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.

March 8, 1969

The Hockey News March 8, 1969

<h2>EAST</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02669/2996408-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="544" height="318"></div><h2>WEST</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03552/2996401-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="556" height="300"></div>Ken McKenzie&rsquo;s column. 4 Bill Libby&rsquo;s column &hellip;.. 8Ed Fitkin&rsquo;s column &hellip;&hellip; 14 Crossword Puzzle&hellip; 23AHL &hellip;. 16 WHL &hellip;. 19 CHL &hellip;. 20 EHL &hellip;. 21 IHL &hellip; 22 &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

WHERE THE NHL TEAMS ARE

<div class="byline">BY TOM RENO</div>KANSAS CITY. Mo. &mdash;Veteran Terry Gray of Kansas City, who tallied nine points in tour games last week for the Blues, including a hot three-goal &ldquo;hat trick,&rdquo; has been named &ldquo;player of the week&rsquo; in the Central Hockey League.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01314/2998071-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="258" height="399"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Gray</figcaption></div>Gray, 30, scored three goals and six assists as the Blues won two of four starts to remain tied with Omaha for second place in the hot Northern Division scramble. His hat trick came in an 8-1 triumph Memphis.In 50 games. Gray has scored 21 goals and 28 assists for 49 points. The native of Montreal. Quebec, Canada has been a professional for 12 years. He came to the Blues from Los Angeles, where he scored 12 goals and 16 assists in 65 National Hockey League games last season.Although they still are up with the Boston Bruins, Oklahoma City&rsquo;s Jim Lorentz and Tom Webster have retained their 1-2 grip on the Central Hockey League scoring race. Lorentz leads with 96 points, followed by Webster&rsquo;s 69. Ernie Hicke of Houston is third with 61 points and four players are deadlocked for fourth.Tied with 59 points each are Bill Fairbairn, Omaha; Dan Johnson, Tulsa; Gary Veneruzzo, Kansas City; and Jim Wiste. Dallas. Twenty-six players have scored 45 points or more.Steve Atkinson. Oklahoma City, is the leader in goals scored with 32 and Lorentz remains on top in assists with 67. -Jack Norris. Dallas, leads the goalies with a 2.46 goals-against-average.TULSA &mdash; A battered and bruised lineup failed to prevent the Oilers from winning three of four starts in five nights when Omaha and Kansas City were in close pursuit. Len Bazay. Serge Aubry, Brian Kilrea and Andre Hinse all were sidelined with injuries and general manager Ray Miron missed four games as a result of the flu. Gary Marsh picked up a &ldquo;hat trick&rdquo; against Ft. Worth as the Oilers won, 7-2. Dan Johnson is the top scorer on the team with 59 points.OMAHA &mdash; Team scoring leader Bill Fairbairn, who now has 59 points, is sheduled to return from a five-day stay with the New York Rangers. Jack Egers, and Larry Brown have returned to the Omaha lineup and Roger Le-Freniere is about ready to get back in the line-up. Egers has been out with a shoulder separation since oJan. 26. Omaha has averaged 4,992 for the last six games.KANSAS CITY &mdash; The &ldquo;We Want Claude&rdquo; signs (for Claude Cardin who was sent to Portland for two weeks) have been replaced by &ldquo;Thanks Fred&rdquo; banners (for Coach Fred Hucul). but the popular Frenchman returned to Kansas City with a leg injury that has kept him on the bench for a week. He collected three assists at San Diego. then was injured. Gary Veneruzzo, now tied for fourth in league scoring with 59 points, holds the hottest hand for the Blues.MEMPHIS &mdash; St eve Hunt was converted from defense to a right wing and picked up two goals in a losing effort against Tulsa. Mike Chernoff is still recovering from a shoulder injury. Joey Johnston leads the South Stars in scoring with 52 points in 51 games. Barrie Meissner now has 24 goals, high for the club.OKLAHOMA CITY &mdash; Jim Lorentz and Tom Webster have been absent from the Blazer lineup for two weeks, hut they&rsquo;ve managed to hold tight to their 1-2 grip on the set.ring race. Lorentz has 96 points, and Webster 69 points. Jim Harrison also has been recalled by the Boston Bruins.DALLAS &mdash; The Black Hawks now enjoy their best grip on second place since the season opened, four points ahead of Houston. Dallas finished strong in a recent outing to beat arch-rival Ft. Worth, 43, before 7,380 persons, largest crowd, ever, to see a hockey game in Dallas. This victory clinched the Dallas-Ft Worth Traveling Trophy for the second straight year. Jack Norris, the league&rsquo;s leading goalie, is out with an ankle injury, but is expected to be back in the nets, soon. Dallas already has surpassed its last year&rsquo;s attendance total of 84,324 fans by more than 2.000.HOUSTON &mdash; Al Caron had a big week with five goals and four assists to increase his season output to 53 points. He now has 30 goals. Caron was the big gun with a &ldquo;hat trick&rdquo; in an 8-2 whitewashing of Oklahoma City. Ernie Hicke now is the No. 3 scorer in the league with 61 points.FORT WORTH &mdash; Hap Myers pulled off a &ldquo;hat trick&rdquo; as Ft. Worth topped Amarillo, 5-2. It was the first of his career and third hv a Wing this season. Others have been turned in by Jim Neikamp and John Cuniff. A shoulder injury is expected to sideline the steady scoring Rick McCann for a week. McCann now has 19 goals and 35 assists for 54 points to lead his team.AMARILLO &mdash; Still creeping up in the Southern Division, the Wranglers now have pulled to within four points of Ft. Worth. 56-52, with less than a month remaining in the schedule. Paul Andrea still leads the Amarillo scoring with 51 points in only 45 games. Although the Wranglers have staged a fantastic comeback since Christmas, they remain 11 points out of a playoff berth with only 11 games left to play. &#9632;

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Blues’ Terry Gray Sizzles With Hat Trick

<h2>MON. FEB. 24</h2>MINNESOTA 1 at LOS ANGELES 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01751/2997352-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="588" height="419"></div><h2>WED. FEB. 26</h2>DETROIT 2 at MONTREAL 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02693/2997345-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="596" height="765"></div>BOSTON 4 at LOS ANGELES 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03640/2997338-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="592" height="625"></div>ST. LOUIS 2 at TORONTO 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04586/2997331-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="590" height="597"></div>MINNESOTA 5 at OAKLAND 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05481/2997324-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="580" height="875"></div>CHICAGO 3 at NEW YORK 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-06411/2997317-1-eng-US/f0013-062.jpg" title="f0013-06" width="592" height="471"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-07381/2997310-1-eng-US/f0013-072.jpg" title="f0013-07" width="588" height="291"></div><h2>THURS. FEB. 27</h2>CHICAGO 3 at PITTSBURGH 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-08358/2997303-1-eng-US/f0013-082.jpg" title="f0013-08" width="588" height="621"></div>BOSTON 9 at OAKLAND 0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-09341/2997296-1-eng-US/f0013-092.jpg" title="f0013-09" width="586" height="739"></div>TORONTO 1 at PHILADELPHIA 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-10319/2997289-1-eng-US/f0013-102.jpg" title="f0013-10" width="602" height="457"></div><h2>SAT. MAR. 1</h2>DETROIT 4 at MINNESOTA 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-11292/2997282-1-eng-US/f0013-112.jpg" title="f0013-11" width="584" height="593"></div>PITTSBURGH 3 At TORONTO 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-12256/2997275-1-eng-US/f0013-122.jpg" title="f0013-12" width="588" height="613"></div>ST. LOUIS 0 At MONTREAL 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-13222/2997268-1-eng-US/f0013-132.jpg" title="f0013-13" width="590" height="411"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-14189/2997261-1-eng-US/f0013-142.jpg" title="f0013-14" width="558" height="89"></div>PHILADELPHIA 2 At LOS ANGELES 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-15156/2997254-1-eng-US/f0013-152.jpg" title="f0013-15" width="580" height="505"></div>NEW YORK 5 at BOSTON 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-16114/2997247-1-eng-US/f0013-162.jpg" title="f0013-16" width="584" height="585"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-1793/2997240-1-eng-US/f0013-172.jpg" title="f0013-17" width="590" height="477"></div><h2>SUN. MAR. 2</h2>MONTREAL 2 at DETROIT 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-1879/2997233-1-eng-US/f0013-182.jpg" title="f0013-18" width="592" height="597"></div>PITTSBURGH 0 at BOSTON 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-1962/2997226-1-eng-US/f0013-192.jpg" title="f0013-19" width="584" height="109"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-2042/2997219-1-eng-US/f0013-202.jpg" title="f0013-20" width="598" height="471"></div>CHICAGO 1 at TORONTO 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-2133/2997212-1-eng-US/f0013-212.jpg" title="f0013-21" width="590" height="527"></div>ST. LOUIS 1 at NEW YORK 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-2226/2997205-1-eng-US/f0013-222.jpg" title="f0013-22" width="594" height="521"></div>PHILADELPHIA 4 at OAKLAND 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-2317/2997198-1-eng-US/f0013-232.jpg" title="f0013-23" width="596" height="737"></div> &#9632;

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National Hockey League Summaries

<h2>TUES. FEB. 11</h2>DENVER 3 At SEATTLE S<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02403/2998002-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="592" height="680"></div>PHOENIX 3 At VANCOUVER 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03328/2997995-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="596" height="567"></div><h2>Wed. Feb. 12</h2>PHOENIX 0 At PORTLAND 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04282/2997988-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="592" height="499"></div><h2>Thurs. Feb. 13</h2>PORTLAND 1 at SAN DIEGO 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05235/2997981-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="576" height="31"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06187/2997974-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="588" height="309"></div><h2>Fri. Feb. 14</h2>PHOENIX 7 at VANCOUVER 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-07162/2997967-1-eng-US/f0019-072.jpg" title="f0019-07" width="594" height="721"></div><h2>Sat. Feb. 15</h2>VANCOUVER 0 at DENVER 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-08147/2997960-1-eng-US/f0019-082.jpg" title="f0019-08" width="582" height="451"></div>PORTLAND 3 at SAN DIEGO 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-09125/2997953-1-eng-US/f0019-092.jpg" title="f0019-09" width="584" height="427"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-10106/2997946-1-eng-US/f0019-102.jpg" title="f0019-10" width="588" height="103"></div>PHOENIX 1 at SEATTLE 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1190/2997939-1-eng-US/f0019-112.jpg" title="f0019-11" width="580" height="453"></div> &#9632;

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Western League Summaries

BOSTON, Mass.&mdash;Records don&rsquo;t mean a thing to Phil Esposito if he doesn&rsquo;t win the National Hockey League individual scoring title.That&rsquo;s the way the spectacular 27-year-old center of the Boston Bruins feels about cracking the century point mark, the first time it has ever been done in the hist ory of the NHL.Esposito, who went on an exciting eight-point week to enable him to run his season mark to 101 points and also to erase the standing NHL record of 97 points held jointly by Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull, feels that winning the scoring crown is paramount with him.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great, sure, to hit 100 points, but if I don&rsquo;t win the scoring title it won&rsquo;t mean much,&rdquo; said Esposito.The Boston pivot may be overly pessimistic with an 11-point lead over Bobby Hull and only a dozen games remaining on the schedule. It was Mikita who edged Esposito out of the Ross Trophy last season 87-84 and &lsquo;Espo&rsquo; has set out with a vengeance this season to make amends.The rangy 6&rsquo;1&rdquo; Boston pivot feels winning the scoring title will not only provide him with personal satisfaction and the supreme thrill of his six-year big league career, but it will also help the Bruins nail down first place in their tense struggle with Montreal.&ldquo;Sure I would like to win the scoring title. Who wouldn&rsquo;t? But I feel that if I do make it, I&rsquo;ll also be helping the team. Points don&rsquo;t mean much if you lose,&rdquo; said Esposito.Esposito also has his sights set on breaking several records for centre icemen. Mikita currently holds the mark for most assists in one season &mdash; 62 and Jean Beliveau of Montreal has the record for most goals &mdash; 47.With 40 goals and 61 assists Esposito is withing range of both standards. However, time may not permit him to attain both but is appears certain he will eclipse Mikita&rsquo;s mark, possibly in his very next appearance on the ice.There are other tangible benefits attached to winning a scoring title. It almost automatically assures a player of the first-team All-Star berth and if the Bruins were to go on and win the league championship, chances are Esposito would be considered seriously for the Hart Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s most valuable player.The rise of Esposito to such scoring promience must make the Chicago Black Hawks wince very time they see his name in a scoring summary. He was constantly being undermined by fans and critics alike when he played alongside Bobby Hull with the Hawks.They called him a collector of &lsquo;garbage&rsquo; points at Chicago because of Hull&rsquo;s productivity.Now he&rsquo;s collecting his garbage in Boston and the Bruins are delighted beyond belief. Milt Schmidt, the Bruins&rsquo; general manager, considers the trade that brought Esposito and Ken Hodge to the Bruins for Gilles Marotte, Pit Martin and goaler Jack Norris, a hockey wonder. &#9632;

RECORDS FINE BUT ESPOSITO WANTS SCORING TITLE

OAKLAND, Calif. &mdash;Put together a big league baseball pitcher, two football stars, a television producer, a sports executive and two heirs to the Woolworth millions and you&rsquo;ve got not only an unusual conglomeration of people, but the new owners of the Oakland Seals of the National Hockey League.The fan-starved Seals, who have managed to knock back the ears of old and new NHL teams alike this season but can&rsquo;t draw flies at the box office, were sold by owner Barry Van Gerbig and his 42 odd partners to an illustrious group known as Trans-National Communications, which is headed by former CBS producer william Creasy.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01716/2996370-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="256" height="408"><figcaption class="caption-body">William Creasy</figcaption></div>The sale price was reported to be $4,500,000. The only stipulation the NHL made in the deal was that the Seals remain located in the San Francisco Bay Area.Creasv will control 75 per cent of the stock in the Seals. The balance will be held by Seymour Knox III and his brother, Northrup, who are members of the wealthy Buffalo, NA., family that controls Woolworth stores throughout the world.Other stockholders in Trans-National were Whitey Ford, the former Yankee baseball pitcher, two ex-Giant footballers, Pat Summerall and Dick Lynch, and one-time CBS sports executive Ellis (Woody) Erdman.Creasy, who was the man instrumental in securing an NHL television contract for CBS, will be the team&rsquo;s representative on the NHL Board of Governors. &#9632;

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New Sports Group Buys NHL Seals

STOCKHOLM, Sweden &mdash;At a special meeting of the International Ice Hockey Federation held in Geneva the venue of the 1969 Championships, &ldquo;A&rdquo; pool, was changed from Prague, Czechoslovakia, to Stockholm, Sweden.The championships will include the National teams from Canada, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, United States, and Finland, and will be held here, March 15-30.Following are the dates of the games:March 15 Saturday Russia vs. United StatesCzechoslovakia vs. CanadaSweden vs. FinlandMarch 16 Sunday Russia vs. SwedenCzechoslovakia vs. United States Canada vs. FinlandMarch 17 Monday Rest dayMarch 18 Tuesday Russia vs. CanadaCzechoslovakia vs Finland Sweden vs. United StatesMarch 19 Wednesday Russia vs. FinlandCzechoslovakia vs. SwedenMarch 20 Thursday Canada vs. United StatesMarch 21 Friday Russia vs. CzechoslovakiaCanada vs. SwedenMarch 22 Saturday Finland vs. United StatesMarch 23 Sunday Russia vs. United StatesCzechoslovakia vs. Canada Sweden vs. FinlandMarch 24 Monday Russia vs. SwedenMarch 25 Tuesday Czechoslovikia vs. FinlandCanada vs. United StatesMarch 26 Wednesday Russia vs. FinlandCzechoslovakia vs. United StatesMarch 27 Thursday Canada vs. SwedenMarch 28 Friday Russia vs. CzechoslovakiaMarch 29 Saturday Canada vs. FinlandSweden vs. United StatesMarch 30 Sunday Russia vs. CanadaCzechoslovakia vs. Sweden Finland vs. United States &#9632;

