo;t want any Lady Byng players on his team. And he chewed me out a lot of times for trying to be too tough and getting into fights.&rdquo;ASKED IF HE WOULD HIT a friend on an opposing team, Howe grinned and replied: &ldquo;Probably. When I&rsquo;m out there I&rsquo;m only playing against the sweaters and I&rsquo;d just be looking at the crest he&rsquo;s wearing.&rdquo;Did that mean that he wouldn&rsquo;t KNOW when Hull was on the ice? &ldquo;No,&rdquo; chuckled hockey&rsquo;s only 700-goal scorer, &ldquo;I always know when he&rsquo;s out there. He&rsquo;s the most exciting player I&rsquo;ve seen. And if I find him exciting, playing against him, I&rsquo;m sure the fans must. My kind of play is dull. I always look to headman the puck. Bobby takes it and goes. And no one has a harder shot. I feel sorry for the defensemen who have to face that shot. They&rsquo;ve got nowhere to hide. When I see him winding up to shoot I get away over on the opposite wing.&rsquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02587/2505011-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="547" height="1203"><figcaption class="caption-body">GORDIE HOWE &hellip; dedication important</figcaption></div>HOWE&rsquo;S LIFE STORY, AUTHORED by Toronto&rsquo;s Jim Vipond, is now on the bookstands. It has a big white No. 9 on the jacket. The original art work had the numeral in yellow.&ldquo;My wife (Colleen) was really upset when she saw the original.&rdquo; Gordie related. &ldquo;She went right after the publishers and insisted that they change it. She told them that yellow was a color I had never been associated with in my life. And she got it changed.&rdquo;HOWE HAS NEVER SET ANY GOAL objectives and now that he has 700-plus he isn&rsquo;t thinking about 800, for example. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always figured everything in years,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;When I broke in. I decided that if I could stick around for 20 years, the records would take care of themselves. Now I get asked all the time when I&rsquo;m going to quit. I don&rsquo;t know. Probably when I lose my love for the game. I still get a thrill out of playing and every game is a challenge. The only trouble when you get older is that you play more bad games. Perhaps it will be my legs that will go. I know Sid Abel had to quit because his legs kept cramping on him. Bill Gadsby was pretty much the same story. I&rsquo;m not dreading the day when I have to hangem up. Usually it&rsquo;s a player who hans&rsquo;t anything lined up for the future who feels that way. But I&rsquo;ve got my pension, a 10-year contract with Eaton&rsquo;s, a hockey school, a business form company and my future may be in insurance. Mr. Norris (Bruce Norris, Red Wing president) would like me to go with his Olympia Insurance Company. I&rsquo;m planning to start learning next summer.&rdquo;THERE ARE THREE THINGS that a hockey player needs to succeed in the NHL, according to Howe: Love of the game, dedication and determination &hellip;&ldquo;I get mad at players who have all the talent in the world but only show it in practise and not in a game. They get hit a couple of times and that&rsquo;s it. They start thinking about getting back to watching TV. They don&rsquo;t have a real love for the game.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-01

Footloose

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01663/2505070-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"></div><h2>INDIVIDUAL SCORING LEADERS</h2>(Including Games of Sun. Dec. 22)<h2>Remaing players by divisions</h2><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02614/2505063-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="604" height="2526"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03536/2505056-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="580" height="166"></div><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-04450/2505049-1-eng-US/f0011-042.jpg" title="f0011-04" width="589" height="2340"></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

NHL SCORING RACE

<div class="byline">BY GLENN REDMANN</div>TWIN CITIES, Minn. &mdash;The North Stars have not &mdash; we repeat, have not &mdash; played the type of hockey at home this season that is conducive to:1. Winning new fans.2. Satisfying old fans.3. Insuring themselves a spot in the postseason playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-05378/2505108-1-eng-US/f0011-052.jpg" title="f0011-05" width="275" height="437"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Muckier</figcaption></div>At this writing, Minnesota&rsquo;s second-year National Hockey League entry had played 15 of their 38 regular season home games &mdash; eight against the old teams and seven against expansion rivals &mdash; and the result was a mere five victories, one tie and nine defeats.That friends is only 11 points out of a possible 30 and nowhere close to the splendid 17-12-8 record compiled by last year&rsquo;s fourth-place finishers in the West Division.&ldquo;We just don&rsquo;t seem to get up for games like we should,&rdquo; said Claude Larose, the club&rsquo;s second-leading scorer behind Ray Cullen after being informed that the Stars had dropped behind in the first period in 11 of their first 13 losses.&ldquo;That was never much of a problem in Montreal,&rdquo; added the former Canadien right winger, &ldquo;and come to think of it, we didn&rsquo;t have to play catch-up hockey very often, either&rdquo;.The home ice troubles started right off the bat with a 3-1 loss to Montreal on opening night, and before the month of October had ended the Stars were 1-4 at the Sports Center.Goalkeeper Cesare Maniago and the defense had acquitted themselves admirably in those five tilts with a yield of only 14-goals. But all the offense could produce was nine goals, not even a two per game average.After a heart-breaking 1-0 loss to Toronto in its first November home game things picked up as Minnesota clicked off consecutive wins over Detroit (breaking a seven-game losing streak against old teams), Philadelphia and Los Angeles.The hot hand of Chicago&rsquo;s Dave Dryden put an end to that win skein by handing the Stars their third home ice shutout Nov. 20 and, their troubles continued a week later when they blew a 3-0 lead in allowing Oakland to gain a 3-3 deadlock.December began with consecutive 4-2 losses to Toronto and Pittsburgh, but things began to look up when John Muckier&rsquo;s crew literally skated New York off the ice in a 4-1 victory Dec. 14. It was the Stars first ever over the Rangers in seven tries, two of which had ended in ties, and 14,423 fans went home happy.With a chance to pass Oakland in the standings before leaving on their longest road trip of the season, the Stars were seemingly ready for a top effort against the Seals here Dec. 17.A splendid mid-week crowd of 10,730 &mdash; unacustomed to being at the Met on a Tuesday night - turned out to cheer their favorites on.But that all-too-often case ot first period-it is reared up its ugly head and after falling behind on the first of two goals by Bill Hicke on a power play late in the first period, the Stars bowed, 3-2 and dropped three points behind their conquerors.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-06337/2505101-1-eng-US/f0011-062.jpg" title="f0011-06" width="1189" height="1365"><figcaption class="caption-body">RAY CULLEN &hellip; One of The Few Bright Spots</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I have no idea why we aren&rsquo;t doing better at home,&rdquo; said Muckier. &ldquo;If I did. I&rsquo;d do something about it. I do know this much, though. Unless we start doing better we might as well forget about making the playoffs.&rdquo;The saving grace of a season which to say the least has been disappointing is that the Minnesotans have played fairly well on the road, racking up two victories over Oakland, one win and a tie at St. Louis and ties at Philadelphia and Toronto.If there can be such a thing as a break in the schedule, it might well be a 17-day period from Jan. 9 to 25 when only one of the club&rsquo;s eight games (at Boston Jan. 16) in that stretch is against an old, established foe.Of the remaining seven games, five are at home while both road tests are at Pittsburgh.So it may not be a bad idea to keep Jan. 25 in mind. If after the Los Angeles home game on that date Minnesota is still floundering then it could be along winter for the North Stars &mdash; and their fans.Up to now the fans apparently haven&rsquo;t lost faith because by latest turnstiles count, home attendance is at 187,000 &mdash; about a 12,450 average &mdash; and that&rsquo;s more than 1,200 per game ahead of last year&rsquo;s pace.But how long can it last?Maybe all season, who knows. The best assurance of course, would be for the North Stars to start playing the type of hockey at home that would push their record where it belongs &mdash; above, or at least close to, the generally accepted .500 pace.It will take quite a turnabout &hellip; and a few first-period leads would help. &#9632;

f0011-05

North Stars Performing Below Last Year’s Expansion Pace

ASK YOUR DEALER ABOUTLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS (FORMERLY WALLY) (Hockey sticks distributed in theU.S. through the Hillerich & Brodsby Co.)ASK YOUR DEALER ABOUTLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS (FORMERLY WALLY)(Hockey sticks distributed in the U.S. through the Hillerich & BrodsbyCo.)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01635/2505153-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="567" height="561"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY HULL &hellip;Elbowed In Face</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02545/2505146-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="547" height="565"><figcaption class="caption-body">GORDIE HOWE &hellip;Coming On Strong</figcaption></div>Up until the morning of Dec. 21, New York Rangers were mired in a crippling slump and Reggie Fleming had only one goal to his credit for the season.The Rangers, who were &lsquo;number one&rsquo;&rsquo; only a month earlier, were being threatened with demotion to the bottom of the league. Until Fleming came to life, that is.Used mainly for penalty-killing and checking duties, Fleming suddenly became a scorer. He tallied in four straight games, none of which the Rangers lost, and boosted the team back into contention in the tight Eastern Division race.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03425/2505139-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="269" height="405"><figcaption class="caption-body">Reg Fleming</figcaption></div>Fleming began one of the most productive weeks of his NHL career with a goal against St. Louis Blues that helped New York gain a split of the points in a 2-2 tie. The next night he notched the winner while taking a rare turn on the powerplay in a 4-2 triumph over Minnesota North Stars.But Reggie didn&rsquo;t quit there. He continued to lift the New Yorkers by the boot straps by netting the tying marker in a 2-2 sawoff with Philadelphia Flyers and the getaway goal in a 3-1 conquest of Oakland Seals.Of course there were other factors in the rejuvenation of the Rangers who sorely missed injured right wing star Rod Gilbert during their slump. One was the stiffening of the New York defense and another was insertion of Gilles Villemure between the pipes in place of incumbent Ed Giacomin who had begun to show signs of wear and tear. But the scoring outburst by Fleming was the biggest single reason for the team&rsquo;s resurgence.El Producto and THE HOCKEY NEWS are pleased to salute the player-of-the-week in the East:Reg Fleming&hellip;New York &#9632;

