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.

April 26, 1969

The Hockey News April 26, 1969

<div class="byline">BY HARVEY POLLACK</div>CLINTON, N.Y. &mdash;The Clinton Comets are masters of the Eastern Hockey League wars again proving that sometimes it&rsquo;s better to have youth on your side than experience.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01124/2780806-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="266" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Bannerman</figcaption></div>The North Division champions won the overall EHL title from the seasoned Nashville Dixie Flyers in a hard-fought, seven-game series which ended with the deciding game on Clinton ice.The new EHL champs they also won it last year and the fourth time since 1959 &mdash; took the series clincher 3-2 after Nashville had come from behind to annex the sixth game 9-2 in the South and send the series back North to decide the championship.The victory for the young Comets definitely disproved the theories of many other coaches around the EHL.When Clinton was riddled by retirements and promotions after winning the EHL crown a year ago, no one figured they&rsquo;d be able to get the replacements that would keep them atop the heap.A typical remark of coach Dave Lucas of Salem went this way. &ldquo;Clinton is composed primarily of a bunch of rookies this year. True they&rsquo;re good rookies, but nevertheless they&rsquo;re only rookies. They have only one line which can score consistently. I have tol pick the veteran Nashville team to beat them.&rdquo;That analysis certainly has been disproven and what&rsquo;s more so were the predictions that the Comets wouldn&rsquo;t even win their own division. Clinton didn&rsquo;t come through with the amazing record of a year ago in the regular campaign, but there never was much doubt that they would take regular season honors.Then they routed Long Island easily in the playoffs, and in a pressure-packed series with New Haven, they won out in seven tension-filled games. Then came the finals with Nashville. When the Dixie Flyers took the opening game at Clinton in overtime, it appeared perhaps the fact Clinton had so many newcomers this year would work against it. But coach Pat Kelly&rsquo;s team came back to win a one-goaler to square the series.Then down on Nashville&rsquo;s rink where the Flyers are terrors, Clinton dropped a 3-2 verdict after holding a 2-0 lead going into the final period. Here again was a time to collapse. But the youngsters didn&rsquo;t do so and goalie Lyle Carter played brilliantly in the next game for a 3-1 Comets triumph that tied the series. The Comets then went home to gain a 5-2 win and then dropped the sixth game to set the stage for the finale.In the third game goals by Karl Haggerty, Andre Lajeu-nesse and Wally Sprange sparked Nashville&rsquo;s comeback from the 2-0 deficit. The three tallies came in the space of six minutes. In the fourth game, Dave Armstrong&rsquo;s two tallies led Clinton to victory. Bill Bannerman was the hero with two markers in the fifth game.NEW HAVEN: Don Perry, Murray Kuntz and Don Walker vacationed in Las Vegas, San Francisco and Lake Tahoe after season. Walker, Kuntz and Marty Desmarais also went on a ski trip. Blades received belated party. Perry is thinking of switching Billy Orr from defense to forward next season due to his fine slap shot. Blake Ball hobbled around with cast on his right leg well after the close of the season.NASHVILLE: Folks here were delighted with Toronto&rsquo;s selection of John McLellan as their new skipper. John had a successful reign here in leading the Dixie Flyers to divisional and EHL crowns. Chuck Goddard&rsquo;s goalie play throughout the playoffs was the big surprise for the Flyers.JOHNSTOWN:Goalie Lynn Zimmerman didn&rsquo;t fare too well in his 11 games with Rochester. He had a 5.4 goals against average as compared to 2.6 mark in 34 games with the Jets. Johnstown&rsquo;s total of 1,457 penalty minutes eclipsed the old EHL record of 1,406 set by Long Island in 1966-67. They had over a hundred minutes more than the No. 2 team. Jets home attendance of 102,729 topped old record by 4,000.GREENSBORO:President Richard Bullard received a certificate of appreciation from the fans here in recognition of 10 years of hockey here. Some local fans are yelping for Ron Spong&rsquo;s scalp even though he led the team to the divisional crown. They point to only one playoff title in 10 years despite regular season crowns &hellip; The same fans also are hopeful of new defensemen next year.JERSEY: As far as Terry Jones of New Haven is concerned, the Devils&rsquo; Bob Taylor is a better goalie than Clinton&rsquo;s Lyle Carter. &ldquo;Everyone talks about Carter but Taylor is better. Look at they way Carter&rsquo;s defensemen help him and then look at the help Taylor got with the Devils. Taylor is on his own.&rdquo; Larry Pleau credited Bobby Brown and Jamie Kennedy for their aid in getting him rookie-of-the-year laurels.SYRACUSE: Coach Ray Crew says &ldquo;it was a long year. When you lose 59 games it&rsquo;s always a long year.&rdquo; Ray said the toughest problem was getting his team &ldquo;up&rdquo; for a game after losing six or seven straight. He said the team would have been better with more manpower, claiming his Blazers played six weeks with less than 11 men, five weeks with 3 defensemen and two weeks with two defensemen. Ray still undecided whether he&rsquo;ll be active player next year.SALEM: Dave Lucas&rsquo; record of 13 EHL playoffs was tied this year by Dick Roberge. Don Perry also has a share of the record. Only four Rebels &mdash; Al Osborne, captain Jim Jago, defensemen Jerry Firn and Lucas &mdash; were with club all year. Best deals were acquisition of Benny Greco, Jim Lorette, Billy Ives and Dan Patrick.CHARLOTTE:Fred Creighton&rsquo;s status for next season still uncertain with rumors still saying he&rsquo;ll move on to another position in the Toronto organization. Chuck Stuart is spending off-season strengthening ankle that sidelined him most of year. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Clinton Captures Title In Final With Nashville

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-05132/2779112-1-eng-US/f0003-052.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">These three veterans comprised the NHL&rsquo;s highest goal-scoring line of the past season but they won&rsquo;t be playing together next year. GORDIE HOWE, left, ALEX DELVECCHIO and FRANK MAHOVLICH, right, scored record-breaking 118 goals.</figcaption></div>DETROIT, Mich.&mdash;Despite the collapse at the end and the third straight non-play-off finish, it was a record-setting year for the Red Wings.Because of that collapse, some changes have been and will be made including breaking up the record-smashing Frank Mahovlich-Alex Delvecchio-Gordie Howe line.Red Wing general manager Sid Abel regarded the five game March trip that took the club out of Olympia for more than two weeks as a major contributing factor. The Wings, who had a great home record, lost four and tied one during the crucial trip.So next year, Abel said, the Wings will go back to their old custom of breaking into the March ice show run for one game. They got away from that a few years ago because of the additional cost of breaking down the ice show for one game and then setting up again.The expense is no small item but it&rsquo;s been a lot more expensive missing the playoffs for three consecutive seasons. The Wings, like some other clubs, complained about the schedule but, apparentlv, thev didn&rsquo;t reject it when schedulemaker Brian O&rsquo;Neill sent it around for approval.&ldquo;Those last three weeks of the season were tragic,&rdquo; Abel said. &ldquo;We flattened out at the wrong time. At no other time during the season did we lose more than two in a row.&ldquo;And the March ice show comes at a crucial stage of the season so next year we&rsquo;re going to break into it.&rdquo;Abel also inferred they&rsquo;ll break into the highest scoring line in Red Wing history, the line that fractured the old NHL marks for goals and total points.The Wings had all their scoring eggs in one basket &mdash; the Mahovlich-Delvecchio Howe line. It produced 114 goals, 139 assists and 253 points in the games it played together. Coach Bill Gadsby didn&rsquo;t unite them until the fifth game of the season.Mahovlich had his best-ever goal season with 49. Delvecchio had his best-ever assist and total point season. He had 58 setups and, with 25 goals, 83 total points to break his old top by 13 points.During the season Delvecchio became the third man in NHL history to pass the 1,000 point mark. He joined Howe and Montreal&rsquo;s Jean Beliveau in that super-select company.Then there&rsquo;s Howe. There aren&rsquo;t enough superlatives to describe his year. Forty-four goals, 59 assists, 103 total points, third place in scoring for his 20th straight top five year &hellip; and he turned 41 on March 31. It matched his best goal output in the past 13 seasons.His assists broke the NHL record for a right wing and his total points broke the right wing record he set, and then shared, with Bernie Geoffrion. He became only the third 100-point man in NHL history.Howe played all 76 games and that&rsquo;s his 16th iron-man season. Since he hit the ripe age of 33, once considered quite ancient in the NHL, he&rsquo;s missed only two of 572 games. In his 23 seasons he&rsquo;s missed only 42 of a possible 1,590 games.The Mahovlich-Delvecchio-Howe line was some unit, all right. But management indicated it can&rsquo;t afford to keep it together because the two other lines not only didn&rsquo;t produce enough goals but didn&rsquo;t prevent enough.So Abel said they&rsquo;ll likely put Howe with center Garry Unger and an as yet undetermined left wing and Wayne Connelly will go in Howe&rsquo;s right wing slot with Mahovlich and Delvecchio.&ldquo;Unger makes the pass to his right and that&rsquo;s good for Gordie and Alex can make the pass to his left to hit Frank,&rdquo; Abel said.It was felt Unger couldn&rsquo;t make the left wing pass and that&rsquo;s why he was taken off the Howe-Mahovlich line early last season. The Big M wasn&rsquo;t seeing any of the puck. Delvecchio, an adroit passer either way, cured that.Now they&rsquo;ve got to come up with some left wing help. Veteran Dean Prentice and freshman Nick Libett had disappointing seasons. Prentice scored only 14 goals and Libett 10. &#9632;

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Missing Playoffs Will Force Wings To Break Up Record - Breaking Line

<h2>WED APR. 9</h2>SAN DIEGO 1 at PORTLAND 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05211/2780602-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="613" height="454"></div>THURS APR. 10PORTLAND 4 at SAN DIEGO 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06165/2780595-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="613" height="397"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-07143/2780588-1-eng-US/f0019-072.jpg" title="f0019-07" width="631" height="258"></div>SAT. APR. 12SAN DIEGO 4 at PORTLAND 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-08129/2780581-1-eng-US/f0019-082.jpg" title="f0019-08" width="601" height="690"></div> &#9632;

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WESTERN LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<h2>TUES. APR. 15</h2>BALTIMORE 1 at PROVIDENCE 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02444/2780222-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="631" height="486"></div>CLEVELAND 1 at QUEBEC 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03350/2780215-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="613" height="485"></div><h2>Wed. Apr. 16</h2>BUFFALO 5 at HERSHEY 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04279/2780208-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="643" height="645"></div>QUEBEC 3 at CLEVELAND 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05209/2780201-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="646" height="495"></div><h2>Fri. Apr. 18</h2>QUEBEC 4 at PROVIDENCE 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06166/2780194-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="628" height="144"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07153/2780187-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="637" height="624"></div>HERSHEY 3 at BUFFALO 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08139/2780180-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="616" height="465"></div><h2>Sun. Apr. 20</h2>HERSHEY 0 at BUFFALO 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09119/2780173-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="628" height="90"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10100/2780166-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="630" height="543"></div>QUEBEC 4 at PROVIDENCE 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1187/2780159-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="630" height="558"></div> &#9632;

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Calder Cup Summaries

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01664/2779005-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="510" height="1034"></div>Until this season, Johnny Bower of the Leafs had been the only goalkeeper in NHL, history to receive an assist in Stanley Cup play. Last week not one. but two netminders, recorded assists. Jacques Plante of St. Louis collected one against Los Angeles April 17 and Kings&rsquo; goaler Gerry Desjardins was awarded one April 19 against the Blues.It has been a big season for goalers in the playoffs. Gerry Cheevers of Boston has posted three shutouts so far and is within one of tieing the record of four in a playoff which is held by several netminders. Cheevers also had a string of 188 scoreless minutes of hockey snapped by Montreal last week.Montreal&rsquo;s pudgy Gump Worsley put a new record in the book when he rang up 17 consecutive playoff victories before Boston stopped him April 17. The same night the Bruins put a halt to Montreal&rsquo;s 11-game unbeaten playoff run, which was a record the Habs set three times in 1959, 1960 and 1961.Phil Esposito of the Bruins is rapidly closing in on Stan Mikita&rsquo;s playoff points record of 21 set in 1962. Espo has 15 points now.Boston&rsquo;s two shorthanded goals in one period against Montreal April 20 was also believed to be a playoff record. The Bruins have five overall for the playoffs and 18 for the whole season, which also rank as records. &#9632;

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Playoff Records

<div class="byline">BY TOM MONAHAN</div>BOSTON, Mass. &mdash;During his days in junior hockey. Derek Sanderson gained something of a reputation for racking up bodies. In two years with the Bruins he has gained a reputation for cracking up myths. And in the last two weeks he has gained a reputation as a potential National Hockey League superstar.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02630/2779043-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="253" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">Derek Sanderson</figcaption></div>None of these sit very lightly with the 22-year-old winner of last year&rsquo;s Calder Cup Trophy.Although he has been classed as an individualist whose inhibitions are at a minimum, Sanderson takes his hockey very seriously.And he really doesn&rsquo;t take kindly to the fact that some people think he might be a little rough on the ice.&ldquo;I guess I did earn that reputation while I was in the Juniors,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;I was a little chippy in those days. I did a few things that probably were not what you might call the nicest.&ldquo;But I got over that and I really don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m a bad guy on the ice at all.&ldquo;Why I&rsquo;ll tell you something. I can remember the first penalty I ever got called.against me. I was eight years old and I tripped a kid.&ldquo;I went to the penalty box crying. I didn&rsquo;t think I had done anything wrong and I felt badly about it.&ldquo;The next game I was penalized again for charging. I went to the bench laughing.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t that I was happy about that. I just figured you have to be able to laugh to get along in this game and take things as they come.&rdquo;Perhaps it is this attitude that has been the major factor in Sanderson&rsquo;s ability to crack the so-called sophomore jinx.When he was brought to Boston by the Bruins last year, even Sandy didn&rsquo;t expect he was here to stay.&ldquo;You just work and do the best you can and hope that it&rsquo;s good enough,&rdquo; he says in retrospect. &ldquo;But you can&rsquo;t count on anything.&rdquo;While Sanderson was working and doing the best he could in training camp a year ago, the Bruins were doing more of the hoping that he would be able to fill a weakness at one of the center spots.He did it with such dispatch that he scored 24 goals and had little competition for the rookie-of-the-year award.Starting this season there was thought of the jinx that has plagued so many sophomores, not only in hockey but in all professional sports.&ldquo;This was something that never entered my mind,&rdquo; says the extroverted Sanderson.&ldquo;I figured I had a pretty good year and saw no reason why something like a jinx would interfere.&rdquo;Sandy started a bit slowly but he did get rolling and finished the regular season with .26 goals and 22 assists.With the start of the playoffs he really took off flying.In the first six games he scored seven goals and pitched in an assist while doing an outstanding job of forechecking and killing penalties.Still he doesn&rsquo;t think this accomplishment was anything sensational.&ldquo;When you shoot you have to score,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I have been forechecking but while I have been forechecking I also have had a couple of wings working to get the puck to me.&ldquo;Guys like Eddie Westfall, Eddie Shack, Glen Sather and Wayne Cashman have been doing a great job of setting me up,&rdquo; he says.You know you can&rsquo;t do anything in this game alone.&rdquo;Coach Harry Sinden will go along with Sanderson on that point. But he also thinks Sanderson has the potential to become one of the big stars in the game.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just starting to get going,&rdquo; says Sinden. &ldquo;Just keep watching him. You will see one of the real good ones developing right before your eyes.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03527/2779036-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="1174" height="1621"><figcaption class="caption-body">Although he says he&rsquo;s not a rough player on the ice, wherever there&rsquo;s a brawl you&rsquo;ll find DEREK SANDERSON nearby. Here he is shown scuffling with Canadiens&rsquo; DICK DUFF, left, as referee BRUCE HOOD stands between them in recent playoff game.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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B’s Sanderson Rocks In Playoffs, Could Be Club’s Next Super Star