WORLD HOCKEY DATES

<div class="byline">BY BOB HARRIS</div>MONTREAL. Que. &mdash; Five fine first-year performers are waging a fierce fight for &ldquo;rookie of the year&rdquo; honors in the National Hockey League as the 1968-69 season turns into its final corner. The five, who seem to lead the rest in the running for the Calder Memorial Trophy, include two left-wingers, Norm Ferguson of Oakland and Danny Grant of Minnesota, two defensemen, Brad Park of New York and Jim Dorey of Toronto, and one goaltender, Gerry Desjardins of Los Angeles.Desjardins figures as the favorite, but he is far from a shoo-in. He was the overwhelming choice of the NHL coaches who participated in a special poll to select and all-league squad for the March issue of the HOCKEY WORLD Magazine, but the writers will vote the Calder, and while they will regard the coaches&rsquo; opinions with respect, they will not feel bound by them.Also, Desjardins does not have outstanding statistics and his pace, which already has slowed a bit, must sustain through the stretch. Gerry labors without satisfactory defensive support and since the injury to Wayne Rutledge, played in 30 consecutive games, which is rough on a rookie, especially in this day and age, so he has gotten bombed now and then, and has had brief stretches when he admitted to shakiness.However, the plump, 5-11, 200-pounder, who has compiled a 3.20 goals-against per-game average with four shutouts through the first three-fourths of the season, has dazzled observers with his one-man stands. The 24-vear-old from Sudbury, Ontario, who was runnerup MVP in the American League last season and never had a game in the majors prior to this season, has astonishingly quick reflexes, a remarkable glove hand and a lot of courage. He is especially potent against breakaways.&ldquo;He is not technically perfect yet,&rdquo; admits, his coach, Red Kelly, &ldquo;but he has played very few bad games for us. He has carried us most of the season. He is a rare rookie.&rdquo;There are those who feel Danny Grant of Minnesota is remarkable, too. Grant played 22 games for Montreal last season, but is still eligible by terms of the award, which permits up to 25 NHL games in any single preceding season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01720/2996491-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="550" height="564"><figcaption class="caption-body">NORM FERGUSON &hellip;Oakland attacker</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02598/2996484-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="538" height="600"><figcaption class="caption-body">DANNY GRANT &hellip;North Stars&rsquo; Hope</figcaption></div>A 5-10, 185 pound left-winger who scored 44 goals in 48 games in his last season as an amateur, the handsome 24-year-old from Frederiction. New Brunswick, scored only three goals for Montreal last season, but this season passed 25 with his second &ldquo;hat-trick&rdquo; of the season on national TV against Toronto the last Sunday in February.A super-shooter, Grant is something special. Managercoach Wren Blair says, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been working harder than I&rsquo;ve ever seen him, and this goes for both offense and defense. One of his biggest assets, of course, is that he gets his shots off very quickly. He&rsquo;s on the net, too, despite the fact that he always goes for one corner or the other.&rdquo; New York Ranger scout Dennis Ball says, &ldquo;There just aren&rsquo;t any better left-wingers coming up than Grant.&rdquo;One who may be is Norm Ferguson of the Oakland Seals, who also has a shot at a 30-goal first-season. The NHL goal-scoring record for rookies is 34 by Nels Stewart of Montreal Maroons in a 36-game schedule in 1926, and the modern mark is 30 by Bernie Geoffr ion of Canadiens in a 70-game slate in 1952. Ferguson is small, 5-8, 160 pounds, but sturdy. The 23-year-old recruit from Sydney, Nova Scotia, also is clearly a rookie, never having had an NHL game before this season.Like Grant and Desjardins a former Canadiens&rsquo; system player) Ferguson scored 42 goals for Cleveland in the American League last season and has been firing them in for the Seals this season.Coach Fred Glover says, &ldquo;He has excellent moves and a very deceptive shot. He&rsquo;s probably the most accurate shooter on our club. He works hard and he isn&rsquo;t afraid to go into the corners with anybody. He&rsquo;s a good National Leaguer right now and he&rsquo;s going to get a lot better before he&rsquo;s done.&rdquo;Other promising rookie forwards include Nick Libett of Detroit, Bobby Schmautz of Chicago, Danny O&rsquo;Shea of Minnesota, Andre Lacroix, Dick Sarrazin and Jim Johnson of Philadelphia, Jean Pronovost of Pittsburgh and Walt Tkaczuk of New York, but these do not currently appear to have the credentials of Ferguson and Grant.Traditionally, it is more difficult for defensemen to win the Calder Trophy, though Bobby Orr did win it two seasons back and Kent Douglas and Jacques Laperriere also have won it in the last 10 years. Usually, defensemen are not as flashily showy as forwards, and that is true this season in the case of Brad Park of New York, who otherwise certainly is qualified for the laurel.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03398/2996477-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="559" height="540"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM DOREY &hellip;Leafs&rsquo; Defenseman</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04235/2996470-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="553" height="534"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRAD PARK &hellip; Ranger Rearguard</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-05136/2996463-1-eng-US/f0003-052.jpg" title="f0003-05" width="1161" height="1585"><figcaption class="caption-body">GERRY DESJARDINS&hellip;Kings&rsquo; Netminder Eyes Award, Too</figcaption></div>Park is the third of the four so far listed who did not have a single NHL game prior to this season. And he&rsquo;s the voungest at just 20. The 5-10, 185-pounder is not an exceptional offensive defenseman, but he is an exceptional defensive defenseman and the coaches rated him the best rookie in the Eastern Division this season. A product of the Toronto Marlboros, from Toronto, Park is cool, clever and physically strong. Many think he&rsquo;ll be one of the great ones.Manager-coach Emile Francis says, &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t play like a baby. He takes charge out there and is a little son of a gun in the corners.He shoots accurately and is usually able to keep his drives down. Also, Park gives you the puck a little and then takes it away from you and slips around you.&rdquo;Park has one handicap in that he didn&rsquo;t play the full season in the NHL, but since coming up he has established himself in a starry way. Somewhat more spectacular has been Jim Dorey, the 5-10, 175-pound, Toronto Maple Leaf brawler from Kingston, Ontario. Only 21, Dorey played in the American, Western and Central Leagues last season, but has looked like a long-time National Leaguer this season.Dorey&rsquo;s Toronto teammate Mike Pelyk, 22: Francois Lacombe, a regular in Oakland at 20; Larry Hale, a late arrival to the big-league scene in Philadelphia at 26, and Detroit&rsquo;s Paul popeil are other brilliant rookie defensemen to break into the big time this season. &#9632;

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Goaler Among Five Seeking Top Votes For Rookie Award

OFFICIAL NATIONAL 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. McKenzieWilliam Z. StevensonPresident and PublisherManaging DirectorYearly Subscription Rates: $5.00 in Canada$6.00 in the U.S.A, and $8.00 in Foreign Countries.Postage paid at Rouses Point, N.Y.Authorized as second class mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa and for payment of postage in cash.Printed in Canada &#9632;

The Horkey News

<div class="byline">BY JIM PROUDFOOT</div>TORONTO, Ont.Dave Keon of the Maple Leafs resents suggestions he&rsquo;s making a spectacular comeback in the National Hockey League this season. &ldquo;How can you make a comeback,&rdquo; he aks, &ldquo;when you haven&rsquo;t really been away?&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01782/2996546-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="271" height="432"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Keon</figcaption></div>Keon slumped to 11 goals, poorest total of his career, during the 1967-68 campaign but on the other hand, he equalled a career high with 37 assists.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m doing anything differently this year,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Perhaps my skating is, shall we say, a bit more purposeful. And I think maybe I&rsquo;m getting my shots away more promptly instead of thinking about what to do.&rdquo;In any case, Keon has been hot through the month of February and, with 20 games to go, had 21 goals, posing a definite threat to his personal record, which is 28.That raised Keon&rsquo;s lifetime total, in his ninth NHL season, to 193 goals. He is going to be one of highest scorers in hockey history even though neither he nor his Leaf bosses regard him as one of Toronto&rsquo;s home run hitters.Keon is a resolute defensive player, undoubtedly Leafs&rsquo; best. He is the finest proponent of coach Punch Imlach&rsquo;s forechecking approach, which is to hound the opposition in its own zone, force it to cough up the puck which, of course, leads to a scoring opportunity.It is precisely this quality which brought about the line change that got Keon really moving. He&rsquo;d spent most of the winter with Murray Oliver on his left wing and Ron Ellis on the right side.Oliver is the kind of mobile checker Keon likes to work with, but Ellis is an up-and-down winger whose best move is a break in on goal off his flank.As a consequence, neither Keon nor Ellis was producing his proper potential. So Imlach took Ellis off that wing and put Floyd Smith there. The new unit was an immediate success.Smith has the knack of being in the right spot when Keon seizes possession of the puck. And he isn&rsquo;t fast enough to race in ahead of Keon, calling for a lateral. So Keon&rsquo;s speed is now being used to the best advantage.&ldquo;Individual achievements don&rsquo;t count for much, though they&rsquo;re a good indication of how you&rsquo;re playing,&rdquo; Keon says. &ldquo;But hockey is a team sport, you know. When all players are functioning as a unit, then you have success. And the chances are that when that happens, individuals won&rsquo;t accomplish a great deal on their own.&rdquo;Ironically, Keon&rsquo;s defensive work was considered his main weakness when he was a junior at St. Michael&rsquo;s College in Toronto. Both his coach, Bob Goldham, and his manager, Father Dave Bauer, told him he&rsquo;d spend a few years in the minor leagues, rounding out his game, unless he was prepared to learn checking immediately. So he did and turned professional ahead of time, making it with Leafs in 1960.Keon won the Calder Trophy that year as the season&rsquo;s standout rookie, got the Lady Byng in 1962 and 1963 when he played effectively yet incurred only one minor penalty in each season. But the biggest honor was in 1967 when he received the Conn Smythe Trophy as outstanding playoff performer.That was his fourth Stanley Cup victory and Keon&rsquo;s contributions were vast. He got eight points in 12 games but, more important, stymied such opposition centres as Canadiens&rsquo; Jean Beliveau. &#9632;

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Streaking Keon May Set Career Goal High

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02733/2996605-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="393" height="450"></div>&bull; PHILADELPHIA &mdash; THE FLYERS were very disappointed they couldn&rsquo;t make a trade for Mike Walton of the Maple Leafs. They offered goalie Doug Favell and left wing Brit Selby for the talented Walton who just recently was whisked off the trading block by the Leafs and returned to action &hellip; It was ironical that Walton scored the tying goal with less than seven minutes play to give the Leafs a 1-1 tie with the Flyers in his second game since his reinstatement &hellip; Bobby Rvdell, the pop singer. attended the game here last week. He was born and brought up in the area close by the Spectrum, and has developed into quite a hockey fan &hellip; The Flyers have an eight-station radio network. Gene Hart does the announcing and does a splendid job &hellip; Mrs. Ed Snider, wife of the chairman of the board of the Flyers, designed the attractive costumes worn by the Flv-erettes, a new group of 28 young ladies who will be in attendance at all Flyers&rsquo; home games &hellip; Steve Price, Minneapolis; Ted Davis. Framingham, Mass; Robert Myers, Toledo; Gary Osborne, Hibbing, Minn; Chris Aherns, Freeport, L.I.; Peter D&rsquo;Ewart, Arcadia, Calif.; Mike Radke, St. Clair Shores. Mich.; Michael Simpson, Waterville. Maine; and James Wright, Johnstown, Pa. were the nine U.S. Junior Hockey All-America Team of 1968-69 that the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States flew into New York to attend the Lester Patrick Memorial Dinner recently.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03635/2996598-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="262" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Walton</figcaption></div>&bull; JIMMY SKINNER, chief scout of the Detroit Red Wings, belives that Finland will produce the best hockey players of any European country in a few years. Recently returned from a scouting trip to Europe, Skinner told us he attended games at open-air arenas in Finland with the temperature 18 below zero. He also attended games in Germany with over 10,000 fans in attendance. The Red Wings have a European scout living in Germany and hope the day isn&rsquo;t too far off when they will have a few European players on their roster&hellip; Sam Nover and Ron Cantera are the hosts between-per-iods on the Red Wing telecasts &hellip; Budd Lynch and Bruce Martyn are the play-by-play announcers for all of the Red Wings games over radio and television. The Wings air all three periods of every home and away game over the radio. Sponsored bv the Stroh Brewery there are approximately 30 stations on the Wings&rsquo; network spread over three states, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio&hellip; Bobby Hull thinks Eastern Division clubs should arrive for their games in California at least 48 hours before their scheduled games. &ldquo;The three-hour drag on the clock is killing them,&rdquo; informed Bobby.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04541/2996591-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="261" height="423"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jimmy Skinner</figcaption></div>&bull; JERRY DELISE, board chairman, and general manager of the Muskegon Mohawks and 1967-68 winner of THE HOCKEY NEWS Award as top minor league executive, told the standing room only crowd when accepting this award that it was the highlight of his 27 years in hockey. He then cited his organization, players and especially the loyal Muskegon fans as instrumental in bringing the award to one of hockey&rsquo;s outstanding minor league operations &hellip; In fact, there are few better hockey operations any where than the one DeLise has going tor him. Close to 5,200 fans, largest crowd in two years, was on hand to see DeLise accept THE HOCKEY NEWS Award. The popular and hard-driving DeLise has made atremendous success in Muskegon since he first brought the International Hockey League team here nine years ago &hellip; Originally from New Haven, Conn., he is one of the most sincere and dedicated men in the sport and is highly respected by hockey owners and executives in all of the major and minor professional leagues &hellip; The Muskegon Mohawks, incidentally, boast the youngest club in minor pro or major amateur hockey with a club averaging slightly more than 21 years. Coach Moose Lallo of the Mohawks has been with Jerry during all nine years he&rsquo;s been in Muskegon. Another unusual feature about the Muskegon operation is that Jerry&rsquo;s wife, Winn, is the president of the organization.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05435/2996584-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="280" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jerry DeLise</figcaption></div>&bull; BOBBY HULL made a tremendous hit with everyone at the Lester Patrick Memorial Dinner in New York. His acceptance speech upon winning the Lester Patrick Award was one of the finest any winner will ever make. There&rsquo;s no doubt but that Hull is just about hockey&rsquo;s finest goodwill ambassador &hellip; Montreal&rsquo;s John Ferguson is laughing at the remark made by Billy Reav last January when the Chicago coach stated that the Canadiens&rsquo; hardrock winger was only a two-bit hockey player. Fergy has already scored over 20 goals, io ot them since Reav made the remark after his fight with Bobby Hull &hellip; Gary Dornhoe-fer of the Philadelphia Flyers told intimates recently that he was thinking of retiring from hockey at the end of the season and concentrating more on golf. He&rsquo;s currently an assistant pro in Ontario and is said to have a great future as a golf professional &hellip; Harold Atkins, sports director of the Montreal Star, has come up with a suggestion to be studied by the NHL rules committee at its next meeting. It concerns a second line, back of the goal-line, the exact width of the puck which will prove to goal judges that the full puck is over the line &hellip; Mayor Frank Fasi of Honolulu has ordered a study of requirements for a big league hockey rink which would be installed in the Honolulu International Center Complex.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-06349/2996577-1-eng-US/f0004-062.jpg" title="f0004-06" width="262" height="405"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Hull</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div>DETROIT, Mich-Dean Prentice probably won&rsquo;t reach the 300-goal plateau this season. It would take a torrid final month, a goal every other game, for the black - haired veteran to do it.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01729/2996636-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="262" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dean Prentice</figcaption></div>But if Prentice continues to play the kind of hockey he&rsquo;s played for the last two months his Red Wing bosses will be satisfied.After a poor first half during which he lost his job as a regular, Prentice earned his way back with diligent penalty-killing and extra effort when he was spotted in the lineup.The 36-year-old left wing reached a peak during a 9-1 romp over the Philadelphia Flyers. First he swiped the puck from Allan Stanley in the Philadelphia corner and set up Bruce MacGregor for the game&rsquo;s first goal.It hit the Flyers particularly hard because they had a power play going at the time.Then, after crafty, gray-haired Red Wing captain Alex Delvecchio lifted in his own rebound to hit the 20-goal mark for the 10th time in his 18 seasons.Prentice the playmaker struck again.This time he stickhandled in on left wing, drew the defense to him and crisped a perfect cross pass to Wayne Connelly who drilled the puck past Bernie Parent.The two goals ignited the runaway victory, a large one for the Wings since it was their fourth game in five nights.And, the Wings have a history of trouble with Western Division teams and had lost the previous night in Pittsburgh.During that game Prentice, killing a penalty, crashed into the Detroit net and rattled nearly every bone in his body. Since Prentice suffered a broken back in the 1964-65 season, any back injury is very touchy.Prentice laid in a heap in the Detroit net in Pittsburgh for several moments before finally pulling himself together and getting up. He rammed his hip, his knee, his back and arm. He went off the ice slowly, helped off.But Prentice returned later in the game.The Wings didn&rsquo;t reach home that night until 2 a.m. but the next morning Prentice and teammate Poul Popiel made an appearance at a suburban kids hockey tournament. And that night Prentice was back on the ice to spark the Red Wing victory.He was jolted twice more in the game, taking a crosscheck across the back of the neck that banged him into the boards, and. with the lead growing, coach Bill Gadsby rested Prentice the remainder of the night.It had been a tough week. During the five night stretch Prentice also scored his 11th goal of the season to get a 1-1 tie in a big game in New York.Prentice needed 18 goals this season to reach 300, a height attained by only 11 other players in National Hockey League history. He scored 17 last season after a 23-goal season during his first full year with Detroit.While he&rsquo;s not likely to make it this season, he&rsquo;s been playing an important part in the Red Wing resurgence, working on a line with sophomore pro Garry Unger and newcomer Wayne Connelly. &#9632;

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300-Mark Out Of Reach But Prentice Hits Form