f0012-01

NHL Player Of The Week — IN THE EAST

CHICAGO, Ill. &mdash;Bobby Hull has been forced out of action by a broken jaw and it comes at a time when veteran Gordie Howe of Detroit is pressing the Black Hawks&rsquo; super star for the individual scoring lead.Hull, who will likely miss only two games, had 48 points when he went out with the injury after taking a stiff elbow check from Mike Pelyk of Toronto. Howe was close behind with 45 points.Only time will tell if Hull will be forced to sit out any longer and if the indestructible Howe comes on and overtakes him. All Hull can do is watch and wait now.&ldquo;The fracture is just above the angle of the jaw and below the right ear,&rdquo; said Dr. Myron Tremaine, a team physician. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to say how long he will be out, it may be a week to 10 days. But knowing Bobby, I don&rsquo;t think he will sit out too many games as long as he can skate.&ldquo;Chances are that as soon as he gets accustomed to breathing with the wire and the soreness he will be able to play. He will find it a little hard to eat and will have to have the right type of food.&rdquo;Hull moved back into the goalscoring lead with Boston&rsquo;s Phil Esposito, each with 22. Esposito stayed in third place in the points race behind Hull and Howe with 41.Behind Esposito and in fourth place tied are Chicago&rsquo;s Jim Pappin and Stan Mikita with 40 points. Three more than sixthplace Red Berenson of St. Louis, the West Divison&rsquo;s leading player in goals and points. Jean Beliveau of Montreal is tied for seventh place with Norm Ullman each with 36 points.One of the highlights of last week was an exciting 0-0 tie between Boston and the Canadiens at Montreal. It was the first goalless game since March 14, 1968, when Los Angeles and the Flyers had a similar result and the first 0-0 tie between two East Division teams since Chicago and Toronto failed to score a goal at Toronto, Jan. 13, 1965. Boston and Canadiens last has a 0-0 tie Nov. 30, 1963, at Montreal.There were four shutouts last week among the 19 games played and one of those was recorded by Jacques Plante of St. Louis. Plante, who is league leader in shutouts with four, and Glenn Hall continue to provide the Blues with the best goaltending record in the league. They have a combined goals-against average of 2.19 while Toronto&rsquo;s Johnny Bower and Bruce Gamble are second with a 2.43 average.One goaltending streak came to an end when an injury forced Ed Giacomin to miss his first Ranger game of the season and Gilles Villemure was called up from the minors to. fill in. Giacomin was the last goaltender to play in all his team&rsquo;s games this season.Rookie defenseman Jim Dorey of Toronto moved back into the penalty minute lead as last week&rsquo;s leader, John Ferguson, missed two games with the &rsquo;flu. Dorey now has 106 minutes, one minute more than Ferguson. &#9632;

Broken Jaw To Hull Gives Howe Chance To Seize Scoring Lead

<h2>FRI. DEC 20</h2>ST. LOUIS 1 at OAKLAND 0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01628/2505393-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="572" height="431"></div><h2>SAT. DEG 21</h2>BOSTON 0 at MONTREAL 0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02584/2505386-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="584" height="401"></div>DETROIT 3 at TORONTO 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03540/2505379-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="581" height="825"></div>NEW YORK 2 at ST. LOUIS 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04497/2505372-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="587" height="425"></div>PHILADELPHIA 2 at LOS ANGELES 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05411/2505365-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="577" height="431"></div>MINNESOTA 3 at PITTSBURGH 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-06349/2505358-1-eng-US/f0013-062.jpg" title="f0013-06" width="577" height="229"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-07322/2505351-1-eng-US/f0013-072.jpg" title="f0013-07" width="582" height="245"></div><h2>SUN. DEC. 22</h2>MONTREAL 5 at BOSTON 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-08302/2505344-1-eng-US/f0013-082.jpg" title="f0013-08" width="600" height="955"></div>TORONTO 2 at DETROIT 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-09288/2505337-1-eng-US/f0013-092.jpg" title="f0013-09" width="586" height="553"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-10268/2505330-1-eng-US/f0013-102.jpg" title="f0013-10" width="585" height="106"></div>PITTSBURGH 1 at CHICAGO 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-11244/2505323-1-eng-US/f0013-112.jpg" title="f0013-11" width="582" height="551"></div>PHILADELPHIA 1 at OAKLAND 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-12213/2505316-1-eng-US/f0013-122.jpg" title="f0013-12" width="583" height="495"></div>MINNESOTA 2 at NEW YORK 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-13179/2505309-1-eng-US/f0013-132.jpg" title="f0013-13" width="584" height="570"></div><h2>WED. DEC. 25</h2>OAKLAND 3 at BOSTON 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-14149/2505302-1-eng-US/f0013-142.jpg" title="f0013-14" width="586" height="593"></div>TORONTO 4 at CHICAGO 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-15120/2505295-1-eng-US/f0013-152.jpg" title="f0013-15" width="584" height="654"></div>ST. LOUIS2 at MINNESOTA0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-1682/2505288-1-eng-US/f0013-162.jpg" title="f0013-16" width="585" height="406"></div>NEW YORK 2 at PHILADELPHIA 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-1764/2505281-1-eng-US/f0013-172.jpg" title="f0013-17" width="587" height="533"></div>DETROIT 3 at PITTSBURGH 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-1853/2505274-1-eng-US/f0013-182.jpg" title="f0013-18" width="585" height="567"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-1943/2505267-1-eng-US/f0013-192.jpg" title="f0013-19" width="580" height="254"></div><h2>THURS. DEC. 26</h2>OAKLAND 1 at NEW YORK 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-2029/2505260-1-eng-US/f0013-202.jpg" title="f0013-20" width="595" height="599"></div>PITTSBURGH 2 at ST. LOUIS3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-2123/2505253-1-eng-US/f0013-212.jpg" title="f0013-21" width="584" height="566"></div>MINNESOTA 4 at LOS ANGELES 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-2219/2505246-1-eng-US/f0013-222.jpg" title="f0013-22" width="593" height="785"></div>TORONTO 2 at CANADIENS 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-2314/2505239-1-eng-US/f0013-232.jpg" title="f0013-23" width="577" height="565"></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

National Hockey League Summaries

<h2>MONTREAL</h2>Goal, Esposito, Wakely. Defense, Laperriere, J.G Tremblay, Harris, Hillman, Savard, Forwards, Beliveau, G. Tremblay, Backstrom, Duff, Coumoyer, Provost, Rousseau, Richard, Ferguson, Redmond, Lemaire.<h2>TORONTO</h2>Goal, Gamble, Bower. Defense, Piloto, Pronovost, Horton, Peiyk, Dorey, Forwards, Ellis, Ullman, Oliver, Keon, Mickey, Walton, F. Smith, Henderson, Pulford, Armstrong.<h2>CHICAGO</h2>Goal, Dryden, DeJordy, Defense Marotte, Young, Reid, Ravlich, Stapleton. Forwards, Orban, Martin, Pappin, B. Hull, D. Hull, Mohns, Nesterenko, C. Maki, Wharram, Schmautx.<h2>NEW YORK</h2>Goal, Giacomin, Villemure, Simmons, Defense, Howell, Brown, Park, Neilson, Selling, iForwards, Hextail, Nevin, Fleming, Jeffrey, Hadfield, Stewart, Baton, Ratelie, Goyette, Marshall, Tkaczuk.<h2>DETROIT</h2>Goal, Crozier, Edwards. Defense, Baun, Douglas, Popiel, Borgman, Harris. Forwards, Unger, Howe, Delvecchio, F. Mahovlich, MacGregor, Libett, Lawson, Stemkowski, P. Mahovlich, Prentice.<h2>BOSTON</h2>Goal, Cheevers, Johnston. Defense, Orr, Green, Westfall, Smith, Doak, Awrey. Forwards, Esposito, Hodge, Bucyk, Cashman, Sather, Sanderson, Stanfield, McKenzie, Shack, Murphy.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2>Goal, Parent, Favell. Defense, Van Impe, Watson, Miszuk, Stanley, Hale, Cherry, Forwards, Lacroix, Rochefort, Selby, Gendron, Nolet, Sarrazin. Peters, Blackburn, Johnson, Kennedy.<h2>OAKLAND</h2>Goal, Hodge, Smith, Worthy, Defense, Roberts, Vadnais, Lacombe, Watson, Marshall, Odrowski. Forwards, Laughton Ehmen, Hicke, Hampson, Jarrett, Swarbrick, Dillabough, Ferguson, Szura, Perry.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2>Goal, Binkley, Daley. Denfese, Boivin, Speer, Price, McCallum, Woytowich. Forwards, Angotti, Fonteyne, Burns, Ingarfield, Ubriaco, Schinkel, Dea, Harris, Boyer, Pronovost, McCreary.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2>Goal, Hall, iPlante. Defense, Arbour, Bob Plager, Roberts, Barclay Plager, Talbot, Picard. Forwards, Berenson, St. Marseille, Schock, Sabourin, Ecclestone, McCreary, Cameron, Keenan, McDonald, Henry.<h2>MINNESOTA</h2>Goal, Maniago, Bauman. Defense, W. Hillman, Rupp, Vasko. McCord, McMahon. Forwards, O&rsquo;Shea, McKechnie, Smith, Cullen, Parise, Connolly, Boudrias, Johnston, Larose, Collins, Grant, MacDonald, Goldsworthy.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2>Goal, Rutledge, Desjardins. Defense, Wall, Amadio, Rolfe, B. Hughes, Cahan, White. Forwards, Krake, Peters, R. Lemieux, H. Hughes, Irvine, Joyal, Flett, Robinson, Anderson. &#9632;

