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

January 2, 1970

The Hockey News January 2, 1970

<h2><b>LEADING SCORERS (Including Games of Sun. Dec. 14)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0366/2787859-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="587" height="531"></div><h2><b>TEAM SCORING VANCOUVER</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0454/2787852-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="591" height="483"></div><h2><b>DENVER</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0540/2787845-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="587" height="481"></div><h2><b>PORTLAND</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0634/2787838-1-eng-US/f0023-062.jpg" title="f0023-06" width="590" height="483"></div><h2><b>SEATTLE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0730/2787831-1-eng-US/f0023-072.jpg" title="f0023-07" width="593" height="459"></div><h2><b>SAN DIEGO</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0826/2787824-1-eng-US/f0023-082.jpg" title="f0023-08" width="594" height="536"></div><h2><b>PHOENIX</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0919/2787817-1-eng-US/f0023-092.jpg" title="f0023-09" width="585" height="481"></div><h2><b>SALT LAKE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1014/2787810-1-eng-US/f0023-102.jpg" title="f0023-10" width="587" height="505"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0023-03

IN THIS ISSUE

WHL’s Scoring Records

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><p>LOS ANGELES&mdash;</p><p>On the tenth of December, former L.A. Kings&rsquo; coach Red Kelly visited the Forum in his capacity as new coach of Pittsburgh and was asked how he explained the fall of his old club.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01724/2786114-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="268" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Jack Cooke</b></figcaption></div><p>Kelly smiled. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have to explain it.&rdquo; he said.</p><p>Hal Laycoe did have to, but could not. He said, &ldquo;If anything you have to blame the coaching.&rdquo;</p><p>Jack Kent Cooke did. On the 15th of Jack Cooke December, Cooke conferred with manager Larry Regan, called in Laycoe, told him he was dismissed as coach, and announced Johnny Wilson as the new coach, with Doug Harvey as an assistant.</p><p>At 46, Laycoe had coached 24 games of his first season as a NHL mentor. His team won only five games and tied only one, while losing 19. In two of the last four games, all at home, the Kings lost 7-1 to Philadelphia and 8-1 to St. Louis.</p><p>I cannot take sides in this case. Without in the slightest overestimating my influence, I recall that I recommended Laycoe to Cooke originally, and then urged Laycoe to take the job. Thus, we regret that it worked out so badly on both sides.</p><p>Laycoe may have been the finest coach in hockey for the last decade. He coached successfully in the Western League for 13 seasons and won seven pennants in the last nine seasons at Portland. This was in the minors, but the challenge of coaching is no different from the majors. He did not always have the best talent, but he produced the best teams, full of players who made the most of their ability. They outskated, outhit and outhustled their foes.</p><p>His Los Angeles team did none of these things and was a total flop. He resisted the NHL challenge two years, but not long enough, sadly.</p><p>Clearly, 24 games is insufficient test of a man. He did not have full say on his players, nor has he had a chance to change his personnel. His methods and strategy might have taken hold in time and the Kings might have come on strong. The team figured to start slowly (though not this slowly.)</p><p>On this basis, Laycoe was dealt with unfairly. And if he gets another chance with another NHL team, may well prove himself the master he seemed to be in the minors.</p><p>On the other hand, 24 games is almost enough to wreck a season. A major league operation is a costly one and the Kings were playing without spirit and were getting worse instead of better.</p><p>On this basis, management moved understandably. The opposition has not yet gotten out of reach, but time was running short. Even the most loyal fans were losing interest. Cooke may prove most wise. He is a sharp businessman. And he, like everyone, prefers winning.</p><p>The owner said, &ldquo;Many persons aside from us have felt our personnel better than any team in the division except St. Louis. Our play did not reflect that. We did not play as a team or with skill or spirit. We were getting worse, not better. The season was getting away from us.</p><p>This is not a denigration of Laycoe. We have needed a Director of Player Personnel, a top man who could scout for us, and Laycoe will be that man. He has conducted himself like a gentleman through this ordeal and I treasure him as a part of our organization. But the situation dictated a change of coaches right now and I feel Johnny Wilson will be able to instill new spirit in our team.&rdquo;</p><p>Manager Regan said, &ldquo;I think this is the hardest thing I&rsquo;ve ever had to do in hockey, but Hal was not able to get the team up and we had to make a move before it was too late. Was it ever considered that I take over? Yes. It was between me and Wilson. But managing is a full-time job and Wilson had worked hard and done well at Springfield and deserved the opportunity to coach the big team. Will Harvey be looking over his shoulder? No. I can&rsquo;t conceive of Harvey ever coaching the Kings. He is here to assist Wilson and to teach and he should be a tremendous asset to us.&rdquo;</p><p>Many have been struck by how calmly Laycoe took this season&rsquo;s struggles and he took his removal calmly, but he is a man who holds things inside. His smile seemed a little tense as he said, &ldquo;When teams have bad records, changes have to be made. I&rsquo;m not happy about it. but I ve been in hockey long enough to know that when a coach loses, his job is in jeopardy.&rdquo; He said he looked forward to his new job, although insiders believe he would not be unhappy to get a good coaching offer in the near future. His pride must have been damaged, and he is a proud man.</p><p>There was a feeling on top that Laycoe did not train his charges hard enough or goad them forcibly enough. One player said, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great man, but maybe he was too great to us. Hollering isn&rsquo;t the answer, but he only yelled at us once all season. He kept saying how great it was to be in the big leagues and we should just keep trying to do our best. Some guys will loaf if you don&rsquo;t keep kicking them in the butts.&rdquo;</p><p>Another player said. &ldquo;He got used to coaching winners in the minors and he didn&rsquo;t realize how much he had to drive this team to make it a winner in the majors. He&rsquo;s one of the class men in sports and our guys let him down. When he was fired, some of them realized it and took it real hard. Some didn&rsquo;t. Some have no spirit or feeling.&rdquo;</p><p>However, a third player said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an outstanding coach, maybe the best. The personnel just isn&rsquo;t here to win in the NHL. Management has overrated our players all along. No coach could win with our players.&rdquo;</p><p>On this point, there will be an answer. Wilson guided the team to a rallying tie against Minnesota in the season&rsquo;s 25th game. He now has two-thirds of a season to do better than Laycoe did. He could hardly do worse. But then Laycoe might have done better, too.</p><p>Wilson is less reserved than Laycoe. He talks fast and exudes confidence. A former Princeton coach, he is 40. Not overly gifted as a player, he was an honest one who carved out an NHL career for himself. He once held the record of having played in 580 consecutive NHL games for Detroit. Chicago. Toronto and New York, and played on four Stanley Cup winners at Detroit. So. of course, did Red Kelly.</p><p>Wilson&rsquo;s Springfield team finished last in the American League last season, but was second this season. He said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m delighted to be in the big leagues under any circumstances and 1 feel sure 1 can solve this team&rsquo;s problems and get it going. I know the talent and I think it&rsquo;s good talent.&rdquo;</p><p>Harvey, 45, one of the greatest defensemen of all time, played and was an assistant coach for St. Louis last season, but he moves into L.A. as the first real assistant coach in NHL history, whose job will be to teach on the ice and aid the coach on the bench, not just off the ice. He coached a sad-sack New York Rangers team into the playoffs in 1962 and it is hard to believe he will not pose a threat to Wilson eventually.</p><p>The Kings now have had three coaches in eight months. Here, as everywhere, management always expresses confidence the new coach is the one who can get the job done, and the new coach always says the game is skating and hitting and assures you his team will do that and win.</p><p>The fact remains that attendance at the last home game was 4.997, an all-time Forum low. the team was in last place. Maybe the players were to blame, maybe the coach. Something had to be done and something was.</p><p>Asked if he wanted to save time and give his departure speech along with his acceptance speech. Wilson laughed and said he&rsquo;d wait.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02667/2786107-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="1173" height="1295"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>The new coach of the Los Angeles Kings is JOHN WILSON, shown here behind the team bench after replacing Hal Laycoe. The onetime NHL &lsquo;Iron Man&rsquo; rose up from the Springfield club in the AHL to take job.</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0009-01

Wilson Will Coach With Iron Hand, Everyone Agreed Laycoe ‘Too Easy’

<h2><b>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE (Standings on Sat. Dec. 20)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01520/2786867-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="576" height="304"></div><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS (Including Games of Tues. Dec. 9)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02446/2786860-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="593" height="562"></div><h2><b>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE (Standings on Wed., Dec. 17)</b></h2><h3><b>EASTERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03352/2786853-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="579" height="167"></div><h3><b>WESTERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04281/2786846-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="581" height="169"></div><h2><b>NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR (Standings on Tues. Dec. 16)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05211/2786839-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="579" height="201"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06168/2786832-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="581" height="304"></div><h2><b>MANITOBA JUNIOR LEAGUE (Standings on Mon. Dec. 8)</b></h2><h3><b>NORTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07155/2786825-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="572" height="174"></div><h3><b>SOUTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08141/2786818-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="574" height="137"></div><h3><b>(LEADING SCORERS)</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09121/2786811-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="581" height="388"></div><h2><b>SASKATCHEWAN JUNIOR (Standings on Fri. Dec. 12)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10101/2786804-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="573" height="164"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1188/2786797-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="579" height="356"></div><h2><b>WESTERN ONTARIO JUNIOR (Standings on Fri. Dec. 19)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1273/2786790-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="577" height="204"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC JUNIOR LEAGUE (Standings on Tues. Dec. 16)</b></h2><h3>East Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1362/2786783-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="575" height="237"></div><h3>West Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1457/2786776-1-eng-US/f0016-142.jpg" title="f0016-14" width="575" height="204"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0016-01

HOW THEY STAND

<h2><i><b>In The West</b></i></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>N</span>o matter what Bill Goldsworthy does the rest of the season for the Minnesota North Stars, it will be all gravy for the big, blond right winger.</b></p><p><b>Goldsworthy has bolted into the league lead in goal scoring by virtue of the four goals he tallied last week for the North Stars. He now has a total of 18 for the season, four more than he counted all last year. Goldy also has 28 points which puts him in the top 17 NHL scorers.</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02590/2786564-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="268" height="434"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Bill Goldsworthy</b></figcaption></div><p><b>Ironically, eight of Goldsworthy&rsquo;s 18 goals have been scored against East Division teams and 10 of them were registered on the road. The North Stars&rsquo; big blaster is particularly effective against Los Angeles. He has beaten them five times this season.</b></p><p><b>This is a comeback year for Goldsworthy, who only compiled 24 points in a dis-appointing 1968-69 season. He has more than made restitution this year and the schedule hasn&rsquo;t reached the halfway mark.</b></p><p><b>THE HOCKEY NEWS and El Producto are pleased to salute the NHL&rsquo;s player-of-the-week in the West:</b></p><p><i><b>BILL GOLDSWOIITHY&hellip;NliniKsota</b></i></p><h2><i><b>In The East</b></i></h2><p><b>Tony Esposito is making a mockery of the NHI goalkeepers&rsquo; race and at the same time solidifying his chances of carting off the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03453/2786557-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="282" height="427"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Tony Esposito</b></figcaption></div><p><b>The chubby Black Hawk netminder this past week took a one-game breather to let Denis DeJordy play and then came back to the action to post back-to-back shutouts in another outstanding display of goalkeeping.</b></p><p><b>Esposito blanked both Oakland and St. Louis by 4-0 scores to raise this season total to six, which is tops for the NHL. The double whitewashing job represents the most shutouts by a Chicago goaltender since Glenn Hall had seven in 1963-64 Hall led the league last year with eight for the whole season.</b></p><p><b>The Hawks&rsquo; netminding team of Esposito and DeJordy also paces the NHL with the best goals-against average 2.27, thanks to Esposito&rsquo;s stellar play.</b></p><p><b>THE HOCKEY NEWS and El Producto are pleased to salute the NHL&rsquo;s player-of-the-week in the East.</b></p><p><i><b>TONY ESPOSITO&hellip;Chicago</b></i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-02

NHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

<p><b>&mdash;PAGE 7</b></p><h2><b>RICHARD, BELIVEAU, FERGUSON ON SHELF</b></h2><p><b>&mdash;PAGE 7</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01495/2788323-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg" title="Cover-01" width="903" height="1815"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JEAN BELIVEAU</b></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-02370/2788316-1-eng-US/cover-022.jpg" title="Cover-02" width="1140" height="1757"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>HENRI RICHARD</b></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-03161/2788309-1-eng-US/cover-032.jpg" title="Cover-03" width="955" height="1805"></div><p><b>KEITH ALLEN IN AS PHILLY GM</b></p><p><b>&mdash;PAGE 2</b></p><p>SHOULD HELMETS BE MADE MANDATORY?</p><p>&mdash;PAGE 3</p><p><b>BUCYK FOR BYNG BRUINS&rsquo; CLAMOR</b></p><p><b>&mdash;PAGE 6</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Cover-01

INJURY JINX WEARING HABS THIN

<p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>here are conflicting reports why Bud Poile was fired as general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers. But nonetheless, Poile is out and Keith Allen is in on a permanent basis to direct the club&rsquo;s operations according to an announcement. Allen said he was happy to have been offered the job by the club.</p><p>Flyers&rsquo; president Bill Putnam said Poile was removed because of a personality conflict and added that &ldquo;we were satisfied with Poile&rsquo;s technical performance.&rdquo;</p><p>Board chairman Ed Snider on the other hand, commented that Poile had been bounced because he was doing an inconsistent job, not only for a personality conflict.</p><p>The Flyers promptly notified Poile that they were dispensing with his services last week. The move was made &ldquo;in the best interests of the Philadelphia organization,&rdquo; said Snider, who was given the task of making the announcement.</p><p>Snider said the club reached the decision to remove Poile after a series of top level meetings. He said there was no hard feelings involved and the club would pay the 45-year-old Poile for the remainder of his contract, which runs through 1970-71. Allen, who is 46 and was the club&rsquo;s original expansion coach, steps up from the assistant GM&rsquo;s job.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01666/2785652-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="267" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Keith Allen</b></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02632/2785645-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="1122" height="961"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>The romance is over in Philadelphia for BUD POILE, shown here seated with team president BILL PUTNAM after he signed to direct Flyers at the outset of NHL expansion in 1966-67.</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0002-01

Allen Installed As Club CM After Flyers Bounce Bud Poile

<div class="byline">BY ED CONRAD</div><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p>If you&rsquo;ve ever been buried before you&rsquo;ve been dead, you may be able to sumpathize with JeanGuy Gendron of the Flyers.</p><p>That just about sized up his situation a few years ago when so-called experts around the NHL said the veteran left wing was all washed up. He had played nine solid seasons in the big time and, when he seemed to run out of steam, they predicted Gendron would finish out his career in the minor leagues.</p><p>So it&rsquo;s all the more remarkable that he has ranked as one of the most consistent scorers in the Western Division since making it back to the NHL last season.</p><p>&ldquo;Gendron certainly has done a job for us,&rdquo; said Keith Allen, who coached him last season and now serves as assistant general manager. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t been scoring too many goals but, there&rsquo;s no doubt about if, Guy has really done his share.&rdquo;</p><p>Gendron, who finished one point behind linemate Andre Lacroix in club scoring last season (56 points to 55), was off to an excellent start this year with eight goals and 14 assists in the first games.</p><p>With some clubs that&rsquo;s not really considered a big deal but, because of the Flyers offensive woes, it has played a major role in the team&rsquo;s success to date. The team&rsquo;s &ldquo;French Line&rdquo;&mdash;Lacroix at center, Gendron at left wing and Simon Nolet currently on right wing&mdash;has really been carrying its load.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy playing with guys like Gendron and Lacroix,&rdquo; said Nolet, who was brought up when Dick Sarrazin couldn&rsquo;t get going and was farmed out to Quebec. &ldquo;One thing you know for sure when you play with them, they&rsquo;re going to set you up for the good shots.</p><p>&ldquo;I played with Gendron for four years in Quebec and he certainly knows how to move the puck around out there. He does a job, not only that way, but also checking.&rdquo;</p><p>Gendron, who turned 35 in August, doesn&rsquo;t have a lot of weight to throw around&mdash;he&rsquo;s only 157 pounds&mdash;but his vast experience enables him to put it to the best advantage. When you&rsquo;re in your 17th season of pro hockey, as Guv is, you know how to get the job done.</p><p>Last season, when he scored 20 goals for the Flyers, Gendron enjoyed his third season of 20-or-more goals in the NHL and eighth in his pro career. Back in 1960 he scored 24 goals for the Boston Bruins and after playing with the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens, he came back to score 21 for the Bruins again in 1963.</p><p>At last count he had 140 career goals in the NHL ans, to hear Guy himself tell it. he doesn&rsquo;t remember even one of them.</p><p>&ldquo;Really. I don&rsquo;t.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The only goal I remember is one I didn&rsquo;t even score myself. I was with the Rangers one year and we had to beat Detroit to assure a playoff berth.</p><p>&ldquo;Well, it was late in a very close game and we were awarded a penalty shot,&rdquo; recalle Guy. &ldquo;Andy Bathgate took it for us and I&rsquo;ll never forgot how to skated in and faked the goalie (Hank Bassen) out of his underwear. He made the shot and we made the playoffs. I&rsquo;ll never torget it.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03529/2785683-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="281" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Guy Gendron</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0002-03

Gendron Star Second Time In NHL After Being Resurrected By Flyers

<div class="byline">BY NORMAN MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01668/2785721-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div><p>NEW YORK&mdash;</p><p>This observer has become tired of the constant articles and stories clamoring for mandatory use of helmets by all professional hockey players. I know about Ted Green and Wayne Maki and about Bert Wilson of the Omaha Knights and I know about Bill Masterton of the Minnesota North Stars.</p><p>Like all others I deplore these accidents and I am in favor of any and all safeguards which will protect the performers. Football, both professional and collegiate has solved the problem of the broken nose with the face guard and Jacques Plante pioneered the face mask for goaltenders. It is safe to say that within a decade almost all pro hockey players will wear helmets. They are required to do so in most of the junior and amateur competition where they are weaned and most of them will continue to wear them when they graduate to the pay for play ranks.</p><p>The question facing you, the paying jurors who fill hockey rinks from coast to coast, is whether the existing professionals, who have played for years without the protective headgear, should be required to wear helmets now.</p><p>Obviously, a change in mid season is out of the question. That means the 1970-71 season. Putting on a helmet in mid year does not give a player a chance to adjust to the new device. Helmets jiggle down over the eyes, create more perspiration and definitely can be a handicap in play.</p><p>Dave Balon of the New York Rangers started wearing a helmet when he was shocked into it by being on the ice when Masterton was killed during the 1967-68 season, in a tragic accident at Oakland&rsquo;s Alameda County Coliseum. Dave, then a member of the North Stars, was subsequently traded to the Rangers. With the Blueshirts, he found that General Manager Emile Francis had traded all of his p1ayers who wore the headguard. They included such as Red Berenson, Larry Jeffrey and Phil Goyette. Although Francis never said a word about it. obviously he had certain thoughts on the subject.</p><p>The Chicago Black Hawks with Messrs. Pierre Pilote, Stan Mikita, Doug Mohns, Ker Wharram. Bobby Hull leading the charge seemed to be on the verge of covering up a few seasons ago, but for some reason or other the helmet craze petered out in the Windy City.</p><p>Earlier this season, the Bruins with Coach Harry Sinden leading the way, made a mandatory ruling that all their defensemen must wear helmets in practice. Obviously, the Bruins also hit hard when just working out and Sinden did not want any unnecessary injuries when it didn&rsquo;t count. It must be noted that he did not order the club to wear helmets during the game and apparently never even considered this.</p><p>Hockey News SPECIAL!</p><p>Eddie Giacomin, the Rangers&rsquo; premier goaltender, who is rated as the No. 1 regular in the National Hockey League wears a mask, but only in practice. The conclusion to be reached is that players and brass alike consider certain of the safeguards as being alright for warmups, but not good enough for actual competition.</p><p>What then, is the problem with helmets? The old leather helmets were too heavy. They have been replaced with light plastic types, which may look pretty but possibly do not fulfill the function for which they are worn.&mdash;to protect. Rod Gilbert of the Rangers accidentally stabbed Pit Martin of the Black Hawks with the blade of his weapon last season and shattered it like it was an eggshell.</p><p>Dr. Kazuo Yanagisawa, the famous orthopedic surgeon who has operated on so many sports figures, says, &ldquo;That helmet was absolutely worthless. Fortunately, Martin only received cuts and abrasions, but it could have been worse. What I would like to see is a helmet with a metal band around the rim to keep it from shattering.&rdquo;</p><p>Vic Hadfield wore a helmet in 1967-68 after suffering a severe shoulder injury in January of that season. He thought it might help and was remembering that he could have hit his head and not his shoulder.</p><p>&ldquo;The next season when I was All right again, I just threw it away&rdquo; says Vic &ldquo;I just did not want to wear it longer than was necessary.&rdquo;</p><p>Most of the old guard have the same feelings on helmets. They recognize that in time fans will not he able to see whether a player is blond, brunette, red haired or balding. This will take some of the appeal and glamour away from ice hockey. On of the gripes that my lady has about football is the gladiatorial look of its players. Hockey as played without helmets has sex appeal and intimate fan appeal.</p><p>This is not reason enough to say forget the protective device for the head. This observer feels that a helmet must be devised that will not slow down the performer either mentally or physically and which will be emotionally acceptable to everyone using it. There is no such animal available now.</p><p>One unnamed NHL coach says&rsquo;,&rsquo;When I see a player wearing a helmet I wonder if he thinks first and plays later. Hockey is a game of desire. A team of all stars without that feeling of push, push, push could not beat the last place team in a minor pro league. In this aspect, it differs from baseball, which is really a game for individual achievement. The fans pay for one hundred percent effort and right or wrong there is the feeling in the NHL that some of the guys wearing helmets are a bit on the careful side.&rdquo;</p><p>This may be nothing but a base canard, but this thinking is there. Certainly no one would question the courage or try of St. Louis&rsquo; Phil Goyette or Minnesota&rsquo;s Charlie Burns, who is playing with a plate in his head, but still the feeling is there.</p><p>Making the rule about helmets a mandatory regulation would cause a certain amount of emotional grief throughout the NHL. Players who have never worn a helmet would not accept it too readily and it is their life they are risking.</p><p>&ldquo;It is a matter of not going against a long standing tradition,&rdquo; says one prominent NHL veteran. &ldquo;I remember when Doug Harvey was with Quebec, one of the Aces suffered a skull fracture and the Aces&rsquo; owners got steamed up and made a team rule that everyone had to wear helmets. Harvey put his on for one period, them threw it away and told one and all that he would play his way or not at all.&rdquo;</p><p>Harvey, now 44 and active last season with the St. Louis Blues, represents the old guard way of thinking. The attending physician of the Fort Worth Wings, who attended Bert Wilson when the Omaha player was hurt has led a personal vendetta against the old feeling that it was up to the players to make their own choice. Dr. Arthur Berryman contacted both Emery Jones, the President of the Central League and Clarence S. Campbell, the NHL Prexy and future world leader of international ice hockey.</p><p>Both Campbell and Jones told Berryman that it was still regarded as the choice of the individual. Oklahoma City, the Bruins farm in the Central Pro League has made the wearing of helmets mandatory as have the Dayton Gems of the International Hockey League. The mention of Campbell as the future head of world wide hockey is important in the great helmet controvers. All European teams, including Russia, Czachoslovakia and Sweden wear helmets and so do Canadian and European collegiate players. We might add the teams competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States to this list, also.</p><p>Thus, the forces of rugged individualism are doomed, but they will probably hold off the inevitable for a few more years. When a key big star like Bobby Hull or Phil Esposito starts to wear a helmet all the time, he will be emulated by the smaller fry or fringe player in the pros and presto, like magic and without any presidential decrees, everyone will be wearing them.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02550/2785714-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1177" height="1748"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Among the handful of steady helmet wearers in the NHL is RED BERENSON of St. Louis Blues, who has worn one throughout his jig league career and never appears on the ice without it.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Hockey News Photo By Richard Pellagrini)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0003-01

SHOULD HELMETS BE MADE MANDATORY?

