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.

May 10, 1969

The Hockey News May 10, 1969

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01673/2783423-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">KING CLANCY provides helping hand for MRS. CHARLIE CONACHER with new trophies.</figcaption></div>TORONTO, Ont.&mdash;The memory of the great Charlie Conacher will be perpetuated this year in the form of two new trophies.The former Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; great, who died just over a year ago from cancer, will be honored by the presentation of the trophies for the first time at the Charlie Conacher hockey awards&rsquo; dinner, an affair held annually to raise funds in support of the Charlie Conacher Research Fund.Launched last year with a $50,()()() bequest from the Conacher estate, the fund was given permanent status by friends of the former Toronto scoring ace. An additional $100,000 &mdash; plus has since been raised and is now being used to support a comprehensive program of research on throat cancer at the Toronto General Hospital.This year&rsquo;s Conacher awards dinner will he held on Thursday, May 29th, at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. Table or individual ticket reservations may be made now by calling Toronto 307-5907.The two new trophies, which will be presented at the dinner by Charlie&rsquo;s widow, Mrs. Sunny Conacher, are: the Charlie Conacher team trophy, which will be awarded annually on the basis of regular season play between Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.The Charlie Conacher Memorial Trophy, to be presented to the National Hockey League player judged to have made an outstanding humanitarian contribution in any field in the course of the year just past.The Conacher Team Trophy was established and donated by Hiran Walker Limited of Toronto; The Conacher Memorial Trophy was made available through representatives of Carling Breweries Limited. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

New Trophies To Honor Leafs’ Charlie Conacher

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-08122/2783745-1-eng-US/f0017-082.jpg" title="f0017-08" width="569" height="124"></div>(Hershey leads best-of-seven finals 3-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED Sun. Apr. 26</h3>Quebec 0 at Hershey 4Wed. Apr. 30Quebec 2 at Hershey 4Fri. May 2Hershey 4 at Quebec 3Sun. May 4Hershey 3 at Quebec 6GAMES TO COME Wed. May 7Quebec at HersheyFri. May 9Hershey at Quebec (if necessary)Sat. May 10Quebec at Hershey (if necessary)SEMI-FINALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-09109/2783738-1-eng-US/f0017-092.jpg" title="f0017-09" width="574" height="79"></div>(Hershey wins best-of-seven semi-finals4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>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 8Wed. Apr. 23Buffalo 1 at Hershey 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-10100/2783731-1-eng-US/f0017-102.jpg" title="f0017-10" width="574" height="80"></div>(Quebec wins best-of-five semi-finals 3-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Apr. 18Quebec 4 at Providence 5Sun. Apr. 20Quebec 4 at Providence 3Mon. Apr. 21Providence 3 at Quebec 4Wed. Apr. 23Providence 2 at Quebec 1Fri. Apr. 25Quebec 8 at Providence 1QUARTER-FINALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-1183/2783724-1-eng-US/f0017-112.jpg" title="f0017-11" width="580" height="99"></div>(Providence wins best-of-five series 3-1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-1273/2783717-1-eng-US/f0017-122.jpg" title="f0017-12" width="577" height="102"></div>(Quebec wins best-of-five series 3-2) &#9632;

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Calder Cup Playoffs

<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0736/2784015-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="575" height="101"></div>(Dallas wins best-of-seven finals 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. 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/f0020-0829/2784008-1-eng-US/f0020-082.jpg" title="f0020-08" width="565" height="110"></div>(Oklahoma City wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Mar. 28Tulsa 3 at Oklahoma City 2Wed. 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 Oklahoma City 3Wed. Apr. 9Oklahoma City 4 of Tulsa 3Fri. Apr. 11Tulsa 3 at Oklahoma City 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0920/2784001-1-eng-US/f0020-092.jpg" title="f0020-09" width="578" height="98"></div>(Dallas wins best-of-five semi-finals 3-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Apr. 4Dallas 4 ct Omaha 3Sot. Apr. 5Dallas 4 at Omoha 3Sun. Apr. 6Omaha 1 ot Dallas 4Quarter Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1016/2783994-1-eng-US/f0020-102.jpg" title="f0020-10" width="582" height="96"></div>(Dallas wins best-of-five series 3-0)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1111/2783987-1-eng-US/f0020-112.jpg" title="f0020-11" width="595" height="95"></div>(Omaha wins best-of-five series 3-1) &#9632;

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CHL PLAYOFFS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01742/2783032-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="812" height="1392"><figcaption class="caption-body">Blues&rsquo; Ab McDonald wheels away from net</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02648/2783025-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="2139" height="1178"><figcaption class="caption-body">Montreal goaler Rogation Vachon was outstanding cup figure.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03540/2783018-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="2998" height="1269"><figcaption class="caption-body">Blues&rsquo; netminder Glenn Hall turned in three good games despite St. louis defeat.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04420/2783011-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg" title="f0010-04" width="2053" height="1307"><figcaption class="caption-body">One of Canadiens&rsquo; standout players in finals was Dick Duff.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-05318/2783004-1-eng-US/f0010-052.jpg" title="f0010-05" width="861" height="1325"><figcaption class="caption-body">High-scoring Red Berenson was disappointment to Blues in final.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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STANLEY CUP FINAL PLAYOFF ACTION

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0001-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-02113/2784516-1-eng-US/f0001-022.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-01140/2784523-1-eng-US/f0001-012.jpg" title="f0001-01" width="220" height="265"></div>John Ferguson&rsquo;s $9,750 Shot! &mdash;PAGE 11Montreal Dynasty Not About To End &mdash; Page 3Ratelie Untouchable In N.Y. Trade Talks &mdash; Page 2Bruins May Be Ahead Of Title Timetable &mdash; Page 24 &#9632;

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CANADIANS CAPTURE 16th STANLEY CUP

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01665/2782432-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="509" height="1124"></div>Charlie Halpin, well-known Montreal sportswriter, has been appointed editorial director of Ken-Will Publishing Co. Ltd., it has been announced by the publisher, Ken McKenzie.Ken-Will publishes the internationally known HOCKEY NEWS weekly newspaper, which has been in existence for 22 years, as well as the monthly HOCKEY WORLD, HOCKEY PICTORIAL and CANADIAN FOOTBALL NEWS magazines.Halpin has been employed by The Montreal Star for the past 14 years covering hockey primarily and has been supervising editorial production of THE HOCKEY NEWS for the last seven years.He was born in Montreal and prior to his appointment with The Star, he was on the sports staff of the Montreal Gazette for seven years. Married, he has four children.Halpin is also a charter member of the National Hockey League Writers&rsquo; Association.He will take up his new position with Ken-Will Publishing On June 1. &#9632;

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Charlie Halpin Editorial Director Of Hockey News

This is the final weekly issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS for this season but don&rsquo;t think for a minute we are going to wind up our biggest year ever without bringing you the complete Stanley Cup story. Because the NHL season has crowded our final issue deadline, we will publish a special Stanley Cup extra in our first monthly edition which will be the June issue. So watch for it. We plan to have it out immediately after our last weekly issue hits the newsstands. Our annual statistical issue of all hockey leagues, will appear in the July publication and in time for the summer hockey draft. &#9632;

Our Last Weekly Issue

MONTREAL, Que. &mdash;Selectors for the ConnSmythe Trophy award as the best performer in the playoffs never had the headaches in the past they&rsquo;ve encountered trying to figure out who will win the honor this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03528/2782518-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="239" height="384"><figcaption class="caption-body">Serge Savard</figcaption></div>No less than four members of the Montreal Canadiehs head the list of playoff standouts who will be considered for the Smythe award and the accompanying $1,500 bonus money.Because of their convincing victory in the cup finals over St. Louis Blues, the Canadiens&rsquo; players have the inside track. Last season the award went to a loser &mdash; goaler Glenn Hall of St. Louis&mdash;but it isn&rsquo;t likely to happen this season.The Habs hold all the big aces this time around and the selectors will have to ponder their choices from among goaler Rogatien Vachon, defenseman Serge Savard, left wing Dick Duff and center and captain Jean Beliveau, a past Smythe Trophy winner.These four appear to be the ones most hockey observers favored around the Stanley Cup finals. They were the ones who carried the Canucks to their 16th world hockey championship and are certain to get the votes over Hall, Jacques Plante of St. Louis and Boston&rsquo;s foursome of Phil Esposito, Gerry Cheevers, Ed Westfall and Derek Sanderson.Coach Claude Ruel refused to offer his choice of the Trophy winner &mdash; to be announced after the vote of NHL Governors.&ldquo;If I had my way, there would be Smythe trophies for every one of my players. This was a team effort.&rdquo;Ruel stood six feet tall in the Montreal dressing room after the Habs had swept the Blues aside.Here was the roly-poly coach, only 220 pounds of him after losing 10 during the season, calmly taking questions in stride as writers tried to duck the foam of popping champagne bottles.It was his day of glory after leading the Canadiens to a sweep of all they surveyed in hockey &mdash; their league title and the Stanley Cup. He had followed in the footsteps of Toe Blake who did the same thing as a rookie coach 14 years ago and Jimmy Skinner with Detroit Red Wings in 1954-55.&ldquo;It was a big personal victory for me, I did my job to the best of my capacity,&rdquo; said Claude who took over the Habs under great pressure last September on his 30th birthday.&ldquo;The players were great and the first thing I enjoyed after this game was to shake hands with Ted Harris. Getting that goal couldn&rsquo;t happen to a better man, an honest hockey player.&ldquo;Teddy stayed after practice so often with me practicing his shot and he was the first to say that it paid off.&rdquo;However Ruel rated the Stanley Cup triumph as secondary to his team&rsquo;s pressure drive to the division title for which they chased Boston from eight points behind in January to win it the second last game of the schedule.&ldquo;My biggest thrill was to finish first,&rdquo; said the coach. &ldquo;That was what I had started out to do when I took the job.&rdquo;Ruel signed a one-year contract but there&rsquo;s no doubt he will be back next season with a sizeable raise. &#9632;

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Four Hubs Head Poll For Smythe Trophy As Top Playoff Star

<div class="byline">BY NORMAN MacLEAN</div>NEW YORK. N.Y &mdash;In the wake of some rather astounding trade rumors, the value of one unsung here has become more apparent even to those &ldquo;in&rdquo; members of Rangerville.You may ask who could be an unsung hero in New York, which possesses the greatest collection of information disseminating media in the-world?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02631/2782463-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="250" height="380"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jean Ratelle</figcaption></div>The answer is simple &mdash; Jean Ratelle, the 28 year old center star of the New York Rangers. &lsquo;Ratty&rsquo; is so consistent and steady that his totals for 1967-68 and 1968-69 were exactly the same, 32 goals, 46 assists, 78 points. His partner in crime, Rod Gilbert also logged the same number of points both seasons, although he had one more goal with 29 in 1967-68. Rod was 2849-77 last season.&ldquo;For some reason Ratelie does not get the notice that he deserves both here in New York and elsewhere throughout the National Hockey League,&rdquo; says Emile Francis, the Rangers General Manager-Coach.The players in the NHL know how important Ratelle is to the New York scheme of things and so do the rival general managers. Usually Vic Hadfield&rsquo;s name is the first that comes up in trade talks, mainly because rugged Vic goes both ways and does a fine job in the corners, and because the Rangers&rsquo;rivals feel that there might just be some scant hope of prying Vic loose. As far as Ratelle is concerned, they know that there is practically none.Recently at the Montreal-St. Louis Stanley Cup finals, there were rumors that even Gilbert was on the New York trading block. This seems far fetched, since Rod and Jean go together like Damon and Pythias.With the upcoming selection of a winner for the Bill Masterton Memorial Award in the offing, it would be nice if Ratelie could garner some votes and bring home some hardware for a change. He did win the Player&rsquo;s Player award voted upon by the Ranger players in 1968-69, but in the main the plaudits seem to pass the smiling, slender, Frenchman by.Ratelle is a master stickhandler and is the Ranger answer to Jean Beliveau. It has been said that playing with Gilbert has given Jean the confidence necessary to believe in himself and make him the star that he now is. This fact seemed to be proven this season when Ratty did not score during Gilbert&rsquo;s three week absence with a broken ankle.Nonetheless, Ratelle is right behind Phil Esposito and Stan Mikita in any ratings of NHL centers. He is a superb craftsman who works hard at his trade, which is one of the reasons he will not be involved in any trade.&ldquo;With Ratelie assuming young veteran status and Walter Tkaczuk about to come into his own, we are well fixed at center ice,&rdquo; emphasizes Francis. &ldquo;I feel that Ratelie will be an NHL star for years. He is a main cog in our attack.&rdquo;In other developments there were rumors that Chicago had offered Goaltender Dennis Dejordy and left wing Dennis Hull to New York for all star Ranger netminder Eddie Giacomin. It is believed that the offer was turned down. Nonetheless, look for the Rangers to do some business before the annual June draft takes place. There has been some criticism in Gotham of the work of Giacomin, Gilbert and Bob Nevin in the playoffs, but these operatives are too important and too good to be traded away lightly. More likely, trader Francis will go to the market with his center ice and defense surplus and come up with a left wing.BLUE CHIPS: &mdash; Emile Francis has been watching the Junior Canadiens very closely this spring &hellip; Gilles Villemure, Bob Blackburn and Guy Trottier of the Rangers AHL farm, Buffalo, made the AHL All Star team. Villemure and Trottier may get long looks next season &hellip; Harry Howell was operated on twice on April 29, once for his spinal fusion and also for a bursar sack on his elbow &hellip; Ron Stewart also due for minor surgery &hellip; &#9632;

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Trade Talk Swirls Around Rangers But Ratelie Listed As Untouchable

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01667/2782549-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="397" height="797"></div>1968-69&mdash;Montreal Canadiens1967-68-Montreal Canadiens1966-67-Toronto Maple Leafs1965-66-Montreal Canadiens1964-65-Montreal Canadiens1963-64-Toronto Maple Leafs1962-63-Toronto Maple Leafs1961-62-Toronto Maple Leafs1960-61-Chicago Black Hawks1959-60-Montreal Canadiens1958-59-Montreal Canadiens1957-58-Montreal Canadiens1956-57-Montreal Canadiens1955-56-Montreal Canadiens1954-55-Detroit Redwings1953-54-Detroit Redwings1952-53-Montreal Canadiens1952-52-Detroit Redwings1950-51-Toronto Maple Leafs1949-50-Detroit Redwings1948-49-Toronto Maple Leafs1947-48-Toronto Maple Leafs1946-47-Toronto Maple Leafs1945-46-Montreal Canadiens1944-45-Toronto Maple Leafs1943-44-Montreal Canadiens1942-43-Detroit Redwings1941-42-Toronto Maple Leafs1940-41-Boston Bruins1939-40&mdash;New York Rangers1938-39-Boston Bruins1937-38-Chicago Black Hawks1936-37-Detroit Redwings1935-36-Detroit Redwings1934-35-Montreal Maroons1933-34-Chicago Black Hawks1932-33-New York Rangers1931-32-Toronto Maple Leafs1930-31-Montreal Canadiens1929-30-Montreal Canadiens1928-29-Boston Bruins1927-28-New York Rangers1926-27-Ottawa Sendors1925-26-Montreal Maroons1924-25-Victoria Cougars1923-24-Montreal Canadiens1922-23-Ottawa Senators1921-22-Toronto St. Pots1920-21-Ottawa Senators1919-20-Ottawa Senators1918-19-No decision1917-18-Toronto Arenas1916-17-Seattle Metropolitans1915-16-Montreal Canadiens1914-15-Vancouver Millionaires1913-14-Toronto Ontario1912-13-Quebec Bulldogs1911-12-Quebec Bulldogs1910-11-Ottawa Senators1909-10-Montreal Wanderers1908-09-Ottawa Senators1907-08-Montreal Wanderers1906-07-Kenora Thistles (January)1906-07-Montreal Wanderers (March)1905-06-Montreal Wanderers1904-05-Ottawa Silver Seven1903-04-Ottawa Silver Seven1902-03-Ottawa Silver Seven1901-02-Montreal A.A.A.1900-01-Winnipeg Victorias1899-1900-Montreal Shamrocks1898-99-Montreal Victorias (February)1898-99-Montreal Shamrocks (March)1897-98-Montreal Victorias1896-97-Montreal Victorias1895-96-Winnipeg Victorias1894-95-Mohtreal Victorias1893-94-Montreal A.A.A. &#9632;