NHL TEAM LINEUPS

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01624/2505448-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">WAYNE RUTLEDGE &hellip; Patiently Waits His Chance</figcaption></div>LOS ANGELES, Calif &mdash; Wayne Rutledge is an idependent sort of person. Even 5 a rookie trying to make the HL last season, he wouldn&rsquo;t sign is contract until he had argained to the last minute &mdash; hich was on the bus-ride to the irport on the way out of camp to os Angeles, This season, he gain was one of the last Kings to ign. He plays it cool, which bugs some people.He played better than the fabled veteran Terry Sawchuk, but when Red Kelly went for experience on the teams way out last season, Rut seemed to take it in stride, Sawchuk is gone this season but the fact that Kelly seems to prefer newcomer Gerry Desjardins does not appear to have shaken Rutledge, a bright and honest fellow.&ldquo;I do what I&rsquo;m told to do,&rdquo; Rut says, smiling and shrugging. &ldquo;I show up for every game. I put on my uniform. If I&rsquo;m told I&rsquo;m playing, I do my best. If I&rsquo;m told I&rsquo;m not playing, I don&rsquo;t play. That is the secret to my success, such as it has been so far.&rdquo;For awhile the only position, Rutledge seemed to be filling this season was a standing one, leaning against the boards at the end of the bench, a spot the big blonde filled prominently. In one stretch of 14 games, Rut stood out five straight games at one point, six straight in another.Desjardins was playing brilliantly. With him, the Kings won four in a row. Coach Kelly said he simply was not going to break up a winning lineup to give his other goalie some work. Fair enough. When Desjardins lost one, Rutledge got back into action. And before long, what do you know, with Rut, the Kings reeled off another four straight. And Kelly stuck with him until the Kings lost.The fact is if the rest of the Kings ever get good enough, they can win championships with either or both of these goaltenders. They are both young, big, strong, gutsy fellows. There is not another team, old or new, in the entire NHL as well fortified for the future in goal as are the Kings.The way it has worked out, after 28 games, Desjardins had started 16, Rutledge 12. Desjardins had a 6-7-3 record, Rut 5-7-0. Desjardins had a goals-against average around 2.65, Rut one around 3.25. Desjardins has been better so far this season, but both have been better than their support.Desjardins is 24 and in his fourth year as a pro. Rutledge is 27 and in his fifth year. Desjardins wears a mask, Rutledge does not. Desjardins scrambles and flops, but has incredibly quick reflexes, especially with his gloved hand. Rutledge is more a stand-up sort, who makes hard saves look easy. Desjardins makes them look harder.Early in their careers, you could have had either for two bits and an autographed photo of Cliff Pennington. Now they&rsquo;d come super-star high, or should. Some still aren&rsquo;t sure about them, but the number of doubters is dwindling rapidly.One knock on Rut has been that he has a poor attitude. He admits he ued to goof off on some lopsided games before small crowds in the minors. &ldquo;Some nights you just want to get it over with,&rdquo; he says. He also admits he cools it in practice sometimes.Which brings us to a second knock on Rut. They used to say he couldn&rsquo;t see well enough. The fact is, wearing contact lenses, which he sometimes grinds himself, he sees better than most players. Proof of this is he still has all his own teeth. &ldquo;I can see right down to the fine print in contracts,&rdquo; Rut smiles. &rdquo;I can also see when it is Desjardins, not me in the nets.&rdquo;Early this season, Desjardins played as well as a goalie can play in beating New York and Toronto in two straight games. Recently, he played better in his triumphal return to his home province of Quebec in a game against the mighty Canadiens in Montreal&rsquo;s fabled Forum. With mom, pop and seven brothers and sisters watching TV in Sudbury and Rutledge watching from the bench. Gerry played his heart out.He made 40 saves, some of them unbelievable, and was named first star of the game. He should have won it. In fact, let&rsquo;s say he did. That&rsquo;s the holiday spirit. (Who&rsquo;ll remember 10 years from now that the Canadiens tied it 2-2 with a goal three minutes from the end?) (Maybe we can forget he went wearily down to 6-4 defeat in Boston the next night, too.)Rutledge, who probably figures he should have played the second cf back-to-back games, didn&rsquo;t complain. Some figure the Kings would be wiser to work the two more regularly instead of giving one or the other four or five or six games in a row, but Rutledge won&rsquo;t bad-mouth the coach. He even buddies up with Desjardins some. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re all on the same team,&rdquo; Rut says, smiling.The problem with Rutledge is he smiles too much. He&rsquo;s not rahrah. He doesn&rsquo;t tense up and throw up when he misses a few games, so long as he doesn&rsquo;t miss any paychecks. But then he doesn&rsquo;t tense up and throw up when he has to play against the best, either. He speaks his mind, but doesn&rsquo;t whine. He&rsquo;s a pro. Hockey player, not actor. &#9632;

f0014-01

Kings’ Goalie Rutledge Cool, Unruffled By Platoon System

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03399/2505510-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="740" height="734"><figcaption class="caption-body">(PHOTO BY FAMOUS STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHERS OF THE STARS)</figcaption></div>COTTON STRINGS &mdash; the hottest new demand item since the turtle. Tuned to the fashion of cool clear hues. Featured here by our two fashion models Jacques Lemaire wears a highi V style #220 and Jacques Lapierre a mock turtle style #221. Other styles, available come in marl tones and pencil stripes. Make sure to ask for them by name &ldquo;KAMBERN ORIGINALS&rdquo;. Our full spring collection can be seen on display at your leading Men&rsquo;s Wear Store or Department store from coast&rsquo;to coast.Highland Knitting MillsMontreal, Canada &#9632;

f0014-03

“KAMBERN ORIGINALS”

<div class="byline">BY DAN MOULTON</div>CHICAGO. Ill. &mdash;Christmas came about 10 days early for Black Hawks&rsquo; Goalie Denis DeJordy, who was recalled from the team&rsquo;s Dallas far club three games before Christmas and celebrated by allowing only three goals in 180 minutes of action.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02521/2505479-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="250" height="437"><figcaption class="caption-body">Denis Dejordy</figcaption></div>Dennis had been sent out on Nov. 11 after a very shaky start with the Hawks and spent 16 games in the Central league, where, he claims, he regained the confidence so vital to his craft.&ldquo;My going down had nothing to do with weight or anything else physical,&rdquo; said Denis after a recent 3-1 victory over Pittsburgh in the Stadium.&ldquo;I weigh the same right now, about 183, that I did just after the season started. What I did do in Dallas was get my confidence back. That was most important.&rdquo;Normally, when a player is demoted to the minors where less is at stake. He&rsquo;s able to himself back into form under fairly relaxed conditions.Not so with Dallas, tho, according to Dennis.&ldquo;When I got there, the team had been having trouble winning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And, because I was a big leaguer, all the youngsters on the club expected me to stop everything that was thrown at me.&ldquo;I realized I couldn&rsquo;t let them down. I had to bear down all the way and I think it helped.&rdquo;At the time it was announced Denis seemed to take the demotion with good grace and upon his return he confirmed he felt no bitternss at the move.&ldquo;I knew I&rsquo;d be back up and I knew I wasn&rsquo;t going well when I went down so couldn&rsquo;t be too angry,&rdquo; he said.Not all the Hawks are as happy as Denis as the sea on swings into the new year. Doug Mohns is irked at the unidentified member of the Pittsburgh Penguins who who smashed him across the left hand and fractured a bone Dec. 22. And Bobby Hull still is peeved at the Detroit Red Wings, who have replaced Bryan Watson as special Hull checker with Ron Harris.Bobby Exploded against Harris recently on the ice, then popped off about Harris particularly and the Wings in general.Bobby called Harris &ldquo;another one of those idiots the Detroit management throws aout against me.&rdquo;&ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, Detroit is the worst city in the league, from the management right down to the fans,&rdquo; he continued.The fans came in for a rap after a couple climbed the boards to bark at him after a stick-swinging duel with Frank Mahovlich. When the fans began throwing things, Bobby took a swing with his stick at the most vocal, whose hand was over the top of the glass screen.&ldquo;The fans just react to what they think the goof the Wings send against me is going to do,&rdquo; said Bobby. &ldquo;I hurt my right hand in the fight with Harris, which is one of the reasons I don&rsquo;t like to fight.&ldquo;But sometimes, you have to do to them what the Wings management hopes they&rsquo;ll do to you.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-02

DeJordy Shows Old Form After Spell In Minors To Regain Confidence

<div class="byline">BY SPENCE CONLEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02537/2505541-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Here&rsquo;s rookie MIKE LAUGHTON (15) of Seals getting behind Montreal goaler ROGATIEN VACHON on scoring attempt in recent game.</figcaption></div>OAKLAND. Calif. &mdash;&ldquo;Didja ever hear of a guy named Mike Laughton?&rdquo;&ldquo;Yeah. I think so. He&rsquo;s the figure skater who turned to hockey and tried to make it in the NHL last year with the Oakland Seals.&rdquo;A lot has been written about the ruggedly handsome Laughton &mdash; the former senior men&rsquo;s singles figure skating champ of the Kootenay&rsquo;s out in B.C. &mdash; but most of it has been less than complimentary.&ldquo;After all,&rdquo; commented a national sports magazine last year, &ldquo;all expansion did was give all the Mike Laughtons in the world a chance to get into the NHL.&rdquo;Well, that may be true. But it&rsquo;s really too bad there aren&rsquo;t a lot more Mike Laughton&rsquo;s in the world. Although he has marginal NHL skills, he makes up for it with hustle and that&rsquo;s more than can be said about some better talented players who&rsquo;ve never given much of themselves to the game.Picked up by Oakland in the Expansion draft, Mike split his time last season between Vancouver and Oakland. He had two goals and eight points in 35 games last year and 38 penalty minutes. The rougher it is the better he likes it. But he wasn&rsquo;t much of a skater.Tall and strong at 6-2, 195, Mike worked hard on his skating over the summer at a hockey school in his native British Columbia. He improved drastically.Then in training camp, Mike was impressive. He worked hard and scored a lot. He didn&rsquo;t get a chance to come to Oakland because the Seal center situation was pretty solid with Ted Hampson, Billy Harris, Brian Perry, and Joe Szura.As it turned out, Harris, Perry and Szura proved big disappointments. Finally, Perry untracked and teamed with Norm Ferguson and finally Bob Dillabough, got going with the kind of ability the Seals knew he had. But Harris finally was traded to the Penguins and Szura rode the bench.Coach Fred Glover sent word to Cleveland&rsquo;s Barons to send Laughton, in a hurry. He had four goals and seven assists for the Barons in nine games.When Mike arrived, he stepped in between the club&rsquo;s two best scoring wings: Bill Hicke and Gary Jarrett and all three began to click.In the first five games Mike played for the Seals, he scored two goals and helped on two others and gave his mates a tremendous psychological lift with his hard work.The biggest thing about Laughton, according to coach Glover is &ldquo;he comes to play.&rdquo;&ldquo;He makes up for a lot with his determination. He knows that&rsquo;s the only way he&rsquo;s ever going to stay in the NHL. He dogs the puck all the time. He thinks about what he&rsquo;s going to do in faceoffs and as a result, he wins a lot and makes good plays in the process. He goes into the corners. And he hits people.&ldquo;Mike isn&rsquo;t a fast skater, but he doesn&rsquo;t go for a big skate after he gets beat. He stops cold and gets light back into the play.&rdquo;Glover feels that Mike&rsquo;s style of play had a genuine psychological effect on his Seals in the beginning. It helped everybody.&ldquo;They could see the way he was working and knew that for once we had another center who was willing to skate and hit somebody (the other is Seal captain Ted Hampson) and always go full blast.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been able to get in the right place at the right time &mdash; he&rsquo;s especially tough in front of the net.&rdquo;Since he teamed with Jarrett and Hicke, too, the line has contributed six goals and nine assists. &#9632;