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01666/2779081-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="385" height="441"></div>DETROIT. Mich. &mdash;General Manager Sid Abel said the team won&rsquo;t go with three goalies next season so you must figure Roger Crozier or Terry Sawchuk is available for trade.Roy Edwards posted the best goals-against average by a Detroit net minder in four years. He finished with a mark of 2.54. finest since Crozier&rsquo;s rookie year when Crozier had a 2.42 average. Edwards&rsquo; average was the second-best in the last decade for the Wings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02548/2779074-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="266" height="454"><figcaption class="caption-body">Roger Crozier</figcaption></div>Abel also said he wants to get the roster set, his deals made, before the June meeting. So he&rsquo;s got a little over a month to work something out.The comeback of Carl Brewer should do a great deal to shore up the defense. Abel said he&rsquo;d like to get another defenseman but every club is looking for good defensemen and the Wings don&rsquo;t have a lot to offer in the way of trade material &mdash; they&rsquo;ve about cleaned out their farm system.Gordie Howe last season turned 40 the final day of the campaign and missed equalling his age with goals by scoring 39 times. This season he turned 41 the day after the season ended and scored 44 goals. The All-Star right winger also set a record for right wingers by assisting on 59 goals, breaking the mark of 58 set by Andy Bathgate.Howe played all 76 games for the Wings, his 16th complete season without missing a game. In 23 seasons he has been sidelined for a total of only 42 games of a possible 1,590. In the last eight seasons, since he turned 33, he has missed two games &hellip; and played 570.This was Howe&rsquo;s finest season in points, with his 103 total ranking eight better than his previous career high of 95 (in 1952-53). He surpassed his former high of 49 assists (in 1960-61) by 10 with 59. His 44 goals equalled the third best of his career. He had 49 in 1952-53, 47 in 1951-52 and 44 in 1956-57.By collecting 58 minutes in penalties Howe also climbed into second place on the all-time list. He now has 1,547 minutes in his career, eight ahead of Coach Bill Gadsby (1,539) and 261 behind former linemate Ted Lindsav (1.808).Frank Mahovlich equalled the single-season goal record for the Wings when he scored his 49th. Howe set the mark in 70 games during 1952-53. It was the Big M&rsquo;s finest goal-scoring season ever, one better than 1960-61 when he collected 48. Mahovlich also had 29 assists for a 78-point year. &#9632;

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Wings May Put Goaler On The Block

<h2>MOST GOALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03369/2779150-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="619" height="1023"></div><h2>MOST POINTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04219/2779143-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="616" height="1017"></div> &#9632;

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NHL’s Top Scoring Lines

<div class="byline">By Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01728/2779202-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="382" height="444"></div>&bull;EDDIE WESTFALL star of Boston&rsquo;s 3-2 win over Canadiens in the fourth game of their series, was jubilant at the close of the game. One of the finest all-around performers in the NHL, Steady Eddie scored once and assisted on two othrs in Boston&rsquo;s important win ovr Canadiens, which tied up the series at two games apiece, and switched the momentum away from Canadiens and over to the Bruins&hellip; &ldquo;We feel the same way now as we did after the first two games against Toronto,&rdquo; stated Westfall&hellip; Gerry Cheevers played another brilliantm game in the Boston goal and the Bruins received an almost flawless performance from Defensemen Bobby Orr, Ted Green, Dallas Smith and Don Awrey&hellip; Orr and Green must rate as the best two defensemen in all of hockey. They are All-Stars every inch of the way&hellip; Orr played his best game of the playoffs in this fourth tilt&hellip; Derek Sanderson has scored three shorthanded goals and Eddie Westfall two in this year&rsquo;s playoffs&hellip; Bruins will miss Sanderson who is sidelined for the next two games with a bad thigh injury &hellip; St. Louis Blues have yet to lose a game in Stanley Cup play this Spring&hellip; They won with ease over Philadelphia and Los Angeles and now await the winner of the Montreal-Boston series for the Stanley Cup finals. It looks like they may have to wait on the sidelines for about a week before the winner of the Montreal-Boston series is decided Congratulations to Dallas for their upset victory over Oklahoma City in the Central League finals. Evryone thought the Blazers were a cinch to win all the marbles in the Central loop&hellip; This marks the first championship for the Chicago-sponsored Dallas Black Hawks&hellip; Lefty McFadden&rsquo;s Dayton Gems captured the International League playoffs for the second year in a row and Ed Stanley&rsquo;s Clinton Comets did the same thing in the Eastern Hockey League finals&hellip;Muskegon were finalists in the IHL while Nashville were the runnersup to Clinton in the Eastern League.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02679/2779195-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="261" height="432"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gerry Cheevers</figcaption></div>&bull;RED KELLY tore into his charges after dropping their first game to St. Louis, 4-0. They played much better in the second tilt, losing 3-2 &hellip; but the club will have to show a lot more firing power if they are to eliminate the high-flying Blues &hellip; It&rsquo;s about even money right now that Kelly will be back as Los Angeles coach next season &hellip; St. Louis&rsquo; Glenn Hall will have played more playoff goal than any netminder in NHL history once he completes his next game. The former mark was held by Terry Sawchuk who played 6,211 minutes of playoff action &hellip; Montreal Canadiens will unveil the portraits of four of their greatest stars in the main lobby of the Forum prior to the start of next season. The four all-time greats of the Canadiens are Howie Morenz, Maurice Richard, Toe Blake and Jean Beliveau &hellip; Beliveau was completely bowled over when he heard the news. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m delighted to be in the same company as Morenz, Richard and Blake. It&rsquo;s a surprise and a happy one,&rdquo; he enthused &hellip; Hockey officials, players and fans lavish in their praise of the excellent ice at the St. Louis Arena. The party responsible for this terrific ice is Ted Meeker and his Ice Rink Building and Equipment Co. of St. Louis &hellip; Hockey&rsquo;s two broadcasting Dans, Gallivan and Kelly, doing first-rate jobs in bringing hockey fans throughout Canada and the United States the Stanley Cup playoff action &hellip; Gallivan telecasts the Canadiens games over national television in Canada while Kelly does the same thing for the Columbia Broadcasting System in the United States &hellip; This is the 21st year that Montreal Canadiens have appeared in Stanley Cup play &hellip; Nick Mileti&rsquo;s Cleveland Barons have retired Fred Glover&rsquo;s No. 9 jersey &hellip; Minnesota North Star&rsquo;s Wren Blair said this was the first Spring in 19 years that he&rsquo;s had a team out of the playoffs &hellip; Pittsburgh Penguins are expected to announce the name of their new coach any day now.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03581/2779188-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="268" height="425"><figcaption class="caption-body">Red Kelly</figcaption></div>&bull;THE STANLEY CUP finals will open in the arena of the Eastern Division winner&hellip; Bill Durnan, who won the Vezina Trophy six times during a seven-year span while playing with Montreal Canadiens during the 1940&rsquo;s, has been ailing of late. An arthritic knee, result of a hockey injury, plus a liver ailment have caused Bill plenty of grief. One of the most popular goalies to ever strap on a pad, Bill now lives in Toronto &hellip; Boston&rsquo;s Bobby Orr will act as best man at the wedding of Philadelphia Fivers&rsquo; Joe Watson, at Smithers, B.C., on May 17 &hellip; Expansion teams in the NHL won but 51 of the 216 games played between the Eastern and Western divisions &hellip; These same expansion clubs gave up a staggering 778 goals during these 216 contests &hellip; Serge Savard has been one of Canadiens better players during the Cup playoffs. The tall defenseman gets better with each game and if he continues to improve at his present rate should be All-Star material within another season &hellip; Most New York writers blame the poor showing of Bob Nevin and Rod Gilbert against Canadiens in the playoffs for the Rangers collapse against Montreal in four straight &hellip; Nevin scored 31 goals during the regular season while Gilbert tallied 28. The two of them accounted for a single goal against Montreal in the playoffs. Nevin also missed many excellent scoring opportunities &hellip; Red Sullivan, fired last nonth as Pittsburgh coach, has agreed to stay with the club as director of scouting for professional leagues &hellip; Jim Gregory, Toronto&rsquo;s new general manager, is a partner with Wren Blair in the operation of the Hali-burton Hockey Haven Boys&rsquo; Camp, which has grown by leaps and bounds since it opened three years ago &hellip; Almost every referee in the NHL is a graduate of the Ontario Hockey Association &hellip; Al Gendron is looking forward to seeing a lot of NHL players at his Jolly Roger Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as soon as the playoffs are ended &hellip; Al gets many of the NHL players each year in May as they take advantage of the special NHL Golf Package Vacation.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04509/2779181-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="269" height="419"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Nevin</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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PASSING PUCK

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 107, Canada.Kenneth William McKenzie William Z. StevensonPresident and Publisher Managing 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. Second class mail registration number 1327Printed in CanadaVol. 22 MONTREAL, APRIL 26, 1969 No. 29<h2>Time For A Change Leafs Need Youth</h2>Now that the grand old men of THE Toronto Maple Leafs have left us, it is time tor a massive rebuilding job. No one can deny that Punch Imlach, Tim Horton, and Johnny Bower were all great in the field of hockey, but just as Jack Riley of the Pittsburgh Penguins feels about his own team, he made a mistake to go with name veterans and is now trying to rebuild with young prospects. This also must be the course for Toronto.Three young men were on the Toronto roster at the beginning of the season, but were later sent to the farm clubs. John McLellan, the new coach of the Leafs, cannot deny the excellent scoring record amassed in Tulsa by forward Gary Marsh, who totalled 58 points, scoring 22 goals with 36 assists. He cannot overlook the outstanding abilities of Wayne Carleton of Phoenix, who was on the Leafs roster at the beginning of the season, but because of personal difficulties with Imlach he asked to be sent to one of the farm clubs. McLellan must also keep in mind his need for a goalie, and none finer can be found than Al Smith of Rochester.These players, coupled with the talents of other young Leafs, such as Jim Dorey, Mike Walton, Mike Quinn, Mike Pelyk, and Ricky Ley, are just the driving force that Toronto needs to once again become a strong contender in the NHL.KEVIN MARSH, Notre Dame, Ind.<h2>Krauts Recalled By Kitchener Kids</h2>The name Krauts still reminds many hockey fans of the famous Kraut line from Kitchener that played for Boston back in the 1930&rsquo;s (Bobby Bauer, Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart) and several years ago the Kitchener Novice All-Stars were named the &ldquo;Krauts&rdquo; and this team has since taken the name many places outside the province.In hockey circles this minor team has gained wide acclaim as the &ldquo;Krauts&rdquo; for its outstanding and colorful play. This year the team flew to Winnipeg for 5 days of exhibition games with a stopover at Port Arthur for a game. In the previous 4 years the Krauts won the Washington. D.C. tournament 4 years in a row The team has played in Detroit and Port Hudon for many years as well as across Ontario.The team has just completed a 65-game season with 17 losses and 3 tournament championships bringing to a total of 25 championships since the team was started 10 years ago. Bradley Bauer, a son of the late Bobby Bauer, was a member of the first team in 1959.The name &ldquo;Krauts&rdquo; still reminds hockey fans of the finest in hockey provided by Kitchener, and the team hopes some day to visit Boston and skate on the ice with the famous name, &ldquo;Krauts&rdquo; across the sweaters to remind fans of the 1930&rsquo;s.MURRAY FRIED, Kitchener, Ont.<h2>Others Deserving Of MVP Than Espo</h2>I would like to state my opinion on the most valuable player selection in your poll. Why is it that almost everyone misunderstands this department to be the best player.In your HOCKEY NEWS fans poll, Phil Esposito raw away with the voting in vour valuable player department. He has had a tremendous season, shattered many NHL records, and run away with the points scoring derby. But does this mean he has been more valuable to the Bruins than Bobby Orr? Or how about Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante for the St.Louis Blues. Where would they be without this fine goaltending duo? Or Jean Beliveau for the Canadiens.Remember two years ago when the Canadiens came from the cellar to finish in second place after Beliveau came back from an injury. Believeau finished with 12 gones, 26 assists. But where would the canadiens have finished had he not made it back than the Black Hawks if they had been without Stan Mikita, the Hart trophy winner that year.In a recent Montreal-New York playoff game, New York was playing poorly and not hitting at all. Reggie Fleming came on, stirred the Rangers, and soon, Vic Hadfield scored for New York. Rod Gilbert couldn&rsquo;t help, Jean Ratelie couldn&rsquo;t help, but Fleming could and did. Certainly, Esposito has had a great season, and deserves a lot of credit, and an outstanding player award, if they had one. but does this mean the Hart Trophy too?CLARKE HUNTER. Parkland. Alta. &#9632;

Fan Forum

<h2>Who is the best looking player in the NHL?</h2>SANDRA SEIDL, working girl, El Paso, Texas:&ldquo;Jimmy Peters of the Los Angeles Kings. He&rsquo;s beautiful. I think a lot of girls look in the program first to see which of guys are single. Not that they are attainable, but just the idea that they&rsquo;re available. The ones that are young and good-looking are the ones we watch. Jimmy is this. He&rsquo;s also a good, promising player, I think, though I don&rsquo;t know the game too well. I&rsquo;ve seen my first game since I&rsquo;ve been vacationing in Los Angeles but I hope to come back to see more. And to see Jimmy Peters again&rdquo;.HELEN PALMER, Model, New York, N.Y.:&ldquo;Rod Gilbert is the most. He has handsome wavy hair and the cutest dimple. I never get tired watching him play and I feel sorry for him when he gets knocked down&rdquo;.MADONNA LEE SHAW, go-go dancer, Los Angeles:&ldquo;Of those I&rsquo;ve seen I&rsquo;d say Danny O&rsquo;Shea of Minnesota. But I also think Danny Grant of Minnesota, Brit Selby of Philadelphia, Bert Marshall of Oakland. Howie Young of Chicago, Kent Douglas of Detroit, Henri Richard of Montreal and Ted Irvine of L.A. are movie-star handsome, too. How do I know so many? I watch the players, not the games. From pictures I&rsquo;ve seen, Bobby Hull of Chicago and Gordie Howe of Detroit have fabulous bodies. It&rsquo;s a very manly game.&rdquo;TINY TIM, boy soprano, Hollywood:&ldquo;Any one of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Each and everyone is better looking than the next one. Ohhh, but they&rsquo;re beautiful&rdquo;.LAURA CHASE, hairdresser, Montreal:&ldquo;Bobby Hull of the Chicago Black Hawks. I think he&rsquo;s so manly and rugged looking. It&rsquo;s too bad his blond hair is thinning because it gives him a handsome look.&rdquo; &#9632;

THE FANS’ CORNER

<div class="byline">BY LOU PRATO</div>PITTSBURGH, Pa. &mdash;The search for a new coach for the Pittsburgh Penquins continues but apparently no decisions will be made until June.Penguins&rsquo; General Manager Jack Riley says he has several men in mind for the position left vacant when Red Sullivan was fired March 31. But Riley said he&rsquo;ll probably wait until the NHL draft in June before picking a successor.Meanwhile, Riley has been scouting teams during the Stanley Cup and Calder Cup playoffs. He firmly believes a coach is not necessary during this period, particularly since he has several capable assistants helping him in the scouting area.One of those assistants is a leading candidate for the Penguins coaching job. That would be 40-year-old Rudy Migay, who coached Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Amarillo farm club this season in the Central League.Riley credits Migay and Amarillo General Manager Jack Button with accomplishing &ldquo;one of the real sound jobs done in hockey this year&rdquo;.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there are that many good, qualified coaches&rdquo;, Riley said. &ldquo;I would have to say Rudy must be considered&rdquo;.But Migay is only one of several names being mentioned for the Penguins job. The latest name to emerge is George &ldquo;Punch&rdquo; Imlach, who was fired by Toronto after being eliminated in the Stanley Cup Playoffs by Boston.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what Punch will do but if he goes back into coaching I&rsquo;m sure he knows we could work together,&rdquo; Riley said. However, Riley added that Imlach is not the favorite for the job but only one of several candidates.Another NHL coach also has been mentioned. But Riley refuses to say if he has ta1ked to Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; Red Kelly.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01681/2779295-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="567" height="579"><figcaption class="caption-body">RUDY MIGAY &hellip; Favorite for Post</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02609/2779288-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="571" height="574"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRANK MATHERS &hellip;May Prefer Hershey</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03464/2779281-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="574" height="574"><figcaption class="caption-body">BAZ BASTIEN &hellip; Fans&rsquo; Choice</figcaption></div>Two minor league coaching successes might be interested in the Penguins vacancy. Frank Mathers of the Hershey Bears admitted he wants to talk about the job. But Mathers has been so happy with the Hershey situation that some observers doubt he would toss it over for the unpredictability of the Penguins job.Perhaps if the Pittsburgh fans were given a voice in the matter they&rsquo;d select Baz Bastien, the pro-scouting director of the Detroit Red Wings. Bastien is closely associated with Pittsburgh hockey fortunes and gave the city an American League and Calder Cup champion three years ago, before the NHL moved in.Bastien was a goaltender for the old Pittsburgh Hornets before he turned to managerial work and he still makes his home in Pittsburgh after marrying a local girl. When the Penguins franchise forced the Hornets to fold, Baz joined the Detroit parent organization front office. Last season, he helped General Manager Sid Abel in coaching from time to time.&ldquo;I would certainly give the job some thought&rdquo;, Bastien said when asked about the Penguins spot. &ldquo;I would have to hear what they would offer me and how long the contract would be. Usually coaches are getting two or three year contracts&rdquo;.Riley isn&rsquo;t certain Bastien wants back into coaching.&ldquo;Knowing Baz,&rdquo; Riley said, &ldquo;I doubt very seriously if he wants to coach. But I&rsquo;ll be happy to talk to him&rdquo;.That&rsquo;s about all Riley will do for the next month or so-talk. But talk is cheap; action will become more expensive. &#9632;