<h2>Canadiens Have Choice Of Top French Stars</h2>In the Feb. 15 edition of THE HOCKEY NEWS it was stated that Montreal Canadiens have first choice of two French-Canadian juniors each year. I would like to know why Montreal has been granted that privilege?If Montreal is to be granted that concession I think each of the other teams should be given similar treatment. I am an ardent Toronto fan and if the Maple Leafs were favored to the same extent Montreal is and were given first choice of two English-Canadian juniors each year, chances are good that Bobby Orr would be playing for Toronto now.If the other 11 teams in the NHL continue to allow Montreal this privilege I think they have nothing to complain about when the Canadiens win championships.I am of the opinion that Montreal is a great enough organization without being favored in this way. I would like to hear what other hockey fans have to say on this subject.ROBERT HORNER, Zurich. Ont.(Editor&rsquo;s note: Canadiens still have the privilege this season but this could change next year. The NHL has decreed that in the future all teams must vote whether it should go on or be withdrawn.)<h2>Time To Bring Back The Allan Cup Teams</h2>I&rsquo;m getting sick and tired of hearing what&rsquo;s happened to Canada in international hockey? I say let&rsquo;s bring back the great Allan Cup championship teams. It will also revive interest in senior hockey that once existed in Canada.I remember teams like the Penticon V&rsquo;s, Whitby Dunlops and Trail Smoke Eaters. Doing away with this system in favor of a National team was the biggest mistake in the history of amateur hockey.I saw Canada&rsquo;s Nationals last year and they couldn&rsquo;t beat a good OHA junior team let alone the Allan Cup champions.It&rsquo;s ridiculous to even think a European team (including the Russians) could even come close to an NHL team. Let&rsquo;s bring back those great senior teams and go over there and &lsquo;sock it to&rsquo; em.EDDIE GOOLD, Easton, Pa.<h2>Esposito&rsquo;s Sentence Not Fair &lsquo;Justice&rsquo;</h2>Perhaps the year 1955 is far in the distant past, but today&rsquo;s sports news brought back some bitter memories for me. Late in the 195455 season, Montreal and Detroit were battling for first place. In a game against Boston, a fight broke out between Maurice Richard and Hal Lavcoe. In the ensuing battle, &ldquo;the Rocket struck a linesman, and Clarence Campbell suspended Richard for the remainder of the season. I his action subsequently brought about a riot, a forfeited game, loss of a championship for Montreal and loss of the scoring title for Richard.Recently, in a televised game between Boston and Philadelphia, the main cog in the Bruins&rsquo; offense, Phil Esposito, was not in a fight with anyone. He merely objected to being given a minor penalty and said so to Referee Bob Sloan, thus drawing a misconduct. He then entered the referee&rsquo;s crease and shoved Sloan with both hands, pursued him like an attacking fighter sensing the K.O., and threw a left hook which landed on Sloan&rsquo;s right shoulder. For this he has been suspended for two whole games. I ask you could Campbell be afraid of another 1955 episode?To cite a supporting example, in the Eastern Hockey League, John Brophy has been set down for an entire year for striking an official. As a lawyer, I suggest that Campbell go to his books and find out what equal and fair justice really means. Maybe he should review the films of the game as televised on WKBS-TV, Philadelphia. A two-game suspension &mdash; &ldquo;bah, humbug&rdquo;.GORDON L. WILSON, Turnersville, N.J.<h2>Bruins All The Way, It&rsquo;s Lona Overdue</h2>This letter is in reply to the Hicksville, New York fan whose letter appeared in the January 25 issue of the Hockey News. This is the first time that I heard that a professional ice hockey team, the Boston Bruins, intimidates officials.Are you a forlorn Ranger fan who cannot stand the sight of such Bruin stars as Esposito, Green, Hodge, Orr and Sanderson? The Boston management has spent a fortune to present a winning team to the Hub. The 1968-69 season is their moment of glory.Remember that roughness is a part of the thrilling game of ice hockey. Boston is the most penalized team in either division. Many times they play with one or two men short-handed which is an advantage to the opposing team. What has happened when your Rangers are on the power play? Is it not a pop gun attack?During the current season, the Bruins lost McKenzie, Doak. Orr, Sanderson and Williams through injuries at one time or another. The team kept on winning. When New York lost Gilbert and Nevin, they lost several games.Let us hope that Boston goes all the way this season. The fans in Boston have been patient for years.ISIDOR LESSE, Brooklyn, N.Y.<h2>Berenson No Fluke Says St. Louis Fan</h2>Being away on a trip I returned to find the Feb. 8 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS awaiting me and in it was quite a bombshell.Writing in the Fan Forum. Mr. Grier calls Red Berenson a &lsquo;fluke&rsquo;. Perhaps your disenchantment is not with Berenson and his rather lack-lustre career with New York, but with the fact that he has come to his full prime with St. Louis. Or perhaps vour bitter outburst is due to the fact that New York may of may not find itself in a playoff berth, where St. Louis enjoys a wide 23-point lead in the Western Division at this time of writ ing.If Berenson is such a &lsquo;fluke&rsquo; why is it in the overall East-West scoring race he is in the select company of names like Hull, Esposito, Howe, Mikita.Our Blues aren&rsquo;t &lsquo;retreads&rsquo;. To us they are No. 1, first class all the wayMARK ALLAN, St. Louis, Mo.<h2>Amerks Must Realize It&rsquo;s Buffalo&rsquo;s Year</h2>The Rochester Americans have dominated the American Hockey League for the past three or four years. This year, because they must fight for a playoff berth, their fans and writers are crying the blues. Is this city incapable of supporting anything but a runaway winner?Buffalo fans who, on the other hand, have faithfully supported also-rans for years, are finally rewarded with a great team. I say it&rsquo;s good for the league.DAVE McLEOD, Liverpool, N.Y. &#9632;

Fan Forum

1&mdash;Anyone is eligible to cast ballots for the National Hockey League All-Star Team, but each reader may submit ONLY ONE ENTRY, naming first and second team, as well as MVP and Outstanding Rookie.2&mdash;The ballots will run for three weeks. Final ballot will appear in the issue dated March 15, 1969.3&mdash;Use blanks published in THE HOCKEY NEWS, or reasonable facsimile or tracings of some if you do not wish to deface your copy. Be sure to fill in your own name and address.4&mdash;Ballots must be mailed &mdash; to All-Star Editor, THE HOCKEY NEWS, Room 212, 1434 St. Catherine St. W., Montreal, Que. Can. &#9632;

Here Are The Voting Regulations

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01811/2996750-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="535" height="609"><figcaption class="caption-body">GLENN HALL &hellip; Goalkeeper</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02658/2996743-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="550" height="606"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHIL ESPOSITO &hellip; Centre</figcaption></div>MONTREAL, Que. &mdash;Have you always wanted an opportunity to select a National Hockey League All-Star team and hold it up for comparison with the one the big league hockey experts select officially for the NHL? It&rsquo;s a kind of challenge every red-blooded hockey fan won&rsquo;t want to pass up.Well, if you do, then get right with it.THE HOCKEY NEWS is presently conducting voting for its 22nd annual National League All-Star selections and invites its thousands of readers to get on the bandwagon and join in the fan poll.Merely clip the ballot shown on this page, read the voting regulations carefully and then fill in your selection. It&rsquo;s simple and it can be fun.As has been the custom in the past, you are requested to pick a first and second NHL all-star team, printing the name of the player carefully on the ballot. Remember, you are also afforded a chance to cast a vote for the league&rsquo;s outstanding rookie and most valuable player of the year. It&rsquo;s all contained in your ballot.The most important thing is to get your votes in so your favorite players are not left out.The faster you get them in the sooner we can tabulate them too.The ballots have now appeared in two issues and your team will be announced in THE HOCKEY NEWS dated March 29.Keep in mind, if one of your favorites should fail to gain a berth on the Fans&rsquo; All-Star team by the margin of just, a few points, it could be because you didn&rsquo;t send that ballot in as you had intended. So right now, while it&rsquo;s still fresh in vour mind, fill out the ballot on this page and mail it right awav to All-Star Editor, THE HOCKEY NEWS, Room 212, 1434 St. Catherine St. W., Montreal;107, Quebec, Canada.Get in on the fun. Try to outguess the experts!<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03484/2996736-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="541" height="729"><figcaption class="caption-body">TED HARRIS &hellip; Defense</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04337/2996729-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="550" height="729"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRANK MAHOVLICH &hellip; Left wing</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05278/2996722-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="547" height="726"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY ORR &hellip; Defense</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06197/2996715-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="535" height="735"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLAUDE LAROSE &hellip; Right wing</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Hockey News Urges Fans To Vote In All-Star Poll

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES. Calif.-After three-fourths of last season, their first year, the Los Angeles Kings were two games below the .500 level. They spurted, then fell back and finished one game below .500 and one point out of first place.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01759/2996788-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="271" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eddie Joyal</figcaption></div>After exactly three-fourths of this their second season. 57 games, the Kings were 11 games below .500. 23 points out of first place, seven points out of second place and hoping to maintain a playoff position. They had lost their last four straight and six out of seven.The King losing streak reached five games with their first-ever loss at home to St. Louis in their next game, but ended with their first-ever win in Oakland the following game, their 59th.In the first three-fourths, the Kings had been all right at home at 16-9-2. but went only 4-22-4 away from home and had lost five straight and had won only one of their preceding 15 games on the road.They were even with their fellow expansionists in the Western Division at 11-11-5, but just 9-20-1 with the established clubs of the East.The Kings made only one major change in their lineup from last season, the addition of rookie goal-tender Gerry Desjardins, and it helped their defense some. However their offense has sagged.Last season, the Kings were first in goals scored and fifth in goals permitted among expansion teams. This season, the Kings are fourth on both counts. After 57 games, the three-quarter point, they had scored 141 goals and surrendered 192.Because of an injury to sophomore Wayne Rutledge, rookie Desjardins had played in 30 consecutive games, starting 29, before he was replaced by Jacques Caron in the last game of the 57.&lsquo;Firing a bit, the brilliant Desjardins, who gets little support, had a 15-22-6 record with a 3.20 goals-against pergame average, while Rutledge was 5-8-0 and 3.47.To protect a playoff position. the Kings could purchase a veteran goalie from the minors, but had not done so and had passed up Don Simmons as this was written. Coach Red Kelly, who feels his team badly needs a solid left-winger and a power-plaY point-man. was hopelul of getting it by calling up young Gary Croteau from Springfield. Kelly also brought cen the Billy Inglis up from the AHI. Kings at the same time.Eddie Joyal led the team in goals with 27, followed by Bill Flett with 21 and Howie Hughes with 15. No one else was holding an NHL level.Bob Wall and Gordon La-bossiere had 10 each, Real Lemieux and Ted Irvine nine each, Lowell MacDonald and Jimmy Peters seven each, Howie Menard and defenseman Bill White six each.Labossiere spent 13 games in the minors. MacDonald 17 and Menard 22.Defensemen are responsible for defense, not offense, but it is interesting to note that defensemen had not scored for the Kings in the last 16 games and only once in the last 27 games until Dale Rolfe scored in the 59th game in Oakland.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02667/2996781-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="532" height="645"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY CROTEAU &hellip; Help from the AHL.</figcaption></div>However, defenseman White shared the team lead in assists with Lemieux at 22, followed by Flett with 19, Irvine with 18, Labossiere and defensemen Brent Hughes with 15 each, and Joyal with 14.Joyal led in total points with 41, followed by Flett with 38, Lemieux 31, Howie Hughes 28, Irvine and White 27 each. Labossiere 25 and Wall 21.Defenseman Dale Rolfe led the team in penalty minutes with 67, followed by a forward, Lemieux, with 60. Defensemen Dave Amadio and Larry Cahan had 56 and 54 respectively, forward Flett 45. Menard, Wall and Hughes, who share the same line, had only 11. 10 and 10, respectively.The Kings have had more penalties than their foes in 28 games, less in 25 and were even in four. The Kings still have not developed a powerplay, and penalty situations, both for and against, remain a continuing problem.The Kings had scored on 23 out of 180 power-play chances, while foes had scored 39 out of 194 opportunities. In the last quarter of 19 games the Kings scored power-play goals in only four games, but surrendered same in 12 games.However, the Kings often do not lose close. In high-scoring games this season, they have been beaten by 5-0, 5-0,&rsquo; 6-0. 6-2, 7-0, 7-3, 7-4. 7-5 and 9-3. while their big wins have been by 6-2, 6-3 and 8-5.The team that scores first usually wins Kings&rsquo; games, as happened in 38 of the first 57 games. The Kings came from behind to win six games and lost leads to lose nine games. The Kings have won five of seven one-goal decisions, however.The Kings do get their share of shots, having outshot their foes in 32 games and been outshot in 25. However, they have lost games this season in which they outshot foes by 36-22. 46-19 and 46-17. &#9632;

f0007-01

Kings Reach Home Stretch With Sagging Ice Offense

DETROIT, Mich.&mdash;Most Valuable Red Wing? lake a vote now and it&rsquo;s got to be that masked marvel. Roy Edwards.When Edwards moved between the pipes the Red Wings began winning with consistency. Finable to put three victories together, Roy backstopped six straight victories and added a tie for good measure.Edwards, who will be 32 on March 12, came of age in the National Hockey League in several stages. He put his foot down when it appeared he was going to be on the roller coaster again between Detroit and the Fort Worth farm.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03506/2996819-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="243" height="421"><figcaption class="caption-body">Roy Edwards</figcaption></div>That was a big step. With Roger Crozier hit hard by the Hong Kong flu and Terry Sawchuk out with a bulbous, infected, broken finger, the Red Wings brass couldn&rsquo;t do much else but assure Edwards he would stay with the team the rest of the season&hellip; after he said he wanted to stay in one place or he&rsquo;d quit.Brought up with Crozier ill and Sawchuk disabled, Edwards backstopped back-to-back victories. That was midDecember. But he didn&rsquo;t win the top job until January, after he decided to start wearing a mask.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s given me the confidence to go down into a scramble without worrying about getting a stick or the puck in the face,&rdquo; Edwards said.And with Roy confident, the Red Wings became confident in him as he stood up and challenged the shooters.That seven game streak lifted the Wings from the cellar into the middle of the fight for a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in three seasons. BERRY &#9632;

f0007-03

Masked Goaler Edwards Man Who Moved Wings

<div class="byline">BY LOU PRATO</div>PITTSBURGH, Pa.&mdash;Keith McCreary doesn&rsquo;t score with the proficiency of Bobby Hull or hit with the impact of Bobby Orr. But to a handful of National Hockey League followers Keith McCreary of the Pittsburgh Penguins is every bit as good as Hull or Orr.Just ask Harland Charette of Old Chelsea, Quebec. Or his brother, Tony, who lives in Des Chenes, Quebec. And what makes the Charette brothers the experts on McCreary? Why, they&rsquo;re simply the president and vice-president of the Keith McCreary Fan Club.The club may not have as many members as the Bobby Hull or Bobby Orr fan clubs. But what it lacks in numbers it makes up in devout, vocal support of its namesake. And not even a last place team, like McCreary&rsquo;s Penguins, can wither its devotion.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01797/2996850-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="248" height="415"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith McCreary</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what made Tony and Harland pick me.&rdquo; McCreary says. &ldquo;I guess they watched me play for the Junior Canadians at Ottawa and 1 appealed to them. I scored 30 goals there and 1 always liked to hit. I really don&rsquo;t do much except send out signed photos to club members. Tony and Harland do the rest. But it&rsquo;s nice to know someone is rooting for you.&rdquo;As the Penguins moved into the last week of February, McCreary had more than his fan club members rooting for him. Suddenly, he was the team&rsquo;s goal leader, again, regaining the touch he had lost after being hospitalized in Minneapolis in January.His first goal in 15 games had sparked Pittsburgh to a 3-0 win over Boston. He also scored another goal in that game and twice had chances to get a hat trick. Two games later. McCreary scored one goal and assisted on two others as the Penguins outhustled the Red Wings, 3-2.For a team that had won just 11 games prior to the Boston win, the two victories over Eastern Division contenders in four days seemed almost hard to imagine. Yet. they proved the Penguins could play with the best in the NHL despite their season-long losing manner.And if Keith McCreary can continue scoring as he did against Boston and Detroit, the Penguins still might have a chance to gain a Stanley Cup Playoff spot.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really not much of a scorer,&rdquo; McCreary said after getting 16th goal of the year. &ldquo;Really, I&rsquo;m not a nifty hockey player and I don&rsquo;t have a lot of finesse.&ldquo;I have to make up what I do with a lot of hard work. I&rsquo;ve get to play my man and think a lot of checking. Goal scoring must be secondary.&ldquo;I know I could shoot the puck more and I also know I could take my man more. But we play too many games in too short of a time to go out there and concentrate on the body all night. you have to pick your spots so you don&rsquo;t wear yourself out. And when you get the chance, you&rsquo;ve got to take advantage of it.&rdquo;McCrearv&rsquo;s re-emergence as the Penguins leading goal producer is not surprising. In mid January he was leading the team in goals when the flu and an ear infection forced him into a Minneapolis Hospital for five days. He still has not completely recovered.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s surprising how much that took out of me,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I feel good now and my weight is back. But I&rsquo;m still not skating as well as before; I&rsquo;m not breaking in the spots as I should be. I figure it will still take me another week or two to get back to where I was.&ldquo;I know I&rsquo;ve got to do my share if we&rsquo;re to make the playoffs. I&rsquo;m still optimistic about that but I&rsquo;m also realistic. I know we&rsquo;re running out of games. But we&rsquo;ve still got an outside chance and that&rsquo;s all this club needs if it ever catches fire.&rdquo;Now that Keith McCreary has caught fire, maybe the Penguins will, too. But if not, Harland and Tony Charette won&rsquo;t stop recruiting members. Even a last place fan club is better than none. &#9632;

f0008-01

No Hull or Orr--But Fan Club Members Rate McCreary ‘Super Star’