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Playoff Champs

<div class="byline">BY PAT CURRAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02549/2782580-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Masked goaler TONY ESPOSITO is question mark in Habs&rsquo; future player plans.</figcaption></div>MONTREAL, Que. &mdash;The Bruins showed they were on the way up in that stirring semi-final series but after the Canadiens completed their 16th run to the Stanley Cup by polishing off St. Louis Blues in four straight games it may be quite some time yet before Montreal fades as a hockey powerhouse.Wren Blair couldn&rsquo;t help but agree as he loitered outside the sweltering St. Louis Arena dressing room and watched the traffic of wellwishers converging on the Cup champions.&ldquo;This may be the last dynasty in professional sport now that the draft systems are balancing teams everywhere,&rdquo; said the Minnesota manager-coach. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s one dynasty that may last a long time. It&rsquo;s going to be much harder to pull down the Canadiens than either the Yankees or the Green Bay Packers.&rdquo;Blair should know since in his bid to lift the North Stars early in NHL expansion he wound up trading future draft choices to the already well-stocked Montreal organization.An indication of Canadiens&rsquo; strength on the hockey market was shown recently in results of voting for the Calder Trophy. Three of the top rookies-winner Danny Grant of Minnesota, runner-up Norm Ferguson of Oakland and fourth placed Gerry Desjardins, the Los Angeles goalie, belonged to Montreal at this time last year.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad the teams we dealt with got their money&rsquo;s worth,&rdquo; says Sam Pollock, the Habs&rsquo;shrewd general manager, sometimes shunned by counterparts who figure they just can&rsquo;t beat him in a trade.The word&rsquo;s out that Sam is ready to do a lot of business in talent trading before the June meetings, mainly because he should expect few problems in the annual draft.Although the clubs can protect only 14 players and two goalies in the draft, fill and claim plan adopted last year, the Canadiens are so organized that they will lose only one off this year&rsquo;s cupwinning roster. And, of 12 additional names on their playoff eligibility list, six of them will dodge the draft as either first year pros or youngsters who turned professional while still of junior age.For instance, two young Canadiens who contributed a fair share to the team&rsquo;s sweep of division and Stanley Cup titles, Mickey Redmond and Christian Bordeleau, do not have to be protected.Both are second year pros, having played with Houston Apollos last season, but will escape the draft because they moved up as junior eligibles.&ldquo;We figured they would get more experience in the Central League than in junior ranks,&rdquo; says Pollock who has such other fine prospects as Jude Drouin, Pierre Bouchard, Paul Curtis, Murray Flegel and Guy Lapointe in safety.Another promising NHL candidate who doesn&rsquo;t require draft protection is Bob Berry, the fine left-winger with Cleveland, who had been an amateur with Canada&rsquo;s National TeamLiable for draft are such Hab chattels as forwards Robin Burns, Alain Caron, Ernie Hicke, Dick Sentes, Gary Monahan and Lucien Grenier who dressed for a few playoff games with Canadiens. So is Tony Esposito who will be a goalie questionmark along with veteran Gump Worsley.The Canadiens can gamble a little without protecting some veterans while holding their best youngsters. Gilles Tremblay remains questionable after missing much of the past season with bronchial trouble. Claude Provost, the honest 14-year veteran, vows he will retire before moving to another city.However, the Canadiens will surely have to protect Jean Beliveau who despite reports of retirement at Boston has every intention of playing next season on the second half of a rich-two-year contract. Big Jean wouldn&rsquo;t play for any other club but if unprotected, his draft choice would be well worth the $30,000 just for publicity.Coming back to Wren Blair&rsquo;s talk of the Montreal dynasty, he may be expecting Beliveau to stay around for a long time. &#9632;

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Montreal Dynasty Not Ready To Crumble As Habs Look Ahead After Cup Victory

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01729/2782632-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="370" height="426"></div>&bull; THE INVINCIBILITY of the Montreal Canadiens continued through this year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs. Last season it took the Canadiens 13 games to win the cup. This year it required 14 giving the Habs an overall two-year record of 24 victories and three defeats, a mark of a true champion &hellip; In spite of Montreal&rsquo;s win, the one-sidedness of the finals renewed the cry for a realignment of the NHL cities to create more parity in the league and the need for crisscross playoffs instead of the conventional East-West division final we have had the past two years. Most hockey men felt the same as fans everywhere. The Montreal-Boston series was the &lsquo;true&rsquo; cup final. It was the series with the most drama and action, something that was conspiciously missing from the Montreal-St. Louis series &hellip; The enthusiasm displayed by the St. Louis fans in the games in their city stamped them as the most loyal and eager in all of hockey. If the Blues had been able to generate half as much drive as their staunch hockey fandom and arena organist, Norm Kramer, displayed they would have cake-walked past Montreal &hellip; Most excited figure in the cup wrap-up was rookie coach Claude Ruel, who was tasting the sweet wine of victory for the first time. Ruel, who took over a ready made hockey team from retired Toe Blake, nevertheless, displayed astuteness in directing the Canadiens to victory. Hat&rsquo;s off the Ruel and his Canadiens on the occasion of their 16 th modern Stanley Cup victory.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02680/2782625-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="249" height="423"><figcaption class="caption-body">Claude Ruel</figcaption></div>&bull; NEW MAPLE LEAF general manager Jim Gregory was around the cup finals exchanging pleasantries with newsmen. Gregory, a confident youngman, took the Leafs&rsquo; job without a written contract. He says Toronto can fire him any time they decide they don&rsquo;t want him. His motto is, &ldquo;if you&rsquo;re not wanted there&rsquo;s no use hanging around.&rdquo; &hellip; Staff Smythe has disclosed that the Leafs&rsquo; Hockey Committee had encountered a lot of trouble with Punch Imlach in recent years and felt the situation couldn&rsquo;t go on. Imlach apparently promised them he d do certain things and never did them at all &hellip; Leafs fully expect to bring retired Tim Horton back. They need his invaluable experience to settle down the club&rsquo;s fuzzy-cheeked but promising backline corps. Johnny Bower won&rsquo;t be encouraged to come back. He&rsquo;ll be 45 by the time another season rolls around and the Leafs figure it&rsquo;s time to bring in some younger blood, like Al Smith &hellip; Our apologies to the IHL fan who ticked us off for reporting Dayton were the 1967-68 league and playoff champions. It was Muskegon Mohawks. Dayton did it this year &hellip; Congratulations to Bob Cole of CBC Newfoundland and Bob McDevitt of CBC Montreal for their fine work behind the mike during the recent Stanley Cup playoffs. The two final games at St. Louis marked Cole&rsquo;s debut as a play-by-play radio announcer on the CBC hockey network&hellip; None of the Leafs&rsquo; top brass attended the City of Toronto&rsquo;s luncheon salute to Punch Imlach in appreciation for bringing the city four Stanley Cups during his tenure as coach&hellip; And while we are on the subject of passing out accolades, a special note of congratulations to Bill Libby, our Western NHL correspondent, who received rave reviews from both the New York Times and Washington Post after the publication of his first book, &ldquo;Parnelli&rdquo;, which dealt with auto racing and race driver Parnelli Jones. Reports indicate the book is being well received everywhere &hellip;I would imagine the most gratifying aftermath to the Canadiens&rsquo; Stanley Cup victory over St. Louis was the disclosure by Claude Ruel that he and his wife have agreed to adopt their first child, a sort of present to one another for his first year success in the NHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03582/2782618-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="260" height="411"><figcaption class="caption-body">Johnny Bower</figcaption></div>&bull; AFTER HIS slam-bang hockey season, Boston&rsquo;s Phil Esposito is much in demand. Espo and his brother, Tony, who was Montreal&rsquo;s standby goaler in the Stanley Cup finals after the injury to Gump Worsley, will travel between Canada and South America as guides on summer boat cruises. Both are also booked for hockey school appearances and Phil goes back to his television sports show in the Sault. Asked what he planned to do after the NHL awards&rsquo; dinner, Esposito replied, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going home to count my money. I&rsquo;ve been so busy lately I haven&rsquo;t had the time.&rdquo; Espo had reaped $8,250 in bonus money and he still had the all-star selections to come &hellip; Pencil in May 29 as a very important date on the sports calendar. It is the occasion of the Charlie Conacher Research Fund dinner at Toronto&rsquo;s Royal York Hotel. The fund has already swelled to $170,000 for cancer research and is still growing. Gordie Howe, Jean Beliveau, Bobby Hull and Phil Esposito will attend this year&rsquo;s Conacher bash honoring the late Maple Leafs&rsquo; great who succumbed io throat cancer last year &hellip; Remember Bob Turner, the former NHL defenseman with Montreal and Chicago? Well he has his Regina Pats&rsquo; team battling Montreal Canadiens in the Memorial Cup junior finals. Turner looked so trim on his return to Montreal recently that many observers hinted he looked in good enough shape to play again &hellip; Jean Beliveau has squashed all rumors that he won&rsquo;t be back next season. And Toe Blake said he has no intention of returning as an NHL coach. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I could do the job anymore. Besides I&rsquo;m enjoying watching instead of coaching,&rdquo; added Blake, who admits it has taken one whole season of being away from the game to regain his health &hellip; There may be as many as five, coaching jobs open for off-season grabs. New York, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Minnesota may all be in the market for new bench pilots although Wren Blair has said he will again do double duty with the North Stars.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04510/2782611-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="259" height="414"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Esposito</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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PASSING THE 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 President and Publisher.William Z. Stevenson 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, Past Office Department, OttawaSecond class mail registration number 1327Printed in CanadaVol. 22 MONTREAL, MAY 10,1969 No. 31<h2>Referee In Stands Could Be Good Move</h2>I could not help commenting on an article in your Fan Forum of April 12 concerning the idea of putting the referee in the stands.That is one way of solving the so-called &lsquo;garbage refereeing&rdquo;. But an official is only human and is bound to make a mistake once in a while. Consider how many calls a referee makes in a year and compare that with disputed ones and you will see a very low percentage.As far as putting the referee in the stands, it is a good idea, if it is put into effect the right way. My idea wculd be to still have the same one official and two linesmen on the ice with a fourth man&mdash;the referee&mdash;in the stands. All would work together in making the calls. That way infractions not seen by the men on the ice could be spotted by the referee in the stands.RAY SCHWARTZMAN, SYRACUSE, N.Y.<h2>Beliveau Fan&rsquo;s Choice As Best Looking Player</h2>I don&rsquo;t know how the questions are asked in the Fans&rsquo; Corner but I sure dispute the replies to &ldquo;who is the best looking player in the NHL?&rdquo;Everyone overlooked the most obvious choice &mdash; Jean Beliveau.MARJORIE TURPIN, OTTAWA, ONT.<h2>Trcdes Only Solution For Hawks&rsquo; Revival</h2>It&rsquo;s time the Chicago brass woke up and realized that the only way to stop the Hawks&rsquo; decline is trade off one of its super stars &mdash; Hull or Mikita.In the past years and this season in particular, the rest of the Hawks&rsquo; players and management came to depend too much on Hull and Mikita for their success. These two are among the greatest but two good players do not make a team.So how about some solid trading to make the Hawks a winner again &mdash; even if you have to give up a Hull or a Mikita.JOHN AMINSON,ST. JOHN&rsquo;S, NELL).<h2>CHL Playoffs Unfair To Oklahoma Blazers</h2>It is truly unfortunate that, because of playoff scheduling, one team has an unfair advantage over another. The case in mind is the two series played by the Oklahoma City Blazers. After a gruelling and hard-played series, seven games in fifteen days, with the Tulsa Oilers in the semi-finals, the Blazers had one day of rest before playing Dallas in the Central Hockey League playoff finals. Dallas, which had swept both quarter and semi-finals, has almost one week of full rest before arriving in Oklahoma City to begin play. As predicted, the rest had resulted in the Hawks&rsquo; being somewhat malcoordinated, which helped lead the Blazers to a first game victory. However, the Tulsa series and the well-rested Hawks soon began to take their toll on Oklahoma City. Within the next six days, the Blazers lost four times.In the last five regular season meetings, Oklahoma City won four and tied one. This record, coupled with the playoff record, seems to indicate a complete collapse by the Blazers in the playoffs; but far more important, what caused the collapse? The last game of the Oklahoma City-Tulsa series was well-skated and hard-checked, but it was apparent that members of each squad tired quickly, which implied an overall tiredness.Had Tulsa met Dallas in the finals, the results would have been similar; Tulsa would have been too tired and too sore to play good hockey. Or if Dallas had been forced to play all ten of their quarter and semi-final games, they too would have entered the finals tired and sore. Can you imagine the quality of play between two exhausted teams! As it was, one team was well rested and one team was not, and the results of the series should have been fairly easy to predict. Why couldn&rsquo;t the winner in the Blayer. Oiler semi-finals have received at least three days rest? Why was there such a rush to end the playoffs?STEVE HOGAN, Oklahoma City, Okla. &#9632;

Fan Forum

CHARLES RUSSO, telegraph operator, New York, N.Y.&ldquo;Vic Hadfield. He is aggressive, colorful with his great slap shot and he gives me my money&rsquo;s worth because he does not let anyone push him around. He is very much underrated&rdquo;MARY KMIOTEK, Secretary, International Telephone & Telegraph, New York, N.Y.:&ldquo;Bobby Hull mesmerizes me. The blond bomber is aptly named. When he gets the puck and starts a rush, I get goose pimples up my spine. He is the greatest around. I hope he gets 60 goals some season.&rdquo;FRANK TURLEY, painter, St. Catharines, Ont.:&ldquo;Bobby Hull. He&rsquo;s the most electrifying player I&rsquo;ve ever seen. He is colorful and dangerous every time he moves in on the net. He&rsquo;s quite a spectacle when he&rsquo;s on the ice with that puck. For my money he&rsquo;s the greatest.&rdquo;ANDRE VACHON, advertising salesman, Montreal.&ldquo;Jean Beliveau. Few hockey payers can thrill you like the captain of the Canadiens. He can do anything with a puck. Every time he steps on the ice he gives his team a lift. Without him, they are just another hockey team.&rdquo; &#9632;

THE FANS’ CORNER

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01682/2782711-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALEX DELVECCHIO &hellip; Three Time Winner</figcaption></div>DETROIT, Mich.&mdash;If a poll was taken of Lady Byng Trophy winners it very likely would be the unanimous feeling the name should be changed &hellip; say Lord Byng, Governor-General Byng &hellip; even Mr. Byng. Anything but &ldquo;Lady&rdquo; Byng.Alex Delvecchio is for a change and he&rsquo;s won the trophy three times. Only Red Kelly (four) and Frank Boucher (seven) won it more often.&ldquo;The name takes a lot away from it and what it&rsquo;s meant to be,&rdquo; said the Red Wing captain after he was notified he&rsquo;d outdistanced Oakland&rsquo;s Ted Hampson, 117-78. &ldquo;The comments you hear from the fans aren&rsquo;t easy to digest.&rdquo;What he means is, some of the fans yell things like: &ldquo;Hit &lsquo;em with your purse, Alex!&rdquo;Since it&rsquo;s &ldquo;Lady&rdquo; Byng, the award has a, well, a sissy connotation.It&rsquo;s &ldquo;Lady&rdquo; Byng because Lady Byng, wife of Canada&rsquo;s then Governor-General, donated the trophy in 1925. The present trophy is the third in the series, the two previous being retired, and it&rsquo;s still Lady Byng with a Memorial added to it.Delvecchio is happy to win the trophy and says he feels honored. But that fan reaction gets to him at times. Some feel a Lady Byng winner&rsquo;s courage is suspect and nothing could be further from the truth in the case of most of the winners.Take Delvecchio. The 37-year-old Detroit center just completed his 18th NHL season during which he registered his 1,000th point. Only two other players have reached that lofty plateau &mdash; teammate Gordie Howe and Montreal&rsquo;s Jean Beliveau.Often overlooked because he&rsquo;s not a flashy player nor a noisy one, Delvecchio broke his personal assists and total points highs while helping Detroit&rsquo;s big line break the league goals and total points records.Delvecchio was seventh in league scoring with 25 goals, 58 assists and 83 total points in 72 games &mdash; he missed four with painfully bruised ribs. He&rsquo;s missed only six games in the last 12 years.He fits perfectly the Lady Byng qualifications: &ldquo;The player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.&rdquo;But the award would be much more enjoyable if they&rsquo;d masculinize the name.The award helped ease the early arrival of summer for Delvecchio since the Red Wings missed the playoffs despite the great year he and linemates Howe and Frank Mahovlich had.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t give the records much thought because when you don&rsquo;t make the playoffs you just think &lsquo;to hell with the year.&rsquo; But it is nice to win the Byng.&rdquo;The $1,500 was welcome, too, and Delvecchio said he had it spent just as soon as he was notified he&rsquo;d won.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re moving into a new and bigger house in two weeks and my oldest boy, Kenny, just got his beginner&rsquo;s license so my car insurance is going way up,&rdquo; Delvecchio said, laughing.Delvecchio, in steel sales work the past few summers, has switched to the travel business and is working for the Olympia Travel Agency, owned by Red Wing president Bruce Norris and based at Olympia Stadium. &#9632;