f0005-01

Migay, Mathers, Bastien Among Possibles As Coach Of Penguins

<div class="byline">BY GIL SMITH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01757/2779354-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="565" height="895"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03462/2779347-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="1800" height="907"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04330/2779340-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="572" height="909"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05275/2779333-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="1187" height="837"><figcaption class="caption-body">Originator of show in the 1930&rsquo;s was FOSTER HEWITT, shown at left in his younger days of radio. In centre, the French hockey broadcasting crew of an early era. Left to right, MICHEL NORMANDIN, PAUL MARCEL RAYMOND, MAURICE DESJARDINS, RENE LECAVALIER and MAURICE BAILLY. At right is Hewitt&rsquo;s famous Maple Leaf Gardens&rsquo; radio &lsquo;gondola&rsquo; where broadcasts started.</figcaption></div>MONTREAL, Que.&mdash;The voice coming from the television set was deep and cultured, and spoke in matter - of - fact tones.Said the voice: &ldquo;The programs &lsquo;The Ed Sullivan Show&rsquo; and &lsquo;Bonanza&rsquo; will not be seen tonight, so that we may bring you uninterrupted coverage of the fourth game of the Montreal Canadiens-New York Rangers quarter final playoff from Madison Square Garden.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02616/2779326-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="262" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ralph Mellandry</figcaption></div>And, in Canada, some nine million people &mdash; nearly half the country&rsquo;s population &mdash; sighed contentedly and settled down to another evening of their favorite televised entertainment.&ldquo;At a time like that,&rdquo; says Ralph Mellanby, executive producer of the program &lsquo;Hockey Night In Canada,&rsquo; &ldquo;three out of every four sets in the country will be tuned in to the hockey broadcast.&rdquo;Mellanby oversees an operation which brings hockey into the homes of Canadians from British Columbia to Newfoundland, and which has grown into institutionlike proportions. Watching this program has become a way of life for Canadians who can&rsquo;t get to an NHL rink of a hockey night, and woe-betide anyone or anything that would interrupt them from this pasttime. Even as worthy an organization as the United Appeal, which recently launched its charity drive, suggested that workers not collect on hockey nights, &ldquo;because it&rsquo;s a bad night to interrupt people.&rdquo;The history of &ldquo;Hockey Night In Canada&rdquo; is a lengthy one, and space doesn&rsquo;t permit anything like a detailed review. Suffice it to say that it began as a radio broadcast back in the nineteen thrirties, in Toronto, with Foster Hewitt doing the play-by-play. His famed greeting: &ldquo;Hello Canada &hellip; and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland,&rdquo; was the by-word that launched the program nearly 40 years ago. Hewitt has been continuously active in the broadcasts from then till now.In 1952 the show became televised, and names like Bill Hewitt, Foster&rsquo;s son, and Danny Gallivan, became household words as they brought the excitement of hockey into the living rooms of Canadian homes. They have been ably assisted by back-up men like Ward Cornell, Brian McFarlane and Jack Dennett, in Toronto, while Dick Irvin, Jr., and Ted Darling operate from Montreal on the English language version of the broadcast. The French language edition, &ldquo;La Soiree du hockey,&rdquo; has the excellent Rene Lecavalier doing the play-by-play, assisted by Jean-Maurice Bailly and Lionel Duval.Behind these men are a host of others whose contributions are vital to the success of the operation. Besides Mellanby, who tracks back and forth between Montreal and Toronto in his capacity of executive producer, there are resident producers in both cities. In Montreal it&rsquo;s Jacques Berube, assisted by Jacques Primeau, while in Toronto Bob Gordon, Morley Kells and Ernie Maltby handle production chores. General Manager Ted Hough and Business Manager Roger Mallyon are key figures in the picture, too. All are identified with McLaren Advertising Agency, which firm has long been involved in the presentation of the hockey broadcasts.Says Mellanby: &ldquo;Everyone connected with the show is very proud of it. It&rsquo;s also a truly National show, in the sense that it&rsquo;s presented in both the French and English languages. Besides, it&rsquo;s a strictly Canadian product, not something that&rsquo;s been copied from any other source.&rdquo;Mellanby goes on to say that &ldquo;Hockey Night In Canada&rdquo; works closely with the CBS network, in the United States, which network is now in its second year of carrying hockey games to American audiences.&ldquo;CBS has done a great job in the presentation of hockey,&rdquo; Ralph says, &ldquo;and they deserve credit for it.&rdquo;One man who began with the &ldquo;Hockey Night In Canada&rdquo; program and eventually teamed up with CBS is ex-Canadian Dan Kelly. He used to handle the play-by-play for the Canadian program until departing for St.Louis, where he does the broadcasting of the Blues games, and also the CBS &ldquo;Game of the Week.&rdquo;With the playoffs now occupying the attention of fandom, the viewing audience for &ldquo;Hockey Night In Canada&rdquo; is, of course, at its very peak.&ldquo;More people, percentagewise, will watch the program during these playoffs, than will watch the World Series in baseball, in the States,&rdquo; Mellanby declares. &ldquo;By that I mean that there will be more television sets, percentage-wise, in Canada, turned to our hockey broadcast than is the case in the States during world series baseball. The actual percentages are over seventy-five percent of Canadian sets tuned in to hockey at playoff time, against fifty percent of American sets tuned into baseball in the world series.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Topnotch TV Show Has Grown From Radio Start 40 Years Ago

<div class="byline">BY ED CONRAD</div>PHILADELPHIA, Pa &mdash;Their club&rsquo;s sad performance in the Stanley Cup playoffs is now behind them and Flyers&rsquo; general manager Bud Poile and coach Keith I Allen look forI ward to bigger and better things next season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01709/2779392-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="266" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Allen</figcaption></div>For one thing, it appears there will be quite a few changes in personnel.&ldquo;We have some very tough decisions to make, but at least a couple of players helped us out during the playoffs,&rdquo; said Poile.He was referring, of course, to the way the Flyers dropped four consecutive games by decisions of three goals or more to the St. Louis Blues in their best-of-seven opening-round series in the playoffs.&ldquo;Keith and the fans and the owners deserved much better,&rdquo; continued Poile. &ldquo;We have eight or nine players who must have guilty consciences. I feel particularly bad because it&rsquo;s my responsibility.&rdquo;The Flyers&rsquo; offense was the most inept in its history against the Blues, scoring only three goals in four playoff games. St. Louis, meanwhile, racked up 17, which means the Flyers&rsquo; defense and its goaltending weren&rsquo;t without fault, either.After the disastrous series, Poile emphasized nevertheless, that Allen would return as coach next season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my decision to pick the coach and I don&rsquo;t foresee any change,&rdquo; said Bud. &ldquo;Keith has one year left on his contract and I have two. If the owners want to make a change, they&rsquo;ll have to get rid of me. too.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02637/2779385-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="1184" height="1131"><figcaption class="caption-body">Flyers&rsquo; goaling tandem of DOUG FAVELL, left, and BERNIE PARENT, may be broken up before next season. Favell is obvious trade bait in order to get the Flyers some much-needed scoring punch.</figcaption></div>The Flyers, who won the Western Division championship in their first season in the NHL a year ago, wound up third this season behind St. Louis and Oakland. They did it with a remarkable rush in the last month, during which time they lost only one of 14 games at one stretch.It appeared, therefore, that the Flyers were bound to give the Blues a real run for the money in the playoffs because of the momentum they would carry into the Stanley Cup showdown.For four games, however, the Flyers couldn&rsquo;t have looked worse.That&rsquo;s why, once he had time to sit down and examine the club&rsquo;s roster, Poile is intent on making trades which would put some punch in the club&rsquo;s offense.One player the Flyers are rumored to be after is Dennis Hull, the Chicago Black Hawks&rsquo; left wing who scored 30 goals and had 34 assists even though the Hawks failed to make the playoffs this season. They finished in last place and it seems a sure bet that the Hawks will peddle away some of their goal-scoring power in order to shore up their defense.Poile, who would neither confirm nor deny the trade talk involving Bobby Hull&rsquo;s younger brother, did admit that he would be talking turkey with Chicago&rsquo;s GM Tommy Ivan before the draft meeting in June.If the Flyers hope to land Hull, it seems apparent they&rsquo;d have to give up a guy like their captain and defensive standout Ed Van Impe. Chicago, however, may be willing to gamble on young goalie Doug Favell if the Flyers would throw in a young defenseman such as Ralph MacSweyn, Joe Watson or Larry Hale.The Flyers&rsquo; biggest needs would appear to be at both center and left wing. Their right-wing situation seems in pretty good shape with some fine young talent on the Quebec Aces&rsquo; farm club.Poile, Allen, scout Marcel Pelletier and the rest of the Flyers&rsquo; staff will spend the next few weeks scouting players in almost all professional and amateur league playoffs.The Flyers&rsquo; brass will then sit down and map strategy for the NHL&rsquo;s draft meeting in Montreal in June. Two goalies and 14 skaters will be protected in the intra-league draft.It is a time to forget about what happened in the playoffs this season and time to get serious about guaranteeing it won&rsquo;t happen again. &#9632;

f0007-01

Allen To Return As Coach, Flyers Reported Anxious To Land Hawks’ Dennis Hull

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.&mdash;There&rsquo;s a simple explanation why the Flyers haven&rsquo;t won a Stanley Cup playoff series in their brief history.They just haven&rsquo;t been scoring goals.Their three goals in the recent four-game wipeout by the St. Louis Blues means that the Flyers are the only team in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a goals-per-game average under two.Together with the 17 goals they scored in last year&rsquo;s series with St. Louis which they lost in the seventh game, the Flyers have now scored only 20 goals in 11 playoff games. It averages out to 1.8181 goals per game, worse than any other active team.&mdash; CONRAD &#9632;

Flyers Most Pathetic Playoff Goal Scorers

<div class="byline">By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01743/2779454-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="553" height="917"></div><h2>A Man Who Is Missed</h2>HOW CAN HE not be in the playoffs? How can there be hockey without him in the spotlight? Wherever he goes, Gordie Howe is interviewed. He is asked what goal excited him the most of the 732 he has scored and how come he is still playing so well after 23 years in the National Hockey League and when is he going to quit. The same questions, over and over. He is held up in dressing rooms by writers and on the street by fans, asking the same questions. &ldquo;I try to sneak away to a quiet place for a quiet beer and somebody recognizes me and comes up to talk to me,&rdquo; he smiles wistfully. He talks to them, being a polite person, and hopes they will not pass on the word that secretly he is a dreadful dissipate, who boozes it up in seamy saloons.Now he has a book out, &ldquo;Gordie Howe, Number Nine,&rdquo; written with Toronto&rsquo;s Jim Vipond and published by Ryerson Press, so maybe if he&rsquo;s lucky one or two people will read the book and stop asking the same questions. So far, more than 40,000 have read it. So he holds press conferences hoping to publicize the book a bit, and there are the same writers asking the same questions: Maybe if we publish some of his answers some people will stop asking the questions. Maybe. Some will still ask them. If not someone else, I will. Or some slob like me.He remembers the first goal and the last one. Mainly, he remembers the flukey ones. Like the night the late Jim Norris promised him a watch if he got a goal, and not a Mickey Mouse watch either, which Gordie sarcastically suggested it might be, although Mickey Mouse watches are &ldquo;in&rdquo; and expensive these days. Howe went head over heels, the puck went high in the air and it landed inside the net. Gordie got a $240 timepiece.Late one season, Red Kelly shot, Gordie deflected it and it bounced off a defenseman&rsquo;s skate into the net. Kelly was going for a record 20 goals for a defenseman and when the announcement was made that he&rsquo;d gotten the goal, Kelly told Howe he knew better, but Howe said, forget it, who needs it, he had plenty. So a little later that season, Howe got more, but he fell one short of 50, which was the record then.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02655/2779447-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="310" height="372"><figcaption class="caption-body">GORDIE HOWE &hellip; My Style Is Dull</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Compared to Bobby Hull, my style is dull,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I get the puck behind the net and immediately look for the head man to feed it out. Hull gets it and winds up and turns loose and the fans come out of their seats.&rsquo; He doesn t shoot as hard as Hull or as accurately as Richard did, but he plays the whole game and puts the puck in the net in the end.He&rsquo;s so strong and so tough and so mean, he scares the strongest, toughest, meanest players in this hard game. &ldquo;I learned to play it that way. That&rsquo;s hockey,&rdquo; he smiles. &ldquo;In practice I like to knock the stick out of some kid&rsquo;s hands so he&rsquo;ll come at me and I&rsquo;ll see what he&rsquo;s got. I like to get bounced around, even now, but 1 bounce back.&rdquo; Bryan Watson remembers his first game in the NHL, when he knocked Howe down from behind. &ldquo;I hadn&rsquo;t gone very far before I heard heavy strides coming up behind me, and then I felt a stick slipping under my arm,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s the blade, not an inch from my nose. It&rsquo;s Howe, and he says, &lsquo;Check out, junior.&rsquo; I got so scared I fell down.&rdquo;<h2>Career Once Threatened</h2>SINCE THE DAY early in his career when he fractured his skull and placed his hockey future in doubt, he has played with many injuries. Most recently, he had two days off, lay down and doubled up with pain. The 6-foot, 205-pound slab of concrete decided the thing to do wasn&rsquo;t to lie down. So he did yard work. Soon, he felt better. Later, he lay down again. The pain returned. Rushed to the hospital, he passed a kidney stone. The next day, he felt sort of faint, but not bad enough to miss practice. The next night, he played. His wife, Coleen, was so angry she didn&rsquo;t talk to him for two days. "&ldquo;I keep playing because I like the game. Every game is a new challenge,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But every game is pain, too. You learn to live with pain. I suppose 111 play until the legs give out. I&rsquo;ve seen it happen to others. The legs hurt so bad you can&rsquo;t go on. Sid Abel won the MVP award one year and the next year his legs went. At the end of the season he said his legs ached so bad he couldn&rsquo;t sleep and he was going to quit. The boss told him to see how he felt by fall. In the fall, the legs still hurt. He was done. Bill Gadsby, Red Kelly, they went until the legs hurt them too much.&rdquo;He admits there are times his legs go dead. &ldquo;I fool around in practice, because after all what good is this if you can&rsquo;t have fun at it, and then we have a hard practice and suddenly there&rsquo;s nothing there, and I know I&rsquo;m tired, but that s all it is so far, just tired. I have more bad games than I used to. But that s all, so far. I m not as good as, I was, but the stats are holding up. When the time comes, I m not so proud I won t struggle through one more season, but I&rsquo;ll quit if I think I m cheating the team or the fans of what they&rsquo;re paying for.&rdquo;.He was one of nine children. His parents were so poor and so far from the mani-stream that his mother gave birth to three of her brood by herself, without help. One of these was Gordie. Now he has a $50,000 suburban home, drives a fancy car owns a piece of this and a piece of that. He makes $75,000 a year playing hockey. When he quits, he 11 sell insurance for a firm partly owned by Red Wing boss Bruce Norris. He s already in training. He&rsquo;s also studying defense under Gary Bergman just in case it would prolong his career awhile yet. He&rsquo;s 41 now and has finished his 23rd season in the NHL and may want to prolong things.His wife says, &ldquo;Everybody has always expected so much of Gordie and he s never let them down &mdash; I just hope it&rsquo;s remembered when his legs go.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY NORMAN MACLEAN</div>NEW YORK, N.Y. &mdash;With their Stanley Cup hopes having been cut away neatly by the Montreal Canadiens, two members of the disappointed New York Rangers were in line for knife work of a different order.Harry Howell, the elder skatesman of the Broadway Blues will undergo spinal fusion surgery on April 29. And Rod Seiling, the young blueliner, who occasionally heard the boo birds this past season, will have had knee surgery by the time you read this.Seiling&rsquo;s problem is simple. Some damaged cartilage in his right knee will be repaired and in ten days time Rod will be convalescing. Dr. Kaz-uo Yanagisawa, the Rangers physician expects Seiling to be ready for next season, with something to spare.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03539/2779485-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="253" height="416"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harry Howell</figcaption></div>Howell has a much tougher road to hoe. He played sixteen great seasons with New York, winning such mementos as the Norris Trophy as the outstanding defenseman in the National Hockey League in 1966-67, first team all star status one season and general recognition as one of the defensive greats of his era. This past season, his seventeenth, has been literally hell on ice. Perhaps one should say off ice. Howell did fine, until January when his back kicked up.Dr. Yana diagnosed it as muscle spasms, somewhat like those Harry had suffered with for a short period a few years ago. Rest was supposed to be the cure. It did not really work and Howell missed 20 games and played for very short periods of time in many others.&ldquo;We kept hoping that it wasn&rsquo;t a spinal fusion problem like Camille Henry, Rod Gilbert, Jean Ratelle and Orland Kurtenbach had been aflicted with. All of the others had pressure on their legs, but Harry did not,&rdquo; said Emile Francis, the New Yorkers general manager-coach.Nonetheless, the pain persisted, when Howell was standing up straight, bending down or even while skating. He was forced to scratch himself from the lineup in the last playoff game against the Canadiens and stood disconsolately in a corridor watching the game.The day after the playoffs ended, Howell was examined by Dr. Yanagisawa and given the bad news. If he wanted to play any more hockey, spinal fusion surgery was required.&ldquo;If I didn&rsquo;t want to play any more, I would not have to have surgery, but I still think I can play about three more years,&rdquo; said Harry.Howell is 37 and could retire with grace, but he is willing to undergo the pain and discomfort of spinal fusion in order to &ldquo;go out with some dignity.&rdquo;His recovery period will take between seven and eight months, which means that Harry will miss half of the 1969-70 season.&ldquo;As long as I am back for most of the season and the playoffs, it will be alright,&rdquo; says Howell.&ldquo;It was Harry&rsquo;s decision,&rdquo; emphasized Francis. &ldquo;I think he can still do a pretty good job of it in the NHL and with Dr. Yanagisawa in charge, I am sure that everything will go well.&rdquo;BLUE CHIPS &mdash; Emile Francis went back to the scene of the crime, the Montreal Forum, in order to watch the Boston-Montreal series, scout some junior hockey and evaluate next year&rsquo;s needs. He also planned to take in part of the Buffalo &mdash; Hershey AHL playoff &hellip; Dr. Yana has performed successful spinal fusion surgery on Elmer Vasko, Camille Henry, Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelie with Orland Kurtenbach still in the recuperation period &hellip; Kurt will work out every day this summer and will teach at summer hockey schools in July and August in order to be ready for fall training camp. He underwent spinal fusion last October. During the playoffs Kurt did a fine job as color commentator on the telecast of the Ranger road games. &#9632;