f0015-02

Seals’ Newcomer Mike Laughton Impressing Fans With Hustle

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01599/2505572-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL HICKE of the Oakland Seals, who suffers from asthma ana various allergies, has joined Medic Alert, international charitable, nonprofit foundation for persons with hidden medical problems. His Medic Alert necklace was put in place by PAT BENTLEY of Alameda, who uses a puck to highlight the emblem. Apparently the necklace worked for Hicke. Two hours after donning it, he scored two goals in the Seals&rsquo; thrilling 5-4 win over Montreal. Miss Bentley, who to all outward appearances has no problems, is a mild diabetic and also wears a Medic Alert pendant. She is the former Miss Oakland.</figcaption></div>OAKLAND. Calif. &mdash;The Oakland Seals&rsquo; Bill Hicke, scoreless in eight games at one time donned a Medic Alert tag on Friday, Nov. 29. Within the next two hours the Regina. Saskatchewan resident racked up two goals in the Seals&rsquo; thrilling 5-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens.Hicke, an asthmatic who also has various allergies, thus became the first professional hockey player to join Medic Alert, the charitable, nonprofit international foundation for persons with hidden medical problems.&ldquo;There are 80 players in the National and American Hockey Leagues who should be wearing a Medic Alert bracelet or necklace,&rdquo; according to Dr. Marion C. Collins, Turlock, Calif, physician who formed the Foundation in 1956 when his own daughter nearly lost her life after being tested for a serum to which she was allergic. Dr. Collins based his statement on the American Medical Association&rsquo;s estimate that one of every five persons has a hidden medical problem.Today Medic Alert has 300,000 members in eleven countries, including 225,000 in the United States and 25,000 in Canada. The organization is growing at a rate of 3.000 new members each month. A lifetime membership costs only $7. In addition to receiving an emblem, each member has information on his medical problem recorded in Medic Alert&rsquo;s Central File, where it is available to doctors and other authorized persons who call collect day or night.Medic Alert&rsquo;s international headquarters is in Turlock. Calif. The Canadian MedicAlert Foundation is at 174 St. George Street. Toronto. &#9632;

f0015-01

Hicke Joins Medic Alert And Connects

&ldquo;You like 7up 7up likes You&ldquo;You like 7up 7up likes You<h2>How They Stand</h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE(Standings on Fri. Dec. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1639/2505641-1-eng-US/f0016-162.jpg" title="f0016-16" width="579" height="399"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Fri. Dec. 20Buffalo 4 of Baltimore 5Sat, Dec. 21Quebec 1 at Cleveland 2Baltimore 2 at Hershey 6Rochester I at Springfield 7Sun. Dec. 22Cleveland 2 at Buffalo 7Baltimore 3 at Providence 4Quebec 5 at Rochester 5Wed. Dec. 25Cleveland 3 at Hershey 7Springfield 7 at Providence 3Buffalo 5 ot Rochester 3Thurs. Dec. 26Buffalo 2 at Cleveland 3Rochester 4 at Quebec 5<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Sat. Dec. 28Providence at BaltimoreRochester at ClevelandBuffalo of HersheyQuebec at SpringfieldSun. Dec. 29Quebec at BuffaloHershey ot ProvidenceCleveland at RochesterBaltimore ot SpringfieldWed. Jan. 1Quebec at BaltimoreSpringfield ot HersheyCleveland at ProvidenceBuffalo at RochesterFri. Jan. 3Springfield at BaltimoreRochester at BuffaloSat. Jan. 4Rochester at ClevelandQuebec at HersheyProvidence at Springfield &#9632;

f0016-16

AMERICAN LEAGUE

<h2>Sat. Dec. 21</h2>QUEBEC 1 at CLEVELAND 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03293/2505756-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="582" height="428"></div>Baltimore 2 at Hershey 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04242/2505749-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="587" height="654"></div>ROCHESTER 1 at SPRINGFIELD 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05178/2505742-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="588" height="657"></div><h2>SUN. DEC. 22</h2>CLEVELAND 2 At BUFFALO 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06142/2505735-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="580" height="615"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07130/2505728-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="552" height="107"></div>BALTIMORE 3 At PROVIDENCE 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08118/2505721-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="583" height="547"></div>QUEBEC 5 At ROCHESTER 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09102/2505714-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="579" height="799"></div><h2>WED. DEC. 25</h2>CLEVELAND 3 At HERSHEY 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1086/2505707-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="579" height="734"></div>SPRINGFIELD 7 At PROVIDENCE 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1175/2505700-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="562" height="177"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1260/2505693-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="580" height="566"></div>BUFFALO 5 At ROCHESTER 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1350/2505686-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="591" height="579"></div><h2>THURS. DEC. 26</h2>ROCHESTER 4 at QUEBEC 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1446/2505679-1-eng-US/f0016-142.jpg" title="f0016-14" width="589" height="728"></div>CLEVELAND 3 at BUFFALO 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1540/2505672-1-eng-US/f0016-152.jpg" title="f0016-15" width="584" height="495"></div> &#9632;

f0016-03

American League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01360/2505787-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="561" height="885"><figcaption class="caption-body">DICK GAMBLE &hellip; Another Milestone</figcaption></div>ROCHESTER, N.Y.December 15, 1968, won&rsquo;t be forgotten right away by Dick Gamble, player-coach of the Rochester Americans.When his Amerks took the ice here that night, they were winless in eight straight games (six losses and two ties) and had plummeted to the bottom of the American Hockey League&rsquo;s Western Division heap. Hardly an auspicious position for a proud city which had won three regular season championships and finished second in the past four campaigns.But here they were, mired in a horrible streak facing the Cleveland Barons, which came in with an eight-game unbeaten string.Both teams did a complete about-face, however, and Rochester exploded for its biggest goal output of the season to run away and hide with a 9-1 victory to regain, for the moment anyway, third place in the Western Division.But that wasn&rsquo;t all that made December 15, 1968, a night to remember for Dick Gamble.When referee Art Skov dropped the puck for the opening faceoff, Gamble, the starting left wing for Rochester, automatically set an alltime Amerk club record. It was his 514th regular season game for Rochester since joining the club in 1961-62. Stan Smrke, now retired, played in 513 games for the Americans.And as if all that weren&rsquo;t enough, Dick set an alltime club record for points the very same night &mdash; just 36 seconds into the first period. He had gone into the action tied with Gerry Ehman, now with Oakland of the NHL, with 520 points for Rochester.A Cleveland player was put in the penalty box after only 18 seconds. Only a few seconds later, defenseman Don Cherry, at the left point, passed up to Gamble along the left braods deep in the Cleveland end. Dick stickhandled his way in toward the net, then started behind it, but before he got into too far he flipped the &lsquo;puck out to Red Armstrong camped in front and in it went. It was Gamble&rsquo;s 521st point and he later added a goal and another assist.The 40-year-old left wing previously had held the alltime club record for goals, which after December 15 was 282. The only mark he doesn&rsquo;t hold is assists, but he&rsquo;s third there with 241 through December 20. Bronco Horvath is tops in the playmaking department with 320 as of that date, while Ehman had 283. &#9632;

f0017-01

Gamble Performs In 514th Game

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE DUFFY</div>PROVIDENCE, R.I. &mdash;The R.I. Reds have not won a Calder Cup in the American Hockey League since the 1955-56 season and hockey buffs in this area are hoping Dave Creighton and his current Reds can turn the trick this time around.The have been some very lean years since fellows like Johnny Bower, Camille Henry, Zellio Toppazzini, Paul Larivee and Andy Branigan helped the Reds gain the 55-56 crown. Bower won the first of his two MVP awards with the Reds that season which saw the Providence skaters finish on top in a one division league of six teams with 92 points. The Pittsbrugh Hornets were close behind with 90.In the playoffs, the Reds ousted the Buffalo Bisons, 3-2, Cleveland wiped out Pittsburgh, 3-1 and then in the Calder Cup finals, the Reds eliminated the Cleveland Barons, four games to none as Toppazzini set a scoring record for the playoffs with 20 points. &ldquo;Topper&rdquo; led the regular season scoring with 113 points and Henry popped in 50 goals.Old time hockey fans in these parts consider the 1955-56 squad one of the greatest ever in 43 years of pro hockey here. Of course, one can not forget the 1948-49 team led by Terry Reardon, Carl Liscombe, Roger Bedard, Harvey Fraser, Art Michaluk, to mention a few. The Reds that campaign won the Eastern Division crown with 94 points with Hershey far back with 61 points. The 48-49 Reds scored an amazing 347 goals. Liscombe had 55 and 102 points. Fraser tallied 34 and Bedard 29. A fellow named Jack Hamilton added 26 goals for the Reds.Of course the fans who date way back to the late 30&rsquo;s, probably still count the 1937-38, 39-40 and 40-41 teams as the equal of any in Providence history. In those days, the names of Frankie Brimsek, Art Lesieur, Jeff Kalbfleish, Sammy McManus, Bun Cook, Bill Mackenzie, and Ab DeMarco were big and important.In looking over the history of the AHL which began with the 1936-37 season, Providence has won regular season champions in 37-38, 39-40, 40-41, 47-48, 48-49, 55-56, 56-57 and 62-63, In Calder . Cup playoff competition, Providence has taken it all in 37-38, 39-40, 48-49 and 55-56.Creighton is aware that gaining the Calder Cup will be no easy task. But the 1968-69 squad is crammed with talented veterans and this could be the year. Led by Captain Adam Keller, the present day Reds are eager to take their place in the AHL record books along with the great Providence Calder Cup titlists of the past. &#9632;