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Hockey Man’s Game Says Byng Winner, NHL Should Remove ‘Lady’ From Trophy

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02610/2782742-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="710" height="719"><figcaption class="caption-body">(PHOTO BY Famous Studio PHOTOGRAPHERS OF THE STARS)</figcaption></div>COTTON STRINGS &mdash; the hottest new demand item since the turtle. Tuned to the fashion of cool clear hues. Featured here by our two fashion models Jacques Lemaire wears a high V style &ldquo;Jacques Laperriere a mock turtle style&rdquo;. 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="byline">BY ED CONRAD</div>PHILADELPHIA, Pa. &mdash;Don&rsquo;t be at all surprised to see Stan Mikita scoring goals for the Flyers next season and Bernie Parent tending the Chicago Black Hawks&rsquo; net.Such a development is certainly within reason, inasmuch as both clubs will do everything they can to make themselves more respectable over this year&rsquo;s performance.A package deal between the clubs, involving Mikita and Parent, apparently is being discussed by the brass of both clubs. Nobody has come out point blank to admit it but Tommy Ivan, the Black Hawks&rsquo; general manager, certainly hinted that something big may be brewing.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re talking about deals involving us and Philadelphia, I should tell you one that may take place,&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;It would make your ears stand up.&rdquo;The only trade of that magnitude, of course, would have to involve either Bobby Hull or Mikita, and there&rsquo;s no way the Hawks will make a deal for Hull with anyone. Mikita, on the other hand, is expendable.True, Stan is one of the highest-scoring centers in the history of the league, but the Black Hawks have finally come to realize that offense alone doesn&rsquo;t result in championships or berths in the Stanley Cup playoffs.Despite a bushelful of points, the Hawks missed the Eastern Division playoffs for the first time in a decade. They finished last in the six-team circuit.That&rsquo;s why, then, that they&rsquo;d be willing to let Mikita go if it meant shoring up their defense. Not only would they get Parent, it seems, but also at least one defenseman &mdash; probably Flyers&rsquo; captain Ed Van Impe.Chicago regretted losing Van Impe in the expansion draft, seeing him gobbled up on the first round by the Flyers two seasons ago. His only year with them Ed finished behind Boston Bruins&rsquo; super-star Bobby Orr in the balloting for rookie of the year.Parent, though, is the big guy the Black Hawks want. They realize that a solid defense begins with the goaltender and a steady performer, such as the 24-year-old Montreal native, could completely solve that problem.Mikita would be a blessing to the Flyers because he can score, just what the club has lacked in its two seasons of competition in the NHL.Few hockey players are as consistent as Mikita, as proven by his 97 points this past season after winning the league scoring championship the two previous years.Ivan let the cat out of the bag about a possible bombshell of a trade while scowling at a newsman&rsquo;s inquiry if any progress had been made in the Dennis Hull-for-Doug Favell trade.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01758/2782780-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="563" height="1633"><figcaption class="caption-body">Reports persist Chicago Black Hawks will sacrifice some of their offensive strength by swapping high-scoring STAN MIKITA, left, to Philadelphia Flyers for goalkeeper BERNIE PARENT.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02617/2782773-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="1156" height="1610"></div>&ldquo;We have never, at any time, offered Dennis Hull in a Favell deal,&rdquo; fumed Ivan. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not denying that we talked with their (Philadelphia) people about it. But not once did we mention this particular player for that particular player.&rdquo;The original rumor was that the Hawks would get Dennis Hull, their high-scoring left wing, for Favell and a defenseman or two.Right now, though, it&rsquo;s anybody&rsquo;s guess. And Parent for Mikita could very well be part of the game. &#9632;

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Flyer-Hawks’ Trade Rumors Fly; This Time It’s Mikita-for-Parent

<div class="byline">BY SPENCE CONLEY</div>OAKLAND. Calif. &mdash;The Oakland Seals have been cooling their heels for a couple of weeks since they got knocked out of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Los Angeles Kings, but last week they blew their cool with the announcement that Danny Grant of Minnesota had been named winner of the Calder Trophy, the National Hockey League&rsquo;s rookie prize.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01710/2782811-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="261" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body">Norm Ferguson</figcaption></div>The Seals had been hopeful that their own Norm Ferguson would get it, but Fergie finished second in the balloting by seven votes, 119-112, and one source indicated that Grant didn&rsquo;t get the trophy until the very last ballot.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s just no question about who the rookie of the year in the NHL is,&rdquo; fumed Bill Torrey, the Seal executive vice president, &ldquo;and it isn&rsquo;t Grant.&rdquo;Both Fergie and Grant finished with 34 goals, breaking Bernie Geoffrion&rsquo;s modern goal-scoring record for rookies and equalling the all time rookie mark set by Nels Stewart in the 1920s. But Grant also had 31 assists to snap the rookie total point mark. Ferguson only had 20 assists.&ldquo;Fergie&rsquo;s 34 goals helped us finish second,&rdquo; added Torrey. &ldquo;What did Grant&rsquo;s 34 goals and 65 points do for Minnesota? Fergie played on a third line on our team &mdash; a line which scored a total of 50 goals all year.&ldquo;Now look at Grant&rsquo;s line &mdash; center Danny O&rsquo;Shea and right wing Claude Larose. That line scored 74 goals and played together all year, including the AllStar game.&ldquo;Fergie played both right and left wing on that third line and he never lost his scoring touch. He played with different centers, too. Not only that he was going two ways every game. He was conscious of the fact that we&rsquo;ve got a young inexperienced team and needed all the backchecking we could get,&rdquo; Torrey says.Torrey also points out that the 23-year-old Ferguson is only in his second year of professional hockey. He played his first pro season the year before last in Cleveland with now Seal coach Fred Glover, and scored 42 goals.Grant, on the other hand, played 22 games with the Montreal Canadiens. Although the NHL rule states that a player must appear in more than 25 games before losing his rookie status, the suspicion really is that Grant is a second year pro and not even entitled to rookie consideration.Besides, Gerry DesJardins of Los Angeles, Brad Park and Walt Tkaczuk, both of New York, made greater contributions to their team than Grant did.It is of interest, however, that both Grant and Ferguson came out of the Maritime Provinces through the Montreal organization.Grant is from Fredericton, N.B., and played with Peterborough before going out of Junior A into the Canadien pro chain in Houston. His first full season as a pro was in 1966-67 with the Apollos.Ferguson is a native of Sydney, N.S. and played with the Junior Canadiens. He, like Grant, is 23. He played 55 games with Houston in 1966 before moving on to Cleveland.And both players were obtained in trades with the Canadiens. In the Seal transaction, they got Fergie, defenseman Stan Fuller, and two juniors Frank Lacombe and Michel Jacques. Lacombe, 20, won himself a regular job with the Seals on defense. &#9632;

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Seals Indignant After Grant Tops Ferguson For Rookie Nod

OAKLAND, Calif.&mdash;If the Oakland Seals were unhappy about Danny Grant getting the Calder Trophy, they were delighted at the selection of Ted Hampson as the runner-up in the balloting for the Lady Byng Trophy behind Detroit&rsquo;s Delvecchio.&ldquo;If there was one player on our club who was more dedicated and determined to make the season a success, it was Hampson,&rdquo; says Bill Torrey. &ldquo;He played well and had a great year.&rdquo; &#9632;

Seals’ Hampson Second In ‘Byng’

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02638/2782842-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ice Quips&hellip; &hellip;by Maki&ldquo;Sure, you said your goalie was OUT OF THIS WORLD, but&hellip;!&rdquo;</figcaption></div>OAKLAND, Calif.&mdash;The case of the Oakland Seals&rsquo; ownership appears to be the $64,000 hockey question at the moment.No one seems to know which group is in or out.Originial owner Barend Van Gerbig is still clinging to the club strings after one of the two new groups &mdash; Trans-National Communications of New York &mdash; failed to pick up its option to purchase the club from Van Gerbig for $4,500,000 along with Seymour and Northrup Knox of Buffalo, N.Y.Van Gerbig, who agreed March 1 to sell out to the two groups, set April 25 as the deadline for the option to buy the financially-stressed National Hockey League club.It was reported Trans-National was in for 80 per cent of the club stock and the Knox brothers for 20.The agreement by TransNational and the Knox brothers called for a $900,000 down payment on the full purchase price. The two groups also were believed to have agreed to accept the Seals&rsquo; substantial liabilities.The Knox brothers, with their 20-yer-cent interest, were said to have advanced a sum in excess of $200,000 on March 1.Reports from Buffalo indicate that Seymour Knox still is negotiating to acquire the Seals.Van Gerbig previously attempted to deal the club to a Canadian brewery and to Vancouver Canucks of the Western Hockey League.The Knox brothers also attempted to obtain sole possession and move the team to Buffalo before joining TransNational in the latest bid.Conceivably, the Seals still belong to Van Gerbig.It was reported that Seymour Knox declared, &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t operate a team in Oakland and I would want control of any NHL team in Buffalo as well.&rdquo;Neither Knox nor Van Gerbig would elaborate on the problems facing the potential buyers-of the-franchise but it was hinted that financing on the part of the New York group &mdash; which includes New York television executive Bill Creasy, ex-Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford and former Giants&rsquo; football star Pat Summerall &mdash; may have been the major stumbling block to completing the transaction.The NHL is reportedly anxious to clear up the matter and expects to have a full report whether the club has been sold or retained by Van Gerbig before the June summer hockey meetings in Montreal. &#9632;

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OAKLAND FRANCHISE STILL HELD BY VAN GERBIG?

<div class="byline">&#x201C; By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01744/2782904-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="295" height="383"></div><h2>Playoff Glory Not For Everyone</h2>LES BINKLEY IS a husky, hardy hockey player, but he doesn&rsquo;t look it in civvies, when he wears glasses off the ice and could Dass for a bookkeeper or a college professor. He has passed for a trainer. But he is a goal-tender and an outstanding one, though he was 25 years old before he got a chance to play pro and 30 years old before he got a chance to play in the majors. Some chance. Pittsburgh took him and they&rsquo;ve been the worst team in the league in the two years of expansion. When others are perking up for the playoffs, he&rsquo;s packing up for home. I keep thinking of Johnny Bower, who was 35 before he made it, but made it with Toronto and won four Stanley Cups. Where would Binklev rate and what would he have won by now with Montreal or Boston, or even Chicago or Detroit?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02656/2782897-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="539" height="893"><figcaption class="caption-body">LES BINKLEY &hellip; NHL Chance Came Late</figcaption></div>Les wears contact lenses and doesn&rsquo;t wear a mask on the ice and while he&rsquo;s not sure he thinks maybe it&rsquo;s because of this that hockey&rsquo;s brass ignored him so long. He played for the Galt Black Hawks and the Kitchener Dutchmen and the Walkerton team and the Fort Wayne Komets and the Baltimore Clippers and the Charlotte Checkers and the Toledo Mercurys as an amateur and one year he didn&rsquo;t play at all and after 11 seasons and eight teams he was fed up to here with it and if he wasn&rsquo;t an easy-going guy who loved hockey and wanted to play pro so bad it ached he&rsquo;d have chucked the game the way it tried to chuck him.In an emergency, the Cleveland Barons of the American League called him over from Toledo to play one game for them in 1959 and when they were making plans for 1960, they remembered him. This was before teams carried two goalies and the economics of the Cleveland situation were such that there was no money for spares, but Jim Hendy and Jackie Gordon wanted someone who could step in if the regular goal-tender Gil Mayer broke an arm or a leg, someone who could double as an usher or a hot-dog vendor, so they asked Binkley if he wanted to become their trainer. He said that was ridiculous, he knew nothing about being a trainer. They said, so take a correspondence school course or something. So he took the course. And tor almost two lull seasons, Mayer stayed healthy.Finally, at the end of the 1961 season, Mayer got hurt. Binkley played the last eight games. He played them so well, Mayer lost his job. Binkley took over, retired as trainer, and for the next five full seasons was brilliant, winning most of the trophies available to him. Still, no one in the big time gave him a second thought &mdash; who needs a trainer in an NHL net? &mdash; until expansion came and Jack Riley, former president of the American League, who knew him well, immediatelv Durchased his contract. Pittsburgh placed him at San Diego, while waiting for their first season, and he played well there, on a last place team. Meanwhile, they drafted a veteran, Hank Bassen, and a kid, Joe Daley, to play goal. But, in training camp, Binkley beat them out and he has been the team&rsquo;s regular ever since. When the team loses, he loses, and this team almost always loses. It hasn&rsquo;t made the playoffs yet, so Binkley hasn&rsquo;t made any all-star teams. He&rsquo;s a stand-up goalie, who does his work with a minimum of wasted effort, so lacks the color of some of the spectacular scramblers, but there&rsquo;s not a coach in hockey, or a player, who doesn&rsquo;t respect him now.He is not the sort who thirsts for stardom or is sore it was denied him so long. He&rsquo;s a calm, intelligent gentleman, friendly and personable. Unlike some players, especially goal-tenders, he is not twisted in knots before games. Before one game this season, still dressed in civvies, he went with this writer to get a cup of coffee and we sat sipping the brew and chatting high up in the stands while the first of the fans began to drift in. Even the newsmen who passed by did not recognize him. &ldquo;I guess I don&rsquo;t have a very memorable face,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t bother me much. Oh, everyone would like to be a big star at something, but most of us never are and most of us get used to it after awhile. It&rsquo;s a privilege to play in hockey&rsquo;s major leagues and I&rsquo;m just grateful I finally got the opportunity.&rdquo;<h2>Binkley Sees Better Without Mask</h2>HE LAUGHS ABOUT his career as a trainer. &ldquo;I used a ton of tape and thanked God there was a doctor available for more serious injuries,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What I learned on the job comes in handy when I have to put a band-aid on my sons knee now. He says he has worn eye-glasses or contact lenses for 14 years and sees perfectly with them. Lots ot players were them now, but some of them still don&rsquo;t like to talk about it because the bosses are just now getting used to the idea,&rdquo; he smiles. He doesn&rsquo;t wear a mask because he sees better and feels better without it, but is one of the few who admits it is frightening to play goal sometimes. &ldquo;With the curved sticks, the pucks not only come up hard and fast, but dancing crazily, and you catch yourself ducking sometimes. I ve had more than 300 stitches in my face. You start to sweat and have to talk to yourself to hang in there. But if you want it enough, you do it somehow,&rdquo; he sighed. He refused to grumble about lack of support, but admitted, &ldquo;It is hell to lose all the time.He and his wife Eleanor have a son, Randy, 11, and an adopted daughter Leslie, 2, and they could have used a big-leaguer&rsquo;s salary before this, but now they could afford to buy a home in Walkerton, Ontario, and rent a place in Pittsburgh for the season. I&rsquo;m not bitter &ldquo;he smiled. &ldquo;Really I&rsquo;m not. Sure I&rsquo;d have liked my chance sooner. Sure I&rsquo;d like to be on a better team. But you have to take things as they come and hope they improve. I&rsquo;ll be 33 next season, but goal-tenders mature late and I&rsquo;m just reaching my peak. I&rsquo;d like to stay up top awhile. Then maybe I&rsquo;d like to return to San Diego to finish my career. It&rsquo;d be a lovely place to retire.&rdquo; He sighed and smiled and went downstairs and put on his uniform and went out on the ice and got battered some more. When another long season ended, he and his family packed up and went home. The playoffs and the glory are not for everyone. &#9632;

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY NORMAN MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03540/2782935-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ranger goaler ED GIACOMIN and his wife, MARG, welcome their third child, daughter NANCY ELLEN at North Shore Hospital in New York.</figcaption></div>NEW YORK, N.Y.&mdash;In the old days your favorite ball player or hockey star spent his off season resting, hunting a little and regaling his home fown folk with hot stove talk in Ye Olde Village Taverne. Nowadays, almost all professional athletes work at something which will prepare them for the future, when they will no longer be able to cut the mustard.In this respect, the Rangers are no different than most. Rod Gilbert, the most sought after New York star, will be the Director of Training at Skateland Summer Hockey School on Long Island. He will also make public relations appearances and even will try a little radio work. Gilbert&rsquo;s staff at Skateland will include Jean Ratelle, Brad Park, Ed Giacomin, Vic Hadfield, Reg Fleming, Phil Goyette, and Walter Tkaczuk. All of these boys will work part of the summer long sessions and will still be able to handle other assignments on their own.For example, Ratelie will give golf lessons. Hadfield is also a golf pro in Oakville, Ontario. Vic, along with Andy Bathgate and Harry Howell will continue on their number one project &mdash; the building of a golf course on a farm the trio recently purchased.Park, the youthful blue line magician, will work at another school as well as Skateland and Fleming is a candy executive in Chicago, 11-linois, where he makes his home in the off season.Reggie, who is married to a beautiful former airline stewardess from the Windy City, will be offering Milk Duds around the mid west metropolis.Tkaczuk will work at two summer schools and will also keep his body beautiful by working at construction jobs. Phil Goyette, the scholarly center will again work at his off-season custom brokerage job in Montreal. Arnie Brown, an afficionado of the New York theatre, will go back to college at Trent University. Rod Seiling, who is recuperating from operations on both knees, also hopes to hit the books at Waterloo University. Rod may try to work at some schools if his knees come around in time. Dave Balon will do public relations work for Molson&rsquo;s Brewery. Larry Jeffrey, the penalty killer, will sell hamburgers and do a little farming in Goderich, Ontario.Orland Kurtenbach, who underwent spinal fusion surgery early in the season, will work continually at hockey schools, with a double barreled motive. He likes the work and in the process of instructing the youngsters he will get the opportunity to skate every day and slowly work himself back into shape for his comeback this Fall. &#9632;

f0008-03

Rangers’ Off-Season Occupations Varied; Four Turning to Golf

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES, Calif. &mdash;No one around the Los Angeles Kings expects Red Kelly to return as coach next season, although no one really knows what is on Kelly&rsquo;s mind or Jack Kent Cooke&rsquo;s mind.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01723/2782973-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="253" height="397"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Wilson</figcaption></div>A deep division developed between manager Larry Regan and coach Kelly which unfortunately came to seem irreparable and many of the players have described themselves as confused and discontented.The Kings showed some promise in their first season and had they made their moves a realistic appraisal of their talent dictated last summer they might have solidified this season, but instead they fell apart. The distressing thing now is that after two years of building, they must start anew almost from scratch with a new coach and probably some new players.The chances are if Kelly goes, Regan will remain and may even become coach. Johnny Wilson, the coach of the Kings&rsquo; Springfield farm, might be the new coach. Other possibilities would seem to be Denver coach Rudy Pilous, the colorful veteran who has won a_ Stanley Cup and spent an unusual amount of time around the Kings late in the season or Buffalo coach Fred Shero.Portland coach Hal Laycoe&rsquo;s name has been mentioned again, but it is highly unlikely he could be brought together with Cooke again. Still, he had first crack at the job originally and his minor league record has only gotten better since. Some even wonder if a fellow by the name of Red Kelly shouldn&rsquo;t be considered.Cooke and Regan felt they had the best of the expansion rosters in the beginning. Now they may be growing disenchanted with their personnel, though both say they remain convinced the best way to go was with youth. Regan suggests that the older St. Louis team will collapse and be passed by the L.A. team before long, though no one is going to take away the laurels already won by the Blues. Kelly says pointedly, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed that there hasn&rsquo;t been as much patience demonstrated as promised.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02666/2782966-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="1154" height="1196"><figcaption class="caption-body">The L.A. Kings introduced a new innovation this season when players were accompanied on the ice by their wives during the club&rsquo;s distinctive trophy night presentations. Here&rsquo;s Kings&rsquo; BOB WALL, left, and GERRY DESJARDINS with their spouses at ceremony.</figcaption></div>Most of Kelly&rsquo;s comments now are pointed, but cryptic. He says, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough enough to go places in this game skating on the level, but if you have to skate uphill, it&rsquo;s impossible.&rdquo;He says, &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re driving a car some place, there may be more than one road you can take to get there, but there can only be one driver and if the others keep arguing about the route to take and if they keep trying to wrestle the wheel out of the driver&rsquo;s hands, you&rsquo;re going to crash.&rdquo;He says, &ldquo;If Vince Lombardi is coaching a football team, he has assistant coaches and spotters to detect things and suggest things to him, to give him the help he wants and to carry out his instructions, but he is the only one who makes the decisions and directs the show.&rdquo;He says, finally, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been disappointed that everyone couldn&rsquo;t put aside their personal grievances and pull together behind me. I knew many players were unhappy and there wasn&rsquo;t much I could do about it. I was disappointed in the play of many of the players. But I know most of them tried to the limits of their abilities. I&rsquo;m not ashamed of the job I&rsquo;ve done. I gave the best I had. I&rsquo;ve learned a lot. I&rsquo;ve found out coaching isn&rsquo;t all I&rsquo;d hoped it would be. And it&rsquo;s certainly a lonely life. But I think I&rsquo;d like to go on coaching, for awhile at least.&rdquo;Smiling, Kelly denies that he&rsquo;d be interested in returning to politics. In parliament and elsewhere, he seems to feel he has had to play politics enough to last him awhile for now.If he goes, it will be left to Cooke and probably Regan, determined individuals, to begin to right the floundering ship. There is some good stuff here. The goal-tending should be sound for many years to come, which is a big thing. If disturbed stars such as Bill White and Bill Flett are traded, they could bring quality men in exchange. Sound fundamental coaching and inspirational leadership might make a surprising difference, provided the leaders are agreeable with one another and pull together. &#9632;

f0009-01

Red Kelly Non-Committal On Future With L.A.

<div class="byline">RY BOB HARRIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01732/2783077-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02678/2783070-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="1189" height="1136"><figcaption class="caption-body">TED HARRIS &hellip; Solid In Cup Finals</figcaption></div>MONTREAL, Que. &mdash;John Ferguson fired the most lucrative goal of his National Hockey League career last weekend and the Montreal Canadiens skated off with their 16th world championship.The rugged left winger triggered a $9,750 shot that eluded Glenn Hall of St. Louis for the winning goal in the fourth and windup game to the 1969 Stanley Cup finals. That&rsquo;s the amount of bonus money each individual member of the Canucks pocketed for collecting the cup after Ferguson scored what proved to be the winning goal in the third period of the fourth game of the cup finals at St. Louis.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03576/2783063-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="255" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Ferguson</figcaption></div>The Canadiens swept the best-of-seven &lsquo;showdown&rsquo; series with the disappointing and the fos wins enriched the Habs&rsquo; player, bonus money to $204,750 &mdash; or $9,9750 per player. In spite of their loss, the Blues earned only $1,500 less per man as they carved up a total of $173,250 in playoff swag.Last season it took the Canadiens 13 games to win the cup for the 15th time. This year they needed 14 to turn the trick.Playing their 102nd game-including exhibitions, league and playoff games the Habs encounteted little resistance from the Blues, which had to be a source of disappointment to coach Scotty Bowman, the Western Division overall, the NHL and certainly the Blues rabid and loyal singing, swinging hockey fans.The Canadiens ran through the Blues with unexpected ease. They won by scores of 3-1, 3-1, 4-0 and 2-1 outscoring St. Louis 12-3. Probably the most disheartening aspect of the Blues showing was the fact the team scored only three times in the four games during the cup finals. Both Red Berenson and Gary Sabourin, the two men who sparked the Blues through the preliminary playoff rounds with their hot scoring sticks went goal-less in the final to hamper the Blues, efforts.About the only thing the Canadiens didn&rsquo;t achieve in the playoffs was to keep Boston&rsquo;s Phil Esposito from winning the individual playoff scoring championship. Espo, who filled&rsquo; his hat at the expense of the hapless Toronto Leafs in the Eastern semifinals, ended with 18 points to top the list. Montreal&rsquo;s Jean Beliveau, a big factor in the club&rsquo;s ascendancy to the cup closed in on Esposito but fell short of the mark with 15. Teammate Dick Duff, another moving force for the Habs int the playoffs, was third with 14 points and actually led Montreal in goals with six.The Canadiens defensive play was simply too much for the Blues, who couldn&rsquo;t penetrate the rock-ribbed Montreal defenders with any degree of consistency. In the four games, the Blues excelled only in the last and even then only for half the contest.Goalie Rogatien Vachon and defensemen Serge Savard, J.C. Tremblay, Jacques Laperriere, Ted Harris, and Terry Harper were so frustrating to the St. Louis attackers that Vachon only permitted three goals to get past him in 240 minutes of playoff action.It was apparent that the Blues&rsquo; pop guns were no match for the canonnading Canadiens and it showed in the final outcome. It was thought the Canuks would be spent after a gruelling six-game Eastern final with Boston&rsquo;s hard-hitting Bruins but it seemed the extra body-contact and skating only made the Habs sharper for the rested Blues, who zipped through the West in the minimum eight playoff games.The final defeat in the series was the 18th straight time St. Louis had been unable to repel the Canadiens in two seasons of rivalry and it may take another two to achieve the stopper if the Blues can&rsquo;t produce a more vibrant offense for the 1969-70 season.There were reports that Bowman would concentrate along these lines in the off-season so the Blues wouldn&rsquo;t be so vulnerable at playoff time by taking himself off the coaching bench to concentrate on being the club general manager and secure the required players to end Montreal&rsquo;s seemingly endless &lsquo;hex&rsquo; scored on the expansion club.The man rumored to be headed for Bowman&rsquo;s coaching post is both a former member of the Canadiens and the Blues-veteran forward Dickie Moore.The fiery forward was in St. Louis for the final game of the playoffs as a television color man and analyst, which may or may not have any significance on the rumor.Bowman offered no comment on the Moore report but it is expected that the Blues will probably make an announcement on. the situation before the forthcoming June summer hockey meetings. &#9632;

f0011-01

Ferguson Fires $9,750 Shot Past Hall To Knock St. Louis Out In 4 Straight

<h2>SUN APR. 27</h2>ST. LOUIS 1 at MONTREAL 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-04487/2783129-1-eng-US/f0011-042.jpg" title="f0011-04" width="592" height="631"></div>(Montreal loads best-of-seven finals 1-0)<h2>TUES. APR. 29</h2>ST-LOUIS 1 at MONTREAL 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-05408/2783122-1-eng-US/f0011-052.jpg" title="f0011-05" width="607" height="642"></div>(Montreal loads best-af-soven series 2-0)<h2>THURS. MAY 1</h2>MONTREAL 4 at ST. LOUIS 0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-06362/2783115-1-eng-US/f0011-062.jpg" title="f0011-06" width="608" height="542"></div>(Montreal leads best-of-seven finals 4-0)<h2>Sun. May 4</h2>MONTREAL 2 at ST. LOUIS 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-07329/2783108-1-eng-US/f0011-072.jpg" title="f0011-07" width="605" height="540"></div>(Montreal loads best-of-seven finals 3-0) &#9632;

f0011-04

Playoff Summaries

<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;Two seasons in the National Hockey League and twice in the Stanley Cun finals. That&rsquo;s the enviable record of the St. Louis Blues.Kings of the NHL West for the second successive year, in Blues have succeeded in making a rapidly shrinking army of non-believers understand that they are for real.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01710/2783160-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="280" height="609"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Sabourin</figcaption></div>When the Blues were pulling those rabbits out of hats a year ago, winning games with a kind of magic rarely seen in the NHL, there were those who claimed it was a bubble that would burst and when it did the Blues would lose. They said other uncomplimentary things like some of the St. Louis gang were so old they were getting their skates tangled in their beards.But then the amazing guys with the big blue note on their jerseys came on like a Calgary stampede to rap the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings out of the playoffs in eight straight blasts. It&rsquo;s a wonder that Bud Poile or Jack Kent Cooke didn&rsquo;t call for a saliva test after those affairs.The Blues were flying like Scotty Bowman had marinated their steaks in high octane gasoline.Their first two NHL seasons have made it pretty clear that the Blues brain trust made a lot of right decisions in putting together the St. Louis hockey club. From the very start, at the summer draft of 1967, when Lynn Patrick, Scotty Bowman and aides made off with their selections, the club has been substantially strengthened.Proof of just how solid the club has been can be seen in the fact the Blues fought through the playoffs this season with virtually the same club that carried them to the finals a year ago. There were just four changes and they all had last names starting with &ldquo;M&rdquo;. Gone from last year&rsquo;s playoff squad were Seth Martin, the goaltender, and forwards Dickie Moore, Gerry Melnyk and Don McKenney. In their place were the great 40-year-old goalie ace, Jacques Plante, Ab McDonald, Camille Henry and Terry Gray.There was no frantic scramble for replacements from the well-stocked Kansas City farm of the Blues. Management was convinced they had a solid hockey squad capable of fighting through the long season and the pressure-packed Cup playoffs. And they were right again.The Blues continued to use the formula of something new, something old and something in between. Their strength ranged all the way from the Vezina Trophy winners Plante and Glenn Hall, aged 40 and 37, to the 21-year-old Timmy Ecclestone.What was very much in evidence in between were the solid sophomore seasons of such potentially marginal players as Frank St. Marseille, Terry Crisp, Ron Schock and Gary Sabourin, who blossomed out as a hot scorer once the playoffs got underway.With very few exceptions, if any,&rsquo; they should all be back with the Blues when the third season of expansion NHL play kicks off next October. Together with an aggressive player development program which has been underway from the very beginning of the St. Louis entry into the big league, the Blues may well be on the way to starting the first dynasty in the West.What is most remarkable about the phenomenal success of the Blues is that they were the last club to be granted a franchise in the first NHL expansion. They literally launched their rocket without a player, a general manager, a coach or a building fit to be occupied.It was the genius-style of owners Sidney Salomon, Jr. and his close associates that made the Blues organization a solid, functioning hockey club almost overnight. The Salomon philosophy for success is basically simple. Pick the best people available, give them big league support, and more often than not they&rsquo;ll perform like big leaguers.As chairman of the board and president, Sid, Jr. follows the policy of spending a buck to make a buck. That was the proven formula of another spectacular sports promoter named Bill Veeck, who once took this town by storm with his baseball operation.While spending money freely to obtain some of the elder statesmen of the game like the Glenn Halls, the Jacques Plantes, the Doug Harveys (and last year the Dickie Moores), the Salomons have been diligently building a pool of youthful playing talent that will soon be ready to move into the big club.Meanwhile, in St. Louis the hockey Blues, the most exciting sports attraction to capture this venerable city in a long, long time, have carved out an honored place in the hearts of the inhabitants. &#9632;