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Howell, Seiling Face Off-Season Operations For Back, Knee Injuries

LOS ANGELES, Calif. &mdash;Can you possibly visualize the Toronto Maple Leafs grouped in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Western Division with say the Minnesota North Stars and Los Angeles Kings?Well, it may become a reality according to NHL president Clarence Campbell.The top NHL executive told a gathering of newsmen here for the league&rsquo;s western finals between Los Angeles and St. Louis, that the matter of Toronto moving to the new section in a realignment, of the NHL is a distinct possibility.Campbell said it would come about by the 1970-71 season when the league hopes to pull off its next expansion program by admitting two new teams, one of which will definitely be the city of Vancouver.Campbell pointed out that one of the prime conditions for the acceptance of Vancouver into the NHL is that is must compete in a division with another Canadian team &mdash; either Montreal Canadiens or Toronto Maple Leafs. Because it is more Easterly, Montreal would not be suited for inclusion in a Western section.&ldquo;It would not be fair to the Vancouver people to ask them to put tneir team in a predominately American division,&rdquo; said Campbell.The NHL chief said that the next expansion of the league will be the addition of two new cities, which will necessitate a realignment of the league. It is believed Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Oakland, St. Louis, Minnesota and Chicago would comprise the Western division with Montreal, Boston, New York, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and either Buffalo or Baltimore in the East.Campbell confirmed that the proposed 1970-71 schedule tor second expansion ot the NHL would result in a balanced 78 games with the clubs playing each other six times during the regular campaign.Campbell said plans have been finalized for the Stanley Cup final to open in the East &mdash; either Montreal or Boston.Queried if the expansion division was strong enough this season for the East; Campbell said &ldquo;St. Louis is getting closer to the Eastern Division clubs, they are a solid hockey team?&rdquo; He hinted that this might be the year for the West to spring a big surprise on the East because of the Blues&rsquo; imposing record. &#9632;

Toronto May Shift To West In Expansion

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02665/2779571-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="751" height="736"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHOTOGRAPHERS OF THE STARS</figcaption></div>COTTON STRINGS - the hottest new demand item since the turtle. Tuned to the fashion of cool clear hues. Featured here by our two fashion models Jacques Lemaire wears a high V style #220; Jacques Laperriere a mock turtle style #221. Other styles available come in marl tones and pencil stripes. Make sure to ask for them by name &ldquo;KAMBERN ORIGINALS&rdquo;. Our full spring collection can be seen on display at your leading Men&rsquo;s Wear Store or Department store from coast to coast.Highland Knitting MillsMontreal, Canada &#9632;

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“KAMBERN ORIGINALS”

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01722/2779540-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">When Bruin winger TOMMY WILLIAMS, left, went out for the season with an injury, he joined up with Boston broadcaster DON EARLE as color man on club&rsquo;s TV games aired by WSBK. Earle does play-by-play of all Bruins&rsquo; games for television.</figcaption></div>BOSTON, Mass. &mdash;Don Earle, who does the TV play-by-play of Boston Bruins games, knew what he wanted to do in life by the time he was ten years old.&ldquo;I used to mimic the pro announcers and do the play-byplay of games when I was just a kid,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;That goes back to when I was about ten, and I think I knew even then I wanted to do sports broadcasting&rdquo;.The 39-year-old native of Somerville, Mass., had to wait awhile to realize his ambition, of course, but never lost sight of his goal. He&rsquo;s now in his 15th year of broadcasting, of which ten have been spent as a sportcaster. He&rsquo;s been doing hockey for six of those years, though this is only his second in handling NHL games.Earle says that his job can be difficult, on occasion, and there are several aspects of it that could be described as &lsquo;tough&rsquo;.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s more than one tough aspect to it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Working alone on the road, the announcer also doubles as &lsquo;color&rsquo; man, statistician &mdash; in most cities &mdash; producer, as well as play-by play broadcaster. Lining up between-period guests, and hoping they arrive on the scene on time, gives me some anxious moments. I guess I&rsquo;d have to say coordination of all these responsibilities &mdash; sommoth coordination &mdash; into an informative, interesting and exciting telecast would probably be the toughest part of the job.&rdquo;His most anxious moments in games, Don says, involve the possibility of something important happening on the ice during a commercial break and which, of course, the viewer would not see.&ldquo;However, the single most anxious moment for me came in our first telecast from the new Madison Square Garden, last year. Ken Hodge let fly a blistering shot from just inside the Ranger blueline on right wing. The shot was deflected and headed right towards me. I was situated behind and to the right of the New York net, just above the protective glass. Instinct, and plain common sense, told me to duck quick! I did, and the puck slammed into the microphone and dropped on the table right beside me. Any thoughts I had as a youngster of being a goalie left me in that one split-second of reality.&rdquo;Don was asked to pick the most exciting team in hockey, from a broadcaster&rsquo;s point of view, and he finally settled for the Montreal Canadiens.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult to pick one,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The most exciting team in the most exciting of all sports. The Black Hawks, with Bobby Hull, are always exciting; the Red Wings, with Gordie Howe are always explosive: and let&rsquo;s not overlook the Bruins with Bobby Orr. He&rsquo;s got to be the most exciting NEW star to come over the horizon since Hull. But, I guess, as a team you have to go with Montreal &mdash; Jean Beliveau, c&rsquo;est magnifique! When the Cup is on the line, they&rsquo;re awfully tough to beat.&rdquo;On the personal side, Don is married to the former Jacqueline Curtis, who was both private secretary and x-ray technician for Dr. Timothy Lamphier, ex-team physician for the Boston Red Sox. The Earle&rsquo;s have two daughters, Deborah, 12 and Elizabeth, 6. They make their home in Lincoln, Mass., a surburb of Boston. &#9632;

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Bruin Broadcaster Don Earle Achieved Boyhood Ambition

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01741/2779616-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div>LOS ANGELES, Calif. &mdash;The St. Louis Blues believe that time wasted is time lost.So they went out and cleaned up the Los Angeles Kings in the minimum time &mdash; four straight games &mdash; to advance to the Stanley Cup finals for the second successive year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02647/2779609-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="262" height="422"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Crisp</figcaption></div>Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s powerful Blues made it eight playoff victories in a row as they swept past the Kings in their best-of-seven Western Division championship final which earned them another shot at the coveted Stanley Cup.In the Western semi-finals, the Blues needed only four games to dispose of the hapless Philadelphia Flyers.The Blues are geared for this year&rsquo;s final feeling a little more secure than last season when they were humiliated in four straight games by the Montreal Canadiens.Bowman said his club is probably more mentally ready for the Eastern winner than last season and the Blues undoubtedly have the record to back up their claim.They lost only 25 games in 76 starts this season while running off with the expansion division title and their eight playoff wins without a loss only makes them all the more imposing for the Eastern finalists.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03539/2779602-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="565" height="570"><figcaption class="caption-body">RED BERENSON &hellip; Provided Punch</figcaption></div>The Blues outscored the Flyers 17-3 and went on to overpower the Los Angeles Kings in a similar fashion &mdash; 16-5. Led by Gary Sabourin and Red Berenson, the Blues won the first two games at home 4-0 and 3-2 and then capped the series with 5-2 and 4-1 decisions in Los Angeles, where they hadn&rsquo;t been able to win this season until playoff time.Goalie Jacques Plante was again the outstanding figure for the Blues allowing five goals in the four games and establishing the St. Louis team as one of the strongest defensive clubs to enter the NHL&rsquo;s showcase classic in many years. &#9632;

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St. Louis Blues Sweep Into Final Cup Berth By Overpowering Kings

BOSTON, Mass. &mdash;The Boston Bruins were down but not out in their Stanley Cup semi-final series with Montreal.In fact the Bruins had a little scoring punch in reserve and it served to bring the club off the floor and back into contention against Montreal in their best-of-seven series.The Canadiens roared out of the starting gate to grab the first two games on home ice in sudden-death overtime-both times after Boston had held the lead only to wilt in the final minute of the game.&ldquo;It was a &lsquo;hex&rsquo;,&rdquo; moaned Bruin general manager Milt Schmidt that the Canadiens had placed on his team. Schmidt said the Bruins would have to hurry and find a solution or else the season would be all over.Well whatever ailed the Bruins in the first two games in Montreal certainly didn&rsquo;t impede their progress in the next two in Boston. They won both 5-0 and 3-2 to bounce back and deadlocked their series at 2-2.The favored Canadiens still had the advantage, however, with two of the last three games on Montreal ice. It appeared the Bruins would have to win one game away from their Hub ice if they were to succeed in advancing into the cup finals against St. Louis Blues.Sparked by Derek Sanderson, Bobby Orr, Ed Westfall, Phil Esposito, a solid defense and some alert netminding by Gerry Cheevers, the Bruins made it hot for the Montrealers in games three and four.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04419/2779647-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg" title="f0010-04" width="548" height="569"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHIL ESPOSITO &hellip; Five-point Game</figcaption></div>Esposito was a one-man army in the third game scoring twice and setting three more as Cheevers posted his third playoff shutout of the season.The big game was the fourth and the Bruins responded with Westfall and Sanderson both scoring first-period goals while Montreal had the power play advantage. &ldquo;It was pretty stupid on our part and cost us the game,&rdquo; Commented a disappointed coach Claude Ruel.Orr scored what proved to be the winner in the final period with help from Westfall, who was rapidly developing into the Bruins&rsquo; best player with this diversified hockey ability. The valuable penalty-killer forward-defenseman played three positions in the game and figured in all three Boston goals.Cheevers saw his shutout string of 188 minutes snapped when Jacques Lemaire banged in a first-period goal. The Bruins also lost Sanderson with a charleyhorse while Bob Rousseau limped out the game with a similar injury.The series went back to Montreal for game five and what probably will be the tell-tale match of the round. &#9632;

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Bruins Come Alive On Home Ice To Erase Montreal Series Edge

<h2>SERIES &ldquo;E&rdquo;</h2>THURS APR. 17MONTREAL 0 at BOSTON 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01731/2779748-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="607" height="603"></div>SUN. APR. 20MONTREAL 2 at BOSTON 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02677/2779741-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="610" height="723"></div><h2>SERIES &ldquo;F&rdquo;</h2>TUES. Apr. 15LOS ANGELES 0 at ST. LOUIS 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03575/2779734-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="622" height="645"></div>THURS. APR. 17LOS ANGELES 2 at ST. LOUIS 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-04486/2779727-1-eng-US/f0011-042.jpg" title="f0011-04" width="622" height="537"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-05407/2779720-1-eng-US/f0011-052.jpg" title="f0011-05" width="605" height="99"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-06361/2779713-1-eng-US/f0011-062.jpg" title="f0011-06" width="2415" height="1710"><figcaption class="caption-body">St. Louis netminder JACQUES PLANTE makes save off Kings&rsquo; HOWIE HUGHES in Western playoff action.</figcaption></div>SAT. APR. 19ST. LOUIS 5 at LOS ANGELES 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-07328/2779706-1-eng-US/f0011-072.jpg" title="f0011-07" width="625" height="720"></div>SUN. APR. 20ST. LOUIS 4 at LOS ANGELES 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-08310/2779699-1-eng-US/f0011-082.jpg" title="f0011-08" width="622" height="294"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-09298/2779692-1-eng-US/f0011-092.jpg" title="f0011-09" width="603" height="144"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-10271/2779685-1-eng-US/f0011-102.jpg" title="f0011-10" width="625" height="135"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-11243/2779678-1-eng-US/f0011-112.jpg" title="f0011-11" width="616" height="156"></div> &#9632;

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National League Playoff Summaries

&mdash; IN THE EASTShould the Boston Bruins make it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals they will have to pass on a big share of the credit to a talented hockey performer by the name of Eddie Westfall.The two-way skater has been nothing short of sensational in the current semi-finals against Montreal Canadiens.In eight playoff games, Westfall has collected a total of 10 points. But it isn&rsquo;t so much his offensive prowess as his all-round play that is winning the 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 190-pound Belleville, Ont., native such hockey raves.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02614/2779810-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="253" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Westfall</figcaption></div>Westfall has been so outstanding against Montreal it has been difficult to find the superlatives to describe his performance. He has contributed greatly with his penalty killing, goal scoring and tenacious checking to the Bruins&rsquo; cause in winning two games in their best-of-seven series on home ice after blowing the first two in Montreal.A typical example of his playoff performance was in the fourth game of the series against Montreal when he scored one goal with the Canadiens power play in motion, set up another by Derek Sanderson, also with the Bruins shorthanded, and combined with Bobby Orr, who sank the winner. In between he played three different positions and was a constant thorn in the sides of the Canadiens.El Producto and THE HOCKEY NEWS are pleased to salute the NHL&rsquo;s player-of-the-week in the East:Ed Westfall&hellip;Boston &#9632;

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NHL Player Of The Week

&mdash; IN THE WESTThe St. Louis Blues have that kind of a versatile hockey club that any one player can take over a situation and excel. It has been their success story the past two seasons.Often it&rsquo;s either a Berenson, or a Plante or a Hall in the limelight for old &lsquo;St. Loo&rsquo;, but this week the man who stepped front and centre to accept the accolades was young Gary Sabourin.The hard-hitting native of Parry Sound, Ont., was no slouch last season in the playoffs for the Blues coming up with four goals and six noints. But this season he has already outdone himself with 5 goals and 5 assists in eight playoff games for the Blues.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03486/2779841-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="256" height="465"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Sabourin</figcaption></div>His most notable achievement was in the recent Los Angeles series in which he scored twice in the second game, including the game winner, and added the insurance goals in both the third and fourth games on L.A. ice to help the Blues get to the Stanley Cup finals again with a minimum of effort.Sabourin is typical of the Blues&rsquo; domination of the Western Division without a team loaded with super stars. A solid, honest player, Gary has been instrumental in the team&rsquo;s eight-game sweep to the finals.El Producto and THE HOCKEY NEWS are pleased to salute the NHL&rsquo;s player-of-the-week in the West:Gary Sabourin &hellip; St. Louis &#9632;