<div class="byline">By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02707/2996888-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="289" height="429"></div><h2>The Sport Is The Men In It</h2>A HOCKEY OWNER&mdash; Jack Kent Cooke willingly settles an argument that has raged around the sports world for some time now. &ldquo;I am not a great man,&rdquo; the owner of the Los Angeles Kings and Lakers and part owner of the Washington Redskins says. &ldquo;I am a lucky man. And I am a hard-working man. I have managed to acquire all I have acquired through hard work and good fortune. Nothing any man has is of any great value to him unless he enjoys it. I enjoy sports more than anything in which I have ever been involved. I am still deeply involved in my business interests, but I find myself drawn more and more deeply into my sports interests.&ldquo;Sports represent a great challenge. It is not good business inasmuch as men can invest their money in safer enterprises which produce richer returns more regularly, but the struggle to succeed in sports is the same as in life, and I seek success in sports. I have always felt if any man wanted anything more than any other man wanted it, and was willing to work that hard to get it, he would get it. I his philosophy has paid off for me all mv life, and I expect it to pay off for me in sports. I think with the addition of Wilt Chamberlain, the Lakers can win the professional basketball title. I think with the addition of Vince Lombardi, the Redskins can win the professional football title. And I think I will see the Kings win the Stanley Cup one day soon.&ldquo;My favorite sport always has been and remains hockey. The athlete who has thrilled me most was a hockey player, Howie Morenz, who was head and shoulders above any man who ever played the game. Colorful, my goodness&mdash;he was magnificent. I do not mean to downgrade my basketball team. All sports have their special virtues. There are nuances in pro basketball that are not in hockey. There is a special combination of skill and violence in pro football that is unique. And while I think it is true baseball is fading in popularity, and while I own two major league sports teams and part of a third, as well as my fabulous Forum, I would still dearly love to acquire a major league a baseball team.&ldquo;In May, my wife, Jean, and I will have been married 35 years. She deserves more credit than I simply for having put up with me all these years. Though I have neglected them, my family is very special to me and I do much of what I do for them. If what I do brings me some adverse public reaction. I have learned to live with it. After all, the greatest miracle, childbirth, comes only with pain. I must admit, however, that if I was not doing what I am doing, I sometimes feel I would like again to be a professional musician, which I once was&rsquo;, when the only worry I had was what song to play next.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03585/2996881-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="540" height="894"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACK COOKE &hellip;Morenz Was Magnificent</figcaption></div><h2>A Place Near The Ice</h2>A GOAL JUDGE &mdash; He is small and slight and wears glasses and you&rsquo;d never guess he was ever a hockev plaver but he played nine years through 1939. and very well, with Rangers and Canadiens and Bruins. Then he organized the Kitchener Dutchmen and coached the Stratford Juniors, but his wife was ailing so he moved to sunny Southern California and took a job with a wholesale drug outfit for whom he still works.Dutch Hiller has lived in Los Angeles 20 years now. His wife died a few years ago but left him two daughters. Now he has two grandchildren and is going to be married again. He coached the Los Angeles Monarchs, one of the fabled teams of hockey history, to be sure, for two years, but then had no connection with the game for many years until expansion brought L.A. into the NHL with the Kings and Hiller landed a job as goal judge.&ldquo;All we&rsquo;re paid is expenses,&rdquo; Dutch smiles. &ldquo;I sit in my little plexiglass &mdash; enclosed box and concentrate so hard on the goal and the goal-line that I don&rsquo;t really see the game too well, but I enjoy it so long as you don&rsquo;t get involved in controversial plays and arguments. I wouldn&rsquo;t want to give anyone a goal they didn&rsquo;t deserve or take one away it they did. I played the game and I know how important those goals are.,&ldquo;One good thing, you might get to travel during playoffs as I did last year. Oh, I&rsquo;ve had plenty of trips in my day but it&rsquo;s nice to go back now and see guys you haven&rsquo;t seen for 15 or 20 years, just as it&rsquo;s nice to have old friends coming in now the way they do. It&rsquo;s a big thrill tor me being in a big league hockey town again. You miss the game and the guys when you&rsquo;re away awhile. You never get over the game really, though I&rsquo;ve had a good life and have no complaints.&ldquo;If the puck passes over the goal-line no matter how, it becomes a goal and it&rsquo;s my job to push the button that turns on the red light. The referee can over-rule me, of course but it&rsquo;s my job. The hardest part of it is when there&rsquo;s a pile-up with bodies hall in the cage and the puck under the bodies. Sometimes it goes in and out bang-bang and you have to have seen in a split second whether it ever got past a goaf-post or bounced off an inside pipe. I don&rsquo;t care who shot or scored or didn&rsquo;t score. I stopped caring when I stopped wearing a uniform,&rdquo; he smiled.AND A TELEGRAPHER &mdash; Fans passing press-boxes ask writers what can they possibly be typing while the games are going on. They&rsquo;re doing running accounts and parts of stories, which, if not telephoned in will be sent by wire direct from the arenas to meet early newspaper deadlines. Julius Pearlstein has headed Western Union sports-events operations in L.A. for 25 years. He began as a messenger on roller skates in Pittsburgh in 1917. He used to send dot-dash by key. Now they use huge typewriter-like machines. &ldquo;It was faster the old way,&rdquo; he grins.Pearly is 68 and retiring in May after 52 years service and Charles Maher of the L.A. Times did a column on him which had the writers kidding him. But he&rsquo;ll be missed badly by slobs who are slow or can&rsquo;t spell, especially. There are others like him in every city, of course. He&rsquo;s covered not only all the big sporting events, but political conventions and campaigns and even electrocutions. Currently he covers the Sirhan trial by day, the games by night. &ldquo;There have been duller ways to make a living,&rdquo; he admits wistfully. &#9632;

f0008-02

Hockey Ad Lib

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>TORONTO&mdash;Bill Sutherland, Mike Byers and Gerry-Meehan, forwards, traded to Philadelphia of NHL in exchange for Forbes Kennedy and Brit Selby, forwards. Wayne Carleton, forward, recalled from Phoenix of WHL. and later assigned to Rochester of AHL.DETROIT&mdash;Ed Hatoum, forward, returned to Fort Worth of CHL.MINNESOTA&mdash;Fern Rivard, goalkeeper, and Johnston, forward, recalled from Memphis of CHL.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Pat Hannigan, forward, recalled from Buffalo of AHL and sold to Vancouver of WHL. Serge Bernier, forward, recalled from Quebec of AHL and returned.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Billy Inglis and Gary Croteau, forwards, recalled from Springfield of AHL. Gord Labossiere, forward, assigned to Springfield.OAKLAND &mdash; Charlie Hodge, goalkeeper, recalled from Vancouver of WHL.NEW YORK &mdash; Gilles Ville-mure, goalkeeper, returned to Buffalo of AHL. Don Simmons, goalkeeper, recalled from Buffalo. Billy Fairbairn, forward, recalled from Omaha of CHL. Dennis Hextail, forward, recalled from Buffalo.ST. LOUIS &mdash; Billy Plager, defenseman, recalled from Kansas Citv of CHL.BOSTON &mdash; Jim Harrison, forward, recalled from Oklahoma City of CHL. Jean Gauthier, defenseman, returned to Providence of AHL.PITTSBURGH &mdash; Paul Andrea. forward, recalled from Amarillo of CHL. Marv Edwards, goalkeeper, returned to Amarillo.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>CLEVELAND &mdash; Brian Harper. forward, removed from roster.<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>PORTLAND &mdash; Claude Cardin, forward, returned to Kansas City of CHL.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>DALLAS &mdash; Roger Wilson, defenseman, recalled from Greensboro of EHL.<h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>JOHNSTOWN &mdash; Norm Ryder, defenseman. purchased from Long Island for cash and loan of George Forgie, defenseman. &#9632;

Movements of Players

<div class="byline">BY DAN MOULTON</div>CHICAGO, Ill. &mdash;Howie Young&rsquo;s large and boisterous following are going to find this hard to understand hut their hero&rsquo;s future with the Black Hawks rest with his ability and willingness to come off the bench cold and heat up the action.This is role into which he&rsquo;s been cast in recent weeks and the one he will have to fulfill if he hopes to continue his career here.When the Hawks reacquired the former &lsquo;bad boy&rsquo; at the sartofthe season the hope was that he would be able to give the defense a lift. He failed, however, and after a few weeks was occupying a spot on the end of the bench and listening to his admirers belaboring Coach Billy Reay for treating their man that away. Then, when injuries decimated the ranks of Hawk attackers, Reay was&rsquo;forced to toss Howie into the action, usually as a forward. The results were encouraging &hellip; if not exactly dazzling.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01774/2996943-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="271" height="405"><figcaption class="caption-body">Howie Young</figcaption></div>Howie seldom was able to retain his speed and drive much beyond a couple of shifts but Reay noticed that during those spurts, Howie seemed to shake his teammates out of the dazes that have enveloped the Hawks all too frequently this season..The Hawks have lacked a spot player capable of sparking the team by example since Lou Angotti helped them to the Prince of Wales trophy two years ago, before he was snapped up in the expansion draft.&ldquo;A player who has to come off the bench and try to give his team a lift can do it only if he manages to keep his enthusiasm while sitting on the bench,&rdquo; said Reay.&ldquo;Angotti could do it when he was with us and so could Reggie Fleming. Howie is just now learning to keep his spirit up while watching other guys play. But he&rsquo;s learning fast.A good example of how well Howie is learning was provided just recently.Howie scored goal and threw several impressive checks during an important victory over the Bruins in a Sunday afternoon TV game. Thus encouraged, Reay tried to have the 31-year-old veteran go fulltime at left wing with Stan Mikita and Kenny Wharram the next Wednesday night when the Hawks opened a western swing against the tough Oakland Seals.This time however, Howie picked up some bad penalties and generallv conducted himself poorly. The next night, in Los Angeles, Howie was back on the bench while the Hawks were whipping the Instead of sulking over the apparent demotion, however, Howie simply kept himself &ldquo;up&rdquo; for his next opportunity. It came two nights later in Toronto, in a game the Hawks had to win to preserve any hope of gaining a spot in the playoffs.The score was tied 2-2 late in the second period and Howie was on the ice in place of Pit Martin, who had earned a misconduct penalty for sassing the referee on a hooking call.During a fore-checking sortie deep in Leafs ice, Howie managed to jar the puck from the stick of a Toronto defenseman, then pinned the rearguard along the boards back of the net while Jimmy Pappin moved in to snare the bouncing disk..Pappin promptly relayed the puck to Dennis Hull, who was stationed just to Goalie Bruce Gamble&rsquo;s left. Dennis promptly rapped goal No. 27 behind the helpless netminder and the Hawks were on the way to a 6-2 victory.&ldquo;Those are the kind of plays that can make Howie awfully valuable to us,&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;Sure, when our regular centers Martin Mikita and Andre Boudrias are going well, Young has to sit on the bench.But the second one of them lets down, I know that Howie can go over the boards and give the team a tremendous lift.&ldquo;This could add several years to his career.&rdquo;Fortunately for the Hawks &hellip; and his own career &hellip; Howie has accepted his new duties enthusiastically. &#9632;

f0009-01

Young Could Add Years To NHL Career With New ‘Spot Duty’ Role For Hawks

<div class="byline">BY NORMAN MacLEAN</div>NEW YORK. N.Y. &mdash;New York New York Rangers de feated the Montreal Canadiens 9-0 and went on to win the Stanley Cup. Their No. 1 line that season was composed of center Phil Watson, left wing Lynn Patrick and right wing Bryan Hextall.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01792/2996974-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="249" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dennis Hextali</figcaption></div>Hextail scored the goal which gave the Blueshirts the Stanley Cup in a bitter series with Toronto. And his son Dennis gave the present day Rangers a big lift just when needed most in the hectic scramble for an NHL playoff spot.On February 23, the 1968-69 Rangers met the Boston Bruins under circumstances which resembled a fight between a blind man and a drunk. The New Yorkers were reeling under the burden imposed upon them by injuries to Harry Howell (back muscles) and to Phil Goyette (strained knee ligaments) and the Bruins were without the National League&rsquo;s top point producer Phil Esposito who was sitting out the second game of a two game suspension, forwards Derek Sanderson, John McKenzie and Tom Webster who were all nursing various injuries. In addition. Bobby Orr, the NHL&rsquo;s premier defenseman was playing his first game after missing 9 games with a strained left knee.When the smoke had cleared, New York was on top, and we do mean on top with a 9-0 (notice the magic numbers) whacking of the Beantowners, which squared the season series between the clubs at 2-2-1.&ldquo;Winning is always nice, but what I liked tonight was the fact that all three lines gave an equal effort and got almost equal results,&rdquo; said Emile Francis, the Rangers General Manager Coach.The new line of Walter Tkaczuk at center with Bob Nevin and Dave Balon on the wings celebrated its third game as a unit with three goals, two by Tkaczuk and one by Nevin. This unit is very strong physically and skating is its fonte. Francis has been using it to cover the opposition&rsquo;s big guns &mdash; and so far it has worked.The old No. 1 line of center Jean Ratelie, Rod Gilbert and Vic Hadfield got two goals, both by Gilbert. Rod&rsquo;s first tally at 19: 52 of the first period gave New York a 2-0 lead and helped to really get the Blueshirts rolling.The third trio consisted of center Dennis Hextail with Don Marshall and Red Fleming on the side alleys. Hextail was replacing Goyette. Hex got one goal, his first in the NHL and Marshall got two markers.&ldquo;Hextail really played himself quite a game as he also got two assists,&rdquo; noted Francis. &ldquo;And did he ever hit. You know when he came up before, he wJs being used at wing and he couldn&rsquo;t roam as much there. At center he can go anywhere. If he hits like he did tonight, I don&rsquo;t care if he goes into the stands in order to hit his man. On the strength of this game, we will have to think about carrying Dennis as a fourth center for the rest of the year.&rdquo;This does not mean that Hex-tall has made the team, but it did show that New York had more than adequate backup strength.Hextail is 25, red haired and armed with a degree from the University of North Dakota where, &ldquo;we won the regular season championship in collegiate play one year, but lost in the playoffs&rdquo;.His older brother Bryan, Jr. preceeded him to the Rangers, but seemingly lacked Dennis hitting ability and fire. Bryan is with Vancouver of the Western Hockey League this season. Hex mav be returned to Buffalo when Goyette mends and then again the may stick as a fourth center.Dennis and Don Awrey of the Bruins got into a real wing ding in the first period and Hex figured it was a carry over from an exhibition game back in early October. Awrey also took on Fleming in the second stanza and although he pulled the jersey over Reg&rsquo;s head, Fleming butted him and Awrey had to retire for repairs.&ldquo;This is my third shot up here, now in less than a year,&rdquo; said Hextali. &ldquo;I was up in the playoffs last season and earlier this year. Each time you gain a little more confidence and the goal sure helped. I went for the puck, got it and then let it go from my backhand. I am going to keep the puck, as goals up here in the NHL can be hard to come by.&rdquo;Brad Park, the Rangers&rsquo; boy wonder on the blue line, leaped almost a foot off the ground and forgot to land on his skates when his third period shot gave the Broadway Blues their ninth goal. It, also was Park&rsquo;s first in the NHL to go along with fifteen assists.&ldquo;I just got excited and forgot to land properly,&rdquo; laughed Park, as he and Hexfall posed for pictures with their history making pucks in the dressing room.The tale on the Ranger situation is that the younger players seemingly are coming through when put to the test by Francis. The development of Park and Tkaczuk are the highlights of the season as injuries to Orland Kurtenbach (spinal fusion) and now Howell have opened the way for the younger men. Howell will not even skate for a seven to ten day period and Bob Blackburn, a former teammate of goaltender Eddie Giacomin at Providence in the American Hockey League has been recalled to fill in. This would seem to indicate that Francis prefers the 31 years old, shot blocking Blackburn over Allan Hamilton for the stretch run. &#9632;

f0010-01

Hextall, Tkaczuk, Park Turn On Bruins

<div class="byline">BY GEOFFREY FISHER</div>ST. LOUIS, Mo. &mdash;When you dominate your playmates the way the St. Louis Blues have done in the National Hokey League&rsquo;s Western Division, you can expect your victims to dream up all sorts of hokus pokus in an effort to hook you.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02677/2997005-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="240" height="415"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Cooper</figcaption></div>From Minnesota to Toronto and points between they have been reaching far out in an effort to psyche the Blues.From Toronto the Maple Leafs cunning strategist, Punch Imlach, yelps about the lavish treatment accorded the Blues by their owners. Punch charged that the Blues were being treated like maharajah and intimated that the Salomons have provided them with too much and was spoiling the players.From Bloomington, Minn, that master of the barbed tongue, Wren Blair, acreams about the St. Louis fans. He claims they make so much noise in urging on the Blues that his goaltender gets Excedrin headaches and starts chewing on the puck.Somebody else points an accusing finger at Norm Kramer, the Blues&rsquo; all-star organ footer, and says he ought to be investigated for inciting the fans to a state or hysteria.And now comes the real gasser of the decade. A member of the NHL board of governors has pro tested to St. Louis that their public address announcer is emotionally involved with his microphone, the complaint is that he displays too much feeling in announcing the goals and assists.The charge against Wayne Cooper, who is also the public relations director of the Blues, lists several counts. It is alleged that Cooper, who has never been accused of anything more criminal than kicking his golfball out of a sand trap, is an accessory to the Blues&rsquo; winning ways by coloring up his announcements of penalties, shots on goal and coming attractions.Instead of being a nice boy and stating: &ldquo;Goal by Hockenstein and assists to O&rsquo;Hooliban and Frankenstein&rdquo;, Cooper will regale the audience thusly with his best stentorian tones: &ldquo;Give that goal to (pause) The Red Baron (pause) Gordon (Red) Berenson &hellip; (pause) &hellip; and give the assists to (pause) Ab McDonald and (pause) Camille (The ell) &hellip; (pause) Henry. The time of that goal (pause) &hellip; etc.&rdquo;The crowd listens, the crowd hears, and the crowd reacts as only the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; fans can.They haven&rsquo;t had much luck beating the Blues on the ice and so they have tried any other way. &#9632;

f0010-02

Rivals Psyche Runaway Blues In Every Way

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01782/2997050-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"></div>(Including games of Sunday, March 2)<h2>EAST DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02713/2997043-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="606" height="1315"></div><h2>WEST DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03596/2997036-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="602" height="1310"></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