f0012-01

BLUES’ TWO-YEAR RECORD ENVIED AROUND NHL

Little Rogatien Vachon is the smallest netminder in all of the National Hockey League at 5&rsquo;7&rdquo;, 160 pounds, but this past week the Montreal goalkeeper played like he was six feet tall.The sophomore goaler of the Canadiens turned in a brilliant final series against the St. Louis Blues as he limited the Western Division champions to three goals in the four games and posted one shutout as the Montrealers rolled to their 16th Stanley Cup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02615/2783191-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="285" height="574"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rogatien Vachon</figcaption></div>Vachon, who was forced into the starting role when Gump Worsley became injured with a broken finger, was superb in the series with the Blues. His play was so impressive that NHL playoff selectors were in a quandary as to which player to select for the Conn Smythe Trophy for the best playoff performance.Their choice lay between Vachon and big Serge Savard and to be lumped with the Canadiens&rsquo; defensive giant was in itself a fitting tribute to just how well Vachon handled himself in the championship series. Savard was nothing short of sensational throughout the playoffs.El Producto and THE HOCKEY NEWS are pleased to salute the NHL&rsquo;s final playerof-the-week for the 1968-69 season:Rogatien Vachon&hellip;Montreal &#9632;

f0012-02

NHL Player Of The Week

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02653/2783278-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01700/2783285-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="139" height="305"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>STANLEY CUP FINALS</h2>(Montreal wins best-of-seven finals<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sunday, April 27St. Louis 1 at Montreal 3Tuesday, April 29St. Louis 1 at Montreal 3Thursday, May 1Montreal 4 at St. Louis 0Sunday, May 4Montreal 2 at St. Louis 1<h2>EASTERN DIVISION</h2><h3>SERIES &lsquo;A&rsquo;</h3>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03607/2783271-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="521" height="108"></div>(Montreal wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. 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 3<h3>SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;</h3>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04556/2783264-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="519" height="99"></div>(Boston wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 2Toronto 0 at Boston 10Thurs. Apr. 3Toronto 0 at Boston 7Sat. Apr. 5Boston 4 at Toronto 3Sun. Apr. 6Boston 3 at Toronto 2<h3>SERIES &lsquo;E&rsquo;</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05460/2783257-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="528" height="99"></div>(Montreal wins best-of-seven series 4-2).<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thun. Apr. 10Boston 2 at Montreal 3Sun. Apr. 13Boston 3 at Montreal 4Thurs. Apr. 17Montreal 0 at Boston 5Sun. Apr. 20Montreal 2 at Boston 3Tues. Apr. 22Boston 2 at Montreal 4Thurs. Apr. 24Montreal 2 at Boston 1<h2>WESTERN DIVISION</h2><h3>SERIES &lsquo;C&rsquo;</h3>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-06392/2783250-1-eng-US/f0013-062.jpg" title="f0013-06" width="532" height="110"></div>(St. Louis wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 2Philadelphia 2 at St. Louis 5Thurs. Apr. 3Philadelphia 0 at St. Louis 5Sat. Apr. 5St. Louis 3 at Philadelphia 0Sun. Apr. 6St. Louis 4 at Philadelphia 1<h3>SERIES D&rsquo;</h3>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-07362/2783243-1-eng-US/f0013-072.jpg" title="f0013-07" width="534" height="99"></div>(Los Angeles wins best-of-seven series 4-3<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 2Los Angeles 5 at Oakland 4Thurs. 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 4Thurs. Apr. 10Oakland 3 at Los Angeles 4Sun. Apr. 13Los Angeles 5 ot Oaklond 3<h3>SERIES &lsquo;F&rsquo;</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-08339/2783236-1-eng-US/f0013-082.jpg" title="f0013-08" width="547" height="106"></div>(St. Louis wins best-of-seven series 4-0).<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tues. Apr. 15Los Angeles 0 at St. Louis 4Thurs. Apr. 17Los Angeles 2 at St. Louis 3Sat. Apr. 19St. Louis 5 at Los Angeles 2Sun. Apr. 20St. Louis 4 ot Los Angeles 1<h2>Playoff Scoring</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-09322/2783229-1-eng-US/f0013-092.jpg" title="f0013-09" width="547" height="1354"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-10300/2783222-1-eng-US/f0013-102.jpg" title="f0013-10" width="545" height="1346"></div> &#9632;

f0013-02

Stanley Cup Picture ’69

<div class="byline">BY JIM PROUDFOOT</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-11" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-11275/2783316-1-eng-US/f0013-112.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Veteran goalers JACQUES PLANTE, left, and GLENN HALL, clutch Vezina Trophy they combined to win this season.</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS. Mo. &mdash;Jacques Plante says he expects to wake up any day and find out it&rsquo;s all a beautiful dream.He was 40 on Jan. 17 and he&rsquo;s tending goal, he claims, far more efficiently than at any time during a distinguished National Hockey League career that ended, everybody thought, in 1965. He has earned a share of the Vezina Trophy, which hockey gives to its top goalie, and he has just played for St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup final against Montreal Canadiens, the team that employed him a decade ago during the days when he was the best in the business.&ldquo;I keep telling myself that all this can&rsquo;t be happening,&rdquo; Plante says. &ldquo;It really is hard to believe, isn&rsquo;t it?&ldquo;I mean it when I say I never played this well before.&ldquo;During the three seasons I missed, I had a chance to study hockey as I never could before. I looked carefully at each man in the NHL and the moves he made and now I am playing with this knowledge in the back of my head.&rdquo;Many feel Plante&rsquo;s absolute peak was attained in December of 1965 after he&rsquo;d become a civilian. He played for the junior Canadiens against the Russian nationals and beat them, 2-1.Plante laughs at the suggestion. &ldquo;That was an easy one,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you know how the Russians play? They never shoot from an angle if there&rsquo;s another man near the goal. So I cheated. I&rsquo;d move to that open man as the pass was going to him. They never figured out what was going on, but do you know how long it would have taken an NHL team to catch on? Five minutes.&rdquo;When Plante quit, it was because of his wife&rsquo;s illness and he meant it, but he realizes now that he&rsquo;d grown tired of bigleague hockey and the strenuous schedule it imposes on its athletes.&ldquo;You could say my enthusiasm returned,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;I had a rest from the travel and the practice and the pressure. And don&rsquo;t forget Scotty Bowman, our coach at St. Louis, alternates me and Glenn Hall. That keeps us both fresh. Plante expects to be back next season.&ldquo;I have a feeling I never appreciated the NHL properly before.&rdquo;Many St. Louis players have that same feeling on account of the generosity indulged in by the club&rsquo;s owners, the Salomons. Plante abandoned retirement because he had a chance to make more money than he&rsquo;d ever made in his life. That&rsquo;s true of every man on the roster.Hall was injured after 11 minutes of Blues&rsquo; playoff opener against Philadelphia. He went for a shot that was beyond his reach and he ripped a leg muscle. Plante stepped in and yielded only eight goals in eight games, all won by St. Louis.Scotty Bowman knows many of Montreal&rsquo;s biggest shooters detest Plante. He rapped many of his former colleagues after he&rsquo;d been dealt to Rangers in 1963 and those same teammates used to feel he&rsquo;d let them down many times when he was with them, booking off sick before key matches. Moreover, athletes never enjoy living with a legend, which Plante was, having pioneered innovations, now taken for granted, such as the goalie&rsquo;s mask and the net minder&rsquo;s quick forays to control loose pucks.Today, Plante is again guilty, as the players see it, of talking too much and too frankly. Even Yvan Cournoyer, a junior when Plante was playing, says &ldquo;I become a cannon when I see him.&rdquo;Plante is one of nine former Montreal workmen who represent St. Louis and that doesn&rsquo;t include defenceman Doug Harvey, who was through for the year with head injuries.This was a good reason for picking Canadiens to win easily. They went out and whipped a team whose key men were guys the Montreal organization discarded. &#9632;

f0013-11

Plante Admits This Season He Never Played Better In Goal

<div class="byline">with ED FITKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01698/2783361-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="321" height="439"></div>YOU&rsquo;RE THE GENERAL MANAGER of a National Hockey League team and what are you doing right now? &hellip; &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the toughest time of the year for us,&rdquo; says Larry Regan, GM of the Los Angeles Kings. &ldquo;This is when GM&rsquo;s go grey trying to decide what players to protect, which ones they can take a gamble on not losing, what deals they can make to strengthen their obvious weak spots, what players the other GMs are likely to make available, and so on.&rdquo;&hellip; Regan began charting the Kings&rsquo; future course of action immediately after the Los Angeles team was kayoed by St. Louis Blues in the Western Division final &hellip; Day after day you would see him at his desk in Jack Kent Cooke&rsquo;s Fabulous Forum, going over the rosters of the other 11 teams in the NHL, assessing every club&rsquo;s strengths and weaknesses, trying to determine the probable protected list for each club, rating players that might be available in the draft, checking reports turned in by his various scouts on minor league and amateur players &hellip; His stack of lists grew into an impressive pile of papers &hellip; &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried to project my thinking to cover every contingency,&rdquo; Regan mused. &ldquo;As far as the actual draft in June is concerned, it looks like the pickings will be skimpy. That means we could see quite a flurrv of trades before the meetings in Montreal.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02589/2783354-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="256" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Regan</figcaption></div>THERE HAS BEEN CONSIDERABLE TALK about pending deals but any player transactions naturally affect the protected list of 14 players and two goalies that has to be filed the night before the NHL draft session starts &hellip; This, as you can imagine, poses more mental gyrations for the GM &hellip; &ldquo;Suppose I am considering a deal in which I&rsquo;ll get 4 players for 2,&rdquo; Regan hypothesized. &ldquo;To start with, I have two extra players to add to my protected list, and that means I have to drop two of the guys I considered worth protecting in the first place. Who do I drop? I&rsquo;m almost sure to lose these two in the draft. So I have to say to myself is the deal really that good or am I going to have to give up too much in making it? Am I really strengthening the club or weakening it? These are some of the problems you have to contend with. If you have a farm club, as we have in Springfield, you have to consider their needs, too. You have to make sure they have top talent to be a contender and you have to at the same time stock their team with players who can develop for the NHL team.&rdquo;&hellip; The brainwork and the paperwork seem to be endless at this time, what with all the other departments of a hockey operation to be considered&hellip; There are amateur players you have to make up your mind about, whether to turn them pro or put them on &lsquo;A&rsquo; forms, or drop them altogether&hellip; There are working agreements with other minor league clubs, and what talent you can channel their way, and pretty soon there will be decisions to be made on what players will be invited to training camp, making all the necessary arrangements for their transportation, what exhibition games will be played, the 1969-70 budget, the schedule, travel arrangements &hellip; And if you are Jack Riley, Pittsburgh GM, for example, you have the problem of choosing a new coach.LIKE ALL NHL GENERAL MANAGERS, Regan, naturally, has been on the phone discussing possible deals with a view to strengthening his team &hellip; &ldquo;Everybody wants a battleship for a rowboat,&rdquo; Regan says with a shrug. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a lot of talks, and I&rsquo;m sure that all the Western Division clubs have had the same experience we&rsquo;ve had &mdash; the only guys the other teams are interested in are the only stars you&rsquo;ve got on your club. Right now we&rsquo;re pretty close to completing a deal; in fact, by the time whatever you write appears in print, it will probably be completed. I think a lot of deals will be made before the draft because I&rsquo;m sure the other GMs feel the way that I do that the draft isn&rsquo;t going to fill their requirements.&rdquo; &hellip; Regan believes the draft would be fairer to the Western Division if each of the new clubs were allowed to protect 16 players and the old Eastern Division clubs 14.FOOTNOTES &hellip; Hockey fans in Oakland and Los Angeles were disenchanted over the results of the Calder Trophy balloting &hellip; Selection of Minnesota&rsquo;s Danny Grant over Oakland&rsquo;s Norm Ferguson and the slighting of Gerry Desjardins, the Kings&rsquo; brilliant rookie goalie who placed fourth behind New York&rsquo;s Brad Park, occasioned in dignant reaction all over the Sunshine state &hellip; Ferguson was a full-fledged rookie who had never before played a game in the NHL &hellip; Grant, on the other hand, spent most of last season with Montreal Canadiens, appeared in 22 games plus 10 Stanley Cup playoffs &hellip; Both scored 34 goals this past campaign but Ferguson was a vital factor in Oakland&rsquo;s rise from last-place to second place &hellip; This should have been an important plus for the Seals&rsquo; right winger in view of the fact that Minnesota finished in last place &hellip; Desjardins, a top contender for rookie honors all season, was forced to play in 60 games, including 31 in succession, because of injuries to Wavne Rutledge, and was sabotaged more by his porous defense and the teams late-season tailspin than by his own short comings &hellip; &ldquo;Gerry would have won it,&rdquo; Rutledge declared, &ldquo;if I could have been more help to him, if I could have played more games and given him the rest he needed.&rdquo;&hellip; Bobby Hull has always been one of hockey&rsquo;s greatest public relations personalities and he&rsquo;s won a lot more people to the game through his pleasant and authoritative comments of the CBS-TV games &hellip; St. Louis Blues have two great young player Frank St. Marseille and Gary Sabourin. They know<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03452/2783347-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="275" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank St. Marseille</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Footloose

<div class="byline">BY GLENN REDMANN</div>TWIN CITIES, Minn.&mdash;Danny Grant had to be the most happy man in the Minnesota North Stars organization over the fact that Danny Grant was chosen as the winner of the NHL&rsquo;s coveted Calder rookie Memorial Trophy.But not far behind was Wren Blair, the club&rsquo;s firey general manager and coach, who admitted after the announcement was made in Montreal April 28 that it made up partly for the disappointment of Andre Boudrias not winning the award in 1968.The NHL writers made an &ldquo;astute&rdquo; selection, according to Blair, in voting the honor to Grant, a 23-year-old left winger who set two rookie records and tied another by banging home 34 goals and assisting on 31 others for the Minnesotans.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy for Danny,&rdquo; said Blair, &ldquo;because I&rsquo;ve felt all along that he had the best year among those declared eligible for the Calder Trophy.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t tell you how badly I felt for Boudrias (since traded to the Black Hawks) last year, because he had four more points than Derek Sanderson (the 1968 winner) and meant so much to the success of our club.&rdquo;Blair fully realizes that Grant will have another wedge to use in negotiating a contract for the 1969-70 season, but he doesn&rsquo;t mind one iota.&ldquo;These are the types of negotiations that are the easiest,&rdquo; added Wren, &ldquo;because we both go in knowing he deserves a raise.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04333/2783392-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="434" height="546"><figcaption class="caption-body">DANNY GRANT &hellip; Surprised By Award</figcaption></div>When Blair and Grant get around to talking contract, it&rsquo;s a pretty good bet that it will be for one year only. Wren hasn&rsquo;t said as much, but he has to wonder if giving two-year pacts to such traded stars as Boudrias, Mike McMahon (also now a Black Hawk) and Wayne Connelly (dealt to Detroit) didn&rsquo;t have something to do with their performing below 1967-68 standards.The NHL records broken by Grant were for most modern day goals &mdash; Bernie Geoffrion formerly held the mark with 30 &mdash; and most points. His 65 beat by three the total of Gus Bodnar set in 1943-44. Geoffrion&rsquo;s standard came in 1951-52.Danny&rsquo;s tied mark is the 34 goals which matched Nels Stewart&rsquo;s all-time record set over a 36-game schedule in 1925-26. Sharing this and the modern day mark with Grant is Oakland&rsquo;s Norm Ferguson, who finished with 54 points for the Seals.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really surprised,&rdquo; said Grant upon learning of the honor at his home in Fredericton, New Brunswick.&ldquo;I would sure like to thank all my teammates who helped make this possible,&rdquo; added the former Montreal chattel.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d especially like to thank my linemates, Danny O&rsquo;Shea (himself a rookie) and Claude Larose. They wcrked plenty hard to set me up for most of my goals.&rdquo;Grant told Dan Stoneking of the Minneapolis Star that he came close to calling it quits in pro hockey after the 1967-68 season when he was used sparingly by the Canadiens.&ldquo;I decided to give it one more year after the (1968) Stanley Cup,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d had some offers around home to coach and had all but made up my mind to take one of them because it&rsquo;s no fun sitting on the bench and things weren&rsquo;t looking up for the future.&ldquo;Then Wren Blair make the deal for Claude (Larose) and I, and from the looks of things, it was the best thing that could&rsquo;ve happened to me.&rdquo;There have been rumors going around the Twin Cities for more than two months now that either Grant or Larose will be sent back to the Canadiens in exchange for two or three promising farmhands.&ldquo;You know as much about those rumors as I do,&rdquo; said Danny, &ldquo;but you can quote me when I say I hope sincerely that they&rsquo;re not true.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t speak for Rosey, but I enjoyed my first season in Minnesota and hope I&rsquo;ll be back next year.&rdquo;STAR-LITES: John Muckier, who finished the 1968-69 campaign as general manager at Memphis after being offered both the GM and coaching jobs with the South Stars, will remain in the Twin Cities until the middle of June when he takes up residence for six weeks in Long Island, N.Y. Muckier, John Mariucci and publicist Dick Dillman were among those in attendance April 26 when famed TV performer Johnny Carson put on a show which attracted more than 12,000 to the Sports Center &hellip; Carson called the Met one of the finest buildings he had ever performed in &hellip; Parker MacDonald, ticketed to coach the North Stars&rsquo; Central League development club regardless where it lands in 1969-70, is spending the off season here and will be one of several pro instructors at the Stars&rsquo; summer hockey school for boys &hellip; Defenseman Lou Nanne and his wife recently returned from a 14-day cruise in the Caribbean. &#9632;