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<div class="byline">By GEOFFREY FISHER</div>&ldquo;you like 7up 7up likes you&rdquo;&ldquo;you like 7up 7up likes you&rdquo;ST. LOUIS, Mo. &mdash;This used to be Cardinal territory, mister, and Hawk territory too, and the hombre who trespassed or was overheard saying the wrong words could have gotten his noggin cracked.The word was out that no strangers were welcome to show their wares in these parts when the Cardinal baseball team had business at the Stadium in the summer or the Cardinal football team in the fall. In those days there was a good deal of reverence for the famed basketball Hawks, too.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01709/2779779-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="269" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body">Red Berenson</figcaption></div>That&rsquo;s not the way it is anymore. Not since the Miracle on Oakland Avenue. That mira&rsquo;cle, better known as the St. Louis Blues has produced so many authentic heroes and so many nerve-tingling experiences in the short span of two years that there has developed a whole new breed of sports fan.You might call it a new cult &mdash; the Cult of the Blue Note, the insignia of the St. Louis Blues Hockey Club. It appears everywhere, on automobiles, in store windows, on the sweat shirts of grade school kids and emblazoned on the looseleaf notebooks of the college crowd. It&rsquo;s even bridged the allegedly unabridgeable generation gap with daddy displaying it on his license plate and junior using it to decorate his bedroom walls.You couldn&rsquo;t buy a hockey stick in this town by January and pucks were as scarce as Democrats in the White House.In a city where most folks thought hockey was something bloomer-clad girls played at Vasser College, more than half a million customers begged, borrowed and bought tickets to watch the St. Louis Blues this season.Standing room only became the rule instead of the exception. In a building equipped to seat 14,500, the Blues were regularly drawing more than that and often well into the 15,000 bracket.The magic attraction of it all was a freshman season filled with so many thrills that St. Louis fans were frequently limp from nervous exhaustion. With a closing rush that carried them to within a game and a half of first place, the Blues roared into their first Stanley Cup playoffs with the sort of reckless abandon one might associate with the brash young gun-slinger riding into town to test the sheriff. They had some solid home town support by then but there were still some non-believers. Even the doubters evaporated after the Blues knocked out Philadelphia and Minnesota and threw a mighty scare into the Montreal Canadiens.But the hockey experts of the continent were still not convinced.At the outset of this second year of expansion hockey in the NHL, a HOCKEY NEWS poll of 24 writers and sportscasters gave St. Louis only eight first place votes. Minnesota got 13. Six votes put St. Louis second, nine votes had them finishing third, and one picked them for fourth.The Blues had other ideas. They powered their way to a commanding lead in the Western Division by mid-season and won going away by nearly 10 full games. Along the route to winning their first Clarence S. Campbell Bowl as Western champs, they knocked off a cluster of other baubles, including the Vezina Trophy for Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall, a Western Division attendance record, and a modern era goal scoring mark of six goals in a single game by Gordon (Red) Berenson, matching Syd Howe&rsquo;s 1944 feat.It was not only the experts who continued to question the authenticity of the Blues. There were players among their opponents who still rated them as paper tigers.One of these was Gary Dornhoefer, a tough-playing, tough-talking winger with the Philadelphia Flyers.&ldquo;I really wish we would have a shot at them in the playoffs again this season,&rdquo; said Dornhoefer. &ldquo;They (the Blues) think they are a bunch of All-Stars.&rdquo;Well, Gary Dornhoefer and his Philadelphia mates had their wish. They met the Blues in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs as they did a year ago.Last year it went the full seven games before the Blues delivered the coup de grace. This time around the Blues were more merciful. They bombed the Flyers into oblivion in four straight games.And it was a well-balanced St. Louis club that pulled it off. Included, of course, were some of &ldquo;those All-Stars&rdquo; Dornhoefer was talking about. Some names like Plante and Berenson and Co. But mostly it was a lot of names who are only All-Stars in the eyes and hearts of St. Louisans. Like Timmy Ecclestone, the 22-year-old darling of the home town crowd, who scored early in the opening period of the first game of the playoff with the Flyers, and sniper Larry Keenan who popped home what proved to be the winning marker. Or Billy McCreary, the slick veteran, and Gary Sabourin, the exciting sophomore, who got the Blues off to a fast start in blitzing the Flyers in the second game. Or Ronny Schock, who can be expected to come up with a big one in the clutch, and helped liquidate the Flyers with another shutout in the third game. Or a Frank St. Marseille, or a Terry Crisp or a Jimmy Roberts who shot the Blues to victory in the fourth game.No All-Stars these. But in St. Louis you&rsquo;ll get an argument about that. There are no greater heroes in this old town. &#9632;

f0012-01

BLUES’ IMAGE GROWING IN SPORTS-MAD ST. LOUIS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01699/2779928-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"></div><h2>EASTERN DIVISION</h2>SERIES &lsquo;A&rsquo;Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02652/2779921-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="568" height="150"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDWed. Apr. 2New York 1 at Montreal 3Thun. Apr. 3New York 2 at Montreal 5Sat. Apr. 5Montreal 4 at New York 1Sun. Apr. 6Montreal 4 at New York 3SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03606/2779914-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="559" height="162"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDWed. Apr. 2Toronto 0 at Boston 10Thun. Apr. 3Toronto 0 at Boston 7Sat. Apr. 5Boston 4 at Toronto 3Sun. Apr. 6Boston 3 at Toronto 2SERIES &lsquo;E&rsquo;Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04555/2779907-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="556" height="144"></div>GEMES COMPLETEDThun. Apr. 10Boston 2 at Montreal 3Sun. Apr. 13Boston 3 at Montreal 4Thurs. Apr. 17Montreal 0 at Boston 5Sun. Apr. 20Montreal 2 at Boston 3GAMES TO COMETues. Apr. 22Boston at MontrealThun. Apr. 24Montreal at BostonSun. Apr. 27Boston at Montreal (if necessary)<h2>WESTERN DIVISION</h2>SERIES C&rsquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-07361/2779900-1-eng-US/f0013-072.jpg" title="f0013-07" width="571" height="144"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDWed. Apr. 2Philadelphia 2 at S. Louis 5Thun. Apr. 3Philadelphia 0 at St. Louis 5Sat. Apr. 5St. Louis 3 at Philadelphia 0Sun. Apr. 6St. Louis 4 at Philadelphia 1SERIES D&rsquo;Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-08338/2779893-1-eng-US/f0013-082.jpg" title="f0013-08" width="580" height="138"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDWed. Apr. 2Los Angeles 5 at Oakland 4Thun. Apr. 3Los Angeles 2 at Oakland 4Sat. Apr. 5Oakland 5 at Los Angeles 2Sun. Apr. 6Oakland 2 at Los Angeles 4Wed. Apr. 9Los Angeles 1 at Oakland 4Thun. Apr. 10Oakland 3 at Los Angeles 4Sun. Apr. 13Los Angeles 5 at Oakland 3SERIES F&rsquo;Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-09321/2779886-1-eng-US/f0013-092.jpg" title="f0013-09" width="598" height="183"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDTurn. Apr. 15Los Angeles 0 at St. Louis 4Thun. Apr. 17Los Angeles 2 at St. Louis 3Sat. Apr. 19St. Louis 5 ot Los Angeles 2Sun. Apr. 20St. Louis 4 at Los Angeles 1<h2>Playoff Scoring</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05459/2779879-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="559" height="1857"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-06391/2779872-1-eng-US/f0013-062.jpg" title="f0013-06" width="547" height="1860"></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

Stanley Cup Picture ’69

<div class="byline">BY GLENN REDMANN</div>TWIN CITIES, Minn.&mdash;It was the middle of April and amidst rumors that Punch Imlach had been offered the Minnesota North Stars coaching job, general manager Wren Blair, to clear the air, said:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-10299/2779966-1-eng-US/f0013-102.jpg" title="f0013-10" width="261" height="412"><figcaption class="caption-body">Walter Bush</figcaption></div>&ldquo;There is a 50-50 chance that I&rsquo;ll be back as both general manager and coach of the North Stars next season.&ldquo;And if I&rsquo;m coaching when we play our first National Hockey League game in October, you can be almost sure that I&rsquo;ll be behind the bench for our last game, too.&rdquo;&ldquo;Blair&rsquo;s statements, and others made by club president Walter Bush, seemed to squelch&mdash;at least for the present &mdash; reports that the Minnesota NHL entry was:1. In the market for a coach,2. Considering fired Toronto GM-Coach Imlach for the job and,3. Planning to interview several other candidates including exPittsburgh bench boss Red Sullivan and Fred Shero, the former St. Paul coach, who piloted Buffalo to a runaway title in the AHL&rsquo;s Western Division this season.&ldquo;Wren and I had a long talk while driving back from Waterloo, Iowa (where they were inspecting that city&rsquo;s facilities as a possible farm development stie) the other day,&rdquo; said Bush, &ldquo;and we decided that we have a coach.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Wren, of course, and until such time that he feels he can&rsquo;t handle both jobs anymore, there are more important things for us to be concerned about before the (June 8-13) draft meetings.&ldquo;Since we have the first pick in the 20-year-old, intra-league and inter-league drafts,&rdquo; added Bush, &ldquo;we consider this to be our top concern. There&rsquo;ll be many, many things to be talked about before then so we can go to Montreal with a good idea on who we want to protect and what positions we want strengthened.&ldquo;Then there&rsquo;s the matter of our development club. I&rsquo;m not in a Cosition yet to say where it will e located, but wherever it is, we want it to be a winner.&ldquo;This will be our third year of operation. We hope to have as many as 55 players in training camp next fall, so it&rsquo;s about time we start thinking about winning in the minors, too.&rdquo;Blair&rsquo;s decision to coach for an entire season if he chooses to go behind the bench again certainly meets with Bush&rsquo;s approval. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s better for a coach to go to camp with his team, get things squared away and then stick it out all the way,&rdquo; said Walter.&ldquo;If I start the season as coach,&rdquo; said Blair, &ldquo;there are only two things that would prevent me from going all the way. One would be my health and the other would be the sudden availability of a new man who had to be signed right away so as to be sure we&rsquo;d have his services for the 1970-71 season.&rdquo;Bush pointed out that the North Stars&rsquo; record with Blair behind the bench in 127 regular season and playoff games is an acceptable 46-58-23.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-11274/2779959-1-eng-US/f0013-112.jpg" title="f0013-11" width="556" height="697"><figcaption class="caption-body">WREN BLAIR &hellip; Solid With Bush</figcaption></div>The club was 3-6-1 in its first 10 games this season under Wren after going 27-32-15 in 1968-69 regular season play and 7-7 in the playoffs.When John Muckier replaced Blair behind the bench early in November, the North Stars were only two points out of first. But a string of injuries to key performers played a big part in the club&rsquo;s dismal 6-23-6 showing under John, and when the owners decided to put Blair back in charge on Jan. 23, the Stars were in last place sith a 14-game winless string.Blair has often said that Muckier &ldquo;could some day get another shot at coaching in the major leagues.&rdquo; But on this occasion, Wren chose to laud the qualifications of former North Star left winger Parker McDonald, who finished out the 1968-69 campaign as bench boss at Memphis where Muckier returned to be GM.&ldquo;I have great hopes for Parker,&rdquo; said Blair. &ldquo;He showed me a lot toward the end of the season at Memphis, and it could be that he may be ready to coach up here in a year or two.&rdquo;Blair said he would assess the over-all situation sometime between the Stanley Cup final and the draft meetings, and then make a decision as to whether he should continue in the dual role as GM-Coach.In the event that he decides to give up coaching, an immediate search would be started for a new man.&ldquo;I can think of a half dozen guys I&rsquo;d like to talk to,&rdquo; said Wren, &ldquo;although most of them work for other clubs, so permission would have to be sought in keeping with the NHL rule on tampering.&rdquo;Presumably, that list of candidates would include Imlach (if he&rsquo;s available), Sullivan (who has taken a scouting job with the Penguins) and possibly Shero, who earlier this season was described by Bush as &ldquo;one of the two best coaches in the minor leagues.&rdquo;Incidentally, the other man pegged by Bush was Tulsa&rsquo;s John McLellan, who will coach Toronto next season.At the time, Bush prophesized that &ldquo;McLellan might be moved up if Imlach is axed,&rdquo; and also declared that Shero &ldquo;may be unavailable if New York decides to promote him to the parent club.&rdquo;Shero told this writer that he hadn&rsquo;t talked to New York GM Emile Francis about his big league future for more than two years, but that Francis assured him the Rangers would never stand in his way if he wanted to leave that organization for a better job.Fred&rsquo;s host of friends in St. Paul include Don Riley, sports columnist for the Pioneer Press, who has long pushed Shero for a big league job.Blair, however, emphasized that &ldquo;Riley or no other writer is going to pick our coach.&rdquo; When the time comes to make a change, said Wren, he and Bush will pick the new man subject to the approval of the club&rsquo;s owners. &#9632;

f0013-10

North Stars Not Likely To Take Dual Ice Roles From Wren Blair

<div class="byline">with ED FITKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01697/2780011-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="329" height="434"></div>THEY TALK about the great rookies now playing in the National Hockey League and the great rookies who have displayed their talents down through the years. But&hellip;was there ever a rookie as great as Nels Stewart? &hellip; On his record, you&rsquo;d have to say no &hellip; What he accomplished in his first season in the big time was nothing short of incredible &hellip; This past season, rookies Danny Grant of the Minnesota North Stars and Norm Ferguson of the Oakland Seals broke the modem record of 30 goals set by Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion when he was a freshman with the Montreal Canadiens, in 1951-52 &hellip; The Boomer played a 70-game schedule, Grant and Ferguson 76-game schedules and the latter twosome wound up sharing the new modern mark: 34 goals &hellip; Yet Nels Stewart, in his rookie season, played in only 36 games &mdash; and scored 34 goals! &hellip; He was 23 when he broke in with the Montreal Maroons and making an NHL team back in those days, 1925-26, was an accomplishment in itself. Rosters were small and the competition for jobs was of the cut-throat variety &hellip; Stewart&rsquo;s 34 goals represented better than one-third of the Maroons&rsquo; goal output &mdash; 91 &mdash; for the season &hellip; and 45 seasons later no one has surpassed his mark despite the fact that the schedule has more than doubled.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03451/2780004-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="259" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Danny Grant</figcaption></div>STEWART WASN&rsquo;T JUST an outstanding rookie but a full-fledged star with the Maroons, won the scoring championship and was such an impressive performer that he also, won the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player &hellip; But don&rsquo;t go away, that&rsquo;s not all &hellip; The Maroons finished second behind the Ottawa Senators in the 7-team NHL that season and won a two-game total goals semi-final series from Pittsburgh, 6-4 &hellip; They met Ottawa Senators in a similar two-game final, tied the first 1-1 and won the second 1-0 to take the round, 2-1 &hellip; Nels failed to score in the two games, and, as a note of passing interest, King Clancy, who has been around the NHL since 1921, got the lone Ottawa goal &hellip; Maroons qualified for the Stanley Cup final against Victoria and Nels Stewart was a one-man wrecking crew for the Montrealers &hellip; They won the final, 3 games to 1, with all their victories by shutouts, 3-0 twice and 2-0, and their only loss by a 3-2 margin&hellip;Of the 10 Maroons, goals, Stewart scored six to climax his spectacular rookie season in a most spectacular way &hellip; When Hooley Smith joined the &ldquo;millionaire&rdquo; Maroons in 1927-28, he teamed up with Stewart and Babe Siebert to form the &ldquo;Three S&rdquo; line, one of the glamour lines of that bygone era &hellip; And Nels Stewart went on to become hockey&rsquo;s greatest scorer, compiling a total of 324 goals, a mark that stood the test of time until Maurice (Rocket) Richard thundered onto the hockey scene and with the benefit of longer schedules eclipsed the record &hellip; They called Stewart &ldquo;Of Poison&rdquo; and that was a perfect sobriquette for describing his skill around the enemy net&hellip; The late Roy Worters, one of the game&rsquo;s great little goalies, told me that Nels did a Babe Ruth and &ldquo;called his shot&rdquo; in a game between the Maroons and the New York Americans back in the 30&rsquo;s &hellip; Stewart took a pass, and, as he skated in on Worters, he yelled: &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll find the puck, Roy, in the left-hand corner of the net.&rdquo; &hellip; And as Worters wryly recalled: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s exactly where I found it!&rdquo;WHEN THE LOS ANGELES KINGS knocked Oakland Seals out of the Stanley Cup playoff picture, one of their standouts was 35-year-old Larry Cahan, a fellow who has been up and down the major-minor trail more times than a musician &hellip; It was a memorable series for Cahan, not only because he played for Oakland last season and naturally felt a little aggrieved that he wasn&rsquo;t one of their protected players in last June&rsquo;s draft &hellip; But there were two other notable reasons &hellip; One, he scored his first Stanley Cup playoff goal ever, and the other: It marked the first time in all the various times he has played in the NHL that his team managed to survive the first playoff round &hellip; You never know who will emerge as a playoff hero &hellip; Ted Irvine, the big, baby-faced left-winger of the Kings, who had a stretch of 26 games without a goal during the season, led the LA attack with five goals, including the game-winner in the only contest that went into sudden-death overtime &hellip; And that goal put Irvine&rsquo;s name in the record book because he scored after only 19 seconds, thus breaking the mark set by Syd Howe of the Detroit Red Wings who scored in 25 seconds back in 1940 against the Americans &hellip; Earl Ingarfield, who never could get going with the Pittsburgh Penguins, was the outstanding forward for the Seals throughout the series &hellip; And here&rsquo;s a closing believe it or not: The first goal ever scored in a Stanley Cup playoff game came after seven minutes of the first period, March 22, 1894 &mdash; and was scored by an Ottawa player with the unlikely hockey name of Chauncey Kirby!<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02588/2779997-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="253" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Cahan</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0014-01