NHL SCORING RACE

<div class="byline">BY SPENCE CONLEY</div>OAKLAND, Calif.&mdash;The New York Rangers were attacking with a second-period power play and time was running out. Rod Gilbert moved in front of the left point and hammered a shot. It was a semi-slap shot and hit young Chris Worthy just atop his knee pads and bounced through for a score.Suddenly, all the nearly 6,000 fans in the Coliseum Arena were on their feet giving the 21-year-old goalie a standing ovation. It was unbelievable. None of the veteran NHL observers attending the game could ever recall that happening before.Chris was bowed over deeply in front of the Oakland net, sweeping the ice free of snow, and for a moment didn&rsquo;t realize the crowd was applauding for him.The Seals went on to win the game, 3-2, and get past the Rangers for the first time in nine games and two seasons and when it was all over, Worthy got another standing ovation.It&rsquo;s been that kind of a year for the Oakland Seals.&ldquo;I thought they were supposed to boo the goalie when he gets scored on,&rdquo; said a happy Worthy in the dressing room later.&ldquo;At first I thought they were cheering for somebody who was going off the ice. Then I realized they were cheering for me. What a feeling. I couldn&rsquo;t believe it.&rdquo;What the crowd was cheering, of course, was not the fact that Gilbert had scored, but the fact that Worthy had been standing the Rangers gunners right on their ear. Early in the game he had taken a clean breakaway away from Ron Stewart with a super save.And at the conclusion, Ranger coach Emile Francis was standing on the New York bench watching Chris skate off. Emile had a halfsmile on his face.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the best goaltending the Rangers have seen all season,&rdquo; he commented. &ldquo;And the kid is good. He stood right in there and played the position the way its supposed to be played. He was lucky, sure, but that&rsquo;s part of it, too.&rdquo;The interesting part about Worthy&rsquo;s performance was that he wasn&rsquo;t even supposed to play that night. Regular goalie Gary Smith had come up with a stomach disorder and had to beg off at the last minute.But Worthy, the 21-year-old former Flin Flon Bomber, did a beautiful job.A couple of days later, he took over again, this time in Toronto and was rated the No. 1 star in a 41 Oakland victory.And a game-or-two after that, stepped in to help the Seals to a come-from-behina, 4-4 tie with Pittsburgh.Worthy is a smiling, intense competitor, with lightning hands, who came to the Seals in an offseason deal with the Detroit Red Wings.When he reported to the Oakland training camp last September, he was something of an unknown quantity despite an admirable 10-shutout performance in the Western Canada Junior Hockey League for Flin Flon.But coach Fred Glover saw right away that Worthy had the potential to be the best young goaler to come along in many a year.Chris was supposed to spend his first year as a professional in the minors where he could get a lot of work. But Glover couldn&rsquo;t find a place for him, so Chris was taken back to Oakland until the Seals could locate a job.In the meantime, Smith and veteran Charle Hodge began to have problems. Finally, in a last ditch effort to straighten out the faulty goaling situation, Worthy was thrown in against the Red Wings. He was terrific and won, 21. The next game, he was the No. 1 star in Montreal in a 3-3 tie with the Canadiens.Glover had made it pretty clear that Smith and Hodge were the one&rsquo;s who&rsquo;d have to fight it out for the other goaltending job and finally the inevitable happened &mdash; Hodge was shipped down to Vancouver of the Western Hockey League.Although Fred won&rsquo;t come right out and say it, he was deeply disappointed in Hodge. The 35-year-old former Canadien net minder had racked up a good 2.86 goals against average in the Seals&rsquo; dismal first season in Expansion. He was named the team&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player by the press.He even had a good training camp, but when the puck dropped for real, Hodge came up stiff.Had the Seals obtained the kind of goaltending from Smith and Hodge early in the year that they are now getting from Smith and Worthy, they&rsquo;d be hot on St. Louis&rsquo; tail. It didn&rsquo;t work out that way, but the improvement in the goaling has kept the Seals in second place for a long time in the West Division scrap. &#9632;

Rookie Worthy Wins Raves Despite Sparse Net Jobs

<div class="byline">BY PAT CURRAN</div>MONTREAL, Que. &mdash;Serge Savard was with the Canadiens for 67games last season but emerged unknown around the league after warming the bench most of the time. Still he didn&rsquo;t complain at the end of the season, picking up bonuses for the Eastern Division title and the playoffs from which Montreal won another Stanley Cup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01763/2997105-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="265" height="432"><figcaption class="caption-body">Serge Savard</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy I was able to play regularly in about 15 games,&rdquo; said Serge. &ldquo;The defence was strong. I&rsquo;m still young and I&rsquo;m confident I&rsquo;ll get my chance.&rdquo;Despite Savard&rsquo;s reasoning, it&rsquo;s too bad the NHL lineup record credits him with more than the 25 games barring him from rookie status this season. Otherwise the 23-vear-old defenceman would be a prime candidate for the Calder Trophy for which the Canadiens do not have a contender among the 41 nominees.Savard, six-foot-two, 200pounder, has come along as one of the most promising young rearguards in the league. So much so that Montreal may have a real problem hi the draft to protect other defencemen Jacques Laperriere, Ted Harris, Jean-Claude Treipblay, Terry Harper. Larry xfTillman and some of their promising minor leaguers.Retained in place pf his old junior room-mate Carol Vadnais, who went to Oakland, Savard had always played mostly on the left side and he expected his chance to come at that position. But when he did, as a replacement for the injured Jacques Laperriere, he failed to come up to the expectations of Coach Claude Ruel.Then Terry Harper started having trouble with his gimpv knee that required a second operation in early December and Savard got a real opportunity &mdash; on the right side.&ldquo;I hesitated to use him regularly on the right, recalled Ruel. &ldquo;But then he started playing well and I decided the right side was his best spot.&ldquo;Serge proved that he was willing to work and when he decides to skate he&rsquo;s hard to beat. This kid is loaded with talent. I said before the season that he has the making of one of the best defencemen in the league in a couple of years and now I&rsquo;m sure of it.Savard, a likeable young man with a touch of class off the ice, started out a little nonchalant and was making silly mistakes for awhile. However he picked up tremendously in the second half of the season and has had a hot hand in putting Canadiens into contention for the Eastern Division crown.The youngster has speed, makes a good pass,, fires a fairly accurate shot and rates as one of the finest stickhandlers among NHL defencemen. His main fault is a tendency to rush a little too often but Coach Ruel can&rsquo;t complain much in lieu of his record of seven goals and 18 assists (55 games). Two of his goals have been winners.Besides his strong efforts on defence &mdash; he can bodycheck when necessary &mdash; Savard has emerged as a fine penaltykiller. Recently he took the ailing Gilles Tremblay&rsquo;s place as a partner to Claude Provost and held the opposition scoreless during six power plays.Savard&rsquo;s fine play left veteran Terry Harper with work to win his job back, especially since Coach Ruel &lsquo;wasn&rsquo;t in a hurry to push The Harp into full-time duty. Harper had been out just short of three months before returning to action in the closing minutes of Montreal&rsquo;s 7-2 victory over Detroit February 26.That triumph equalled Montreal&rsquo;s record for February of last season - 11 wins, two losses and one tie. They went into March with eight games left at home, six on the road and five against expansion clubs. &#9632;

f0012-01

SAVARD’S VALUE TO GIVE HABS DRAH PROBLEMS

Phil Esposito continued to maintain his record scoring pace in the National Hockey League last week and today he stands out as the first player in NHL history to break the century point mark in regular season play.The sparkling Boston center, who recently had to sit out a two-game suspension for striking a referee, came back strong this past week with three goals and five assists to push his season count to 101.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02655/2997136-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="244" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Esposito</figcaption></div>Esposito, who holds an 11-point lead over Bobby Hull of Chicago in the scoring race, broke the standing NHL mark of 97 points, held jointly by Hull and Stan Mikita, and went on to push past the 100-mark as well. With 40 goals and 61 assists, Esposito has 12 games remaining to increase his point total. He could conceivably end up with a grand aggregate of 115 points.The rangy Bruin pivot was edged out of the scoring title last year by Mikita 87-84 but he appears on the verge of making restitution this season.El Producto and THE HOCKEY NEWS are pleased to salute the NHL&rsquo;s player-of-the-week in the East:Phil Esposito-Boston &#9632;

f0012-02

NHL Player Of The Week

The Philadelphia Flyers may or may not make an NHL playoff berth but no matter what the outcome, young Andre Lacroix appears to be doing his bit to pull the expansion club through.Plagued by a sputtering offense, the Flyers delight when one of their performers breaks out with any semblance of a scoring spree. The Flyers scored only seven times in racking up three league ties last week and Lacroix had a hand in four of the goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03517/2997167-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="266" height="381"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andre Lacroix</figcaption></div>The lithe Flyer center scored both goals in Philly&rsquo;s 2-2 tie with Los Angeles and assisted on two goals in a 4-4 stalemate against Oakland.The spurt raised Lacroix&rsquo;s season total to 19 goals and 22 assists for 41 points, eight in arrears of linemate Jean-Guy Gendron who is battling with Lacroix for the distinction of becoming the Flyers&rsquo; leading scorer of the season.Lacroix is coming on strong in the NHL setretch run. Now if his teammates pick up the momentum, the Flyers could roll into a playoff berth.El Producto and THE HOCKEY NEWS are pleased to salute the NHL&rsquo;s player-of-the-week in the West:Andre Lacroix&hellip; Philadelphia &#9632;

f0012-03

<h2>MONTREAL</h2>Goal, Vachon, Worsley, Defense, Laperriere, J.C. Tremblay, Harris, Hillman, Savard, Forwards, Beliveau, Bordeleau, Backstrom, Duff, Cournoyer, Provost, Rousseau, Richard, Ferguson, Redmond, Lemaire.<h2>TORONTO</h2>Goal, Gamble, Bower. Defense, Pilote, Pronovost, Horton, Pelyk, Ley. Forwards, Ellis, Ullman, Oliver, Keon, Mickey, Walton, F. Smith, Henderson, Pulford, Armstrong, Sutherland.<h2>CHICAGO</h2>Goal Dryden, Dejordy, Defense, Marotte, Young, McMahon, Ravlich, Stepleton, Jarrett Forwards, Boudrais, Martin, Pappin, B. Hull, Mohns, Nesterenko, C. Maki, Wharram, Schmautz, Mikita.<h2>NEW YORK</h2>Goal, Giacomin, Villemure, Defense, Hamilton Brown, Park, Neilson, Seiling, Forwards, Gilbert, Nevin, Fleming, Jeffrey Hadfield, Stewart, Balon, Ratelie, Goyette, Marshall, Tkaczuk.<h2>DETROIT</h2>Goal, Crozier, Edwards, Sawchuk. Defense, Baun, Douglas, Popiel, Bergman, Harris. Forwards, Unger, Howe, Delvecchio, F. Mahovlich, MacGregor, Libett, Hatoum, Stemkowski, Monteith, Prentice, Leciarc, Connelly.<h2>BOSTON</h2>Goal, Cheevers, Johnston, Defense, Gauthier Green, Westfall, Smith, Awrey, Forwards, Esposito, Hodge, Bucyk, Cashman, Sather, Sanderson, Stanfiled, McKenzie, Shack, Murphy, Webster, Lorentz, Orr, Sanderson.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2>Goal, Parent, Favell, Defense, Van Impe, Watson, Miszuk, Stanley, Hale, Cherry. Forwards, Lacroix, Rochefort, Selby, Gendron, Dornhoefer, Sarrazin, Peters, Blackburn, Johnson, Kennedy, Stankiewicz.<h2>OAKLAND</h2>Goal, Smith, Worthy. Defense: Roberts, Vadnais, Lacombe, Mattiussi, Marshall, Odrowski, Forwards, Laughton, Ehman, Hicke, Hampson, Jarrett, Ingarfield, Dillabough, Ferguson, Szura, Perry, Ubriaco.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2>Goal, Binkley, Daley, Defense, Rupp, Pratt, Price, McCallum, Woytcwich. Forwards, Angotti, Fonteyne, Burns, Watson, Swarbrick, Schinkel, Dea, Harris, Boyer, Pronovost, McCreary.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2>Goal, Hall, Plante. 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, Boivin, Vasko, McCord, Nanne, Reid. Forwards, O&rsquo;Shea, Cullen, Parise, Lawson, Orban, Johnston, Larose, Collins, Grant, Goldsworthy.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2>Goal, Rutledge, Desjardins. Defense, Wall, Amadio, Rolfe, B. Hughes, Cahan, White. Forwards, Campbell, Peters, R. Lemieux, H. Hughes, Irvine, Joyal, Flett, Labossiere, Anderson. &#9632;

NHL TEAM LINEUPS

<div class="byline">with ED FITKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01750/2997421-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="313" height="421"></div>THE WORD AROUND MINNEAPOLIS ST. PAUL is that Minnesota GM - Coach Wren Blair is intent on rebuilding the North Stars along the lines of the Boston Bruins: Young, big and tough players who can skate and hit &hellip; &ldquo;The Bird&rdquo; startled the hockey world by his recent disposal of three players who had performed in exceptional manner for him last season. Perhaps most surprising was the trade that sent Wayne Connelly to Detroit for younger Danny Lawson and the rights to Brian Conacher, who wuit the game when traded by Toronto to the Red Wings in that multi-player deal last March &hellip; Connelly was the top gun in the Mike McMahon, who led the West defensemen in points last season, as well as small but talented Andre Boudrias went to Chicago in a deal for two younger players, defenseman Tom Reid and forward Bill Orban &hellip; Some NHL, observers wondered at the sagacity of Wren&rsquo;s moves but neither Connelly, McMahon nor Boudrias had come close to approximating their 1967-68 performances and the North Stars were facing the bleak prospect of mising the playoffs &hellip; Now, at this writing, everybody seems more than pleased &hellip; Minnesota, Detroit and Chicago all surged after the deals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02638/2997414-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="246" height="395"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike McMahon</figcaption></div>THERE HAVE BEEN WELL - FOUNDED REPORTS during the past couple of years that Bobby Hull was seriously thinking of quitting the game to concentrate on operating his farm near Point Anne, Ontario and to bring up his youngsters in a more peaceful atmosphere &hellip; Now we wonder &hellip; Recently the Golden Jet of the Black Hawks received two great tributes to his talent. He was picked as the 1968 winner of the Lester Patrick Trophy as the hockey personality in the United States who had done more to popularize the game in the USA than anyone else, and, also was selected as the top hockey player of the year by the Academy of Professional Sports &hellip; and Hull made the statement &ldquo;I love the game. In fact. I want to be a coach when I retire from playing. Just for a year or two, maybe. I guess we&rsquo;re all frustrated coaches.&rdquo; &hellip; Jon Washington, PR director of the LA Kings, says that Red Auerbach, the living Boston Celtics basketball legend, likes to talk about the Boston Bruins, especially about their fans, and quotes Red as saying: &ldquo;The Bruins were out of it for 10 years, yet they played to capacity crowds every game. The Bruins fans have to be the greatest sports fans anywhere in the world &mdash; dammit!&rdquo;EXPANSION CITIES HAVING A TOUGH TIME attracting fans should take heart from the Chicago story &hellip; Back in the days of the late Major Frederic McLaughlin, the man who founded the Black Hawks and named them after the World War I army division in which he served, it was almost impossible to give hockey tickets away &hellip; and he tried everything to promote the game, including the first and only All-American lineup &hellip; The Bentley brothers, Doug and Max, and their Pony Line partner, Bill Mosienko, brought hockey to a roaring peak of popularity in the early days of World War II and Chicago Stadium was filled to its 20,000 capacity game after game with the most enthusiastic and the most raucous fans in the game&rsquo;s history &hellip; But hockey fortunes waned, after the Pony Line was broken up and the fans started staying away in droves; crowds of 4,000 were more the rule rather than the exception as recently as 15 years ago.&hellip; In 1956-57, for example, Chicago&rsquo;s total attendance for 35 home games was only 129,940, an average of 3,713 &hellip; In those days, it was no secret that the Chicago franchise was in jeopardy and only the determination of the late Jim Norris and the current owner, Arthur Wirtz, to stay with it, even though they were losing three-quarters of a million bucks every year, saved the Black Hawks &hellip; Their faith and the arrival of Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Glenn Hall and other great young competitors brought about the resurgence that has kept the stadium jammed throughout the sixties &hellip; Nothing comes easy in hockey, especially success.IT&rsquo;S HARD TO SAY WHETHER CHICAGO OR ST. LOUIS boasts the more enthusiastic fans &hellip; The St. Louis Saga is really something &hellip; Sidney Salomon Jr. was telling me the other day that the Blues will be well over the half-million mark in attendance this year &hellip; Their last six home games were sold out completely as early as mid-February &hellip; Next year they 11 add another 800 seats, possibly more, will raise the prices slightly, and expect to sell more than 12,000 season tickets &hellip; Mr. Salomon, incidentally, was no stranger to sports when he made his bid for an NHL franchise. He was previously in baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Browns and the Miami Marlins of the International League &hellip; One of his partners was colorful Bill Veeck and Sid says: Bill never ran short of promotional ideas and gimmicks. I must confess that we&rsquo;ve used a lot of his ideas to put hockey across in St. Louis&rdquo;.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03498/2997407-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="260" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sid Salomon Jr.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0014-01

Footloose

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.&mdash;Bill Sutherland and Brit Selby must wonder about this crazy game of professional hockey.Last season Sutherland was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers. But the expansion club didn&rsquo;t figure to protect him in the summer draft and the Toronto Maple Leafs laid claim to his services.This week, Sutherland found himself back in the fold of the Flyers, the result of a five-player swap between Philadelphia and Toronto.Selby, who was a Maple Leaf two years ago before a severely broken leg made him expendable in the expansion draft, ended up the property of the Flyers. Today he&rsquo;s again in a Maple Leaf uniform, courtesy of the same trade that took Sutherland back to Philadelphia.The Leafs sent Sutherland, a well-travelled 35-year-old center, to the Flyers along with two untried youngsters, Gerry Meehan and Mike Byers, in exchange for Selby and fiery Forbes Kennedy. Oddly, all five players who figured in the beat-the-deadline transaction for trading, are forwards.Kennedy, who had 15 points for the Flyers and led the NHL in penalties with 195 minutes, was in the Philadelphia &lsquo;doghouse&rsquo; after a run in with Flyers&rsquo; coach Keith Allen. He was ordered to report to the Quebec Aces as a disciplinary move, but balked. The subsequent trade took Kennedy off the hook. &#9632;

Bill Sutherland A Flyer Again After 5-Player Trade With Leafs

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-05274/2997483-1-eng-US/f0014-052.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04365/2997490-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="208" height="205"></div>(Standings on Monday, Feb. 3)<h2>EASTERN DIVISION</h2><h2>WESTERN DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-06232/2997476-1-eng-US/f0014-062.jpg" title="f0014-06" width="1132" height="366"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Mon. Feb. 24Minnesota 1 at Los Angeles 1Wed. Feb. 26Detroit 2 at Montreal 7St. Louis 2 at Toronto 3Chicago 3 at New York 5Boston 4 at Los Angeles 2Minnesota 5 at Oakland 6Thurs. Feb. 27Toronto 1 at Philadelphia 1Boston 9 at Oakland 0Chicago 3 at Pittsburgh 4Sat. Mar. 1Boston 8 at New York 5Montreal 3 at St. Louis 0Toronto 3 at Pittsburgh 3Detroit 4 at Minnesota 2Los Arigeles 2 at Philadelphia 2Sun. Mar. 2Philadelphia 1 at Oakland 2St. Louis 1 at New York 2Chicago 1 at Toronto 2Montreal 2 at Detroit 4Pittsburgh 0 at Boston 4<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Wed. Mar. 5Los Angeles at TorontoNew York at ChicagoDetroit at BostonSt. Louis at PittsburghOakland at MinnesotaThurs. Mar. 6Toronto at Montreal New York at DetroitLos Angeles at PhiladelphiaSat. Mar. 8Los Angeles at MontrealPhiladelphia at TorontoNew York at PittsburghBoston at DetroitMinnesota at ChicagoOakland at St. LouisSun. Mar. 9Montreal at New York(afternoon)Los Angeles at BostonDetroit at ChicagoOakland at PhiladelphiaSt. Louis at Minnesota(afternoon) &#9632;

f0014-05

THE NHL SCENE

<div class="byline">BY ED CONRAD</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01725/2997528-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Philadelphia Flyers hockey club secretaries, KATHY MULDOWNEY, left, and SHELLY MAZER, model outfits worn by &lsquo;Flyerettes,&rsquo; a group of 28 hostesses who serve at club&rsquo;s home games in the Spectrum. Uniforms were designed by Mrs. Ed Snider.</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA. Pa.&mdash;If Bernie Parent could have his wish, he&rsquo;d like to see every Flyers&rsquo; game end with the number &ldquo;3&rdquo; on his team&rsquo;s side of the scoreboard.&ldquo;I honestly feel,&rdquo; said the young goalie, &ldquo;if our club would just score three goals a game, we would have a much better record than we have now. Only three goals a game, but it would make a big difference in our wins and losses.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02650/2997521-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="242" height="427"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bernie Parent</figcaption></div>Parent was bemoaning the fact that the Flyers were averaging a microscopic 2.1 goals per game after 60 contests. They had scored only 126 goals while allowing 180, so there was no surprise that the Flyers&rsquo; hopes of making the Stanley Cup playoffs were in serious jeopardy as the final month of the season rolled around.The Flyers had only 13 victories after 60 games and would have been out of the battle for fourthplace entirely if the club hadn&rsquo;t been involved in 15 ties.The Flyers had only one victory a 3-2 decision over Oakland &mdash; in their previous 12 games leading up to their final meeting with the Red Wings at Detroit Olympia Feb. 23. Still, Minnesota was having similiar problems and the Flyers were hanging on to their slim lead in the battle for the final playoff berth.&ldquo;We just can&rsquo;t seem to get moving.&rdquo; sighed coach Keith Allen. &ldquo;If we could just put the two together &mdash; a good defense wrapped around some goals &mdash; we&rsquo;d make it to the playoffs. But we just can&rsquo;t seem to build up any kind of momentum.&rdquo;If Allen didn&rsquo;t have enough problems with his club, he had a big one with veteran center Forbes Kennedy. They got into a verbal hassle at Montreal Airport the morning after the team had flown in from St. Louis.Kennedy, whose 195 penalty minutes led the NHL, was suspended for insubordination after berating Allen, whom he told &ldquo;get rid of me&rdquo; during the heat of the exchange.&ldquo;Kennedy sometimes can be a bombastic individual,&rdquo; said Keith afterward. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s outspoken and he acts before he thinks. I guess we were all a little upset after losing to St. Louis and I wasn&rsquo;t in the mood for any back chat.&rdquo;Following a meeting with GM Bud Poile, Kennedy refused to report to the Quebec Aces&rsquo; farm club and. consequently, remained on suspension.&ldquo;It shouldn&rsquo;t really affect the performance of the guys on our club,&rdquo; said captain and veteran defenseman Ed Van Impe. &ldquo;After all, the players themselves weren&rsquo;t involved. It was something strictly between Forbes and the coach.&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t think the players on our club can let (it bother them because, after all, we have enough on our mind right now in winning games and making the playoffs.&rdquo;Defenseman Joe Watson, who was paired as Kennedy&rsquo;s roommate during the three-game road swing during which the incident occurred, felt the same way. He believed the club would miss Forbes but could overcome it.&ldquo;What the heck, the suspension means that one of our guys is sitting out,&rdquo; reasoned Watson. &ldquo;This is almost the same thing as an injury which keeps a man out of the lineup. But you just play without him, as you would have to if he were hurt.&ldquo;Sure, it&rsquo;s unfortunate that this happened, but I guess this occurs in sports once in a while. I just think that, as professionals, the rest of us shouldn&rsquo;t let it affect us. In fact, maybe it&rsquo;s just what we need to fire us up for the final month of the schedule.&rdquo;And there was no doubt the Flyers needed some firing up. They seemed very lucky to remain a half-step ahead of Minnesota for as long as they did and the only-thing that would guarantee them a berth was to score some goals and put a few wins together.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; said Allen. &ldquo;The fellas certainly realize we&rsquo;ve only got a handful of games remaining and they certainly know we&rsquo;re involved in a do-or-die struggle to make the playoffs.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-01

Three-goal Offense All We Need To Win-Parent

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK SANTANIELLO</div>ASK YOUR DEALER ABOUTLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS (FORMERLY WALLY)(Hockey sticks distributed in the U.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 & Brodsby Co.)SPRINGFIELD. Mass.&mdash;The Spring field Kings have been getting great work out of their defensemen. Coach John Wilson uses only two sets of back-liners. The plan has worked well.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01572/2997559-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="268" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Pagnutti</figcaption></div>He can call on spares Vic Tisler and Jim Mclnally if needed.Larry Johnston teams with Rick Pagnutti on one unit while Jacques Lemieux works with Jim Murray on the other. Johnston, 25, has played well this season. The 210-pounder has added responsibilities of team captain now.Pagnutti has been the big surprise the last few weeks. He is making the people sit up and take notice; he&rsquo;s getting the job done. Rick is 21, stands 6-1,190 pounds. He comes from Sudbury. Ontario.Highly regarded. Pagnutti was first draft pick of the big Kings last year. In fact, 10 of 12 NHL clubs rated him number one for the draft. But mononucleosis laid him low here. The lad got only 4 goals, 15 assists last winter.His play improved little, after a great training camp, this fall. But Rick did not get a chance at steady work. He was down on himself; saw little action and even quit the club.But Pag came back flying like the wind the last month. He&rsquo;s knocking people around, he&rsquo;s stepping into people. Rick even manages to get into a fight, which is something new for the easy going Kings&rsquo; defenseman.Pagnutti was a great amateur. In 1966, with Garson-Falconridge, Rick popped 30 goals and 50 assists. He was named most valuable player.Murray and Lemieux are in a dog fight in the team scoring race. They also manage to deliver a steady game on defense. At this writing, Murray has six goals and 20 assists for 26 points. Right behind him is Lemieux with 23 points, on just 2 goals and 21 assists.Murray is 25 and comes from Brandon, Manitoba He played for the Brandon Wheat Kings in amateur play. He came here from the Rangers when Eddie Shore traded Barclay Plager for three players. In 1964, he played EHL hockey with the New York Rovers.He spent the 1965 season with Knoxville of the Eastern League, where he was named best defenseman. He played 30 games here before his recall to Los Angeles.Lemieux was with Los Angeles all last season. He is 25, stands 6-2, 190. He was sent down here in mid-season to straighten out the defense; he&rsquo;s done it, too.Jacques started the season as a member of the new Denver Spurs of the Western Hockey League. He played under coach-Rudy Pilous. &#9632;

f0016-01

Pagnutti Surprise After Early Problems

<h2>Sun. Feb. 23</h2>QUEBEC 5 At BUFFALO 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02495/2997646-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="588" height="879"></div>BALTIMORE 3 At PROVIDENCE 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03394/2997639-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="592" height="699"></div>SPRINGFIELD 3 At ROCHESTER 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04308/2997632-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="596" height="541"></div><h2>Tues. Feb. 25</h2>PROVIDENCE 0 At BALTIMORE 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05234/2997625-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="598" height="355"></div>Shots by. Providence 26, Baltimore 39. Attendance &mdash; 4,609BUFFALO 7 At QUEBEC 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06187/2997618-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="592" height="703"></div><h2>Wed. Feb. 26</h2>SPRINGFIELD 2 At HERSHEY 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07174/2997611-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="596" height="403"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08158/2997604-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="594" height="181"></div><h2>FRI. FEB. 28</h2>BUFFALO 1 At QUEBEC 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09137/2997597-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="590" height="421"></div>PROVIDENCE 4 At ROCHESTER 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10116/2997590-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="590" height="579"></div> &#9632;

f0016-02

American League Summaries

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Mar. 5)Eastern Division<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-11102/2997698-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="586" height="170"></div>Western Division<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1286/2997691-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="588" height="170"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDTues. Feb 25Providence 0 at Baltimore 2Buffalo 7 at Quebec 3Wed. Feb. 26pringfield 2 at Hershey 5Fri. Feb 28Buffalo I ot Quebec 4Providence 4 at Rochester 4Sat Mar 1Baltimore 4 at Hershey 7Cleveland I at Springfield ISun. Mar. 2Springfield I at Buffalo 1Cleveland 1 at Providence 4Quebec I at Rochester 1GAMES TO COMETues. Mar. 4Springfield at QuebecFri. Mar. 7Hershey ot BaltimoreRochester at BuffaloSat. Mar 8Buffalo at ClevelandRochester at ProvidenceBaltimore at SprinqfteldLEADING SCORERS(Including Games of Sun. Feb. 23)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1375/2997684-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="585" height="375"></div>GOALKEEPERS RECORDS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1469/2997677-1-eng-US/f0016-142.jpg" title="f0016-14" width="584" height="432"></div> &#9632;

f0016-11

Hockey Races

CLEVELAND, O.&mdash;Cleveland Barons have had great success on home ice this season, but they&rsquo;ve had difficulty winning on the road. The Barons are 17-8-5 overall at the Arena and have lost only five games in their last twenty-three home outings. But their road performance, however, has been a different story.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01485/2997729-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="271" height="414"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Berry</figcaption></div>The Cleveland skaters are 817-2 on foreign ice, a record the Barons must improve if they are to hold second place in the Western Division. Cleveland has seventeen games remaining and ten of those are awav from home. The Barons end their reason with home and home clashes with first place Buffalo.A Cleveland team, coached by Jack Gordon, has never failed to make the playoffs. Gordon&rsquo;s Barons won the Calder Cup his first year at the Cleveland helm. He coached from 1956 through the 1961-62 season, then returned to Cleveland this year. During his previous six years as the Barons&rsquo; boss, Gordon was named the outstanding coach of the league four times.Meanwhile, rookie Bob Berry and veteran Howie Glover continue to show the way in the team&rsquo;s individual team race with 48 points each. Berry is also the club&rsquo;s No. 1 candidate for rookie honors. &#9632;

f0017-01

Barons Must Win Playoff On The Road

CLEVELAND, O.&mdash;The Cleveland Barons have set aside March 15, as Fred Glover Night in Cleveland. The former Barons&rsquo; great player and coach will be enshrined into the Cleveland Barons&rsquo; Hall of Fame. His No. 9 sweater will be retired.Although the Hall of Fame won&rsquo;t be physically ready until next season, Barons&rsquo; owner Nick Mileti wanted to honor Glover now for his outstanding contributions to Cleveland hockey. &#9632;

Cleveland To Stage ‘Fred Glover Night’

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE DUFFY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03357/2997784-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GEORGE SAGE, left, who&rsquo;ll become the new owner of the R.I. Reds if a referendum is passed, gets a handshake from JOHN SKEFFINGTON of the Providence Lodge of Elks as present owner LOU PIERI looks on in the center.</figcaption></div>PROVIDENCE. R.I.&mdash;The Rhode Island Reds have a new owner in the person of George Sage, an ambitious man with a background of astute business dealings in converting a bus line into one of action and success.But as the headlines of the sale by Lou Pieri and his family of the R.I. Reds and the R.I. Auditorium hit the streets in one paper and then the other, there remained the question:Will the sale really take hold?In the sale agreement, the one huge proviso to complete the $1,500,000 transaction provides that the voters of Providence must vote &lsquo;ves&rsquo; at a referendum in May to build a new Arena. If the, referendum is turned down, then the purchase by Sage will not take hold and Pieri will remain as owner.Mayor Joseph Doorley, who is spearheading the drive for a new arena, thinks the vote will be in the affirmative. Sage is confident, too. Pieri hopes the vote goes through but in the meantime, the son of the late Louis Pieri is carrying on in a business-as-usual atmosphere.Pieri&rsquo;s family has dominated the Rhode Island sports scene for years. Louis Pieri Sr. built R.I. Auditorium into a place of excitement for southern New Englanders and made the R.I. Reds one of strongest franchises in minor league hockey.But after 43 years of life, the old ice house at 1111 North Main St. needs to be replaced. With the hopes of a new arena and a new era coming to pass, young Lou Pieri is willing to step aside and let a new group take over.Sage is heading such a group. A native ot Rochester, N.Y., George is president of the Short Line Bus Co. and has been very successful.If the referendum is passed and Sage becomes the boss, the Reds will still have to play at R.I. Auditorium for at least a couple years pending completion of a new arena. &#9632;

f0017-03

City Decision On Arena To Decide Sale

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div>ROCHESTER, N.Y.&mdash;If the American Hockey League wanted to save a little money, it could dispense with mailing out ballots for the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Trophy which goes to the outstanding rookie.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02431/2997815-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="247" height="414"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Ward</figcaption></div>Instead, the officials could just wrap up the trophy and mail it to Ron Ward, Rochester Americans, War Memorial Auditorium, 100 Exchange St., Rochester, N.Y., 14614.Ward will become the third Amerk in their 13 years in the AHL to be adjudged the No. 1 first-year performer. Billy Hicke was the winner in 195859 and Mike Walton in 1965 66.The 24-year-old center, at this writing, was tied for third in the AHL individual point race with 61 on 29 goals and 32 assists. In addition, he&rsquo;s played defense a major portion of three games when the Americans found themselves short in that department.He scored the winning goal in five of Rochester&rsquo;s 21 victories at this writing and assisted on three other winners. And his ability as a penalty killer is shown by his two goals while in that role.Ward was selected as the Minor League Plaver of the Year by THE HOCKEY NEWS last season for his performance with Tulsa in the Central League.Gary Croteau of Springfield appears, to this writer anyway, to be the second best rookie and is an outstanding prospect for the National League.Croteau, at this writing, had 24 goals and 20 assists. Others who&rsquo;ll get some votes will be Bob Berry (21 goals and 27 assists) of Cleveland, Garnet Ace&rsquo; Bailey (19 goals and 25 assists) of Hershey, Guy Dufour (22 goals and 10 assists) of Quebec, defenseman John Arbour of Baltimore and goalkeeper Don McLeod of Springfield.But the winner will be Ron Ward.ICICLES &mdash; The Amerks&rsquo; WAG Line has been no laughing matter this season. The trio of Ward, Red Armstrong and player-coach Dick Gamble combined for 77 goals in the club&rsquo;s first 58 games. Ward had 29, Gamble 26 and Armstrong 22. Only one other Rochester skater had reached the 20-goal mark &mdash; Tom McCarthy with 26. &#9632;

f0017-02

Amerks Touting Ward For AHL Rookie Award

<div class="byline">BY CHARLEY BARTON</div>BUFFALO, N.Y. &mdash;Gilles Villemure, in line for a host of postseason awards, rejoined the Buffalo Bisons for the closing weeks of the American Hockey League schedule.Villemure was with the parent New York Rangers for two weeks as backup man to No. 1 goaltender Ed Giacomin while Don Simmons got in some work with the Herd.Villemure, with the best average and the most shutouts, 6, as this edition of THE HOCKEY NEWS went to press, was by all odds the top netminder in the AHL.He appeared certain to be selected the all star goalie; looked to have the goaltending award locked up, and was a leading candidate for the most valuable player award.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01490/2997846-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="250" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gilles Villemure</figcaption></div>Fred Shero, the Bisons&rsquo; coach, is among Gilles&rsquo; most ardent fans.&ldquo;To me, he&rsquo;s by far the best goaltender in the minor leagues, and better than a lot of guys in the NHL,&rdquo; said Shero.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the backbone of this hockey club. Sure, we have a solid club, but we&rsquo;ve had plenty of injuries and recalls, yet Gilles has kept going through everything. He should win everything the league has to offer this season.&rdquo;Villemure could pick up as much as $4,500 in post-season cash.Should the Bisons win the Calder Cup, it would be worth $2,000 per man. If Gilles wins the MVP, the goaltending award and is on the first all-star team, he would get $900 from the league, which would be matched by the club.The Buffalo owners, the Pastor brothers, Ruby, Sam and Al, give Gilles $100 per shutout. He already has six and has been promised a seventh for a game in which the team didn&rsquo;t get a shutout.This can be quite a season for Villemure, who spends his summers driving harness race horses. &#9632;