Reds Hoping To End Long Cup Famine

<div class="byline">BY CHARLEY BARTON</div>BUFFALO, N.Y. &mdash;The Buffalo Bisons&rsquo; first loss of the season on the road came in their 12th start away from home, and their 25th game of the schedule.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02311/2505842-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="263" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Ash</figcaption></div>After 7 wins and 4 ties in their first 11 road games, the Bisons dropped a 5-4 decision in Baltimore.In addition to breaking the road record, the loss may have been even more costly. Defenseman Bob Ash was hurt in the first period and had his left arm in a sling at game&rsquo;s end. He was scheduled for further medical tests upon the club&rsquo;s return to Buffalo.The Bisons&rsquo; four earlier defeats had been at home, and Coach Fred Shero was hardly upset when the road streak ended.&ldquo;We certainly had enough chances to win in Baltimore,&rdquo; Shero said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t get any breaks around the net. Maybe, though, having the streak over will take some pressure off the guys.&rdquo;The Bisons&rsquo; newest player was Roger Picard, longtime amateur star who turned pro a year ago and was sent here by the St. Louis Blues.Other St. Louis-owned players here are right-winger Norm Beaudin and defenseman Larry Hornung.Picard, a rugged, 200-pound right-winger, was particularly welcome since Pat Hannigan was out with a fractured shoulder after being recalled by Philadelphia, and Dennis Hextali had gone up to New York.The Bisons feared that goalie Gilles Villemure had also been hurt in Baltimore. He fell to the ice in the last second of the second period while making a save. Spare goalie Al Johnstone came out for the third period, but Villemure resumed his duties before the period started.ALONG THE BOARDS &mdash; General Manager Emil Francis of the parent New York Rangers is a frequent visitor here. Francis and General Manager Fred Hunt of the Bisons were working on several proposed player deals as this was written &hellip; The Bisons were leading the league at the gate, and Hunt reported heavy advance sales as the football season ground to a halt&hellip; The Bisons held their workouts at Nichols School here when lack of ice forced them out of Memorial Auditorium for a week. &#9632;

f0017-02

Bisons Drop First Start On Road After 11 Outings

<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2>(Including Games of Sun. Dec. 15)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03252/2505880-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="573" height="801"></div>GOALKEEPERS&rsquo; RECORDS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04195/2505873-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="576" height="525"></div> &#9632;

f0017-03

AHL Point Race

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK SANTANIELLO</div>SPRINGFIELD, Mass. &mdash;The Kings need a team effort if they expect to make any headway in the eastern division race this season. And the players who are going to have to carry the load are some ot the rookies on this club. We&rsquo;ll mention some of them.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05155/2505911-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="256" height="425"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Turlik</figcaption></div>Ken Turlik has been a nice, pleasant surprise at wing for the team. The 24-year old native of Lethbridge, Alberta played the last two seasons in the Eastern League with Knoxville. He tallied 24 goals with 26 assists.Ken has skated well, worked hard at his position and tallied his share of goals. He was traded to LA by the Rangers in the deal with Jim Murray for Barclay Plager. So far the deal&rsquo;s paid off.Little Randy Prior, another good wing, always hustles every minute on the ice. The 22-year old native of North Bay, Ontario played last season with Muskegon where he potted 56 goals. He had a five game trial here last season.Prior is not afraid to mix it up on the ice or toss those other big opponents around. He&rsquo;s all heart.No player has electrified local fans like defenseman Vic Tisler. The 26-year old native of Jesenice, Yugoslavia was inked as a free agent at the Kings camp last fall. He played in Germany last season and prior to that with the Frankfort, Germany unit.He was first seen by LA boss Larry Regan in Europe. Local fans go wild when Victor takes his turns on the ice. We wager he&rsquo;d win most popular player hands down in any vote. Vic is noted for his blazing shot from the blue line.Wing Gary Croteau is another good, young lad who has made them sit up and take notice. The 22-year-old Sudbury, Ontario lad played college hockey last season with St. Lawrence U. In 19 games last season, he had 21 goals and 19 assists. He&rsquo;s a rugged checker, too.Brian Murphy plays on and off with the club, being forced to sit out games due to player limits. He&rsquo;s a big, tough 21-year older who stands 6-2, 195, he comes from Toronto. He was with London, Ont. Jr. &ldquo;A&rdquo; last season where he scored 33 times and had 38 assists.Defenseman Jim Mclnally is another fine 20-year-old prospect. He comes from Simcoe, Ont. He played with Hamilton, Ont. Red Wings last season. Regarded as a top NHL prospect, Detroit originally drafted him. He played regurlarly early in the season. &#9632;

f0017-05

Rookie Players Must Come Through If Kings Are To Make Any Headway

<div class="byline">BY JOHN WHITE</div>For The Best In Hockey Reading It&rsquo;s HOCKEY PICTORIAL Hockey&rsquo;s Most Exciting PublicationIt Will Be A Happy 1969 If You Give The HOCKEY NEWS To The FamilySEATTLE. Wash. &mdash;In a radio interview with Bill Anderson, the voice of the Portland Buckaroos, General Manager Murray Costello of the Seattle Totems pointed out the astounding fact.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01366/2505949-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="259" height="447"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Ward</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Do you realize,&rdquo; he said, trying in vain to be light, &ldquo;that our longest winning streak of the season is exactlv one game.&rdquo;It was true. After 30 games, the Totems not once had captured more than one victory in a row.Only once by mid-December, on the other hand, had the Totems lost as many as three straight games. And Costello wrapped it up well when he said, &ldquo;We win one and we lose one, we win one and we lose one.&rdquo;The Totems, as 1969 neared, were not that all-fired bad. No team was dominating them. Portland&rsquo;s edge was 3-2-2, San Diego&rsquo;s was 2-1-2 and Phoenix held a 2-1-1 series lead. Seattle was ahead of Denver, 3-1. Vancouver was out in front, six victories to three, but three of the triumphs were by a single goal.The problem was that for a team that has won the Lester Patrick Cup the last two seasons in a row, the Totems weren&rsquo;t that all-fired good, either. And they were terribly inconsistent.&ldquo;We need,&rdquo; said General Manager Costello, &ldquo;a good winger and a good defenseman.&rdquo;This corner will go along with the &ldquo;defenseman&rdquo; part of the analysis.Seattle was playing with Don Ward, Gary Kilpatrick, John Hanna, Ken Rodgers and Ray Larose.Rodgers is a rookie and was seeing little ice time.Kilpatrick is effective only when he runs straight at opponents. When he tries to play it cute, forget it. This takes nothing away from his spirit or desire.The veteran Ward is playing on a knee that should be enshrined in Hockey&rsquo;s Hall of Fame. He needs rest.Larose is capable and tough but sometimes erratic.Hanna is playing brilliantly for the most part but tends to go on offense to make up for the lack of goals up front.Just one steady defenseman might change the entire picture.So much for the blue-liners. But another winger? Well, any club could use a Gordie Howe or a Bobby Hull &mdash; or even Earl Heiskala back, although toughness is in no way Seattle&rsquo;s problem.Maybe Costello just didn&rsquo;t want to say so. But what hurt the Seattle club most in the first one-third to one-half of the campaign was the failure of the Art Stratton-Bill Dineen-Jim Powers line.You hate to say it about guys who love children and little puppies, but the line that was expected to explode all over the league just wasn&rsquo;t putting the puck in the net.Dineen last season scored 28 goals for Seattle. Stratton, in his last season (1967) outside the NHL scored 34. Powers in his last full season with the Totems (1967) scored 28 goals.Add&rsquo; em up &mdash; 90 goals.And playing together, it would not have been surprising if they had broken the 100-mark as a unit this season.Instead?After 30 games, Powers had 6 goals. Dineen had 5 goals. Stratton had 2 goals. This one&rsquo;s not tough to add at all. Thirteen goals! (When you&rsquo;re in a slump, it would have to be 13, &rsquo;eh?)There&rsquo;s another way to put it. Defenseman Hanna, after 30 games, had 11 goals. Defenseman Larose had 5. Together they had 16 &mdash; three more than the line expected to terrorize the Western Hockey League.Elsewhere, Guyle Fielder was Guyle Fielder &mdash; 39 points in 30 games, leading the WHL with 31 assists.Bob Courcy, one Fielder winger, had a commendable 15 goals &mdash; but in a stretch of 12 games scored only twice.Rookie Jack Michie, the other Fielder winger, started with 6 goals in 16 games &mdash; a 25-plus pace for the campaign. He then scored only once in his next 14 games &mdash; a 5-goal pace.Marc Boileau, Chuck Holmes and Gerry Leonard still were doing everything expected of them, although both Holmes and Leonard had slumped from last season&rsquo;s goal-scoring pace.And Larry Lund? You figure it. Two years ago he scored 34 goals for Seattle. In the club&rsquo;s first 30 games this season, Lund scored once.The league is tougher &mdash; but that much?Don&rsquo;t write the Totems off.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02280/2505942-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="2409" height="1059"><figcaption class="caption-body">San Diego Gulls&rsquo; winger WILLIE O&rsquo;REE steps past Portland Buckaroo goalie JIM McLEOD after scoring a goal against the Bucks. Portland defenseman CON MADIGAN (26) moves in too late to help McLeod, who was faked to the ice by O&rsquo;Ree. The San Diego veteran has been sharing the WHL&rsquo;s individual scoring race lead.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

Seattle Can’t Put Two Wins Together

<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01343/2505980-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="568" height="234"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Sat. Dec. 11Seattle 0 at Denver 2Vancouver 1 at Portland 4Sun. Dec. 22Seattle 3 at Phoenix 2Denver 5 at San Diego 5Wed. Dec. 25Phoenix 2 at San Diego 2Seattle 1 at Portland 3Thurs. Dec 26Portland 1 at Seattle 5<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Fri. Dec. 27San Diego at PhoenixPortland at VancouverSat. Dec. 28Vancouver at DenverSeattle at San DiegoSun. Dec. 29Vancouver at DenverSeattle at San DiegoTues. Dec 31San Diego at DenverPhoenix at SeattleWed. Jan. 1Denver at PortlandPhoenix at VancouverFri. Jan. 3Phoenix at San DiegoDenver at VancouverSat. Jan. 4Seattle at PortlandDenver at Vancouver &#9632;