Footloose

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04332/2780042-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Los Angeles Kings presented traditional Stetson hats to all players scoring hat tricks on the club this season. Here&rsquo;s TED IRVINE receiving his from PETER HOVEY of the Kings Court Fan Club. The little lady about to bestow the traditional kiss on the winner is LORETTA IRVINE, Ted&rsquo;s pretty wife.</figcaption></div>LOS ANGELES, Calif.&mdash;Last season, the L.A. Kings had to win only one of their last three games to capture the first Western Division pennant. They failed, finishing a game below .500 and a point out of first place. In the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, they led by two games to none and three games to two before Minnesota rallied to capture the series in seven games, humiliating L.A. in the last. Enroute, L.A. blew two-goal leads in three games.The Kings got a reputation for choking in the clutch. Few said it, but many believed it and the team knew it. This season, the Kings sagged sadly, winning only 24 games out of 76. The few &ldquo;big&rdquo; games that came along, they lost. At the finish, they insisted they were trying for third place, but failed to win in their last six to end up fourth, thus getting to meet Oakland in the first round instead of vastly superior St. Louis. It is not the Kings&rsquo; fault the playoff system gives the clubs that finish lower the break.The Kings pointed out third place meant $500 more a man than fourth place. However, by beating Oakland in seven games, while St. Louis was routing Philadelphia in four straight, the Kings earned $2250 more per man than they would have losing the first round. By the time this reaches print, you will know if they could handle St. Louis as well as they could handle Oakland. In any event, the Kings did much to clear their name against Oakland. They won two games on the road and came from behind two games to one and three games to two to capture the series. One series triumph does not atone for a season of losses, but this was admirable and exciting and lends encouragment for the future.The first two were played in Oakland. In the opener, a nervous and ailing rookie goalie Gerry Desjardins was replaced by Wayne Rutledge. The Kings came from behind three times, blew a lead in the last three minutes, then won when Ted Irvine scored at 19 seconds of overtime &mdash; an NHL playoff record. The Kings blew a riotous second game, 4-2. In L.A. in the third game, the Kings again blew a lead and were trimmed, 5-2. The next night, the Kings came from behind to even the series, 4-2. Desjardins went back in for Rut and went the rest of the way.In Oakland, the Kings were routed, 4-1, which put them on the ropes. Returning home, they let a two-goal lead get away, but hung tough and forechecked Oakland to a 4-3 defeat, squaring the series again. This restored their confidence and gave them more pride than they&rsquo;d had before.The seventh and deciding game was played in Oakland. Twice the Kings lost leads, but they kept fighting back. Ted Irvine scored the first two goals, then Bill Flett, Lowell MacDonald and Howie Menard added others as the Kings took a tense tilt, 5-3. The Kings fought off a heavy penalty burden much of the way. They refused to get discouraged.Oakland suffered a bad break when referee Art Skov incorrectly disallowed an early goal by Mike Laughton. The latter slid the puck under Desjardins as Gerry fell on his back. Thinking the puck was dead under Desjardins, Skov blew the whistle but the TV tape clearly shows the puck never stopped sliding until it entered the net. However, Oakland lost by two goals, not one.Goaltender Gary Smith was Oakland&rsquo;s star, for a while threatening to thwart L.A. almost single-handedly. Earl Ingarfield, Ted Hampson, Bob Dillabough, Norm Ferguson, Bert Marshall and Carol Vadnais of Fred Glover&rsquo;s spirited crew troubled the Kings throughout, but in the end Oakland suffered the same fate L.A. did when it finished second last season. &#9632;

f0014-04

Kings Earn Extra $2,250 Each As Reward For Ousting Seals

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01672/2780073-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"></div>EDDIE JOYAL, top-scoring member of the Los Angeles Kings this season, was also named the club&rsquo;s most popular player. Here he receives the Air Canada Cup during a recent presentation at the L.A. Forum. Handing over award to the Kings&rsquo; star is GORDON GAFFIKIN, district manager for Air Canada in the Los Angeles area. Pretty hostesses are IRENE LUNGALL, left, and LOUISE LINCOURT. Joyal amassed 52 points this season to lead all Kings&rsquo; scorers. &#9632;

f0015-01

Joyal Most Popular King

LOS ANGELES, Calif.&mdash;The series win over Oakland was a spirited success for coach RedKelly and his men. Mainly, the Kings hit harder, fought more freely, forechecked more consistently than ever before. Defensemen shone, especially Brent Hughes, Larry Cahan and Dale Rolfe. The forechecking of Howie Menard and Brian Campbell and penalty-killing of Jimmy Peters and Skip Krake excelled. On. offense, Irvine led with five goals, while Eddie Joyal and Gary Croteau scored key goals in the first few games and Bill Flett and Lowell MacDonald scored key goals in the last two games &hellip; Thrilled by the Kings&rsquo; sixth-game success, Cooke dashed into the dressing room and announced a $2,000 bonus to be split up.The Kings already have won $4,000 each &mdash; $250 for finishing fourth, $2250 for winning the first round and a guarantee of $1,500 if they lose the second round, $2250 if they win it &hellip; L.A. home attendance was deeply disappointing &mdash; 9,118, 6,132 and 7,846 for a total of 23,096 and an average of 7,698, which was less than last season &hellip; Some 150 members of the Kings Court fan club went to Oakland for the decider and stirred things up.&mdash; LIBBY &#9632;

Seals Outfought, Outbumped As Kings’ Defense Shines

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK SANTANIELLO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01518/2780128-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="571" height="561"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARRY JOHNSTON &hellip; Solid Performer</figcaption></div>Save $$$$$$ Subscribe To The HOCKEY NEWS Receive 35 Issues At Home & Save $3.75For The Best In Hockey Reading It&rsquo;s HOCKEY PICTORIAL Hockey&rsquo;s Most Exciting PublicationLARRY JOHNSTON &hellip; Solid PerformerSPRINGFIELD. Mass. &mdash; For the third time in his playing career, Springfield Kings&rsquo; defense man Larry Johnston was named most valuable player on the club. The Kings&rsquo; Booster Club presented him with this award at their final game against the Baltimore Clippers.Johnston, who comes from Bridgeport, Ontario, really earned his award this season. He worked hard on defense, took plenty of extra turns and some games played as long as 40 minutes in action.He also gained a dubious distinction this past season. He is the all-time American Hockey League leader in total minutes in penalties. This is the second time he&rsquo;s won this award, too. Back in his early pro days at Tulsa in the Central League, he broke their record for penalties, too.A product of the great Kitchener-Waterloo area in Ontario area, Johnston was named M.V.P. in 1963 with the Waterloo club in amateur play.He went on to the Eastern League in 1964. He was again named most valuable player with his club. He then came to Springfield to start his pro career. The 25-year old veteran has improved greatly.Johnston will probably get his chance next fall in training camp with the parent Les Angeles Kings. The hard-rock rearguard deserves a chance and we feel he is right at the cross-roads of his career.The team, despite its finish in last place, produced some good rookies. One of them was so good he was called up to LA and has since starred with the club in regular season and playoffs. That would be Gary (Bull) Croteau.Certainly, he&rsquo;s one of the best players to compete in a local uniform. Just out of St. Lawrence U. last June, Gary took charge right away and was indeed a pleasant surprise.Brian Murphy, another big guy at 6-2 and 21, improved greatly when he got a chance to play. He came out of Junior A with London, Ontario. His roommate, Jim Mclnally, likewise progressed well as the season went on. He played on defense.Randy Prior, only a little guy, skated and shot well when he got a chance to play. He was with Port Huron in the International League last season. Ken Turlik, out of Knoxville of the Eastern League last season, was one of the team&rsquo;s leading scorers in his first pro rookie season.Victor Tisler, according to local brass, could not adjust to American Hockey league ways on defense. The native of Yugoslavia played in Frankfort, Germany last season. LA boss Larry Regan scouted him personally. &#9632;

f0016-01

Johnston Selected MVP On Kings

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1272/2780274-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="636" height="125"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Wed. Apr. 9Hershey 4 at Buffalo 2Sat. Apr. 12Buffalo 2 at Hershey 4Wed. Apr. 16Buffalo 5 at Hershey 4Fri. Apr. 18Hershey 3 at Buffalo 2Sun. Apr. 20Hershey 0 at Buffalo 8GAMES TO COMEWed. Apr. 23Buffalo at HersheyFri. Apr. 25Hershey at Buffalo (if necessary)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1361/2780267-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="626" height="117"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDFri. Apr. 18Quebec 4 at Providence 5Sun. Apr. 20Quebec 4 at Providence 3GAMES TO COMEMon. Apr. 21Providence at QuebecQuarter-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1456/2780260-1-eng-US/f0016-142.jpg" title="f0016-14" width="634" height="133"></div>Tues. Apr. 15Baltimore 1 at Providence 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1550/2780253-1-eng-US/f0016-152.jpg" title="f0016-15" width="640" height="135"></div>Tues. Apr. 15Cleveland 1 at Quebec 5Wed. Apr. 16Quebec 3 at Cleveland 2 &#9632;

f0016-12

AHL PLAYOFFS

<div class="byline">BY CHARLEY BARTON</div>BUFFALO, N.Y. &mdash; Long John Henderson steered the Hershey Bears into a 3-1 lead over the Buffalo Bisons in the American Hockey League Calder Cup semi-finals, but the regularseason champions remained confident they would rebound and prevail in the best-of-seven series.Henderson, a much-traveled, 36-year-old goaltender, was the difference in the first two games, won by identical 4-2 scores by the Eastern Division kings. In each game, the Bears&rsquo; fourth goal was scored into an empty net.In the opener, played in Buffalo, the Bisons blew a 2-0 first-period lead. In the second game, at Hershey, the Bisons fell behind early, then led, 2-1, in the second period before the Bears put away four unanswered goals.&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t much you can do when a goaltender plays the way Henderson has been going,&rdquo; said Fred Shero, the Buffalo coach. &ldquo;We should have locked up both games in the first period, but Henderson was simply too much for us.&ldquo;I realize he&rsquo;s had a great season, but how long can this go on? One of these nights we&rsquo;ll fill the net against him, then look out.&rdquo;Frank Mathers, the Bears&rsquo; deep thinker and recently named minor league executive of the year by THE HOCKEY NEWS, also felt Henderson was the key in the first four games.&ldquo;Some of the saves John made were out of this world, and he certainly held us together early when the Bisons were really flying,&rdquo; Mathers said.&ldquo;I felt this would be a long, tough series, and the scores of the first two games strengthen that belief. Winning the first two games gets us halfway to the finals. I&rsquo;m afraid the rest of the way there will be even tougher.&rdquo;The modest Henderson brushed off the credit given him.&ldquo;Our guys are really helping me, and without that help, no goaltender, me or anyone else, can do much,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s as simple as that. Now, if we can keep winning, everything will be just dandy.&rdquo;ALONG THE BOARDS &mdash; A mild heart attack forced veteran linesman Valter Atanas to the sidelines. Atan-as, a former Buffalo forward who has lived in Springfield for some time, worked the opener in Buffalo with Ron Telford, and was hospitalized in Hershey after complaining of feeling ill on the day of the second game &hellip; The Bisons recalled Juha Widing, Billy Fairbairn and Mike Robitaille from Omaha of the Central Hockey League for stand-by duty&hellip; The Bears, with three goaltenders available, dressed Colin McCormick as the No. 2 man for the opener, and had Andre Gill in reserve for the second game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03316/2780305-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="569" height="936"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN HENDERSON &hellip; Tough On Bisons</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-03

Henderson’s Gosling Too Much For Herd

CLEVELAND, O.&mdash;Coach Jack Gordon&rsquo;s Cleveland Barons hovered around the 500 mark all season and trailed the front running Buffalo Bisons all of the campaign. However, when challengers closed in on the Barons second place stronghold, the Clevelanders met them head on and turned them away. One of the reasons the Barons were so successful at doing this, was an almost uncanny home record especially during latter stages of the season. The Barons were hard to beat at the Arena all year, but became even tougher when the campaign came down to the wire.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01433/2780336-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="271" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Schultz</figcaption></div>This home momentum carried over into the first two playoff games with Quebec which the Barons won by narrow 2-1 scores, one of them a sudden death overtime thriller. The Barons had been beaten only once, in their last nine Arena outings until the playoff windup with Quebec which the Aces won to take best-of-five quarter final series in five games.Coach Gordon had the Barons hustling on defense. They&rsquo;re the lowest scoring team in the AHL, and he has been getting great goaltending all season from a very busy fellow named Ernie Wakely.The Barons had won all six Calder Cup games in their history with Quebec until the Aces broke the string in Quebec City in the third game of their quarterfinal series.Barons&rsquo; Coach Jack Gordon has received &ldquo;coach-of-the-year&rdquo; honors five of the seven seasons he has been at the helm in Cleveland. The Barons, under Gordon, have never failed to make the playoffs.Winger Wayne Schultz was the Barony&rsquo; iron man this season, Schultz was the only Baron appearing in all 74 regular season games.Barons&rsquo; Captain Bill Needham has missed the playoffs only twice in his thirteen seasons in Cleveland. &#9632;

f0017-01

Home Rink Big Factor For Barons

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div>ROCHESTER. N.Y. &mdash;Four all-time club records were set by the Rochester Americans during the 1968-69 American Hockey League season, and, since the club finished last for the first time in this city&rsquo;s 13year membership in the circuit, obviously none of them were for success.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02384/2780367-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="262" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bronco Horvath</figcaption></div>The Amerks dropped 13 games on home ice &mdash; the most ever lost in front of the home folks. This was particularly hard to swallow because the previous three Amerk squads combined had lost only 16 games here.Rochester gave up 295 goals &mdash; 25 more than the previous high of 270 yielded by the 1962-63 squad. In none of the other 11 AHL campaigns did an Amerk team allow as many as 250 goals&rsquo;The Amerks tied 11 games this season. The previous high was nine &mdash; set in &rsquo;62-63 when sudden-death overtime was played and matched in 1966-67 and &rsquo;67-68 (both with no overtime). Six of the deadlocks were on the road&mdash;one more than registered in three other seasons.The club&rsquo;s 19 victories here tied the fewest successes (1957-58) and Quebec&rsquo;s eight goals in the season finale here Easter Sunday equaled the most goals by an opposing team at the War Memorial and marked the second time this season it had happened. Buffalo did it last Nov. 3. Previously, Cleveland scored eight goals here Nov. 8, 1959; Springfield Nov. 11, 1962, and Hershey Feb. 9, 1964.To further point out the dismal season for the Americans and their fans, the club&rsquo;s 25 wins was the second lowest they&rsquo;ve ever had and the 38 defeats the second highest &mdash; both missing the marks by just one. The 43 standings points earned at home was the second lowest, as were the six victories away and the 18 standings points away.No season records were set by individuals, but four alltime club records were established. Playercoach Dick Gamble took over the most games played from Gerry Ehman (now with Oakland) and the most points, also from Ehman. Gamble has 560 points in 562 AHL games with Rochester. Gamble upped his own most goals for the Amerks to 299 and Bronco Horvath increased his total of assists to 342. &#9632;

f0017-02

Amerks Set Four Marks They Didn’t Want To Hit

FINAL SCORING<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01439/2780398-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="613" height="561"></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