f0018-01

Buffalo’s Hopes High As Villemure Returns From NHL To Tend Goal

<div class="byline">BY JOHN TRAVERS</div>HERSHEY, Pa.&mdash;Little Andre Gill, used sparingly this season in goal, turned in two brilliant performances against the Baltimore Clippers and Cleveland Barons to practically sew up the third straight Eastern Division championship for the Hershey Bears.The 26-year-old Gill backstopped his teammates to a 53 decision over Baltimore on Feb. 21, ending a three-year winless streak of the Bears on the Clippers&rsquo; ice.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02398/2997877-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="259" height="390"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andre Gill</figcaption></div>Hershey had dropped 13 straight decisions to Baltimore, dating back to Dec. 23, 1966 before Gill&rsquo;s efforts paid off with a victory.Two days later, he scored another win, sparking the Bears to a 5-3 triumph over the Barons at the Ohio club&rsquo;s rink.In between these two key wins, long John Henderson backstopped Hershey to a 4-2 decision over Cleveland before 7,600 fans at the Sports Arena here.The three-game sweep moved Hershey 13 points ahead of Baltimore (67-54) in the East. A combination of seven more Hershey wins and seven Baltimore defeats will give coach Frank Mathers charges the Eastern flag and $500 a man bonus.Mathers, however, is intent on trying to overnaul the Buffalo Bisons, who for a time threatened to make the American League&rsquo;s race for the overall title a runaway.Hershey, led by the sharpshooting of Gil Gilbert and Michel Harvey, who have 149 points between them, were only seven points behind the Bisons as of Feb. 24.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s still quite a way to go,&rdquo; said Mathers, &ldquo;and our club isn&rsquo;t conceeding anything to Buffalo. We&rsquo;re trying to pace ourselves for the final month.&rdquo;The Bisons have three games in hand on the Bears (20-17) heading into the stretch, setting the stage for one of the most exciting finishes in recent years.&ldquo;We have two more games against Buffalo, and both are on our ice,&rdquo; said Mathers. &ldquo;These are the games that could turn things in our favor.&rdquo;Winger Don Marcotte was recalled by the injury-riddled Boston Bruins on Feb. 19 and winger Ted Snell was summoned from Phoenix of the Western League to bolster the right wing corps. Snell played for the Bears last year.The hottest skater in Hershey&rsquo;s ranks is rookie Ace Bailey, who has connected for 15 points in his last 11 starts. Hejallied eight goals in the short stretch.Bailey is Hershey&rsquo;s only hope for rookie of the year honors, the only individual award no Hershey skater has ever won. &#9632;

f0018-02

Gill’s Pinch-hit Goaling Puts Bears Nearer Title

<div class="byline">BY JOHN WHITE</div>PHOENIX, Ariz. &mdash;The skid of the Phoenix Roadrunners is the real puzzler of the current Western Hockey League Season.And Coach Alf Pike puts it prettv well when he says, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been one of the most frustrating seasons I have known. Last year we made the playoffs with a team that couldn&rsquo;t compare with this one&rdquo;.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01468/2997908-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="274" height="420"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alt Pike</figcaption></div>Back on New Year&rsquo;s Eve, the Roadrunners seemed on their way. They closed out 1968 by losing only twice in their last nine games of the year.Their overall record was 1214-7 and they had been outscored only 101 to 95. They were having problems on the road (2-12-2) but were awfully tough at home &mdash; only two defeats in their first 17 games on home ice.And then came 1969.In their first 27 games of the new year, the Runners won only six. They were outscored 106 to 69. They still were having problems on the road (2-10-0). And now they were having problems at home, too &mdash; just four victories in their first 15 home games of January and February.Instead of possibly contending for third place, the &lsquo;Runners suddenly were in danger of dropping into the Western League cellar despite one of the worst starts of all time by the Denver Spurs.Coach Pike knew one reason for the tailspin.&ldquo;Injuries,&rdquo; he sai, &ldquo;have done us in.&rdquo;&ldquo;Take Art Jones and Norm Johnson from Portland for as long as we have been without Wayne Carleton and Jim Paterson,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and see what happens. Let Seattle lose both Guyle Fielder and Art Stratton a comparable number of games, and their storv would be different.&rdquo;&ldquo;But we are not crying,&rdquo; said Pike. &ldquo;We are going to give it a go right to the end. If we miss the playoffs, you can bet we&rsquo;ll have something to do with who finishes where.&rdquo;There wasn&rsquo;t much question but that injuries were hurting the &lsquo;Runners. And the most telling blow, perhaps, was the loss of Sandy Hucul, quite possibly for the season, because of a spinal fracture.THE VETERAN Hucul was voted the best defenseman in the league last season and he was especially helpful in settling down such youngsters as Tom Polanic and Harry Shaw. Both are aggressive and hustlers. But both can make costly mistakes because of inexperience, too.There wasn&rsquo;t much doubt about what was killing the &lsquo;Runners.They couldn&rsquo;t score goals. And penalties were proving far too costly.You could look at the goalscoring picture a number of ways.In the last week of February, Denver, San Diego, Portland and Vancouver all had four 20-plus goal scorers. Seattle had three.Phoenix had only one &mdash; Bob Charlebois with 27. Then the list dropped to Tommy McVie (18) and Carleton (15).It&rsquo;s little wonder that the &lsquo;Runners scored only 164 goals &mdash; lowest total in the league &mdash; in their first 60 games.Phoenix was averaging just 2.7 goals a contest, and it really was worse than that. Four times Phoenix had exploded for eight goals in a single game and once for seven. That left only 125 goals in the remaining 55 contests.It&rsquo;s an average of a shade under 2.3 a game.Now consider that the lowest goals-against average ever posted in the Western League was 2.36. Phoenix goaltenders could break that record and still be losing. &#9632;

f0019-01

Phoenix Fighting To Stay Out Of Cellar

For The Best In Hockey Reading It&rsquo;s HOCKEY PICTORIAL Hockey&rsquo;s Most Exciting PublicationSave $$$$$$ Subscribe To The HOCKEY NEWS Receive 35 Issues At Home & Save $3.75<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Mar. 5)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1283/2998040-1-eng-US/f0019-122.jpg" title="f0019-12" width="580" height="237"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Tues Feb. 25Seattle 2 at Vancouver 3Wed Feb. 26Phoenix 0 at Denver 4San Diego 1 at Portland 6Thurs. Feb. 27Phoenix 3 at Seattle 4Seattle 4 at Denver 7Sat. Mar. 1Seattle 3 ot Denver 9San Diego 1 at Portland 6Sun. Mar. 2Denver 4 at Son Diego 6Phoenix 2 at Portland 5<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Wed. Mar. 5Phoenix at San DiegoDenver at PortlandVancouver at SeattleFri. Mar. 7Denver at SeattleSat. Mar. 8Vancouver at Son DiegoSun. Mar. 9Vancouver at San DiegoPortland at Seattle<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2>(Including Games of Sun. Feb. 23)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1370/2998033-1-eng-US/f0019-132.jpg" title="f0019-13" width="582" height="555"></div> &#9632;

f0019-12

How They Stand

<h2>FRI. FEB. 14</h2>AMARILLO 3 at OMAHA 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02232/2998151-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="586" height="725"></div>HOUSTON 3 at DALLAS 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03192/2998144-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="594" height="539"></div>OKLAHOMA CITY 0 at TULSA 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04147/2998137-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="590" height="451"></div><h2>SAT. FEB. 15</h2>AMARILLO 3 at KANSAS CITY 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0581/2998130-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="586" height="131"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0663/2998123-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="600" height="407"></div>DALLAS 6 at TULSA 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0753/2998116-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="596" height="613"></div>FORT WORTH 2 at OKLAHOMA CITY 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0846/2998109-1-eng-US/f0020-082.jpg" title="f0020-08" width="594" height="549"></div>MEMPHIS 1 at HOUSTON 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0932/2998102-1-eng-US/f0020-092.jpg" title="f0020-09" width="582" height="399"></div> &#9632;

f0020-02

CHL Summaries

New Subscribers To THE HOCKEY NEWS Guaranteed To Get First Issue Within Two WeeksHOCKEY NEWS Makes An Ideal Gift On Any Occasion. Give A Subscription To Dad Or Brother<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tues. Mar. 4)Northern Division<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1027/2998196-1-eng-US/f0020-102.jpg" title="f0020-10" width="592" height="169"></div>Southern Division<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1120/2998189-1-eng-US/f0020-112.jpg" title="f0020-11" width="592" height="203"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Tues. Feb. 25Amarillo 4 at Houston 4Wed. Feb. 26Oklahoma City 3 at Fort Worth 2Omaha 1 ot Memphis 5Tulsa 0 at Kansas City 4Thurs. Feb. 27Omaha 1 ot Houston 6Fri. Feb. 28Amarillo 2 at Dallas 6Houston 3 at Tulso 2Oklahoma City 2 at Memphis 2Sat. Mar. 1Amarillo 5 at Tulsa 3Dallas 2 at Forth Worth 3Memphis 1 at Kansas City 4Omoha 2 at Oklahoma City 2Sun. Mar. 2Dallas 5 at Oklahoma City 6Fort Worth 0 at Omoha 5Kansas City 2 at Houston 2Tulsa 2 at Amarillo 5<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Tues. Mar. 4Kansas City of Fort WorthTulsa at DallosWed. Mar. 5Houston at AmarilloKansas City at Oklchomo CityMemphis at OmahaFri. Mar. 7Memphis at DollasOmoha at Kansas CitySat. Mar. 8Fort Worth at AmarilloKansas City at OmohoOklahomo City at DallasTulso at HoustonSun. Mar. 9Amarillo at OmohoHouston at Kansas CityMemphis at Fort WorthTulso at Oklahomc City<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2>(Including games of Sun. Feb. 23)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1219/2998182-1-eng-US/f0020-122.jpg" title="f0020-12" width="592" height="627"></div> &#9632;

f0020-10

EASTERN LEAGUE(Standings on Tues. Mar. 4)NORTHERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01175/2998290-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="582" height="239"></div>SOUTHERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02127/2998283-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="592" height="209"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Tues. Feb 25long Island 3 at Syrocuse 3Johnstown 5 at New Jersey 2Greensboro 4 ot Charlotte 8Nashville 4 at Jacksonville 0Wed Feb 26Long Island I at New Haven 8Salem 4 at Greensboro 7Thurs. Feb 27New Jersey 3 at long Island 3Fri. Feb 28Syrocuse 5 at Clinton 7New Haven 4 ot New Jersey 5Long Islond 0 at Johnstown 9Charlotte 6 al Jacksonville 5Sat Mar. 1New Hoven 3 ot Clinton 6Long Island 3 at New Jersey 5Syracuse 0 at Johnstown 11Jacksonville 1 at Noshvtlle 5Greensboro 8 ot Salem 2Sun. Mar 2Clinton 6 at Syracuse 3New Jersey 1 at New Hoven 3Salem I at Charlotte 7Nashville 4 at Jacksonville 3<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2>(Including Games of Sun. Feb. 23)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0386/2998276-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="582" height="285"></div>SOUTHERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0471/2998269-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="584" height="285"></div><h2>NEW YORK METRO LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 24)EASTERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0563/2998262-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="580" height="161"></div>WESTERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0655/2998255-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="584" height="167"></div>LEADING SCORERS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0747/2998248-1-eng-US/f0021-072.jpg" title="f0021-07" width="590" height="321"></div><h2>NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Sat. Mar. 1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0841/2998241-1-eng-US/f0021-082.jpg" title="f0021-08" width="582" height="207"></div>LEADING SCORERS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0935/2998234-1-eng-US/f0021-092.jpg" title="f0021-09" width="584" height="403"></div><h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2>(Standinqs on Mon. Feb. 24)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1032/2998227-1-eng-US/f0021-102.jpg" title="f0021-10" width="582" height="235"></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

<div class="byline">BY HARVEY POLLACK</div>SALEM. Va.If the Salem Rebels don&rsquo;t make the Eastern Hockey League playoff&rsquo;s, they can pinpoint the reason without too much research.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1126/2998321-1-eng-US/f0021-112.jpg" title="f0021-11" width="278" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Lucas</figcaption></div>Coach Dave Lucas can simply point to the bad start his Rebels experienced at the outset of the campaign. They won just three of their first 19 games as Lucas searched desperately for personnel to help his club.There were men coming and going and eventually Lucas came up with a formidable team. It was a team that in its next 42 contests came through with 20 wins, two ties, and 20 losses and became a foe to be respected instead of laughed at.Lucas is delighted that the first rebuilding step has been successful but he would like to have made the playoffs. At this writing it is still possible, but not likely that the Rebels can catch Jacksonville for the fourth spot in the South.But the team has attracted a growing number of fans to their games, and will have a much better nucleus for next season. Actually the Rebels didn&rsquo;t start the current season in any better shape than they opened their maiden campaign last year.Goalie George Surmay has been one of the big surprises. His 4.13 average is not indicative of how much he has meant to the team. He has been forced to virtually eat the puck night after night, but he has come through with saves that have to be seen to be believed. The Rebels have made much more progress than their counterpart in the North, the Syracuse Blazers.One of the big failings has been on enemy rinks. Lucas realizes that to do anything in the league, you must be more than invincible at home. You have to win a share of your road games and the Rebels didn&rsquo;t do so. But next year is another year and Lucas always recalls that Nashville dicin&rsquo;t make it in one year either.CHARLOTTE: The Checkers evidently are biding their time and seem content to finish in thrid place in the South since they apparently can&rsquo;t rise or be caught. Coach Fred Creighton still perturbet that the opposition has ouscored his club and that his team is by far the most penalized outfit in the South.NASHVILLE: Flyers wound up 7-4-1 against Northern foes after dropping two on final trip. Three game losing streak all but killed hopes of Flyers to finish first. Spread-out schedule in latter stages of season has caused club to lose its sharpness. Shutout defeat at Clinton hurt and so did the frght that night that caused the ice to be littered with equipment.JACKSONVILLE: Danny Belisle&rsquo;s second hat trick helped down Greensboro and helped keep distance ahead of challenging Salem. Harold White bothered by pulled muscle in thigh and Marc Brunet has knee problems. Goalie Tim Tabor acquired from Muskegon as Harrison Gray&rsquo;s broken ankle still isn&rsquo;t right. Billy Glashan&rsquo;s four-goal game turned back Charlotte.JOHNSTOWN: Bob Lindberg scored two goals in the two games in which he was moved to right wing from his previous left wing billet. Norm Ryder purchased from Long Island in late season deal for cash and the loan of George Forgie. Garry Sharp tallied his 399th EHL goal. Galen Head&rsquo;s hat trick tied Long Island. Reg Kent shooting for 125 points and Head for 60 goals.JERSEY: Devils cut Long Island&rsquo;s lead considerably in battle for fourth place and decision may not be reached until final days of season when clubs meet three times. Claude Piche&rsquo;s late goal tied New Haven. Larry Pleau and Jamie Kennedy in close battle for club goal lead. Kennedy&rsquo;s hat trick topped Long Island win. Goalie Bob Taylor had assists in two straight games.GREENSBORO: Gens defense hurt when Roger Wilson was off to Dallas. Bob Sicinski was shooting for century mark in points. Wilson and Sicinski&rsquo;s two goals each helped beat Jersey for only win on northern jaunt. Pete McDuffe in cage again after missing seven games. Kas Lvsionek with groin injury and Moe L&rsquo;Abbe with ailing back were placed on disabled list and Dom Di Berardino is back after resting a knee injure.CLINTON: Lyle Carter&rsquo;s shutout total reached 12.3 short of league mark. He also had 189 minutes and 32 secondes of shutout hockey until Jersey scored. He had four shutouts in six games. Ian Anderson still recuperating from leg injuries. Bill Bannerman scored hat trick in 3-0 win over Nashville before season&rsquo;s largest crowd of 3963, Lennie Speck had &ldquo;night&rdquo; in his honor in Mar. 5.NEW HAVEN: Acquisition of John Brophy came at propitious time for Billy Orr was lost for two weeks for surgery on a fractured right cheekbone. Brophy sublet the apartment used by Ed Megaffin before latter went to Long Island. Billy Smith had hat track vs Syracuse. Blades&rsquo; chances in playoffs enhanced by addition of Brophy.LONG ISLAND: Ducks wound up with 3-6-1 record against southern teams with all the pluses at home. Don Newman may be added to defense corps with departure of John Brophy and Norm Ryder. Ducks battling to beat our Jersey for playoff berth. In Jets deal with Johnstown for Ryder, the club will get cash and a junior age player of their choice next year. &#9632;

f0021-11

Salem Rebels Paint Rosy Future With Good Crowds, Better Record

<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tues. Mar. 4)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01193/2998408-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="594" height="271"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDTues. Feb. 25Des Moines 6 at Dayton 10Wed. Feb. 26Des Moines 1 at Fort Wayne 3 Columbus 5 at Toledo 3Fri. Feb. 28Dayton 3 at Des Moines 8 Fort Wayne 2 at Muskegon 9Sat. Mar. 1Muskegon 1 at Port Huron 10 Dayton 2 at Des Moines 4 Columbus 2 at Toledo 4Sun. Mar. 2Toledo 2 ot Dayton 7 Port Huron 1 at Fort Wayne 1 Muskegon 7 ot Columbus 5GAMES TO COMETus. Mar. 4Des Moines at ToledoWed. Mar. 5Columbus at Fort Wayne Des Moines at DaytonFri. Mar. 7Columbus at Des Moines Toledo ot Muskegon Dayton at Port HuronSat. Mar. 8Fort Wayne at Muskegon Toledo at Port Huron Columbus ot Des MoinesSun. Mar. 9Port Huron at Dayton Muskegon ot Fort Wayne Toledo at Columbus<h2>ONTARIO JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tues. Mar. 4)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02131/2998401-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="594" height="373"></div>LEADING SCORERS(Including Games of Sun. Feb. 23)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03114/2998394-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="588" height="641"></div><h2>QUEBEC SENIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Mar. 3)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0495/2998387-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="590" height="235"></div><h4>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</h4>(QUARTER-FINALS)SERIES &ldquo;A&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0584/2998380-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="585" height="78"></div>(Best-ot-seven senes tied 2-2)SERIES &ldquo;B&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0664/2998373-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="589" height="54"></div>(Barrie wins best-of-seven series 4-0)SERIES &ldquo;C&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0758/2998366-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="582" height="58"></div>(Orillia leads best-of-seven series 3-2)<h2>WESTERN ONTARIO JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Sat. Mar. 1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0850/2998359-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="588" height="201"></div>LEADING SCORERS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0946/2998352-1-eng-US/f0022-092.jpg" title="f0022-09" width="580" height="291"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