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01730/2785766-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="359" height="435"></div><p>&bull; <b>TWO OF</b> the most successful coaches in the history of the Western Hockey League, Hal Laycoe with Portland and Bud Poile with Edmonton and San Francisco, were both fired during the same week from their National Hockey League jobs&hellip;Laycoe was dismissed as coach of the Los Angeles Kings and Poile was released as general manager by the Philadelphia Flyers. It was a shattering pre-Christmas shock for both men&hellip;Laycoe waited 24 years to coach in the NHL and lasted exactly 24 games. He couldn&rsquo;t seem to get the best results from his players. It was a bitter disappointment to him after waiting so many years to try his coaching talents in the NHL&hellip;It&rsquo;s a funny thing. I was in Portland for nine years and never bought a house. As soon as I came to L.A. I bought one,&rdquo; Laycoe informed&hellip;Poile&rsquo;s Philadelphia Flyers won the Western Division of the NHL during the first year of expansion. Last season they slipped to third place and they were in fourth place, two points behind Pittsburgh Penguins, when Poile was given the axe&hellip;It had been rumored in hockey circles for the past few weeks that he was going to be dismissed&hellip;A total of six fractures have felled the Salt Lake Golden Eagles since November 11. Billy McNeill sustained a broken left ankle and torn ligaments. &ldquo;Moose&rdquo; Vasko received a cracked instep. Galen Head incurred a broken cheekbone. Ted Hodgson suffered a severe shoulder separation, while Bobby Birdsell suffered a broken thumb and Gerry Mazur a possible fracture of the lower left leg&hellip;Gordie Howe will be honored by the Omaha Sportscasters Association on January 15 as &ldquo;Sportsman of the Year&rdquo;. Omaha is the only professional team outside of Detroit that Howe has played for and he was only there one season&hellip;General Manager Jack Riley of the Penguins is doing everything he can to help sell hockey in the Steel City. He organized a shoot up at a Pittsburgh shopping center where as many fans as possible had a chance to shoot pucks at Penguins goalies and to meet the players.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02681/2785759-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="274" height="453"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Jack Riley</b></figcaption></div><p>&bull; <b>YOU WILL</b> be seeing more and more players coming into the NHL from the U.S. college teams. Latest player to make this move is Al Karlander. center with Detroit Red Wings. He was the highest goal scorer in the Central League when Detroit called him up from Fort Worth&hellip;Karlander is a graduate of Michigan Tech. There are close to 80 colleges in the United States playing hockey right now. One of the few major schools that doesn&rsquo;t feature Canadian players is Boston College, coached by John (Snooks) Kelly, who recruits only Americans and most of them from the high schools in the Greater Boston area&hellip;Michigan Tech has an impressive NHL alumni at present. Besides Karlander there&rsquo;s Tony Esposito and Lou Angotti with Chicago&hellip;Montreal&rsquo;s Mickey Redmond has been nicknamed &ldquo;Mouse&rdquo; by his teammates and this is no reflection on the way he plays hockey. But he strums a pretty mean guitar and is called &ldquo;Mouse&rdquo; after Walt Disney&rsquo;s creation&hellip;Lou Fontinato, who suffered a broken neck playing for Canadiens in a game against the Rangers in Montreal in 1963, is in his filth season as coach of a junior team in Guelph, Ont. Now 37, he is in good health except that he can&rsquo;t swivel his neck&hellip;Coach John McLellan of the Maple Leafs feels his team&rsquo;s lack of success is due to the trouble they&rsquo;re having with their defense and Norm Ullman&rsquo;s failure to score goals. He has been juggling his goalkeepers, Bruce Gamble and Marv Edwards, working them in two and three-game shifts&hellip;Pittshburgh&rsquo;s Red Kelly blasted Goalie Al Smith after his recent fight with Terry Harper of Canadiens. It was the goalie&rsquo;s third scrap of the season&hellip;It appears Bobby Orr will break all scoring records for a defenseman this season. He needs a faster pace to snap his 21 goals of last year but should have little difficulty in topping his 64 points to-tai of 1968-69 and the assists record of 50, set last season by Chicago&rsquo;s Pat Stapleton&hellip;New York&rsquo;s Ed Giacomin doesn&rsquo;t believe that goaltending is between 70 and 90 percent of the game of hockey. &ldquo;A goaltender,&rdquo; he points out, &ldquo;is only as good as the defensemen in front of him. This year we have five outstanding defensemen and they&rsquo;re all young. That&rsquo;s a big reason for our success. Eventually they catch up with even the best goaltender it he doesn&rsquo;t have good defensemen.&rdquo;&hellip;Don&rsquo;t forget to order your copy of the Official National Hockey Annual 1970. It&rsquo;s the best dollar value around today for a hockey follower.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03583/2785752-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="268" height="486"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Norm Ullman</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<p><b>OFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY</b></p><p>Founded October 1st, 1947</p><p><b>Published weekly except monthly June through September by</b></p><p><b>Ken-Will Publishing Co. Ltd.</b></p><p><b>1434 St. Catherine Street West Montreal 107, Canada.</b></p><p><b>Kenneth William McKenzie</b> President and Publisher</p><p><b>Charlie Halpin</b> Editorial Director</p><p><b>Yearly SUBSCRIPTION Rates: $6.00 in Canada $7.00 in the U.S.A. and $9.00 in Foreign Countries.</b></p><p>Postage paid at Rouses Point, N.Y.</p><p>Second class mail&mdash;Registration No. 1327</p><p><b>Printed in Canada</b></p><p><b>Vol. 23 MONTREAL, JANUARY 2, 1970 No. 13</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The Hockey News

<h2><b>NHL Needs Neutrals To Handle 3 Stars</b></h2><p>I agree that a record of the star ratings should be kept, but I think that because of their new importance, a special problem will arise.</p><p>Just as players sometimes differ with the scorer on their decisions as to assists, they will argue with the writer who chooses the three stars. In the case of assists, it is usually only one player who feels unrewarded, but there can be many stars of a game. Writers may favor the home team player who is in the running for the &ldquo;star points&rdquo; award over an opposing player who played just as well.</p><p>I think that the person who selects the three stars for each game should be totally non-partisan, knowledgeable about the game of hockey, and paid for his services by the NHL, like the major leagues pay baseball&rsquo;s official scorers.</p><p>HOPE CHAIKIN,<br>East Meadow, N.Y.</p><h2><b>Should Bobby Hull Win &lsquo;Poor Sport&rsquo; Award?</b></h2><p>I would like to nominate Bobby Hull of the Chicago Black Hawks as the &ldquo;Poorest Sportsman of the Year&rdquo;. Chicago made a big mistake in letting him come back.</p><p>Even though Chicago&rsquo;s record was not too good in the early weeks, they have played much better without Hull. They work together as a team, defensivly and offensively, without him. Bobby Hull could be a good hockey player if he would play for the team and not for himself. The way it stands, the NHL could use a few more Bobby Orrs and a few less Bobby Hulls.</p><p>RICKY SURETTE,<br>Windsor, N.S.</p><h2><b>New Teams Were Put In Wrong Division</b></h2><p>Next year the NHL as you know is adding two new expansion teams, Vancouver and Buffalo. We think these two additions will be an asset to the NHL as these two cities will certainly support hockey after a long three year wait.</p><p>However, we want to criticize the new arrangement of the two divisions. Both new teams are paying six million dollars which is an incredible figure compared to the cost of the new franchises in the last expansion. Yet, they are being shoved into the more competitive Eastern division and will hardly stand a chance to make the playoffs for at least five years. Why?</p><p>Instead of moving Chicago to the Western division and putting Vancouver and Buffalo in the Eastern division, we think a better arrangement is in order. By putting St. Louis in the Eastern division and Vancouver and Buffalo in the West, it would give both new teams a much greater chance to make the playoffs. Also, the Eastern division would become much more competitive than it already is with the powerful Blues.</p><p>K.C. RICE. J.P. BLATCHFORD.<br>Waterloo, Ont.</p><h2><b>Expansion Threat To Hockey&rsquo;s Future?</b></h2><p>The future of hockey as the most exciting sport is being threatened by an unchecked rapidly growing giant of the sports world&mdash;expansion. Expansion menaces the speed, sharpness, and, in general exciting action that is unique to hockey. It spreads thin throughout the NHL a limited supply of hockey talent. The present number of 12 teams is excellent and should not have been increased.</p><p>Clearly, every city worthy of a franchise by virtues of population and location cannot be served by NHL teams. There would otherwise be over a dozen possible choices in the U.S. and Canada including Baltimore. Cincinnati. Milwaukee, etc. Instead such cities should have minor league clubs which would serve these cities and the NHL while preserving the high quality of hockey and reducing one-sided games.</p><p>EVAN WAGSHUL<br>Brooklyn. N.Y.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Fan Forum

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div><p>DETROIT&mdash;</p><p>Boom Boom&rsquo;s gone but Boomer&rsquo;s back.</p><p>Boom Boom, of course, is Bernie Geoffrion, presently scouting for the New York Rangers. Geoffrion got his nickname because of the sound his slap shot made when it hit the boards&hellip;and. incidentally, what was it doing hitting the boards</p><p>The Boomer might not be as familiar to fans around the National Hockey League, particularly those in the Western Division cities.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01683/2785845-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="253" height="430"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Bob Baun</b></figcaption></div><p>The Boomer is Detroit Red Wing defenseman Bob Baun and only lately has he been &ldquo;booming&rdquo; again.</p><p>It has brought bruises to rivals and a smile to the face of Red Wing manager-coach Sid Abel.</p><p>Baun is playing the kind of hockey now that he played in the days when Toronto was winning four Stanley Cups and one league championship&mdash;tough, bodychecking hockey.</p><p>Baun played well for the Red Wings last season but not as well as he has been playing in December. Just a month ago the 33-year-old Baun was upset because of the slow healing of his right ankle, cracked by a Bobby Orr flap shot in the exhibition season.</p><p>It was a week before the crack was discovered and then Baun missed the first four games of the season.</p><p>Baun felt he&rsquo;d started playing too soon. The doctors said the break mended neatly but there was a small egg-size swelling and Baun couldn&rsquo;t get any power from the ankle and thus his right leg.</p><p>He underwent treatment almost daily and finally it began to feel better and Baun started booming&hellip;then he sustained a deep skate cut at the front of the ankle.</p><p>Baun shook that off, however, and didn&rsquo;t miss a game.</p><p>Matter of fact, his first game after the skate cut was among his best. It was against Minnesota and the North Stars were treating the Establishment quite shabbily, running up a five game unbeaten streak at the Eastern Division&rsquo;s expense.</p><p>Then they took a 2-0 lead against Detroit and Baun was on for the goals and felt he contributed to them. It made him mad. He began hitting every North Star in sight.</p><p>Pete Stemkowski, who the Wings were regarding as somewhat of a reluctant dragon, started the comeback, charging into Minnesota defenseman Barry Gibbs. While he was serving time Baun began crunching.</p><p>The Wings pulled a 2-2 tie out of the game with Nick Libett&rsquo;s tying goal coming on a Baun rebound. The Wings outshot Minnesota, 25-5, in the last 30 minutes of the game but Cesare Maniago, having a big night and help from the goal posts&mdash;the Wings figured they hit six, preserved the tie.</p><p>Baun played perhaps his best game in a 5-2 Detroit victory over Montreal and so did his old Toronto partner, Carl Brewer.</p><p>Abel thought of reuniting Baun and Brewer when Brewer decided to return to pro hockey this season but it hasn&rsquo;t worked that way.</p><p>Because of Baun&rsquo;s ankle fracture, Ron Harris moved in as Brewer&rsquo;s partner and blossomed under Brewer&rsquo;s tutelage. So, when Baun returned, he was paired with Gary Bergman.</p><p>They&rsquo;re ideal pairings. Baun and Harris thrive on heavy bodywork while Bergman and Brewer lean more toward offense and are swifter skaters.</p><p>Like Baun, Brewer has had some health problems this season, missing five games and playing only one period of ano ther because of a pulled groin muscle.</p><p>With the two of them healthy and Baun booming, the Red Wings&rsquo; fortunes are looking up.</p><p><b>ICE CHIPS:</b> As Wing captain Alex Delvecchio&rsquo;s goal-less streak went on and on, fans began sending him good luck charms and advice.</p><p>The mother of one friend sent a bit of white heather from Scotland which Delvecchio wrapped up and put inside his skate boot&hellip;still no goal. Abel tried and old trick from his playing days, drawing a face on Delvecchio&rsquo;s stick.</p><p>Alex tried white tape instead of black, a hooked stick instead of his straight one&hellip;but still the goalkeepers got in front of all his shots. The puck was lying on the goal line against Minesota and Maniago was out of position&hellip;hut just as Delvecchio reached to poke it across, Leo Boivin &ldquo;hit me like Alex Karras and pulled me down.&rdquo;</p><p>Gordie Howe&rsquo;s 12th and 13th goals of the season were against Montreal and the 12th was the 744th regular season marker of his career, putting him 200up on the No. 2 man, Maurice Richard&hellip;then he made it 201.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-01

Baun Turns Back The Clock Displaying Old Maple Leaf Cup Form For Red Wings

<p>DETROIT&mdash;</p><p>Another collegian has made it to the NHL.</p><p>Allan Karlander played so well, both offensively and defensively, in five games that manager-coach sip Abel decided to keep the 23-year-old center from Lac LaHache, B.C., with the Red Wings.</p><p>Karlander graduated from Michigan Tech, alma mater of Chicago&rsquo;s Tony Esposito and Lou Angotti, in June with a business degree. He turned pro with Detroit&rsquo;s Fort Worth farm and was the Central League&rsquo;s top goal-getter with 16 and third in points, 29, when the Wings called him up.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02611/2785876-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="533" height="525"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>AL KARLANDER</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0005-02

College Grad Al Karlander Wins NHL Berth With Wings

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE HALPIN</div><p>&bull; <i>BEFORE THE start of the 1969-70 National Hockey League season if someone had told you Bobby Orr, a defenseman, would be leading the NHL in scoring; or that Bill Goldsworthy of Minnesota, who had 14 goals in 68 games last season, would be heading the league in goals with 18; or that possibly the surprising Oakland Seals would be flirting with last place, you would have informed him to have his adrenalin count checked.</i></p><p><i>But all these things have come about and more, which is a pretty good way of saying the first half of the new season schedule has been extraordinary.</i></p><p><i>It has been that kind of a hockey season, too, filled with the unexpected.</i></p><p><i>With three weeks still to play before the 12 teams hit the half-way mark in the 76-game campaign, Orr has been one of the dominating figures with his 39 assists in 32 games. He needs only 12 more to eclipse Pat Stapleton&rsquo;s record and conceivably could accomplish the feat in a little more than half the time it took Stapleton to do it last season with the Hawks.</i></p><p><i>Orr stands to set several NHL firsts this year if he continues to pick up scoring points at his present momentum. He would be the first and only defenseman to ever win a league scoring title. Many will argue that he won&rsquo;t make it because of the very fact he is a defense player. But the Bruins allow him to roam so free and allot him so much extra ice time, it would be a pretty poor bet that he won&rsquo;t make it.</i></p><p>&bull; <i>AS LONG as the Bruins have a reasonable number of games remaining against the expansionists, Orr&rsquo;s chances of succeeding grow. He has been virtually &lsquo;feasting&rsquo; on the West division. In a breakdown of his 39 assists, figures show that the Boston Marvel has 25 assists against the West and 14 in games with the East. He has 20 on the road, which is also remarkable, and 19 at home. Overall, he has 29 scoring points against the West and 19 against the East.</i></p><p><i>Orr likes it best when the Seals show up for a game. He has picked up nine assists against them and six against each of the Los Angeles and Pittsburgh clubs. In one of his latest outings, Orr assisted on five of the six Boston goals while the B&rsquo;s were stoning the Penguins 6-4.</i></p><p><i>While Orr has been nothing short of sensational, we think the really big surprise of the first half of the season has to be the brilliant play of rookie Tony Esposito of the Black Hawks.</i></p><p><i>The portly goaler, who has a fantastic six shutouts and an NHL top goals-against average of 2.27, appears to be the best candidate right now for rookie-of-the-year honors. He bounced up and down between Montreal and Houston last season with few people ready to concede that he would be in the NHL this year let alone be the premier netminder over the first four months of the season.</i></p><p><i>But Esposito&rsquo;s there and threatening to establish net goaling standards for an NHL newcomer. It would indeed be rare if Orr won the scoring title and Esposito the rookie award.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01759/2785907-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="272" height="483"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0006-01

INSIDE HOCKEY

<div class="byline">BY TOM MONAHAN</div><p>BOSTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>F</span>or 13 seasons Johnny Bucyk has been boiling in the colors of the Boston Bruins with little recognition outside of the home stand. But this may be the year the rugged Uke from Edmonton finally achieves an NHL award.</p><p>At the moment, the 34-year-old veteran is a leading candidate for the Lady Byng Trophy.</p><p>There once was a time when there was a bit of a stigma attached to the Lady Byng award.</p><p>Many fans felt it was significant of timidness. And the guideline supposedly was the absence of penalties.</p><p>Actually the trophy carries a much greater meaning.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02618/2785945-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="269" height="450"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Wayne Cashman</b></figcaption></div><p>The NHL&rsquo;s description of the award is &ldquo;to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Actually.&rdquo; says Bruin coach Harry Sinden. &ldquo;the amount of penalty time a player serves should not be a determining factor in this award.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll grant that a player who is in the penalty box a number of times for misconduct penalties should not be considered. But just the fact that one man we&rsquo;ll say plays through a season with 10 minutes in penalties while another man might have as many as 30 minutes, should have no bearing when the people who vote take the candidates into consideration.&rdquo;</p><p>Last year Detroit&rsquo;s Alex Delvecchio won the Lady Byng for the third time.</p><p>&ldquo;I have no argument about Delvecchio winning the prize, says Sinden. &ldquo;Here is a good aggressive hockey player. He scores goals and makes plays and he does spend little time in the penalty box.</p><p>&ldquo;You know something, it takes a lot of character to go out there on the ice and be willing to get hit as often as Delvecchio does and still keep coming back and doing the job.</p><p>&ldquo;But I have to say that Bucyk is the same type of player and he has been given little credit for what he does and what he means to our team.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be very surprised if anyone ever gave so much as a second&rsquo;s thought to the suggestion that Bucyk is not aggressive.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s as tough as they come and no one gets the puck out of a jam any better than Johnny.</p><p>&ldquo;He gets hit plenty and he takes it. He also hits plenty but he always does it without any thought or display of malice.</p><p>&ldquo;And certainly no one can question the standard of his playing ability.&rdquo;</p><p>That, of course, is a matter of record. Bucyk is a cinch to hit the 300-goal mark before this season is much further along.</p><p>After 28 games, he had a total of 294 career goals and ranked 14th among the NHL&rsquo;s all time scorers. He was just two behind Henri Richard for the 13th spot on the list.</p><p>He also owns all the Bruin scoring records that count as only four times in the 12 previous seasons has he failed to hit the 20-goal mark.</p><p>Before this season had passed the one third mark Johnny had hit for 13 goals and had 12 assists to combine with Fred Stanfield and Johnny McKenzie as the highest scoring line in the league.</p><p>And for penalty time, Bucyk had drawn only six minutes in the cooler.</p><p>Two of his goals were game winners. Two others tied up games for the Bruins and he tallied eight on power-play situations.</p><p>If there is any further doubt of Bucyk&rsquo;s qualifications for the Lady Byng Trophy just watch him over the remainder of the year.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03463/2785938-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="574" height="1087"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JOHN BUCYK&hellip;Long Time Coming</b></figcaption></div><p><b>ICE CHIPS&mdash;</b>Wayne Cashman experienced some slight difficulty with the Bruins&rsquo; management when he was suspended and sent home from Philadelphia for breaking the club&rsquo;s training rules&hellip;He also missed the next game with Pittsburgh&hellip;But a conference with coach Harry Sinden straightend things out and the 24-year-old foward was reinstated after the two games, although he had to sacrifice his pay for both games&hellip;The acquisition of Wayne Carleton from Toronto in a trade for Jim Harrison &lsquo;apparently has strengthened the Bruins left wing situation&hellip;The deal was prompted by a third operation on veteran Ron Murphy&rsquo;s left shoulder&hellip;the surgery was necessary to remove pins from one of the previous operations and to remove some bone growth that had been causing aggravation when he tried to shoot. Murphy will be off the ice for three to four weeks.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-02

JOHN BUCYK FOR THE BYNG, WHO ELSE, CLAMOR BRUINS

<div class="byline">BY PAT CURRAN</div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p>Take it from Coach Claude Ruel&mdash;there&rsquo;s no way the Canadiens can come up with a healthy team this season.</p><p>Take the latest switch, for instance. Just when Jacques La-perriere and John Ferguson were due to return after sitting out suspensions, Jean Beliveau wound up on the sidelines with a cracked ankle. Then Fergy had no sooner been back&mdash;only one game&mdash;before he was shelved with a fractured thumb.</p><p>Ferguson&rsquo;s injury came during a mild scuffle with Chicago defenseman Gilles Marotte in a game at the Forum. Dec. 13 when the Habs&rsquo; winger jammed his hand on the ice. It didn&rsquo;t appear serious that night but was badly swollen when the team arrived at Detroit and enough to keep him out of the loss to the Red Wings.</p><p>Fergy came home only to learn that the thumb on his right hand had been fractured and he would be inactive again another two to three weeks.</p><p>Beliveau, with his left foot in a cast for Christmas, was expected to miss another two weeks. Henri Richard suffered a broken ankle and was lost for a month.</p><p>Loss of the three regulars started a heavy flow of traffic from Montreal&rsquo;s AHL farm team, Les Voyageurs, with Rejean Houle, Guy Charron, Peter Mahovlich and Phil Roberto being called up. The latter wound up in the lineup at Pittsburgh where veteran Dick Duff did not get into uniform.</p><p>Richard, now 33 but enjoying one of his best seasons ever in 15 NHL campaigns, continued as the Montreal spark plug while skating like a rookie and taking checks like a rubber ball. After scoring two goals and an assist in a 5-2 win at Pittsburgh, Richard was eighth in the league points race with 10 goals and 20 assists. He was only two goals away from 300 in his NHL career.</p><p>Lemaire continued to match the rest of the sharp-shooters with 15 goals while Redmond, also slowed down in goal-scoring had a mark of 13 and 12 for 29 games.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01711/2785983-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="266" height="430"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>John Ferguson</b></figcaption></div><p>Ruel, considering his team fortunate to stay in contention for Eastern honors despite injuries, wondered what would happen if the Richard line went into a slump. The other units didn&rsquo;t figure as Canadiens lost three of five games, no matter what the coach did to get them going.</p><p>Bobby Rousseau, who has come through so often in the past at centre, was a disappointment in filling for Beliveau with the result that the usually high&mdash;scoring Yvan Cournoyer wasn&rsquo;t producing either. Ralph Backstrom wasn&rsquo;t consistent and the absence of the digging Ferguson really hurt that line.</p><p>Before the start of the season, the Canadiens seemed loaded in reserves. However none of the minor leaguers showed anything to get excited about and there was speculation the Habs could be in trouble in the second half.</p><p>Besides the Richard line, Montreal&rsquo;s strength to date has been in defence and goaltending. Terry Harper and Jacques Laperriere were outstanding. Serge Savard played his part both on defence and in penalty-killing while Ted Harris started coming up with the kind of play that earned him all-star rating last season.</p><p>A bright spot coming on Christmas was the return of Jean Claude Tremblay who helped improve the disappointing Montreal power-play. J.C. has been out more than a month with a badly bruised wrist.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02639/2785976-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="1174" height="1127"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Here&rsquo;s Canadiens&rsquo; captain JEAN BELIVEAU after suffering his latest injury as he shows the obvious pain of a cracked ankle.</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0007-01