AHL Point Race

SEATTLE, Wash.&mdash;Now then, let&rsquo;s hear it again.Which league is the major league, the National Hockey League or the Western Hockey League?Well, on the Pacific Coast, the Western Leaguers are claiming superiority at the gate, if not on the ice.The Los Angeles Kings and the Oakland Seals battled to the seven game limit in their quarter-final round Stanley Cup series &mdash; and the seven clashes drew 50,916.At the same time, the San Diego Gulls and the Portland Buckaroos were battling in first-round action leading to the Western League&rsquo;s Lester Patrick Cup.And the seven games between the Gulls and Buckaroos drew 60,108 fans.The National League average on the Western Coast was 7,274 a game. The average for the Portland-Diego series was 8,587.In fact, the Vancouver-Seattle series &mdash; won by the Canucks in four straight &mdash; also outdrew the NHL on a per-game basis with an average of 7,388 for the four contests. &#9632;

WHL Teams Outdraw NHL’s Coast Clubs

<div class="byline">BY JOHN TRAVERS</div>HERSHEY, Pa.&mdash;Once again Mike Nykoluk, alias the &ldquo;Big Bear,&rdquo; is considering storing for good the blades and stick. But don&rsquo;t bet on it.Hershey coach-general manager Frank Mathers believes the Bears captain again will be at the helm when the training camp call comes next fall.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02351/2780460-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="276" height="417"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Nykoluk</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Those four games in five nights got to me this season,&rdquo; said Nykoluk, a 13-year American League veteran. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to leave it up to Frank whether he wants me to return next season.&rdquo;The 34-year-old Nykoluk, the league&rsquo;s most valuable player two seasons ago, didn&rsquo;t feel he had a particularly good year.As usual, the Toronto product was again underselling himself. In aiding the Bears to the Eastern Division title, Nykoluk, despite playing with a half-dozen different wingers, closed as the league&rsquo;s tenth best scorer.In a 74-game stand, he rapped in 15 goals and aided in 55 others for 70 points, his fourth best effort in 11 years with Hershey.And in the opening game of the Calder Cup semi-final round against Buffalo, it was his brilliant penalty killing efforts that spearheaded Hershey to a 4-2 victory.He, along with defensemen Bob Barber and Barry Ashbee, one of the league&rsquo;s most underrated blueliners, held off a 5-3 Buffalo manpower edge for 92 seconds in the first period when the New Yorkers were riding a 20 lead.&ldquo;That turned the whole game around in our favor,&rdquo; said Mathers. &ldquo;We came back to win it, but it was the penalty killing that gave us the big lift.&rdquo;Long John Henderson, who took over the nets in the first game after Andre Gill was injured in the season&rsquo;s finale at Providence, turned in a sparkling job, warding off 28 shots.He later revealed he had an added incentive in his stirring performance.&ldquo;My mother was at the game, and she hasn&rsquo;t seen me play very much in my career,&rdquo; said Henderson, who closed with the league&rsquo;s second best average among the goalie crowd.Gill, who backstopped the Bears to their final two wins of the regular season, recovered from a severe shoulder bruise and stands ready for action if needed in the playoffs.Hershey&rsquo;s Gil Gilbert proved the best of the scorers with an unofficial point total of 100. Buffalo&rsquo;s Guy Trottier took the goal scoring honors with 45. Springfield&rsquo;s Larry Johnston spent the most time in the penalty box with a record-breaking 240 PIM. And Buffalo&rsquo;s Gilles Villemure emerged as the League&rsquo;s top goaltender with a 2.43 average.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03256/2780453-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="1791" height="1074"><figcaption class="caption-body">The hottest scoring line in the AHL this season is the Hershey trio of CHUCK HAMILTON, left GIL GILBERT, and MICHEL HARVEY, shown with coach FRANK MATHERS in background. The three scored a total of 267 points between them. Mathers was recently named minor league coach-of-the-year by THE HOCKEY NEWS.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-02

Bears’ Mike Nykoluk Says He’s Quitting

<div class="byline">BY JOHN WHITE</div><h2>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</h2>HOCKEY STICKS (Formerly Wally) Hllerich & Bradsby Co., Limited Wallaceburg, Ontario<h2>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</h2>HOCKEY STICKS (Formerly Wally) Hillerich & Bradsby Co., Limited Wallaceburg, OntarioSEATTLE, Wash. &mdash;The Portland Buckaroos, regular - season champions of the Western Hockey League for the fifth straight season, dominated this year&rsquo;s All Star voting by capturing four of the six first-team positions.Buckaroos selected by votes of opposing players were goaltender Jimmy McLeod, defenseman Connie Madigan, center Art Jones and left wing Bill Saunders.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01416/2780505-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="256" height="428"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Saunders</figcaption></div>Seattle Totems won the other two positions, with John Hanna selected at defense and Bob Courcy on right wing.A capsule look at each first-team choice:GOAL, Jim McLeod &mdash; The Portland netminder set an all-time Western League record by posting a goals-against average of 2.29 for 2363 minutes of action during the regular campaign. And he was tough against virtually everyone &mdash; 1.39 against Phoenix, 2.05 against Denver, 2.22 against San Diego, 2.39 against Vancouver and 3.14 against Seattle.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-09109/2780498-1-eng-US/f0019-092.jpg" title="f0019-09" width="562" height="569"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIMMY McLEOD &hellip; Named Goaler</figcaption></div>DEFENSE, John Hanna &mdash; Hanna picked up more voting points (428 of a possible 450) than any other player. He was the first choice of every opposing club except Vancouver. Hanna, while strong defensively, also blasted 25 goals to tie the all-time Western League high for a defenseman.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1094/2780491-1-eng-US/f0019-102.jpg" title="f0019-10" width="579" height="568"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN HANNA &hellip; Picked On Defense</figcaption></div>DEFENSE, Connie Madigan &mdash; the rugged blueliner, who finished second in the Western League in penalty minutes with 175, won first-team honors for the fourth-straight season. He was the top choice of both Seattle and Vancouver, the second choice of both Phoenix and San Diego.CENTER. Art Jones &mdash; The Portland veteran won first-team honors for the second straight season after capturing the Western League scoring title for the second straight year, this time with a career record of 114 points on 38 goals and 76 assists. He received 274 voting points to top teammate Norm Johnson, who had 224.LEFT WING, Bill Saunders &mdash; The Portland Buckaroo polled the second-highest vote total (395 of a possible 450 points) after finishing runnerup in the scoring race with 112 points, highest total by a wing in Western League history. He also led the league in goals with 53, a career record and second-highest total of all time in the WHL.RIGHT WING, Bob Courcy &mdash; The Seattle Totems&rsquo; star won in a tough battle over Willie O&rsquo;Ree of San Diego, 300 points to 250, after sniping 43 goals with a club that ranked only fifth in team scoring in the six-team circuit.Meanwhile for the first time in history, a post-season playoff was due between the champions of the Western and American Hockey Leagues.No, nothing official about it.But look at it this way:The Portland Buckaroos advanced to the finals for the Lester Patrick Cup by edging the San Diego Gulls in a tough series that went the full limit of seven games.The Vancouver Canucks, meanwhile, also advanced to the finals &mdash; but by eliminating the Seattle Totems in four straight behind the 0.98 goaltending of Charley Hodge.So it was Portland against Vancouver for the playoff championship.Well, the Buckaroos have just captured the regular-season title for the fifth straight year and the seventh time in the last eight seasons.And the Canucks?The Vancouver club that started play in the finals against Portland included 11 members of the Rochester Americans who last season swept to both first place in the regular campaign and the playoff title in the American League.(Vancouver last summer, you may recall, bought the Rochester hockey team for a million dollars.)It was quite a showdown in prospect between the first-place Buckaroos and the second-place Canucks, who would be out to reverse that order of finish in the playoffs. &#9632;

f0019-01

Portland Dominates WHL All-Star Teams

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02364/2780550-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg"></div><h2>FIRST TEAM</h2><h2>SECOND TEAM</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03295/2780543-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="1240" height="238"></div><h2>THIRD TEAM</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04253/2780536-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="1225" height="255"></div> &#9632;

f0019-02

How They Picked Them

Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1179/2780647-1-eng-US/f0019-112.jpg" title="f0019-11" width="607" height="147"></div>GAMES COMPLETED)Wed. Apr. 16Vancouver 6 at Portland 3Fri. Apr. 18Portland 2 at Vancouver 3Sun. Apr. 20Vancouver 3 at Portland 2GAMES TO COMETues. Apr. 22Portland at VancouverWed. Apr. 23Vancouver at Portland (if necessary)Fri. Apr. 25Portland at Vancouver(if necessary)Sat. or Sun. Apr. 26-27Vancouver at Portland(if necessary)Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1273/2780640-1-eng-US/f0019-122.jpg" title="f0019-12" width="631" height="105"></div>(Vancouver wins best-of-seven series 4-0)GAMES COMPLETEDTues. Apr. 1Vancouver 7 at Seattle 1Wed. Apr. 2Vancouver 6 at Seattle 0Fri. Apr. 4Seattle 1 at Vancouver 3Sat. Apr. 5Vancouver 3 at Seattle 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1362/2780633-1-eng-US/f0019-132.jpg" title="f0019-13" width="652" height="138"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDWed. Apr. 2San Diego 3 at Portland 4Thurs. Apr. 3Portland 0 at San Diego 1Sat. Apr. 5Portland 1 at San Diego 6Sun. Apr. 6San Diego 1 at Portland 3Wed. Apr. 9Portland 5 at San Diego 1Thurs. Apr. 10Portland 4 at San Diego 5Sat. Apr. 12San Diego 4 at Portland 5 &#9632;

f0019-11

LOOKING AT WHL PLAYOFFS

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 BrotherOKLAHOMA CITY. Okla. &mdash;The Dallas Black Hawks culminated one of the wildest playoff dashes to the championship in the history of the young Central Hockey League this season when they won the Jack Adams Memorial Trophy in a near sweep of their 11 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01260/2780685-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="264" height="426"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Kromm</figcaption></div>Bobby Kromm&rsquo;s young Hawks skated to victory in 10 of their 11 playoff starts and climaxed their spectacular performance by knocking off the Oklahoma City Blazers in five games in the finals.After romping past Houston Apollos in three straight games in their best-of-five quarter finals, the Hawks equally rolled over Omaha Knights in three games for a semi-final sweep.Entering the CHL finals against Oklahoma City, Dallas had a six-game playoff streak going. The Blazers were acclaimed as the team to beat after disposing of the defending champion Tulsa Oilers in the other semi-finals. But the hard-skating Black Hawks refused to acknowledge the Oklahoma power even after the Blazers snatched the first game of the best-of-seven title series 5-2.The Hawks stormed back from their first-game setback and won the next four in a line including the climatic fifth game here on Oklahoma ice to win the club&rsquo;s first league championship.The Hawks triumphed 6-2 in the third game with Garth Riz-zuto scoring twice in the goahead decision that left Dallas holding a 2-1 edge in the series. Brian Bradley, Brian McDonald, Oscar Gaudet and Jim Wiste contributed singles to the Oklahoma rout and the Hawks never looked back as they roared ahead to the title.In the windup game here, McDonald blasted a 30-footer midway in the third period to break up a 4-4 tie and send Dallas on its way to victory. Jack Stanfield, Gaudet. Doug Shelton and Paul Shmyr were other Dallas scorers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02186/2780678-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="569" height="549"><figcaption class="caption-body">brian McDonald &hellip; Goal Wins Title</figcaption></div>For Kromm it was the highlight of two years work in which the Hawks barely squeaked into the CHL playoffs last season only to lose out to Fort Worth. This season Kromm came back strong rebuilding and molding a winner from his youthful skaters.Sparked by the stellar net-minding of veteran Jack Norris in the playoffs, the Hawks steamrollered through their opposition and as it turned out it was a cake walk to the Adams Trophy. &#9632;

f0020-01

Dallas Hawks Knock Over Oklahoma To Win CHL Championship In 11 Games

KANSAS CITY, Mo&mdash;Smooth-skating Jim Lorentz, who scored 101 points this past season for the Oklahoma City Blazers has been named the Central Hockey League&rsquo;s most valuable player for 1968-69.Lorentz, 21, is a second-year professional who also recently was named by THE HOCKEY NEWS publication as minor league player-of-the-year.The young Blazer center scored 33 goals and a record 68 assists in 56 games, appearing in several games for the parent Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League.Lorentz was rookie of the year in the CHL last year and placed second in scoring with 33 goals and 50 assists for 83 points.The 5-11, 185-pounder is a native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.During the semi-finals and finals of the CHL playoffs, Lorentz scored seven goals and 16 assists for 23 points to spark Oklahoma City into the league finals against, Dallas.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03154/2780716-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="569" height="579"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM LORENTZ &hellip; More Honors</figcaption></div>Following Lorentz in the balloting for MVP were Tulsa&rsquo;s Danny Johnson who scored 73 points, goalie Marv Edwards of Amarillo, who posted a 3.05 goals-against average, and rookie Juha Widing of Omaha, who finished third in the league in scoring with 80 points. &#9632;

f0020-03

Blazers’ Lorentz Named Central League’s MVP

<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04117/2780775-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="613" height="135"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDSun. Apr. 13Dallas 2 at Oklahoma City 5Tues. Apr. 15Dallas 6 at Oklahoma City 4Wed. Apr. 16Oklahoma City 2 at Dallas 6Fri. Apr. 18Oklahoma Citv 2 at Dallas 3Sat. Apr. 19Dallas 5 at Oklahoma city 4Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0558/2780768-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="637" height="171"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDFri. Mar. 28Tulsa 3 ot Oklahoma City 2Wad. Apr. 2Tulsa 1 at Oklahoma City 6Fri. Apr. 4Oklahoma City 3 at Tulsa 2Sat. Apr. 5Tulsa 5 at Oklahoma City 3Sun. Apr. 6Tulsa 4 at Oklahomo City 3Wed. Apr. 9Oklahoma City 4 at Tulsa 3Fri. Apr. 11Tulsa 3 ot Oklahoma City 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0642/2780761-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="613" height="150"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDFri. Apr. 4Dallas 4 ot Omaha 3Sat. Apr. 5Dallas 4 ot Omaha 3Sun. Apr. 6Omaha 1 at Dallas 4Quarter-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0735/2780754-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="610" height="153"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0828/2780747-1-eng-US/f0020-082.jpg" title="f0020-08" width="625" height="147"></div> &#9632;

f0020-04

CHL PLAYOFFS

<h2>EASTERN LEAGUE Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0290/2780879-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="585" height="137"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDWed. Apr. 2Nashville 3 at Clinton 2Sat. Apr. 5Nashville 3 at Clinton 4Thurs. Apr. 10Clinton 2 at Nashville 3Fri. Ap. 11Clinton 3 at Niashville 1Sun. Apr. 13Nashville 2 ot Clinton 5Tues. Apr. 15Clinton 2 at Nashville 9Fr. Apr. 18Nashville 2 at Clinton 3NORTHERN DIVISIONFINALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0358/2780872-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="634" height="138"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDWed Mor 19New Haven 2 at Clinton 5Thurs. Mar. 20New Haven 2 at Clinton 3Fri. Mar. 21Clinton 3 at New Haven 6Sun. Mar. 23Clinton 5 at New Haven 6Tues. Mar. 25New Haven 3 at Clinton 7Wed. Mar. 26Clinton 3 at New Haven 5Sat. Mar. 29New Haven 1 at Clinton 3Semi-finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0450/2780865-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="607" height="141"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0544/2780858-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="622" height="135"></div>SOUTHERN DIVISIONFinals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0637/2780851-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="604" height="174"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDWed. Mar 26Nashville 4 at Greensboro 2Fri. Mar. 28Nashville 5 at Greensboro 2Sat. Mar. 29Greensboro 2 at Nashville 9Sun. Mar. 30Greensboro 3 at Nashville 5Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0731/2780844-1-eng-US/f0021-072.jpg" title="f0021-07" width="622" height="165"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0826/2780837-1-eng-US/f0021-082.jpg" title="f0021-08" width="604" height="171"></div> &#9632;

f0021-02

EHL PLAYOFFS

1968-69&mdash;Clinton Comets1967-68&mdash;Clinton Comets1966-67&mdash;Nashville Dixie Flyers1965-66&mdash;Nashville Dixie Flyers1964-65&mdash;Long Island Ducks1963-64&mdash;Clinton Comets1962-63&mdash;Greensboro Generals1961-62&mdash;Johnstown Jets1960-61&mdash;Johnstown Jets1959-60&mdash;Johnstown Jets1958-59&mdash;Clinton Comets1957-58&mdash;Washington Presidents1956-57&mdash;Charlotte Checkers1955-56&mdash;New Haven Blades1954-55&mdash;Washington Lions &#9632;