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Grant’s Rookie Award Win Seen Justice For Boudrias ‘Slight’

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. &mdash;What started out as bus seat chatter turned into reality for 17-year veteran hockey trainer, Fraser Gleeson.The 32-year-old Gleeson, just finished his fourth year as head trainer for the Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central Hockey League, has big plans this summer as he will hold his second annual North American Trainers&rsquo; School of Techniques at Montreal.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02605/2783454-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="249" height="425"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fraser Gleeson</figcaption></div>In December, 1967, while returning home in the middle of the night from a long road trip, Gleeson got to talking with Oklahoma City General Manager Bill Levins about how slim the prospects are for a young man to enter the training profession.And as a result of that conversation over the humming wheels of a bus rolling through the Oklahoma hills, Gleeson has fashioned together what is recognized, after only one year, a topnotch trainers&rsquo; school which has been well-received by not only young aspiring trainers but the veterans who have been in the sports&rsquo; training field for years.The second version of Gleeson&rsquo;s dream unfolds June 27-29 on the campus of Loyola College in Montreal, Que.A year ago he conducted his first school in Sarnia, Ontario, his hometown, and attracted 32 young and veteran trainers from seven Canadian provinces and five states in the United States.This year he is hoping to double his enrollment and started to plan for the 1969 session only days after the close of last year&rsquo;s school.&ldquo;My biggest goal in creating the school was to find a way to better the training profession,&rdquo; Gleeson said.&ldquo;And after analyzing last year&rsquo;s school, I feel that a school of this type cannot only upgrade our profession but will be a big step towards the betterment in the quality of trainers for athletic clubs across North America,&rdquo; he added.And Gleeson feels that to educate the trainers attending his school that you must provide them with top-rated instructors in the profession.This year Gleeson has a classy lineup of instructors on his staff.Dan Canney, the personable head trainer of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League, will serve for the second straight year as chief instructor for the three-day school.Joining Canney on the speaker&rsquo;s stand will be:Carl Jorgensen, veteran trainer of the Green Bay Packers who is in his 45th season with the National Football League&rsquo;s six-time world champions;Dr. Bruce Cameron, a orthopedic specialist from Houston, Texas, acknowledged to be one of the most outstanding orthopedic physicians in the United States.William &ldquo;Bill&rdquo; Head, director of health services for the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association and former trainer and physiotherapist of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League.And Ed Nowalkoski, chief trainer of the Loyola College athletic department which offers 35 popular and individual sports to its students. Loyola is recognized as having one of the most complete and diversified college athletic and physical education programs of its type in Canada.With this staff of five blue-star instructors, Gleeson believes those attending his school in June will certainly be informed trainers after the three days.Seventy-five percent of the trainers who attended his school last summer indicated to Gleeson that they&rsquo;ll be at Loyola College this year.Biggest hit of the first school was the fact that ample time was available during the lecture sessions for the trainers to actually participate in the exercises, such as, the taping of knees, ankles and shoulders.&ldquo;All the enrolees are evaluated during the three-day course &mdash; because we are also serving as a trainers&rsquo; placement bureau for any athletic team &mdash; professional, amateur, college or high school &mdash; who is in need of a trainer,&rdquo; Gleeson emphasized.&ldquo;Last year five trainers who attended the school were placed in better jobs following the completion of the school,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what the game of life is all about, help a man to learn and if he learns it well, then help him to put that knowledge to use.&rdquo;That has been part of Gleeson&rsquo;s philosophy for a long time and it has earned him the deepest of respect from not only his fellow trainers but from his players, co-workers and friends.So its pretty apparent, Gleeson&rsquo;s star was shining brightly that cold December night back in 1967. &#9632;

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Trainers’ Hockey School Dream Of Fraser Gleeson

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 PublicationSPRINGFIELD, Mass. &mdash;Gilles Villemure, Buffalo&rsquo;s nimble net-minder who led the American League with his 2.4 average, is a unanimous choice on the 1968-69 American Hockey League All-Star team.Villemure collected 40 points to pace the voting for the first and second teams named by the sportswriters, radio and TV newsmen in the eight league cities. Five of the six players named received a vote from each city to the first team, which was completely dominated by Hershey and Buffalo players.Left-winger Michel Harvey of Hershey just missed unanimous selection with 38 points. He was named first on all but one ballot, was picked second on that one.Others selected for the first team were centre Gil Gilbert of Hershey; right-winger Guy Trottier of Buffalo; and defensemen Bob Blackburn of Buffalo and Ralph Keller of Hershey.Gilbert was the league&rsquo;s leading scorer with 35 goals and 65 assists for 100 points. Harvey led Gilbert for most of the season but finished second with 93 points. Trottier was the top goal-getter with 45. Blackburn and Keller played key defensive roles in their teams, divisional championship seasons.The second All-Star team included Cleveland&rsquo;s Ernie Wakely in goal, Ron Ingram of Buffalo and Jim Morrison of Baltimore on defense, Dennis Hextail of Buffalo at centre, and Wayne Hicks and Jean Cossette both of Baltimore, at right and left wing respectively.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01519/2783520-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="543" height="542"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICHEL HARVEY Hershey &hellip; L. Wing</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02445/2783513-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="549" height="560"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY TROTTIER Buffalo &hellip; R. Wing</figcaption></div>Each member of the first team receives a $300 bonus while second team selections get $200 apiece.In voting, media representatives in each city submit one ballot with the consensus of that particular city listed in 12-3 order. In tabulating the votes a first place vote is worth five points, second place three points and the third place choice one point.Morrison has been on seven AHL All-Star teams. He and Ingram are the only repeaters from last year&rsquo;s teams. Gilbert and Trottier received first team votes from all but two cities. Each member of the first team received a vote from all 8 cities with the exception of Keller who missed by only two. Villemure, Blackburn, Trottier and Harvey all did a brief turn in the NHL sometime during the season.The first team this season was completely new from 1967-68 when Jerry Desjardins made it in goal, Bill Needham and Ingram on defense, Mike Nykoluk at center, Eddie Kachur at right wing and Bob Barlow at left wing. Desjardins was the lone AHL all-star to gain the NHL with Los Angeles.None of last year&rsquo;s second team &lsquo;stars&rsquo;, except Morrison, returned. Bob Perreault, Marc Reaume, Dave Creighton, Simon Nolet and Roger Dejordy were overlooked completely. Reaume like Barlow played in the Western League this season with Vancouver.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06167/2783506-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="542" height="473"><figcaption class="caption-body">GILLES VILLEMURE Buffalo &hellip; Goaler</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07154/2783499-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="542" height="475"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB BLACKBURN Buffalo &hellip; Defense</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08140/2783492-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="540" height="483"><figcaption class="caption-body">RALPH KELLER Hershey &hellip; Defense</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09120/2783485-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="540" height="493"><figcaption class="caption-body">GIL GILBERT Hershey &hellip; Center</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Villemure Lone Unanimous All-Star As Hershey, Buffalo Dominate Teams

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03351/2783558-1-eng-US/f0016-032.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/f0016-04280/2783551-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="1213" height="253"></div> &#9632;

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HOW THEY PICKED THEM

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div>ROCHESTER, N.Y.&mdash;When the Rochester Americans ended last in the American Hockey League&rsquo;s Western Division this season for the poorest finish in their 13year membership in the AHL, rumors the club was going to leave town popped up again.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05210/2783589-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="263" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dick Gamble</figcaption></div>Vancouver, with an eye to joining the National League, had. purchased the Amerks last summer and drained off nearly all the talent from the Rochester club this past season.Bob Weiner, local attorney who was named president of the club late in the campaign, made a post-season trip to Vancouver to confer with Joe Crozier, general manager of both the Canucks and the Amerks and coach of Vancouver.&ldquo;Hockey will be back here under Vancouver ownership next season and for many, many more,&rdquo; Weiner announced after his return. &ldquo;There are no pending deals for removal of the franchise or sale of the club to anyone, and we &hellip; by that I mean Rochester &hellip; will have no working agreement with any National League club.&rdquo;Weiner said Rochester fans can expect a better hockey club and a younger hockey club than stumbled home this season.As for player-coach Dick Gamble&rsquo;s future, Weiner hesitated to say except that a meeting here later this month involving Gamble, Weiner and Crozier would determine the coaching position.It is the thought here that Gamble did an outstanding job considering the personnel he had available and deserves another chance with a better squad.But there&rsquo;s a murmur from the West Coast that Punch Imlach may take over as general manager and coach of the Canucks for next season with Crozier doing the two jobs here and then the two getting together when Vancouver does finally get into the NHL.&ldquo;Joe is negotiating deals with several clubs and I&rsquo;m confident we&rsquo;ll benefit from his moves in the reverse draft in Montreal,&rdquo; Weiner said.Although he declined to name names, Weiner did hint that some members of the 1967-68 Calder Cup winning Amerks who spent this season with Vancouver will be in Rochester sweaters for the coming campaign. &#9632;

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Vets To Go As Amerks Assured Younger Club

<div class="byline">BY JOHN TRAVERS</div>HERSHEY. Pa.&mdash;The Hershey Bears were knocking on the door in their bid to win the Calder Cup as they grabbed a commanding 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven final with the Quebec Aces when the teams shifted back to Hershey ice for the resumption of the series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01434/2783620-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="258" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Marcotte</figcaption></div>The Bears won the first two games here at home by scores of 4-0 and 4-2. When the teams moved to Quebec for games three and four, the Bears won the first in the Canadian city 4-3 and appeared on their way to a series sweep when the Aces snapped out of their lethargy to win the fourth game 6-3.The Bears displayed too much depth and experience for the younger Aces just as they did in the semi-finals against Buffalo Bisons.One of Uncle Sam&rsquo;s boys, Stan Gilbertson, a rangy forward from Duluth, Minn., was the Bears top gun in the semi-final series against the Buffalo Bisons.The 24-year-old Gilbertson, who learned the finer points of the game as a kid skating in the senior leagues around Grand Rapids, Mich., collected six goals and two assists as the Bears erased the American League champion Bisons in a half-dozen games in the best-of-seven set.And the 6-0, 175-pounder, whose family had since migrated to Regina, Sask., gave it the &ldquo;Broadway Joe&rdquo; finish in the final game, popping in a pair in the closing period.Gilbertson handled the left wing spot on the line centered by veteran Bob Leiter and right winger Ted Snell. The trio, who didn&rsquo;t get in high gear until the latter part of the season, exploded for 23 points against the Bisons, garnering 13 assists and eight goals. Snell nailed a game winner.Rookie winger Ace Bailey, who played only four games in the series &mdash; he was recalled by the Boston Bruins and later returned &mdash; closed out second among the scorers with seven points, including four assists in the final game. He was one assist short of equaling the playoff record of five for a single game.And the second best goal scorer was winger Don Marcotte, rated by Hershey officials as the &ldquo;greatest&rdquo; National League prospect ever to wear the Bears&rsquo; colors,Marcotte, who also doubled as a penalty killer, hammered in four goals, including a game winner.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t recall anyone who ever played for Hershey having the all around ability of Marcotte,&rdquo; said Lloyd Blinco, club president who centered the first team ever to represent Hershey in the sport. Blinco&rsquo;s playind days date back to the early 1930&rsquo;s.&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t anything he can&rsquo;t do,&rdquo; said Blinco. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s just a positive thinking player. I&rsquo;ve seen about 1,000 players come and go at Hershey in my time, and Marcotte is the top major league prospect of them all, to my thinking.&rdquo;Coach and general manager Frank Mathers agreed, claiming &ldquo;there&rsquo;s no way the kid can miss being a super star in the National League.&rdquo; In two seasons with Hershey, the 21-year-old Marcotte has scored 66 goals. He is Boston property.Hershey&rsquo;s defensive corps of Barry Ashbee, Mike Mahoney, Ralph Keller, Bob Barber, Larry McNabb and Pete Ford all turned in a solid job against Buffalo.And big John Henderson, the guy the NHL turned its back on a few years ago, played a sparkling series in goal. In 360 minutes against the Bisons, he turned back 162 of 182 shots. Ten of the 20 goals scored against him came when the Bears were shorthanded. &#9632;

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Hershey Bears Game Away From Calder Cup Victory In Final With Quebec Aces

<h2>SAT. APR. 26</h2>QUEBEC 0 at HERSHEY 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02385/2783686-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="580" height="422"></div>(Hershey leads best-of-seven finals 1-0)<h2>WED. APR. 30</h2>QUEBEC 3 at HERSHEY 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03317/2783679-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="593" height="583"></div>(HERSHEY LEADS BEST-OF-SEVEN FINALS 2-0)<h2>FRI. MAY 2</h2>HERSHEY 4 at QUEBEC 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04249/2783672-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="587" height="557"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05204/2783665-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="579" height="103"></div>(Hershey leads bost-of-sevon finals 3-0)<h2>SUN. MAY 4</h2>HERSHEY 3 at QUEBEC 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-06171/2783658-1-eng-US/f0017-062.jpg" title="f0017-06" width="580" height="256"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-07153/2783651-1-eng-US/f0017-072.jpg" title="f0017-07" width="582" height="472"></div>(Hershey leads best-of-seven finals 3-1) &#9632;

f0017-02

Calder Cup Summaries

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK SANTANIELLO</div>SRINGFIELD. Mass. &mdash;Jack Kent Cooke has cleared up the local professional hockey picture for now and the future in Springfield.He had been publicly roasted because the Kings did not make this season&rsquo;s playoffs in the American Hockey League.Cooke, who owns the Los Angeles Kings, is also owner of the Springfield Kings operation.&ldquo;The Springfield Kings,&rdquo; Cooke told us, &ldquo;will be back next season much stronger. We will make every effort to finish in the playoffs.&rdquo;There was also considerable rumor that Cooke would sell the local club and move to the Central League. He explained, &ldquo;the Kings loom large in our overall picture and the Los Angeles Kings have no intention of selling the Springfield team to anyone.&ldquo;We were aware that we did not have a goaltender of AHL caliber,&rdquo; Cooke went on in answer to local criticism of his netminders. &ldquo;Despite all efforts to obtain a goalie who would meet these standards,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;we were unsuccessful. But that does not mean we will be unsuccessful next season.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01440/2783776-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="259" height="437"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Croteau</figcaption></div>Many of the fans, too, were hot at Cooke for taking many players from here. He had an answer. &ldquo;Much criticism was leveled at us for bringing up players from the Springfield club,&rdquo; he replied.&ldquo;We took three players on a permanent basis, but replaced them with four others, Labossiere, Krake, Campbell and Robinson. Compare this with some other major league clubs during last season. It hardly justifies the hue and cry,&rdquo; he said.Cooke feels the Los Angeles Kings have started a true youth movement here. This comes in spite of the many &ldquo;experts&rdquo; who said feel Cooke was interested only in developing a club for his future operations in the Central League.&ldquo;In the 1967 season, we operated with the basic nucleus of the Springfield Indians, plus players our own team was able to acquire. This season, we establised a true youth program here,&rdquo; Cooke said.He felt this was the proper and lasting way to build a hockey organization. &ldquo;We had eight players,&rdquo; Cooke continued, &ldquo;under age 23 or first year pros. We had four players under age 25 and only one player over age 30.&ldquo;We have some great talent, which given the proper maturity will make its mark in the NHL. A prine example was Gary Croteau, who helped our club in Los Angeles considerably.&ldquo;We have owned the Springfield Kings two seasons. In those two years, their record was one playoff and one failure. It is much better, I think, than the previous owner&rsquo;s record of no playoffs in five years.&ldquo;I bought the Springfield Kings from Eddie Shore in 1966 to obtain a reservoir of players for the Los Angeles Kings and build a strong hockey organization in Springfield,&rdquo; concluded Cooke. &#9632;

f0018-01

Cooke Defends Moves, Promises Springfield To Be Stronger Club

<div class="byline">BY JOHN WHITE</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKS (Formerly Wally) Hillerich & Bra cis by Co., Limited Wallaceburg, OntarioLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKS (Formerly Wally) Hillerich & Bradsby Co., Limited Wallaceburg, OntarioSEATTLE, Wash.&mdash;It was the most successful season in Western Hockey League history.For every club, there was satisfaction for accomplishments of the 1968 - 69 campaign &mdash; plus optimism tor the future.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01417/2783821-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="266" height="447"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rudy Pilous</figcaption></div>Team by team, these are some of the reasons as the loose ends are rounded up &hellip;<h2>VANCOUVER</h2>What else would the Lester Patrick Cup champions, who swept to the playoff title in eight straight, be but happy?Well, maybe there was one individual exception &mdash; temporarily. Tough center Bryan Hextall&rsquo;s foot was cut accidentally by a teammate&rsquo;s skate. No, not on the ice where Hextali led the Canucks in playoff scoring with 11 points on 4 goals and 7 assists!Hextall was cut in the dressing room during the championship celebration. And it was a 35-stitch gash.Man, these celebrations can be mighty dangerous.Besides winning the playoff title, the Canucks are celebrating the biggest attendance jump in the league, too. For 37 regularseason and four playoff games, the Canucks drew 348,333 fans &mdash; an all-time record for Vancouver and an increase from 193,482 last season.The playoff triumph, incidentally, was especially welcome in Vancouver. Last season, the Canucks finished last. The baseball Mounties finished last. And the football B.C. Lions finished last.<h2>PORTLAND</h2>There were no bowed heads at Portland&rsquo;s wrapup banquet despite the Buckaroos&rsquo; four straight losses in the playoff finals.The Bucks, after all, captured the regular-season title this year for the fifth straight season &mdash; and no other team in WHL history ever won more than two straight.It was a record-breaking year in almost every way &mdash; most points in the standings in WHL history, fewest defeats in WHL history, most power-play goals in WHL history, most scoring points in WHL history.And the final two games of the championship playoff series went into overtime. A break in both games and the series could have been tied at two victories each at the time the Canucks were celebrating.The Buckaroos, incidentally, made an extremely popular choice in naming veteran center Norm Johnson, who scored a career record of 43 goals, as their most valuable player at the season windup banquet.<h2>SAN DIEGO</h2>It was a tough way to go in the first round of the playoffs.Fcr the second straight season, the San Diego Gulls battled the Portland Buckaroos to the seventh game of the semifinals before losing.Coach Max McNab of the Gulls wasn&rsquo;t crying.&ldquo;All of our guys played well in the playoffs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Portland did prove to be the best club over the 74-game schedule, and we were with them in everv game. We outshot them over the series and in all but one of the games.&rdquo;McNab named Portland goalie Jim McLeod as &ldquo;the key man in the series for them. He saved them in a couple of the games.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02365/2783814-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="1169" height="860"><figcaption class="caption-body">NORM JOHNSON &hellip; Named MVP By Portland</figcaption></div>No one in San Diego could be very unhappy in view of the Gulls breaking all Western League attendance records for the third straight year.The final San Diego total was 367,620 for 40 games &mdash; an average of 9,166 a contest.<h2>SEATTLE</h2>In terms of team performance, it was a disappointing year for Seattle &mdash; fourth place and elimination in four straight in the playoffs after capturing the Lester Patrick Cup for two straight years.But individually, at least, the Totems cleaned up.John Hanna, earlier voted best defenseman (the Hal Layoe Cup) in the league and first All Star, capped a fine campaign by being voted most valuable player in the WHL.Hanna, with 142 points in balloting by players, nosed out teammate Guyle Fielder and Bill Saunders of Portland, who has 137 each. He was the first defenseman to win MVP honors since 1951.In addition, Fielder won the Hume trophy as most gentlemanly player, Jack Michie was named outstanding rookie and Bob Courcy captured first All Star honors.<h2>DENVER</h2>When a team misses the playoffs, there generally isn&rsquo;t much reason for celebration. But not in the case of the Denver Spurs.The comeback of the Spurs, once Coach Rudy Filous obtained a few bodies, was one of the finest in Western League history.After one of the worst starts of all time, the Spurs played close to .500 hockey in the last half of the season.All Pilous needs is bodies at the start of the next campaign and Denver players may be counting playoff money.<h2>PHOENIX</h2>Injuries and wholesale changes caused the Roadrunners, after a good start, to flounder in the last half of the campaign.But the &rsquo;Runners certainly never gave up.They wen three and tied one of their last five games &mdash; including their first victory of the campaign over the Portland Buckaroos.Most heartening in Phoenix was an attendance of 184,608 despite a horrendous last half of the campaign when the &lsquo;Runners are most likely to draw best.The average of just under 5,000 a game shows a hard corps of good hockey fans in the Valley of the Sun.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03296/2783807-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="563" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM McLEOD &hellip; Trouble for Gulls</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-01

Canucks Lift Vancouver ‘Doom’, Win Title, Draw Record 348,333

<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04254/2783890-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="587" height="105"></div>(Vancouver wins best-of-seven finals 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 16Vancouver 6 at Portland 3Fri. Apr. 18Portland 2 at Vancouver 5Sun. Apr. 20Vancouver 3 at Portland 2Tues. Apr. 22Portland 1 at Vancouver 2Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05212/2783883-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="584" height="106"></div>(Vancouver wins best-of-seven 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tues. Apr. 1Vancouver 7 at Seottle 1Wed. Apr. 2Vancouver 6 ot 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/f0019-06166/2783876-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="577" height="93"></div>(Portland wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 2Son 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;

f0019-04

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 Brother<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01261/2783956-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="557" height="542"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARV EDWARDS Amarillo &hellip; Goaler</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02187/2783949-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="567" height="540"><figcaption class="caption-body">BARRY GIBBS Oklahoma &hellip; Defense</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03155/2783942-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="565" height="546"><figcaption class="caption-body">BARRY WILKINS Oklahoma &hellip; Defense</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04118/2783935-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="564" height="545"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY VENERUZZO Kansas &hellip; L. Wing</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0559/2783928-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="545" height="557"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE ATKINSON Oklahoma &hellip; R. Wing</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0643/2783921-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="564" height="588"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM LORENTZ Oklahoma &hellip; Center</figcaption></div>KANSAS CITY, Mo. &mdash;The Oklahoma City Blazers didn&rsquo;t win the Central Hockey League championship this season but they certainly made the biggest dent in the league awards and all-star selections.Led by their league scoring champion, center Jim Lorentz, the Blazers placed four men on the first CHL All-Star team, two on the second and walked off with three of the five individual player awards.Lorentz was the big winner. The smooth-skating Blazer star garnered 33 votes to win the first-team center spot and missed being a unanimous All-Star selection by two votes. He also won the MVP award and emerged as the leading point-getter in the CHL as well with 101 points.Besides Lorentz on the first team, the Blazers placed both defensemen, Barry Gibbs and Barry Wilkins, and right wing Steve Atkinson. Goaler Marv Edwards of Amarillo, who actually finished the season with Baltimore in the AHL, was chosen as the netminder. Gary Veneruzzo of Kansas City was picked as left wing and Tulsa&rsquo;s John McLellan was selected as coach of the year.On the second team, Phil Myre of Houston was the goalkeeper with Doug Barrie of Amarillo and Ray Fortin of Kansas City on defense. Juha Widing, the blond rookie of the Omaha Knights, was chosen at center, with Bill Fairbairn, also of Omaha, on right wing and two players &mdash; Ross Lonsberry of Oklahoma City and Tulsa&rsquo;s Danny Johnson &mdash; sharing the left wing position after a tie in the voting. Murray Davison of Oklahoma City was second team coaching choice behind McLellan.In other individual awards announced at the close of the regular season, Gibbs was named best defenseman; Atkinson was named leading rookie and Myre emerged as the No. 1 goalkeeper with a 2.87 goals-against average.With voting based on five points for the first team selection and three for the second team, a score of 35 was unanimous. Lorentz led with 33. Edwards, Gibbs, Atkinson and Wilkins all polled 28 to finish high in the All-Star voting.Lorentz, 21, is a second-year professional who also 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. &#9632;

f0020-01

Lorentz Leads Oklahoma City Players In Dominating CHL’s All-Star Teams

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-12" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1210/2784046-1-eng-US/f0020-122.jpg"></div>(Points secured in voting in parenthesis.)MPV &mdash; Jim Lorentz, Oklahoma City.BEST ROOKIE &mdash; Barry Gibbs, Oklahoma City.TOP SCORER &mdash; Lorentz, Oklahoma City.LEADING GOALER &mdash; Phil Myre, Houston. &#9632;

f0020-12

How They Picked Them

<h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01125/2784119-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="527" height="111"></div>(Clinton wins best-of-seven finals 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed Apr. 2Nashville 3 at Clinton 2Sat. Apr. 5Nashville 3 at Clinton 4Thurs. Apr. 10Clinton 2 at Nashville 3Fri. Ap. 11Clinton 3 at Nashville 1Sun. Apr. 13Nashville 2 at Clinton 5Tues. Apr. 15Clinton 2 at Nashville 9Fri. Apr. 18Nashville 2 at Clinton 3<h2>NORTHERN DIVISION</h2>FINALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0291/2784112-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="582" height="101"></div>(Clinton wins best-of-seven finals 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Mar. 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 ot 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/f0021-0359/2784105-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="555" height="106"></div>(Clinton wins best-of-five series 3-0)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0451/2784098-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="532" height="100"></div>(N. Haven wins best-of-five series 3-0)<h2>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0545/2784091-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="583" height="100"></div>(Nashville wins best-of-seven finals 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed 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/f0021-0638/2784084-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="581" height="98"></div>(Greensboro wins best-of-five semi-finals 3-1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0732/2784077-1-eng-US/f0021-072.jpg" title="f0021-07" width="575" height="106"></div>(Nashville wins best-of-five semi-finals 3-0) &#9632;

f0021-01

EHL PLAYOFFS

<div class="byline">BY HARVEY POLLACK</div>SALEM, Va.&mdash;Dave Lucas finally has made his decision and the Salem Rebels are now in the market for a new coach for the 1966-1970 Eastern Hockey League campaign.Lucas has decided to take a scouting job with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the&rsquo;National League and thus has dropped his job of coaching the Rebels, a post he held for the two campaigns of the club&rsquo;s existence. His job will cover scouting the Montreal area, evaluating junior players in Montreal and Quebec City.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0827/2784157-1-eng-US/f0021-082.jpg" title="f0021-08" width="263" height="434"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Lucas</figcaption></div>&ldquo;My job will be scouting kids in their last year of junior hockey, Dave said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll work about six months of the year and thus I&rsquo;ll be away from my Ontario farm just as much as I was during my days in the EHL.&rdquo;Lucas said, &ldquo;It was really a tough decision for me to make, the toughest since coming to Salem. I knew there was going to be some shakeups in the Pittsburgh organization and that&rsquo;s why I waited some time before making my decision.&rdquo;Actually Dave was offered a coaching job in the Pittsburgh organization but decided to try scouting.&ldquo;I would like a taste of scouting. There&rsquo;s a lot more security in scouting than coaching and I believe that&rsquo;s obvious. And also less pressure. But who knows after a year of scouting, I may want back in coaching,&rdquo; Dave said.Lucas earlier had coached at Johnstown prior to his Salem job, but admits his new post offers him many more opportunities especially since it is with an expansion team.Dave said he will keep Salem in mind while scouting. &ldquo;Anybody I see who is pretty good and doesn&rsquo;t turn pro, I might possibly be able to steer to Salem,&rdquo; he said.Lucas was an active player this year and his departure will leave a gap in Salem&rsquo;s defense. In his first year as Salem coach he was on the sidelines as the team won only 11 and tied eight. Last year, as an active coach he improved the team to win 26 games and tie two. The Rebels were in the race for a playoff spot until the last three weeks of the campaign.Lucas said, &ldquo;I know that I will miss playing. But I&rsquo;ll be 38 on my next birthday and I know I couldn&rsquo;t go on much longer. You have to hang up your skates some time and it might as well be now even though I could have played for a few more years though not as many minutes as this year. The league has some guys older than me still going.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0922/2784150-1-eng-US/f0021-092.jpg" title="f0021-09" width="549" height="544"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACK KANE &hellip; Most Popular Comet</figcaption></div>General manager Jack Dame said several former EHL players have applied for the post. There also have been some inquiries from some current performers who would like to serve as the playing skipper of the Rebels. But Dame is in no hurry to make a selection since he wants to check out all possibilities before selecting Dave&rsquo;s replacement. Dame hopes to get a line on some potentials at the EHL meeting this month.CLINTON: The Comets played 89 games this season, 72 in the regular campaign and 17 in the playoffs, for the most contests a Comet team has played since joining the circuit 15 years ago. Coach Pat Kelly took off for Coral Gables, Fla. after winning the title and spent several weeks lolling in the sun. His future with the Comets is still uncertain as Wren Blair may move him up in the Minnesota organization. Pat has admitted that he has a few irons in the fire. Captain Jack Kane received the Wanamaker Trophy as the most popular Comet following in the steps of Pete Babando, Len Speck, Hec Lalande, and Bill Glashan.GREENSBORO: General manager Stanley Frank wrote Salem a nice letter thanking the Rebels for lending them Wayne Caufield at an opportune time. The diminutive redhead likely will be back with the Gens next year since he evidently has had it with Salem.NASHVILLE: Lloyd Hinchberger evaluated his second season as coach of the Dixie Fivers thus:&mdash; It was a lot easier for me. Maybe it was the experience. I sort of took things in stride. I was quite naive my first season. Communication with my men was somewhat strained that first year because I expected a lot more than I got. This year I faced the facts of life.&rdquo; The Flyers didn&rsquo;t experience as many injuries this year as in hinch&rsquo;s first season.JOHNSTOWN: Jets fans were saddened to hear of the death of Nick Damore who played goalie for the team in 1950. He also played with Hershey. He died in Niagara Falls, Ont., at the age of 53.JACKSONVILLE: Bob Sabourin is thinking of dropping the coaching reins and confining his efforts to being a general manager and promotions manager. He&rsquo;s had some talks with two veterans about the possibility of being playing-skipper of the Rockets next season. &#9632;

f0021-08

Salem Rebels Hunting For New Coach As Lucas Quits To Take Up Scouting

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1020/2784195-1-eng-US/f0021-102.jpg" title="f0021-10" width="559" height="547"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE ARMSTRONG &hellip; Most Points</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1114/2784188-1-eng-US/f0021-112.jpg" title="f0021-11" width="568" height="545"><figcaption class="caption-body">BORDEN SMITH &hellip; Most Goals</figcaption></div>CLINTON, N.Y.&mdash;Members of the champion Clinton Comets dominated the playoff statistics this season in the Eastern Hockey League.Dave Armstrong&rsquo;s 24 points led all scorers. Borden Smith&rsquo;s 13 goals were tops while Jack Kane and Pat Kelly were the assist leaders with 16. Neal Clairmont of Nashville was the only other double figure goalmaker with 11 while Armstrong and mate Bill Bannerman were runnersup in assists with 15.Marc Brunet of Jacksonville led in penalties with 44 minutes in just 4 games. Dick Paradise of Johnstown with 41 minutes and John Brophy of New Haven with 38 were next in line.Lyle Carter of Clinton topped the goalies with a 2.67 average with Pete McDuffe of Greensboro next at 3.50. There wasn&rsquo;t one shutout in the entire playoffs. &#9632;

f0021-10

Clinton Players Dominate Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY BOB REED</div>FORT WAYNE, Ind.&mdash;The International Hockey League, which has operated the past three seasons without a change in its circuit, is almost certain to see a new alignment for next season.It will not be an extensive re-arrangment, consisting of the addition of one city &mdash; Flint, Michigan and the possible dropping of another &mdash; Des Moines, Iowa.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01142/2784226-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="254" height="420"><figcaption class="caption-body">Moe Bartoli</figcaption></div>Flint&rsquo;s application had been accepted, even before the past season opened but its activation had to be postponed when it was found the new building there would not be completed in time for the opening.Frank Gallagher is the holder of the Flint franchise. He is a familiar figure around the IHL, having been its commissioner and having held executive positions at Port Huron, Columbus and Muskegon. Gallagher appeared at some of the playoff games and asserted that Flint is getting ready for operations. He spent much of the past winter there assisting with a junior hockey program and otherwise preparing the city for its new sport.The addition of Flint would bring the league up to eight clubs, a desirable situation, but as the season closed there was serious doubt regarding the return of the Des Moines Oak Leafs.The most serious problem in Des Moines was not the financial condition of the Leafs, who have lost money for six seasons, but the building situation. Oak Creek Park Ice Arena, where the games are played, has been placed in the hands of a receiver and a loan company has begun mortgage foreclosure proceedings to collect $374,192 still owed by the operators of the building.The Oak Leafs must pay about $75,000 on their lease, which amounts to about $2,000, per game. They drew 91,072 spectators the past season, despite a season-long stay in last place.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a shame,&rdquo; said Norman Conway, Jr., president of the club. &ldquo;The hockey club can support itself, but not the building as well. &rdquo;There was the possibility that the Des Moines club would be shifted from the IHL to the Central League under sponsorship of the Minnesota North Stars but it appeared that little had been accomplished in that direction. This would be a geographical help over the present setup, since the Leafs faced big mileage problems, with extended road trips, in the IHL.The league will also be looking for a new commissioner if Andy Mulligan goes through with his announced decision not to seek reelection, after seven years in the office. He has been connected with the league since 1947, when he became coach and general manager of the old Toledo Mercurys.Mulligan has had some difficult decisions to make during his seven-year term, has met with opposition from some of the club owners at times but no one has been heard to come up with a suitable successor. Mulligan has conducted a persistent campaign against stick-fighting and has kept the league intact several times when its future appeared shaky. &ldquo;The commissioner&rsquo;s job should be made a full-time one,&rdquo; he said when he informed the Toledo Blades he would not seek re-election. They should pay a man what he&rsquo;s worth and let him get out and build up the league.&rdquo;The Toledo Blades had the problem of filling the dual positions of coach and general manager, vacated by Terry Slater. It appeared likely that the two positions would be separated, according to plans announced by Steve Stranahan, president of the Toledo Hockey Club. Among those mentioned as coach possibilities are Moe Bartoli, who was player-coach at Columbus before being traded to Muskegon, where he refused to report; Ted Garvin, coach at Port Huron last season and Stan Maxwell, who ran the club last season when Slater was absent. &#9632;

f0022-01

Flint Ready As New Entry -- But Des Moines Doubtful

DAYTON, O.&mdash;Dayton Gems capped their greatest season ever by sweeping three consecutive playoff games from the Muskegon Mohawks to win the International Hockey League&rsquo;s Turner Cup.The Turner Cup is in addition to the Huber Trophy, emblematic of the regular season championship, and the Governor James Rhodes trophy which goes annually to the Ohio team which finishes highest in the standings. The Gems won the Rhodes award three straight times to retire the trophy.Dayton swept nine straight playoff games for a new league record and the Gems compiled a new home attendance mark with a figure of 189,567 for 36 league games, two exhibitions and six playoff games. During the regular season the Gems averaged 4,533 fans per game.In five seasons Dayton has pulled 747,862 fans into Hara Arena here which has a capacity of 5,600. Five times during the 1968-69 season the Gems played to sellout crowds. The Gems were 37-3-4 on home ice.In addition to the team honors, Dayton individual awards went to Don Westbrooke, the league&rsquo;s most valuable player and the league&rsquo;s top scorer; Moe Benoit and Al Beaule, tied for the league&rsquo;s top defensemen award; the James Norris award to Pat Rupp and John Adams for the lowest goals against average.Larry Wilson, making his debut as a player-coach in the International league after 19 years in organized hockey, did a tremendous job in leading his charges to the league and playoff titles. Wilson is expected to be back again in 1969-70 and at present is in Canada on a scouting trip with Gems&rsquo; president Jack Walker and General Manager Lefty McFadden.McFadden heaped praise on Wilson and the team, plus trainer Earl Curtis, but he reserved special praise for business manager John Huffman, public relations director Sonny Tate and office secretary Barbara Brigner.&ldquo;The guys did the job on the ice, but the office staff helped to put the people in the seats through special promotions and a seven-day-a-week schedule all during the winter,&rdquo; McFadden said. &ldquo;John and Sonny are already working on the 1969-70 group sales and special promotions. We made more than 100 appearances before service clubs and church groups during the past season with our special Gems film and we hope to double that figure next season.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0285/2784257-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="551" height="511"><figcaption class="caption-body">MOE BENOIT &hellip; Shared Award</figcaption></div>The Gems are happy about the season, but there are a couple of things they hope to improve on in 1969-70. They&rsquo;d like to repeat as&rsquo; league and playoff champs, but they&rsquo;d like to clinch a title before the loyal home fans. And &mdash; they&rsquo;d like to pass the Fort Wayne Komets in attendance. The Komets, though they finished fifth in the league and barely made the playoff semifinals, still drew more than 190,000 fans to edge the Gems in the total attendance. &#9632;

f0022-02

Dayton Gems Cap Record IHL year

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0372/2784288-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="593" height="568"></div> &#9632;

f0022-03

Dayton Gems’ Playoff Scoring

<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0457/2784333-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="579" height="107"></div>(Dayton wins best-of-five finals 3-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thun. Apr. 10Muskegon 6 at Dayton 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/f0022-0549/2784326-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="582" height="97"></div>(Muskegon wins best-of-five series 3-2)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/f0022-0640/2784319-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="583" height="107"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 2Fort Wayne 0 at Dayton 7Thun. Apr. 4Dayton 2 at Fort Wayne 1Sat. Apr. 5Fort Wayne 3 at Dayton 5 &#9632;

f0022-04

IHL PLAYOFFS

MONTREAL, Que. &mdash;The Galt Terriers have won the Canadian senior hockey championship and the Montreal Canadiens were on the verge of capturing the junior title.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01123/2784364-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="257" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Howie Dietrich</figcaption></div>The Ontario Senior Hockey Association champion Hornets, coached by Bill Wylie, swept to Galt&rsquo;s second Allan Cup conquest in nine years as they ousted the Calgary Stampeders in four straight games.It was no contest as far as the Hornets and Stampeders were concerned. The Westerners rarely threatened the Hornets, who outscored them 27-8 in the four games. Galt won 7-2, 9-3, 4-1, and 7-2 in the four games played on their home ice.It was Galt&rsquo;s second cup victory but the first for the Hornets. In 1961, the Galt Terriers whiped Winnipeg Maroons to win the right to represent Canada in world hockey play.The Hornets scoring was well divided and some of their offensive stars included Howie Dietrich, the former member of the Clinton Comets of the Eastern Hockey League, Pete Brennan, ex-pro Pete Panagabko, Ron Hergott, another former EHL performer, Bill Hway, John Beechey and Joe Hogan, the club captain.Veteran Boat Hurley handled the Galt netminding role in the series.While the Galt club kept the Allan Cup in the East &mdash; Victoriaville Tigers won it last season &mdash; the dynamic Montreal Canadiens were one game away from wrapping up the Memorial Cup for the East in their best-of-seven final against the Regina Pats.The Baby Habs won the first three games of the series &mdash; 5-3 and 7-2 on Montreal ice and 5-2 in Regina &mdash; to take a commanding lead.Canadiens were seeking Montreal&rsquo;s first national junior championship since 1950 when they also won it the last time. Montreal Royals emerged with a cup win in 1949 but since their back-to-back feat, cup wins have been rather scarce for Montreal junior clubs. &#9632;

f0023-01

Galt Hornets Sweep Past Calgary To Annex Allan Cup

<h2>ALLAN CUP</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0287/2784409-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="592" height="133"></div>(Galt Hornets win best-of-seven finals 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. April. 27Calgary 2 at Galt 7Tues. Apr. 29Calgary 3at Galt 9Thurs. May 1Calgary 1 at Galt 4Sat. May 3Calgary 2 at Galt 7<h2>MEMORIAL CUP</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0365/2784402-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="582" height="130"></div>(Montreal leads best-of-seven finals 3-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 30Regina 3 at Montreal 5Fri. May 2Regina 2 at Montreal 7Sun. May 4Montreal 5 at Regina 2<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. May 5Montreal at ReginaWed. May 7Montreal at Regina (if necessary)<h2>CHA JUNIOR</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0453/2784395-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="591" height="131"></div>(Flin Flon leads best-of-seven finals 2-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thurs. May 1Flin Flon 6 at St. Thomas 2Sun. May 4St. Thomas 0 at Flin Flon 5GAMES TO COME Mon. May 5St. Thomas at Flin Flon &#9632;

f0023-02

Playoff Races

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0539/2784440-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="899" height="1198"></div>SOLUTION IN JUNE ISSUE<h2>ACROSS</h2>1&mdash;Pictured player.5&mdash;Initials of an N.H.L. captain.6&mdash;This team will have a new coach next season.11&mdash;Wakely of Cleveland answers to this.12&mdash;Nickname of one of the Blues.13&mdash;One of the North Stars answers to this.15&mdash;First name of an N.H.L. referee.17&mdash;Girls name.18&mdash;Finished 3rd in the East this year, (abbr.)19&mdash;Initials of one of the San Diego Gulls.20&mdash;Initials of one of the Blues.21&mdash;A Ranger defenseman.24&mdash;Pictured player never played &mdash; Hockey, (abbr.)25&mdash;Each, (abbr.)28&mdash;21 across was born in this month, (abbr.)29&mdash;Initials of Obendorf of Kansas City.30&mdash;An Oakland farmhand.<h2>DOWN</h2>1&mdash;Wears No. 19 for New York.2&mdash;One of the Flyers.3&mdash;Goalies protect this.4&mdash;One of the Dallas Black Hawks.7&mdash;Either.8&mdash;15th and 9th letters of the alphabet.9&mdash;Compass point.10&mdash;A Minnesota forward.14&mdash;A San Diego defenseman.16&mdash;Play by Play broadcaster for Oakland Seals.22&mdash;First name of one ot the Flyers.23&mdash;Goalies are called upon to make many.26&mdash;One of the Rangers answers to this.27&mdash;Initials of one of the Habs.28&mdash;Non-Negotiable, (abbr.)29&mdash;Initials of one of the Penguins.<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1&mdash;ESPOSITO.2&mdash;ERIC.8&mdash;COTE.9&mdash;EARL.12&mdash;E.E.13&mdash;ROD.14&mdash;ERR.16&mdash;T.W.17&mdash;S.O.S.18&mdash;S.M.19&mdash;T.N.20&mdash;O.K.21&mdash;OTT.23&mdash;I.H.25&mdash;NYKOLUK.28&mdash;ONE.29&mdash;T.L.31&mdash;COFFEE.34&mdash;BERENSON.<h3>DOWN</h3>1&mdash;ECCLESTONE.2&mdash;PETERS.3&mdash;OREE.4&mdash;S.I.5&mdash;ICE.6&mdash;DR0WSKI.10&mdash;ART.11&mdash;L.D.15&mdash;RONTY.22&mdash;T.K.O.24&mdash;HALE.26&mdash;ONCE.27&mdash;LEON.29&mdash;TEN.30&mdash;R.E.32&mdash;F.S.33&mdash;F.O. &#9632;

f0023-05

Hockey Crossword

<div class="byline">BY TOM MONAHAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01133/2784485-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bruin goaler ED JOHNSTON, left, and GERRY CHEEVERS, were superb in series against Montreal, particularly Cheevers.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0285/2784478-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="1468" height="1234"></div>BOSTON, Mass. &mdash;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe it. I can&rsquo;t believe it. I just won&rsquo;t believe it.&rdquo;This was the reaction of Bruins coach Harry Sinden after the Bruins had lost to Montreal in the sixth game of the East Division Stanley Cup semi-finals 2-1 at 11:28 of the second overtime period at the Garden.Sinden was not talking about the score or the fact that the B&rsquo;s had been eliminated from Stanley Cup play.What he meant was that he didn&rsquo;t, couldn&rsquo;t and wouldn&rsquo;t believe that the Bruins were inferior to Montreal.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll admit Montreal is a good hockey team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a real fine hockey team. It always has been a fine hockey team.&ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think it is that much better than ours.&ldquo;We went three overtime games with them and lost all three. I don&rsquo;t think that is an indication of specialness on their part or lack of anything on our part.&ldquo;I think Montreal and Boston have the two best hockey teams in the world and I&rsquo;d like to play them six more games like these and see what might happen.&rdquo;Sinden wasn&rsquo;t blowing smoke rings, trying to excuse the Bruins&rsquo; defeat or detract from Montreal&rsquo;s victory.He was trying to be simply realistic as he looked forward to next year.&ldquo;The main thing I&rsquo;m thinking of at the moment,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;is something Phil Esposito said when he first joined our club at the start of the 1967-68 season.&ldquo;Phil had been in Chicago and had been through playoffs but as we broke camp he remarked, &ldquo;in three years this team (Boston) is going to win the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t thinking in terms like that, but as this season progressed and as we went through the first round in four games with Toronto and came back to square our series with Montreal 2-2, I honestly thought we were a year ahead of Phil&rsquo;s schedule.&ldquo;We were too,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Take away about a a minute and 25 seconds in Montreal and we could have won the East championship in four straight games.&ldquo;But you can&rsquo;t look back on those kind of things.&ldquo;The only thing I don&rsquo;t like is for someone to say that we took the choke. No one on this team choked at any time during the playoffs.&rdquo;A disbeliever had only to talk to Jean Beliveau, Montreal&rsquo;s great captain and center to be shed of any such thought.Beliveau scored the winning goal to send the Canadiens against St. Louis for the battered old mug.At 37 years old, there is talk of Jean retiring.But he didn&rsquo;t talk like a man thinking of retiring after that final victory over the Bruins.&ldquo;I have been in 16 Stanley Cup playoffs,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;this was by far the toughest.&ldquo;No one knows how good a team Boston is until you are on the ice playing against them.&ldquo;Last year we beat them four straight. This year we had to go to six games and win three in overtime. This is the indication.&ldquo;This team had not been in the playoffs before. They learned from last year. They learned well. Maybe too well.&ldquo;And also they had great goaltending all year &mdash; much better than a year ago.&ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This Bruins&rsquo; team is not weak. It is strong and it is young.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t quit. If it quit we would have won in four games.&rdquo;But Beliveau couldn&rsquo;t be blamed if he disagreed with Sinden.Jean still thinks Canadiens are the best anywhere.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0360/2784471-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="542" height="862"><figcaption class="caption-body">HARRY SINDEN &hellip; We didn&rsquo;t choke</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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May 10, 1969

New Trophies To Honor Leafs’ Charlie Conacher

Calder Cup Playoffs

CHL PLAYOFFS

STANLEY CUP FINAL PLAYOFF ACTION