Hubs ‘Beliveau, Ferguson Still On Shelf

<div class="byline">&#x2014;By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01745/2786021-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="299" height="379"></div><h2><i><b>Wren Caught A Hot One</b></i></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HIS WAS AFTER</b> Hal Laycoe had been fired and Johnny Wilson hired and Los Angeles had just come from behind to tie Minnesota. In the Minnesota dressing room, coach Wren Blair said, &ldquo;It was just our luck to walk in here just when the moves were made. I knew the Kings would be fired up and teams that are as high as they were don&rsquo;t lose very easily. This is the game for expansion teams&mdash;getting fired up so they play at a higher level than they normally would play at.&rdquo;</p><p>He had entered the arena sartorially splendid in varying shades of wine, neat and cool. But he is The Barnum of the Bench. He could not get more excited behind the boards if his wife were tied to some tracks and about to be run over by a train at midice. He says he is putting on a show, which he feels is needed by expansion teams, but if so, he is a convincing actor who lives his parts. After games, his shirt is so soaked, if he wrung it out into a tub he could bathe in his own sweat.</p><p>Now his coat was off, his shirt was disarrayed and drenched and he looked like he&rsquo;d just been run over by the train that had threatened his wife. &ldquo;I know that Laycoe is a fine man and a fine coach and I do not know what his problems with the Kings were,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I can guess. He was used to winning in Portland and he may have coached in Los Angeles the way you coach a winner. He may have coached the way Emile Francis can coach in New York, cool, calculating, sending good men out to do a good job. But you can&rsquo;t coach that way in Los Angeles or Minnesota or Philadelphia and survive. You have to coach hot and excited.</p><p>He sank wearily onto a bench in the deserted dressing room. The game was nearly an hour over, but he had still not recovered. He said, &ldquo;No one except those of us who have lived it from the start know what expansion is. Expansion is trying to do the impossible, trying to beat great players with ordinary players, trying to hold your heads up while the other guys are kicking you in the stomach, trying to hang on to a ledge long enough to begin climbing up while your foes are stepping on your fingers.</p><p>&ldquo;Anyone who says they made a great expansion draft is lying. No one did. We did as good as anyone and it wasn&rsquo;t good enough. The established clubs didn&rsquo;t give us anything. We took our list into a room full of our scouts and I said this guy and this guy and this guy and this guy will be with us two or three years from now, but we can never win with the rest and what we&rsquo;ve got to do is start unloading them for one or two more guys who can play for us.</p><p>&ldquo;We have four guys left that we drafted. We made deals for all the rest. I screamed and hollered and raised cane with the guys I had trying to inspire them and I got one good year out of some of the, but once it was done, I had to unload them because I knew they&rsquo;d never play that well again. And that&rsquo;s the way I&rsquo;ve been coaching, screaming and hollering and trying to inspire the guys to play above their heads so we can win some games we shouldn&rsquo;t win and not look too bad in some we&rsquo;re bound to lose.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>A Similar Situation&hellip;</b></i></h2><p><b>LAST SEASON, BLAIR</b> turned the coaching job over to John Muckier, but after 39 games, the team was struggling and Muckier was fired, much as was Laycoe after only 24 games in L.A. this season. Blair resumed coaching and the North Stars began to charge, but they moved too late and still missed the playoffs. This season they have been the only expansion team doing well against the established clubs and have been in contention for their divisional pennant.</p><p>&ldquo;Muckier was a fine coach, but he was too gentle on the guys, Blair said. He didn&rsquo;t realize what you have to do is demean yourself, do things you re ashamed of. You have to treat the guys like animals, spurring them to give more than they&rsquo;ve ever given before. I&rsquo;ve spurred them that way for our games against the big clubs, but because a guy only has so much to give it has cost us against our fellow expansionists.</p><p>The fellows who mostly landed on the expansion rosters were those with high potential and good minor-league records who had not made it in the majors because they didn&rsquo;t have it in them to put out all the time. It is these kind Blair feels he has had to prod to put out for the time being at least.</p><p>&ldquo;I used to look down my bench and wonder what am I doing trying to beat those guys with these guys?&rdquo; he sighed. &ldquo;But last year I could look down and see a couple halfway there. With Claude Larose and Danny Grant and Bill Goldsworthy and three or four others, we&rsquo;re halfway to equality with our big brothers. You still have to drive them. Tonight, between periods. I said things to the guys I&rsquo;m ashamed of having said. But I knew I had to say them to get the guys going beyond themselves again.&rdquo;</p><p>In two and one-third seasons since expansion, 10 of the 12 NHL teams have made 14 coaching changes. This is a statistic which demeans sports and insults the profession. They won when they dealt for other players and brought in a fire-eater, Scotty Bowman, to drive the guys. Philadelphia replaced a fine coach. Keith Allen, with Vic Stasiuk because Stasiuk is tougher. Laycoe is a great coach, but Wilson may be tougher. Our teams don&rsquo;t need great coaches, hut tough leaders.</p><p>Blair has offered his coaching job to Punch Imlach and Bernie Geoffrion and been refused. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t want to be coaches any more. Only a madman would. To get the job done with our teams, you have to walk a fine line between inspiring the players and having them want to kill you, between sanity and insanity. Some of the coaches who have lost their jobs could win pennants with good club. We don&rsquo;t have good clubs. Some day we will. By then, I may be in my grave, Blair said mopping his flushed and damp face.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02657/2786014-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="553" height="896"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>WREN BLAIR&hellip;Being Madman Helps</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY GLENN REDMANN</div><p>TWIN CITIES&mdash;</p><p>First it was the baseball Twins who captured the fancy of this professional sports-mad area by winning their divisional title in the American League.</p><p>Next it was the Vikings, who parlayed the leadership of ex-Canadian Football League star Joe Kapp and a rock-ribbed defense into the NFL&rsquo;s Western Conference championship game against the L.A. Rams.</p><p>Now, could it be that the North Stars, who arrived on the scene six years later than the other two, are also headed in the direction of bigger things?</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03541/2786052-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="263" height="393"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Cesare Maniago</b></figcaption></div><p>One has to think of this as being a distinct possibility after what the Minnesotans accomplished in a recent eight-game stretch against the East, three at home and five on the road.</p><p>There were two victories and four ties sandwiched between 5-2 losses to the Maple Leafs in Toronto Nov. 29 and to the red hot New York Rangers here on Dec. 13.</p><p>Montreal&mdash;for the second time this season&mdash;fell victim to the Stars, the first time that the Habs had ever lost on home ice to Minnesota. And, in order to do it, the West Division club had to rally from a 3-1 deficit.</p><p>&ldquo;If that had happened in either of the last two seasons,&rdquo; said J.P. Parise, the club&rsquo;s leading point-maker at this writing, &ldquo;being behind 3-1, it would&rsquo;ve been all over. But this season we&rsquo;re fighting back when we fall behind.&rdquo;</p><p>The Chicago Black Hawks, who had won four and tied one in five previous appearances here, invaded the Sports Center Dec. 10 with the league&rsquo;s best goals-against average.</p><p>Genial Billy Reay&rsquo;s club left the premises on the short end of an 8-5 score, victims of the Stars&rsquo; best scoring night ever in regular season play. -</p><p>Three of the four ties were garnered by 2-2 scores on the road and the other was a somewhat disappointing 5-5 standoff at home against Toronto.</p><p>Disappointing because the Stars held a 4-2 lead in the third period, but still they must be given credit for getting the tie because the Leafs led by 5-4 with only a few minutes left.</p><p>New York, Boston and Detroit were the sites of the road deadlocks. Those against the Rangers and Bruins were something special in that they (1) came on Sundays after the club had played at other rinks the night before and thus had to travel and (2) were gained on come-from-behind third-period goals.</p><p>In Detroit, a 2-0 lead was blown, but there was little doubt as to the club&rsquo;s weariness the night after the wild-and-wooly Black Hawk game. The Wings outshot the Stars 14-3 in the final period, but Cesare Maniago simply wouldn&rsquo;t be penetrated.</p><p>As might be expected, there were heroes aplenty in that eightgame slate which netted the Minnesotans eight points while running their log for the season against the East to 5-4-6. The 16 season points against the East is one more than they got all last season.</p><p>Every regular forward scored at least once. The defense, nearly always steady, was at times spectacular. And Cesare Maniago and rookie Fern Rivard were towers of strength in the nets.</p><p><b>STAR-LITES: L</b>eo Boivin played in his 1.100th NHL game here against the Rangers on Dec. 13&hellip;Bill Goldsworthy&rsquo;s two goals 11 seconds apart in the 8-5 win over Chicago Dec. 10 broke the old club record by nine seconds&hellip;And when Capt. Claude Larose scored 66 seconds later, the three goals in 77 seconds easily eclipsed the former mark of 3 minutes and 40 seconds&hellip;An ankle injury sustained in a pre-game skate forced J.P. Parise to miss his first game as a North Star after 153 straight appearances&hellip;Omaha general manager Jake Milford took in the Stars-Rangers game Dec. 13 and called the Sports Center a &ldquo;Marvelous building for hockey&mdash;one of the best I&rsquo;ve ever seen.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-03

North Stars Flexing Muscles Against East Improves Team’s Image

<p><b>Do you think there should be more scoring in hockey?</b></p><p><b>LOWELL STEELE,</b> financier, Los Angeles:</p><p>&ldquo;No, it&rsquo;s fine the way it is; nothing wrong with it. The high scoring is why I don&rsquo;t like basketball: back and forth, back and forth, hitting shot after shot, 100 points, 120 points a team; the goals don&rsquo;t mean much. I like hockey scoring, where each score is important.&rdquo;</p><p><b>MRS. ESTHER DOANE,</b> housewife, Venice, Calif.</p><p>&ldquo;Oh my, no. There&rsquo;s always action in hockey, unlike baseball, but at least when there&rsquo;s a score and the fans yell, it counts for something. My husband likes basketball, but I can&rsquo;t stand it. They score every few seconds and it takes an adding machine to keep track.&rdquo;</p><p><b>TOM T. TURNER,</b> auto dealer, Pomona, Calif.</p><p>&ldquo;I would have said so a few years ago, but now there is a little more I think, and that&rsquo;s good. Expansion may have watered down the talent a little and opened up the scoring a little, but I think they&rsquo;ve achieved a good balance now and I wouldn&rsquo;t want it to go much further. Even in football these days the scoring is mounting to the ridiculous. Whatever happened to 14-7 football games? I&rsquo;m happy with 3-2 and 4-3 hockey games.&rdquo;</p><p><b>DIANE LEWIS,</b> saleslady, Los Angeles:</p><p>&ldquo;Yes. I think they should make the net bigger and the goalies smaller. At least those that face L.A. We can&rsquo;t even seem to score much even when the other team&rsquo;s goal-keeper is out of his place. We get scored on enough, though we have a very good goal-keeper. I think every fan is just interested in his team scoring more and the other team less. I think most fans don&rsquo;t care about the scoring so much as their team wins, but I would like a few more chances to yell. I like to yell, which is maybe why I&rsquo;m not married.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

THE FANS’ CORNER

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01743/2786152-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RON STEWART perches at Montreal net awaiting puck</b></figcaption></div><p>Following are the latest player movements in hockey:</p><h2><b>NATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p>NEW YORK <b>&mdash;Jack Egers,</b> forward recalled from Omaha of CHL.</p><p>CHICAGO&mdash;<b>Gene Ubriaco,</b> forward, secured from Oakland of NHL in trade for <b>Howie Menard,</b> forward.</p><p>MONTREAL&mdash;<b>Phil Roberto,</b> forward, and <b>Jack Norris,</b> keeper, recalled from Montreal Voyageurs of AHL.</p><p>BOSTON&mdash;<b>Barry Wilkins,</b> defenseman, returned to hom City of CHL. <b>Bill Lesuk,</b> forward, recalled from Hershey of AHL.</p><p>MINNESOTA&mdash;<b>Walt McKechnie,</b> forward, recalled from Iowa of CHL.</p><p>TORONTO&mdash;<b>Chris Evans,</b> defenseman, returned to Phoenix of WHL. <b>Marcel Pronovost</b> and <b>Gord Nelson,</b> defensemen, re turned to Tulsa of CHL.</p><h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p>ROCHESTER&mdash;<b>Jack Wells,</b> forward, called up from Charlotte of EHL on five-game tryout.</p><p>QUEBEC&mdash;<b>Bob Taylor,</b> goal keeper, recalled from New Jersey of EHL. <b>Gilles, Banville,</b> goalkeeper, suspended and dropped from roster.</p><h2><b>WESTERN LEAGUE</b></h2><p>DENVER <b>&mdash;Lyle Bradley,</b> forward joined team off suspended list after trade from Salt Lake of WHL.</p><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p>DES MOINES&mdash;<b>Pat Donnelly,</b> forward, joined team off voluntary retired list. <b>Ray Brunet,</b> defenseman, secured from Montreal of NHL.</p><p>MUSKEGON&mdash;<b>Fred Scheffer,</b> goalkeeper, added to roster and <b>Gord Kopp,</b> goalkeeper, dropped.</p><p>PORT HURON&mdash;<b>Randy Prior,</b> forward, secured from Springfield of AHL after securing amateur reinstatement. <b>Art Thomas,</b> forward, placed on waivers.</p><p>TOLEDO&mdash;<b>Jacques Girard,</b> defenseman, placed on waivers. <b>Shorty Malanchuk,</b> defenseman, activated from injury reserve list.</p><p>DAYTON&mdash;<b>Gary MacMillan,</b> forward, activated from injury reserve list.</p><p>FORT WAYNE&mdash;<b>Jean Losier,</b> defenseman, secured from Denver of WHL.</p><p>COLUMBUS&mdash;<b>Rheal Paquette,</b> forward, released and returned to Sudbury home.</p><p>FLINT&mdash;<b>Lome Rombough,</b> forward, signed as free agent. <b>Jack Brewer,</b> forward, left team. <b>Don Lane,</b> forward, secured from Fort Wayne on five-game tryout.</p><h2><b>EASTERN LEAGUE</b></h2><p>NEW JERSEY&mdash;<b>Ed Kea,</b> defenseman, reclaimed from Jacksonville of EHL following league ineligibility ruling. <b>Gilles Drolet,</b> defenseman, secured from Columbus of IHL. <b>Gary Gresdal,</b> forward, picked up on waivers from Johnstown of EHL.</p><p>JOHNSTOWN&mdash;<b>Jim Pinnegar,</b> defenseman, left team and returned home. <b>Scott Buchan,</b> defenseman, signed from Univ. of Minnesota.</p><p>NEW HAVEN&mdash;<b>Chuck Stuart,</b> forward, joined team after trade from Charlotte of EHL.</p><p>SALEM&mdash;<b>Claude Piche,</b> forward, rejoined club from inactive list.</p><p>NASHVILLE&mdash;<b>Bill Cameron,</b> forward, picked up from Greensboro on waivers.</p><p>JACKSONVILLE&mdash;<b>Dale Jun kin,</b> forward, secured from Long Island of EHL.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02649/2786145-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="1162" height="935"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>The big blaster for Rangers is VIC HADFIELD</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Hockey News Photos by Harry Klatt)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0010-01

Movements of Players

<div class="byline">BY NORMAN MacLEAN</div><p>NEW YORK&mdash;</p><p>It had to happen. First the Mets stopped winning, undoubtedly because they stopped playing and then the New York basketball Knickerbockers lost. Finally Boston beat the Rangers for the first Blueshirt loss since November 5.</p><p>Actually during the week of December 8, New York split four games, beating Boston 5-2 in New York, losing to the Bruins 2-1 in Beantown, walloping Minnesota in the Northland 5-2 and going flat against Toronto 3-1 back in Gotham.</p><p>Those two Ranger victories did not come from the sticks of the much publicized Jean Ratelle-Rod Gilbert-Vic Hadfield trio or even from the Bulldogs. In the main the Walt Tkaczuk-Dave Balon-Billy Fairbairn line was playing well, but not as sensationally as before. The Ranger wins were both fa shioned by a man who logged about ten minutes of ice time in all four games combined. His name Ron Stewart, the droll wit who at 37, still skates like a man ten years younger.</p><p>Stewie scored twice while the Rangers were shorthanded and both goals broke 2-2 ties. Both goals stood up as the winners and both goals came while New York was being pressed by their opponent.</p><p>&ldquo;Heck, sometimes the puck goes in like it had eyes,&rdquo; laughed Ron as he admired his looks in the mirror in the Ranger dressing room. &ldquo;Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?</p><p>For Rangerville, the answer has to be the six foot. 205 Stewart who had been releagated to penalty killing and spot duty by the emergence of Billy Fairbairn as the regular right wing on the &ldquo;Bulldogs line. Fairbairn took Bob Nevin&rsquo;s place when Bob was hurt and did so well that when Nevvy returned, Bob was placed on the Juha Widing-Donnie Marshall checking line. Thus, Stew got more bench time than had been Ranger General Manager Coach Emile Francis normal practice.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03541/2786183-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="280" height="464"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Don Marshall</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry, the time will come when we need him badly. He&rsquo;ll get some ice in every game and I know he can do the job for us,&rdquo; said The Cat.</p><p>Ron, who was the bane of the ever serious Punch Imlach&rsquo;s existence, during his thirteen seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, has always been known as a defensive whiz.</p><p>Once when Imlach complained he was not scoring enough goals, Stew cracked, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s awful hard to score from the end of the bench.&rdquo;</p><p>On both of his big tallies, he drilled bullets from just over the blue line and his black darts eluded the grasp of Gerry Cheevers of Boston and Cesare Maniago of Minnesota. Since he had just been inserted for defense in short handed situations, Ron was almost scoring from the end of the bench.</p><p>Donnie Marshall also played a big part in the Minnesota victory, notching a key insurance marker and making a pair of Ranger trades stand up. The first, of course, is the controversial 1967 swap in which Francis sent the non scoring utility player Red Berenson to St. Louis for Stewart. Red, given ice and confidence blossomed into a West Division Star. At 30, he has more years ahead of him than Stewart, although we wonder if Red has two game winners yet.</p><p>&ldquo;Without Stewart we might not have made the playoffs that season. Both St. Louis and New York were going bad when the trade was made. Stew helped us against Bobby Hull and he lends a touch of class to the team. Also he can score. You know he has over 250 NHL career goals, something which is almost always overlooked because of his great defense,&rdquo; says Francis.</p><p><b>BLUE CHIPS:</b> The ever travelling Ranger Fan Club visited Toronto on December 20 and is accepting reservations for jaunts to Montreal over the January 10-11 weekend and to Montreal again on March 28&hellip;The RFC also is throwing a gala Dinner Dance for the Rangers on Monday February 16&hellip;Rangers have outshot opposition in all but two games this season&hellip;Vic Hadfield leads club with four game winners, while Ron Stewart, Brad Park, Walt Tkaczuk, Arnie Brown and Billy Fairbairn have two each&hellip;Ranger power play still a bit off with 17 in 127 attempts compared to opponents 14 in 111&hellip;Blueshirts stand 11-2-4 in last seventeen games&hellip;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-03

Stewart Wins Two Big Ones For Rangers

<div class="byline">BY VICTOR BERNS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01733/2786221-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="745" height="543"></div><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;</p><p>Barclay Plager is a parttime policeman who can handle the puck.</p><p>He is only a parttime policeman because the St. Louis Blues also have a couple of other defensemen who can restore order on the ice and represent the Blues&rsquo; interests in a fight. Those two would be big Noel Picard and Plager&rsquo;s brother, Bob.</p><p>But Barclay can skate a little more smoothly, and his puckhandling just naturally makes him an offensive defenseman.</p><p>Plager claims that he&rsquo;s not thinking about offense as much this year as the past two seasons because the Blues have been jumping to quick leads in more games this season.</p><p>He makes a good point about those early leads. Last season the Blues scored more goals in the third period than in either of the other two periods; whereas, this year the scoring is fairly evenly distributed, and the lowest number of goals has been scored in the final period.</p><p>But Barclay is also off to a quick start and had one goal and 12 assists in the first 25 games to lead all Western Division defensemen in scoring. Maintaining that pace would give him a healthy increase over last season&rsquo;s 30 points and the 20 points of the previous season.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting to know where the players are going to be,&rdquo; Plager said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really concentrating on offense that much.&rdquo;</p><p>That first goal of the season came in a game in which Plager sparkled on defense. St. Louis goalie Ernie Wakely faced only 23 shots by the Oakland Seals, and Plager&rsquo;s goal was the winning score in a 4-1 victory for the Blues.</p><p>&ldquo;I just flipped in somebody&rsquo;s rebound,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>Plager led the rush on the play and then passed to Gary Sabourin, who fed the puck to Andre Boudrias. Boudrias&rsquo; shot was stopped by Oakland goalie Gary Smith, and Plager grabbed the rebound. His first shot didn&rsquo;t make it, but he grabbed his own rebound and lifted it over Smith for the goal.</p><p>Would Plager like to play on a forward line?</p><p>&ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d like that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I like defense.&rdquo;</p><p>Yes, Plager is more comfortable on defense. There&rsquo;s a lot of hitting to be done there, and Plager is always ready to join the fray.</p><p>&ldquo;The hardest thing is for me to keep quiet,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>Blues&rsquo; fans are accustomed to seeing Plager&rsquo;s No. 8 going into the thick of a fracas on the ice. And they have yet to see him beaten.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not who wins the fight that&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s being willing to fight that&rsquo;s important. If you get challenged and renege in this league, everybody will take a shot at you.&rdquo;</p><p>For Plager fighting is just another part of winning, and winning is what is most satisfying to him.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s about 40 or 50 players in the league who I don&rsquo;t particularly want to fight.&rdquo; The handsome Plager said with a grin.</p><p>Then he added seriously, &ldquo;Of course, there&rsquo;s no one I wouldn&rsquo;t fight.&rdquo;</p><p>Plager appears to be accumulating penalty minutes at a slower pace this season.</p><p>He says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m cutting down on minors and I&rsquo;m not getting any retaliatory penalties. I&rsquo;d also say I&rsquo;m cutting down on misconducts, but I just got one the other night.&rdquo;</p><p>Plager put his name in the National Hockey League record book during the Stanley Cup playoffs the season before last when he obliterated the old record for penalty minutes by one player during the playoffs. The old record was 55, held by Red Horner and Jimmy Orlando, but Plager topped that substantially with a total of 73 minutes. He also led the NHL in penalties during the regular season with 153 minutes.</p><p>Plager came to the Blues when they were in last place in the Western Division about six weeks after they made their debut in the NHL. The New York Rangers traded Plager and Red Berenson to the Blues for Ron Stewart and Ron Attwell.</p><p>&ldquo;Winning the last two years has been most enjoyable,&rdquo; Plager said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had the satisfaction of being part of a great organization and of playing with such men as Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall and Al Arbour.</p><p>&ldquo;Of course. Arbour has been playing since the Depression,&rsquo; Plager joked about his partner on defense.</p><p>The Blues&rsquo; coach, Scotty Bowman, was Plager&rsquo;s coach for three seasons in junior hockey, and Plager says, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got what it takes.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02679/2786214-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="1159" height="1311"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>This little bit of illegal stick tactics by Rangers&rsquo; REAL LEMIEUX got him a penalty and a punch in the nose from Blues&rsquo; BARCLAY PLAGER during recent New York Garden game.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Hockey News Photo by John Barnett)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0011-01