<div class="byline">BY BOB REED</div>FORT WAYNE, Ind. &mdash;The Fort Wayne Ko-mets, reasonably certain of a spot in the six-team In ternati onal Hockey League playoff but gunning for a favorable third place finish, were having some troubles.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1038/2998446-1-eng-US/f0022-102.jpg" title="f0022-10" width="252" height="415"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Volmar</figcaption></div>One of them was giving up too many goals in the last minute or two of a period. It happened to them in three consecutive road games, two at Des Moines and one at Port Huron, in which they were able to manage only a tie.In the Port Huron game the Flags picked up a goal by Marcel Goudreau at 18: 19 of the second period. In a 4-2 loss at Des Moines, Barry Bouchner scored with 1:51 remaining in the first period and with 21 seconds remaining in the second period. In a 4-4 tie with, the Oak Leafs, Billy Reid connected with only 14 seconds to play in the second period.Said General Manager Ken Ullyot in commenting on the situation, &ldquo;We are letting up in the last minute instead of clearing the puck out of our own end &mdash; icing it if we have to, but getting it out of danger. We are going to have to concentrate on correcting this.&rdquo;Likewise keeping the Komets down was a weakness in goal scoring. They were next to the poorest offensive club in the league and in the latest official point standing of the leaders only one Komet appeared among the 13 leaders and he was Billy Staub, who had collected most of his points as a member of the Columbus Checkers. This was an unusual situation for the Komets, who could normally be expected to have two or three among the leading point men.DAYTON &mdash; Goalie Pat Rupp&rsquo;s 44 saves against Port Huron gave the Gems a 3-3 tie and enabled them to move a point ahead of Toledo for the IHL lead&hellip; Don Westbrooke leading IHL point man, needed only a few to reach the 100 plateau. He scored 110 last season, which placed him second to Muskegon&rsquo;s Gary Ford &hellip; A loss to Port Huron was only the Gems&rsquo; third of the season at home.COLUMBUS &mdash; Rookie Doug Volmar, league leading goal scorer, notched his 55th of the season &hellip; Tom Iannone, acquired from Dayton, picked up six goals in three games, including a hat trick &hellip; Another new Checker, Pierre LeBlanc, late of Muskegon, had the first penalty shot of the season in the IHL and made it against goalie Al Cecile of Port Huron &hellip; Jerry Schmelzer, Checker vicepresident, was planning to get married at the close of the season, as were Rheal Pacquette, Al White and Choo Choo Bouchard.DES MOINES &mdash; Rookie Barry Bougner scored a hat trick against the Komets, giving him 11 goals in 12 games. Other &ldquo;hats&rdquo; for the Leafs this season were by Buddy Boone (two) and Steve Sutherland &hellip; Goalie Duffy Lewis continued his fine play, with Phil Headley sitting out due to an eye injury &hellip; Former Oak Leaf star Lyle Bradley went from Houston of the Central League to Quebec of the American in a trade.PORT HURON &mdash; Fighting for a third place finish the Flags have been poison to both leaders, Toledo and Dayton, in recent weeks, getting three wins and a tie in four meetings &hellip; Coach Ted Garvin said he had three offers to coach next season, two in Canada and one in the U.S. and was considering them, due to the uncertainty of Port Huron&rsquo;s future in the IHL&hellip; Rookie Jerry Korab was leading IHL defensemen in scoring.MUSKEGON &mdash; Ken McKenzie, publisher of the HOCKEY NEWS, saw the Mohawks play two games and presented the minor league executive of the year award to Board Chairman Jerry DeLise &hellip; Lynn Margarit, in another scrap with Oak Leaf Ivan Prediger, drew a fighting penalty, misconduct and game misconduct.TOLEDO &mdash; Four straight losses by the Blades dropped them from the lead as Dayton took over by one point &hellip; They were beaten, 7-1. by Muskegon, whom they had beaten nine straight &hellip; Following injuries to Lou Kazowski and Ray Germain, only three players had been in every match &mdash; Greg Jablonski, Jim Sanko and Dino Mascotto.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1134/2998439-1-eng-US/f0022-112.jpg" title="f0022-11" width="1169" height="1329"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hockey News Honors DeLise As Minors&rsquo; Top ExecutiveKEN McKENZIE, left, publisher of THE HOCKEY NEWS presents his paper&rsquo;s award to Muskegon&rsquo;s JERRY DeLISE as minor league &lsquo;executive&rsquo; of the year&rsquo; during recent visit to IHL city. Looking on in centre is TOM FALLON, editor of the Bay City Times</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-10

Lack Of Offense Hurting Komets; Dayton Takes Lead From Toledo

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div>PETERBOROUGH. Ont.&mdash;The battle tor the Ontario Hockey Association junior A pennant narrowed from three teams to two last week when Peterborough Petes were defeated in four successive OHA games.St. Catharines Black Hawks scored a 6-3 win over the Petes, Hamilton Red Wings followed up with a 9-1 victory and Montreal Canadiens downed&rsquo;them twice &mdash; 3-1 in Peterborough and 5-4 in the Forum.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01171/2998477-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="247" height="426"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Tataryn</figcaption></div>Until those four setbacks the Petes were strong contenders for first place but now must settle for third.St. Catharines Black Hawks stretched their undefeated streak to 10 games with their win over Peterborough, a 7-3 decision against the Canadiens at Garden City Arena and a 9-1 blitz against the last place Kitchener Rangers.However the Canadiens maintained a two-point edge over the Hawks by beating Oshawa 8-2 before the largest crowd in the history of the new Montreal Forum.The attendance for the Sunday night game was 18,839, larger than any National Hockey League crowd this season.As well has having a slim lead on the second place Hawks the Canadiens also have one game in hand and barring a slump in their remaining five games seem almost certain of finishing on top of the 10-team group.Toronto Marlboros scored seven goals in the last 28 minutes for an 8-3 win over the slumping Niagara Falls Flyers and virtually clinched a playoff position.However the battle continues between London, Ottawa and Oshawa for the final two spots.With 10-days remaining in the schedule only one point separated the three teams.Niagara, after a splendid start, has hit the skids in recent weeks and their 8-3 loss to the Marlboros was their sixth defeat in their last eight games.Flyer manager Hap Emms bluntly blamed his goaltending for his club&rsquo;s recent reverses.&ldquo;Goaltending is 75 percent of any hockey game&rdquo;, said Emms, &ldquo;and we just haven&rsquo;t been getting solid performances from Dave Tataryn.&rdquo;Tataryn was replaced by rookie Doug Farquhar during the 8-3 defeat to the Marlboros and Emms treatened to bring up a midget goalie &ldquo;Unless some improvement is shown&rdquo;.The individual scoring race is just as tight as the battles for first place and the final playoff spots.London forward Daryl Sittier scored five goals and one assist in the Knights&rsquo; 11-6 win over Niagara Fails to move into first place.However seven other players are within shooting distance of the top &hellip; Rejean Houle of Montreal Marcel Dionne and Bob Sheehan of St. Catharines, Rick Kessell of Oshawa, Pierre Jarry of Ottawa, Phil Roberto of Niagara Falls and Doug Acomb of Toronto Marlboros.The leading goaltender is Wayne Wood of Montreal with a goals against average of 3.06. &#9632;

f0023-01

Four Defeats Knock Petes Out Of Race For Top

MONTREAL, Que. &mdash;Guy Rousseau, brother of Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; star Bobby Rousseau, has been hit with one of the heaviest suspensions ever handed down by the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association.Rousseau, a member of the St. Hyacinthe Gaulois ot the Quebec Senior Hockey League has been given a life suspension for his part in an attack on a referee in a game played between St. Hyacinthe and the Ottawa based eastern section of Canada&rsquo;s national team on Feb. 23.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02132/2998508-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="226" height="417"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Rousseau</figcaption></div>After being given a minor and a 10-minute misconduct penalty by referee Jim Kierans of Montreal, Rousseau was involed in an attack on, Kierans and for this reason, QAHA president Henry Crochetiere handed him a life ban.Team-mate Pierre Cournoyer, no relation to Canadiens&rsquo; Yvan Cournoyer, was suspended for four years and coach Claude Savary received a two-year suspension for thier parts in the same brawl.In the incident referee Kierans suffered several cuts and bruises about the head and shoulders when fans and St. Hyacinthe players attacked him following the penalty call against Rousseau.Kierans said last week he has sworn out warrents in connection with the incident, but would not name the persons involed in the warrents.Rousseau a former American Hockey League performer with Rochester and Quebec, was given the minor and a 10-min-ute misconduct penalty which he disputed and clashed with the referee, who gave him a game misconduct.Savary was suspended for not exercising his authority as coach of the Gaulois to restrain his players. &#9632;

f0023-02

Quebecer Guy Rousseau Given Life Suspension

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03105/2998539-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="886" height="1188"></div>SOLUTION IN MARCH 15 ISSUE<h2>ACROSS</h2>1&mdash;Pictured player.6&mdash;Initials of Shack of Boston.7&mdash;Philadelphia 1st last season. (S)9&mdash;Initials of an American State.11&mdash;One of the North Stars.13&mdash;A Penguin forward.15&mdash;Initials of Kachur of Providence.16&mdash;Initials of 6 down.17&mdash;To make mistakes.18&mdash;Native Province of Pictured player, (abbr.)19&mdash;Phil Esposito hails from here.20&mdash;A North Star defenseman answers to this.22&mdash;First name of an NHL referee.23&mdash;First name of one of the Habs.26&mdash;I down played Junior in this League.28&mdash;One of the Red Wings.32&mdash;Scored 29 goals for New York last season.<h2>DOWN</h2>1&mdash;A fast skating NHL left winger.2&mdash;Initials of Fortin of Kansas City.3&mdash;Pictured player answers to this.4&mdash;Number of times Beliveau has won the Art Ross trophy.5&mdash;First name of one of the Wings.6&mdash;One of the San Diego Gulls.8&mdash;Hall leads the league in these, (abbr.)10&mdash;Pronoun.12&mdash;I down once played for this team, (abbr.)14&mdash;An NHL captain.20&mdash;Wears No. 16 for Minnesota.21&mdash;Initials of former Bruin Tessier.24&mdash;One of the Quebec Aces.25&mdash;Denotes scoreless tie.27&mdash;Same as 22 across.28&mdash;Initials of one of the Hawks.29&mdash;21st and 7th letters of the alphabet.30&mdash;Initials of an NHL coach.31&mdash;One of the North Stars answers to this.<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1&mdash;LACROIX6&mdash;00.7&mdash;P.S.9&mdash;ROUSSEAU10&mdash;R.S.11&mdash;ALE,13&mdash;SAN.14&mdash;F.S.15&mdash;TOP.16&mdash;PRO.17&mdash;QUE.19&mdash;D.S.20&mdash;UBRIACO.24&mdash;BOB.25&mdash;NO.27&mdash;VET.28&mdash;B.O.29&mdash;NOV.30&mdash;LEON.<h3>DOWN</h3>1&mdash;LAROSE.2&mdash;COURNOYER.3&mdash;ROSS.4&mdash;ICE.5&mdash;D.S.7&mdash;PULFORD.9&mdash;A.A.12&mdash;ESPOSITO15&mdash;T.P.17&mdash;QUINN.18&mdash;U.B.21&mdash;ABEL.22&mdash;COTE.23&mdash;O.B.26&mdash;00.28&mdash;B.N. &#9632;

f0023-03

Hockey Crossword

<div class="byline">BY GLENN REDMANN</div>TWIN CITIES, Minn. &mdash;The North Stars have regained their winning touch at home under Wren Blair.That more than any other single reason, tells why the Minnesota National Hockey League entry is once again alive insofar as gaining a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs is concerned.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01183/2998577-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="259" height="417"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wren Blair</figcaption></div>A year ago under the man the call &ldquo;The Bird&rdquo;, Minnesota piled up an enviable and highly-ac-ceptable 17-12-8 record on friendly Metropolitan Sports Center ice.But even with Wren back behind the bench at the beginning of the 1968-69 campaign, the best the Stars could do until John Muckier arrived on the scene was one victory in five starts.Muckier&rsquo;s tenure as bench boss lasted 35 games, 18 of which were played on home ice.John went home from the Met with the taste of victory in his mouth onlv four times while his chargers dropped 13 others and tied one.Since Blair has returned to the scene, however, the Minnesotans have won five, lost one (6-3 to Montreal after leading the Habs 2-0) and played a 5-5 tie with Chicago at this writing.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s really a startling statistic,&rdquo; said Rav Cullen, the veteran centerman who scored two goals in the Minnesotans&rsquo; rousing 7-2 victory over Toronto Feb. 23.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s also one that&rsquo;s hard to figure,&rdquo; added Cully, &ldquo;because I think most of the guys wanted to win just as much for John as they do for Wren.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt in my mind that a big key to any season is the home record. If you don&rsquo;t win at home, you&rsquo;re in trouble. I guess we proved that, eh?&rdquo;Yes, the Stars did prove that under Muckier.Not at the beginning, mind you, because three of John&rsquo;s first four home games behind the bench ended up in victories over Detroit, Philadelphia and Los Angeles after a heart-breaking 10 debut loss to Toronto.After that, though, it was all downhill as the only point the Stars were able to rack up on home ice from Nov. 20 to Jan. 19 were a Dec. 14 win over New York and a Jan. 4 tie against Boston.The 12 home setbacks during that juncture were especially painful for the club&rsquo;s owners, who finally ordered Blair to replace Muckier after St. Louis blanked the Stars. 2-0, on Jan. 19.Five of the club&rsquo;s first seven games with Blair back at the throttle were played on the road and, somehow, the Stars managed to win two (at Pittsburgh and Philadelphia), lose two (at Boston and Montreal and tied one (at Toronto).Interspersed was a win over L.A. and the Chicago tie at home. Then, after that disappointing loss to Montreal &mdash; you have to be disappointed anytime you lose a 2-0 lead to an East Division club &mdash; Blair&rsquo;s crew caught fire.How? With four straight home ice victories &mdash; over Pittsburgh, Detroit, L.A. and Toronto &mdash; sandwiched around a pair of decisive road setbacks at Toronto and St. Louis.What&rsquo;s the biggest reason behind the Stars&rsquo; home ice comeback?One observer seemed to think it is more relaxed practices. &ldquo;They were leaving a lot of their games on the practice ice,&rdquo; said the man who asked not to be identified for fear of drawing Muckier&rsquo;s wrath.One person who apparently doesn&rsquo;t agree with this is left winger J.P. Parise, who scored his 17th goal of the season in that 7-2 rout of Toronto.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think a lot of good practices hurt a club,&rdquo; said Parise.&ldquo;I remember hearing stories how some of those great Toronto clubs lived for the practices. It apparently didn&rsquo;t hurt them.&rdquo;Among those sharing hero honors with Cullen and Parise in the big Leafs&rsquo; win was rookie Danny Grant, who gained his second hat trick of the season &mdash; both against established opposition.The Stars scored five goals in the third period to tie a club record and their second seven-goal output in two games (they beat the Kings 7-4 four days earlier) also tied a mark. Grant&rsquo;s two hats in a season equaled the departed Wayne Connelly&rsquo;s standard of last season.STAR-LITES: On the three days (Feb. 20-22) that the Stars vacated the Met, more than 79,000 fans poured through the turnstiles to watch the 25th annual state high school tournament played out of St. Paul&rsquo;s smaller Auditorium for the first time &hellip; The Minnesotans&rsquo; attendance went past 380,000 (for 30 games) with the Toronto game &hellip; Bill Goldsworthy&rsquo;s wife underwent an emergency appendectomy on Feb. 19 after a few hours earlier watching her husband get two goals in a 7-4 win over the Kings &hellip; Blair has shown little inclination to boost Danny Grant for Calder award honors (unlike several other coaches who have good freshmen) because he also has three other contenders in Dany O&rsquo;Shea) Lou Nanne and the hard-checking Walt Mc-Kechnie.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02128/2998570-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="559" height="636"><figcaption class="caption-body">RAY CULLEN &hellip; Winning at Home</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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March 8, 1969

WHERE THE NHL TEAMS ARE

Blues’ Terry Gray Sizzles With Hat Trick

National Hockey League Summaries

Western League Summaries