EHL Champions

<h2>ALLAN CUP</h2>Eastern Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0921/2781018-1-eng-US/f0021-092.jpg" title="f0021-09" width="642" height="135"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1019/2781011-1-eng-US/f0021-102.jpg" title="f0021-10" width="630" height="153"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1113/2781004-1-eng-US/f0021-112.jpg" title="f0021-11" width="612" height="177"></div>Western Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-129/2780997-1-eng-US/f0021-122.jpg" title="f0021-12" width="639" height="156"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-138/2780990-1-eng-US/f0021-132.jpg" title="f0021-13" width="618" height="177"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-147/2780983-1-eng-US/f0021-142.jpg" title="f0021-14" width="609" height="180"></div>MEMORIAL CUPWestern Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-157/2780976-1-eng-US/f0021-152.jpg" title="f0021-15" width="616" height="141"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-166/2780969-1-eng-US/f0021-162.jpg" title="f0021-16" width="628" height="165"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-175/2780962-1-eng-US/f0021-172.jpg" title="f0021-17" width="640" height="138"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-185/2780955-1-eng-US/f0021-182.jpg" title="f0021-18" width="619" height="141"></div>Western Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-195/2780948-1-eng-US/f0021-192.jpg" title="f0021-19" width="631" height="135"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-205/2780941-1-eng-US/f0021-202.jpg" title="f0021-20" width="604" height="144"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-215/2780934-1-eng-US/f0021-212.jpg" title="f0021-21" width="628" height="150"></div> &#9632;

f0021-09

LOOKING AT PLAYOFF RACES

<div class="byline">BY BOB REED</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01141/2781077-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="565" height="597"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON WESTBROOKE &hellip; Capped Big Season</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0371/2781070-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="561" height="589"><figcaption class="caption-body">DUNC ROUSSEAU &hellip; Top Playoff Scorer</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0456/2781063-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="552" height="597"><figcaption class="caption-body">AL BEAULE &hellip; Best Defenseman</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0548/2781056-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="545" height="589"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARRY WILSON &hellip; Title First Year</figcaption></div>DAYTON, O. &mdash;The Dayton Gems won the season championship of the International Hockey League by only one point over Toledo, but if there were any doubts that the Gems were the class of the league they dispelled them by sweeping the playoffs with nine straight victories.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0284/2781049-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="252" height="453"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lefty McFadden</figcaption></div>It was the first time in the 24year history of the league that any team had gone through the playoffs without a defeat.First, the Gems won all three of their games in the initial &ldquo;semi-round robin&rdquo;, which called for the three leading teams to meet the lower three to determine four semi-finalists. Then they eliminated Fort Wayne by winning the first three of five-game series and finally took out Muskegon, last year&rsquo;s season and playoff champions, in three straight.The playoffs were not all an easy row for the Gems. Some of the games they won decisively and some by the narrowest of margins &mdash; but they won them all. In the initial series they were forced into overtime twice and captured the third with a rally and a one-goal margin. Fort Wayne&rsquo;s Komets extended them in the semi-finals but they won the important game on Fort Wayne ice, 2-1.In the final series against Muskegon the first two games were played on Dayton ice, where the Gems won by 7-6, in an overtime, and 4-1. Then the Gems continued to assert themselves when the series moved to Muskegon, where they won decisively, 7-2.The two teams were exactly even over the season, 5-5-2 but neither had won on opponents&rsquo; ice until the Gems did it in the necessary third victory of the series. The Mohawks were the highest scoring team in the league over the season but the Gems beat them at their own game, 18 goals to nine.Big offensive stars for the Gems were Don Westbrooke and Duncean Rousseau. Westbrooke, league scoring champion, justified his right to the title by netting seven goals in the nine games. Rousseau had two overtime goals in the initial round and was high scorer for the nine games. Cliff Bristow notched the winning goal in the 7-6 overtime against Muskegon with the Gems skating short. Seven players scored in the 7-2 windup of the series.Gary Ford and Bryan McLay topped the Mohawks in their losing cause. Bruce Mullett had 51 saves against the Gems in the first game of the series but was replaced by Bob Perani in the overtime when the Gems scored at 2:18.It was a triumphal season for Gems&rsquo; general manager Lefty McFadden and new coach Larry Wilson. It was the third Turner finals for the Gems in five years in the league and their second season championship. It was the first time they had won the Turner Cup. The Dayton Chamber of Commerce was planning a big celebration.In addition to the Turner Cup the Gems picked up a number of other trophies, including: Huber Trophy, league championship; Lamoureux Trophy, scoring leader, Westbrooke; Gatschene, most valuable player, Westbrooke; Governor&rsquo;s Trophy, top defensemen, Al Beaule and Moe Benoit; Norris Trophy, goaltending, John Adams and Pat Rupp. &#9632;

f0022-01

Dayton Lifts Title From Muskegon As Gems Win Turner Cup In 9 Games

Following are the winners of the Joseph Turner Memorial Trophy, emblematic of the International Hockey League playoff championship:1945-46&mdash;Detroit Auto Club1946-47&mdash;Windsor Spitfires1947-48&mdash;Toledo Mercurys1948-49&mdash;Windsor Hettche1949-50&mdash;Chatham Maroons1950-51&mdash;Toledo Mercurys1951-52&mdash;Toledo Mercurys1952-53&mdash;Cincinnati Mohawks1953-54&mdash;Cincinnati Mohawks1954-55&mdash;Cincinnati Mohawks1955-56&mdash;Cincinnati Mohawks1956-57&mdash;Cincinnati Mohawks1957-58&mdash;Indianapolis Chiefs1958-59&mdash;Louisville Rebels1959-60&mdash;St. Paul Saints1960-61&mdash;St. Paul Saints1961-62&mdash;Muskegon Zephyrs1962-63&mdash;Fort Wayne Komets1963-64&mdash;Toledo Blades1964-65&mdash;Fort Wayne Komets1965-66&mdash;Port Huron Flags1966-67&mdash;Toledo Blades1967-68&mdash;Muskegon Mohawks1968-69&mdash;Dayton Gems &#9632;

IHL Champions

<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0739/2781146-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="628" height="147"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDThurs. Apr. 10Muskegon 6 at Doyton 7Sat. Apr. 12Muskegon 1 at Dayton 4Sun. Apr. 12Dayton 7 at Muskegon 2Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0834/2781139-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="595" height="135"></div>Tues. Apr. 1Muskegon 2 at Toledo 4Thurs. Apr. 3Toledo 4 at Muskegon 6Sat. Apr. 5Muskegon 5 at Toledo 7Sun. Apr. 6Toledo 2 at Muskegon 3Tues. Apr. 8Muskegon 5 at Toledo 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0931/2781132-1-eng-US/f0022-092.jpg" title="f0022-09" width="607" height="159"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDWed. Apr. 2Fort Wayne 0 at Dayton 7Thurs. Apr. 4Dayton 2 at Fort Wayne 1Sat. Apr. 5Fort Woyne 3 at Dayton 5 &#9632;

f0022-07

IHL PLAYOFFS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01122/2781177-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUYLE FIELDER &hellip; Gentlemanly in WHL.</figcaption></div>SEATTLE, Wash. &mdash;Seattle Totems captured all of the first three individual awards announced by the Western Hockey League after balloting by the players.The Hume Cup for the player who best combines skill with gentlemanly play on the ice went to Guyle Fielder.The Laycoe Cup, awarded to the top defenseman in the league, was voted to John Hanna.And the rookie award went to young Jack Michie in a field in which only two other Western League players &mdash; Rocky Farr and Brian Gibbons of Denver &mdash; were eligible.It is the third time Fielder has won the award, an honor he shares with Phil Maloney of the Vancouver Canucks.Fielder previously won the award in 1966 and 1967.Other winners have been Gordon Fashoway, Lou Jankowski and Andy Hebenton.Fielder polled 175 out of a possible 972 points in the balloting by the players of the Western Hockey League, who vote on an all-opponent basis with five points for first, three for second and one for third.Runnerup in the balloting was Denver center Ed Hoekstra with 92 points while 1965. winner Andy Hebenton of Portland was third with 89 points.Hanna, a newcomer to the Western League, was selected as the outstanding defenseman by the players.Hanna compiled 408 of a possible 450 points in the balloting by the players on an allopponent basis with five points for first, three for second and one for third. Second was Portland defenseman Connie Madigan who finished with 199 points while third spot was claimed by Vancouver&rsquo;s Darryl Sly with 110.Previous winners of the award include Madigan, Pat Stapleton of Portland, Larry Cahan of Vancouver and Alex &ldquo;Sandy&rdquo; Hucul of Phoenix.Hanna, in addition to being the backbone of the Totem defense, also tied a goal scoring record for defensemen with 25.The Totem defenseman will receive a check for $300 and a trophy from the Western Hockey League.Seattle winger Michie, a 23-year-old, was selected as rookie-of-the-year also by the players.Michie compiled 286 points out of a possible 648 to top Denver goalie Rockey Farr in the balloting. Michie, in 74 games during his first season, scored 19 goals and 28 assists for 47 points. Among his 19 goals were 4 first goals and 3 game-winning goals. He was charged with only 14 minutes in penalties.Eighteen players from each team vote but are not able to cast a ballot for a member of their own team.Michie is only the second Seattle player to be tabbed as rookie of the year. Gerry Foley, who played with Denver this season, earned the honor in 1953.Michie, incidentally, played on a line with 1952 Rookie of the Year, Guyle Fielder, who won the honor in New Westminster.The rookie award also carries a check for $300 and a trophy from the Western Hockey League. &#9632;

f0023-01

WHL Vet Guyle Fielder Takes Hume Award

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0286/2781208-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="903" height="1199"></div>SOLUTION IN MAY 3 ISSUE<h2>ACROSS</h2>1&mdash;Pictured player.8&mdash;An N.H.L. general manager.9&mdash;Initials of one of the Leafs.10&mdash;The (fr.)11&mdash;9th and 1st letters of the alphabet.12&mdash;One of the Hawks.14&mdash;ex-Hawk Fogolin answers to this.16&mdash;Initials of a former Montreal coach.17&mdash;To make mistakes.18&mdash;Number worn by 30 down.20&mdash;25th and 9th letters of the alphabet.21&mdash;An American State (abbr.)22&mdash;Initials of Larose of Minnesota.25&mdash;One of the Habs.31&mdash;Initials of one of the North Stars.33&mdash;A Minnesota defenseman.34&mdash;Nickname of one of the Blues.36&mdash;Initials of Keller of Providence.38&mdash;-A Red Wing forward.<h2>DOWN</h2>1&mdash;One of the Penguins.2&mdash;1st and 22nd letters of the alphabet.3&mdash;Pictured player won this trophy in 1958-59.4&mdash;24 down injured one earlier this season.5&mdash;Esposito, Hodge and Murphy.6&mdash;A former Hab.7&mdash;Girl&rsquo;s name.13&mdash;A Minnesota farmhand.15&mdash;First name of one of the Hawks.19&mdash;Initials of former Hawk Balfour.23&mdash;Initials of one of the Flyers.24&mdash;One of the Bruins.26&mdash;Initials of an ex-Red Wing.27&mdash;First name of one of the Red Wings.28&mdash;One of the Hawks answers to this.29&mdash;Outside Diameter. (Init.)30&mdash;Initials of one of the Hawks.32&mdash;One of the Hoekstra&rsquo;s answers to this.35&mdash;To perform.37&mdash;Initials of one of the Flyers.<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2><h2>ACROSS</h2>I&mdash;SANDERSON6&mdash;ONE.7&mdash;ASSISTS.10&mdash;ALGER.11&mdash;AT.12&mdash;ARE.13&mdash;I.R.14&mdash;ERA.15&mdash;TOE.16&mdash;LEACH18&mdash;T.K.19&mdash;L.H20&mdash;ENIO21&mdash;ELLIS.23&mdash;SCHMIDT<h2>DOWN</h2>1&mdash;ST. MARSEILLE.2&mdash;NIAGARA FALLS.3&mdash;S.O.S.4&mdash;ONTARIO.5&mdash;NESTERENKO8&mdash;S.E.9&mdash;S.R.15&mdash;T.H17&mdash;CHIC.18&mdash;TIED.22&mdash;S.H &#9632;

f0023-02

Hockey Crossword

<div class="byline">BY PAT CURRAN</div>MONTREAL. Que. &mdash; These areThese are times when the coach and his Canadiens&rsquo; team - mates would like to strangle Serge Savard. Meantime, they&rsquo;ve named him &ldquo;Superboy&rdquo; as the early star of the playoffs.Some nights the six-foot-two, 200-pound defenceman has been bent on self destruction after costing the club a big goal &mdash; as he did in the second game of the Stanley Cup semi-final against Boston.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01132/2781246-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="255" height="432"><figcaption class="caption-body">Serge Savard</figcaption></div>Although killing a penalty, he made the mistake of trying to carry the puck deep in his own zone instead of clearing or passing. Bruins&rsquo; Johnny Bucyk checked him and John McKenzie wound up with a goal.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0284/2781239-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="2439" height="1257"><figcaption class="caption-body">Boston&rsquo;s TED GREEN is taken out of the play by big SERGE SAVARD (18) in playoff action.</figcaption></div>But then Savard does a turnabout for some great plays that make him want to live a little longer. Like a great burst of speed to break up a two-on-nothing Bruins&rsquo; rush, crowding the crease to get the tying goal with only 69 seconds to play and firing the point shot that pays off in overtime.Savard has drawn the &ldquo;Superboy&rdquo; tag in a joking way from teammates, somewhat critical of the way the 23-year-old rearguard, penalty-killer and at times left-winger tries to do things all by himself. He enjoys lugging the puck, often at a deceptively slow pace without passing, or giving his mates heart failure by spinning in his own zone even as the last man back on defence.However Coach Claude Ruel and the Canadiens were happy with his output of eight goals and 23 assists during the schedule and surely couldn&rsquo;t complain after six playoff games. Superboy was one of the team&rsquo;s top pointgetters with a goal and four assists, helping to set up all three goals in the 3-2 opener win over Boston, then scoring the equalizer and assisting on the 4-3 overtime winner of the second contest.&ldquo;Serge is an example of the spirit you need in the playoffs,&rdquo; says Ruel. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t ask for more than he has given my club since the start of the season.&rdquo;His great skating effort to halt a breakaway by Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge goes down as one of the highlights of the semi-final series. The Boston pair had several strides on Savard before he came bursting back to intercept the play.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to have a break to do something like that,&rdquo; said Serge of his fine defensive effort, &ldquo;especially after you have made a mistake that costs a playoff goal.&rdquo;Most critical of Savard&rsquo;s daring play has been goalie Gump Worsley who keeps warning the young rearguard to &ldquo;stay back once in awhile&rdquo;. However the Gumper had nothing but praise for Savard&rsquo;s overall efforts in the quarter-final against New York and the first two games of the Boston semi-final at the Forum.Savard&rsquo;s fine defensive work and penalty-killing helped Worsley to continue his unbeaten streak in goal, 17 straight playoff victories including 12 of the Habs&rsquo; 13 games last spring and five of the first six this time.&ldquo;Worsley has been just solid,&rdquo; said Ruel. &ldquo;He has given us just the kind of goaltending a team must expect in playoff hockey.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-01

EXCITING SERGE SAVARD HABS’ ‘NEW SUPERBOY’

MONTREAL, Que. &mdash;For awhile last year, young Serge Savard was unsure of himself while he was shadowed by close friend Carol Vadnais for the open defence post on the Montreal club. It was only after Vadnais wound up with Oakland Seals that the way was really clear for Savard to make the club.However, now he says he knows where he&rsquo;s going.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t play so much during the first part of the season,&rdquo; recalls Savard whose every mistake was noted by new coach Claude Ruel. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d go on the ice for a shift and not really know whether I&rsquo;d be back again.&ldquo;Now, even if I make a mistake, I know I&rsquo;ll be back and it makes everything a lot easier. I know where I am going.&rdquo;In Savard&rsquo;s favor as a promising NHL all-star is the fact that he realizes his errors and doesn&rsquo;t wait until the next game to try to make up for any miscues. &#9632;

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April 26, 1969

Clinton Captures Title In Final With Nashville

Missing Playoffs Will Force Wings To Break Up Record - Breaking Line

WESTERN LEAGUE SUMMARIES

Calder Cup Summaries