Fighting and Winning Go Together Says Hard Rock Barclay Plager

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01711/2786280-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2><b>INDIVIDUAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h2><p><b>(Including Gomes of Sun. Dec. 21)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02616/2786273-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="1846" height="1559"></div><h3><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03487/2786266-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="605" height="2630"></div><h3><b>EAST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04359/2786259-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="604" height="2496"></div><h3><b>PENALTIES BY TEAMS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05267/2786252-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="583" height="333"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0012-01

TOP 25 SCORERS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06220/2786318-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg"></div><p><b>(Standings on Tues. Dec. 23)</b></p><h2>EAST DIVISION</h2><h2><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-07192/2786311-1-eng-US/f0012-072.jpg" title="f0012-07" width="1107" height="292"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Mon. Dec. 15</b></p><p>Minnesota 4 at Los Angeles 4</p><p><b>Tues. Dec. 16</b></p><p>Detroit 4 at St. Louis 6</p><p><b>Wed. Dec. 17</b></p><p>Montreal 5 at Pittsburgh 2</p><p>Philadelphia 2 at New York 2</p><p>Chicago 1 at Los Angeles 3</p><p>Minnesota 1 at Oakland 3</p><p><b>Thurs. Dec. 18</b></p><p>Boston 3 at St. Louis 3</p><p><b>Fri. Dec. 19</b></p><p>Chicago 4 at Oakland 0</p><p><b>Sat. Dec. 20</b></p><p>Detroit 3 at Montreal 2</p><p>New York 5 at Toronto 2</p><p>Boston 6 at Pittsburgh 4</p><p>Philadelphia 0 at St. Louis 3</p><p>Minnesota 3 at Los Angeles 3</p><p><b>Sun. Dec. 21</b></p><p>Montreal 5 at Boston 2</p><p>Toronto 3 at Detroit 0</p><p>Oakland 1 at New York 3</p><p>St. Louis 0 At Chicago 4 Pittsburgh 0 at Philadelphia 4</p><h2><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h2><p><b>Tues. Dec. 23</b></p><p>Minnesota at St. Louis</p><p><b>Wed. Dec. 24</b></p><p>Los Angeles at Toronto</p><p><b>Thurs, Dec. 25</b></p><p>Los Angeles at Boston</p><p>Chicago at Minnesota</p><p>Oakland at Philadelphia</p><p><b>Fri. Dec. 26</b></p><p>Montreal at Detroit</p><p>Toronto at St. Louis</p><p>Pittsburgh at New York</p><p><b>Sat. Dec. 27</b></p><p>Philadelphia at Montreal</p><p>St. Louis at Toronto</p><p>Chicago at Pittsburgh</p><p>Oakland at Minnesota</p><p><b>Sun. Dec. 28</b></p><p>Los Angeles at New York</p><p>Boston at Philadelphia</p><p>Oakland at Detroit</p><p><b>Tues. Dec. 30</b></p><p>St. Louis at Montreal</p><p>Minnesota at Los Angeles</p><p><b>Wed. Dec. 31</b></p><p>Montreal at Pittsburgh</p><p>Oakland at Toront</p><p>Chicago at New York</p><p>Boston at Detroit</p><p><b>Thurs. Jan. 1</b></p><p>Philadelphia at Los Angeles<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-06

THE NHL SCENE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-08" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-08167/2786356-1-eng-US/f0012-082.jpg"></div><p><b>(Including games of Sun. Dec. 21)</b></p><h2><b>EAST-WEST SCOREBOARD</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-09137/2786349-1-eng-US/f0012-092.jpg" title="f0012-09" width="1209" height="201"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0012-08

Looking At NHL Coolers

<p><i><b>&mdash;In Statistics</b></i></p><p><b>(Including Games of Sun. Dec. 14) TEAM STATISTICS</b></p><h2><b>AGAINST OWN DIVISION</b></h2><h3><b>East Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01701/2786464-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="587" height="181"></div><h3>West Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02654/2786457-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="583" height="183"></div><h2><b>AGAINST OTHER DIVISION</b></h2><h3>East Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03608/2786450-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="584" height="180"></div><h3>West Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04557/2786443-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="580" height="181"></div><h2><b>HOME AND AWAY RECORD</b></h2><h3><b>East At Home</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05461/2786436-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="581" height="180"></div><h3><b>East On Road</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-06393/2786429-1-eng-US/f0013-062.jpg" title="f0013-06" width="579" height="184"></div><h3><b>West At Home</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-07363/2786422-1-eng-US/f0013-072.jpg" title="f0013-07" width="580" height="181"></div><h3><b>West On Road</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-08340/2786415-1-eng-US/f0013-082.jpg" title="f0013-08" width="583" height="184"></div><h2><b>POWER PLAY GOALS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-09323/2786408-1-eng-US/f0013-092.jpg" title="f0013-09" width="586" height="333"></div><h2><b>INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS</b></h2><h3>POWER PLAY GOALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-10301/2786401-1-eng-US/f0013-102.jpg" title="f0013-10" width="581" height="254"></div><h3><b>GAME WINNING GOALS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-11276/2786394-1-eng-US/f0013-112.jpg" title="f0013-11" width="583" height="279"></div><h3><b>GAME TIEING GOALS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-12241/2786387-1-eng-US/f0013-122.jpg" title="f0013-12" width="578" height="297"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0013-01

NHL WEEK

<p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>INNIPEG While Canada has been holding its own against the Russians on the ice recently, the Soviets are making considerably more noise away from the rink.</p><p>The Canucks managed to break even in four exhibition starts against the Russian National team last week, winning by scores off 4-3 and 5-1 and dropping 53 and 9-3 verdicts in various Western Canadian cities.</p><p>However, the Russians overshadowed the results of these head-to-head matches by consistently raising outcries that they will boycott the forthcoming World Hockey championships in Montreal and Winnipeg.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-13207/2786495-1-eng-US/f0013-132.jpg" title="f0013-13" width="254" height="440"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Billy Harris</b></figcaption></div><p>Main bone of contention, apparently, is the agreement made by the International Ice Hockey Federation allowing Canada the right to use nine professionals in the 1970 tourney. The Russians are now disputing this right, and they are being backed by International Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage.</p><p>&ldquo;If Mr. Brundage is agianst the use of professionals, the Soviet hockey federation will accept this decision,&rdquo; commented George Losolov, president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, &ldquo;The Candians should also realize this fact and do the same thing,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>However, Canada&rsquo;s National team general manager Buck Houle retorted that the Canadians will go along with the original IIHF concession and use nine pros as planned.</p><p>&ldquo;If Canada can&rsquo;t have nine pros, the other five teams can go play among themselves,&rdquo;stormed Houle. &ldquo;The Soviets and Canada need each other, because the Russians want to play the best there is. To get the best, we must go to the professionals and get what you might call &lsquo;some Soviet amateurs&rsquo; to strengthen our team.&rdquo;</p><p>World tournament problems notwithstanding, the Canadians fared better than expected against the defending champion Russians by splitting their four games out west.</p><p>Billy Harris, a 34-year-old veteran of 769 National Hockey League games, and unsung goaltender Ken Stephenson led Canada&rsquo;s resurgence.</p><p>Harris accumulated one goal and three assists in Canada&rsquo;s 5-1 romp, while Stephenson held the fort between the pipes until Dy-acheslav Starshinov shattered his shutout hopes with less than eight minutes to play. The turnabout, witnessed by 5,388 fans in Victoria, B.C., came one night after Russia ripped goalie Ken Dryden for 44 shots in a goal fest before a disappointed throng of 13,157 in Vancouver.</p><p>First two contests of the Russian exhibition series were played in Winnipeg before crowds of 8,500 each night. The Soviets were to play eight games on their Canadian tour.</p><p>Besides Harris, Canada&rsquo;s snipers in their second series victory were ex-Toronto Maple Leaf Brian Conacher, Mike Poirier, Chuck Lefley and Corby Adams.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-13

Canada Holding Own On Ice With Russians But Soviets Opposed To Nine—Pro Ruling

<div class="byline">BY JIM PROUDFOOT</div><p><i>&ldquo;you like 7up 7up likes you&rdquo;</i></p><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p>Two recent events have served to underline the gravity of the predicament in which Toronto Maple Leafs now find themselves.</p><p>Plagued by injuries on defence&mdash;Brian Glennie joined Mike Pelyk and Ricky Ley on the sidelines&mdash;they couldn&rsquo;t find a better replacement than Marcel Pronovost, the 39-year-old playing coach of their Central League farm team at Tulsa. He was with Leafs last season, but was seldom used.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01699/2786526-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="268" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Brian Glennie</b></figcaption></div><p>At the same time, Leafs made it plain to Hockey Canada that they&rsquo;d find it exceedingly difficult to find three or four minor leaguers who&rsquo;d be any use to the Canadian team at the 1970 World amateur tournament.</p><p>That&rsquo;s how completely the Leaf farm system has dried up.</p><p>As recently as 1963, Leafs were deep in reserve strength. They finished first in the National Hockey League standings and won the Stanley Cup, and not the least of the reasons was the fact they had capable replacements at every position. They owned rich satellite clubs at Rochester in the American League and Victoria in the Western League, to say nothing of the powerful Marlboro juniors in Toronto. And they had some men placed at Tulsa, too.</p><p>All that has changed.</p><p>Leafs sold the Rochester and Victoria operations, with player rosters included.</p><p>Then came NHL expansion in 1967 and, while Leafs were able to keep their NHL lineup pretty well intact, much of their backup power was drained away. They&rsquo;ll lose some more men next summer, when the league adds Vancouver and Buffalo teams.</p><p>Finally, during Punch Imlach&rsquo;s regime, Leafs developed a policy of trading for short-term improvement and letting the future take care of itself.</p><p>&ldquo;The name of the game here is Stanley Cup,&rdquo; says Harold Ballard who, as executive vice-president, approved of a number of the deals which, over the long haul, have turned out badly for Toronto.</p><p>A good example was the 1964 transaction by which Leafs acquired Don McKenney and Andy Bathgate from New York Rangers. Toronto gave up Rod Seiling, Arnie Brown and Bob Nevin, all regulars with Rangers now, plus Dick Duff and Bill Collins, who are still in the NHL.</p><p>Leafs felt they wouldn&rsquo;t have won the Stanley Cup that spring if they hadn&rsquo;t made this swap. That, they feel, is a more important consideration than any second guessing concerning the fact they didn&rsquo;t keep McKenney and Bathgate, while Brown, Seiling and Nevin are among the young stars who make Rangers a power in the league today.</p><p>Red Burnett of the Toronto Star researched the matter for a recent article and found there were 36 men playing regularly for the 11 other NHL clubs who had graduated from the Leaf system.</p><p>He suggested you could pick a lineup from that group which would trounce the current Maple Leafs. And it would even be more of a mismatch if you added other athletes who&rsquo;ve been discarded by Leafs, such as Larry Hillman and Eddie Shack.</p><p>What makes all this especially worrisome for general manager Jim Gregory is that, under the present pro hockey setup, it&rsquo;s going to be extremely difficult to rebuild.</p><p>In the old days, Leafs could groom the finest young players in the Marlboro organization. Now, they run Marlies as a profitable enterprise at Maple Leaf Gardens. But there&rsquo;s no particular advantage, as far as the big club is concerned.</p><p>Marlboro graduates, when they turn 20, go into the amateur draft along with all the other emerging juniors and all NHL organizations get an equal shot at them each June.</p><p>The only thing you can do. Gregory points out, is do a thorough scouting job so that you know where to get the best material.</p><p>McLellan finds reason for optimism in the fact Leafs have remained within striking distance of a playoff spot despite an almost unbelievable series of injuries.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe this bad luck can continue,&rdquo; McLellan says.</p><p>&ldquo;And I think we&rsquo;ll be a lot better when Normie Ullman and Tim Horton get moving.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure everybody realizes this team has to get leadership from those two and Dave Keon.</p><p>&ldquo;So far, Keon&rsquo;s the only one who&rsquo;s come through for us. He&rsquo;s been truly fantastic and I find myself using him so much that I&rsquo;m ashamed to face him.</p><p>&ldquo;Ullman and Horton have been having their problems, though, and that&rsquo;s what has hurt us more than anything except maybe the injuries.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-01

Leafs Discovering Fertile Farm System ‘Dried Up’

<h2><b>Game-By-Game Summaries</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01674/2786721-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="860" height="571"></div><h3><b>Mon. Dec. 15 MINNESOTA 4 AT LOS ANGELES 4</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02606/2786714-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="589" height="673"></div><h3><b>Tues. Dec. 16 DETROIT 4 AT ST. LOUIS 6</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03510/2786707-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="595" height="788"></div><h3><b>WED. DEC. 17 MONTREAL 5 AT PITTSBURGH 2</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04395/2786700-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="595" height="698"></div><h3><b>PHILADELPHIA 2 AT NEW YORK 2</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-05298/2786693-1-eng-US/f0015-052.jpg" title="f0015-05" width="581" height="450"></div><h3><b>CHICAGO 1 AT LOS ANGELES 3</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-06246/2786686-1-eng-US/f0015-062.jpg" title="f0015-06" width="584" height="522"></div><h3><b>MINNESOTA 1 AT OAKLAND 3</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-07220/2786679-1-eng-US/f0015-072.jpg" title="f0015-07" width="584" height="431"></div><h3><b>Thurs. Dec. 18 BOSTON 3 AT ST. LOUIS 3</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-08196/2786672-1-eng-US/f0015-082.jpg" title="f0015-08" width="594" height="721"></div><h3><b>Fri. Dec. 19 CHICAGO 4 at OAKLAND 0</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-09182/2786665-1-eng-US/f0015-092.jpg" title="f0015-09" width="581" height="595"></div><h3><b>Sat. Dec. 20 DETROIT 3 at MONTREAL 2</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-10159/2786658-1-eng-US/f0015-102.jpg" title="f0015-10" width="588" height="543"></div><h3><b>PHILADELPHIA 0 AT ST. LOUIS 3</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-11139/2786651-1-eng-US/f0015-112.jpg" title="f0015-11" width="595" height="524"></div><h3><b>BOSTON 6 AT PITTSBURGH 4</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-12112/2786644-1-eng-US/f0015-122.jpg" title="f0015-12" width="591" height="819"></div><h3><b>NEW YORK 5 AT TORONTO 2</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1398/2786637-1-eng-US/f0015-132.jpg" title="f0015-13" width="586" height="649"></div><h3><b>MINNESOTA 3 at LOS ANGELES 3</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1485/2786630-1-eng-US/f0015-142.jpg" title="f0015-14" width="585" height="543"></div><h3><b>Sun. Dec. 21 OAKLAND 1 AT NEW YORK 3</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1570/2786623-1-eng-US/f0015-152.jpg" title="f0015-15" width="599" height="480"></div><h3><b>ST. LOUIS 0 AT CHICAGO 4</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1666/2786616-1-eng-US/f0015-162.jpg" title="f0015-16" width="582" height="425"></div><h3><b>TORONTO 3 AT DETROIT 0</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1763/2786609-1-eng-US/f0015-172.jpg" title="f0015-17" width="580" height="452"></div><h3><b>PITTSBURGH 0 AT PHILADELPHIA 4</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1854/2786602-1-eng-US/f0015-182.jpg" title="f0015-18" width="579" height="525"></div><h3><b>MONTREAL&rsquo;S AT BOSTON 2</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1947/2786595-1-eng-US/f0015-192.jpg" title="f0015-19" width="584" height="658"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0015-01

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<h2><b>MONTREAL</b></h2><p><b>GOALKEEPERS</b></p><p>Lome Worsley</p><p>Rogatien Vachon</p><p>Jack Norris</p><p><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></p><p>J.-C. Tremblay</p><p>Ted Harris</p><p>Serge Savard</p><p>Terry Harper</p><p>Jacques Laperriere</p><p><b>FORWARDS</b></p><p>Ralph Backstrom</p><p>Dick Duff</p><p>Bobby Rousseau</p><p>Henri Richard</p><p>Yvan Cournoyer</p><p>Claude Provost</p><p>Chris Bordeleau</p><p>Mkkey Redmond</p><p>Jacques Lemaire</p><p>Guy Charron</p><p>Peter Mahovlich</p><p>Phil Roberto</p><h2><b>ST. LOUIS</b></h2><p><b>GOALKEEPERS</b></p><p>Jacques Plante</p><p>Ernie Wakely</p><p>Glenn Hall</p><p><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></p><p>Ray Fortin</p><p>Bob Plager</p><p>Noel Picard</p><p>Barclay Plager</p><p>Jim Roberts</p><p>Jean-Guy Talbot</p><p><b>FORWARDS</b></p><p>Red Berenson</p><p>Frank St. Marseille</p><p>Phil Goyette</p><p>Gary Sabourin</p><p>Tim Ecclestone</p><p>Bill McCreary</p><p>Ron Anderson</p><p>Larry Keenan</p><p>Andre Boudrias</p><p>Ab McDonald</p><p>Terry Gray</p><h2><b>BOSTON</b></h2><p><b>GOALKEEPERS</b></p><p>Gerry Cheevers</p><p>Ed Johnston</p><p><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></p><p>Bobby Orr</p><p>Rick Smith</p><p>Dallas Smith</p><p>Gary Doak</p><p>Don Awrey</p><p><b>FORWARDS</b></p><p>Derek Sanderson</p><p>Ken Hodge</p><p>John Bucyk</p><p>Wayne Carleton</p><p>Garnet Bailey</p><p>Bill Lesuk</p><p>Ed Westfall</p><p>John McKenzie</p><p>Phil Esposito</p><p>Jim Lorentz</p><p>Wayne Cashman</p><h2><b>OAKLAND</b></h2><p><b>GOALKEEPERS</b></p><p>Gary Smith</p><p>Charlie Hodge</p><p><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></p><p>Doug Roberts</p><p>Wayne Muloin</p><p>Carol Vadnais</p><p>Dick Mottiussi</p><p>Bert Marshall</p><p>Harry Howell</p><p><b>FORWARDS</b></p><p>Billy Hicke</p><p>Gerry Ehman</p><p>Ted Hampson</p><p>Don O&rsquo;Donoghue</p><p>Gary Jarrett</p><p>Earl Ingarfield</p><p>Mike Laughton</p><p>Norm Ferguson</p><p>Brian Perry</p><p>Bob Dillabough</p><p>Howie Menard</p><h2><b>CHICAGO</b></h2><p><b>GOALKEEPERS</b></p><p>Denis DeJordy</p><p>Tony Esposito</p><p><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></p><p>Keith Magnuson</p><p>Doug Jarrett</p><p>Ray McKay</p><p>Pat Stapleton</p><p>Gilles Marotte</p><p><b>FORWARDS</b></p><p>Lou Angotti</p><p>Pit Martin</p><p>Jim Pappin</p><p>Bobby Hull</p><p>Dennis Hull</p><p>Eric Nesterenko</p><p>Chico Maki</p><p>Cliff Koroll</p><p>Jim Wiste</p><p>Stan Mikita</p><p>Gerry Pinder</p><p>Gene Ubriaco</p><p>Doug Mohns</p><h2><b>PHILADELPHIA</b></h2><p><b>GOALKEEPERS</b></p><p>Bernie Parent</p><p>Doug Favell</p><p><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></p><p>Ed Van Impe</p><p>Joe Watson</p><p>Larry Hillman</p><p>Wayne Hillman</p><p>Dick Cherry</p><p>Larry Hale</p><p><b>FORWARDS</b></p><p>Earl Heiskala</p><p>Andre Lacroix</p><p>Simon Nolet</p><p>Jean-Guy Gendron</p><p>Reg Fleming</p><p>BillSutherland</p><p>Gary Dornhoefer</p><p>Bob Clarke</p><p>Lew Morrison</p><p>Terry Ball</p><h2><b>DETROIT</b></h2><p><b>GOALKEEPERS</b></p><p>Roy Edwards</p><p>Roger Crozier</p><p><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></p><p>Bobby Baun</p><p>Gary Bergman</p><p>Cari Brewer</p><p>Ron Harris</p><p>Matt Ravlich</p><p><b>FORWARDS</b></p><p>Garry Unger</p><p>Gordie Howe</p><p>Alex Delvecchio</p><p>Garry Monahan</p><p>Bruce MacGregor</p><p>Nick Libett</p><p>Wayne Connelly</p><p>Pete Stemkowski</p><p>Frank Mahovlich</p><p>Billy Dea</p><p>Al Karlander</p><h2><b>PITTSBURGH</b></h2><p><b>GOALKEEPERS</b></p><p>Les Binkley</p><p>Al Smith</p><p><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></p><p>Duane Rupp</p><p>Bab Woytowich</p><p>Bob Blackburn</p><p>Tracy Pratt</p><p>Jim Morrison</p><p>Mike McMahon</p><p><b>FORWARDS</b></p><p>Bryan Hextall</p><p>Keith McCreary</p><p>Vai Fonteyne</p><p>Nick Harbaruk</p><p>Ken Schinkel</p><p>Glen Sather</p><p>Ron Schock</p><p>Wally Boyer</p><p>Jean Pronovost</p><p>Dean Prentice</p><p>Michel Briere</p><h2><b>TORONTO</b></h2><p><b>GOALKEEPERS</b></p><p>Bruce Gamble</p><p>Marv Edwards</p><p>John Bower</p><p><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></p><p>Tim Horton</p><p>Pat Quinn</p><p>Jim Dorey</p><p>Brian Glennie</p><p>Marcel Pronovost</p><p><b>FORWARDS</b></p><p>Jim McKenny</p><p>Ron Ellis</p><p>Murray Oliver</p><p>Jim Harrison</p><p>Brit Selby</p><p>Mike Walton</p><p>Floyd Smith</p><p>Paul Henderson</p><p>Bob Pulford</p><p>Terry Clancy</p><p>Ron Ward</p><p>Norm Ullman</p><p>George Armstrong</p><h2><b>LOS ANGELES</b></h2><p><b>GOALKEEPERS</b></p><p>Gerry Desjardins</p><p>Wayne Rutledge</p><p><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></p><p>Dale Rolfe</p><p>Brent Hughes</p><p>Bob WaH</p><p>Dale Hoganson</p><p>Larry Cahan</p><p>Bill White</p><p><b>FORWARDS</b></p><p>Eddie Joyal</p><p>Eddie Shack</p><p>Bill Rett</p><p>Jim Peters</p><p>Butch Goring</p><p>Ted Irvine</p><p>Skip Krake</p><p>Mike Corrigan</p><p>Ross Lonsberry</p><p>Leon Rochefort</p><h2><b>NEW YORK</b></h2><p><b>GOALKEEPERS</b></p><p>Ed Giocomin</p><p>Terry Sawchuk</p><p><b>DHTNSEMEN</b></p><p>Brad Park</p><p>Amie Brown</p><p>Jim Neilson</p><p>Rod Seiling</p><p>Allan Hamilton</p><p><b>FORWARDS</b></p><p>Jack Egers</p><p>Bob Nevin</p><p>Real Lemieux</p><p>Bill Fairbairn</p><p>Vic Hadfield</p><p>Ron Stewart</p><p>Dave Balon</p><p>Walt Tkoczuk</p><p>Jean Ratelie</p><p>Juha Widing</p><p>Don Marshall</p><h2><b>MINNESOTA</b></h2><p><b>GOALKEEPERS</b></p><p>Cesare Maniago</p><p>Fem Rivard</p><p><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></p><p>John Miszuk</p><p>Leo Boivin</p><p>Lou Nanne</p><p>Darryl Sly</p><p>Barry Gibbs</p><p>Tom Reid</p><p><b>FORWARDS</b></p><p>Danny O&rsquo;Shea</p><p>Bill Goldsworthy</p><p>Chadie Bums</p><p>Ray Cullen</p><p>Jean-Paul Parise</p><p>Tommy Williams</p><p>Bob Barlow</p><p>Claude Larose</p><p>Bill Collins</p><p>Danny Grant</p><p>Walt McKechnie<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