f0019-01

How They Stand

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02291/2506011-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">President and General Manager JOHN MacALLISTER CRERAR, left, has a big smile as he signs former Olympic and United States Hockey League star OSCAR MAHLE as coach for the new Washington Chiefs Hockey Club.</figcaption></div>WASHINGTON, D.C.&mdash;A Rhode Island Scott called John MacAllister Crerar will get a lot of the credit if senior amateur hockey survives in the U.S. capital.And if it does, the fire lit under the game of hockey by NHL expansion and expanded television exposure should make Washington a hot bed.Crerar, a stocky fast-talking silverware salesman, was named last June to the 15-man National board of the Amateur Hockey Association of the U.S.Subsequently, Crerar and some of his close associates took a flier on sponsoring a new independent team called the Chiefs, to replace the Washington Patriots. The Washington Coliseum president, Harry Lynn, put the challenge up to Crerar when he decided the Patriots just weren&rsquo;t worth it to his 5,300-seat ice palace.Crerar and Co. scoured the military, colleges and other local talent beds and have found enough Canadian and U.S. bodies to justify a 30-game schedule already begun.Player-coach Oscar Mahle of International Falls, Minn., is a former U.S. national and Olympic team member. Nobby Clarke, formerly with the Montreal Canadiens organization, is one find.So is U.S. Marine Brian Gagnon from Danville, Que., another Canadiens farmhand, Gerry Lampron of St. Hyacinthe, once with the New York chain, and Steve McIntyre formerly from Hull.The Chiefs knocked off a Buffalo team 10-1 in their first outing, lost to a New Jersey club 5-4 in the second and have 28 more games to go against clubs from St. Catharines, Ont., Alaska, Boston and perhaps one or two from the Eastern Hockey league.The last comparable hockey in Washington was in 1959, final year for the EHL here at the Coliseum.Jonas Milton, 17-year-old Washington Negro, has caught on as a sure-fire future star, a Coliseum rink rat who has made good. &ldquo;We could take most EHL clubs,&rdquo; says Crerar, who played his hockey back in Providence and who also heads the Capital Boys Hockey Club, Inc., which is the actual sponsor of the Chiefs.The club has developed one of the most international of hockey tournaments and a Soviet Union team of youngsters has been invited to the fifth invitational tournament Feb. 22-24 where 500 boys will compete. In the past Mexico City and Canadian clubs have been regular guests. Eleven states were represented last year and more are scheduled now including Alaska.Housing the visitors is a major challenge to the club which is about 20 per cent Canadian, drawing on the military, diplomatic and other occupations here. The Canadian military last February made an extraspecial housing push as a Centennial gesture. &#9632;

f0019-02

Independent Chiefs Take Up Challenge

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01209/2506049-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">TED OUIMET&hellip;First Pro Shutout</figcaption></div>For Something Different, Informative In Hockey Reading See T.V. Sections, Thumbnail Sketches In HOCKEY ANNUALHOCKEY NEWS Makes An Ideal Gift On Any Occasion. Give A Subscription To Dad Or BrotherKANSAS CITY, Mo., &mdash; A 19-point spree four games last week has enabled the frontrunning Oklahoma City threesome of Jim Lorentz, Tom Webster and Grant Erickson to strengthen their positions in the Central Hockey League scoring race.As the Blazers won two of four starts, Lorentz tallied seven points to boost his record to 17 goals and 35 assists for 52 points, while Webster scored nine to lift his total to 47 and Grand Erickson added two to build his count to 34.Webster, who leads the league in goals with 21, was selected &ldquo;Player of the Week&rdquo; for his nine-point effort that included two goals and seven assists.A right winger in his first year of professional hockey, Webster is 5-10, weight 165 pounds, and is 20 years old. He hails from Niagara Falls, Ontario, where he played junior hockey last season.Brian McDonald, Dallas center, has climbed into the top 10 in scoring and led the Black Hawks to a 5-2 triumph over Kansas City following a 6-6 thriller with the same club. McDonald now has 27 points on seven goals and 20 assists.A veteran of four previous seasons in the professional ranks, McDonald, 23, scored 69 points to lead the Dallas team last year and place ninth in the final league standings.Although Oklahoma City dropped a 5-3 decision to Kansas City, the Blazers stretched their Southern Division lead over Houston to 12, 45-33, by beating Omaha, 3-2, and Houston, 10-2. Kansas City holds a two point, 3230 advantage over Tulsa in the Northern Division and Omaha is slipping off the pace with 23 points.Ted Ouimet, Kansas City goalie, recorded the first shutout of his professional career as the Blues blanked Amarillo, 3-0. The 21-year-old Ouimet is fromNoranda, Quebec. Oklahoma City&rsquo;s Russ Gillow leads the league in shutouts with four and Tulsa&rsquo;s Ray Reeson has three.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0625/2506042-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="1165" height="1641"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM LORENTZ &hellip; Still Top Gun In Race</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-01

Lorentz Maintains Lead As Oklahoma City Trio Dominates Points Race

<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02141/2506087-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="576" height="407"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Dec. 20Dallas 2 at Memphis 5Oklahoma City 2 at Fort Worth 7Tulsa 2 at Kansas City 2Sat. Dec 21Dallas 3 at Omaha 3Fort Worth 3 at Amarillo 1Memphis 1 at Houston 6Tulsa 2 at Oklahoma City 6Sun. Dec. 22Houston 1 at Tulsa 3Memphis 3 at Fort Worth 8Omaha 0 at Dallas 3Wed. Dec. 25Amarillo 2 at Tulsa 3Fort Worth 2 at Oklahoma City 4Houston 0 at Memphis 3Kansas City 6 at Omaha 3Thurs. Dec. 26Dallas 6 at Fort Worth 3<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Fri. Dec. 27Amarillo at MemphisOmaha at HoustonSat. Dec. 28Amarillo at Kansas CityHouston at DallasMemphis at TulsaOmaha at Fort WorthSun. Dec. 29Dallas at Oklahoma CityMemphis at OmahaTulsa at AmarilloMon. Dec. 30Port Worth at HoustonTues. Dec. 31Kansas City at Fort WorthMemphis at OmahaOklahoma City at AmarilloWed. Jan. 1Amarillo at Oklahoma CityDallas at TulsaFri. Jan. 3Amarilloat DallasHouston at Fort WorthKansas City at TulsaOklahoma City of Memphis<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3>(lncluding Games of Sun. Dec. 15)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03115/2506080-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="578" height="409"></div> &#9632;

f0020-02

LOOKING AT CHL RACE

<h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0177/2506198-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="578" height="498"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Dec 20Salem 1 at Long Island 4Clinton 1 at Jacksonville 1Nashville 3 at New Jersey 6Sat Dec. 21Salem 1 at Syracuse 0Nashville 5 at long Island 1New Hoven 3 at Johnstown 3Jacksonville 2 at Greensboro 7Clinton 3 at Charlotte 4Sun. Dec. 22Nashville 6 at New Hoven 7Charlotte 6 at Jacksonville 2New Jersey at Johnstown (postponed)Greensboro at Salem (postponed)Wed. Dec. 25Johnstown 4 at Syracuse 5Jacksonville 3 at Nashville 8Greensboro 5 at Salem 6Thurs Dec. 26Johnstown 5 at Syracuse 1<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3>(Including Games of Sun. Dec. 15)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0248/2506191-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="588" height="607"></div><h2>ONTARIO JUNIOR &lsquo;A&rsquo;</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0324/2506184-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="574" height="362"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Dec. 20St. Catharines 11 at Ottawa 2Oshawa 3 at Kitchener 4Peterborough 2 at Niagara Falls 3Sat. Dec. 21London 3 at Oshawa 7Sun. Dec. 22Toronto 7 at St. Catharines 2Niagara Falls 1 at Montreal 5Ottawa 7 at Kitchener 1Thurs. Dec. 26London 1 at Hamilton 7Toronto 2 at Peterborough 2<h2>QUEBEC METRO JUNIOR &ldquo;A&rdquo;</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0418/2506177-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="571" height="268"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0516/2506170-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="578" height="501"></div><h2>CENTRAL JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Thurs. Dec. 19)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0613/2506163-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="575" height="200"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0712/2506156-1-eng-US/f0021-072.jpg" title="f0021-07" width="575" height="206"></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