National League Rosters

<p>PITTSBURGH&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Pittsburgh Penguins had been sailing merrily along behind the &lsquo;Golden Triangle&rsquo; and everything seemed rosy. Then the Penguins lost their touch and when the smoke had cleared, they had dropped five in a line and the club stopped scoring.</p><p>With Michel Briere, Jean Pronovost and Val Fonteyne combining to score nine goals and 12 assists in nine games, the Penguins suddenly found themselves with a hot line and challenging the upper echelons of the Western Division.</p><p>Red Kelly&rsquo;s Penguins had run up a 4-1-2 record with goaler Les Binkley providing the backstopping and Pronovost turning the Pittsburghers on with some exciting goal getting.</p><p>Binkley and Al Smith, alternating in 23 of the Penguins&rsquo; first 25 games, had a commendable 2.60 goals-against average. Only the leading St. Louis Blues, with their army of net custodians, ranked higher.</p><p>But the Penguins got off the winning track and before they could pick up the pieces, they had dropped five in succession to Oakland, Boston, Montreal, Boston again and Philadelphia. Instead of rubbing shoulders with the North Stars of Minnesota and the Blues, they were languishing in third place tied with Philadelphia Flyers.</p><p>Briere, who hasn&rsquo;t been able to put the puck in the net through the Penguins&rsquo; last half dozen games, still remains a top candidate for rookie of the year honors and a possible choice to make the West Division All-Star team. But Briere will have to step up his scoring production to maintain his edge in both departments.</p><p>In the meantime, Pronovost was inching his way towards the lead in team scoring and was hot on the heels of veterans Dean Prentice and Ken Schinkel, the club&rsquo;s two acknowledged point leaders.</p><p>Through the club&rsquo;s first 30 games, Prentice was the leader with 20 points, Schinkel had 18 and Pronovost was next with 17 along with team defenseman Bob Woytowich.</p><p>But the Penguins had other things on their minds besides individual scoring feats. They had to find a way to get their winning touch again to stay in the Western division race.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Hot Penguins Cool Out In Western Race

<p>NEW YORK&mdash;The CBS Game of The Week featuring National League hockey will be back this season for the third straight year.</p><p>The Montreal Canadiens, defending Stanley Cup champions, will face New York Rangers in the opening game of the CBS Television Network Game of the Week to be broadcast Sunday, Jan. 11, it was announced by William C. MacPhail, Vice President, CBS Television Sports, and NHL Vice President Don V. Ruck.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1551/2786922-1-eng-US/f0016-152.jpg" title="f0016-15" width="259" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Don Ruck</b></figcaption></div><p>Again this season, Dan Kelly will call the play by play and Bill Mazer will provide the commentary.</p><p>The Montreal-New York opener, to be played at Montreal, will precede the broadcast on the network of the NFL-AFL world championship Super Bowl football game from New Orleans.</p><p>The Canadiens-Rangers encounter, which matches the two teams who faced each other in last season&rsquo;s Stanley Cup opening round, will be the first of a series of 13 regular-season games to be presented on the CBS Television Network. In addition to the regular play, one game will be broadcast each Suhday afternoon during the Stanley Cup playoffs.</p><p>This season, for the first time, the Network will have several regional broadcast dates. On these Sundays, two games will be broadcast, one played in the East and one in the West.</p><p>Speaking of the broadcast schedule, Ruck said: &ldquo;We think this is the best schedule we&rsquo;ve ever had. The champion Montreal Canadiens will be seen at least four times, and we feel the weekly matchups offer what should be among the most crucial games in the standings.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-15

Canadiens, Rangers To Kick Off Third Year Of CBS Came Of Week

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-16" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1648/2786953-1-eng-US/f0016-162.jpg"></div><p><b>The TV hockey schedule follows. All times are EST:</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-16

NHL’s TV Schedule

<p>OAKLAND&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Oakland Seals, solidly entrenched in fifth place in the NHL&rsquo;s Western Division standings, completed a one lor one player trade with the Chicago Black Hawks last week in an effort to get something going after a disappointing start in the 1969-70 season.</p><p>The Westerners sent 32-year-old veteran left winger Gene Ubriaco to the Hawks for center Howie Menard, 27. The trade had been held up for several days due to waiver problems.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01435/2786984-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="275" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Howie Menard</b></figcaption></div><p>Ubriaco, who spent two weeks in the minors earlier this season, had scored only one goal and one assist for the Seals so far in this campaign. He was acquired from Pittsburgh last year and scored 11 points in 26 games with Oakland. The five-foot eight-inch, 165-pound winger had a NHL career high of 33 points with the Penguins in 1967-68.</p><p>A pro for eight years, Menard has spent most of his career in the minors. Besides a brief stay with the Detroit Red Wings, and 19 games with the Black Hawks this season, he played two years with the Los Angeles Kings. He had a record of five points, two of them goals, with the Black Hawks this year.</p><p>Speaking last week on the plight of his Seals, Oakland general manager Frank Selke stated that &ldquo;at this point any basic improvement would help, but we are particularly in need of wingers&rdquo;. It remains to be seen what the acquisition of a new center will add to the attack of the previously highly rated Seals.</p><p>In their last three outings, the Seals have managed only one win, a 3-1 victory over Minnesota, while losing two to Eastern teams, 4-0 to Chicago at home and 3-1 to the Rangers in New York. Under new coach Johnny Wilson, a revitalized Los Angeles squad has closed the gap between fifth and sixth place. Only 5 points separated the two West coast teams after last weekend&rsquo;s action.</p><p>If Selke is going to take his own advice and try to deal for wingers, more trades involving the Seals should be in the offing. The team needs to improve back-checking as much as it needs a more potent offence.</p><p>The Seals&rsquo; power play has been a disappointment and has detracted from the team&rsquo;s offensive punch. Power play goals win games and the club will have to develop a productive combination before long if they want to keep out of the cellar.</p><p>Selke and coach Fred Glover have their work cut out for them, and despite their optimism, a drastic improvement will be needed to get Seals into the Western Division playoffs.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-01

Seals Swap Ubriaco For Menard As Club Brass Seeks More Deals

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02386/2787015-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GARRY MONAHAN&hellip;New Face With Red Wings</b></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>he Detroit Red Wings decided at the outset of the 1969-70 season that the club needed strengthening at left wing. Younger legs were one of the team&rsquo;s requisites for the new campaign. Thus Garry Monahan got his chance to play regularly in the NHL. The Wings grabbed the 23-year-old center from Montreal and decided to experiment with him at left wing. It didn&rsquo;t work out and the Wings sent him back to his normal center spot where he excelled at Cleveland last season in the AHL with 18 goals and 44 points. A rangy forward at 6&rsquo; and 185 pounds, Monahan played 14 previous NHL games with Montreal on a fill-in basis. This season he&rsquo;s getting a real shot with Detroit.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-02

Meet The Rookies

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK SANTANIELLO</div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>OUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Mode in Canada by HILLERICH BRADSBY CO LIMITED WILLY LNTERPRISS LIMITED AFFILIATE Arnold Street Wolloceburg Ontario Sold in U.S, and Canada</p><p>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;</p><p>It seems strange to observe Dennis Hextall in a Springfield uniform. Fans here were used to seeing him giving the Kings a hard time as a member of the Buffalo Bisons last season.</p><p>The rough and ready pivot is still one of the better centers in the game, and maybe more so this season. They say around the league that he never lost a fight and he is known as a tough kid who knows how to use his fists on the ice.</p><p>It would also be well to remember &lsquo;Hex&rsquo; is one of the finer centermen in the game. He is of NHL caliber and fans are happy to have him here, though his stay here will probably be short-lived. He certainly will improve the club&rsquo;s all around play.</p><p>Dennis is the type of hard nosed player Los Angeles seemed to need. But he just did not get the proper playing time, which is hard to understand. The Kings grabbed him from the Rangers last June along with Leon Rochefort for Real Lemieux.</p><p>Dennis comes by his ability to handle himself naturally. He had trained to become a professional boxer. It seems he learned his trade well. Buffalo managing director Fred Hunt said he never saw the kid lose a decision on the ice.</p><p>He is the &ldquo;new look&rdquo; type of hockey player now in the game for Dennis is a graduate of the University of North Dakota. He joins teammate Gary Croteau on the locals with a college degree, two of few in the game with higher learning, though more are coming into hockey.</p><p>Dennis is the son of former NHL great Bryan Hextall, who was a long time teammate of Hal Laycoe, the recently ousted Los Angeles coach. Perhaps that has hindered him, too. for people expect him to reach his father&rsquo;s fame. But Denny keeps trying and is determined to make the grade.</p><p>He has a brother Bryan who is a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who is making the grade after many years in the minors. So the 25-year-old Dennis still has a lot of time to make it.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01441/2787046-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="550" height="592"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DENNIS HEXTALL. Hard Nosed Performer</b></figcaption></div><p>Last season in 60 games with Buffalo, he tallied 21 goals and 44 assists for a very respectable season. He also played 13 games with the Rangers, where he threw his weight around plenty. With the Bisons, he was in the penalty cage 179 minutes last season.</p><p>His ambition is to become a dentist, and we have a feeling that if the popular redhead does not make it in the NHL, he&rsquo;ll soon be finishing his training to enter that profession. Funny thing: a guy who helped loosen plenty of teeth in his playing days might make a career out of fixing them!<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-01

Ex-Kings’ Nemesis, Dennis Hextall Now On Springfield Side

<div class="byline">BY JOE CELDAK</div><p>QUEBEC CITY</p><p>Knee injuries have been plaguing the Quebec Aces as well as the inconsistent play of certain players.</p><p>The knee injuries have hampered four Aces players&mdash;goalie Dunc Wilson, right wing Guy Dufour and rookie defensemen Jim Mair and Bill Brossart.</p><p>All four are considered excellent prospects to make the NHL after more seasoning.</p><p>In addition to the knee injuries, rookie center Bob Currier, the Flyers&rsquo; first draft pick last spring, is suffering from a virus infection.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02352/2787077-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="293" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Dick Sarrazin</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;The injuries and the inconsistent play of certain players, have resulted in the worst slump in the recent history of the Quebec Aces,&rdquo; said a club spokesman.</p><p>The Flyers have had to recall defenseman Larry Hale and right wing Simon Nolet from Quebec due to injuries to Ed Van Impe, Bill Sutherland and Garry Peters. It has prevented the Flyers from being able to help the Aces.</p><p>Right wing Dick Sarrazin, who scored 16 goals with the Flyers last season, was sent to the Aces. If he can regain last year&rsquo;s form, Dick should be a welcome asset to coach Turk Broda&rsquo;s club.</p><p>Broda is confident that once the club is in good physical condition, it will be able to return to the last two seasons&rsquo; finish that have helped the Aces to the Calder Cup finals against Rochaster and Hershey.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-02

Injuries, Inconsistency Plaguing Aces’ Bid To Climb In AHL Race

<h2><b>SAT. DEC. 13 BUFFALO 3 at CLEVELAND 0</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03257/2787171-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="586" height="407"></div><h2><b>ROCHESTER 0 at HERSHEY 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04202/2787164-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="582" height="552"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC 0 at SPRINGFIELD 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05149/2787157-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="583" height="557"></div><h2><b>TUES. DEC. 16 PROVIDENCE 1 at QUEBEC 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06123/2787150-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="582" height="446"></div><h2><b>WED. DEC. 17 PROVIDENCE 5 AT MONTREAL 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07108/2787143-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="601" height="672"></div><h2><b>FRI. DEC. 19 QUEBEC 5 AT MONTREAL 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-0892/2787136-1-eng-US/f0018-082.jpg" title="f0018-08" width="584" height="828"></div><h2><b>ROCHESTER 2 AT PROVIDENCE 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-0980/2787129-1-eng-US/f0018-092.jpg" title="f0018-09" width="582" height="624"></div><h2><b>SUN. DEC. 21 MONTREAL 3 AT QUEBEC 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1072/2787122-1-eng-US/f0018-102.jpg" title="f0018-10" width="587" height="535"></div><h2><b>HERSHEY 3 AT ROCHESTER 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1167/2787115-1-eng-US/f0018-112.jpg" title="f0018-11" width="582" height="735"></div><h2><b>BALTIMORE 3 AT PROVIDENCE 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1261/2787108-1-eng-US/f0018-122.jpg" title="f0018-12" width="583" height="554"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0018-03

AMERICAN LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<div class="byline">BY ALEX HARDY</div><p>FLIN FLON&mdash;</p><p>Flin Flon Bombers&rsquo; big early-season question-mark was their defense, depleted by graduation. The lone experienced blueliner was Murray Anderson, third-year man who was offered a contract by Montreal Canadiens but rejected it in favor of returning West.</p><p>Surprisingly, even with Anderson ailing part of the time, the Bomber defense has held up well. Flin Flon is the Western Canada League&rsquo;s least-scored-upon team, thanks in part to 18-year-old defenceman Ron Wilson. a sophomore from Prince Albert who is in his first year of full-time duty.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01418/2787202-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="552" height="579"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>KENT DOUGLAS&hellip;Sliced by skate</b></figcaption></div><p>Wilson, 5-10 and 180 pounds, jumped directly from midget ranks. &lsquo;&lsquo;My coach, Fred Schmidt, suggested I try Flin Flon because of the superior coaching.&rdquo; His reference is to Pat Ginnell, who has guided Bombers to top spot in the league&rsquo;s East Division again and may find it impossible to refuse pro coaching offers next year.</p><p>Ginnell, in turn, calls Wilson &ldquo;a dandy.&rdquo; Says the coach: &lsquo;&lsquo;He carries the puck well, seldom makes a mistake, has a good shot, and can hit. Best of all, he&rsquo;s a leader who controls play. I made him an assistant captain even though he&rsquo;s only in his second year.&rdquo;</p><p><b>SLAP SHOTS&mdash;</b>Edmonton Oil Kings sent three players to the pros this year and a fourth, goalie Ian Wilkie, turned down a Montreal contract offer. Wilkie attended Habs&rsquo; training camp and was the least-scored-upon goalie&hellip;Knowledgeable hockey men say Winnipeg Jets have the best talent in the league, although their record indicates otherwise.</p><p>Joe Carbury does play-byplay of Calgary Centennials games for radio station CFAC in Calgary&hellip;Bryan Hall of CJCA in Edmonton does the same for Oil King home games&hellip;Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; biggest weakness is depth. Still, they have the nucleus for a contender&hellip;Winnipeg coach Eddie Dorohoy subscribes to the theory that &ldquo;the team that scores first wins 9 out of 10 times.&rdquo;</p><p>Calgary captain Jerry Wright was victim of unlucky No. 13. He had a 12-game-point-streak ended recently&hellip;Saskatoon Blades have plenty of speed, especially in 20-year-old winger Bill Hogabaum. centre Laurie Yaworski and 17-vear-old Doug Horbus.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-01

Flin Flon Given Lift By Wilson

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div><p>ROCHESTER&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>t&rsquo;s been this kind of hockey season tor the Rochester Americans:&mdash;Kent Douglas, the pillar of the defense, was merely holding on to a Hershey player while one of the Bears was fighting with an Amerk in Hershey Dec. 13. The players tumbled around, a skate came up and sliced Douglas&rsquo; left hand for 28 stitches while he was standing up!</p><p>&mdash;The Amerks came home for the first time in two weeks and following gigantic losses by 10-4 and 7-0 the previous two nights, they played a team&mdash;Baltimore&mdash;which hadn&rsquo;t won on the road all season and a club they&rsquo;ll have to beat to make the playoffs. The result was a 5-3 loss in which Baltimore fired 53 shots on goal to only 24 for Rochester.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02366/2787233-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="253" height="452"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Tom McCarthy</b></figcaption></div><p>&mdash;Wayne Clairmont, a 26-year-old playing his first pro season, scores his first three-goal hat trick in Quebec Dec. 7 and over the wire service comes the story that Neil Clairmont (Wayne&rsquo;s brother who is in the Eastern League) scored the hat trick for Rochester.</p><p>&mdash;Jack Wells, who couldn&rsquo;t make the team in training camp, was brought in from Charlotte of the Eastern League for one night&mdash;and scored his first pro goal during his first turn on the ice. He didn&rsquo;t figure to do much, either, because he played for Charlotte in Jacksonville, Fla., the previous night, rode the team bus all the way from Jacksonville, to Charlotte, N.C., after the game, then caught a plane for Rochester.</p><p>&mdash;Rochester grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period in Montreal, then succumbed by a 10-4 score, and two nights later led 3-1 at home in the first period on the way to a 5-3 setback.</p><p><b>ICICLES&mdash;</b>Veteran Tom McCarthy doesn&rsquo;t find anything unlucky about the number 13. He finally scored his first goal of the season in his 13th game on Dec. 9. He had missed 11 games after the removal of a vein from his left leg&hellip;Rochester&rsquo;s eight goals in the 8-1 romp over Quebec in Quebec City Dec. 7 was the most any AHL club had scored on foreign ice in the league&rsquo;s first 119 games this season&hellip;Coach Dick Gamble, who hasn&rsquo;t played since Nov. 2, is considering putting the uniform back on in an attempt to help his sagging squad.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-02

Nothing Going Right For Amerks

<div class="byline">BY CHARLEY BARTON</div><p>BUFFALO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he statistics which in nundate so many other games are making heavy inroads into hockey, but still aren&rsquo;t as meaningful to Fred Shero as they are to many other coaches.</p><p>The Buffalo Bisons&rsquo; benchmaster does spend a few minutes after each game looking at the stats&rsquo; but relies more on what he has seen on the ice than he sees in the figures.</p><p>&ldquo;Sure, I like to know how many shots a player has taken; how many face-offs we&rsquo;ve won and lost; a player&rsquo;s record on goals &lsquo;for&rsquo; and &lsquo;against&rsquo;, and all the rest of it,&rdquo; Shero said.</p><p>&ldquo;But the figures can be misleading. A player may be on the ice for two or three goals &lsquo;against&rsquo;, but that doesn&rsquo;t necessarily mean it was his fault any of them were scored.</p><p>&ldquo;Likewise, a player on the ice may not necessarily contribute to goals scored by his team. In that way, the plus and minus figures attributed to players can be wrong.</p><p>&ldquo;If a player skates both ways&hellip;plays good positional hockey&hellip;and works hard in both ends of the rink, that&rsquo;s what counts with me. It may not show up in the statistics, but it&rsquo;s what matters to me.&rdquo;</p><p>Shero, however, did find something worthwhile in a set of stats drawn up by Tom Heximer, an industrious fan and statistician.</p><p>Heximer has broken down the Bisons&rsquo; and the opposition scoring by periods for the first 28 games:</p><h2><b>BUFFALO</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-08130/2787306-1-eng-US/f0019-082.jpg" title="f0019-08" width="534" height="152"></div><h2><b>OPPOSITION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-09110/2787299-1-eng-US/f0019-092.jpg" title="f0019-09" width="532" height="144"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-07144/2787292-1-eng-US/f0019-072.jpg" title="f0019-07" width="270" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Fred Shero</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Those figures illustrate the balance our club has,&rdquo; Shero said.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s amazing that our goals-for are so close.</p><p>&ldquo;I take them as a sign that our team is in good shape, physically. We score as well in the last period as we do in the first two.</p><p>&ldquo;For some reason, we give up more goals in the second period than the other two, but the difference isn&rsquo;t enough to worry me, at all.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>HOW THEY STAND</b></h2><h3><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE (Standings on Thurs. Dec. 25)</b></h3><p><b>Eastern Division</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03297/2787285-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="575" height="171"></div><h3><b>Western Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04255/2787278-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="583" height="281"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tues. Dec. 16</b></p><p>Providence 1 at Quebec 4</p><p><b>Wed. Dec. 17</b></p><p>Providence 5 at Montreal 5</p><p><b>Fri. Dec. 19</b></p><p>Quebec 5 at Montreal 7</p><p>Rochester 2 at Providence 6</p><p><b>Sat. Dec. 20</b></p><p>Buffalo 2 at Baltimore 2</p><p>Rochester 5 at Cleveland 5</p><p>Quebec 3 at Hershey 5</p><p>Montreal 6 at Springfield 2</p><p><b>Sun. Dec. 21</b></p><p>Cleveland 0 at Buffalo 3</p><p>Baltimore 3 at Providence 3</p><p>Montreal 3 at Quebec 2</p><p>Hershey 3 at Rochester 7</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Thurs. Dec. 25</b></p><p>Quebec at Providence</p><p>Buffalo at Rochester</p><p><b>Fri. Dec. 26</b></p><p>Rochester at Baltimore</p><p>Springfield at Montreal</p><p>Sat. Dec. 27</p><p>Quebec at Cleveland</p><p>Baltimore at Hershey</p><p>Bufflo at Springfield</p><p><b>Sun. Dec. 28</b></p><p>Springfield at Buffalo</p><p>Cleveland at Providence</p><p>Baltimore at Rochester</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS (Including games of Sun. Dec. 14)</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05213/2787271-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="587" height="429"></div><h3><b>GOALKEEPERS RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06167/2787264-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="587" height="541"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0019-08

Statistics Not Fred Shero’s Bag But Figures Show Herd’s Balance

<div class="byline">BY BOB BROWN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01262/2787344-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>The installation of a new two and a half million dollar scoreboard in the Cleveland Arena marked the end of an era for Barons&rsquo; fans. The old board stood for 30 years. The new one can be adapted for any sporting event.</b></figcaption></div><p>CLEVELAND&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>F</span>or the first time since the season began, every member of the Cleveland Barons is on skates. The last of the injured Barons, defenseman Bob Falkenberg and center Dick Mortenson, have been working out and are expected back in action soon.</p><p>There are high hopes attached to the return of Cleveland&rsquo;s wounded. Jim Niekamp. who is seeing his first game action in three months, and Falkenberg were being counted on by Coach Jackie Gordon to strengthen the Barons&rsquo; blueline corps this season.</p><p>With both out of action for extended periods of time, Gordon has lacked depth on defense and has been forced to make every conceivable adjustment. Bill Needham and burly Jim Watson have been effective even though both have played at times with minor injuries. Still, the Barons have lacked depth and experience on defense and Niekamp and Falkenberg should fill that need.</p><p>Wayne Schultz, who rejoined the club in mid-November, has helped the club up front. Schultz plays with an aggresseve style which onlookers hope will have a contagious effect. Mortenson, too, should bolster the offense. Dick was coming into his own when sidelined by a dislocated wrist.</p><p><b>SHORTIES:</b> When the Barons-Hershey game scheduled for Sunday afternoon, December 14, was postponed it marked the first time in memory a game here had been called off. The Bears were polarized in Harrisburg by snow and couldn&rsquo;t get airborne. The game will be rescheduled for a later date.&hellip;The new Arena scoreboard had met with overwhelming fan approval. 1 he two and a half million dollar system includes message boards inside and outside the building. It is the most sophisticated scoreboard system anywhere according to its manufacturer. The board is adaptable for all sporting events&hellip;The Barons&rsquo; Booster Club treated players and their wives to a Christmas party on December 15. The annual affair, always well attended, is one of several projects sponsored each season by the Boosters. Don Moll is the club&rsquo;s president.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02188/2787337-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="535" height="569"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DICK MORTENSON&hellip;Back in Harness</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0020-01

Club Healthy For First Time, Barons’ Ice Hopes Soar Again

<div class="byline">BY PAT CONNOLLY</div><p>HALIFAX&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Maritime Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; Hockey League survived its greatest crisis of the season on Dec. 10 when Fred McGillivray, the controversial owner-manager of Halifax Canadiens, abandoned his franchise and reduced the circuit to three teams&mdash;Charlottetown Islanders, Cape Breton Metros and Dartmouth Lakers.</p><p>McGillivray gave as his reasons for withdrawal, &ldquo;lack of fan support and inability to secure adequate player replacements&rsquo;&rsquo;. Canadiens had been plagued by a series of misfortunes and misadventures since the season began, forced as they were to play the first month of the schedule on the road while the Atlantic Winter Fair occupied their building, plus obvious evidence that the team had been allowed to deterioriate badly from its Maritime championship years.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03156/2787375-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="249" height="426"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Kelly Burnett</b></figcaption></div><p>Just as McGillivray stepped out, a community organization headed by Halifax construction executive John Lindsay stepped in, and took over the vacated franchise under a new name, Halifax Atlantics. Former professional star Kelly Burnett, resident golf pro at the Halifax Ashburn Golf Club, took over as general-manager and Billy (Hap) Hanson agreed to remain as coach. The new group is financially secure, but the immediate need was player help and steps were underway to rectify the situation. Atlantics, nee Canadiens, had some attractive trade bait and negotiations were underway to swing a multi-player trade with either Cape Breton or Dartmouth. The new executive was hopeful of making progress in rebuilding the team, becoming competitive in the latter part of the current season and looking with confidence to a brighter 1970-71 season.</p><p>FOOTNOTES: Dartmouth Lakers pulled off their second straight home ice victory over the all conquering Islanders, handing the league leaders a 5-3 setback as newcomer Rod Lyons sparked the team from defense and the rapidly developing Mark Bradnam set the pace with an insurance goal and two assists. Lakers&rsquo; captain Tim Ripley, an All-Star shoo-in, has been averaging 50 minutes a game on the Laker backline. Islanders were showing signs of coming back to the pack as the schedule wore on. They had trouble nipping the Metros 7-6 at Charlottetown after dropping a 6-5 decision to the Lakers at Dartmouth.</p><p>Some 3,500 fans paid $5.00, $4.00 and $3.00 to watch Montreal Old Timers defeat Nova Scotia Old Timers 8-5 at the Forum, with all proceeds going to the children&rsquo;s hospital. Ken Mosdell and Elmer Lach, Doug Harvey, Glen Harmon, and Gerry McNeil sparkled for the Montrealers. Halifax St. Mary&rsquo;s great junior line of the early 1950s was reunited. Fr. Elmer McGillivray came in from Toronto, and Hughie Campbell from Philadelphia to join Halifax fireman Bert Hirschfeld Kelly Burnett, Bob Bownass, Dugger McNeil. Shermie White, Peanuts McLaughlin, Howie Cox and Ray Powell were just a few old favorites on view for Nova Sco-tia. Canadiens had appeared earlier in Saint John, where they defeated Sonny MacDonald, Bill Giggey, Jerry Lynch, Nick Nicolle, Gordie Drillon, Joe O&rsquo;Toole, Walter Butler, Doug McPhee and others, 6-4 before a packed Lord Beaverbrook Arena crowd.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-03

New Group Steps In To Take Over Disbanding Halifax Junior Team

<h2><b>UNITED STATES LEAGUE (Standings on Fri. Dec. 19)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04119/2787427-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="574" height="169"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0560/2787420-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="581" height="462"></div><h2><b>NEW ENGLAND LEAGUE (Standings on Fri. Dec. 12)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0644/2787413-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="578" height="237"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0737/2787406-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="524" height="301"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0020-04

<p><b>SOLUTION IN JAN. 9 ISSUE</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0830/2787458-1-eng-US/f0020-082.jpg" title="f0020-08" width="897" height="1210"></div><h2><b>ACROSS</b></h2><p>1&mdash;Pictured player.</p><p>5&mdash;Initials of a minor pro league.</p><p>7&mdash;A Los Angeles forward.</p><p>11&mdash;15th and 12th letters of the alphabet.</p><p>12&mdash;A San Diego defenseman.</p><p>13&mdash;An NHL player answers to this.</p><p>15&mdash;Native country of Perry of Oakland.(abbr.)</p><p>16&mdash;Girl&rsquo;s name.</p><p>17&mdash;Broadcast medium.</p><p>18&mdash;Initials of 4 down.</p><p>19&mdash;15th and 5th letters of the alphabet.</p><p>20&mdash;Noah built one.</p><p>21&mdash;New Rochelle.(abbr.)</p><p>22&mdash;First name of one of the Seals.</p><p>25&mdash;Initials of Rochester forward.</p><p>27&mdash;Some players like their steaks this way.</p><p>29&mdash;Former Ranger Buller answers to this.</p><p>30&mdash;Initials of ex-Red Wing Reibel.</p><p>31&mdash;One of the Rangers.</p><p>33&mdash;Affirmative.</p><p>34&mdash;An NHL centre.</p><h2><b>DOWN</b></h2><p>1&mdash;1964-65 Norris Trophy winner.</p><p>2&mdash;Cournoyer recently broke this.</p><p>3&mdash;A Toronto forward.</p><p>4&mdash;One of the San Diego Gulls.</p><p>6&mdash;12th and 25th letters of the alphabet.</p><p>8&mdash;Wears No. 11 for Toronto.</p><p>9&mdash;Initials of Buffalo&rsquo;s Ash.</p><p>10&mdash;One of the Rangers.</p><p>14&mdash;A former Leaf forward.</p><p>20&mdash;An NHL defenseman.</p><p>23&mdash;Initials of Erickson.</p><p>24&mdash;First name of one of the Kings.</p><p>26&mdash;A Montreal farmhand.</p><p>28&mdash;Verb.</p><p>31&mdash;Initials of Attwell of Buffalo.</p><p>32&mdash;One of the Hawks.</p><h2><b>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</b></h2><h3><b>ACROSS</b></h3><p>1&mdash;MCDONALD.</p><p>7&mdash;ERE.</p><p>8&mdash;DOG.</p><p>10&mdash;HOWELL</p><p>12&mdash;NO.</p><p>13&mdash;SELBY.</p><p>15&mdash;ALE.</p><p>16&mdash;LOU.</p><p>17&mdash;RAT.</p><p>18&mdash;OCT.</p><p>19&mdash;S.K.E.</p><p>20&mdash;H.G.</p><p>23&mdash;NEB.</p><p>24&mdash;FAIRBAIRN.</p><p>28&mdash;LYNN.</p><p>29&mdash;RENE.</p><h3><b>DOWN</b></h3><p>1&mdash;MAHOVLICH.</p><p>2&mdash;DEWSBURY</p><p>3&mdash;ORE.</p><p>4&mdash;NELS.</p><p>5&mdash;LD.</p><p>6&mdash;DON BLACKBURN</p><p>9&mdash;GOYETTE</p><p>11&mdash;LE.</p><p>14&mdash;LAROSE.</p><p>21&mdash;GRAY</p><p>22&mdash;VERN.</p><p>23&mdash;NEAR.</p><p>24&mdash;FL</p><p>25&mdash;IN.</p><p>26&mdash;IE.</p><p>27&mdash;N.E.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-08

Hockey Crossword

<div class="byline">By Tom Burke</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01126/2787496-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"></div><h2><b>DOWN EAST</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he first two weeks of action around the Eastern Colleges managed to produce a few raised eyebrows. Cornell won a tough 5-2 decision over Boston University, then went on to paste Yale 8-1 to grab the top spot with a 4-0 slate. Right with The Big Red was surprising Boston College, in the throes of a building year but top ranked mainly by virtue of an 8-3 shellacking of favored Brown.</p><p>Then Brown turns around 4 nights later to upset Harvard 4-3 in Cambridge. The Crimson, who had been riding the crest of a three game streak, were stymied by the furious checking of the Bruins and took their first loss of the campaign. With Boston University playing better hockey than expected, and well-stocked Colgate and Clarkson vet to put in an appearance against the aforementioned powers, let it suffice to say that we won&rsquo;t know &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s Who&rdquo; in the ECAC upper echelons for a while yet!</p><p><b>BOSTON COLLEGE&mdash;</b>Tim Sheehy, recovered from a broken nose, had 6 goals in his first two games as the Eagles kept scoring at an 8 goal per game pace. Senior center-wing Kevin Ahearn led the team in points, averaging 4 per contest. Paul Schilling played his best game yet in 7-1 win over Northeastern, netting 2 goals. Bill Rasmussen, voice of the Springfield Kings, has taken over the BC play-by-play and is doing a fine job on WCOP-FM.</p><p><b>BOSTON UNIV.&mdash;</b>After 4 games the Terriers are on exam break, and resume competition some 3 weeks later in Arena tourney. This should be the biggest test of BU&rsquo;s mettle, to come off so early a layoff with so young a team. Jack Kelley feels that his club didn&rsquo;t play up to their ability in loss to Cornell. &ldquo;We are far from discouraged,&rdquo; he said. Mike Hyndman continues to draw raves on his performance at defense after being shifted from right wing.</p><p><b>NEW HAMPSHIRE&mdash;</b>After his Harvard squad drubbed the Wildcats 11-3, Cooney Weiland said, &ldquo;This is a sophomore team that needs some more seasoning. But we just had a hot hand&mdash;this is a fine club.&rdquo; Sophomore wing Guy Smith had a hat trick in 7-3 win over Providence. Smith is the nephew of Jay Silverheels, &ldquo;Tonto&rdquo; of the &ldquo;Lone Ranger&rdquo; series. Wildcats placed third in Duluth Tournament, but had the most goals (13). Defenseman Pete Stoutenberg and forward Lou Frigon were named to the first All-Tournament team.</p><p><b>NORTHEASTERN&mdash;</b>Huskies are having trouble putting together an organized attack, but they won&rsquo;t lose a game through bad goaltending. Sophomore netminder Dan Eberly has been sensational, though his average doesn&rsquo;t reflect it. He had 21 saves in the first period alone in 1 loss to BC.</p><p><b>BROWN&mdash;</b>Bruins showed grit by bouncing back from 2 straight losses to dump highly favored Harvard on the road. &ldquo;The test of a good team is to win away from home&rdquo;, said Jim Fullerton. &ldquo;We ran into a buzzsaw at BC, but we only had 5 or 6 shots on net in that last period when we were down. That&rsquo;s not good hockey.&rdquo; Stiff checking was in order, and the Bruins, whose lack of speed can be a handicap, came through. Don McGinnis was the difference in Harvard game with 34 saves, many acrobatic ones. He had 45 against BC.</p><p><b>CORNELL&mdash;</b>Big Red&rsquo;s record in Boston area over the past 4 years is 19-0-1. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re pleased but didn&rsquo;t expect to be unbeaten at this stage,&rdquo; said one official. &ldquo;Although we have no superstars, we&rsquo;ve got good balance and Brian Cropper is doing a fine job replacing Ken Dryden. Captain-defenseman Dan Lodboa says that since Dryden is gone the Big Red have become a better team as far as working together goes, and have become more defense-conscious. &ldquo;This is a typical Cornell team. They go at you both ways,&rdquo; said BU coach Jack Kelley.</p><p><b>ST. LAWRENCE&mdash;</b>Larries broke into the Div. I win column with a 3-2 overtime win over Yale after losses to Clarkson and RPI. In 7 games overall this season, Larries have had 3 overtime tilts. Al Howes has played goal in all three games, all wins. Veteran defenseman John Britt is out of action indefinitely with a back injury.</p><p><b>CLARKSON&mdash;</b>Senior center Rick Magnusson was leading scorer for Golden Knights after 6 games, with a 5-9-14 slate. Sophomore Jerry Kemp led goal getters with 8 markers. Coach Len Ceglarski feels that his captain, defenseman Wayne LaChance, is off to his best start ever and should have a great year. LaChance has 5 goals and four assists. In goal, Bruce Bullock and Kevin Woods give the Knights good depth.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0292/2787489-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="267" height="500"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Tim Sheehy</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0021-01

COLLEGE HOCKEY SCENE

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div><p>MINNEAPOLIS&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Western Collegiate Hockey Association just completed its third week of competition, but the main topic around the WCHA remains University of Minnesota coach Glen Sonmor, who is given credit for a big assist on a winning goal in the opening series.</p><p>Sonmor, the former New York Rangers&rsquo; prospect who had his career abruptly ended by an eye injury during the 1953-54 season, was trying to urge his Gophers to even the opening series with instate rival Minnesota-Duluth (UMD) in the beautiful Duluth Arena.</p><p>The Gophers had lost 7-3 to a UMD team sparked by freshmen who accounted for six of the goals. Sonmor&rsquo;s main worry was that some of his boys hadn&rsquo;t shown any aggressive spirit, and were allowing some UMD players to push some of the smaller Gopher players around.</p><p>Minnesota and UMD came back the next night and skated into sudden-death overtime tied 2-2. Sonmor&rsquo;s midnight lecture about spirit on the field of battle then got an unexpected outlet, as the keyed-up coach got a chance to offer a first-person example.</p><p>Several particularly raucus UMD fans, who buy season tickets right next to the visiting players&rsquo; box every year, and who then show up with various &ldquo;spirits&rdquo; of their own to heckle the opposition, were at their noisy best as the overtime began.</p><p>Mike Antonovich, Minnesota&rsquo;s freshman center from the Iron Range high school of Greenway, in Coleraine, Minn., skated past the Gophers bench, right along the boards. UMD&rsquo;s sophomore defenseman Mike Stevens cracked him into the boards with a good check, and as he leaned over the boards, Antonovich&rsquo;s stick was grabbed by one of the obnoxious fans.</p><p>&ldquo;Somebody punched me on the back of the head, too,&rdquo; said the three-time all-Minnesota prep star.</p><p>&ldquo;Enthusiastic fans are great,&rdquo; Sonmor said later. &ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t know what the guy was going to do to Mike, and I wasn&rsquo;t going to wait and find out.&rdquo;</p><p>With a bound, Sonmor went after the fan, and his friends, and several minutes of bedlam ensued. When it was over, the section was cleared of fans, at least one of whom had to be treated for bruises and an 8-10 stitch cut from one of the coach&rsquo;s punches.</p><p>Sonmor&rsquo;s body was unmarked, but his shirt was ripped to shreds.</p><p>&ldquo;The guy kept grabbing and hanging on,&rdquo; Sonmor laughed afterward, &ldquo;he obviously didn&rsquo;t know much about fighting. I learned that in a fight you don&rsquo;t grab and hang on&mdash;you swing.&rdquo;</p><p>At any rate, when order was restored, Sonmor and his shredded shirt returned to the bench. The Gophers, wide-eyed and supercharged by the incident, roared down the ice almost immediately and Craig Sarner&rsquo;s goal won it 3-2 for Minnesota.</p><p>So now when Sonmor tells his players to be more aggressive, they know he means business.</p><p>But Glen&rsquo;s wife, Marg, who awoke at 3 a.m. to see Glen&rsquo;s disarranged shirt after he returned from Duluth, could only remember the Canadian native&rsquo;s fiery minor league career at Cleveland.</p><p>&ldquo;Where the heck have you been,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;back in Buffalo?&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Minnesota’s Sonmor Gets Chance To Show Gophers Fighting Spirit

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BURKE</div><p>BOSTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>ll 17 Division I teams will play in a total of nine round robins during the holiday season. This is far cry from the 1952 picture when RPI inaugurated its annual tournament, which as then the only such action on the college hockey scene. Now there are many across the nation and games between ECAC and WCHA teams are becoming more popular coinciding with the collegiate hockey boom.</p><p>Here&rsquo;s the lineup:</p><p>Dec. 17-19 Cleveland Cup Tourney (Dartmouth. McGill. Bowling Green, Ohio University, Bowdoin, Western Ontario)</p><p>Dec. 19-20 Boston Garden ECAC Christmas Tournament (Brown. Clarkson. Harvard. Army)</p><p>Dec. 19-20 Great Lakes Invitational Tournament (New Hampshire, Princeton, Michigan State, Michigan Tech).</p><p>Dec. 22-23 ECAC Madison Square Garden Holiday Tournament (Boston College, St. Lawrence, Cornell, RPI).</p><p>Dec. 28-29 St. Louis Tournament (Brown. Yale. Wisconsin, Michigan).</p><p>Dec. 29-30 Boston Arena Invitational (Boston University, Northeastern, New Hampshire, Michigan State).</p><p>Jan. 2-3 Syracuse Invitational (Colgate, Cornell, Boston University, Michigan Tech).</p><p>Jan. 2-3 Nichols Invitational at Buffalo (Pennsylvania, Notre Dame, Hamilton, Air Force),</p><p>Jan. 2-4 RPI Christmas Tournament (RPI. Providence. Montreal. Bowling Green).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

College Teams Kept Busy With Nine Tournaments

<p>HOUGHTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>ichigan Tech&rsquo;s defending WCHA championship hockey team gave their home fans some exciting moments as they were extended to a sudden death overtime period two nights in succession in defeating the Denver University Pioneers 6-5 and then tying 5-5.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0360/2787575-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="250" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Charlie Holt</b></figcaption></div><p>Wingman Carl Ahlsten was the hero in the Friday night contest as he slid the puck past DU goaltender. Ron Grahame. At the 7:45 mark of the sudden death period. The Pioneers scored twice in the final stanza to the Huskies&rsquo; once, to knot the score at 5-5.</p><p>Saturday&rsquo;s contest found the Huskies down 5-2 after two periods of play, but three tallies in the final twenty minutes of action produced the deadlock and forced another overtime tilt. This time, however, neither team was able to dent the opposing netminder and the score remained 5.</p><p>The Huskies now wade through final exam week and then resume practice sessions in preparation for their defense of the Great Lakes Invitational Hockey Tournament in Detroit.</p><p>Michigan Tech has hosted the tourney since its inception in 1965, but were unable to capture the trophy until last season when they defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 4-1 in the finals.</p><p>This year the Huskies face a talented University of NewHampshire squad in the first contest while the Michigan State Spartans face-off with the Princeton Tigers.</p><p>The New Hampshire Wildcats were making their second appearance in the Motor City. Their last was in 1967 when they finished third.</p><p>Michigan Tech has had an opportunity to watch the Wildcats in action as both appeared in the Duluth Christmas City Hockey Tournament over the Thanksgiving holiday and MTU head coach John MacInnes had this to say about coach Charlie Holt&rsquo;s charges. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re an exciting. wide open hockey squad and we&rsquo;ll have to be sharp to stay with them. They have made great strides in hockey since the last time we saw them in Detroit.&rdquo;</p><p>The New Hampshire squad finished with a fine 22-7-1 record which was enough to gain coach Holt NCAA Coach of the Year honors. They are led by last season&rsquo;s top scorer Lou Frigon. Frigon, along with defenseman Pete Stoutenburg were named to the Duluth all-tournament team, an honor that also went to Michigan Tech&rsquo;s netminder Gordie McRae and defenseman Ken Desjardine. Michigan Tech statistics currently show Herb Boxer at the top of the scoring column, having collected eight points on two goals and six assists. Top goal-getter is junior center Terry McKnight of New Liskeard. Ont., with five. McKnight counted two markers against Denver.</p><p>Tech&rsquo;s top point producing line consists of Boxer. McKnight and Lyle Moffatt. This talented trio has tallied 19 points in the Huskies&rsquo; first six contests. Just a point behind in the scoring race is the line of Darwin Mott at center. Brian Watts at left wing and Ed Shillington on the right side.</p><p>After the Great Lakes tourney, the Huskies take a short holiday break before venturing east to participate in a Colgate hosted hockey tournament in Syracuse. New York.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-03

Michigan Tech Forced To Overtime In Double Win Against Denver U.

<p><b>Save $$$$$$ Subscribe To The HOCKEY NEWS Receive 35 Issues At Home</b></p><p><b>For The Best In Hockey Reading It&rsquo;s HOCKEY PICTORIAL Hockey&rsquo;s Most Exciting Publication</b></p><h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><h3>WESTERN LEAGUE (Standings on Thurs. Dec. 25)</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0286/2787606-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="570" height="271"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tues. Dec. 16</b></p><p>San Diego 2 at Vancouver 5</p><p><b>Wed. Dec. 17</b></p><p>Denver 6 at Phoenix 4</p><p>Son Diego 1 at Portland 4</p><p><b>Fri. Dec. 19</b></p><p>Phoenix 4 at Denver 7</p><p>Portland 4 at Vancouver 5</p><p><b>Sat. Dec. 20</b></p><p>Son Diego 2 at Phoenix 7</p><p>Vancouver 4 at Portland 4</p><p>Salt Lake 6 at Seattle 5</p><p><b>Sun. Dec. 21</b></p><p>Salt Lake 0 at San Diego 6</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Thurs. Dec. 25</b></p><p>Vancouver at Portland</p><p>Salt Lake at Seattle</p><p><b>Fri. Dec. 26</b></p><p>San Diego at Salt Lake</p><p>Portland at Phoenix</p><p>Seattle at Vancouver</p><p><b>Fri. Dec. 26</b></p><p>Salt Lake at Denver</p><p>Portland at Phoenix</p><p><b>Sun. Dec. 28</b></p><p>Denver at San Diego</p><p>Vancouver at Seattle</p><p><b>Tues. Dec. 30</b></p><p>Portland at San Diego</p><p>Denver at Vancouver</p><p><b>Wed. Dec. 31</b></p><p>Salt Lake at Phoenix</p><p>Denver at Seattle</p><p><b>Thurs. Jan. 1</b></p><p>Seattle at Portland</p><p><b>Fri. Jan. 2</b></p><p>Denver at Salt Lake</p><p>Phoenix at Vancouver<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-02

WESTERN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY JOHN WHITE</div><p>DENVER&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>n mid-December Denver was not the hottest team in the Western Hockey League but the Spurs of Rudy Pilous sure as heck had the most torrid sniper in the circuit.</p><p>The name is Wilf Martin, a winger who is one of those fine products of the University of Michigan.</p><p>In his first 20 games this season, Martin sniped eight goals. It was a solid pace&mdash;about 30 for the year if continued over the full campaign&mdash;but nothing to write headlines about.</p><p>Then the 27-year-old Martin went on a rampage, He scored goals in seven straight games&mdash;a total of eleven in the stretch.</p><p>And as Christmas neared, the streak was still alive and Martin was nearing the all-time Western League record of collecting goals in nine straight games.</p><p>A red light in each of two games against Phoenix before Christmas would tie the league&rsquo;s longest streak in history.</p><p>Martin&rsquo;s December spurt increased his goal total to 19 for the first 27 games of the season. And that pace&mdash;if continued over the full campaign&mdash;would put him just over the 50-mark.</p><p>And headlines are written about 50-goal seasons!</p><p>Martin, an Alberta product, has written quite a story in the past three seasons.</p><p>He played five games in Seattle three seasons back, failed to pick up a point. He shifted to Muskegon of the amateur International League and scored 29 times&mdash;good but, after all, they score a pile of goals in the IHL.</p><p>He turned pro with Cleveland two years ago, collected 15 goals in 72 games. Sound but not spectacular.</p><p>Then last season with Denver, he collected 37 goals in only 64 games to rank among the top eight snipers in the Western League.</p><p>This season, obviously, he&rsquo;s even hotter.</p><p>Meanwhile, how was Denver doing in mid-December? With a 9-13-5 record&mdash;much improved over last season&rsquo;s start&mdash;the Spurs were just 12 points out of first place and only 6 out of fourth, the final playoff spot.</p><p>And the words of Coach Pilous&mdash;and virtually every other skipper in the circuit&mdash;were coming back: &ldquo;This could be the tightest race in Western history&rdquo;.</p><p>&ldquo;Every single point, whether you get it in October or in March, will be vital to making the playoffs,&rdquo; Pilous observed in the first week of the campaign.</p><p>Actually, the Spurs would have had a winning record in mid-December except for the Seattle Totems. They had won only once in seven meetings with Seattle, were 8-7-5 against the rest of the league and were unbeaten in clashes with both Phoenix and Salt Lake City.</p><p>Denver&rsquo;s home record was hurting the club. too. The Spurs were a reasonably respectable 47-2 on the road but also were losers on home ice. 5-6-3.</p><p>And there was considerable irony in this. When the Denver Invaders ran away with the Western League title in 1963-64 the cry around the league was that Denver clubs had the biggest home edge in the circuit because the mile-high altitude bothered visiting teams so badly.</p><p>The altitude sure wasn&rsquo;t helping the home club in this campaign. At least the record didn&rsquo;t say so.</p><p>The Spurs, in mid-December, also announced plans for a unique award&mdash;one for aggressiveness.</p><p>Prizes of $100 each were to be awarded for 10 consecutive games to the Spurs&rsquo; player named the most agressive of each particular contest.</p><p>It wasn&rsquo;t stated whether Denver being the least-penalized team in the WHL had anything to do with this.</p><p>Pilous was all for it.</p><p>&ldquo;An offbeat challenge like this should make an already exciting game into something wild.&rdquo; he said,</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01143/2787637-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="547" height="561"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>WILF MARTIN&hellip;Finds The Range</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0022-01

Martin Sets Blistering Goal Pace Despite Spurs’ Slow Start In WHL

<p>VANCOUVER&mdash;</p><p>It&rsquo;s right there in the new yearbook of the Vancouver Canucks&mdash;maybe the wisecrack of the season.</p><p>Coach Ray Kinasewich of Salt Lake City is quoted as saying about rugged Vancouver defenseman John Arbour, &ldquo;Arbour has intimidated my club. I&rsquo;m going to send somebody after him and put a stop to this.&rdquo;</p><p>Arbour&rsquo;s one-liner for a retort:</p><p>&ldquo;Good. I can&rsquo;t wait to see who it is.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Arbour Wondering Who Can Be Tougher?