Hockey Races

<div class="byline">BY HARVEY POLLACK</div>CLINTON. N.Y. &mdash;There&rsquo;s nothing like a shutout by a goalie to lift a team in the midst of a losing skein, and the Clinton Comets are thankful for the presence of Lyle Carter in getting them out of the doldrums in the Eastern Hockey League&rsquo;s Northern Division race.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-089/2506229-1-eng-US/f0021-082.jpg" title="f0021-08" width="261" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lyle Carter</figcaption></div>The Comets and New Haven have been battling for the northern lead all year, with New Haven usually ahead due to the fact it&rsquo;s played more games. Still the Comets haven&rsquo;t been more than a couple of points off the pace despite the fewer opportunities to garner points.But the gap widened when Clinton lost three straight and four out of five. Pat Kelly&rsquo;s team was bothered by injuries, but he still was distressed especially when Jersey beat them for the first time in many a moon.Here&rsquo;s where Carter came to the rescue with three straight magnificent performances and one just short of that standard. First Lyle blanked Jersey. 4-0. Then the very next night in Long Island, he stopped the Ducks 3-0.The Comets then went south still. with their forces depleted by injuries. It could have been a disastrous trip. But Carter. Cleveland&rsquo;s spare goalie last year, was equal to the situation. First off he blanked the Greensboro Generals, 2-0, in a battle against the Southern leader. Then he also did his part in a 1-1 tie at Jacksonville. Thus in four big games he posted three successive shutouts and then permitted a single tally. Certainly this performance averted a Clinton tailspin and strengthened the team&rsquo;s hopes of winning the divisional crown.Carter, who is pacing the circuit with a 2.40 average at last count, now has four shutouts for the season, and has proven an able replacement for Ed Babiuk, the Clinton goalie who led the loop a year ago. The Comets seem to come up with great goalies steadily starting off with Norm DeFelice, who now cavorts for Long Island.CLINTON: Tom Mitchell&rsquo;s shoulder separation, John Chapman&rsquo;s broken hand and Bill Bannerman&rsquo;s back injury depleted club manpower. Comets borrowed Maurice St. Jacques from Cleveland to fill gap. Don Herriman&rsquo;s two goals helped Lyle Carter score shutout at Long Island. Only four Comets over 25. Carter&rsquo;s shutout with 47 saves at Greensboro stopped Gens&rsquo; 8-game home streak.SYRACUSE: Lee Inglis scored eight goals in six games to pace club, Blazers purchased defenseman Jim Whittaker from Muskegon. Inglis bothered by leg injury and captain Ed Skyhar by flu. New defenseman Dave MacMillan of Noranda. Que. first had Nashville trial. Tony Gale blanked Clinton, in a continuation of his fine performances against more powerful foes. Tom Lavender dropped. Coach Ray Crew&rsquo;s shoulder mended quickly and he received the green light to play.NEW HAVEN: Don Walker&rsquo;s goal enabled Blades to gain tie of Jacksonville. Mike Rouleau had setto with Rockets&rsquo; Harold White to ignite donnybrook. Jim McCrea tore wrist ligaments and Bruce Reier and Murray Kuntz suffered back sprains. Rookie Mike Hornby appears only serious rival for Reg Kent for Northern scoring Laurels.GREENSBORO: Stu Roberts is scoring heavily in his second season to be one of four Gens in top ten in scoring. Don Burgess is still No. 1. Gens have increased attendance 10 percent over a year ago. Ron Muir&rsquo;s two goals vs Jets halted his critics. Billy Armour being kept on club injury list as insurance. Ex-goalie John Voss is now with Detroit as spare. ExGen Don Carter playing on Denver&rsquo;s third line.LONG ISLAND: Les Calder tops Ducks in scoring although Butch Morris is No. 1 in goals. Coach John Brophy for one of few times in career is not his club leader in penalties, that dubious distinction currently going to Hal Willis. Norm Ryder is back in action after being out a month. GM Carl Johnson has resigned because of other interests. Wayne Newell missed action because of flu.NASHVILLE: Cliff Pennington had 4-goaler against Syracuse. It was his fifth of season for league lead. Fivers lost first game vs northern foes at Jersey after four wins. Pennington&rsquo;s hat trick topped New Haven. Claude Bernard sent to Syracuse on waivers. Coach Lloyd Hinchberger says his Flyers do better when they forget &ldquo;fancy stuff&rdquo; and hit hard.JERSEY: Devils finally got new uniforms which are exact replica of those worn by Detroit. GM Eddie Ferenz says his club &ldquo;looks like Detroit but Gordie Howe is missing.&rdquo; Dennis Plant promoted to Quebec. Coach Marcel Pelletier threatened fines for club&rsquo;s inept play. Stratton&rsquo;s goal beat Syracuse. Roy Pugh dropped and Bill Christodal recalled.CHARLOTTE: Checkers welcomed rest period while Ernie Dyda and others chance for injuries to heal. Checkers feel Northern teams hit harder than Southern foes. Doug Ferguson&rsquo;s two goals helped whip Jacksonville. Coach Fred Creighton locked dressing room door to tongue lash team after loss to New Haven. Frank Golembrosky acquired from Dayton and Barry Simpson placed on injured list to help knee ligaments heal.JACKSONVILLE: Harold White&rsquo;s hat trick helped gain tie with New Haven. Willie Terry suffered 3-stitch ear cut in fight with Blades&rsquo; Blake Ball. Bob Mullins had two teeth knocked loose, suffered multiple cuts on inside of mouth and had near concussion after being dumped to ice. Club attendance disappointing since owners felt this was year for break-through. Harley Hodgson missed game to wind up personal affairs in Knoxville.JOHNSTOWN: Garry Sharp&rsquo;s return has lifted Jets scoring. Jack Dale suffered face cuts in duel with Charlotte&rsquo;s Bob Shupe. Sharp&rsquo;s latest goals place him No. 6 in EHL&rsquo;s all time list with his total around 360 mark. Galen Head is No. 1 in North in goals scored and Reg Kent tops in assists and points. Mike Crupi a good bet to win loop penalty laurels.SALEM : Jim Jago&rsquo;s hat trick topped New Haven. Wayne Caulfield says George Surmay is &ldquo;the best goalie in the league but the worst cardplayer. &rdquo; George had 46 saves vs New Haven. Jerry Firn has worked well at center since his move from defense. Uniform No. 11 has been a jinx this year as the wearers all have been injured. Coach Dave Lucas rates Billy Iveas as last a skater as rapid Wally Chase. &#9632;

f0021-08

Carter’s Three Shutouts Lift Clinton As Comets Set Sights On Leading Blades

<h2>FINGER LAKES COLLEGIATE</h2>(Standings on Tues. Dec. 17)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0194/2506330-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="577" height="409"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0239/2506323-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="581" height="229"></div><h2>MICHIGAN JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 16)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0329/2506316-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="574" height="206"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0420/2506309-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="577" height="251"></div><h2>BORDER JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 13)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0512/2506302-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="580" height="338"></div><h2>NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Thurs. Dec. 19)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0610/2506295-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="576" height="206"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0710/2506288-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="574" height="436"></div><h2>MASSACHUSETTS JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Wed. Dec. 18)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0810/2506281-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="578" height="172"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-098/2506274-1-eng-US/f0022-092.jpg" title="f0022-09" width="581" height="279"></div><h2>IHL JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 20)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-108/2506267-1-eng-US/f0022-102.jpg" title="f0022-10" width="573" height="166"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-117/2506260-1-eng-US/f0022-112.jpg" title="f0022-11" width="580" height="282"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

<div class="byline">BY BOB REED</div>DES MOINES. Ia.&mdash;When the International Hockey League board of governors approved a playoff with six teams, it appeared to be a big break for the Des Moines Oak Leafs, whose standing indicated they would be fortunate to squeeze in among the first six.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-127/2506361-1-eng-US/f0022-122.jpg" title="f0022-12" width="239" height="437"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Wilson</figcaption></div>The Leafs were some ten points behind the sixth-place club at the time. But there was a ray of hope. It lay in the fact that the Leafs had played fewer games than any other club in the league. Dayton, for instance, had played eight more. Toledo and Fort Wayne six each. Every club had played at least four more than the Leafs.So, the hope &mdash; and the problem &mdash; for the Leafs was to win the &ldquo;games in hand&rdquo; if they were to advance in the standing. And their chances were enhanced by the fact that they had won three of their last five starts and had four of their next six games at home.Then came a jolt. They had back-to-back games at home with Columbus and were hopeful of sweeping the series. But they met with heart-breaking, one-goal reverses in both by scores of 6-5 and 3-2. In the first game they wiped out a three-goal deficit twice to tie the score only to lose in the last six minutes.&ldquo;Poor passing has been killing us&rdquo;, said General Manager Howie Milford. &ldquo;Everything breaks down when you&rsquo;re not passing the puck sharply and this is one of our biggest problems. I thought we had improved our offense with the trades we made last summer. On paper it looked that way. But the players who should be scoring aren&rsquo;t coming through.&rdquo;DAYTON &mdash; Coach Larry Wilson shook up the Gems by holding out three players &mdash; defensmen Al Beaule and Billy Horton and center Barry Merrell in what appeared to be a disciplinary problem, which was cleared up in a five-hour conference involving Wilson, General Manager Lefty McFadden and the players. Wilson used left wing Chuck Kelly on the backline and Cliff Bristow at center between newcomer Tom Iannone and Gary MacMillan in the shakeup.PORT HURON &mdash; Guy James ran his string of consecutive games to 732, dating back to Jan. 15, 1959 &hellip; Milan Avachta, Czechoslovakian refugee who speaks very little English, made his debut in a game against Dayton &hellip; This line of Reggie Bechtold, Ron Ringler and Meehan Bonnar had scored over one-third of Flags&rsquo; total goals &hellip; Ringler took over individual scoring lead with 30 points &hellip; Defenseman Joe Cooper was given his release.FORT WAYNE &mdash; Playing coach Len Thomson, who missed 14 games with an eye injury, was given clearance for limited action and defenseman Ron Burman, out for four games with a nose fracture, was scheduled to return &hellip; The Komets, after a long stretch on the road, were booked for five of their next six at home. They had one of their worst road records of all time &mdash; one win, three ties and 11 defeats in 15 starts.COLUMBUS &mdash; Coach Moe Bartoli celebrated his 32nd birthday, in Des Moines, getting the winning goal and then the tying goal in two victories &hellip; The Checkers were in a hastle with the Ohio Exposition Commission, which had charge of the Fairgrounds, over finances, each claiming the other owes money &hellip; The Checkers topped the league in road victories &mdash; five.MUSKEGON &mdash; Good news for the Mohawks was the return of Bob Perani, who led the league in goals-against last season and who has been with Springfield in the American League. Perani was scheduled to relieve Bruce Mullett, who has been playing with an injured knee, with Tim Tabor still doing backup duty with Houston of the Central League &hellip; The Mohawks added defenseman Norman Descoteaux from Amarillo of the CHL and released Jim Whittaker to Syracuse of the Eastern League.TOLEDO &mdash; The Blades displaced the Gems as best defensive team in the league with 81 goals-against &hellip; Goalie Glenn Ramsay, who had been in every game, had his average down to 2.89 after allowing only 19 goals in his last 10 games &hellip; Greg Jablonski, with a hat trick, ties Ray Germain for most goals scored. Jim Sanko was leading point man, two ahead of Stan Maxwell. &#9632;

f0022-12

One-Goal Defeats Dashing Hopes Oak Leafs Will Make IHL Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div>ST. CATHARINE, Ont.&mdash;St. Catharines Black Hawks are well on their way to setting an alltime home ice record at Garden City Arena.The St. Catharines franchise has operated longer in the Ontario Hockey Association than any other, going back 26 years to the 1943-44 season.Their biggest season was in 1948-49 when the Teepees, as the club was known then, attracted over 79,000 fans in 23 scheduled games.That averaged out to more than 300 standing each night in the 3,080 seat arena.However, even that mark may be topped this season.After 12 home games the Hawks are averaging better than 3,200 and with a longer schedule than in 1948-49 (27 home games) they could go over the 80,000 mark.The St. Catharines team hasn&rsquo;t let their fans down either. In their first 12 starts they have not been beaten in their own building, winning eight and tying four and have vaulted into first place in the 10-team standings.One major reason for the renewed interest in St. Catharines has been the play of Boston-born Bob Sheehan, a centre acquired by the Hawks from Halifax Canadiens.One of the most exciting players ever to perform in St. Catharines, Sheehan has been selling tickets with his exuberant style all around the circuit and has been a definite asset to the entire provincial league.He has averaged a goal a game and has incurred only one minor penalty.Another standout for the Hawks has been Marcel Dionne, a 17-year-old centre from Drummondville, Quebec.Dionne is the exact opposite to Sheehan, relying more on exceptionally keen hockey sense rather than the more boisterous type of hockey.With two years remaining in junior hockey Dionne gives every indication of developing into a fine professional prospect.The Hawks&rsquo; latest undefeated streak was stretched to seven games with a weekend tie with Oshawa (6-6) and comeback 5-3 win over Niagara Falls.The attendance at the Falls game in Garden City Arena, 3,912, was the largest to watch a St. Catharines team play here in 11 years as every seat in the arena was sold five days before the game was played.Peterborough split its two games, winning 4-3 over Oshawa at home, then dropping a 5-3 decision to last place Kitchener Rangers in Oshawa.The Petes remained three points back of the leading Hawks.Niagara Falls, Montreal and Hamilton were still definite threats to the two leading clubs as the schedule approached the midway point.The Flyers, although they dropped two of three starts during the week, held third place while the junior Canadiens and Marlboros were just a shade back.The Canadiens could be particularly dangerous as they have played fewer games than any other team and have won their last three in succession.Despite their surprise win over Peterborough Kitchener Rangers, pennant-winners the last two seasons, are falling farther behind in last place.The Rangers have only four wins and two ties in 22 games and are 10 points below Ottawa and Oshawa who share eighth position.Making the Kitchener situation even more difficult is the fact that both Ottawa 67s and Oshawa Generals have been playing vastly improved hockey in recent games. &#9632;

Black Hawks Hope To Top 80,000 Fan Mark

MONTREAL, Que. &mdash;The National hockey teams from Canada and Czechoslovakia split their first four meetings down the middle on the Czechs&rsquo; six-game tour on Canadian soil.The Czechs won the opener 3-1 in Montreal and copped the third contest 5-2 in Vancouver. Canada scored a 7-3 triumph in Ottawa and a 6-2 decision in Winnipeg.The Czechs, who have echoed Russian hopes for an exhibition series against NHL opposition, have at least four players who are considered to be of professional calibre. They are Josef Horesovsky, Jaroslav Jirik, Josef Golonka and Jan Havel, all of whom are on the negotiation list of the St. Louis Blues.Horesovsky, Jiri Holik and onetime New York Rangers prospect Vaclav Nedomansky scored in the Czech victory in Montreal before a disappointing turnout of 3,100 fans. Gerry Pinder was the lone marksman for Canada with the Czechs playing two men short.It was a different story in Ottawa where Canada broke loose against Czechslovakian second-string goalie Termer who started in place of regular netminder Vladimir Dzurila.Richie Bayes led the charge with two goals, with singles going to Terry Caffery, Tom Martin, Fran Huck, Jean Cusson and Gary Begg. Jiri Holik, Havel and Mrukvia retaliated.The Czechs bounced back in Vancouver before a crowd of 8,498 as Jiri Holik connected for a brace of goals. Jan Suchy, Frantisek Sevcik and Jirik also found the range, with Morris Mott and Fran Huck clicking for Canada.Goalie Wayne Stephenson was the big cog in Canada&rsquo;s 6-2 win, as he kicked out 44 shots. Rookie Chuck Lefley sparked the attack with two goals. &#9632;

Canada, Czechs Split First FourTour Games

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0175/2506471-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="901" height="1203"></div><h2>SOLUTION IN JANUARY 11 ISSUE</h2>ACROSS1&mdash;Pictured player5&mdash;Initials of an N.H.L. captain.7&mdash;Initials of one of the North Stars.8&mdash;One of the Hershey Bears.11&mdash;A Montreal right winger.12&mdash;Initials of one of the Rangers.13&mdash;Initials of a Hawk defenseman.14&mdash;First name of one of the Bruins.15&mdash;One of the Leafs answers to this.16&mdash;Pictured player played 14 games with this N.H.L. team (abbr.).18&mdash;One down was born in this Month, (abbr.)19&mdash;Three. (Prefix).20&mdash;Initials of 2 down.21&mdash;Initials of former Hab Curry.22&mdash;Beverage.24&mdash;A Kansas City defenseman.28&mdash;1963-64 Lady Byng trophy winner.29&mdash;Initials of one of the Leafs.30&mdash;Initials of one of the Blues.32&mdash;Recently recalled by Chicago.<h2>DOWN</h2>1&mdash;One of the Hawks.2&mdash;One of the Kansas City Blues.3&mdash;City in Quebec.4&mdash;First name of one of the Penguins.5&mdash;Initials of one of the Oakland Seals.6&mdash;One of the Leafs.9&mdash;Hotel.10&mdash;Football term.13&mdash;Wears No. 8 for Chicago.15&mdash;Initials of one of the Penguins.17&mdash;N.H.L. record holder for most hat tricks.22&mdash;Most players chew this during a game.23&mdash;Number worn by Gilles Marotte of Chicago.25&mdash;One of the San Diego Gulls.26&mdash;Initials of Reeson of Tulsa.27&mdash;Initials of Armstrong of Rochester.30&mdash;Initials of one of the Hawks.31&mdash;First name of exRanger Buller.<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1&mdash;EDWARDS8&mdash;REIBEL9&mdash;L.A.10&mdash;LE.11&mdash;A.H.L.12&mdash;SLOAN.14&mdash;SAN.16&mdash;ONE.18&mdash;O.N.19&mdash;TEN.20&mdash;N.D.21&mdash;TED.22&mdash;R.C.24&mdash;REID.25&mdash;SEALS.26&mdash;H.R.28&mdash;JEAN.30&mdash;WHARRAM.<h3>DOWN</h3>1&mdash;ERICKSON.2&mdash;D.E.3&mdash;WILSON.4&mdash;ABEL.5&mdash;R.E.6&mdash;D.L.7&mdash;VAL.9&mdash;L.H.11&mdash;ANGOTTI.13&mdash;MEND.15&mdash;ANDRE.17&mdash;NEEDHAM.18&mdash;J. R.19&mdash;EA.23&mdash;CASH.24&mdash;R.S.25&mdash;S.M.27&mdash;R.N.28&mdash;J. R.29&mdash;EA. &#9632;

f0023-01

Hockey Crossword

<div class="byline">BY GEOFFREY FISHER</div>ST. LOUIS, Mo. &mdash;Here on the western banks of the Mississippi River, where the St. Louis Blues are threatening to replace beer as the city&rsquo;s major industry it&rsquo;s New Year&rsquo;s Resolution Time.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0190/2506523-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="255" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gus Kyle</figcaption></div>General Manager-Coach Scotty Bowman resolves to find a way to beat the Montreal Canadiens before the year is over. We suggest he start by stealing the skates of Beliveau, Richard, Cournoyer and Ferguson.President Sidney Salomon, Jr. resolves to wear 16-ounce boxing gloves at all Blues&rsquo; games to avoid any more broken hands such as he suffered when the Detroit Red Wings scored in the closing seconds of a game in St. Louis, November 16 to tie St. Louis, 1-1. Sid Jr. became so agitated he smashed his hand.Managing Director Lynn Patrick resolves to press his search for old time hockey players who will agree to play with the Blues but insists he has no intention of signing King Clancy, Bill Cook or Frankie Boucher. However, Lynn refused to deny that he was after Aurel Joliet.Executive Vice-President Sid Salomon, III, resolves not to ask the board of directors for a heated swimming pool or a mink-covered rubbing table for his players.Treasurer Robert Wolfson resolves to flatly reject Sid the 3rd&rsquo; request that the team be supplied with solid gold pucks for practice sessions. Wolfson is also expected to turn down young Sid&rsquo;s demand that the Blues purchase Air Force I from the president of the United States for use by the Blues on road trips.Sales Promotion Director and radio color announcer Gus Kyle resolves not to bust Philadelphia&rsquo;s Bud Poile in the snoot the next time Poile intimidates Gus in the broadcast booth.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0244/2506516-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="550" height="654"><figcaption class="caption-body">LYNN PATRICK &hellip; start hunting now</figcaption></div>Broadcaster Dan Kelly resolves to hold Kyle&rsquo;s coat when Gus decides to break that resolution.Public Relations Director Wayne Cooper resolves to provide more mini-skirted aides in the Press Box.Trainer Tommy Woodcock resolves to keep substituting Geritol in the water bottles for some of those ageless Blues such as Doug Harvey, Jacques Plante and Captain Al Arbour.Organist Norm Kramer resolves to go easy on the pipes when those amazing St. Louis fans seem ready to rip the Arena roof off the building.Bob Plager resolves not to knock any opponents off the ice any higher than the $3.50 seats.Brother Barclay Plager resolves not to use his right uppercut on anybody unless they give him at least a dirty look.Noel Picard resolves to only blast French referees in English and English-speaking referees in French.Gordon (Red) Berenson resolves to keep his goal scoring under six per game so as not to force N.H.L. goaltenders into early retirement.Glenn (Hall of Famer) Hall resolves to keep the rubber biscuits out of his cage and the crows out of his corn up in Humbolt, Sask.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0325/2506509-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="1755" height="1446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hockey&rsquo;s &ldquo;Golden Jet,&rdquo; BOBBY HULL, right, receives a plaque naming him Canada&rsquo;s most prominent cigar smoker of the year. Making the presentation is LAWRENCE SABBATH, vice-president of the Cigar Institute of Canada which conducted a nationwide poll of more than 700 newspapermen, television and radio program directors. Among those who received a share of the votes were Philippe de Gaspe Beaubien, Toe Blake, Marshall McLuhan and Justice Minister John Turner. The Institute also gave Hull a humidor and a year&rsquo;s supply of cigars.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0416/2506502-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="542" height="581"><figcaption class="caption-body">SCOTTY BOWMAN &hellip; It won&rsquo;t be easy</figcaption></div>Jacques (The Snake) Plante resolves to get a bill passed through the Canadian Parliament and the U.S. Congress making it a felony to use a curved-blade hockey stick.Bill McCreary resolves to score the &ldquo;hat trick&rdquo; some night while killing penalties.Jimmy Roberts resolves to retain his championship as the Blues&rsquo; 110-per-center and his other title as the club&rsquo;s most eligible bachelor.Larry Keenan resolves to end the season with more goals than injuries.Ab McDonald resolves to make Montreal, Chicago, Boston, Detroit and Pittsburgh hate themselves for keeping him in the revolving door which eventually brought him to the promised land in St. Louis.Jean Guy Talbot resolves to make his 8th Stanley Cup win with the Blues even if he has to outlast Doug Harvey to do it.Sophomores Craig Cameron, Timmy Ecclestone, Gary Sabourin and Frank St. Marseille resolve to prove last year&rsquo;s big league debut was no lucky accident.And Terry Crisp and Ron Schock hope that the Blues&rsquo; scouts come up with a player named &ldquo;Electric&rdquo; so they can skate to fame as the Blues&rsquo; Crisp-Electric-Shock Line. &#9632;

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January 4, 1969

NHL Player Of The Week — IN THE WEST

CHL Summaries

LOOKING AT IHL RACE

Bisons, Clippers Knock Heads On Ice