<h2><b>DENVER 5 at VANCOUVER 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0373/2787741-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="581" height="829"></div><h2><b>SALT LAKE 3 at PORTLAND 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0458/2787734-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="584" height="701"></div><h2><b>Tues. Dec. 9 SALT LAKE 4 AT VANCOUVER 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0550/2787727-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="581" height="730"></div><h2><b>Wed. Dec. 10 SAN DIEGO 5 AT PHOENIX 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0641/2787720-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="583" height="606"></div><h2><b>DENVER 2 AT SEATTLE 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0740/2787713-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="591" height="655"></div><h2><b>Fri. Dec. 12 SAN DIEGO 3 AT PHOENIX 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0835/2787706-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="583" height="455"></div><h2><b>SALT LAKE 1 AT VANCOUVER 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0932/2787699-1-eng-US/f0022-092.jpg" title="f0022-09" width="588" height="459"></div><h2><b>Sat. Dec. 13 PHOENIX 4 AT DENVER 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1025/2787692-1-eng-US/f0022-102.jpg" title="f0022-10" width="585" height="684"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0022-03

Western League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div><p>SAN DIEGO&mdash;</p><p>The San Diego Gulls swept two games from the Phoenix Roadrunners in three days to go ahead in their personal series. 3-2-1, after losing two and tying one of their first three meetings. But they were costly victories.</p><p>Alex Faulkner caught a skate on the instep in an along-the-boards scramble in the first game and is out for an indefinite period with a broken foot. Jack Evans, 41-year-old defenseman and assistant coach, had his right eye scraped by Larry Lund&rsquo;s stick in the second game and was returned to San Diego for treatment as the Gulls continued on a six-game road swing.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01124/2787779-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="267" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Jack Evans</b></figcaption></div><p>Ross Perkins was removed from the injury-list after a seven-week stay with strained knee ligaments to replace Faulkner.</p><p>Without Evans&rsquo; steady play on the blue line and Faulkner&rsquo;s playmaking up front, the Gulls saw their five-game unbeaten streak come to an end when they fell 4-2 to the Seattle Totems who reduced the Gulls&rsquo; third-place margin to two points.</p><p>Faulkner centered the high-scoring line of Len Ronson and Johnny MacMillan. Ronson had 22 goals through 27 games and Faulkner had 22 assists to go with his four goals.</p><p>&ldquo;Alex does a great job.&rdquo; Ronson was saying a few days before the 33-year-old center was injured. &ldquo;If you get to the holes, he is going to get the puck to you. You&rsquo;ve got to get some goals with the chances I&rsquo;m getting.</p><p>MacMillan, who can skate all night, also teams with Ed Ehrenverth to form the Western Hockey League&rsquo;s top penalty killing combination. The Gulls have only given up six power play goals in 27 games.</p><p>The 34-year-old veteran almost missed the plane to Phoenix for the first of the recent two-game series, he was so engrossed in moving furniture at home to have his rugs cleaned. But the plane was late, he made it and found the whole experience a great tonic as he fired his fourth and fifth goals of the season.</p><p>Meanwhile, Frank Hughes, the Phoenix Roadrunners&rsquo; 20-year-old right winger is everyone&rsquo;s early season choice for WHL rookie-of-the-year.</p><p>Hughes hung up the Roadrunners&rsquo; first hat trick of the season as Phoenix broke off a three-game losing streak with a 7-4 victory over the last place Salt Lake City Golden Eagles. It pushed his season total to 14, high on the Phoenix club, one more than veteran Milan Marcetta.</p><p>Larry Lund centers Andre Hinse on left wing and Hughes on the right side on what has been dubbed the &ldquo;Go-Go Line. Hinse has 12 goals and Lund 11.</p><p>Hughes, 5-9. 165-pounds, from Fernie, B.C., played less than halt a season of junior hockey but Phoenix coach Alf Pike noticed one thing about the speedster before he turned him pro. &ldquo;He sure knows his way to the goal, said Pike.</p><p>Pneumonia kept Hughes out of the Edmonton Oil Kings&rsquo; lineup until mid-January last season but when he got rolling, he fired 18 goals in 20 games and kept up the pace with 12 more and 16 assists in the playoffs.</p><p>Frank&rsquo;s father played with the Trail Smoke Eaters, Dominion champs back in the &lsquo;30s but has only seen his son play five games in junior or pro. He drove to Seattle, Wash., a couple of weeks ago to watch the Runners fall 8-2 and the next night went on to Portland where the Buckaroos administered an 8-0 whitewashing. Last season the elder Hughes saw Frank play three games with the Oil Kings and each time they lost by five or more goals.</p><p>Which prompts Frankie to wonder, &ldquo;Maybe I should ask him to stay home.&rdquo;</p><p>During the Runners&rsquo; three-game loss string, they were down to 15 players. Defenseman Chris Evans had been loaned to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a couple of games, veteran rearguard Aut Erickson is still sidelined with a back injury and Marcetta caught a puck on the side of his instep and couldn&rsquo;t jam his foot into his skate, but only missed one game.</p><p>Dennis Schick, another 20-year-old rookie, was moved to right wing with Marcetta in the Salt Lake game and responded with a pair of goals, his second and third of the season.</p><p>Pike has high expectations for the strong-skating youngster from Melville, Sask., who won the Manitoba Junior Hockey League scoring championship last season with 40 goals, 44 assists in 36 games for Dauphin.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0288/2787772-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="532" height="880"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ALEX FAULKNER&hellip;Suffers Broken Foot</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0023-01

Gulls Pay In Injuries To ‘Sweep ‘Runners

<p><b>New Subscribers To THE HOCKEY NEWS Guaranteed To Get First Issue Within Two Weeks</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY NEWS Makes An Ideal Gift On Any Occasion. Give A Subscription To Dad Or Brother</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01134/2787890-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="552" height="881"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>AB DeMARCO&hellip;Impressive Blueliner</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0024-01

CENTRAL LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY BOB LINDLEY</div><p>OMAHA&mdash;</p><p>&ldquo;Just say our rugged defense is going to be even more rugged from now on,&rdquo; said Jacke Milford over the long-distance lines.</p><p>Now, it&rsquo;s true that quite often the clever Mr. Milford says things strictly for their psychological effect, a sort of verbal shock treatment.</p><p>But in the case of the matter at hand, there was more truth than psychology. Big, tough defenseman Dick Paradise was returning to action after a long stint with the U.S. military.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have to describe him,&rdquo; Milford went on, &ldquo;most everyone knows about the boy. He&rsquo;s a rough, tough customer, and he&rsquo;s going to make our already rugged defense even more rugged.&rdquo;</p><p>Paradise, out of Johnstown in the EHL and the University of Minnesota, played only one game for the Knights before answering the call of duty from Uncle Sam.</p><p>But his hitch is up and after three weeks of concentrated conditioning, he was ready for action.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll join his brother, Bob, and big Moose Dupont to give us a pretty strong corps back there,&rdquo; Milford said.</p><p>The Knights, who were clinging to first place by a single point when Milford broke the news about Paradise, were reversing an early trend of poor play on home ice and rode to the top of the CHL&middot; by virtue of a sevengame unbeaten streak at Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum.</p><p>&ldquo;Our defense is improving every game,&rdquo; Milford said. &ldquo;That comes from experience. Ab DeMarco is playing well and the others are coming along fine.&rdquo;</p><p>And just when the league&rsquo;s hottest line&mdash;Jack Egers. Dennis Dupere and Don Luce&mdash;cooled off. along came the Tom Miller-Pierre Jarry-Mike Parizeau unit to pick up the slack.</p><p>&ldquo;That line is really going well,&rdquo; Milford said, &ldquo;and now if we can get our big line back on the beam we&rsquo;ll be in pretty good shape.&rdquo;</p><p><b>DALLAS&mdash;</b>Black Hawks coach Bobby Kromm is learning first hand how much truth there is in a statement once made by fellow Dallasite Tom Landry, coach of the Dallas Cowbovs of the NFL.</p><p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t build character without getting punched in the mouth along the way,&rdquo; Landry said after his team lost a heartbreaker for the NFL title.</p><p>Well, Kromm and his beleaguered Black Hawks have been getting their share of punches, and they are building character, apparently.</p><p>When the Hawks lost three of their four defensemen via injuries recently, Kromm used forwards on the blue line and his club whipped Iowa 6-4.</p><p>Forced to employ more juggling than a crooked auditor, Kromm has managed to keep his team from going down for the count and the Hawks have learned plenty in the school of hard knocks.</p><p>When they beat Oklahoma City recently to climb out of the CHL basement for the first time since way back in the early stages of the campaign, Kromm was moved to call the team&rsquo;s performance &ldquo;fantastic.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;We won three out of four with all of our problems,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s amazing&hellip;no, fantastic.&rdquo;</p><p>And even while Kromm was passing out compliments, the team physician was patching up a couple more stretcher cases as bad luck continued to dog the heels of the defending champions.</p><p>J.P. LeBlanc had a tender shoulder and missed one game and part of another. Talented Terry Caffery caught a stick in the eye and couldn&rsquo;t return for the finish of one game.</p><p>&ldquo;With our problems,&rdquo; Kromm said, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve just got to roll up our sleeves and work that much harder.&rdquo;</p><p><b>TULSA&mdash;</b>Serge Aubry squirmed into the Central League lead as the stingiest goalie by chalking up a 6-0 shutout over arch rival Oklahoma City, dropping goals-against average to fine 2.55 for 17 games.</p><p>Gordie Nelson and coach Marcel Pronovost called to Toronto to lend hand over Dec. 12th weekend, but both were back with the Oilers, who had a skimpy schedule with only two games in a span from Dec. 7-19.</p><p>Danny Johnson leads team with 16 goals, nine assists. Doug Acomb and Brian Spencer each had eight goals, Tom Martin and Ted Hargreaves followed with seven.</p><p><b>OKLAHOMA CITY&mdash;</b>An extended road trip (Nov. 30-Dec. 14) played havoc with the Blazers, tumbling them from fifth place to last in the seven-team CHL.</p><p>Over that span the usually high-scoring Blazers were out-punched 26-13 and managed only one victory, a 5-2 win over Kansas City.</p><p>Barry Wilkins returned from stint with Boston Bruins, but Blazers hurt by loss of talented Tom Webster, who went out with shoulder injury suffered in game at Dallas.</p><p>Webster was leading club with 16 goals, 20 assists for 36 points, highest in league.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Milford Predicts More Rugged Defense For Omaha As Paradise Returns To Fold

<h2><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE (Standings on Thurs. Dec. 25)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0286/2787952-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="590" height="369"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Wed. Dec. 17</b></p><p>Dallas 4 at Iowa 7</p><p>Oklahoma City 2 at Fort Worth 0</p><p>Omaha 4 at Kansas City 2</p><p><b>Fri. Dec. 19</b></p><p>Dallas 2 at Kansas City 3</p><p>Fort Worth 3 at Oklahoma City 3</p><p>Iowa 1 at Tulsa 7</p><p><b>Sat Dec. 20</b></p><p>Dallas 3 at Omaha 4</p><p>Fort Worth 2 at Tulsa 4</p><p>Oklahoma City 3 at Iowa 4</p><p><b>Sun. Dec. 21</b></p><p>Kansas City 2 at Oklahoma City 5</p><p>Omaha 0 at Dallas 9</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Thurs. Dec. 25</b></p><p>Dallas at Oklahoma City</p><p>Iowa at Omaha</p><p><b>Fri. Dec. 26</b></p><p>Dallas at Fort Worth</p><p>Kansas City at Tulsa</p><p><b>Sat. Dec. 27</b></p><p>Fort Worth at Dallas</p><p>Kansas City at lowa</p><p>Tulsa at Omaha</p><p><b>Sun. Dec. 28</b></p><p>Fort Worth at Kansas City</p><p>Omaha at Tulsa</p><p>lowa at Oklahoma City</p><p><b>Wed. Dec. 31</b></p><p>Kansas City at Omaha</p><p>Tulsa at Oklahoma City</p><p>lowa at Fort Worth</p><p><b>Fri. Jan. 2</b></p><p>Oklahoma City at Omaha</p><p>lowa at Dallas</p><p>Tulsa at Kansas City</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS (Including Games of Sun. Dec. 14)</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0361/2787945-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="574" height="607"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0024-02

Looking At CHL Race

<h2><b>EASTERN LEAGUE (Standings on Thurs. Dec. 25)</b></h2><h3><b>Northern Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01112/2788025-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="579" height="241"></div><h3><b>Southern Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0272/2788018-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="582" height="256"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tues. Dec. 16</b></p><p>Clinton 2 at Charlotte 3</p><p>Salem 2 at Jacksonville 4</p><p><b>Wed Dec. 17</b></p><p>Nashville 3 at Salem 8</p><p>Clinton 2 at Greensboro 7</p><p>New Jersey 9 at Syracuse 4</p><p><b>Thurs. Dec. 18</b></p><p>Greensboro 6 at Jacksonville 3</p><p>Charlotte 3 at Nashville 1</p><p><b>Fri. Dec. 19</b></p><p>Long Island 6 at Syracuse 4</p><p>New Hoven 3 at New Jersey 5</p><p>Salem 1 at Johnstown 5</p><p>Charlotte 1 at Greensboro 6</p><p>Clinton 3 at Nashville 7</p><p><b>Sat. Dec. 20</b></p><p>New Hoven 1 at Long Island 2</p><p>Syracuse 2 at Johnstown 5</p><p>Nashville 1 at Greensboro 6</p><p>Clinton 5 at Jacksonville 6</p><p>Nashville 2 at Salem 2</p><p><b>Sun. Dec. 21</b></p><p>Johnstown 6 at Syracuse 6</p><p>Long Island 1 at New Haven 8</p><p>Clinton 3 at Salem 3</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Thurs. Dec. 25</b></p><p>Syracuse at New Haven</p><p>Charlotte at Jacksonville</p><p>Greensboro at Nashville</p><p><b>Fri. Dec. 26</b></p><p>New Haven at Syracuse</p><p>Johnstown vs Clinton (At Utica)</p><p>New Jersey at Long Island</p><p>Charlotte at Greensboro</p><p>Jacksonville vs Nashville (at Memphis)</p><p><b>Sat. Dec. 27</b></p><p>Long Island at Clinton</p><p>Syracuse at New Jersey</p><p>New Haven at Johnstown</p><p>Greensboro at Charlotte</p><p>Jacksonville at Nashville</p><p><b>Sun. Dec. 28</b></p><p>Long Island at New Haven</p><p>New Jersey at Johnstown</p><p>Salem at Nashville</p><p><b>Tues. Dec. 30</b></p><p>Long Island at Syracuse</p><p><b>Wed. Dec. 31</b></p><p>Clinton at Johnstown</p><p>Salem at Greensboro</p><p>Nashville at Jacksonville</p><p><b>Thurs. Jan. 1</b></p><p>Long Island at New Hoven</p><p><b>Fri. Jan. 2</b></p><p>Johnstown at Clinton</p><p>Syracuse at Long Island</p><p>New Haven at New Jersey</p><p>Jacksonville at Charlotte</p><p>Salem at Nashville</p><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><p><b>(Including games of Sun. Dec. 14)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0351/2788011-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="583" height="281"></div><h3><b>SOUTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0441/2788004-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="587" height="282"></div><h3><b>GOALKEEPERS&rsquo; RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0539/2787997-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="583" height="405"></div><h2><b>NEW YORK COLLEGE LEAGUE (Standings on Wed. Dec. 10)</b></h2><h3><b>EAST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0628/2787990-1-eng-US/f0025-062.jpg" title="f0025-06" width="579" height="240"></div><h3><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0727/2787983-1-eng-US/f0025-072.jpg" title="f0025-07" width="585" height="228"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0025-01

<div class="byline">BY HARVEY POLLACK</div><p>CLINTON&mdash;</p><p>Pat Kelly&rsquo;s Clinton Comets are showing all the earmarks of repeating as the Eastern Hockey League&rsquo;s champions again this season.</p><p>For a stretch this year it appeared that the demise of the Comets might be on its way and the New Haven Blades seemed to be the new claimants to the crown. But despite a fast getaway by New Haven, Kelly just bided his time until his club caught the Blades in games played.</p><p>When that happened suddenly the steady Comets were in first place. Then came a showdown game in which the Blades had to win here. But instead a three-goal hat trick by Moe St. Jacques sparked Clinton to an easy win. Then New Haven went sour on a southern trip and the Blades fell behind the Comets in the all important loss column.</p><p>Kelly meantime is piloting a club that has the nucleus of the 1968-69 championship club aided by some new faces including young Ted Tucker in the cage. His New Haven rival, Don Perry says, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re not conceding anything to Clinton. We&rsquo;ve got plenty of games left and anything can happen. That&rsquo;s what makes this such a great sport. But we realize nobody&rsquo;s going to help us. If we hope to catch them, we&rsquo;ll have to do it ourselves.&rdquo;</p><p>New Haven will have to get some help from the clubs but with the Comets having the best goaling in the league and the circuit&rsquo;s No. 1 scorer in Bill Bannerman, they appear to be a good bet to keep first place in the regular season. The playoffs could be a different story but in past seasons, the Comets always have risen to the occasion to win the pressure games. &middot;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0824/2788063-1-eng-US/f0025-082.jpg" title="f0025-08" width="266" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Pat Kelly</b></figcaption></div><p><b>JOHNSTOWN:</b> Coach Dick Roberge moved to defense when Jim Pinnegar decided to go home to St. Thomas, Ont. Scott Buchan, defenseman iron Univ. of Minnesota, and Aurel Beaudin from Brandon are latest additions. Gary Gresdal dropped and Jersey picked him up. Jets gained two wins and a tie on successful southern jaunt.</p><p><b>SYRACUSE:</b> Blazers finally lost home game after nine wins and two ties. Dave Ferguson, Chuck Charlong and Ed Skyhar all scored hat tricks as Blazers posted club record 14 goals vs Jersey. Fans here delayed game by littering ice when a goal was erased by ref Bob Anselm. Blazers negotiating for a defenseman who was a former boxing champion. Blazers have topped club record of 12 wins in a season.</p><p><b>NEW HAVEN:</b> Blades found south rough, losing four of five starts to lose ground in race with Clinton in north. Chuck Stuart finally joined Blades when club was down south to complete a pre-season trade with Charlotte. Mike Rouleau out with broken jaw. Dave Kartio scoring well since joining team. Murray Kuntz posted hat trick vs Johnstown.</p><p><b>LONG ISLAND:</b> Blake Ball delighted with his new No. 1 line of Russ McClenaghan, Wayne Maxner and Doug Reid. McClenaghan is club&rsquo;s top scorer. Bill impressed with slicing of mistakes by his minions. Ducks starting to make overtures towards getting into a fight for a playoff spot plans.</p><p><b>JERSEY:</b> George Forgie, Ken Miller, trainer Tim MacGuigan and Ron McPherson all fined $50 for varied altercations. Tom Lockhart also handed McPherson a. 3-day suspension for an intent to injure stick fight. Devils reacquired Ed Kea when EHL ruled Jacksonville had failed to register the defenseman.</p><p><b>SALEM:</b> Claude Piche activated from injured list. Rebels&rsquo; defensive foursome of Jack Chipchase, Ken Rodgers, Jim Lorette and Lynn Margarit instrumental in club&rsquo;s success. Jim Jago&rsquo;s recent illness has been diagnosed as a &ldquo;running heart.&rdquo; Wayne Canfield went back to Canada to nurse his bruised ribs and may not return to club. J.C. Garneau sported a helmet to protect his broken nose.</p><p><b>GREENSBORO:</b> Ron Spong deems his club the most explosive one in the south, claiming one goal quickly leads to another. Gens posted four wins in row, longest streak of season&hellip;Dom DiBerardino has been aiding trainer here while recuperating from knee injury. Bill Young was pummeled by Charlotte&rsquo;s Hal Willis in a slugfest after a game.</p><p><b>CHARLOTTE:</b> Checkers bothered by numerous injuries, but cripples have been returning to lineup. Last year&rsquo;s top scorer, Neil Clark, is slow getting started this year. Smallest crowd of year saw team break seven game winless streak. Frank Golembrosky reinjured his foot and John Gould suffered a charley horse to add to injury list.</p><p><b>NASHVILLE:</b> Norm Martel&rsquo;s second shutout came against Jacksonville. Flo Pilote&rsquo;s twoson here Bill Cameron picked up from Grennsboro on waivers. Leo Olivier has spiked reports that he would come down from Ontario to join Flyers. Karl Haggerty lost for six weeks with fractured ankle.</p><p><b>JACKSONVILLE:</b> Jean Ther rian expected to replace Bob Sabourin as coasch any day now with the latter confining himself to GM duties. Ed Pare scheduled for surgery to repair foot and will be lost for season. Dale Junkin has been signed as wing from Long Island to alleviate injury shortage.</p><p><b>CLINTON:</b> Ted Tucker had 59-save game against Jersey. In crucial game with New Haven, Tucker only had 22 saves as defense was brilliant. Bill Bannerman in No. 1 spot in scoring in north Jack Kane and Borden Smith other top scorers.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0918/2788056-1-eng-US/f0025-092.jpg" title="f0025-09" width="551" height="572"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RUSS McCLENAGHAN&hellip;Top Scoring Blade</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0025-08

Clinton Heads Off Blades’ Bid; Syracuse Sets Team Record

<div class="byline">BY BOB REED</div><p>FORT WAYNE&mdash;</p><p>If there is a closer rivalry in the International Hockey League than that between the Fort Wayne Komets and Davton Gems it has not yet come to light.</p><p>Ever since the Gems joined the IHL six seasons ago, these two clubs have been battling tooth and nail on the ice&mdash;and at the box office as well.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01120/2788157-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="262" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Randy Prior</b></figcaption></div><p>After the Gems and Komets had met at Fort Wayne on Dec. 13, a typical head-to-head conflict between the two which the Komets won 6-5, the two clubs stood exactly even over the entire stretch of relationship of 69 games. Each had won 32, with five ties.</p><p>Over the first couple of years, the Komets were having a big advantage over the Gems, then a new team in the IHL. But the superiority swung the other way as Dayton built up to a league championship and a Turner Cup. Last season&rsquo;s champion Gems easily captured the Komet series, with eight wins, two losses and two ties.</p><p>This season the Komets took a three-to-two edge over the Gems, beating them once at Hara Arena, where they had not scored a victory all last season.</p><p>The K&rsquo;s gained the season edge over the Gems with one of their typical confrontations at Fort Wayne&rsquo;s Memorial Coliseum on Dec. 13, hanging on for the 6-5 victory after they had taken a 6-3 lead early in the final period. The Gems refused to concede and battled down to the final buzzer, seeking a tying goal after pulling goalie Pat Rupp with 1:20 remaining.</p><p>Spirits ran pretty high in this one and Referee Pete Moffat handed two of the Gems game misconduct penalties. Defenseman Gordon Malinoski was banished for protesting a penalty call and following it up with a threatening gesture with his stick, which he hurled half-way across the rink, but not in the general direction of the official. Coach Larry Wilson of the Gems was ordered off the ice apparently for intemperate language.</p><p>While the Komets and Gems were battling evenly on the ice over this long stretch of 69 games. General Manager Lefty McFadden of Dayton had another ambition&mdash;to surpass the Fort Wayne club at the box office.</p><p>Drawing a crowd over 4,000 for their 26th straight game, the Gems ran their season average for 12 games to 4,472. The Komets. over the same stretch of 12 home games averaged 5,215. McFadden would probably like to point out that his seating capacity at Hara Arena is 5,600, compared to Fort Wayne&rsquo;s Memorial Coliseum of 8,025. Both figures have been reached many times.</p><p><b>MUSKEGON&mdash;</b>The Mohawks received a jolt when Hugh Harris, leading the league in goals, underwent surgery for a shoulder separation and was declared out for five weeks&hellip;Bob Munro, from the University of South Dakota, was the hot scorer, with nine goals and four assists in his six games&hellip;The Mohawks added Fred Scheffer, product of the Greater Muskegon hockey program and dropped goalie Gordon Kopp&hellip;Six wins in seven starts moved the Hawks into a tie for the lead with Port Huron.</p><p><b>PORT HURON&mdash;</b>Randy Prior was cleared for reinstatement by Springfield of the American League and was slated to skate with Marty Reynolds and Billy LeCaine Rookie Art Thomas slated to go on waivers with the return of Prior&hellip;Gordon Redden came off the injured list but Mike Doersam went on with a hairline ankle fracture&hellip;The Flags had a seven-game winning streak at home broken by Toledo, 4-3.</p><p><b>TOLEDO&mdash;</b>Jacques Girard was placed on waivers and defenseman Shorty Melanchuk was scheduled to come off the injured list&hellip;Coach Bill Mitchell looking for a trade, said only three Blades were untouchable. He was looking for a defenseman&hellip;Rookie Wayne Zuk took. over goal leadership, with Ray Germain tops in total points&hellip;A crowd of 4,590 was second best of season.</p><p><b>DAYTON&mdash;</b>Ducan Rousseau underwent knee surgery and was expected to be out of the lineup for eight weeks&hellip;Garry MacMillan came off the injured list. The Gems were hoping to make a two-for-one or four-for-two trade in the IHL.</p><p><b>FORT WAYNE&mdash;</b>The Komet took on left wing Jean Losier, who played with Denver and Houston of the Central League. They planned a five-game trial for Nelson DeBenedet, Michigan State graduate&hellip;Merv Dubchak hit his 11th and 12th goals in the 6-5 scorcher over Dayton.</p><p><b>COLUMBUS&mdash;</b>Serge Boudreault had three goals and four assists in an 8-3 triumph over the Komets&hellip;Center Rheal Paquette given his release and returned to his home in Sudbury, Ont&hellip;Coach Moe Mantha, who has never missed a playoff in 17 years of hockey, hinted at some personnel changes.</p><p><b>FLINT&mdash;</b>The Generals signed Lome Rombough and placed him at right wing, replacing Jack Brewer, who quit the team&hellip;Ron Ringler was out indefinitely with a knee injury&hellip;The Gens were giving a trial to Ron Lane, who was in the Fort Wayne training camp&hellip;The Gens had their first shutout of the season when they blanked Columbus, 30.</p><p><b>DES MOINES&mdash;</b>The Oak Leafs brought back Pat Donnelly for a five-game tryout and moved Ron Racette to defense&hellip;They made a deal to purchase Ray Brunet, defenseman, from the Montreal Canadiens&hellip;The Leafs ended a five-game home stand with a 7-4 win over Muskegon, making it 2-2-1.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0273/2788150-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="546" height="806"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DUNC ROUSSEAU&hellip;Under The Knife</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>IHL POINT RACE</b></h2><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS (Including Games of Sun. Dec. 14)</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0725/2788143-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="582" height="682"></div><h3><b>GOALKEEPERS&rsquo; RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0822/2788136-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="580" height="479"></div><h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><h3><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h3><p><b>(Standing on Thurs. Dec. 25)</b></p><h3><b>NORTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0919/2788129-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="578" height="171"></div><h3><b>SOUTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1016/2788122-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="576" height="239"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tues. Dec. 16</b></p><p>Fort Wayne 5 at Toledo 1</p><p><b>Wed. Dec. 17</b></p><p>Des Moines 3 at Fort Wayne 0</p><p><b>Fri. Dec 19</b></p><p>Port Huron 3 at Muskegon 6</p><p>Fort Wayne 5 at Flint 1</p><p><b>Sat. Dec. 20</b></p><p>Dayton 5 at Toledo 1</p><p>Muskegon 1 at Fort Wayne 4</p><p>Flint 1 at Port Huron 7</p><p>Des Moines 3 at Columbus 2</p><p><b>Sun. Dec 21</b></p><p>Des Moines 0 at Dayton 2</p><p>Muskegon 6 at Flint 4</p><p>Fort Wayne 6 at Port Huron 3</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Thurs. Dec. 25</b></p><p>Columbus at Fort Wayne</p><p>Toledo at Muskegon Flint at Dayton</p><p>Port Huron at Des Moines</p><p><b>Fri. Dec. 27</b></p><p>Toledo at Fort Wayne</p><p>Doyton at Muskegon Flint at Columbus</p><p>Port Huron at Des Moines</p><p><b>Sun. Dec. 28</b></p><p>Columbus at Flint</p><p>Muskegon at Dayton</p><p><b>We. Dec. 31</b></p><p>Columbus at Port Huron</p><p>Dayton at Fort Wayne</p><p>Des Moines at Muskegon</p><p>Flint at Toledo</p><p><b>Thurs. Jan. 1</b></p><p>Port Huron at Dayton</p><p><b>Fri. Jan. 2</b></p><p>Fort Wayne at Columbus</p><p>Des Moines at Flint</p><h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><h3><b>IHL JUNIOR LEAGUE (Standings on Fri. Dec. 12)</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0357/2788115-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="575" height="171"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0441/2788108-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="570" height="259"></div><h3><b>MICHIGAN JUNIOR</b></h3><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 8)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0536/2788101-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="567" height="234"></div><h3><b>INTERLOCKING STANDINGS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0627/2788094-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="572" height="365"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-01

Komets-Gems’Rivalry Hottest; Toledo, Dayton Talking Trades

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div><p>HAMILTON&mdash;</p><p>Whether it&rsquo;s the National Hockey League or junior A, a change in scenery often works wonders for individual players and teams.</p><p>The most recent example in the National Hockey League was the BostonToronto swap which sent Wayne Carleton to the Bruins for Jim Harrison.</p><p>Carleton, who hadn&rsquo;t scored a goal all season for the Leafs, counted both the Bruins goals his first time out in a Boston uniform as his new club defeated New York Rangers 2-1 and ended their 14-game undefeated streak.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01104/2788209-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="247" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Gil Perreault</b></figcaption></div><p>The Leafs in turn got some useful service from Harrison as they defeated the Rangers 3-1 in New York three nights later.</p><p>In the Ontario Hockey Association junior A league London Knights and Hamilton Red Wings were having serious problems&mdash;to put it bluntly they weren&rsquo;t winning enough hockey games.</p><p>The Wings had been flirting with last place all season, the Knights were only a step or two above them.</p><p>In an effort to shake up both clubs Hamilton coach Eddie Bush and London coach Bep Guidolin completed a sevenplayer trade.</p><p>London gave up rookies Jim Schoenfeld, Ken Southwick and right winger Rick Kehoe while acquiring three last-year players defenseman Gary Geldart, right winger Gord Brooks and centre Dave Gilmour.</p><p>Centre Mike Craig, with another year of eligibility remaining, also went to London.</p><p>The trade had an immediate beneficial effect on both teams.</p><p>The Knights upset first place Peterborough 2-1 while the Red Wings edged Ottawa 2-1 and, two days later, handed third place Toronto Marlboros a 3-1 setback in Maple Leaf Gardens.</p><p>The win by the London club moved them into seventh place and greatly enhanced their playoff chances while the four points picked up by Hamilton enabled them to leave the cellar with Niagara Falls Flyers dropping into last place.</p><p>At the top end of the league Montreal Canadiens, sparked by the brilliant play of centre Gil Perreault and other outstanding players from the 1968-69 Canadian junior champions such as Robert Guindon, Richard Lemieux, Norm Gratton and Robert Lalonde, ran their win streak to 11 games and finally dislodged Peterborough from first place.</p><p>The Canadiens came back from a 5-2 deficit to defeat St. Catharines Black Hawks 8-5, then edged Niagara Falls 3-2 and trounced Oshawa Generals 8-3.</p><p>The game in St. Catharines was marred by fans throwing eggs and other debris at the Montreal players, apparently in a misguided attempt at retribution after the Hawks had been assaulted by spectators during their last trip to the Forum.</p><p>The Montreal bus, parked outside Garden City Arena, was damged by fire, allegedly by fans who could not purchase tickets to the game which was completely sold out. The Canadiens had to hire an alternate bus to return them to Toronto in time for the midnight train to Montreal. Because of all the interruptions the game required three hours and 10 minutes to complete.</p><p>The same night in London game officials required police assistance when they were threatened by fans following the Knights&rsquo; 4-1 defeat to Toronto Marlboros.</p><p>The large number of outbreaks among the spectators has prompted many of the more stable fans to demand a crackdown on unruly conduct.</p><p>Some feel that referees should be given authority to award games to the visiting teams in the case of future pysical assaults on the playing personnel.</p><p>The matter will be discussed at some length during the next OHA junior A council meeting.</p><h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><h3>ONTARIO JUNIOR LEAGUE (Standings on Mon. Dec. 22)</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0273/2788202-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="589" height="368"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tues. Dec. 16</b></p><p>Montreal 4 at Ottawa 2</p><p><b>Thurs. Dec. 18</b></p><p>Niagara Falls 3 at Peterboro 3</p><p>Toronto 4 at Hamilton 4</p><p><b>Fri. Dec 19</b></p><p>Oshawa 1 at Kitchener 3</p><p>Peterboro 3 at Niagara Falls 2</p><p>St. Catharines 2 at Ottawa 6</p><p><b>Sun. Doc. 21</b></p><p>London 3 at St. Catharines 10</p><p>Niagara Falls 3 at Montreal 5</p><p>Kitchener 4 at Oshawa 5</p><p>Ottawa 3 at Toronto 5</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS (Including Games of Sun. Dec. 14)</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0352/2788195-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="588" height="633"></div><h3><b>GOALKEEPERS&rsquo; RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0447/2788188-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="585" height="408"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0027-01

London, Hamilton Aided By Seven-Player Trade; Montreal Habs ‘Flying’

<div class="byline">BY NORM MACKIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0536/2788240-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="292" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Colin Lister</b></figcaption></div><p>NEW YORK&mdash;</p><p>The response to our initial column was overwhelming. The need for a sounding board for participant hockey has never been greater. This was further emphasized when a crowd of 1,802 paid to see the Brooklyn Stars defeat the Long Island A. C. Flyers in a Metropolitan Junior Hockey Association Matinee in Madison Square Garden, on December 14.</p><p>Like an iceberg which has only about twenty five percent of its bulk showing above the surface, amateur hockey in the United States has an army of unsung heroes who actually put the show on the road. This goes for squirt, pee wee, bantam, juvenile, junior or senior play.</p><p>The junior and seniors get a certain amount of ink, but the kids who really make the scene are the small fry in the minor hockey programs. In order to clarify the age brackets of each classification we checked with the AHAUS. Midgets are all players born on or after January 1,1953: Bantams are players whose birthdate is on or after January 1,1955 and pee wees are born on or after January 1,1957.</p><p>AHAUS national tourneys are once again under the direction of Walter L. Bush, Jr., who doubles as president of the Minnesota North Stars. Tourneys have been approved for both bantams and juveniles at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan March 20 and April 3. Intermediate U.S. play is set for Eagle River, Wisc. on March 21 and 22 with the intermediate open title on the line April 3, 4, 5 at Lima, O.</p><p>Regional playoffs determine entrants into the national tourneys in the pee wee, bantam and midget classes. They are set up by the seven regional directors. Region 1 is New England, Region 2 New York-New Jersey, Region 3 Mid America, Region 4 Michigan, Region 5 Minnesota, Region 6 Mountain States and Region 7 Pacific Coast.</p><p>A salute to the International Junior Hockey League under Commissioner Colin H. Lister. The loop, which is sponsored by the International League, is for the development of Americans for pro play. Teams are the Dayton Gems, Toledo Blades. Fort Wayne. Pepsi Komets and Lima Chargers. All the teams have the use of the Arena in those cities.</p><p>Another thriving circuit is the Michigan Junior League headed by Commissioner Ebbie Goodfellow and driving spirit Weldy Olsen, whose technical title is vice president. This is the Michigan loop&rsquo;s third season of operation. It is the successor to the old Detroit Metro circuit which operated in Olympia Stadium. Franchises are held by Olympia Agencies, Lee Real-tv, Tri County, Downriver Mercurys, Port Huron Juniors and Ellis Real Estate. Obviously, a tip of the hat is required to those commercial firms who are backing this junior development league. Last season&rsquo;s winner was Lee Realty, who won the regular season title, the playoffs and went all the way with the National AHAUS Championship.</p><p>The Michigan circuit plays an interlocking schedule with the Border Cities Junior Hockey League of Ontario and so far has done better than even with the Canadians. Doug Gies of Lee and Olympia forwards Mark Howe and Rob Palmer have been flying.</p><p>In last summer&rsquo;s pro junior draft four American boys were selected. They are Bob Collyard of Hibbing, Minn., Mike Baumgartner, Roseau, Minn. Waly Olds, Baudette, Minn. and Bob Sheehan of Boston, Mass. Maybe Tommy Williams and Doug Roberts will have company soon&hellip;The New York Metropolitan Junior Association is operating with seven teams in one division this season. They are the champion&middot; New York Green Leafs, Brooklyn Stars. Long Island A.C. Flyers, New Hyde Park Arrows, West New York Victorias, Essex Park Comets and White Plains Plainsmen. Coach Mike Robbins and the Green Leafs are looking forward to a December 27 match with the Brockville Jr. &ldquo;B&rdquo; Tikis&hellip;Bob Giota and Walter Yaciuk of the Brooklyn Stars feel they have a chance to give the loaded New York six a battle. The New England Senior League finally shook down with six clubs, Concord. Manchester, Lowell, Braintree, Nashua and Framingham. Fred Bassi, former All American at Boston University is one of the big wheels of this circuit&hellip;The Wisconsin Amateur Hockey Association, under the direction of Joe Leszvynski of Superior is setting up State Tourneys now. Wisconsin is divided into two sections, North and South. Tourneys set as fellows: Junior, Mosinee. Wis., February 7-8; Squirt, Eagle River, February 1415; Pee Wee Superior February 21-22; Bantam, Madison February 28 March i and Senior, Eagle River, March 7-8&hellip;David L. Keenan has done a wonderful job with the ever expanding pee wee program in Pascack Valley, N.J&hellip;Yellowknife, Alaska will be the scene of a brand new tourney Tuesday March 10 thru Sunday March 15th. This is open competition&hellip;</p><p>It is almost a crime, but the United States is competing in the &ldquo;B&rdquo; competition in Bucharest, Rumania after dropping out of the first division in last year&rsquo;s title games. Games are set between February 27 and March 8 with West Germany, Poland, Yugolslavia, Rumania, Hungary, Japan and Switzerland competing with the USA&hellip;The United States will play against Canada, Switzerland and Yugoslavia in the Kennedy Memorial Games at Lake Placid Olympic Arena February 13 thru 15&hellip;Minnesota State Tourneys are set as follows: pee wee at Roseville. March 20 thru 22: bantam at Edina, March 13 thru 15 and midget at Aldrich (near St. Paul) March 13 thru 15&hellip;B. M. Cadman, the tournament team coordinator of the Troy outh Hockey Association is doing a wonderful job ponsoring minor hockey in the Troy area. A recent bantam pee wee doubleheader saw Troy defeat Pittsfield, Mass. 12-1 in the bantam game and lose 2-1 in the pee wee encounter. Defenseman Bill Inglis and forwards Pete Kahn and Jim Bellow are leading the Troy bantams&hellip;This twin bill was the first of ten such events to be held at the Troy field house this winter. A Christmas tournament is set for the evenings of December 26 and 27&hellip;John M. Crerar of Adelphi, Maryland has put together a fantastically expanded schedule for the Capitol Boys Hockey Club League. The circuit plays at the Washington Coliseum on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays&hellip;</p><p>In all the furor over the importation of Canadians to U.S. colleges, no one has checked with Jack Paskell, the president of the ever growing Metropolitain Intercollegiate Hockey League. This Greater New York circuit started with four teams three seasons ago and now under AHAUS registration has twelve clubs playing NHL rules. They are Queens, St. Francis, Adelphi, Nassau Community, Farmingdale, Stony Brook, Iona, Fairfield. CCNY. Bridgeport, Columbia and Manhattan&hellip;A breakdown of the rosters of the leading nineteen United States colleges last season shows that Canada contributed 211 players, Minnesota 60, Michigan 15, Massachusets 52, North Dakota 12, New York 11 and all others 26. Ten of these schools were from the East and nine the West&hellip;</p><p>Next month we turn the spotlight on some of the unsung heroes of amateur hockey&mdash;USA. You know, those parents and coaches who get up at 5:30 AM three mornings a week to get their boys to the rink&hellip;Also, many thanks to Norman MacLean for allowing us to use his office in Madison Square Garden as a mail drop for your releases, comments and schedules. Keep pouring it on now that the season is in full stride&hellip;Don Clark reminds that YOUTH HOCKEY WEEK is set for January 24 thru February 1&hellip;Those players interested in trying for the U.S. Nationals &ldquo;B&rdquo; squad tor competition in Bucharest should contact Robert Fleming. Mayo Clinic. 200 First Street. Rochester. Minn. 55902. Let&rsquo;s hope we can play our way back into the &ldquo;A&rdquo; Division for 1971&hellip;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-05

AHAUS Sets Dates For Title Tourneys

<div class="byline">BY DAN MOULTON</div><p>CHICAGO&mdash;</p><p>Hawk Goalie Denis Dejordy passed what might be the biggest test of his career recently.</p><p>Consider what the veteran faced when he moved into the nets against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stadium: He hadn&rsquo;t worked a game since Oct. 22 when he performed during a 1-1 tie against the Rangers in New York and he was replacing Tony Esposito, who had gained tremendous esteem in the eyes of Chicago fans with several great performances since taking over for Denis.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0156/2788278-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg" title="C0004-01" width="258" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Cliff Koroll</b></figcaption></div><p>But instead of crumbling before a critical home audience, Denis calmly proceeded to kick out 23 of 24 shots the Flyers tossed at him and emerged with a 3-1 victory.</p><p>After the game, he wore an expression that indicated he&rsquo;d just rejoined the goaling fraternity and was happy to be home.</p><p>&ldquo;I have to admit I was a little worried,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;Sure, I worried about the crowd. Tony has been playing so well that I really could have caught a lot of grief if I&rsquo;d gone out there and fallen on my face.</p><p>&ldquo;This game is a lot easier to play when the crowd is behind you. But the crowd wasn&rsquo;t my biggest worry. I was much more concerned about how I would do the job.</p><p>&ldquo;For about the first five weeks Tony took over I knew I was sharp, both physically and mentally,&rdquo; said DeJordy. &ldquo;But after that I began to worry about losing my edge. There are so many little things a goalie has to do in a game and he can never be sure he&rsquo;ll do them unless he plays. Practice doesn&rsquo;t count.&rdquo;</p><p>The game here against Philadelphia was on a Sunday night after a Saturday game in Montreal. Denis said that Coach Billy Reay had told him on Saturday morning that he&rsquo;d start against Philadelphia, which gave him quite a bit of time to ponder the game.</p><p>But Reay feels he was justified in the early warning.</p><p>&ldquo;Denis is the kind of goalie who needs to know in advance when he&rsquo;s going to work,&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;For instance, when I told him he&rsquo;d go against the Flyers, he went out on the Forum ice and worked an extra 45 minutes. He thinks he needs that kind of work, so he must.</p><p>&ldquo;It was kind of funny, though. When I told Denny that he&rsquo;d work the next night, his mouth popped open. Then he asked, &lsquo;at home?&rsquo; &ldquo;</p><p>Normally, Reay would have worked DeJordy back into action in a road game, but as he explained:</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been going so poorly away from home that I didn&rsquo;t want to have Denis bombed his first time back. He stood a much better chance at home.&rdquo;</p><p>The home ice magic worked well for Denis, as well as for rookie right wing Cliff Koroll, who came up with the first hattrick of his young National Hockey league career.</p><p>The big youngster from Denver university had been somewhat disappointing after suffering a knee injury during the third week of the season and Reay hopes the scoring spree will help snap him back.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the injury bothered Cliff&rsquo;s skating,&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;But I do feel he was a little leery of contact when he had the puck. I hope this will get him going again.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s something about the sight of that little black puck going into the goal that really works wonders for a hockey player. A kid can go out and play a great game, but if he doesn&rsquo;t put the puck in the net it doesn&rsquo;t do a thing for his morale&hellip;get him rolling again.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0250/2788271-1-eng-US/c0004-022.jpg" title="C0004-02" width="551" height="863"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DENIS DEJORDY&hellip;Long Time Idle</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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January 2, 1970

WHL’s Scoring Records

Wilson Will Coach With Iron Hand, Everyone Agreed Laycoe ‘Too Easy’

HOW THEY STAND

NHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK