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.

February 20, 1970

The Hockey News February 20, 1970

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div><p>ROCHESTER&mdash;</p><p>John Gofton was happy the Rochester Americans were sold recently&hellip;until he found out the purchaser was not Medicare but Medicor.</p><p>Medicare is a health insurance organization, and since the hustling Amerk left wing hasn&rsquo;t made it healthy through a full season of hockey since graduating from Junior A in 1964. having a health insurance group as your boss seemed to Gofton to be a fine idea.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06146/2604400-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="250" height="428"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>John Gofton</b></figcaption></div><p>Medicor. the outfit that bought Northwest Sports Enterprises (including the Vancouver Canucks of the Western League and Rochester of the American League) did start out renting medical equipment to hospitals, but since has shifted into the entertainment field.</p><p>The speedy Gofton fits in there, too, because he has been very entertaining to the Amerk fans this season. But nobody can blame him for being reluctant to literally put his best foot forward because he&rsquo;s sure something would fall on it.</p><p>While his first post-Junior A injury wasn&rsquo;t really a bad one. it did result in him getting off to a very slow start with Johnstown. Pa., of the Eastern League in 1964-65.</p><p>&ldquo;I played the first game and got hit on the left elbow.&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t bad enough to really keep me out, but we had a player limit of 13 in that league, and another rookie the club wanted to look at didn&rsquo;t sign until after our first game. So the management, to have an opportunity to watch him, put me on the disabled list for 21 days.&rdquo;</p><p>Gofton scored 30 goals and assisted on 23 others in the 58 games he did play, and was certain he&rsquo;d have a big vear for Johnstown in &lsquo;65-66.</p><p>But in January, John was pouring boiling water off potatoes, held the lid in the wrong place, and the water splashed on his right foot. He was wearing a sock and a slipper and the resulting burns sidelined him for eight weeks. He was 17-19&mdash;36 in 48 games.</p><p>Detroit turned him pro in the fall of 1966, but Pittsburgh was loaded that season and so he was sent back to Johnstown. But an opposing player fell on his left leg on the 28th of November and all the ligaments were torn and the tendons stretched in his left foot. He tried to come back too soon, and 10 seconds into his first shift in his first game, he tore and pulled everything again. His play was limited to 15 games, and he scored 10 goals and assisted on 14 others.</p><p>&ldquo;I almost made it during the &lsquo;67-68 season,&rdquo; he remembers. &ldquo;And I was having a good year&mdash;63 goals and 59 assists for 122 points in the first 61 games. A shoulder separation finished me for the last nine games. And. you know, two games later my center, Reggie Kent who had 38 goals and 106 assists in 63 games, broke an ankle.&rdquo;</p><p>John&hellip;and the Amerk front-office&hellip;are holding their breath right now, too. because of the ligaments.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid they&rsquo;re torn,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;I only hope I can get through the rest of the season. It hurts a lot when I twist it&hellip;I&rsquo;m just keeping my fingers crossed.&rdquo;</p><p>The wav things happen to John Gofton, he&rsquo;d better be careful crossing his fingers or they might get injured!<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-06

IN THIS ISSUE

Americans Keep Fingers Crossed As Cotton Hit By Another Injury

<div class="byline">BY DAN MOULTON</div><p>CHICAGO&mdash;</p><p>Jimmy Pappin has been taking a pretty rough going over from Black Hawks&rsquo; fans in this most troubled year.</p><p>Apparently, however, Chicago&rsquo;s sometimes caustic fans haven&rsquo;t been any tougher on the big veteran right wing than he&rsquo;s been on himself.</p><p>Jimmy revealed just how self-critical he&rsquo;s been after a recent victory over Minnesota, in which he scored the third three-goal hat trick of his career.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01691/2603433-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="251" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Pat Stapleton</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I had a lot of time to think while I was sick.&rdquo; said Jim. who missed nine games while recovering from a sort of mystery ailment which had him hospitalized for better than a week.</p><p>&ldquo;And during most of that time, what I thought of was how lousy I bad been going. What really woke me up was the fact that the team didn&rsquo;t lose a game while I was out.</p><p>&ldquo;It looked as though we&rsquo;d have been in first place if I&rsquo;d gotten sick in October. It seemed to me</p><p>That I&rsquo;d better get back to work and start to make a contribution.&rdquo;</p><p>Pappin claims he&rsquo;s not really sure just what knocked him out of action, although at the time it was announced as an infection caused by an injury to his right elbow.</p><p>&ldquo;Whatever it was. I had a high fever for several days. It took me a long time to get my strength back.&rdquo; said Jimmy. &ldquo;The doctor still hasn&rsquo;t told me what the real cause of the trouble was.&rdquo;</p><p>Coach Billy Reay says the only mystery connected with the ailment was whether it was caused by an infected elbow or Pappin&rsquo;s tonsils but that the nature of the ailment and its treatment never was in doubt.</p><p>Reay has to hope that Pappin&rsquo;s hattrick, which came a day after he&rsquo;d scored a goal during a 5-0 victory in Philadelphia, was the signal of a return to the form Jim displayed much of the way last year when he wound up with 30 goals. His three against the Stars boosted his output to 12 for this campaign.</p><p>The Hawks are going to need every ounce of help they can get during the drive down the stretch for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Division. Just how tough things figure to be. is indicated by the fact that the Hawks presently are playing at a pace comparable to any team in the league, yet can&rsquo;t pick up ground on the Red Wings, who. at this writing, held a three-point edge over the Chicagoans in the war for fourth.</p><p>&ldquo;I sure hope that these goals will give Jimmy the lift he needs,&rdquo; said Reasy. &ldquo;Hockey players are like baseball players. When they are not hitting, or in our case scoring, they never feel right. All injuries are serious and every problem a major one.</p><p>&ldquo;But just as soon as the goals start to come, all the troubles vanish. I know what kind of hockey we can expect from Jimmy when he&rsquo;s going well and he can be plenty helpful when he&rsquo;s playing aggressively. Now that he&rsquo;s been picking up a few goals, maybe he&rsquo;ll start to move the wav he can.&rdquo;</p><p><b>HAWK TALK&mdash;</b>Reay is pleased generally with the play of the Hawks but he&rsquo;s particularly delighted with the game-aftergame efforts of Stan Mikita and Captain Pat Stapleton.</p><p>&ldquo;You just can&rsquo;t say enough about the way those two have played,&rdquo; said Reav. &ldquo;I guess if you could say a player turned in a flawless game, these two would have played several of them. Just tremendous,&rdquo;</p><p>Left Wing Gilles Marotte just returned to action recently after sitting out several games because of bruised back muscles and Eric Nesterenko was a recent flu victim.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02640/2603426-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="561" height="524"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JIM PAPPIN&hellip;Times Getting Better</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0011-01

PAPPIN FLYING AGAIN FOR HAWKS

<h2><b>Wed. Jan. 28 OKLAHOMA CITY 1 AT KANSAS CITY 8</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0422/2605134-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="574" height="682"></div><h2><b>DALLAS 1 AT OMAHA 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0516/2605127-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="572" height="557"></div><h2><b>Fri. Jan. 30 DALLAS 1 AT IOWA 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0612/2605120-1-eng-US/f0024-062.jpg" title="f0024-06" width="575" height="539"></div><h2><b>KANSAS CITY 7 AT TULSA 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0711/2605113-1-eng-US/f0024-072.jpg" title="f0024-07" width="578" height="751"></div><h2>Sat. Jan. 31 IOWA 2 AT KANSAS CITY 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-088/2605106-1-eng-US/f0024-082.jpg" title="f0024-08" width="579" height="520"></div><h2>DALLAS 6 AT FORT WORTH 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-096/2605099-1-eng-US/f0024-092.jpg" title="f0024-09" width="575" height="866"></div><h2><b>Sun., Feb. 1 KANSAS CITY 2 AT OMAHA 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-106/2605092-1-eng-US/f0024-102.jpg" title="f0024-10" width="573" height="596"></div><h2><b>OKLAHOMA CITY 1 AT DALLAS 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-116/2605085-1-eng-US/f0024-112.jpg" title="f0024-11" width="575" height="540"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0024-04

Central League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY HARVEY POLLACK</div><p>NEW HAVEN&mdash;</p><p>The New Haven Blades have been fortified by the return of two of their star operatives, but the minions of Don Perry must win the &ldquo;big&rdquo; games in the waning portion of the Eastern Hockey League campaign to catch the front-running Clinton Comets.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-089/2605245-1-eng-US/f0025-082.jpg" title="f0025-08" width="271" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Don Perry</b></figcaption></div><p>New Haven is delighted to get Mike Rouleau and Kevin Morrison back in a healthy state after the pair each missed more than 20 games due to major injuries. Perhaps the duo will enable the Blades to win the crucial games like a recent one at Clinton. The Blades had a 2-1 lead with 27 seconds left but allowed the Comets to get off the hook and tie.</p><p>Then New Haven seemed to have a letdown in losing to Salem at home and then bowing to cellar dwelling Jersey, allowing 11 goals in the process. To top off their slump, the Blades dropped a home-and-home series with Clinton.</p><p>Perry is unhappy over these losses since Clinton already had a lead and has games in hand. Don realizes the importance of finishing first and gaining the odd home game advantage in the best-of-seven series in the playoffs.</p><p>The Blades have lost the playoffs the last several seasons simply because they didn&rsquo;t own that advantage. This year it appeared they were finally going to crack that jinx, but a slump allowed Clinton to catch up and now the Comets, despite the loss of Borden Smith, have moved well in front and will be difficult to overtake.</p><p>As far as Perry is concerned, his Blades should be No. 1. They are the highest scoring team in the league. They have the leading goalie in Dave Hainsworth. They boast the circuit&rsquo;s top scorer in Mike Hornby. Yet a dozen ties have hurt them in their quest to top the North. With the regular season over Mar. 8, Perry doesn&rsquo;t have much time to catch Clinton and his objective may again end in failure.</p><p><b>NASHVILLE:</b> Flyers presented gold and purple blazers by Boosters Club&hellip;Wally Sprange scored six goals in five games. Coach Lloyd Hinchberger unhappy with play of his veterans. Pierre Gagne&rsquo;s second hat trick toppled Salem. Kevin Smith pulled ligaments in knee. Karl Haggerty has recovered from ankle injury. Flyers have tough road schedule in home stretch of regular season.</p><p><b>GREENSBORO:</b> Bob Sicinski approaching 100-point mark as southern division leader at least count. Tommy Ivan, Chicago GM, eyed the Gens in several games to check the capabilities of some of the skaters. Bob Mullins needed three stitches to repair left eye after fight with Charlotte&rsquo;s Bob Shupe.</p><p><b>CLINTON:</b> Don Herriman&rsquo;s goal with 27 seconds left tied New Haven. Comets were 23-0-3 at home at last count. Winger Tommy Mitchell recovered from hand injury. Moe St. Jacques responsible for win over Johnstown with two goals. Bill Bannerman trying to catch two front runners in northern scoring race.</p><p><b>SYRACUSE:</b> Crowd of 3,000 disappointed when unsuitable ice caused postponement of game with Clinton. It was second straight year the Comets had a postponement here. Blazers booked game at Colgate U. campus in Hamilton, N.Y. Chuck Charlong had hat trick at Long Island. Norm Guimond playing well since acquisition from New Haven. Wayne Newell recalled. Blazers sent defenseman John Doby and Fraser Rice to Long Island for defenseman Brian McDowell.</p><p><b>CHARLOTTE:</b> Checkers purchased John Rodgers from New Haven for cash and draft choice next year from pro player&rsquo;s pool. Snowstorm cost Checkers $4,000 in receipts from home game with Greensboro. Neil Clark delighted to be back at left wing from whence he scored 31 goals last year. Jack McCreary on list to go. Fred Creighton unhappy over club blowing 5-1 lead at Jacksonville.</p><p><b>LONG ISLAND:</b> Jake Hendrickson out for season with fractured ankle. So coach Blake Ball made deal with Syracuse for Brian McDowell and received Fraser Rice and John Dolby in return. Owner Al Baron involved in 14,000 seat arena planned for Paterson, N.J. Eleven ex-Ducks have become coaches&hellip;Russ McClenaghan pacing club&rsquo;s scoring production.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-098/2605238-1-eng-US/f0025-092.jpg" title="f0025-09" width="552" height="579"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>WALLY SPRANGE&hellip;A Real High Flyer</b></figcaption></div><p><b>SALEM:</b> Wayne Mosdell sent down from Rochester to fill shoes of Jack Chipchase who went up. Bob Sabourin, Jacksonville mentor predicts Dave Schultz of Rebels will move to higher league next year. Salem did well on northern jaunt except for blanking at Clinton.</p><p><b>JERSEY:</b> Gordie Stratton had four goal effort in 11-goal Devils&rsquo; spree vs New Haven. Devils skated with nine but only a disallowed goal prevented them from tieing at Long Island. Devils sold Ken Miller to Nashville. Bill Cameron dropped and Gil Drolet placed on roster. Trainer Tim MacGuigan quit to take post with Montreal Expos&rsquo; baseball team</p><p><b>JOHNSTOWN:</b> Dick Loe&rsquo;s hat trick helped whip Jersey. Gene Peacosh&rsquo;s tally with 13 seconds left tied Syracuse. Pete Fichuk called into Army service and Jack Brewer, with Flint earlier this season and brother of Detroit&rsquo;s Carl Brewer was his replacement. Reg Kent&rsquo;s hat trick sparked win at Jersey. Dick Roberge nearing 1,600 point mark in 15 seasons. Larry Young dropped and Pete Christian sent to Jacksonville on loan.</p><p><b>JACKSONVILLE:</b> Gord Haworth, Dale MacLeish and Ken Turlik comprise hottest Rockets&rsquo; line. Jean Bouchard dropped. Injury to Jean Therrien hurt defense corps. Ron Willy getting legs back after being sidelined with thumb injury for three weeks. Turlik had to play defense in emergency. Ted Baylis&rsquo; eye injury had him and the club worried.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0025-08

Clinton Leaving New Haven Behind; Nashville’s Sprange On Hot Streak

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01467/2605682-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg" title="Cover-01" width="889" height="1236"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PLANTE STILL GOING STRONG&mdash;AT AGE 41</b></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-02348/2605675-1-eng-US/cover-022.jpg" title="Cover-02" width="2083" height="1380"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>WHERE DO NHL PLAYERS COME FROM?</b></figcaption></div><p><i>INJURIES CREATING FRUSTRA TING HOCKEY SEA SOH FOR FERCUSON</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Cover-01

RANGERS’ OLD PROS, KIDS SWING TOGETHER

<div class="byline">BY VICTOR BERNS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01622/2602885-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JACQUES PLANTE goes through victory ritual for fans, who automatically go into frenzy when 41-year-old goaler raises his arms after win.</b></figcaption></div><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;</p><p>It&rsquo;s fitting that Jacques Plante should be playing hockey these days within walking distance of the mighty Mississisppi River. The master goalie and ol&rsquo; Man River both just keep rolling along.</p><p>Plante is now 41 and he shares the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; goaltending duties with Glenn Hall and Ernie Wakely. Plante has played more games than either of the other two this season, and advancing age hasn&rsquo;t yet curtailed his heroics.</p><p>Plante&rsquo;s spectacular performance in this year&rsquo;s All-Star game was a tremendous individual effort that could serve as a model for goalies. He twisted, squirmed, kicked the puck, stopped it with his elbow, dropped to the ice, bounced up again, darted from side to side&mdash;all with the lightning speed of a rookie phenom. Plante was playing with a pulled hamstring muscle but he stopped 20 shots in the final period for an All-Star game record and shut out the big guns of the Eastern Division while playing half of the game.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t recall ever having a greater night,&rdquo; Plante said after the game. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never felt more pressure. I&rsquo;m thankful I didn&rsquo;t disgrace myself. That&rsquo;s probably the last one.&rdquo;</p><p>No one pressed Jacques on what he meant by &ldquo;the last one.&rdquo; Maybe he only meant the last All-Star game before his home fans at the St. Louis Arena. The All-Star game probably won&rsquo;t return to St. Louis for another 15 years, and Plante would then be 10 years past pension age in the National Hockey League.</p><p>Why should Plante think about quitting now? He&rsquo;s still making a joke of the science of goaltending and he&rsquo;s enjoying himself.</p><p>Jacques&rsquo; 41st birthday was indeed a joke. He was in goal at the Arena that night. Jan. 17, against the Los Angeles Kings. The old master allowed a screen shot by Ted Irvine in the first period but toyed with the Kings for the remainder of the game, and the Blues won, 3-1. The crowd sang &ldquo;Happy Birthday&rdquo; to him, and the popular Plante acknowledged the serenade with a cheerful wave to the fans.</p><p>&ldquo;I must admit,&rdquo; he said later, &ldquo;that, if someone had told me 10 years ago that I&rsquo;d still be playing in the NHL at 41. I probably would have thought he was crazy.&rdquo;</p><p>Plante probably would not fit into just any hockey team. He was so much a part of the great Montreal teams of the 1950s that playing on a team of less than championship calibre would be a touch of irreverence.</p><p>Plante told a banquet of St. Louis fans this season, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been very fortunate to have always played with a winner throughout my career. First Montreal and now St. Louis. The fans here are terrific but they&rsquo;re had something to cheer about. We&rsquo;re a pretty good hockey team.&rdquo;</p><p>And Plante remarked after a 50 St. Louis loss to the New York Rangers this season, &ldquo;This team is just like my old Montreal club&mdash;when we were bad, we were all bad at the same time.&rdquo;</p><p>Plante had a stint with the Rangers between his affiliations with Montreal and St. Louis. After nine full seasons at Montreal he played for New York for one and one-half seasons before leaving the game because of his wife&rsquo;s ill health.</p><p>He was out of hockey for three seasons until Scotty Bowman, the Blues&rsquo; coach and general manager, talked him into returning with the Blues. Plante strapped on the pads after explaining simply: &ldquo;I retired because mv wife was ill; now she&rsquo;s well again, and I&rsquo;m back.&rdquo;</p><p>Plante become immediately popular in St. Louis, and he and the fans revel in the strong rapport between them. After a Blues&rsquo; win, the fans watch closely as their heroes skate off the ice and wait for Plante to raise his arms to signal &ldquo;V&rdquo; for victory. When he stretches his gloved hands heavenward, the fans erupt in a hoarse cacophony of cheers and yells. This ritual is the most uproarious of the Blues&rsquo; traditions.</p><p>Although Plante is the oldest member of the Blues&mdash;including the coach&mdash;he retains a rookie&rsquo;s zeal for perfection.</p><p>Typical of his fierce professional pride in stopping pucks is his statement that &ldquo;I count everything that goes in, including practice.&rdquo;</p><p>And Jacques expects nothing less than the same perfection from his teammates. The Blues have a crack corps of defensemen, including All-Stars Al Arbour and Barclay Plager, but Plante goads all of them with a chatter that leaves no doubt about what kind of support he is demanding in front of him.</p><p>Plante and Hall won the Vezina Trophy last season, and for Plante the trophy came a seventh time, an NHL record. Plante also helped the Canadiens to six Stanley Cups, and St. Louis fans would like that luxury at least once before Jacques deserts his nets.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-01

Plante Still ‘Mr. Spectacular’, Not Slowing Down Despite Age 41

<p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;</p><p>In addition to his 41ST birthday, recently, Jacques Plante also passed another anniversary this season. Ter years ago last Nov. 1 Plants wore a mask with his Mont real uniform and began a trend that now includes the majority of NHL goalies.</p><p>Plante said, &ldquo;At the time started wearing the mask thought it would take about 10 years to accept it.&rdquo;</p><p>His timetable is on sched ule, but Jacques didn&rsquo;t think at the time he&rsquo;d still be in ths league 10 years hence.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Jake Began Mask Craze 10 Yrs. Ago

<div class="byline">BY GIL SMITH</div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p>One of the most rewarding jobs in the world must be that of an NHL scout in Kirkland Lake, Ontario.</p><p>Figures show that more players come from that spot on the map than any other in North America, provided you take into account such things as population and the pro portion ate number of hockeyists yielded from it.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01624/2602947-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="243" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Ralph Backstrom</b></figcaption></div><p>Ralph Backstrom. Mickey Redmond. Mike Walton and young Tom Webster are just a few of the boys from the Lakehead who are currently on the hockey scene. There are. in addition, brother acts like the Plagers and Hillmans who also hail from there. Add Dick Duff, Earl Heiskala, Murray Hall and Don Blackburn, plus others in the minors and kids in Junior, and the picture is an impressive one.</p><p>Ontario is the largest producer of NHL talent, far out-distancing its nearest rival. Quebec.</p><p>It you leaf through the NHL Guide, you&rsquo;ll find well over 100 players born in Ontario, as compared to some 52 from Quebec.</p><p>The Western Provinces of Saskatchewan. Manitoba and Alberta are next in line, in that order, though the margin between them is slim. Twentyseven players show Saskatchewan as their birthplace. Manitoba claims 23. Alberta 21.</p><p>There&rsquo;s a big drop in numbers, then, to Nova Scotia, with eight players, followed by British Columbia. six, New Brunswick, four, and Newfoundland, one. Prince Edward Island has none.</p><p>It may come as a surprise to some to note that Europe can lay claim to 11 players, most of whom are currently in the NHL. or have been very recently. The U.S.A, can claim nine.</p><p>In terms of specific cities, Montreal is the actual largest producer of NHL players, based on sheer numbers. Nineteen men from the Montreal area, or had recently been in the NHL. as this was written. Toronto and Winnipeg were next with 15 each, followed by Kirkland Lake&rsquo;s 14. Other productive centers were Ottawa and Edmonton, each of which had eight NHL players. The Rouyn-Noranda area of Quebec did well too, with six. including Dave Keon, Jacques Laperriere and Pit Martin.</p><p>Some of the games&rsquo; biggest stars are, paradoxically, from some of the smallest centers. Gordie Howe is from Floral, Saskatchewan. Glenn Hall is from Humboldt. Johnny Bower hails from Prince Albert. Bobby Hull comes from little Point Anne, Ontario. Frank Mahovlich is from Timmins. The Espositos were born is Sault-Ste-Marie, Alex Delvecchio in Fort William, and Tim Horton in Cochrane. And, of course, the brightest new star of all, Bobby Orr, is from Parry Sound.</p><p>Jean Beliveau first saw the light of day in Three Rivers, Quebec. Jean Ratelle is from Lac St. Jean. Jacques Plante originated in Shawinigan Falls. Roggie Vachon is from Palmarolle.</p><p>Some of the towns which have produced NHL players are so small that if the hockey player doesn&rsquo;t put them on the map. little else will.</p><p>Taking it from West to East across Canada, we find Smithers and Trail. B.C. producing Joe Watson and Cesare Maniago, respectively. Vermillion, Alberta, gave us Bill &ldquo;Cowboy&rdquo; Flett, Bonnyville provided Jim Harrison, High River yielded John McKenzie and Glen Sather, Innisfail contributed Gary Bauman and Provost, Alberta, was the birthplace of Normie Ullman.</p><p>Wakaw, Saskatchewan, turned out Dave Balon, while Lanigan was the first home of Bob Baun. Cudworth can lay claim to both Gerry Ehman and Orland Kurtenbach. Togo contributed Ted Hampson, and Big River. Saskatchewan&mdash;as distinct from High River. Alberta&mdash;gave us Jim Neilson. MacNutt and Jansen provided Duane Rupp and Ken Schinkel, respectively.</p><p>St. Boniface, Manitoba, spawned Ted Green, Howie Hughes and Gord Labossiere. Flin Flon also came up with a trio of players in Eric Nesterenko, Dunc McCallum and Alan Hamilton. Cowan produced Wally Boyer.</p><p>Little towns in Ontario and Quebec have produced any number of NHL&rsquo; ers.</p><p>Bowlands, Ontario, yielded both George Armstrong and Brent Hughes. Oshawa was Arnie Brown territory. Belleville launched Bob Dillabough, Gerry Goyer and Ed Westfall. Goderich and Cobalt were home to Gary Doak and Kent Douglas, respectively. Kincardine provided Paul Henderson. Zurich. Ontario, was the birthplace of Larry Jeffrey. Bracebridge was home to Roger Crozier and South Porcupine to Bob Nevin.</p><p>In Quebec. Pierre Pilote hailed from Kenogami. while Moose Vasko came from Duparquet. Lac La Tortue was the birthplace of Marcel Pronovost. Cap de la Madeleine gave us Leon Rochefort and Jean-Guy Talbot. Bagotville is home ground for J.C. Tremblay. In Nova Scotia, North Sydney produced Paul Andrea; In New Brunswick, Dorchester provided Forbes Kennedy; In Newfoundland. Bishops Falls gave us Alex Faulkner.</p><h2>Hockey News Special</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02508/2602940-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1778" height="1253"></div><p>Moving across the pond to Europe, most fans know that Stan Mikita was born in Sokolce. Czechoslovakia, but how many know that Ken Hodge hails from Birmingham. England? Chris Worthy, who goaled for the Oakland Seals, last year, is another Englishman who made the NHL. He was born in Bristol, England Among others of European birth are Walt Tkaczuk, from Emsted-etten, Germany; Juha Widing of Uleaborg, Finnland; Poul Popiel of Sollestad, Denmark; Ed Hatoum of Beruit, Lebanon; Sandy Fitzpatrick of Paisley, Scotland: Jack Evans who came from Garnant, South Wales; and Nick Harbaruk and John Miszuk, who hail from Drohiczvn and Naliboki, Poland, respectively.</p><p>U.S. born players include Tracy Pratt, New York City, Doug Roberts, Detroit, Tom Williams, Duluth. Minn., and Wayne Hicks, who came from Aberdeen. Washington.</p><p>Hockey plavers travel plenty during the time they&rsquo;re in the NHL. A lot of them have travelled far to reach it. They have, in fact, come from just about everywhere.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0003-01

KIRKLAND LAKE CHIEF CRADLE OF HOCKEY TALENT FOR NHL

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01686/2602999-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="370" height="441"></div><p>&bull; <b>SEVERAL LETTERS</b> were sent to this paper praising the amount of action contained in the CBS nationally-televised game on February 1 between Toronto and Boston, which the Bruins finally won, 7-6. Some letters state that there was more action and excitement in the first five minutes of the game than in the entire ABA All-Star basketball game&hellip;The CBS people are hoping that they&rsquo;ll have a few more games of a similar type before the season ends&hellip;Baz Bastien, director of pro scouting for the Detroit Red Wings, is recovering from a recent heart attack&hellip;King Clancy, vice-president of the Maple Leafs, is on the mend again after a session in the hospital&hellip;According to Alan Eagleson, executive director of the NHL Players Association, a vote was taken among the players during the 1967-68 season on the wearing of helmets. They were asked to vote on two clauses (1) Would you agree to the wearing of helmets if the majority of the members in the association voted in favor? Onlv two negative votes were cast and (2) Are you in favor of wearing helmets in NHL games? The vote was 85 percent in favor. These results were made known to the league governors, and Eagleson wants to know how they can say the players refuse to wear them&hellip;Bob Plager of the St. Louis Blues is rated one of the toughest players in the NHL. Recently he selected what he called his first annual all-mean team. Choosing players who &ldquo;are mean but good at the same time,&rdquo; Plager selected Carol Vadnais of Oakland and Noel Picard of St. Louis on defense. He picked Montreal&rsquo;s Henri Richard at center, Los Angeles&rsquo; Ted Irvine at right wing and Montreal&rsquo;s John Ferguson at left wing. He picked Gary Smith of Oakland in goal&hellip;Referring to a slugfest at the St. Louis Arena last season, Plager said: &ldquo;Irvine gave me the closest fight I&rsquo;ve had in years. He hits like a sledgehammer&rdquo;&hellip;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02637/2602992-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="258" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Bob Plager</b></figcaption></div><p>&bull; <b>NHL FORWARDS PICK</b> the ten toughest defensemen to beat in the current issue of HOCKEY PICTORIAL. There are some amazing surprises in their selections and it&rsquo;s an article that you won&rsquo;t want to miss. This issue of PICTORIAL (March) is on sale most everywhere&hellip;Detroit Red Wings don&rsquo;t really care if they wear their white sweaters or their red shirts. They have the same number of wins in both outfits&hellip;Minnesota North Stars brought up five members of their Iowa Central League team to practice with them and have dressed four of them&hellip;New York&rsquo;s Rod Seiling has the best defensive record at the moment of anv defense player. Recent statistics reveal that Seiling has the top ratio of goals for and against during his time on the ice while the teams are at full strength. Seiling&rsquo;s plus is 36&hellip;The best mark for any player in the league also belongs to a Ranger. It&rsquo;s Dave Baton with a plus of 46&hellip;Tony Esposito credits his brother Phil with helping him to improve as a goalkeeper. &ldquo;Phil got me to stand up more and that helped me,&rdquo; he stated. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to make them pick the corners and that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve been trying to do. I&rsquo;ve been trying to stay up and go to the ice only as a last resort.&rdquo;&hellip;Len Speck who plays defense for Clinton Comets of the EHL is over 40 and still one of the best defenders in the circuit&hellip;Jeff Goswitz, a 13-year-old bantam player from St. Paul, Minn, who recently had a leg amputated near the hip because of bone cancer, had his spirits raised considerably when Danny O&rsquo;Shea and Danny Grant of the North Stars visited him and presented him with an autographed hockey stick&hellip;Hockey players are always showing their human side despite the rigors of the NHL schedule and they are to be commended for it&hellip;Another NHL superstar who goes out of his way to help out youngsters is Chicago&rsquo;s Stan Mikita and have you noticed the oustanding play of the Hawks&rsquo; center during the last three weeks. He&rsquo;s been playing like the Mikita of old and is making a determined bid to regain the NHL scoring laurels which he re-linquished to Phil Esposito last season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03542/2602985-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="261" height="436"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Rod Seiling</b></figcaption></div><p>&bull; <b>WESTERN DIVISION</b> teams in the National Hockey League have won only seven of their last 56 games against the East&hellip;Bill Charles is now running the Syracuse Blazers of the Eastern Hockey League as the Blazers go all out for a playoff berth&hellip;With the addition of Dick Duff the Los Angeles Kings have the oldest team in the NHL&hellip;Michel Briere, Pittsburgh&rsquo;s red-hot rookie, feels very badly when he misses a faceoff draw. &ldquo;But Red Kelly, our coach, is a very patient man. He never yells. He just points out your mistakes. It&rsquo;s great playing for a coach like that,&rdquo; enthused Briere. Mike, as he&rsquo;s known among his teammates, is the only bachelor on the Pittsburgh squad&hellip;The current issue of Sport Magazine focuses on the belting Boston Bruins in a fine feature titled: &ldquo;How the Bruins Flaunt Their Muscles&rdquo;&hellip;Two members of the St. Louis Blues reached the 20-goal plateau on successive nights on the West Coast. Red Berenson scored his 20th against Oakland and Phil Goyette scored his 19th and 20th the following night against Los Angeles&hellip;Bruce MacGregor became the 10th member of Detroit Red Wings to rack up 300 points when he tallied the winning goal against Oakland recently&hellip;Another Red Wing milestone was reached when Roger Crozier played his 300th game in goal for the Detroiters&hellip;Doug Mohns and Gil Marotte of the Chicago Black Hawks have switched positions, with Doug going back on defense and Marotte taking over on left wing&hellip;Tickets for Bruins games at the Boston Garden this year are tougher to get than for Canadiens&rsquo; games in Montreal, which is really something&hellip;There are more players in the NHL this season out of United States college ranks than ever before. There&rsquo;s Tony Esposito, Cliff Koroll, Jim Wiste, Lou Angotti and Keith Magnuson with Chicago; Al Karlander with Detroit; Lou Nanne with Minnesota; Doug Roberts with Oakland; and Red Berenson with St. Louis Great story on San Diego in the current issue of HOCKEY PICTORIAL. Titled &ldquo;The San Diego Saga&rdquo;, it goes into detail and with exclusive photos to illustrate the story on the tremendous hockey success enjoyed by the California city located a few miles north of the Mexican border.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04471/2602978-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="264" height="440"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Bruce MacGregor</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 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, FEBRUARY 20, 1970 No. 20</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The Hockey News

<h2><b>From Potash League To Hockey&rsquo;s Big Time</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>any hockey fans around the rural area of Regina, Sask., will be watching with interest the future of Alan Karlander of the Detroit Red Wings.</p><p>Karlander spent two seasons with Father Murray&rsquo;s Wilcox Juveniles, before moving to finish his college in the United States.</p><p>The club, known as the Notre Dame Hounds, were playing out of an intermediate league called the Potash League.</p><p>I had the privilege of being the statistician during Karlander&rsquo;s stint in the league, at which time he won the individual scoring championship.</p><p>We will always remember Alan Karlander here, with his spirited and hustling play.</p><p>DOUG MCGILLIVRAY,<br>Wilcox, Sask.</p><h2><b>Referee Friday Gave Bruins Hard Time</b></h2><p>I would like to comment on the Bruins 1-0 loss to the Chicago Black Hawks on Jan. 17. Chicago won the game on a disputed call. In the second period Gerry Pinder took a shot on the Boston goalie Ed Johnston who deflected the puck which rolled on behind him toward the goal line. Just as the puck was about to cross the line Johnston fell back diving on the aimless puck. The red light did not go on!</p><p>Suddenly referee Bill Friday skated from just inside the blueline to overule goal-judge Tom Moon and award a goal to Pinder saving the puck did cross the line.</p><p>Firstly I saw the play in question a total of five times and I must conclude that the puck might have touched the red line but it was not completely over the line. Secondly goal-judge Tom Moon was not obstructed in the least bit so I cannot see how Friday could overrule the goaljudge in this case.</p><p>There is not enough I can say to express the frustration of the Bruins as well as their fans to have to put up with such poor refereeing.</p><p>OWEN PRAGUE.<br>Brookline&rsquo; Mass.</p><h2><b>Rangers&rsquo; ke Stars Overrated Says Fan</b></h2><p>I am an avid hockey fan and I am becoming irritated reading about the so called New York Rangers superstars. Rod Gilbert, Vic Hadfield, and Jean Ratelle are the most overrated trio of forwards in the NHL today.</p><p>Every year the New York sportwriters promote Hot Rod Gilbert as a superstar. All I can say is that Hot Rod better get his motors churning before he runs out of gas. &ldquo;Superstar&rdquo; Gilbert had seven goals the entire first half of this season. The same goes for Hadfield. The writers tell us how this will be the year big Vic scores between 35-40 goals and be a first team All-Star. He better have a tremendous year because there are many leftwingers playing today who he is going to have to catch. Maybe if you score 20 goals in New York they consider you a Superstar. I hope not. Jean Ratelle is an excellent center, but hardly in the class of a Stan Mikita or Phil Esposito. The N.Y. writers say that he is the most underrated player in the game today. Who are they kidding? Every week I read something on how he is becoming the best center in the league. Lets not get ridiculous. He has a long wav to go to be in the class of Espo or Mikita, and also both of these men are outscoring him again this season.</p><p>It might seem that I am putting these three hockey players down. That is not so. They are all fine players. What I am criticizing is the manner in which the New York sportwriters overrate not underrate their players. I know that they will be partial to their team and this is how it should be. Just lets be a little more objective in rating the status&rsquo; of certain plavers.</p><p>JAMES LAZAR.<br>So. Boston, Mass.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Fan Forum

<div class="byline">BY NORMAN MacLEAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02585/2603102-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="549" height="1076"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>TERRY SAWCHUK&hellip;Still Plentv Left</b></figcaption></div><p>NEW YORK&mdash;</p><p>It was January 15. 1950. A chunky, baby faced rookie goaltender, up from Indianapolis of the American Hockey League, pinch hit for the injured Harry Lumley and shut out the New York Rangers 10 at the old Madison Square Garden. Since these were the Rangers who would eventually challenge the Wings in a seven game Stanley Cup final series, the rookie&rsquo;s feat was the talk of the National Hockey League.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01639/2603109-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="237" height="417"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Ed Giacomin</b></figcaption></div><p>Twenty years and two weeks later, Terrance Gordon Sawchuk, now 40 years young, once again has NHL circles buzzing over his play in general and a shutout in particular. With Eddie Giacomin, the regular Ranger cage cop resting from a slight hip injury, Sawchuk beat Oakland 2-1 on January 30 and nailed down his 103rd career shutout against Pittsburgh on February 1.</p><p>&ldquo;His contribution was most important as it lifted the gloom of our 5-4 &ldquo;loss&rdquo; at Los Angeles,&rdquo; said Emile Francis, the New York General Manager-Coach.</p><p>While playing the Kings on January 28, in a game televised back to New York, the Blueshirts turned in a poor effort, but still appeared to have earned a 4-4 sawoff, when suddenly Ross Lonsberry flipped the puck over Giacomin and into the Ranger net, just as the game ended. Twenty three minutes later. Referee Bob Sloan finally made the decision that the goal had beaten the green light signifying the end of the game. Eye witness observers and the tape of the TV show-indicated the green light came on and then the red light. If the goal light had been wired according to NHL specifications, six full seconds must elapse before the red light can flash after the green one does.</p><p>&ldquo;The place looked like a Christmas tree,&rdquo; said a quiet Rod Seiling in the Ranger dressing room after the contest.</p><p>When Sloan made his decision, Francis pulled the Rangers from the ice and refused to allow them to take part in a sham face off ir the remaining one sixtieth of a second. Again Sloan blew it. The rule book says he is supposed to pull the stop watch on the Rangers, warn them and then forte it the game when they did not appear.</p><p>Although Francis woke NHL President Clarence Campbell at 3:00 AM EST to discuss the jobbing and later turned the matter over to Ranger President Bill Jennings for an appeal, there was no hope of getting a successful protest through.</p><p>For what it is worth, the TV tape seemed to indicate the goal was scored one sixth of a second before the end of the game, but if the Forum&rsquo;s lighting system had been wired correctly no goal judge in the world could have gotten the red light on in time to beat the automatic green light ending the game. Thus, it would have ended in a 4-4 tie and Sloan would be off the hook.</p><p>Giacomin put Sloan on a bigger hook by charging him and pushing him when he finally made his decision. Bob &ldquo;forgot&rdquo; to mention this in his report and saved Eddie from a possible suspension.</p><p>With this atmosphere, the chutes for a Ranger slump could have been greased. Francis subbed Sawchuk for Giacomin, who was pretty badly banged up around his hip and hoped for the best.</p><p>He got it in Oakland. All Terry did was assist on the winning goal, setting up Ron Stewart, 37, who scored his 3rd shorthanded goal of 1969-. 70. Since Donnie Marshall, another geriatric of 37 also got an assist, both Father Time and the Seals took a beating.</p><p>Then came Sawchuk&rsquo;s whitewash job and it looked like New York really had a back up net-minder for the first time in years. Francis declined to reveal who would work against Detroit on February 4, but it is safe to estimate that Sawchuk will see more action in the second half than he did in the first half of the season. So far, he has played in five games and given up nine goals. He might be expected to play on the West Coast when the Blueshirts revisit the badlands on February 11 and 13.</p><p>Giacomin was so nervous during Sawchuk&rsquo;s shutout that he continually stood at the end of the bench.</p><p>&ldquo;He can have his job back Wednesday against Gordie Howe and Frank Mahovlich,&rdquo; quipped the obviously pleased Sawchuk.</p><p>Terry plays at 175 pounds these days. When he first entered the loop his weight was around 190. When asked how come the slimming process, Terry revealed that an infected appendicities in 1955 slimmed him down and he never gained it back. He plays with the usual scarred up goaltender&rsquo;s face and has a crooked and bent elbow which compares with that of carl Hubbell, the old master of the screwball.</p><p>Only slightly overshadowed by Sawchuk&rsquo;s exploits, were the deeds of derring do performed by Davey Balon, the bandy legged hard skating wing man from Wakaw. Saskatchewan, scored the first hat trick of his NHL career on Februarv 1 and zoomed up to 21 goals and 52 points. The point total is the highest of his career.</p><p>&ldquo;If you notice, Walter Tkaczuk. Bill Fairbairn and Balon make short crisp passes,&rdquo; says Francis. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t throw the puck forty feet or more where interceptions are frequent. And they always seem to be coming up the ice with all three men almost abreast of each other. This and their never stop skating is the reason the Bulldogs lead the NHL in goals and points.&rdquo;</p><p>Balon, 31, is the cement which keeps the rookie Fairbairn and sophomore Tkaczuk on the right track.</p><p>&ldquo;Tkaczuk is by far the best center I have ever played with including Henri Richard, and Ralph Backstrom. I did pretty well when Emile placed me with Walter and Bob Nevin last season in February and when Fairbairn joined us this year we just kept on going.&rdquo; says Balon.</p><p>Since Balon was the first Expansion Draft selection of the Minnesota North Stars in 1967. it shows what the porper combination can do. Dave potted only 15 goals with Minnesota and then got 10 in what amounted to two months work last season. Boomer Geoffrion had him killing penalties and it was not until Francis replaced Geoffrion that Balon really got a chance with New York.</p><p>The superior skill of the Bulldogs is shown by their plus rating which also has them Number One in the NHL. Balon is on top with a rating in the Plus forties. Since Stan Mikita won the 196768 scoring title and Hart Trophy with a Minus three you get what we mean.</p><p>The Rangers balance is demonstrated by the record of the Jean Ratelle. Rod Gilbert, Vic Hadfield line. The pre Bulldog glamour boys are only seven goals behind the Tkaczuk line, even if their plus record is not as outstanding. The Quiet Man, Jean Ratelle potted his 21st and 22nd goal against Pittsburgh as he bids for his third straight 30 goal season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-02

Old Pro Sawchuk Lifts Rangers With Net Play, 103rd NHL ‘Zero’

<p>1&mdash;Montreal Canadiens were the last NHL team to win the Stanley Cup three successive years:</p><p>&#9633; TRUE &#9633; FALSE</p><p>2&mdash;In the 1968-69 NHL All-Star game, the East trounced the West at the Montreal Forum:</p><p>&#9633; TRUE &#9633; FALSE</p><p>3&mdash;There were three 50-goal scorers in the NHL&mdash;Richard. Geoffrion and Bobby Hull. Richard was first to turn the trick, Geoffrion the second and Hull third:</p><p>&#9633; TRUE &#9633; FALSE</p><p>4&mdash;Last season Phil Esposito won the Ross and Hart Trophies, Orr the Norris, Stan Mikita the Byng and Danny Grant the Calder:</p><p>TRUE &#9633; FALSE</p><p>5&mdash;The 1968-69 NHL&rsquo;s First All-Star team comprised Hall, Orr. Horton, Esposito, Howe and Mahovlich:</p><p>&#9633; TRUE &#9633; FALSE</p><p>6&mdash;During last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs, five of the seven series played, ended in four-game sweeps:</p><p>&#9633; TRUE &#9633; FALSE</p><p>7&mdash;Two of last season&rsquo;s highlights were the fact Red Berenson scored six goals in one game and Bobby Orr collected six assists in another game:</p><p>&#9633; TRUE &#9633; FALSE</p><p>8&mdash;Dave Keon is the captain of the Maple Leafs, Pat Stapleton the captain of the Black Hawks and Larry Cahan the captain of Los Angeles:</p><p>&#9633; TRUE &#9633;FALSE</p><p>9&mdash;Remember the big multi player trade of 1964 when Rangers swapped Andy Bathgate, Don McKenney and Dean Prentice to Toronto for Dick Duff, Bob Nevin. Arnie Brown, Bill Collins and Rod Seiling. One of named players didn&rsquo;t figure in the swap:</p><p>&#9633;TURE &#9633; FALSE</p><p>10&mdash;Bobby and Dennis Hull broke into the NHL in 1957-58 together with the Chicago Black Hawks:</p><p>&#9633; TRUE FALSE</p><h2>HOCKEY QUIZ ANSWERS</h2><p>1&mdash;False. Toronto Maple Leafs won it from 1962 to 1964, the last team to turn the trick.</p><p>2&mdash;False. The East and West tied their game last year 3-3.</p><p>3&mdash;True. Richard did it first in 1944-45. Geoffrion in 1960-61 and Hull in 196162.</p><p>4&mdash;False. Alex Delvecchio of Detroit won the Byng Trophy last season not Stan Mikita.</p><p>5&mdash;False. Bobby Hull made it at left wing instead of Mahovlich.</p><p>6&mdash;True. Only The Montreal&mdash;Boston Eastern final, which went six games, and the Los Angeles-Oakland Western semi-final, which went seven games, lasted beyond four games. The rest were all four-game sweeps.</p><p>7&mdash;False. Berenson got six goals all right, but Pat Stapleton, not Bobbv Orr. was the one who collected the six assists.</p><p>8&mdash;True. They were all appointed this season.</p><p>9&mdash;True. Dean Prentice didn&rsquo;t figure in the trade.</p><p>10&mdash;False. Dennis didn&rsquo;t come along with the Hawks until the 1964-65 season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

two minute hockey quiz

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE HALPIN</div><p>&bull; <i>AMONG THE flow of letters received by THE HOCKEY NEWS each week from our readers, invariably you find one wherein the sender had his thinking cap on when he sat down to draft its contents.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01713/2603140-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="274" height="442"></div><p><i>Primarily, the writer puts the good of hockey first and lets his emotions run second.</i></p><p><i>One such individual is Arthur Mendel, who by the tone of his letter is a staunch hockey fan from Minnesota with certain proposals which he would like to see implemented to improve the officiating in the NHL.</i></p><p><i>Mendel, like thousands of hockey diehards across the country, believes the idea of having three referees on the ice at one time would solve the ills of the NHL, such as they are.</i></p><p><i>But why not let Mr. Mendel tell it as he wrote it.</i></p><p><i>&ldquo;I propose that three referees, one covering only the defensive zone, another in the center ice zone between the two bluelines, and a third covering the offensive zone, be set up to replace the present outmoded NHL system of one referee and two linesmen (who are allowed to call offsides and icing infractions but no penalties). As in baseball, one referee, probably the center ice man, would be designated the senior official in case of a dispute between them.</i></p><p><i>&ldquo;I am sure most hockey fans will agree with me that the of-ficiating in the NHL is generally incompetent. Furthermore, one referee cannot possibly watch 12 players especially when the rules of the game require him to watch the puck at all times.</i></p><p><i>&ldquo;Arguments are very weak that state three referees in hockey will not function. Major league baseball employs four umpires per game (to cover nine defensive men and a maximum of four offensive men) and major league football uses six referees to cover 22 athletes. Then why should big league hockey then have only one referee to cover 12 players, especially in such an exceptionally fast moving game? Arguments that linesmen would be out of a job are insignificant since in known cases they have filled in and performed referee&rsquo;s duties due to injuries or delay through travel. With extra training, experienced linesmen could become referees and help take up the slack of more persons needed to carry out the plan.</i></p><p><i>&ldquo;There are many advantages to the three referee system. A decent ratio of one referee per four athletes would be maintained as found necessary in other professional sports. As an example, a referee in the defensive zone may call a penalty against players for an infraction in his zone, which would ordinarily have been missed in the case of only one referee, who was probably at the other end of the ice watching a goal being scored.</i></p><p><i>&ldquo;If a referee in one zone puts up his arm to signal a penalty and the offending team was in the process of scoring a goal, the score would automatically be nullified. Another advantage would be that referees, already stationed in their zones, would call infractions when they spot them without getting in a player&rsquo;s way, which has become a major complaint of NHL teams this season it you read the public prints. As an added bonus to the system, it would probably speed up the game.&rdquo;</i></p><p><i>We don&rsquo;t know what refereein-chief Scotty Morrison thinks about Mendel&rsquo;s proposal because we haven&rsquo;t pinned him down about it, but he received a copy of Mendel&rsquo;s letter and undoubtedly will digest its contents.</i></p><p><i>The writer urges the NHL rules committee to take his proposal into consideration. As he points out just as baseball is modernizing and trying the designated hitter in one of its minor leagues, the least the NHL can do is try the three zone referee system next Fall during the training camp exhibition season and see if it has any merit.</i></p><p><i>At least it&rsquo;s something for the hockey people to think about.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-01

INSIDE HOCKEY

<div class="byline">BY SPENCE CONLEY</div><p>OAKLAND&mdash;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02579/2603171-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="541" height="603"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Earl Ingarfield&hellip;Struck By Stick</b></figcaption></div><p>Earl Ingarfield has the miseries and it&rsquo;s making the Oakland Seals miserable.</p><p>The versatile team scoring leader was struck in the eye with a stick in the New York game (Jan. 30) and was hustled off to an eve specialist to get treatment for a corneal abraison.</p><p>So, for the second time this season, the popular Seal centerwing was out of action.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t figure it out,&rdquo; he says with intense frustration. &ldquo;Just when I get going&mdash;bang!</p><p>&ldquo;I was lining up for a faceoff and I stepped in to take Hadfield to keep him from getting to Hicke, then somebody spun me around and I caught a stick in the eye. It all happened so fast, I didn&rsquo;t know whose stick it was.</p><p>&ldquo;As soon as I felt that stick. I&rsquo;d thought I&rsquo;d lost my eye. I&rsquo;ve had lots of injuries, but nothing like this before. A little piece of the cornea was scraped off.&rdquo;</p><p>Aside from the obvious discomfort of the injury itself, blurred vision has been the biggest concern. Doctors say, however, that the injury is not serious and Earl will be able to play soon.</p><p>Injuries of several kinds&mdash;and most of them freak mishaps&mdash;have been really bugging Ingarfield in the past three years.</p><p>While in his first season with Pittsburgh&mdash;he was their No. 1 pick in the expansion draft&mdash;he was belted hard by then Oakland Seal captain Bobby Baun and wrecked his knee.</p><p>The next season, he suffered a concussion and a shoulder separation.</p><p>This year, while in the midst of a super training camp, he was stepped on during a fight in the Quebec Coliseum and two tendons in his right wrist were severed.</p><p>He missed six weeks of play with that injury and even more of a problem was the fact that Earl, Bob Dillabough and Norm Ferguson were flying as a line. They were one of the best units the Seals had at the time and neither Dilly nor Fergie have really come back from the interruption.</p><p>Although there have been many problems in addition to injuries disturbing Coach Fred Glover&rsquo;s squad this season, the one thing that has remained constant has been the play of goalie Gary Smith.</p><p>By Feb. 4. Smitty had played in 29 straight games and he was terrific. Sure, he had a couple of rough, spots, but generally he was tops.</p><p>The Seals even began to get going pretty well, but they had a one-loss-in-six-games streak interrupted when they came back home Jan. 28 to open a four-game set.</p><p>They played well, but were beaten by St. Louis, New York, and Detroit.</p><p>Through it all. however, they remained just two-points out of fourth place and a playoff position.</p><p>Glover believes things will get better.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-02

Eye Injury Latest Mishap To Floor Ingarfield

<p><b>RAINBO ARENA</b></p><p>4836 N. Clark Street Chicago, III., 60640 312-275-5500</p><p>OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M.</p><p><i>Also by appointment</i></p><p>CCM&mdash;Cooper Weeks&mdash;Northland&mdash;Bauer&mdash;Johnson&mdash;Harlick&mdash;MK&mdash;Strauss, etc.</p><p><b>Order Team uniforms now.</b></p><p><b>Team prices.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Chicago Headquarters Skate and Complete Hockey Equipment

<div class="byline">BY TOM MONAHAN</div><p>BOSTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>sk coach Harry Sinden what he thinks today of the Bruins&rsquo; chances of finishing first in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s East Division and he points to the calendar.</p><p>The date he fingers is Feb. 26.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01665/2603209-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="245" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Rick Smith</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Ask me then,&rdquo; says Harry, &ldquo;and I might be able to give you a more honest answer.&rdquo;</p><p>On Feb. 26, the Bruins will be playing New York at Boston Garden and just home from a six-game 12-day road trip.</p><p>&ldquo;This is the key stretch for us.&rdquo; explains Sinden. &ldquo;If we can maintain position through six games on the road in this stretch we should be in pretty good shape.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have 18 games left, nine at home and nine on the road.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just about the way the rest of our division will be set up. Then we&rsquo;ll all be playing each other through the final two weeks and that&rsquo;s the way it should be.</p><p>&ldquo;If we should be only three points behind after the trip we&rsquo;ve got a real shot. We can do it on our own. If we should improve a point or two we&rsquo;ll be in great shape.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a bit of a crazy kind of season, though.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see how anyone can predict what will happen.&rdquo;</p><p>Harry certainly can&rsquo;t predict the Bruins, especially when they have 4-1 leads on Minnesota and Toronto and are life and death to pull out 6-5 and 7-6 decisions on their own ice.</p><p>But there is one item that should not be overlooked&mdash;that is the return of Derek Sanderson.</p><p>&ldquo;The Turk can make a real difference in our team if he stays healthy over the stretch,&rdquo; says Sinden.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an aggressive forechecker and backchecker, he&rsquo;s good at killing penalties and he&rsquo;s our best center on faceoffs. He can make a real contribution after all the troubles he has had this year because on top of everything else he can score goals.&rdquo;</p><p>Sanderson scored 24 goals his first season with the B&rsquo;s and 26 goals last year. Although he missed 26 of the first 48 games the Bruins played he still scored eight goals in the 22 games he was active.</p><p>While the Bruins may have missed players like Sanderson, Ron Murphy, Gary Doak and Teddy Green this season, they also have benefited by the experience of several youngsters.</p><p>Rick Smith has improved steadily as a defensive partner for Bobby Orr and Jim Lorentz and Don Marcotte have gained valuable experience.</p><p>&ldquo;Young Smith really has come along in the last month,&rdquo; admits Sinden. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say that he has hurt us and Lorentz has done a good job at center for Sanderson. He hasn&rsquo;t scored quite like we thought he might but he has done everything else.</p><p>&ldquo;Marcotte has surprised me. I thought he had potential but didn&rsquo;t think he was quite ready but he has been strong checking and has done some scoring too since he came back to us after Murphy got hurt again.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big tough kid and he doesn&rsquo;t get pushed around and he has that knack of being able to keep on the move when we are trying to kill penalties. He&rsquo;s a lot like Eddie Westfall in that respect.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the key to penalty killing. You can&rsquo;t get caught standing still and he hasn&rsquo;t been caught yet.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>Hotkey News Honors Top Players Of Year</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02605/2603202-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="2383" height="1170"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Two members of the Boston Bruins, PHIL ESPOSITO, right, and JIM LORENTZ, background, received awards as player of the year for 1968-69 from THE HOCKEY NEWS. Publisher KEN McKENZIE is shown here making presentation to Esposito as the top player in the NHL last season. Lorentz was chosen minor league player-of-the-year while with Oklahoma City. Holding mike at left during ceremonies on Boston Garden ice is DON EARLE, the &lsquo;voice of the Bruins&rsquo;.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Hockey News Photo by Al Ruelle)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0007-01

Sinden Sees Six-Game Road Safari Key To B’s Finish

<div class="byline">By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01699/2603278-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="296" height="365"></div><h2><i><b>Some Shadowed Bruins</b></i></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>S THE BOSTON</b> Bruins battle for the National Hockey League pennant, Bobby Orr is getting most of the publicity. As they fought for and narrowly missed a title last season Phil Esposito got most of the publicity. All this has been justified. Esposito set a new NHL scoring record last season and Orr is setting new ones this season. Esposito was a sleeper who skyrocketed to sudden stardom, while Orr is a rare prodigy who has lived up to his advance billing.</p><p>Still, Milt Schmidt and Harry Sinden have built a powerhouse in Boston which wins with many standouts who perform in the shadows of the team&rsquo;s giants. It is such a deep and varied team that it could sustain the loss of such a key player as Teddy Green and continue in contention for laurels. It has so many good players that it has men on the bench or in the minors who are coveted by most of the other teams.</p><p>Among two of its more brilliant players whose luster is dimmed by the glitter of an Orr and an Esposito are Ken Hodge and John McKenzie, who would be acclaimed as superstars in Los Angeles and Oakland and Pittsburgh and Minnesota.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02614/2603271-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="551" height="1026"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>KEN HODGE&hellip;Team Of Needlers</b></figcaption></div><p>Hodge stands 6-2 and weighs 215 pounds. He has brownish blonde curly hair, clear eyes, an impish grin and movie-star handsome features. Born in Birmingham, England, but reared in Canada, he is, despite his good looks, one of the more aggressive of the brawling Bruins. He is also one of the most skilled. Last season, he scored 45 goals and 90 points. He did not make either the first or second All-Star team, nor was he considered a candidate for MVP honors. He should be a matinee idol, but instead is considered an extra.</p><p>Has anybody done more and gotten less credit? &ldquo;My credit came when I signed my contract,&rdquo; he smiled. &ldquo;We all like glory, but we all play for money. As long as I am paid fairly for my efforts and they pay off in victories for the team, I&rsquo;m satisfied, I really am. There&rsquo;s no way I could kick about the publicity Bobby and Phil get. They deserve it. They&rsquo;re the [biggest reasons our team wins. They put money in all our pockets. And they aren&rsquo;t selfish. They play for the team. Both get more assists than goals.&rdquo;</p><p>This was after a game, a victory, and Hodge was glistening as he suited up in splendid civvies. &ldquo;This is a team, one for all and all for one,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s fun to play on this team. Of course, it&rsquo;s fun to play on any winner, but this team seems to enjoy winning more than most. We&rsquo;re a team of needlers. We don&rsquo;t take ourselves too seriously. But we take the games seriously.&rdquo;</p><p>Hodge, Phil Esposito and Fred Stanfield came to the Bruins from Chicago in exchange for Gil Marotte, Pit Martin and Jack Norris. It has been accepted as the most one-sided deal in hockey history. But Hodge scored only 16 goals in two seasons with Chicago before he exploded with 70 in two seasons with Boston. Life is beautiful for him now, which is nice because he is a good guy. He and his wife Mary have a three-year-old son, Ken, and were expecting another child in February.</p><h2><i><b>Like To Play It Rough</b></i></h2><p><b>HODGE IS A VICTIM</b> of changing values. Until recently, few men ever scored 45 goals in a season. But until recently, 20 goals in a season was the dividing line between the good players and the ordinary ones. Now it is 30. And even a 45 gets lost in the shuffle. And when a fellow like John McKenzie gets only 28 or 29, as he has the last couple of campaigns, hardly anyone pays any notice. But hockey men know McKenzie. If all the players in the league were thrown into a pool, he would be one of the first pulled out.</p><p>Like Hodge, he was underestimated by past owners. He played for Chicago and New York before he blossomed under Sinden in Boston. He is only 5-9 and 180 pounds and easy to overlook. But the chunky blonde is one of the most savage of the big bad Bruins, and typifies the honest hockey player. He skates his wing, checks his man, hits his foes, digs in the corners. He does it all. He seems to enjoy these vicious contests though he seemed exhausted as he sat in his sweaty underthings after a recent outing.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03506/2603264-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="561" height="1015"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JOHN MCKENZIE&hellip;You Take The Knocks</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I do enjoy them,&rdquo; he grinned. &ldquo;I like to play rough and we re a rough team. Hockey is a game of hitting. If you don&rsquo;t like the hard knocks, you should go in for some other profession. I can&rsquo;t skate like Bobby or shoot like Kenny or do the things with the puck that Phil can, but I can do other things that count in this game. I&rsquo;m one of those guys who has to work hard to have a place in this league, but I love it.&rdquo; A former rodeo calf-roper, Johnny has shrugged off rib and knee injuries to carry on. A dancing fool, he lives a lively life with four beautiful broads&mdash;his wife and three daughters. His household has been described as &ldquo;joyful.&rdquo; So is his hockey.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY BYRON YAKE</div><p>PITTSBURGH&mdash;</p><p>The Penguins&rsquo; Glen Sather was talking with a reporter after a recent 4-2 victory over Oakland.</p><p>The reporter mentioned that Coach Red Kelly wasn&rsquo;t too pleased with the defense that night in spite of the victory.</p><p>&ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t been happy with the defense all year, said the former Boston Bruin.</p><p>Sather wasn&rsquo;t being critical of Kelly; he was stating a fact. Defense has been a thorn in Kelly&rsquo;s flesh all season long.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04385/2603309-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="244" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Brvan Watson</b></figcaption></div><p>Not that the offense has been superb what with 11 shutouts to their record. But Kelly feels too many &ldquo;soft&rdquo; goals are being given away.</p><p>The discussion changed to defenseman Bryan Watson, once a Super Pest, known more for his shadow tactics on big stars such as Bobbv Hull and Gordie Howe.</p><p>The 5-foot-10,170 pounder spent two weeks on the Baltimore Clipper farm club, and as far as Sather&mdash;and Kelly&mdash;were concerned had come back from the holiday &ldquo;vacation&rdquo; a better player.</p><p>Watson, known for his penalties, often foolish ones which cost goals and alas, at times victories, realized the value of the two-week stint away from the big time.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no way I&rsquo;m going to play in Baltimore again,&rdquo; said Watson. &ldquo;It was good for me, but I don&rsquo;t want to go back.</p><p>&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m playing better,&rdquo; the 27-year-old Watson said. &ldquo;Red has worked with me, helping me to avoid those bad mistakes.&rdquo;</p><p>Watson has never been a big scorer, but he has an explanation for it.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m too defensive conscious and I hate to get trapped.&rdquo;</p><p>Never one to back off from a battle on the ice, Watson would like to rid himself of the &ldquo;Superpest&rdquo; image.</p><p>&ldquo;I was checking all the big scorers, but it wasn&rsquo;t my idea,&rdquo; he says.</p><p>Watson has yet to score a goal this season, but he figures he&rsquo;s now earning his money.</p><p>Kelly, although not satisfied with the overall defense, is happy with the progress Watson has made since his return.</p><p>&ldquo;It looks like it&rsquo;s made a difference,&rdquo; Kelly said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not making those bad mistakes he did before. He&rsquo;s played some real good hockey since he came back.&rdquo;</p><p><b>PEN SCRIBBLINGS:</b> Goalie Les Binkley may not play again this season&hellip;His leg is now in a cast to help his knee heal faster and Kelly intimated he may not want to take a chance on it&hellip;Joe Daley has played well in the nets although it seems he&rsquo;s still giving away the easy goal&hellip;The Pens, although the most shutout team in the two leagues, are in third place and seem almost certain now to finish in the playoffs for their first time in history.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-04

Bryan Watson Credits Improved Defense Play To Stay In Minor Loop

<div class="byline">BY GLENN REDMANN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01681/2603340-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>New Minnesota coach CHARLIE BURNS looks concerned as he watches action. Burns took club over from Wren Blair several weeks ago but North Stars have plunged into disastrous slump.</b></figcaption></div><p>TWIN CITIES&mdash;</p><p>An eight-game losing streak during which they were outscored 40-to-19 had the North Stars being counted out of the playoffs by a sizeable portion of their fans.</p><p>But the players themselves, while greatly concerned over their inability to put two points on the scoreboard, took a &ldquo;we re not out of it by a Ing shot&rdquo; attitude.</p><p>Before taking the ice at Chicago Feb. 1 in what turned out to he another disappointing (7-4) loss, veteran centerman Ray Cullen, the Stars&rsquo; player representative. said:</p><p>&ldquo;It (the nearly two-month-long slump) is something that defies description.</p><p>&ldquo;We were sailing along at a pretty good (9-9-6) clip early in December, then for a while it seemed as if we couldn&rsquo;t do anything better than get a tie.</p><p>&ldquo;I thought and so did most of the others that we we&rsquo;re coming out of it when we beat St. Louis (5-2) on our ice in the middle of January.</p><p>&ldquo;But as it turns out, that&rsquo;s the only game we were able to win the whole month.&rdquo;</p><p>Buoyed by the fact that its chief rival for fourth place in the NHL&rsquo;s West Division race&mdash;Oakland&mdash;hadn&rsquo;t exactly been burning up the league either, Minnesota clung to a two-point lead at this writing and had two games in hand on the Seals.</p><p>If Oakland does pass up Minnesota between now and the April 5 curtain, the Stars will have nobody but themselves to blame since it has been the Seals&rsquo; four victories and one tie in five confrontations that has done the most harm.</p><p>Those four Oakland triumphs, including all three that have been played here, constituted one third of the Seals&rsquo; win-total going into February.</p><p>Meanwhile, Minnesota&rsquo;s once proud record of five wins, four losses and eight ties in its first 17 games against the East this season had dipped to 5-10-9 after the 7-4 loss to the Black Hawks.</p><p>Those four goals incidentally increased the Stars&rsquo; total against goalie Tony Esposito this season to 17 in three games, an almost two per period average. Earlier, with Esposito in the nets here, the Stars beat (8-5) and tied (55) the Hawks.</p><p>Six of the eight consecutive setbacks, which tied a club record by the way, were meted out by teams from the East Division. Only Detroit missed out, with Montreal racking up two triumphs within a seven-day periixi.</p><p>Cullen, who notched his second hat trick of the season in a 5-4 loss at Montreal, pointed to eight ties during the long slump as &ldquo;something on the right side of the ledger.&rdquo;</p><p>There have been some bright spots even in defeat. Billy Collins broke out of his long goal drought with a tally at Chicago that gave the Stars a 3-2 lead near the end of the first period.</p><p>Tommy Williams has kept hustling through bad times, serving as an inspiration to several younger members</p><p>As Cullen concluded, &ldquo;if we can keep working, we&rsquo;ll come out of this. All it will take is a couple of wins and we could turn around and go eight without a loss.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0009-01

Stars Larked In Worst Slump, Keeping Eye On Oakland Seals

<p><b>Following are the latest player movements in hockey</b></p><h2><b>NATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>MINNESOTA&mdash;Tom Polonic,</b> defenseman, and <b>Ken Broderick,</b> goalkeeper, recalled from Iowa of CHL. <b>Fern Rivard,</b> goalkeeper, sent to Iowa.</p><p><b>BOSTON&mdash;Derek Sanderson,</b> forward, returned to action from injury list.</p><p><b>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Bill Plager,</b> defenseman, recalled from Buffalo of AHL. <b>Al Arbour,</b> defenseman, returned from injury list.</p><p><b>TORONTO&mdash;Mike Pelyk,</b> defenseman, activated from injury list after being out since December 4.</p><p><b>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Jacques Lemieux,</b> defenseman, recalled rom Springfield of AHL and traded to Phoenix of WHL in exchange for <b>Gary Marsh,</b> forward. <b>Skip Krake,</b> forward, placed on injury list with broken thumb.</p><p><b>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Les Binkley,</b> goalkeeper, in cast with leg injury and likely through for season.</p><p><b>OAKLAND-Earl Ingarfield,</b> forward, placed on injury list after injuring eve.</p><h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>BUFFALO&mdash;Dick Para</b>dise, defenseman, recalled from Omaha of CHL.</p><p><b>ROCHESTER&mdash;Wayne Mosdell,</b> defenseman, sent to Salem of EHL.</p><p><b>BALTIMORE&mdash;Boh Cunningham,</b> forward, assigned to Port Huron of IHL.</p><h2><b>WESTERN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>DENVER&mdash;Doug Shel</b>ton, forward, added to active roster.</p><p><b>SALT LAKE&mdash;Gerry Mazur and Dave Rochefort,</b> forwards, placed on active roster.</p><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2><p><b>OKLAHOMA CITY Don Tannahill,</b> forward, only list indefinitely. <b>Jim Booth,</b> forward, recalled from Flint of IHL on five-game pro trial.</p><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2><p><b>TOLEDO&mdash;Chick Balon,</b> forward, traded to Dayton of <b>IHL</b> in return for Guy <b>Allen,</b> defenseman, <b>Cal Betterill</b> and <b>Jerry Dionne,</b> forwards. <b>Jerry Fleury,</b> goalkeeper, activated on emergency basis from voluntary retired list. <b>Butch McLean,</b> defenseman sent to Fort Wayne of IHL.</p><h2><b>EASTERN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>SYRACUSE&mdash;Wayne Newell,</b> forward, placed on active lineup again. <b>John Dolby,</b> defenseman, and <b>Fraser Rice,</b> forward, sent to Long Island of EHL in exchange for <b>Brian McDowell,</b> defenseman.</p><p><b>CHARLOTTE&mdash;John Rodger,</b> forward, secured from New Haven of EHL for cash and 1970 pro player pool draft choice.</p><p><b>NEW JERSEY&mdash;Ken Miller,</b> forward, sent to Nashville of <b>EHL, Bill Cameron,</b> forward, dropped from roster and <b>Gil Drolet,</b> forward, added to take his place.</p><p><b>JACKSONVILLE&mdash;Jim Lane,</b> defenseman, secured from Salem of EHL. <b>Jean Bouchard,</b> forward, dropper from roster.</p><p><b>JOHNSTOWN&mdash;Jack Brewer,</b> forward, signed a<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Movements of Players

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><p>LOS ANGELES&mdash;</p><p>I gave up on the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; chances for this year at mid-season. To the credit of the Kings, they never have done so. Things seem to be getting worse for them, not better, yet they enter each game hopefully and try hard to the last. Most of them are covering themselves with dignity during depressing times, which present the true test of character. And although time is running out on their playoff hopes, they remain hopeful.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01699/2603395-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="261" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Skip Krake</b></figcaption></div><p>I am by nature a pessimist. And the harder I root for a team, the more bitter I am made by disappointment. Although my job calls for neutrality, I would be less than honest if I said I didn&rsquo;t root for the Kings. The organization has been incomparably kind to me, I am closer to them than any other, and their success would help my work. Their failures frustrate me and I plead for a realistic reappraisal to build a better future.</p><p>The Kings&rsquo; owner, Jack Kent Cooke, is an optimist. And his track record justifies it. Many misunderstand him. He is an active owner, but an efficient one. No matter how critically I may write about his team, he would not complain. He has been disappointed, but never disspirited. He retains faith in his personnel and in the law of averages turning the tide in his favor in time.</p><p>The general manager, Larry-Regan, is also by nature an optimist. He suffered a mild heart seizure at Christmas time, but was offended that some saw it as a collapse under pressure. Rejecting a proposed Hawaiian vacation, he went back to work.</p><p>Recently, he asked me if I thought the Kings would make the playoffs. I had to be honest. 1 said no. He smiled sadly and offered to bet. But of course he is too rich for mv blood. His confidence is encouraging. He suggests a pat on the back is worth two bats on the bean in producing results.</p><p>Johnny Wilson has been coach of the team for 23 games. His predecessor, Hal Laycoe, coached 24 games, during which his forces had a 5-18-1 record, worth 12 points. Despite a fast start, Wilson&rsquo;s forces now have only a 4-154 record, worth 12 points, for his first 23 games. He&rsquo;ll wind up with similar stats to Lavcoe&rsquo;s for a comparable tenure. Yet, Wilson, too, is by nature an optimist, and he sees signs of daylight.</p><p>The team publicist, Jon Washington, an optimist by trade, has never failed to send out glowing press releases which suggest the team is marching into the sunshine. He could have made the San Francisco earthquake sound beneficial to mankind. Broad-casters Jiggs McDonald and Dan Avey speak of the team&rsquo;s &ldquo;drive to the playoffs&rdquo; as if they had not really lost 10 of their last 11 through the end of January, but were soaring spectacularly.</p><p>It is a fact that the Kings have played better in the middle third of the season than they played in the first third, even if it did not reflect in the standings. Where once they were getting routed regularly, now they have begun to lose close. This may sound like nonsense, but they are in almost every game they play right to the finish and anyone who takes them lightly is in trouble.</p><p>This was demonstrated when league-leading New York came in and was upset 5-4, ending the Kings&rsquo; run of eight straight losses. The winning goal, shoved in by Ross Lonsberry as the game ended, was disputed by the Rangers, but the automatic timing system confirmed the validity of the red light. The Kings fought from behind to win this one, which Cooke called &ldquo;the most thrilling game&rdquo; he&rsquo;d ever seen.</p><p>That would seem to be the point. Only one team can win the Stanley Cup each season. Only eight can make the playoffs. But each team has 76 games to play and if even the teams which are struggling through dismal campaigns continue to hustle and play exciting games, they are doing right by the paying customers. A slob like me can give up. but the players and management of a team should not, and the Kings have not.</p><p>These are human beings enduring an ordeal gracefully. Cooke and Washington treat us generously even while we abuse them in spirit. The deposed Laycoe remains on the scene, conducting himself like a gentleman and rooting for the team. Wilson, pulled apart from his family, speaks to them regularly on the phone. His is a lonely existence now. but he is consoled by the company of Regan and assistant coach Doug Harvey, who encourage him.</p><p>Wilson feels the Kings have been hurt most by the absence of holdout Bill White, their best defenseman, early, and injured Eddie Joyal, their best forward, recently. No team could lose its best players for a month at a time and not be hurt.</p><p>Many of the survivors are playing well and most are working hard. Perhaps this just isn&rsquo;t the Kings year, but the schedule has turned in their favor, their foes remain within reach, and if they can make the playoffs somehow, it will be a new season. If their quest for this impossible dream is unrealistic, at least they have not given up the quest. If some have given up on them, they have not given up on themselves.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

Doomed Kings Haven’t Given Up But Time Running Out On Them

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01667/2603492-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2>TOP 25 SCORERS</h2><h3>INDIVIDUAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><p><b>(Including games of Sun. Feb. 8)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02573/2603485-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="1826" height="1548"></div><h3><b>EAST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03447/2603478-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="596" height="2381"></div><h3><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04331/2603471-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="590" height="2433"></div><h3><b>PENALTIES BY TEAMS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05244/2603464-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="582" height="332"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0012-01

NHL SCORING GOALING PENALTY RECORDS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06197/2603537-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg"></div><h2><b>THE TOP 10 NETMINDERS</b></h2><p><b>(Including Games of Sun. Feb. 8)</b></p><h2><b>COMPLETE GOALKEEPING RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-07173/2603530-1-eng-US/f0012-072.jpg" title="f0012-07" width="1207" height="1698"></div><h2>EAST-WEST SCOREBOARD</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-08152/2603523-1-eng-US/f0012-082.jpg" title="f0012-08" width="1211" height="234"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0012-06

Looking At NHL Coalers

<div class="byline">BY PAT CURRAN</div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>o matter what happens to the Canadiens in the Eastern Division title race and the Stanley Cup playoffs, John Ferguson can&rsquo;t help but look back on 1969-70 as a long, frustrating season.</p><p>After scoring 29 goals and earning 2-3 assists last term in performances that stamped him as much a scorer as a &ldquo;policeman&rdquo; the 31-year-old forward had anticipated his best efforts ever in seven years with the Habs.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-13185/2603568-1-eng-US/f0013-132.jpg" title="f0013-13" width="270" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>John Ferguson</b></figcaption></div><p>However his problems started as far back as training camp and one mishap after another has limited John to only 33 games in which his production has been reduced to 13 goals and seven assists.</p><p>And the latest injury must make him wonder whether there&rsquo;s any justice even for a big, bad winger.</p><p>Ferguson, just starting to reach top shape again after being sidelined with his second thumb injury of the campaign, hardly stepped on the ice for the Habs&rsquo; last visit to Minnesota when he received a frightening eye injury.</p><p>The game was only 39 seconds old when Fergy slumped to the ice immediately after a faceoff outside the Montreal blueline. He was hit flush in the right eye by the deflected puck and was in severe pain when carried from the rink on a stretcher.</p><p>The Minnesota club doctor reported at game&rsquo;s end that Ferguson needed 12 stitches to close a gash just under the eye but no fracture was evident in x-rays taken at Methodist Hospital in Minneapolis.</p><p>However when Fergy, wearing a patch over the right eye, rejoined the Canadiens for their 1 a.m. flight to Chicago, he just couldn&rsquo;t stand the pain. Club physiotherapist took him back to the hospital where he was placed under observation.</p><p>Doctors didn&rsquo;t foresee any damage to the eye but waited for the swelling to decrease before being able to say for sure.</p><p>Coach Claude Ruel, whose promising playing career ended when he lost the sight of an eye as a junior defenseman, was concerned about taking chances with Ferguson at Minnesota.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really painful when you try to look up at the light with the good eye,&rdquo; said Ruel. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s the pain Fergy is feeling now.&rdquo;</p><p>Ralph Backstrom, pivoting Ferguson and Claude Provost, explained how his teammate was injured.</p><p>&ldquo;The puck was really moving and Fergy was busting in on the faceoff when he got hit. I whacked at it on the draw and it deflected off that Minnesota kid&rsquo;s stick (Grant Erickson). I guess it was a stroke of fate that the coach decided to change lines so quickly and we just got on the ice.&rdquo;</p><p>Ferguson&rsquo;s injury meant his fourth absence from the Montreal lineup this season. His first mishap came during an exhibition against Detroit at Halifax where he suffered a freak thumb injury in a mild collision with Carl Brewer. That kept him out most of the training season and five of the first six games of the schedule.</p><p>He was just getting back to old form when he got into that controversial stick-swinging affair with Gary Sabourin at St. Louis and wound up with a six-game suspension.</p><p>Fergy returned Dec. 4 in a Forum game against Chicago but was in action only 10 minutes before hurting his other thumb in a mild scrap with Hawks&rsquo; defenseman Gilles Marotte. His hand was placed in a cast and he sat out another 13 games before returning in triumph with the winning goal against Los Angeles.</p><p>It&rsquo;s a season that John Bowie Ferguson may like to forget no matter what he does from now on.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-13

Canadiens’ Ferguson On Shelf As In furies Frustrate Habs’Star

<p><b>(Including Games of Sun. Feb. 1)</b></p><h2><b>TEAM STATISTICS</b></h2><p><b>AGAINST OWN DIVISION</b></p><h3><b>East Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01658/2603676-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="578" height="177"></div><h3><b>West Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02613/2603669-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="580" height="176"></div><h2><b>AGAINST OTHER DIVISION</b></h2><h3><b>East Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03569/2603662-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="577" height="176"></div><h3><b>West Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04519/2603655-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="580" height="183"></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/f0013-05427/2603648-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="580" height="181"></div><h3><b>East On Road</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-06362/2603641-1-eng-US/f0013-062.jpg" title="f0013-06" width="579" height="180"></div><h3><b>West At Home</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-07333/2603634-1-eng-US/f0013-072.jpg" title="f0013-07" width="578" 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/f0013-08313/2603627-1-eng-US/f0013-082.jpg" title="f0013-08" width="581" height="180"></div><h2><b>POWER PLAY GOALS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-09297/2603620-1-eng-US/f0013-092.jpg" title="f0013-09" width="574" height="330"></div><h2><b>INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS</b></h2><p><b>POWER PLAY GOALS</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-10276/2603613-1-eng-US/f0013-102.jpg" title="f0013-10" width="583" height="402"></div><h2><b>GAME WINNING GOALS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-11251/2603606-1-eng-US/f0013-112.jpg" title="f0013-11" width="584" height="481"></div><h2><b>GAME TIEING GOALS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-12219/2603599-1-eng-US/f0013-122.jpg" title="f0013-12" width="575" height="53"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0013-01

NHL WEEK—In Statistics

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-14" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-14155/2603714-1-eng-US/f0013-142.jpg"></div><p><b>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 11)</b></p><h2><b>EAST DIVISION</b></h2><h2><b>WEST DIVISON</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-15126/2603707-1-eng-US/f0013-152.jpg" title="f0013-15" width="1106" height="304"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLTED</b></h2><p><b>Wed. Feb. 4</b></p><p>Montreal 2 at Oakland 5</p><p>St. Louis 0 at Toronto 1</p><p>Detroit 1 at New York 5</p><p>Boston 4 at Chicago 8</p><p>Pittsburgh 7 at Minnesota 5</p><p><b>Thurs. Feb. 5</b></p><p>Montreal 5 at Los Angeles 3</p><p>Toronto 1 at Detroit 4</p><p>Philadelphia 1 at Boston 5</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 6</b></p><p>Oakland 2 at St. Louis 1</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 7</b></p><p>Montreal 1 at Minnesota 1</p><p>Oakland 1 at Toronto 5</p><p>Detroit 2 at Boston 2</p><p>Philadelphia 4 at Chicago 4</p><p>Los Angeles 1 at Pittsburgh 3</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 8</b></p><p>Montreal 3 at Chicago 2</p><p>St. Louis 1 at Boston 7</p><p>Los Angeles 1 at New York 5</p><p>Philadelphia 5 at Detroit 3</p><p>Minnesota 3 at Pittsburgh 6</p><h2><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h2><p><b>Wed. Feb. 11</b></p><p>Toronto at Montreal</p><p>New York at Los Angeles</p><p>Boston at St. Louis</p><p>Pittsburgh at Chicago</p><p>Minnesota at Oakland</p><p><b>Thurs. Feb. 12</b></p><p>Toronto at Philadelphia</p><p>St. Louis at Detroit</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 13</b></p><p>New York at Oakland</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 14</b></p><p>Detroit at Montreal</p><p>Philadelphia at Toronto</p><p>Boston at Pittsburgh</p><p>Chicago at Minnesota</p><p>Los Angeles at St. Louis</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 15</b></p><p>Montreal at New York</p><p>Toronto at Chicago</p><p>Pittsburgh at Detroit</p><p>Los Angeles at Philadelphia</p><p>St. Louis at Minnesota</p><p><b>Tues. Feb. 17</b></p><p>Boston at Oakland</p><p>Philadelphia at Pittsburgh</p><p><b>Wed. Feb. 18</b></p><p>Montreal at Toronto</p><p>Philadelphia at New York</p><p>Boston at Los Angeles</p><p>Detroit at Minnesota</p><p>Chicago at St. Louis</p><p><b>Thurs. Feb. 19</b></p><p>New York at Detroit</p><p>Minnesota at Chicago</p><p>Pittsburgh at Los Angeles</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 20</b></p><p>St. Louis at Oakland<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-14

THE NHL SCENE

<div class="byline">BY JIM PROUDFOOT</div><p><i>&ldquo;You like 7up 7up likes you&rdquo;</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01655/2603745-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="541" height="573"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JOHN MclELLAN&hellip;He&rsquo;s No Imlach</b></figcaption></div><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p>Everybody realizes now it&rsquo;s going to be difficult for Toronto Maple Leafs to avoid finishing last this season in the Eastern Division of the National Hockey League.</p><p>Leafs have been winning with encouraging regularity but the teams they must beat out to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs, Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Red Wings, keep winning, too. So in spite of their successes, Leafs actually have been losing ground.</p><p>Stafford Smythe, president of the Toronto club, made it plain recently that he, for one, is tremendously pleased with what the 1969-70 Leafs have managed to achieve under their rookie bosses, coach Johnny McLellan and general manager Jim Gregory.</p><p>&ldquo;I think they&rsquo;ve done a miracle job,&rdquo; Smythe declared, when asked about the young men he&rsquo;d selected to run the team after he fired Punch Imlach last April.</p><p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve had almost unbelievable injuries and the team wasn&rsquo;t that strong to begin with. And here they are, two months from the end of the schedule, with a real shot at making the playoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;Do you realize they&rsquo;ve had as many as five defensemen out of the lineup at one time&mdash;and for weeks at a time? Right now, they&rsquo;re down to one goalie with Marv Edwards and Johnny Bower hurt. Nobody in the league has had injuries to compare with what we&rsquo;ve had. I&rsquo;ve never experienced anything like it.</p><p>&ldquo;And you break down those statistical records and you&rsquo;ll find we stack up not too badly. If you take only games played within the Eastern Division, you&rsquo;ll see we&rsquo;re three points out of third place and ahead of Boston. But some of those clubs like Boston and New York just never lose to expansion teams. That&rsquo;s been one of our problems. We often do.&rdquo;</p><p>Smythe said he had realized from the outset there would be disadvantages involved in placing Gregory and McLellan in charge. He and his fellow Leaf executives were prepared to live with them, he said, because they knew the club was embarking on a prolonged reconstruction period, anyhow. The players and leaders would grow together, so to speak.</p><p>&ldquo;Some of the players Gregory has had to deal with remember him as a trainer or equipment boy in junior hockey,&rdquo; Smythe pointed out. &ldquo;He had to start from scratch and establish himself.</p><p>&ldquo;We thought McLellan&rsquo;s minor league record in the Eastern and Central Leagues indicated he had great potential as a coach. Obviously, he&rsquo;s got a lot to learn. The NHL is a lot different from the Central League. But he&rsquo;s going to be a great coach.&rdquo;</p><p>Can Leafs reach the playoffs?</p><p>&ldquo;We think so,&rdquo; Smythe said. &ldquo;Normally, we might start thinking now about next season, playing our kids and so on. But we&rsquo;re close. And McLellan and Gregory have earned the right to take a shot at it.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way we figure, anyhow.&rdquo;</p><p>But can it be done, really?</p><p>&ldquo;The only reason we got in the playoffs last season was because Detroit collapsed in the final month,&rdquo; Smythe stated. &ldquo;They might fold again this year but I&rsquo;m not counting on it. Last year, it was Bill Gadsby coaching Detroit and Imlach with us. Now it&rsquo;s McLellan, a rookie, against Sid Abel in Detroit. Not the same thing at all.</p><p>&ldquo;At this stage, McLellan isn&rsquo;t nearly the coach Imlach was. Imlach could never handle men, but he was a master bench coach. McLellan will be, too, but it&rsquo;s going to take time.</p><p>&ldquo;This is going to be a good team but that&rsquo;ll take time, too.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-01

New Twist For Leafs-Smythe Lauds McLellan, Gregory

<h2><i><b>In The East</b></i></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>t isn&rsquo;t very often a rookie breaking into the National Hockey League can pick off a hat trick in his first few games. It happened this past week to Don Marcotte of the Boston Bruins to complement a hot run for the solidly-built left winger. The Bruins recalled Marcotte from Hershey of the AHL when injuries struck the club and he was so impressive that they decided to keep him up for the rest of the league campaign.</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02549/2603783-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="263" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Don Marcotte</b></figcaption></div><p><b>Marcotte didn&rsquo;t disappoint the Bruins scoring in his first game and last week he followed up with his second goal and this past week he produced four more goals giving him a total of six in seven games since his recall.</b></p><p><b>The swarthy winger, who was being hailed as the best portside player in the AHL and sure to win first All-Star honors, has made such an impact with the Bruins that he is now considered a regular. He scored the tieing goal against Detroit and added his first &lsquo;hat trick&rsquo; against St. Louis.</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>DON MARCOTTE&hellip;Boston</b></i></p><h2><i><b>In The West</b></i></h2><p><b>Norm Ferguson had to rate as the disappointment of the year in the NHL&rsquo;s Western Division through the first half of the season but there are indications the sophomore Oakland star is ready to make restitution for his listless 1969-70 start.</b></p><p><b>A 34-goal scorer last season and the No. 2 man in the NHL&rsquo;s Calder Trophy rookie voting behind Minnesota&rsquo;s Danny Grant, Ferguson was mired in a slump that seemed to reflect on not only his play but the whole Oakland club. This past week, the Seals got moving with a 5-2 upset of Montreal and a 2-1 decision over St. Louis. Ferguson played a major role in both conquests.</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03417/2603776-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="265" height="432"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Norm Fereuson</b></figcaption></div><p><b>In the win over Montreal, Ferguson came through with a timely third period goal to ignite the Seals and two nights later in St. Louis, he was the whole show as he scored both goals in the game to give Oakland a much-needed 2-1 victory over the Blues.</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>NORM FERGUSON&hellip;Oakland</b></i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-02

NHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01630/2603947-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="838" height="578"></div><h2><b>Game-By-Game Summaries</b></h2><h3><b>Wed. Feb. 4 MONTREAL 2 AT OAKLAND 5</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02567/2603940-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="582" height="659"></div><h3><b>PITTSBURGH 7 AT MINNESOTA 5</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03482/2603933-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="578" height="925"></div><h3><b>ST. LOUIS 0 AT TORONTO 1</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04371/2603926-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="575" height="340"></div><h3><b>DETROIT 1 AT NEW YORK 5</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-05276/2603919-1-eng-US/f0015-052.jpg" title="f0015-05" width="586" height="553"></div><h3><b>BOSTON 4 AT CHICAGO 8</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-06227/2603912-1-eng-US/f0015-062.jpg" title="f0015-06" width="580" height="903"></div><h3><b>Thurs. Feb. 5 MONTREAL 5 AT LOS ANGELES 3</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-07201/2603905-1-eng-US/f0015-072.jpg" title="f0015-07" width="582" height="756"></div><h3>PHILADELPHIA 1 AT BOSTON 5</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-08179/2603898-1-eng-US/f0015-082.jpg" title="f0015-08" width="581" height="589"></div><h3><b>TORONTO 1 AT DETROIT 4</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-09164/2603891-1-eng-US/f0015-092.jpg" title="f0015-09" width="581" height="468"></div><h3><b>Fri. Feb. 6 OAKLAND 2 AT ST. LOUIS 1</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-10141/2603884-1-eng-US/f0015-102.jpg" title="f0015-10" width="579" height="472"></div><h3>Sat. Feb. 7 OAKLAND 1 AT TORONTO 5</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-11122/2603877-1-eng-US/f0015-112.jpg" title="f0015-11" width="578" height="544"></div><h3><b>DETROIT 2 AT BOSTON 2</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1297/2603870-1-eng-US/f0015-122.jpg" title="f0015-12" width="578" height="410"></div><h3><b>PHILADELPHIA 4 AT CHICAGO 4</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1385/2603863-1-eng-US/f0015-132.jpg" title="f0015-13" width="584" height="657"></div><h3><b>LOS ANGELES 1 AT PITTSBURGH 3</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1472/2603856-1-eng-US/f0015-142.jpg" title="f0015-14" width="581" height="470"></div><h3><b>MONTREAL 1 AT MINNESOTA 1</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1557/2603849-1-eng-US/f0015-152.jpg" title="f0015-15" width="567" height="389"></div><h3><b>Sun.Feb.8 MONTREAL 3 AT CHICAGO 2</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1653/2603842-1-eng-US/f0015-162.jpg" title="f0015-16" width="588" height="529"></div><h3><b>PHILADELPHIA 5 AT DETROIT 3</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1750/2603835-1-eng-US/f0015-172.jpg" title="f0015-17" width="581" height="770"></div><h3><b>ST. LOUIS 1 AT BOSTON 7</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1841/2603828-1-eng-US/f0015-182.jpg" title="f0015-18" width="581" height="689"></div><h3><b>MINNESOTA 3 AT PITTSBURGH 6</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1935/2603821-1-eng-US/f0015-192.jpg" title="f0015-19" width="581" height="756"></div><h3>LOS ANGELES 1 AT NEW YORK 5</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-2027/2603814-1-eng-US/f0015-202.jpg" title="f0015-20" width="583" height="621"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0015-01

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>GOALKEEPERS</h3><p>Rogatien Vachon</p><p>Phil Myre</p><h3>DEFENSEMEN</h3><p>J. C. Tremblay</p><p>Ted Harris</p><p>Serge Savard</p><p>Terry Harper</p><p>Jacques Laperriere</p><h3>FORWARDS</h3><p>Jean Beliveau C</p><p>Ralph Backstrom</p><p>Bobby Rousseau</p><p>Yvan Coumoyer</p><p>ClaudeProvost</p><p>Mickey Redmond</p><p>Jacques Lemaire</p><p>Bobby Sheehan</p><p>Luc Grenier</p><p>Henri Richard A</p><p>Christian Bordeleau</p><p>INJURED</p><p>John Ferguson A</p><p>SUSPENDED</p><p>Lome Worsley</p><p>C&mdash;Captain.</p><h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>GOALKEEPERS</h3><p>Jacques Plante</p><p>Ernie Wakely</p><p>Glenn Hall</p><h3>DEFENSEMEN</h3><p>Ray Fortin</p><p>Bob Plager</p><p>NoelPicard</p><p>Barclay Plager</p><p>Jim Roberts A</p><p>Jean-Guy Talbot</p><p>Al Arbour C</p><h3>FORWARDS</h3><p>Phil Goyette</p><p>Red Berenson</p><p>Frank St. Marseille</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>Wayne Maki</p><p>INJURED</p><p>None</p><p>C&mdash;Captain</p><h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>GOALKEEPERS</h3><p>Gerry Cheevers</p><p>Ed Johnston</p><h3>DEFENSEMEN</h3><p>Bobby Orr</p><p>Rick Smith</p><p>Dallas Smith</p><p>Bill Speer</p><p>Don Awrey</p><p>Gary Doak</p><h3>FORWARDS</h3><p>Ken Hodge</p><p>John Bucyk A</p><p>Wayne Carleton</p><p>Fred Stanfield</p><p>Garnet Bailey</p><p>Ed Westfall A</p><p>John McKenzie</p><p>Phil Esposito A</p><p>JimLorentz</p><p>Wayne Cashman</p><p>Don Marcotte</p><p>Derek Sanderson</p><p>INJURED</p><p>Ron Murphy</p><p>A-Alternate Captain</p><h2>OAKLAND</h2><h3>GOALKEEPERS</h3><p>Gary Smith</p><p>Charlie Hodge</p><h3>DEFENSEMEN</h3><p>Doug Roberts A</p><p>Wayne Muloin</p><p>Carol Vadnais</p><p>Dick Mattiussi</p><p>Bert Marshall</p><p>Harry Howell</p><h3>FORWARDS</h3><p>Billy Hicke A</p><p>Gerry Ehman</p><p>Ted Hampson C</p><p>Don O, Donoghue</p><p>Gary Jarrett</p><p>Earl Ingarfield A</p><p>Mike Laughton</p><p>Norm Ferguson</p><p>Bob Dillabough</p><p>Howie Menard</p><p>INJURED</p><p>None</p><p>A-Alternate Captain</p><h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>GOALKEEPERS</h3><p>Tony Esposito</p><p>Denis DeJordy</p><h3>DEFENSEMEN</h3><p>Keith Magnuson</p><p>Doug Jarrett A</p><p>Ray McKay</p><p>Paul Shmyr</p><p>Doug Mohns</p><h3>FORWARDS</h3><p>Lou Angotti</p><p>Pit Martin</p><p>Jim Pappin</p><p>Bobby Hull</p><p>Dennis Hull</p><p>Eric Nesterenko A</p><p>Chico Maki</p><p>Cliff Koroll</p><p>Jim Wiste</p><p>Stan Mikita A</p><p>Gerry Pinder</p><p>Gene Ubriaco</p><p>Gil Marotte</p><p>INJURED</p><p>Pat Stapleton C</p><h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>GOALKEEPERS</h3><p>Bernie Parent</p><p>Doug Favell</p><h3>DEFENSEMEN</h3><p>Ed Van Impe C</p><p>Joe Watson</p><p>Larry Hillman A</p><p>Wayne Hillman</p><p>Dick Cherry A</p><p>Larry Hale</p><h3>FORWARDS</h3><p>Earl Heiskala</p><p>Andre Lacroix</p><p>Simon Nolet</p><p>Jean-Guy Gendron</p><p>Red Aeming</p><p>Bill Sutherland</p><p>Gary Dornhoefer</p><p>Bob Clarke</p><p>Lew Morrison</p><p>Terry Ball</p><p>Garry Peters</p><p>Jim Johnson</p><p>INJURED</p><p>None</p><h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>GOALKEEPERS</h3><p>Roy Edwards</p><p>Roger Crozier</p><h3>DEFENSEMEN</h3><p>Bobby Baun</p><p>Gary Bergman</p><p>Carl Brewer</p><p>Ron Harris</p><p>Matt Ravlich</p><h3>FORWARDS</h3><p>Alex Delvecchio</p><p>Garry Unger</p><p>Gordie Howe</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>INJURED</p><p>Al Karlander</p><h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>GOALKEEPERS</h3><p>AlSmith</p><p>Joe Daley</p><h3>DEFENSEMEN</h3><p>Duane Rupp A</p><p>Bob Woytowich</p><p>Bob Blackburn</p><p>Tracy Pratt</p><p>Jim Morrison A</p><p>Bryan Watson</p><h3>FORWARDS</h3><p>Bryan Hextall</p><p>Vai Fonteyne</p><p>Nick Harbaruk</p><p>Ken Schinkel A</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><p>Keith McCreary A</p><p>INJURED</p><p>Les Binkley</p><h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>GOALKEEPERS</h3><p>Bruce Gamble</p><p>Gerry McNamara</p><h3>DEFENSEMEN</h3><p>Tim Horton A</p><p>Pat Quinn</p><p>Jim McKenny</p><p>Ricky Ley</p><p>Mike Pelyk</p><h3>FORWARDS</h3><p>Dave Keon C</p><p>Ron Ellis A</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 A</p><p>Terry Clancy</p><p>Norm Ullman</p><p>George Armstrong</p><p>INJURED</p><p>Jim Dorey</p><p>Marv Edwards</p><p>John Bower</p><h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>GOALKEEPERS</h3><p>Gerry Desjardins</p><p>Wayne Rutledge</p><h3>DEFENSEMEN</h3><p>Dale Rolfe</p><p>Brent Hughes A</p><p>Bob Wall A</p><p>Larry Cohan C</p><p>Bill White</p><h3>FORWARDS</h3><p>Eddie Shack</p><p>Dick Duff</p><p>Bill Aett</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><p>Bryan Campbell</p><p>INJURED</p><p>Eddie Joyal</p><p>Howie Hughes</p><h2>NEW YORK</h2><h3>GOALKEEPERS</h3><p>Ed Giacomin</p><p>Terry Sawchuk</p><h3>DEFENSEMEN</h3><p>Brad Park</p><p>Arnie Brown</p><p>Rod Seiling</p><p>Allan Hamilton</p><p>Jim Neilson</p><h3>FORWARDS</h3><p>Rod Gilbert</p><p>Bob Nevin C</p><p>OrlandKurtenbach</p><p>Real Lemieux</p><p>Bill Fairbairn</p><p>Vic Hadfield</p><p>Ron Stewart</p><p>Dave Baton</p><p>Walt Tkaczuk</p><p>Jean Ratelie</p><p>Juha Widing</p><p>Don Marshall</p><p>INJURED</p><p>None</p><h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>GOALKEEPERS</h3><p>Cesare Maniago</p><p>Gilles Gilbert</p><h3>DEFENSEMEN</h3><p>Lou Nanne</p><p>John Miszuk</p><p>Leo Boivin A</p><p>Marshall Johnston</p><p>Darryl Sly</p><p>Tom Reid</p><h3>FORWARDS</h3><p>Danny O&rsquo;Shea</p><p>Bill Goldsworthy</p><p>Danny Lawson</p><p>Ray Cullen A</p><p>Jean-Paul Parise</p><p>Tommy Williams</p><p>Bob Barlow</p><p>Claude Larose C</p><p>Bill Collins</p><p>Danny Grant</p><p>Walt McKechnie</p><p>Grant Erickson</p><p>INJURED</p><p>Barry Gibbs</p><p>Ken Broderick<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

National League Rosters

<div class="byline">BY NORM MACKIE</div><p>NEW YORK&mdash;</p><p>The U.S. Nationals were given the opportunity to play in the World Tourney Class A competition in Sweden, hut very properly declined. Coach Murray Williamson and his squad want to earn the right to play in the big apple.</p><p>The Nats will reassemble at Metropolitan Sports Center in Minnesota in-mid February to begin intensive training for the February 24-March 5B competition at Bucharest, Rumania. They have a February 17 rematch with the University of Minnesota and two tuneups scheduled for Switzerland on the way to the games. We met with Williamson, business manager Hal Trumble and Bob Fleming in Minnesota on January 17 and were impressed with the desire of these men to get the job done. The team defeated Minnesota 4-1 on New Year&rsquo;s eve and lost to the University of Minnesota at Duluth 2-1, the previous Sunday.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01476/2604002-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="253" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Murray Williamson</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I think we can win,&rdquo; says Williamson. &ldquo;This club is equal to the 1968 Olympic Team.&rdquo;</p><p>Williamson still would like Tim Sheehy of International Falls, presently pastiming with Snooks Kelley&rsquo;s Boston College Eagles, to join the ranks and he also pines for Harvard&rsquo;s Joe Cavanaugh. His team presently is set as follows: Carl Wetzel, the former pro, Gary Johnson and Mike Curran are the goalies; George Konik, who played with New York and Pittsburgh in the NHL, Don Ross, Jim McElmurray, Charlie Brown, Herb Brooks, and Bruce Riutta are the defensemen with the first line listing Keith Christiansen, Gary Gambucci and Craig Patrick. The heralded Henry Boucha, the Indian lad from the Warrod Lakers, who is now playing Junior A in Winnipeg, is the second line center with Len Lilly-horn and Bob Lindberg on the wings. Bryan Girand, Ozzie O&rsquo;Neill and Larry Stordahl probably will make up the third trio with Pete Peficuk also being on the squad&hellip;Most of the names listed above are prominent in fast amateur or collegiate US hockey. Williamson did a fine job of scouting. The only hope is that he can weld a team in a very short time out of skilled, but nonetheless, basically weakened athletes. Here&rsquo;s a quick salute to the men who are keeping the United States alive in World amateur competition&hellip;</p><p>New York city was a hockey festival both during youth hockey week between January 24 and February 1 and in the ensuing month. The bantam New York Presidents play Royal York of Toronto at MSG on February 8 followed by the annual MJHA All-Star game between the perennial champion New York Green Leafs, coached by Mike Robbins and the league AllStars. Can&rsquo;t someone beat those Green Leafs?&hellip;The Greater New York Ice Hockey League staged its annual Oldtimers game on January 26 when the bantam (12-14) age youngsters played against their coaches. Bill Chadwick refereed the game and Boomer Geoffrion of Ranger fame played on the same line as his son Danny&hellip;Alan Eisinger of Skateland recently broke his ankle while making a hockey film&hellip;Even though Knoxville, Tennessee lost its Eastern Hockey League team, the Southern city has not given up the game entirely. The city of Knoxville sponsors four bantam, four pee wee, four squirt teams and a whopping eight high school squads, as well as a businessman&rsquo;s program and a juvenile team. The program is headed by Gilles Champagne, a former Knoxville Knight forward, and has been in effect for six seasons. Also the University of Knoxville has iced a club for three seasons. Good luck down South. Maybe CBS is wrong when they wonder what hockey&rsquo;s ratings are below the Mason Dixon line&hellip;</p><p>Tommy Lockhart, 78 years young, held fort through the night at the NHL All-Star game in St. Louis. Lockhart gave us the National Championships of the AHAUS as follows: pee wee, Portland, Oregon, Chairman Ernest V. Adby, March 29, regional deadline. Bantam, Sault St. Marie, Mich, and Ontario Chairman Charles Autore. March 22 regional deadline; midget, Greensburg, Pa., Chairman Paul Humphrey, March 29, regional deadline; juvenile, not set; junior, San Diego, Calif., Chairman Tom Mumford, regional deadline, April 3,4,5; Intermediate U.S., Eagle River, Wisc., Chairman Don Clark, not set, intermediate Open, Lima, Ohio, Chairman Paul Humphrey, Regional deadline, April 2,3,4.</p><p>Omaha has a very active youth hockey program which is in its ninth annual season under the sponsorship of the Omaha Parks and Recreation Division in cooperation with Ak-Sar-Ben. The direction of the program is under Joseph T. Cupich of the Omaha Recreation Department&hellip;Ak-Sar-Ben furnishes the equipment, ice time and sponsors awards and the recognition dinner. The Omaha Knights supply ice time and permit the playing of preliminaries to their contests&hellip;John M. Crerar of the Capitol Invitation Hockey Tournament reminds that less than ten days remain before the big Washington, D.C. hulabaloo on February 12-13-14.</p><p>Richard B. Gutwillig, the president of the Hudson Valley Hockey League, runs a tight ship with eight high schools represented. They are Don Bosco, Hackley, New York Military Academy, Nyack High School, Rockland County, St. Mary&rsquo;s, Storm King and Suffern&hellip;Dr. Earl Hoerner of the Essex Comets of the NY MJHA is one of the fipest administrators of minor hockey in either Canada or the United States. The good doctor is the type of man who lifts amateur play to its proper level, above win at all costs professionalism and those who just like the limelight&hellip;The very active Mid American Hockey Association have set their regional bantam playoffs for the new Shaker Heights Ice Arena and the Cleveland Skating Club. William F. Coody is the on site playoff chairman. The midgets will compete at the Glenwood Arena, Erie on February 21 and 22. Walter Walworth is the on site playoff director&hellip;Mid America is just that consisting of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia as well as Illinois for regional playoffs only&hellip;</p><p>The Erie Midget Lions took the honors in both the recent Niagara Sectional tourney against American and Canadian teams and the Cleveland Midget Invitational&hellip;Eddie Olson, the former St. Louis Flyer and Cleveland Barons&rsquo; forward, has organized nine different leagues in the Greater St. Louis area. They have seven rinks to play in. including Winterland, owned and family which owns the highly operated by the Salomons, the successful St. Louis Blues.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-01

Nationals Gearing For World Ice Play

<div class="byline">BY ED CONRAD</div><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>O</span>ne reason for the Flyers&rsquo; success this season has to be Gary Dornhoefer, who is proving a perfect example that guys can score a lot of goals witout a bushelful of good shots.</p><p>Going into the second half of the schedule, Dornhoefer already had surpassed his previous goalscoring high in the NHL. He didn&rsquo;t score as many as, say Jacques Lemaire of Montreal or Phil Esposito of Boston, but he had 15 after 47 games and, for him, that&rsquo;s a bundle.</p><p>After all, the veteran right wing is primarily a checker who&rsquo;s job usually is to &ldquo;shadow&rdquo; the best left winger on the other team and keep him from scoring. Therefore, any goals a checking line registers are considered sort of an unexpected bonus.</p><p>Playing on a line with center Jimmy Johnson and either Earl Heiskala or Bill Sutherland, Dornhoefer was putting the puck into the net with a consistency that he himself found difficult to believe.</p><p>&ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;m surprised that I&rsquo;m doing <i>a</i> lot of scoring lately,&rdquo; said Dornie. &ldquo;It just shows that, if you&rsquo;re in the right position, you&rsquo;re going to turn on the (red) light. Heck, I scored the hat trick against Los Angeles a few weeks ago and I really didn&rsquo;t even have a good shot on goal the entire game.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01391/2604033-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="557" height="562"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GARY DORNHOEFER&hellip;Golf Has Helped</b></figcaption></div><p>What it means is that Dornhoefer has developed a knack for being in the right place at the right time, which means stationing himself in the vicinity of the opposing net. Most of his goals have come from close range.</p><p>It may be that Dornhoefer&rsquo;s vast experience as a golfer may be part of the reason. The 27-year-old forward, who won the NHL Golf Tournament the past three seasons, is able to wield a hockey stick like a golf club and this appears to be paying off in goals resulting from tipins and deflections.</p><p>&ldquo;Whatever he&rsquo;s doing, I&rsquo;m pretty happy about it, too,&rdquo; said Johnson, who himself appears headed to break his NHL singleseason goal-scoring record. Jimmy had 12, not too far off the 17 he racked up last season.</p><p>&ldquo;I just wish he&rsquo;d shoot one in for a change though,&rdquo; kidded the veteran center. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m tired of doing all the work and then seeing him get the goal.&rdquo;</p><p>Johnson was referring in jest to one of Dornhoefer&rsquo;s most important goals of the season which came in the third period of a game in Chicago when the Flyers were trailing, 2-1, and had a man in the penalty box.</p><p>Jimmy had dug the puck out of the corner after goalie Tony Esposito erred when trying to clear the puck. Johnson then fed Dornhoefer who had backtracked and was skating toward the Black Hawks&rsquo; net. He dumped it in and the Flyers had salvaged a 2-2 tie.</p><p>That goal helped Dornhoefer set a club record by scoring in eight consecutive games. He netted goals in six of them.</p><p>In fact, Dornie&rsquo;s impressive record in a string of 22 straight contests was 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points. That torrid spell is only put in its proper perspective when remembered that Dornhoefer had scored only eight goals and 16 assists in 60 games last season.</p><p>If Dornhoefer does wind up with a 20-goal season, it&rsquo;ll be his first ever in the NHL although he had scored 21 for Minneapolis in the Central League back in 196364, his first year of pro.</p><p>&ldquo;Twenty goals? That sure would be nice,&rdquo; he grinned, when that definite possibility was suggested. &ldquo;I just hope I can keep it up. What happened so far is sort of hard to believe.&rdquo;</p><p>Johnson won&rsquo;t be the least bit envious if Dornie does wind up with many more goals than him. He&rsquo;s just glad his line is scoring and it&rsquo;s part of the reason the Flyers are in second place.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just glad our line is getting the goals, no matter who scores them,&rdquo; concluded Jimmy. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter who gets them&mdash;or how&mdash;just so they go in.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-01

Dornhoefer Newest Scoring Rage, Puts Life In Line, Flyers’ Offense

<div class="byline">&#x2014;CONRAD</div><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he date was Oct. 23, 1966, and, if you&rsquo;re not exactly hep on NHL history, that was before expansion when the New York Rangers beat Toronto, 1-0, at the old Madison Square Garden.</p><p>The guy scoring the only goal was defenseman Wayne Hillman who, in fact had also scored a goal in the Rangers&rsquo; previous game.</p><p>What makes that fact newsworthy was Hillman&rsquo;s goal against the Red Wings in Detroit recently, his first since that time. He had gone 222 scoreless games spanning 3&frac12; seasons.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02342/2604064-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="267" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Wayne Hillman</b></figcaption></div><p>The goal had came with five minutes remaining when the Flyers, whose defense he and brother Larrv have helped a great deal this season, were attempting to rally from a 4-1 deficit. Wayne&rsquo;s shot from the blue line glanced off a defenseman&rsquo;s stick and beat goalie Roger Crozier. Detroit, however, held on to win. 4-3.</p><p>Later. Wavne said he was glad to be in the goal-scoring column again but wished it would&rsquo;ve helped the Fivers salvage at least a tie.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-02

It took 223 NHL Games, But Wayne Found Range

<p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>OUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY CO. LIMITED WALLY ENTERPRISES LIMITED. AFFILIATE Arnold Street, Wallaceburq. Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY BOB ELMER</div><p>BALTIMORE&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>alanced scoring could be one of the main factors in the Baltimore Clippers battle for a post-season playoff berth in this year&rsquo;s AHL race, but it won&rsquo;t help in earning individual awards.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take the balanced scoring any day,&rdquo; said Clipper coach Rudy Migay recently, &ldquo;if it means more victories.&rdquo;</p><p>Entering the last two months of the present campaign, Baltimore does not have a single player in the league&rsquo;s top twenty scoring leaders. And this is right unusual for the Clippers at this stage of the season when past Baltimore clubs usually featured a half dozen star-studded lamplighters.</p><p>Last winter, for exampel, the ageless wonder Willie Marshall tied rookie Ron Ward of Rochester for fourth place with 78 points, and teammate Jean-Marie Cossette was right behind in fifth position with 75. Wayne Hicks finished thirteenth with 69 and Keke Mortson also had 69 points and Sandy McGregor wound up 19th with 63 points but was second to Buffalo&rsquo;s Guy Trottier in goals scored with 44.</p><p>Two years ago, Tom McCarthy was sixth in the standings with 83 points, and Marshall, despite a long layoff due to a broken ankle finished in the top twenty with 65 points. The latter had a big year in 1966-67 when he scored 89 points and wound up in third place behind Quebec&rsquo;s one-two scoring punch of Gordon Labossiere and Hicks. And, Doug Robinson put in a good year with Baltimore, scoring 72 points and finishing in 14th place.</p><p>At this writing. Baltimore&rsquo;s leading point-getters are Cossette and the veteran Jim Bartlett. However, they are hardly setting a blistering pace as their 34 points apiece is only one better than rookie Ron Snell&rsquo;s 33, while center Bob Rivard with 31, Hicks, 28 and Marshall, 24 are not far off the front end.</p><p>Delving a little deeper into the individual scoring column, we find five more Clippers bunched within a three point spread. George Swarbrick has 22 followed by a triple tie among Craig Cameron, Rod Zaine and Rick Kessell at 20 each, and Mike McMahon a fairly recent addition from the parent Pittsburgh Penguins has collected a point a game, or 19 for as many appearances.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to have 30-goal scorers, of course,&rdquo; Migay admitted, &ldquo;but again I say the important thing are the points in the standings. Some of our boys might be a lot higher, if they had been playing regularly all season. I&rsquo;m thinking of kids like Kessel, who just started playing regularly after the first of the year and has 16 points in his last 12 starts. Then there&rsquo;s Zaine, who was out for six weeks with a broken jaw, and Bartlett, who missed the first seven games of the season.&rdquo;</p><p><b>CLIPPER CLIPPINGS&hellip;</b>Clipper officials were all smiles last week when the season&rsquo;s top crowd of 8,197 watched the 2-2 tie here with Hershey&hellip;Considering that the local newspapers have been on strike since January 1, the turnout was all the more amazing &ldquo;I still say Baltimore is a great hockey town,&rdquo; GM Terry Reardon stated emphatically&hellip;Not only was the stalemate with the Bears the third straight between the two rivals, but it also marked a new record for Baltimore ice hockey for ties in one season&hellip;Previous high was ten&hellip;Clippers home game with Rochester which was to have been played December 26, but was postponed when the Amerks could not get here due to a snowstorm, had been reset for Tuesday, March 17.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01397/2604119-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="539" height="965"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MIKE McMAHON&hellip;Point-a-game Pace</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0018-01

Balanced Scoring Could Mean Playoff For Clippers

<h2><b>Fri. jan. 30 HERSHEY 2 AT BALTIMORE 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02311/2604262-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="572" height="434"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC 2 AT BUFFALO 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03220/2604255-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="574" height="735"></div><h2><b>Sat. Jan. 31 MONTREAL 6 AT CLEVELAND 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04172/2604248-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="578" height="824"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC 3 AT HERSHEY 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05124/2604241-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="583" height="582"></div><h2><b>ROCHESTER 5 AT SPRINGFIELD 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06102/2604234-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="578" height="777"></div><h2><b>Sun. Feb. 1 BALTIMORE 3 AT CLEVELAND 0</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-0788/2604227-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="576" height="451"></div><h2><b>MONTREAL 2 AT ROCHESTER 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-0876/2604220-1-eng-US/f0018-082.jpg" title="f0018-08" width="571" height="759"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC 4 AT PROVIDENCE 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-0966/2604213-1-eng-US/f0018-092.jpg" title="f0018-09" width="575" height="609"></div><h2><b>HERSHEY 2 AT BUFFALO 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1058/2604206-1-eng-US/f0018-102.jpg" title="f0018-10" width="573" height="653"></div><h2><b>Wed. Feb. 4 ROCHESTER 4 AT BALTIMORE 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1153/2604199-1-eng-US/f0018-112.jpg" title="f0018-11" width="575" height="711"></div><h2><b>Fri. Feb. 6 PROVIDENCE 0 AT CLEVELAND 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1248/2604192-1-eng-US/f0018-122.jpg" title="f0018-12" width="569" height="325"></div><h2><b>MONTREAL 2 AT BUFFALO 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1344/2604185-1-eng-US/f0018-132.jpg" title="f0018-13" width="577" height="510"></div><h2><b>HERSHEY 4 AT ROCHESTER 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1442/2604178-1-eng-US/f0018-142.jpg" title="f0018-14" width="579" height="615"></div><h2><b>Sun. Feb. 8 MONTREAL 4 AT QUEBEC 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1541/2604171-1-eng-US/f0018-152.jpg" title="f0018-15" width="571" height="598"></div><h2><b>HERSHEY 3 AT PROVIDENCE 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1640/2604164-1-eng-US/f0018-162.jpg" title="f0018-16" width="573" height="526"></div><h2><b>SPRINGFIELD 5 AT BUFFALO 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1735/2604157-1-eng-US/f0018-172.jpg" title="f0018-17" width="582" height="454"></div><h2><b>CLEVELAND 4 AT ROCHESTER 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1833/2604150-1-eng-US/f0018-182.jpg" title="f0018-18" width="572" height="601"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0018-02

American Hockey League Game Summaries

<h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tues. Feb. 10)</b></p><h3><b>Eastern Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01374/2604307-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="583" height="173"></div><h3><b>Western Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02322/2604300-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="586" height="288"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLET EU</b></h2><p><b>Wed. Feb. 4</b></p><p>Rochester 4 at Baltimore 5</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 6</b></p><p>Montreal 2 at Buffalo 2</p><p>Providence 0 at Cleveland 2</p><p>Hershey 4 at Rochester 5</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 7</b></p><p>Baltimore 3 at Cleveland 3</p><p>Hershey 2 at Springfield 2</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 8</b></p><p>Springfield 5 at Buffalo 2</p><p>Hershey 3 at Providence 4</p><p>Montreal 4 at Quebec 3</p><p>Cleveland 4 at Rochester 4</p><h2><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h2><p><b>Tues. Feb. 10</b></p><p>Rochester at Quebec</p><p><b>Wed.Feb.il</b></p><p>Springfield at Cleveland</p><p>Rochester at Providence</p><p><b>Thurs. Feb. 12</b></p><p>Hershey at Quebec</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 13</b></p><p>Cleveland at Buffalo</p><p>Hershey at Montreal</p><p>Providence at Rochester</p><p>Quebec at Baltimore</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 14</b></p><p>Buffalo at Cleveland</p><p>Providence at Springfield</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 15</b></p><p>Baltimore at Buffalo</p><p>Hershey at Montreal</p><p>Springfield at Providence</p><p>Quebec at Rochester</p><p><b>Tues. Feb. 17</b></p><p>Springfield at Baltimore</p><p>Rochester at Montreal</p><p>Hershey at Cleveland</p><p><b>Wed. Feb. 18</b></p><p>Springfield at Hershey</p><p><b>Thurs. Feb. 19</b></p><p>Rochester at Quebec</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 20</b></p><p>Providence at Buffalo</p><p>Springfield at Montreal</p><h2><b>GOALKEEPERS&rsquo; RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03262/2604293-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="581" height="485"></div><p><b>Most Penalty Minutes, Rosaire Paiment, Quebec 168.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-01

HOW THEY STAND

<div class="byline">BY CHARLEY BARTON</div><p>BUFFALO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span> Buffalo goaltender established the American Hockey League shutout record 17 years ago, and Gilles Villemure is virtually certain to break it in the club&rsquo;s farewell season in the league.</p><p>Gordie Bell recorded nine shutouts in 52 games in a 56-game schedule in 1942-43. Villemure already has eight in 43&#8532; games, and has 25 games in which to tie or break the record.</p><p>The 29-year-old Villemure isn&rsquo;t taking anything for granted, but he can&rsquo;t help taking a peek at the AHL&rsquo;s goals-against record, 1.79, held by Frank Brimsek. The U.S.-born Brimsek, later a major league star with Boston, allowed 86 goals in 48 games with Providence in 1937-38.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d really like to set the shutout record, and 1 must say I think I have a good chance, the way the guys are playing in front of me,&rdquo; Villemure said.</p><p>&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m playing better this year than last because I&rsquo;m more accustomed to the way our defense plays. I think I understand the defense better, and the defensemen understand me better.</p><p>&ldquo;That average of Brimsek&rsquo;s is really something. I don&rsquo;t know about that, but it&rsquo;s something to think about.&rdquo;</p><p>Villemure currently owns a 2.1 goals-against average.</p><p>This is the Bisons&rsquo; farewell appearance in the American League, and Villemure would like to set a record or two to be remembered by before the NHL club takes over.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04226/2604338-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="560" height="644"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GILLES VILLEMURE&hellip;AHL&rsquo;s &lsquo;Mr. Zero&rsquo;</b></figcaption></div><p>His six shutouts last winter were a career high, and he hit the five-plateau twice with Vancouver in the Western League.</p><p>&ldquo;Gilles will get plenty of chances to set the record,&rdquo; Coach Fred Shero said. &ldquo;I want to give Al Johnstone, our backup man, some work before the playoffs, but Gilles will be in there plenty.&rdquo;</p><p>With the heavy travel portion of the schedule behind them, the Bisons will play 15 of their remaining 25 games at home.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easier at home,&rdquo; Villemure said. &ldquo;I know the coach wants to get Al in there, but I know I&rsquo;ll have my chances at the record.</p><p>&ldquo;1 think it would be nice to set a record in the team&rsquo;s last season.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-04

Villemure Nearing AHL Shutout Record Of Nine

<h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><p><b>(Including games of Sun. Feb 1)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05187/2604369-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="588" height="560"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0019-05

AHL POINT RACE

<div class="byline">BY JOE CELDAK</div><p>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;</p><p>After fighting the Providence Reds all season for third place in the American Hockey League&rsquo;s Eastern Division, the Quebec Aces are now in a position to begin looking toward second place.</p><p>&ldquo;We had a big game against the Reds a few weeks ago on their ice,&rdquo; said Aces&rsquo; coach Turk Broda. &ldquo;All I had to tell the men was this is the team you have to beat to make the playoffs.&rdquo; The Aces did and just barely, winning 4-3.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-07126/2604431-1-eng-US/f0019-072.jpg" title="f0019-07" width="243" height="431"><figcaption class="caption-body">Serge Bernier</figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;We are now in a position to take a shot a Springfield for second place,&rdquo; continued Broda. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot easier thinking about second place.&rdquo;</p><p>While the Aces are fighting for playoff position four of their players appear to be in a spot to pick up 30-goal seasons.</p><p>Currently Rene Drolet, running neck and neck to Buffalo&rsquo;s Guv Trottier for the scoring title, seems a cinch to reach the 30 mark and has an outside chance to break Aces&rsquo; center Andre Lacroix&rsquo; mark of 46 in one season.</p><p>Others hoping to reach the 30-goal plateau are center Serge Bernier, left wing Claude LaForge and right wing Rosaire Paiement.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-07

Aces Lining Up Kings For Second Spot Battle

<div class="byline">BY JOHN TRAVERS</div><p>HERSHEY&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>t was enough to make any coach take a header off the nearest bridge. But coach Frank Mathers and his Hershey Bears were not about to hit the panic button.</p><p>First a rash of injuries struck the club and then the Boston Bruins put in a permanent recall for winger Don Marcotte, who appeared a cinch bet for American League All-Star recognition this season.</p><p>Marcotte&rsquo;s loss was a marked blow to the Bears&rsquo; attack. The burly 22-year-old forward was pacing the team&rsquo;s goal snipers with 28. He had notched four &ldquo;hat tricks&rdquo; and five game-winning tallies. In a two-and-a-half year stay with Hershey, Marcotte amassed 151 points on 94 goals and 57 assists in 174 games.</p><p>Without question Marcotte, one of the finest two-way forwards to ever skate for Hershey, should aid the Bruins, especially with his defensive ability. Mathers has often remarked that Marcotte has all the talent to become one of the National League&rsquo;s super-stars of the future.</p><p>Despite all the impediments strewn in their path, the Bears dug in harder in January. Mathers made adjustments here and there and the club responded to the challenge.</p><p>With one game remaining in January, the Bears had lost only two games in 14 starts spanning a 26-day period. Hershey won six and tied a like number for 18 points in maintaining its grip on second place in the Western Division.</p><p>Goalie Andre Gill in eight appearances for the month boasted an unbeaten record for four wins and four ties. In the interim, rookie netminder Joe Junkin spelled off Gill in a half-dozen games, posting a 2-2-2 standard.</p><p>Sidelined for a spell with a wrist injury was winger Roger Deiordy while Ted Snell was on the shelf with an ankle ailment. Defenseman Ralph Keller, despite a painful knee injury, remained in the lineup. Veteran goalie John Henderson was recovering from knee surgery. He is expected to return to action sometime in March.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01221/2604462-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="555" height="579"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ANDRE GILL&hellip;Sparkled in Goal</b></figcaption></div><p>Among other changes. Mathers hastily assembled a line of veteran center Mike Nykoluk and forwards Chuck Hamilton and Stan Gilbertson. The trio clicked immediately. Hamilton and Gilbertson. used sparingly earlier in the month, combined to rap in eight goals in a five game span. Nykoluk, having another great season, collected one goal, but turned in four big assists, jacking his career total to 603, third best in AHL history.</p><p>Defenseman. Pete Ford sparkled in a number of games, while two other blueliners, Barry Ashbee and Mike Mahoney played key offensive roles, garnering ten assists between them in a seven game span. And not to be overlooked has been the play of defence man Bob Barber and rookie forward Bill Lesuk. a rugged pair of skaters who. despite their size, refuse to back-off to anyone when the action gets heated.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-01

Bears Regroup After Losing Scoring Ace

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02152/2604493-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="868" height="1163"></div><h2><b>SOLUTION IN FEB. 27 ISSUE</b></h2><h3><b>ACROSS</b></h3><p>1&mdash;Pictured player.</p><p>6&mdash;NHL General Manager.</p><p>8&mdash;New Ranger.</p><p>12&mdash;Initials of NHL center</p><p>13&mdash;One of the Hawks.</p><p>14&mdash;Scored 24 goals for L.A. last year.</p><p>16&mdash;Initials of a Hab rookie.</p><p>17&mdash;One of the Flyers answers to this.</p><p>19&mdash;Laboratory, (abbr.)</p><p>21&mdash;Iron.</p><p>22&mdash;Last year&rsquo;s Norris winner.</p><p>23&mdash;Golf ball stand.</p><p>24&mdash;Initials of former Ranger Boucher.</p><p>25&mdash;20th and 14th letters of the alphabet.</p><p>26&mdash;This St. Louis farmhand hails from Czechoslovia.</p><p>28&mdash;City in Nevada.</p><p>30&mdash;1966-67 Conn Smythe trophy winner.</p><p>32&mdash;Hawaiian welcome.</p><p>34&mdash;Yard. (abbr.).</p><p>35&mdash;Buffalo and Vancouver will be here next season.</p><p>36&mdash;Initials of a Montreal centre.</p><h3><b>DOWN</b></h3><p>1&mdash;Former Norris Trophy winner.</p><p>2&mdash;Nickname of an NHL center.</p><p>3&mdash;A type of shrub.</p><p>4&mdash;Initials of Boutin of Quebec.</p><p>5&mdash;An NHL veteran.</p><p>7&mdash;Initials of a Montreal farmhand.</p><p>9&mdash;This Oakland center hails from Lethbridge.</p><p>10&mdash;Conjunction.</p><p>11&mdash;Initials of Libett of Detroit.</p><p>15&mdash;One of the Buffalo Bisons.</p><p>18&mdash;A former Hawk.</p><p>20&mdash;One of the Habs answers to this.</p><p>26&mdash;A Bruin veteran.</p><p>27&mdash;Initials of Kabel of Phoenix.</p><p>28&mdash;First name of one of the North Stars.</p><p>29&mdash;Negative answer.</p><p>31&mdash;Neither.</p><p>33&mdash;One of the Rangers.</p><h2><b>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</b></h2><h3><b>ACROSS</b></h3><p><b>1&mdash;Marshall</b></p><p><b>6&mdash;Roar</b></p><p><b>7&mdash;Not</b></p><p><b>11&mdash;S.W.</b></p><p><b>12&mdash;Tremblay</b></p><p><b>13&mdash;Red</b></p><p><b>14&mdash;Net</b></p><p><b>15&mdash;Eel</b></p><p><b>16&mdash;G.R.</b></p><p><b>18&mdash;Len</b></p><p><b>20&mdash;Leo</b></p><p><b>22&mdash;Adam</b></p><p><b>23&mdash;Err</b></p><p><b>24&mdash;R.S.</b></p><p><b>25&mdash;OS.</b></p><p><b>26&mdash;Fla man</b></p><p><b>28&mdash;10</b></p><p><b>29&mdash;Nevin</b></p><h3><b>DOWN</b></h3><p><b>1&mdash;Montreal</b></p><p><b>2&mdash;S.M.</b></p><p><b>3&mdash;A.R.</b></p><p><b>4&mdash;Los Angeles</b></p><p><b>5&mdash;Lawyer</b></p><p><b>8&mdash;Oree</b></p><p><b>9&mdash;Ted Lindsay</b></p><p><b>10&mdash;R.B.</b></p><p><b>17&mdash;Horton</b></p><p><b>19&mdash;Earl</b></p><p><b>21&mdash;E.R.</b></p><p><b>25&mdash;One</b></p><p><b>26&mdash;F.S.</b></p><p><b>27&mdash;A.N.</b></p><p><b>28&mdash;11</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-02

Hockey Crossword

<div class="byline">BY ALEX HARDY</div><p>CALGARY&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>espite injuries, defections, and enough new faces to keep the program sellers happy, Calgary Centennials&rsquo; defensive corps has allowed the second fewest goals in the Western Canada League.</p><p>A major reason is large-sized defenseman Wayne Moursyk. His star-quality play throughout the season has resulted in his selection as the league&rsquo;s top blueliner in All-Star balloting.</p><p>The All-Stars were picked from among 7 of the 8 WCHL teams. Edmonton Oil Kings, who met the dream team in the league All-Star game, were not eligible for the voting, which leaves open the question of whether Moursyk would have topped Edmonton&rsquo;s defensive aces. Ron Jones and Ted McAneeley.</p><p>Moursyk, 20-year-old native of Elk Point Alberta, has been the steadiest member of the inexperienced Cent blueline.</p><p><b>SLAP SHOTS&mdash;</b>Punch Imlach, general manager and coach of the new NHL Buffalo entry, has spent considerable time in Western Canada League territory scouting for players. Imlach says he has only three players to start with at Buffalo and is trying to set up a farm system.</p><p>Swift Current Broncos&rsquo; leader is captain John Migneault, the league&rsquo;s highest-scoring defenseman. Broncos, in the midst of their best season ever, are drawing fans from as far away as Regina (150 miles)&hellip;Super-scorer Reg Leach of Flin Flon Bombers is the first player in the league to top the 100-point mark. Second to do it will be Greg Polis of Estevan, who missed the early part of the season with an injury.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Calgary Ace Moursyk Named WCHL All

<h2><b>WCHA DIVISION</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 2)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0540/2604632-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="575" height="335"></div><h2><b>ECAC DIVISION</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tues. Feb. 3)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0627/2604625-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="571" height="601"></div><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0723/2604618-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="519" height="153"></div><h2><b>NEW YORK COLLEGE</b></h2><h3><b>East Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0816/2604611-1-eng-US/f0020-082.jpg" title="f0020-08" width="572" height="236"></div><h3><b>West Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-108/2604604-1-eng-US/f0020-102.jpg" title="f0020-10" width="580" height="235"></div><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-116/2604597-1-eng-US/f0020-112.jpg" title="f0020-11" width="579" height="277"></div><h2><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-125/2604590-1-eng-US/f0020-122.jpg" title="f0020-12" width="579" height="280"></div><h2><b>ONTARIO-QUEBEC COLLEGE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 4)</b></p><h3><b>Eastern Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-135/2604583-1-eng-US/f0020-132.jpg" title="f0020-13" width="575" height="235"></div><h3><b>Western Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-145/2604576-1-eng-US/f0020-142.jpg" title="f0020-14" width="574" height="235"></div><h2><b>FINGER LAKES COLLEGE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 4)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03122/2604569-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="578" height="305"></div><h2><b>ICHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. Jan. 30)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0494/2604562-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="572" height="164"></div><h2><b>OTTAWA-ST. LAWRENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Thur. Feb. 5)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-155/2604555-1-eng-US/f0020-152.jpg" title="f0020-15" width="572" height="295"></div><h2><b>ONTARIO COLLEGIATE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tues. Feb. 3)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-164/2604548-1-eng-US/f0020-162.jpg" title="f0020-16" width="577" height="230"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0020-05

COLLEGE RACES

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0188/2604663-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="549" height="583"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>THOM LAWLER&hellip;We&rsquo;re Improving</b></figcaption></div><p>NORTH ANDOVER&mdash;</p><p>While the ambition of every professional hockey player is to play and star in the NHL, college players don&rsquo;t necessarily aspire to the &ldquo;big time&rdquo; of the collegiate ranks. Just look at the rapidly growing ECAC Division II, a 28-team loop which added three more teams this season but which is still regarded secondary to its sister system. Division I.</p><p>The big difference between teams in the two divisions is the depth factor,&rdquo; says Thom Lawler, coach at Merrimack College. &ldquo;The teams in the top half of Division II can usually beat the bottom teams in Division I with regularity. But overall the smaller schools are too thin on personnel, even though there are very many individuals in Division II who could play for any team in Division I.&rdquo;</p><p>With an enrollment of some 1,600 and located in North Andover, Mass., Merrimack is one of the smaller schools in Division II. Money is the key difference between it and a Division I school like Cornell or Boston University; the smaller schools just can&rsquo;t be as liberal with the cash for their athletic programs. But while this is a limiting factor, it can be a blessing in disguise, according to Lawler.</p><p>&ldquo;Small schools attract a lot of student-athletes by their very size. Good academic programs aren&rsquo;t always big, and lots of students prefer small classes and more individual attention. You certainly can&rsquo;t sell a school like Colby or Bowdoin or Middlebury short when you&rsquo;re talking about scholastic qualities.&rdquo; he states.</p><p>Hockeywise, however, schools like Merrimack, American International, Williams, and Boston State are improving all the time. Though there are some Canadian boys on the teams the rosters are more localized than those of Division I. For example, all of Boston State&rsquo;s 21 players hail from Massachusetts, mostly from the Greater Boston Area. Already this season State owns a 5-3 win over up-and-coming Providence of Division I. The Friars carry 13 players from north of the border and from as far away as Calgary. So. though one flake doesn&rsquo;t make a snowstorm, this is a pretty good indication that the American players&rsquo; are catching up in ability to their Canadian counterparts.</p><p>Due mostly to the money problem, only a limited number of Canadians can be recruited for the Division II schools. But it hasn&rsquo;t been difficult to get them, since they are looking for an education as well as for an opportunity to play top level hockey. Also, the Americans would feel remiss if they didn&rsquo;t get a chance to play alongside and against the boys from the Dominion.</p><p>&ldquo;Of the 9 or 10 Canadians I&rsquo;ve had at Merrimack, at least five were dean&rsquo;s list students,&rdquo; says Lawler, whose team has taken the Clarkson-St. Lawrence North Country swing already this season, as well as tangling with such powers as Colgate, New Hamp-shire, and Boston University. &ldquo;As far as the scheduling goes, we play that many Division I teams by choice. It&rsquo;s exciting, a higher level of competition, we may be moving into Division I someday, so these games form a good basis for comparison. It&rsquo;s fun too, and we don&rsquo;t always lose.&rdquo;</p><p>So, fans, let it be known that high quality hockey in the Eastern collegesis not confined to ECAC Division I. New Hampshire. now a strong contender in the upper loop, only recently made the switch from Division II. More schools can be expected to move up as they reach competitive equality with Division I teams. It&rsquo;s like NHL expansion, only there&rsquo;s a lot of quality rat her than a preponderance of quantity.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-01

Merrimack Proof Little Colleges More Popular With Some Players

<div class="byline">By John Gilbert</div><p>As the Western Collegiate Hockey Association race heads into the homestretch of its wildest race in history, each series gets more critical.</p><p>With series sweeps at a premium, Denver managed to snatch two games at Michigan State and projected itself into the midst of the title picture, while the double losses may have dropped Michigan State a bit out of it.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0259/2604701-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="247" height="540"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>George Morrison</b></figcaption></div><p>Minnesota protected its league lead by splitting at Michigan Tech, while Wisconsin and Minnesota-Duluth divided at Duluth. Michigan and North Dakota had that weekend off, while Colorado College gained a 5-4 victory from improving Notre Dame in non-conference play.</p><p>Bob Winograd scored twice from defense to aid Colorado College, while Paul Regan had two Notre Dame goals. Two straight strong recruiting years have put the Irish right up near WCHA caliber.</p><p><b>MINNESOTA-MICHIGAN TECH:</b> The Minnesota Gophers, who have come from behind so all season, did it again to take a 6-4 triumph in the first game of the weekend series on Friday, Jan. 30. But Minnesota didn&rsquo;t wait too long, bouncing from a 1-0 deficit with goals by Mike Kurtz and Doug Peltier&rsquo;s first of two, then holding the lead with Murray McLachlan&rsquo;s goaltending. Tech, usually impossible to beat at Houghton, Mich., came back strong Saturday, as Gordy McRae blanked the Gophers 4-0. McRae&rsquo;s task wasn&rsquo;t too difficult, only 21 saves, as John Gibbs scored in the first period, and Herb Boxer and Lyle Moffatt added tallies early in the second period. Brian Watts got the fourth tally in the third period. McLachlan, who joins McRae as Toronto Maple Leaf property, was again superb in holding the score down with 46 saves. He had to face three straight Tech power plays in the third period and kept it 4-0.</p><p><b>DENVER&mdash;MICHIGAN STATE:</b> Appearing stronger with each passing week, Denver finished the road portion of its schedule with a 6-4 Friday victory and a 5-4 overtime decision Saturday at East Lansing. Despite numerous outstanding goaltenders in the WCHA, the influx of young, quick forwards this season along with the wide-open, no red line rules, have overpowered the defenses. Michigan State, fighting to keep pace in second place with a split, took a 2-0 lead Saturday, but defending scoring champ George Morrison with 42 seconds to go in the first period cut it to 2-1. Tom Gilmore scored twice in the second period to put Denver up 3-2, then MSU came back as Billy Watt scored once and Pat Russo notched his second of the night for a 4-3 Spartan lead. Denver&rsquo;s Al Genovy, who had assisted on Tom Gilmore&rsquo;s two goals, scored to tie it 4-4 at 11:08 of the third period, then Genovy won it at 4:21 of sudden-death overtime.</p><p><b>WISCONSIN&mdash;MINNESOTA DULUTH:</b> Wisconsin played what coach Bob Johnson said was &ldquo;the first game all year where we were clearly outshot and outskated,&rdquo; Friday in Duluth, yet won 5-4. Duluth&rsquo;s explosive freshmen led the way Saturday, however, coming from a 2-1 deficit for a 4-2 victory and a split. The result had Wisconsin at 5-7 in the WCHA, in eighth place but only two games out of second place. Duluth stayed in the race at 7-6-1. UMD&rsquo;s Murray Keogan, one freshman, got a quick goal in each game. The first nightit was 0:17, and the second at 0:25. Wisconsin came back in the second game on goals by Jim Young and Murray Heatley, and missed several other good chances to pad the 2-1 lead. Bert DeHate, who completed his eligibility with 108 career goals at Wisconsin, missed three breakaways, hitting posts on two of them. But after dominating the second period, the Badgers left the ice down 3-2 as Mike Stevens and freshman center Larry Wright counted late goals. In the third period Wright got another goal to cinch things.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0331/2604694-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="248" height="421"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Bert De Hate</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0021-02

WESTERN WAY

<div class="byline">By Tom Burke</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0424/2604746-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>P</span>ENNSYLVANIA&mdash;</b>Jim Salfi&rsquo;s Quakers pulled the shocker of the year in defeating Harvard 5-4 in overtime. This is the third year for them in the Ivy League and they&rsquo;ve only managed one win a year up to now. Sophomore goalie John Marks had 52 saves against the Crimson, who were coming off a two week exam layoff. Sophomore Sam Gellard had two goals and junior defenseman Chris Larsen scored the winner with 12 seconds to go in the extra period. Penn is on the way up and will be making news in Division One before long. They have a fine frosh team and next year the new arena will be ready on campus, eliminating the half hour jaunt to Cherry Hill Arena for practice every day.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0522/2604739-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="270" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>John Roberts</b></figcaption></div><p><b>BOSTON UNIVERSITY&mdash;</b>Paced by sophomore John Danby&rsquo;s hat trick and co-captain Larry Davenport&rsquo;s two goals and three assists, the Terriers overwhelmed favored Boston College 8-3 at Boston Arena before a packed house. BU outshot their traditional rivals 44-24 and put together three solid periods of hockey, something his young team hasn&rsquo;t been doing with regularity, according to Jack Kelley. Co-captain Dick Toomey is his old self and flying again, and Steve Stirling also is skating well. The new line of Danby. Davenport, and Wayne Gowing is a real find, notching five of the team&rsquo;s eight scores against BC. BU came from behind to defeat Dartmouth 5-2 in Hanover as 5 different players scored.</p><p><b>ARMY&mdash;</b>With exams over and two key players back from injuries, the Cadets have been playing better divisional hockey. Down 2-0 to sharp Providence, Army rallied and sent the game into overtime, only to~ lose 3-2. John Roberts, whose injured ankle kept him on the sidelines the early part of the season, led the club in goals with 6 along with Geoff Champion who has 6-7-13. Fritz Haussman is another veteran who was missed from the defense crew, and he&rsquo;s back in harness. Dan Scioletti is averaging 33 saves per game, and has 37 goals against in 11 tilts. But if you take away the two games of the Boston Christmas Tournament in which he was beaten 18 times. Dan is averaging just over two a game.</p><p><b>CLARKSON&mdash;</b>Bruce Bullock registered his second shutout in three games as the Golden Knights blanked Colgate 3-0 in a game at Syracuse. It was the Toronto junior&rsquo;s third whitewash of the season, as his goals-against average is 2.46 through 13 games. Jerry Kemp was still the leading scorer with 23 goals and 15 assists. Nine different players lit the lamp as Clarkson exploded for 9 goals in the second period and went on to rout Providence 11-6. The Friars had taken a 21 lead after one period before the roof caved in. Kemp and Bill O&rsquo;Flaherty had two goals apiece, and high-scoring defenseman and captain Wayne LaChance had a goal and three assists. He also had a goal against Colgate and notched a goal and two assists in 3-0 win at Yale. He ranked third in team scoring behind Kemp and Rick Magnusson.</p><p><b>PRINCETON&mdash;</b>The low-scoring Tigers outshot Northeastern 33-26 and won a seesaw battle which ended 5-4. John Wright had two goals, one of them shorthanded, to help beat the Huskies; they ran his point total to nine to tie with John Hepburn, who has a 6-3-9 slate. Bill Quackenbush reshuffled his lines and came up with a promising sophomore trio in Hepburn, Art Schmon, and converted defenseman Roger Kyle. But Princeton needs more offense, as the 7-1 loss to Cornell indicates. The Big Red outshot them 60-13. with only Jim Titte-pre tallying. Captain Ed Tilgham has been averaging around 35 saves per game, but hasn&rsquo;t had much protection.</p><p><b>CORNELL&mdash;</b>Taking up right where they left off, the Big Red returned from exam break and edged a stubborn University of Toronto 2-1. Kevin Pettit had a shorthanded goal and Dick Bertrand tallied the winner with 1:15 gone in the third period. As of the 7-1 win over Princeton. John Hughes moved into fifth place on the Cornell all-time scoring list; he passed Dave Ferguson&rsquo;s mark of 122 points. Lodboa had 99 career points after the Princeton tilt, and will be the 8th Cornell player to crack the century mark. Brian Cropper recently broke the Big Red mark for minutes played without a goal scored against; he went 189 minutes, breaking the old mark of 167 set by Laing Kennedy.</p><p><b>PROVIDENCE&mdash;</b>It was a rough weekend for the Friars in the North Country as they lost 11-6 to Clarkson and 5-2 to St. Lawrence. But coach Lou Lamoriello, whose team had a 6-4-2 divisional record, was very pleased with the overall performance of the young team. Having lost Rich Pumple and Brian Smiley for the year with injuries, the picture was more doubtful than ever but the team has been pulling together and each member has taken a turn wearing the hero label. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m quite satisfied with the way everybody&rsquo;s been working so hard.&rdquo; he states. &ldquo;Sometimes when you&rsquo;re not expected to do much it&rsquo;s easier to get up for a game, and bouncing back is not that hard after a loss. Even at Clarkson, when they scored nine goals in the second period, the kids came right back and got four quick ones at the beginning of the third period. But it seemed like Clarkson couldn&rsquo;t do anything wrong that night.&rdquo; Providence doesn&rsquo;t have a &ldquo;top line&rdquo; as such, though lately the sophomore line of Eric Dixon centering for Tony Bosco and Gerald Leschyshyn has been doing some damage. They got a goal apiece in the 3-2 overtime win at Army, with Dixon getting the big one.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0617/2604732-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="264" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>John Hughes</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0021-04

DOWN EAST

<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><b>WESTERN LEAGUE</b></h3><p><b>(Standings on Tues. Feb. 10)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0338/2604791-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="576" height="324"></div><p><b>(Affiliations: 2. Detroit. 5. Chicago. 6. Toronto. 10 Philadelphia. x-independent</b></p><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tues. Feb. 3</b></p><p>Denver 6 at Salt Lake 3</p><p>San Diego 2 at Vancouver 4</p><p><b>Wed. Feb. 4</b></p><p>Denver 2 at Phoenix 3</p><p>San Diego 2 at Portland 3</p><p>Vancouver 5 at Seattle 4</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 6</b></p><p>Phoenix 3 at Denver 5</p><p>San Diego 6 at Seattle 2</p><p>Portland 1 at Vancouver 9</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 7</b></p><p>Phoenix 3 at Soh Lake 5</p><p>Denver 1 at Son Diego 6</p><p>Vancouver 3 at Portland 6</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 8</b></p><p>Son Diego 1 at Denver 4</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Tues. Feb. 10</b></p><p>Denver at Seattle</p><p><b>Wed. Feb. 11</b></p><p>San Diego at Sait Lake</p><p>Denver at Portland</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 13</b></p><p>Portland at Denver</p><p>Salt Lake at San Diego</p><p>Phoenix at Vancouver</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 14</b></p><p>Portland at Salt Lake</p><p>Phoenix at Seattle</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 15</b></p><p>San Diego at Denver</p><p>Phoenix at Portland</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><p><b>(Including Games of Sun. Feb. 1)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0427/2604784-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="576" height="651"></div><h3><b>GOALKEEPERS&rsquo; RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0519/2604777-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="580" height="262"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0022-03

WESTERN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY JOHN WHITE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0250/2604829-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="549" height="572"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ROLLIE WILCOX&hellip;Best Season Ever</b></figcaption></div><p>SALT LAKE CITY&mdash;</p><p>The odds against the Salt Lake City Golden Eagles making the playoffs in their first year in the Western Hockey League were pretty strong before the first puck ever was dropped this season.</p><p>Then came the injuries&mdash;one after another after another after another.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01106/2604822-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="262" height="455"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Jim Hay</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been associated with a hockey team that had so many injuries,&rdquo; said a shocked Billy McNeill, himself one of the first victims (broken ankle).</p><p>Then there was a stretch of 16 straight games without a single Salt Lake City victory.</p><p>It was enough to make a hockey club fiat out give up.</p><p>But the Golden Eagles never did give up. Their coach, Ray Kinasewich, never gave up on them.</p><p>And darned if Salt Lake City, in late December and through most of January, didn&rsquo;t put together a streak of 11 consecutive games with a winning record&mdash;five victories, four defeats and two ties.</p><p>In early February, it still would take a near-miracle for the Golden Eagles of Dan Meyer to make the playoffs. But there were indications that Salt Lake City just might give both Phoenix and Denver one heckuva run for fifth place.</p><p>And the Golden Eagles, if they did finish fifth, would have to rate as one of the Western League&rsquo;s more courageous teams of recent seasons.</p><p>Perhaps part of Salt Lake City&rsquo;s comeback to respectability could be traced to a blast by Coach Kinasewich after a 7-4 loss to Phoenix in December&mdash;the game that made it 16 straight without a triumph.</p><p>&ldquo;That was the worst&rdquo;, said Kinasewich at the time. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t play any worse than we did against Phoenix. In that game we reached the bottom of the barrel&rdquo;.</p><p>And Kinasewich warned. &ldquo;We have talent and ability on this team. But we&rsquo;re still making stupid mistakes. Some of the problems stem from a few players not being in the best of condition physically. And when that happens. you can almost count on the fact that their mental condition is shoddy, too.&rdquo;</p><p>Perhaps stung, the Eagles won their next game and started to eye a higher rung on the WHL ladder.</p><p>Even when Salt Lake City started rolling a bit. Kinasewich reserved most of his praise for veterans&mdash;Rollie Wilcox, still a comparative youngster, and real old pros Guyle Fielder and Jim (Red Eye) Hay.</p><p>&ldquo;If all of our players would bear down and hustle like those three,&rdquo; said Kinasewich, &ldquo;we&rsquo;d be several places higher in the standings. You just can&rsquo;t say too much about their hustle and desire.&rdquo;</p><p>Fielder continues to be amazing&mdash;but it&rsquo;s really nothing new.</p><p>He &ldquo;retired&rdquo; from Seattle this season to mind the store at his new British Columbia hotel, then changed his mind to join Salt Lake City in the deal that sent Bobby Schmautz to Seattle. He missed training camp and the first 15 games of the campaign. But he&rsquo;s still Golden Guyle. After 26 games he was scoring at better than a point-a-game pace&mdash;34 points on 5 goals and 29 assists.</p><p>Hay, most-penalized player in Western Hockey League history, was dropped by Portland and picked up by Salt Lake City. He will be 39 in May but he&rsquo;s still playing with the fire of a rookie, picked up 58 minutes in penalties in his first 32 games.</p><p>Wilcox, meanwhile, was enjoying his finest professional season with 18 goals in his first 40 games. Those 18 goals were more than little Rollie had scored in any of his last four seasons. And. barring injuries, he seemed sure to break his career record of 20 goals scored in &lsquo;64-65 when he was a rookie with the Victoria Maple Leafs.</p><p>In February, the odds against a playoff berth for Salt Lake City still were strong.</p><p>But the Golden Eagles would give it one heckuva shot.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-02

Injuries Put WHL Playoffs Out Of Reuth But New Sult Eagles Could End Strong

<h2><b>Sat. Jan. 24 DENVER 1 AT PHOENIX 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0617/2604923-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="577" height="427"></div><h2><b>Sun. Jan. 25 PORTLAND 4 AT PHOENIX 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0717/2604916-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="573" height="552"></div><h2><b>DENVER 3 AT SEATTLE 9</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0815/2604909-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="580" height="882"></div><h2><b>Tues. Jan. 27 PORTLAND 5 AT SAN DIEGO 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0913/2604902-1-eng-US/f0022-092.jpg" title="f0022-09" width="581" height="557"></div><h2><b>DENVER 2 AT VANCOUVER 9</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1011/2604895-1-eng-US/f0022-102.jpg" title="f0022-10" width="581" height="680"></div><h2><b>Wed. Jan. 28 SAN DIEGO 10 AT SALT LAKE 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1110/2604888-1-eng-US/f0022-112.jpg" title="f0022-11" width="583" height="802"></div><h2><b>DENVER 1 AT PORTLAND 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-129/2604881-1-eng-US/f0022-122.jpg" title="f0022-12" width="660" height="557"></div><h2><b>Fri. Jan. 30 PORTLAND 3 AT DENVER 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-138/2604874-1-eng-US/f0022-132.jpg" title="f0022-13" width="591" height="499"></div><h2><b>SAN DIEGO 6 AT PHOENIX 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0337/2604867-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="589" height="714"></div><h2><b>SALT LAKE 5 AT SEATTLE 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0428/2604860-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="589" height="752"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0022-06

Western League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div><p>SAN DIEGO&mdash;</p><p>The San Diego Gulls were healthy again and coach Max McNab predicted they&rsquo;d be ready &ldquo;for the stretch run,&rdquo; but even he didn&rsquo;t expect the Western Hockey League&rsquo;s most anemic offense to explode for 27 goals in three games over four nights.</p><p>The Gulls bombed the Golden Eagles in Salt Lake City by 10-3, outscored the Roadrunners in Phoenix 6-4, then plucked the Runners again by 11-2 in San Diego, their highest goal total of the season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0187/2604961-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="251" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>John MacMillan</b></figcaption></div><p>Alex Faulkner, fully recovered from a broken foot, fired three goals and six assists, pushing his point total to 35 for 33 games. Len Ronson, included five goals in his nine-point week, to regain his goal scoring lead at 31. Vancouver&rsquo;s Paul Andrea has 30.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0252/2604954-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="570" height="567"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ALEX FAULKNER&hellip;Back In Old Form</b></figcaption></div><p>Johnny MacMillan reacted to all this with an offensive show of his own, the checking specialist scoring two and assisting on seven to push his total to 43. Warren Hynes contributed a goal and seven assists to remain second in team scoring with 48 points, four behind Ronson.</p><p>All of this just about cemented a playoff spot for the Gulls&mdash;they&rsquo;re 11 points in front of the fifth place Phoenix Roadrunners&mdash;and they&rsquo;ve set their sights on the Seattle Totems and third place, just two points away.</p><p>The Gulls lost their last meet ing with the Totems, but McNab was happy with his club&rsquo;s play.</p><p>&ldquo;I thought we should have won the game. We were the better team for two periods, but we just couldn&rsquo;t overcome their early 3-0 lead. Chris Worthy had a great game for them in goal and we missed some good chances.</p><p>&ldquo;I liked the way we dug in and came back after we got behind. That was one of the best games that Ronson has ever played&mdash;he was really aggressive.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ICE CHIPS&hellip;</b>Jack Mc-Ca&rsquo;rtan had planned to send his wife home to St. Paul, Minn., as he had expected to be on the road when their baby was born. Their 5-1/2 pound daughter fooled everyone by arriving 3&frac12; weeks early, a couple of hours before the Gulls shelled Phoenix. Rookie Ted Ouimet took over in goal&hellip;The Gulls&rsquo; average attendance for 23 home dates is 9,450&hellip;Defenseman Dennis Huculak shot the low gross of 73 at the Chula Vista Municipal Golf Course as over 200 participated in the Gulls&rsquo; Booster Club McNab shot a 79 for seconc annual golf tournament. Coach prize.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0023-01

Ronson, Faulkner Spearhead 27-Goal Barrage

<p>PHOENIX&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Phoenix Roadrunners were expecting two or three new faces and the return of an old one for their next game&mdash;and the San Diego Gulls proved the help was badly needed with an 11-2 whipping, the worst defeat of the season for the Runners, and matching their worst in history.</p><p>Club president Bob Whitlow didn&rsquo;t elaborate and didn&rsquo;t name the players involved in &ldquo;one or two trades&rdquo; but coach Alf Pike pointed out &ldquo;You have to give up something to get something.&rdquo;</p><p>Team captain Sandy Hucul, making a quick recovery from a split elbow that was feared would sideline him for three to five weeks, expected to be back in the lineup in the next game, helping out the depleted defensive ranks which was reduced to four by Aut Erickson&rsquo;s recurrance of a back injury.</p><p>Erickson underwent surgery for a ruptured spinal disc and is lost for the season. Dick Lamoureux, who had similar surgery two months ago, is skating again but still has muscle spasms in his right side and the 36-year-old wing er doesn&rsquo;t expect to play again this season&mdash;if ever.</p><p>Rick Charron was in the nets for the 11-2 shelling. He was tired at the end as the Gulls welcomed his first start in three weeks with 56 shots.</p><p>Coach Pike had gone with Don Caley in eight of nine games in a month-long home stand as the Phoenix fans have grown vehement in their objection to the redheaded French Canadian&rsquo;s play.</p><p>Caley&rsquo;s response was a stingy 13 goals over a sevengame stretch, although the Runners only won two of those, and he reduced his goals against average to 2.96, third in the league.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Runners Send SOS For Help

<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><h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><h3><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h3><p><b>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 11)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0253/2605023-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="570" height="334"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Wed. Feb. 4</b></p><p>Fort Worth 1 at Omaha 2</p><p>Kansas City 4 ot Dallas 7</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 6</b></p><p>Fort Worth 3 at Iowa 2</p><p>Omaha 3 ot Oklahoma City. 1</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 7</b></p><p>Fort Worth 1 at Kansas City 2</p><p>Omaha 0 at Dallas 3</p><p>Tulsa 2 at Oklahoma City 4</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 8</b></p><p>Dallas 2 at Tulsa 5</p><p>Kansas City 2 at Iowa 6</p><p>Oklahoma City 2 at Omaha 6</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Wed. Feb. 11</b></p><p>Dallas at Oklahoma City</p><p>Omaha at Tulsa</p><p>Iowa at Fort Worth</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 13</b></p><p>Oklahoma City at Kansas City</p><p>Tulsa at Omaha</p><p>Iowa at Dallas</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 14</b></p><p>Dallas at Omaha</p><p>Fort Worth at Kansas City</p><p>Iowa at Oklahoma City</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 15</b></p><p>Kansas City at Fort Worth</p><p>Oklahoma City ot Dallas</p><p>Tulsa at Iowa</p><p><b>Wed. Feb. 18</b></p><p>Dallas at Kansas</p><p>City Fort Worth at Tulsa</p><p><b>Thurs. Feb. 19</b></p><p>Dallas at lowa</p><p><b>Fri.Feb.20</b></p><p>Tulso at Kansas City</p><p>Iowa at Omaha</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><p><b>(Including names of Sun. Feb.1)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0332/2605016-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="580" height="652"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0024-02

CENTRAL LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY BOB LINDLEY</div><p>FORT WORTH&mdash;</p><p>Amid rumors that poor attendance might bring about the demise of the Central Hockey League, the circuit enjoyed one of its most successful weekends at the turnstiles.</p><p>Led by the 8,462 fans who sat in on a Fort Worth&mdash;Dallas bash at Fort Worth&rsquo;s spacious new Convention Center Jan. 31, the three games that night attracted a total of 19,621 an average of 6,540 per contest.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01100/2605054-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="249" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>George Surmay</b></figcaption></div><p>Tulsa hosted arch rival Oklahoma City that night and attracted 5,781 while Kansas City drew 5,378 for its battle with Iowa.</p><p>In six weekend dates the CHL clubs played before 32,540, an average of 5,421 per game.</p><p>&ldquo;We had our best weekend attendance in history,&rdquo; Tulsa general manager Ray Miron said. &ldquo;Our two-day total was 11,226, and one of those games was against a sixth place club.&rdquo;</p><p>The amazing thing about Fort Worth&rsquo;s huge throng, biggest crowd to see a CHL game this season, is that the Wings were playing opposite an auto show in the same building, the annual stock show and rodeo and a battle for first place in the Southwest Conference between Texas Christian University and Baylor.</p><p>The Wings outdrew them all.</p><p>Omaha continued to pack them in, playing to 4,831 on a Wednesday night and 4,689 on the following Sunday, neither considered prime hockey nights in the CHL.</p><p>The fantastically tight.race for first place in the league accounts for the increased interest. At the end of the weekend, no less than three teams wound up in a flatfooted tie for the top spot&mdash;Fort Worth, Omaha and Iowa&mdash;all with 55 points. And Tulsa was only four back with 51.</p><p>&ldquo;A great race,&rdquo; said CHL president Emory Jones. &ldquo;How can anyone talk about the league folding when interest in the league is at an all-time high. Ridiculous.&rdquo;</p><p><b>DALLAS&mdash;</b>Hawks broke seven-game losing streak, longest in club&rsquo;s history, with last-minute goal that created 6-6 tie with Wings at Fort Worth Jan. 31. The defending CHL champs followed that up with 5-1 win over Blazers at home, prompting coach Bobby Kromm to say, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re scoring some goals now. Maybe that&rsquo;s a sign of better things.&rdquo; Rugged defenseman Jim Graham&rsquo;s return to action after six-week layoff with broken ankle may have had something to do with Dallas showing. Graham got three assists in Wings&rsquo; game, including big one that set up tying goal with 47 seconds left. Oscar Gaudet, J.P. Leblanc and Garth Rizzuto sharing scoring load with 15 goals each, but rookie Larry Romanchych still the leader with 18.</p><p><b>OKLAHOMA CITY&mdash;</b>The Blazers, clinging to a chance, however slim, at making the CHL playoffs, suffered another blow when rookie Don Tannahill was felled by his second major injury of the season. He joins Tom Webster on the sidelines for an indefinite stay. Blazers also said goodbye to veteran defenseman Gary Doak, who was recalled by Boston after playing himself into shape at Oklahoma City. Blazers, once the highest scoring club in the league, hit offensive slump at inopportune time, scoring only three goals in dropping four straight tilts. All four losses were on road, where Blazers must play 13 of final 24 games.</p><p><b>TULSA&mdash;</b>&ldquo;Our defense and goaltending have been nothing short of fantastic,&rdquo; said Oiler general manager Ray Miron, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;ve got to pick up the offense if we&rsquo;re going to stay in the thick of the race.&rdquo; The Oilers&rsquo; leading scorer, Danny Johnson, suffered through a nine-game goal-less slump, and runner-up Ted Hargreaves went even longer without blinking the red light. Doug Acomb, the rookie who was second in goals scored with 13, remained sidelined with broken bone in foot. Player-coach Marcel Pronovost bothered by injury and rugged defenseman Randy Murray just returning after missing three weeks with pulled hamstring. Johnson had 24 goals through 48 games. Serge Aubry lowered goals-against average to 2.34 for 30 games, best in the league.</p><p><b>IOWA:</b> Stars did about-face after general manager John Muckier blasted them for not playing aggressive hockey and for giving up too many goals. With Ken Broderick doing great job in goal, Stars compiled six-game unbeaten streak, allowing only six goals in that span, including two shutouts. But Broderick won promotion to Minnesota and was replaced by veteran Fern Rivard. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t lose anything in the switch,&rdquo; Muckier said. But Stars may have lost something with injury to rookie defenseman Dick Redmond, who suffered severed tendon on finger. Look for major troop movement between successful Iowa and struggling Minnesota.</p><p><b>FORT WORTH:</b> Great individual battle between Fred Speck, Ron Walters and rookie Doug Volmar shaping up for team goal-scoring title. Through 48 games Speck and Volmar were tied with 21 each while Walters had notched 18. Walters had already tripled last season&rsquo;s total of six goals tallied in 67 games. Volmar, who set an IHL record last year with 63, is best bet to reach 30 plateau &ldquo;if he&rsquo;ll just keep shooting the puck.&rdquo; says coach Doug Barkley. The 21 goals by Speck equals his 1968-69 output. Rick McCann, who joined club in mid-December, finally rounding into shape and his tremendous hustle and checking at both ends of rink responsible for Fort Worth surge in standings. Barkley labels rearguard Randy Manery &ldquo;the best rookie defenseman in the CHL,&rdquo; and credits veteran defender Jim Cardiff with making Wings one of best defensive teams in league.</p><p><b>KANSAS CITY&mdash;</b>The Blues welcomed back some of their wounded stars and prepared themselves for a concerted run for a CHL playoff spot. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been crippled by injuries to key players,&rdquo; general manager Fred Hucul said, &ldquo;but they&rsquo;re getting back into the lineup and it&rsquo;s still not too late to make a bid for the playoffs.&rdquo; Veteran Terry Gray still out. but talented Jaroslav Jirik, scoring leader Norm Dennis and Brian Glenwright don battle gear again and Blues show results by trouncing Tulsa (7-3) and nemesis Oklahoma City (81). Team captain Gary Veneruzzo finding range and Hucul figures with any luck he should reach 30 goals this season. Gary had 19 with 25 games left. Goalie Gary Edwards doing yeoman service in net. Player-coach Camille Henry sidelined with injury and sorely missed, especially on KC power play.</p><p><b>OMAHA&mdash;</b>Knights may have found diamond in rough in rookie&rsquo; goalie George Surmay, who spent most of season warming bench while Peter McDuffe tended Omaha nets. Surmay was yanked after two periods in season opener at Iowa and saw only a period of action in spots until pressure finally got to McDuffe after 40 games. Coach Larry Popein sent Surmay in and youngster responded with five top-flight efforts, allowing 1.91 goals-against average over that span. Jack Egers first CHL skater to reach 30-goal plateau, and rookie teammate Dennis Dupere may be next. He had 25 through 49 games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-01

CHL Attendance Booming With Tight Team Race

<h2><b>EASTERN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tues. Feb. 10)</b></p><h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0187/2605207-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="579" height="237"></div><h3><b>SOUTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0247/2605200-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="578" height="251"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p><b>Tues. Feb. 3</b></p><p>Jacksonville 4 at New Jersey 8</p><p><b>Wed. Feb. 4</b></p><p>Johnstown 4 at Clinton 10</p><p>Jacksonville 5 at New Haven 4</p><p>Salem 3 at Greensboro 7</p><p><b>Thurs. Feb. 5</b></p><p>Greensboro 5 atSalem 2</p><p>Charlotte 3 at Nashville 5</p><p>Jacksonville 5 at Syracuse 7</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 6</b></p><p>Jacksonville 2 at Clinton 6</p><p>Nashville 0 at New Jersey 6</p><p>Charlotte 3 at Greensboro 0</p><p>New Haven 8 at Syracuse 5</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 7</b></p><p>New Jersey 5 atClinton 4</p><p>Jacksonville 1 at Long Island 5</p><p>Nashville 2 at Johnstown 6</p><p>Charlotte 1 at Salem 4</p><p><b>Sun. Feb.8</b></p><p>Syracuse 1 atNew Haven 5</p><p>Nashville 4 at Long Island 2</p><p>Jacksonville 5 at Johnstown 4</p><p>Salem 2 at Greensboro 4</p><h3>GAMES TO COME</h3><p><b>Tues. Feb. 10</b></p><p>Charlotte at Jacksonville</p><p><b>Wed. Feb. 11</b></p><p>Greensboro at New Haven</p><p>Long Island at Johnstown</p><p>Salem atCharlotte</p><p><b>Thurs. Feb. 12</b></p><p>Greensboro atSyracuse</p><p>Clinton at Long Island</p><p>Charlotte at Salem</p><p><b>Fri.Feb.13</b></p><p>Nashville at Syracuse</p><p>Greensboro atClinton</p><p>Johnstown at Long Island</p><p>New Hoven at New Jersey</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 14</b></p><p>Nashville at Clinton</p><p>Long Island at New Jersey</p><p>Greensboro at Johnstown</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 15</b></p><p>Nashville at New Haven</p><p>Greensboro atLong Island</p><p>Johnstown at New Jersey</p><p>Jacksonville at Charlotte</p><p>Clinton at Syarcuse</p><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><p><b>(Including Games of Sun. Feb. 1)</b></p><h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0327/2605193-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="574" height="280"></div><h3><b>SOUTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0418/2605186-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="582" height="278"></div><h3><b>GOALKEEPERS&rsquo; RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0517/2605179-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="573" height="328"></div><h3><b>NEW YORK METRO LEAGUE</b></h3><p><b>(Standings on Tues. Jan. 27)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0611/2605172-1-eng-US/f0025-062.jpg" title="f0025-06" width="577" height="265"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0711/2605165-1-eng-US/f0025-072.jpg" title="f0025-07" width="573" height="330"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0025-01

<h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tues. Feb. 10)</b></p><p><b>NORTH DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0195/2605325-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="570" height="172"></div><h2>SOUTH DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0248/2605318-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="570" height="233"></div><p><b>(Affiliations: 2. Detroit 3. Boston. 4. New York 5. Chicago 6. Toronto. 10. Philadelphia x-independent)</b></p><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p><b>Tues. Feb. 3</b></p><p>Fort Woyne 3 atColumbus 4</p><p>Muskegon 6 at Dayton 6</p><p><b>Wed. Feb. 4</b></p><p>Dayton 1 at Fort Woyne 8</p><p>Des Moines 1 at Toledo 5</p><p>Port Huron 6 at Flint 5</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 6</b></p><p>Toledo 3 at Muskegon 5</p><p>Fort Wayne 2 at Port Huron 0</p><p>Columbus 3 at Des Moines 5</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 7</b></p><p>Port Huron 3 at Fort Wayne 1</p><p>Dayton 4 at Muskegon 8</p><p>Flint 0 at Toledo 3</p><p>Columbus 3 at Des Moines 3</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 8</b></p><p>Dayton 7 at Port Huron 4</p><p>Muskegon 3 at Flint 5</p><h2>GAMES TO COME</h2><p><b>Tues. Feb. 10</b></p><p>Columbus at Toledo</p><p><b>Fri.Feb.13</b></p><p>Fort Wayne atDes Moines</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 14</b></p><p>Fort Wayne at Des Moines</p><p>Columbus atPort Huron</p><p>Muskegon at Flint</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 15</b></p><p>Muskegon atPort Huron</p><p>Dayton at Flint</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><p><b>(Including Games of Sun. Feb. 1)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0332/2605311-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="572" height="536"></div><h2>MICHIGAN JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 26)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0418/2605304-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="566" height="243"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0516/2605297-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="568" height="285"></div><h2>BORDER CITIES JUNIOR</h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 26)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-069/2605290-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="570" height="210"></div><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-079/2605283-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="572" height="290"></div><h2>INTERLOCKING PLAY</h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 26)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-089/2605276-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="571" height="399"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-01

<div class="byline">BY BOB REED</div><p>DAYTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>ayton&rsquo;s Gems were having a struggle to maintain their lead in the Southern Division of the International League, what with a series of injuries to important players, unexpected losses on home ice and the dogged pursuit of the Toledo Blades.</p><p>Coach Larry Wilson estimated that the loss of four players&mdash;Duncan Rousseau, Tom lannone, Barry MacMillan and Gordon Malinoski had cost the Gems a total of 32 goals. They had already lost four more games on home ice than they had all of last season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-099/2605363-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="260" height="410"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Bob Cunningham</b></figcaption></div><p>But Wilson said he had another problem&mdash;and complaint&mdash;the IHL schedule, which he claimed, was injurious to the Gems.</p><p>&ldquo;We had two tough games on the road, and six games in the last nine days,&rdquo; Wilson pointed out. &ldquo;I love these afternoon games but why must we come home from a game in Muskegon? Why couldn&rsquo;t we have played in Muskegon Friday night and in Toledo Saturday, instead of the other way around?&rdquo; (Flint played in Muskegon Friday night).</p><p>&ldquo;We got home at 5 o&rsquo;clock in the morning of an afternoon game. The guys were bushed. We&rsquo;re hurting because we are short of experienced hockey players and there&rsquo;s a limit to what we can do physically.&rdquo; Then take a look at Muskegon&rsquo;s schedule. They&rsquo;re home on Friday night, they&rsquo;re home on Saturday night and then on Sunday they get a fairly short haul to Flint. That kind of schedule setup is ridiculous.&rdquo;</p><p>Wilson, however, had some words of sympathy for the Des Moines team. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t fair to have Des Moines in the league so far from everyone else. Their road trips are terrible. They have to spend nine to 11 hours on the bus just to get to any one team in the league. If I were the playercoach at Des Moines. I&rsquo;d be dead.&rdquo;</p><p>Closest city in the league to Des Moines is Fort Wayne, 495 miles. Other distances are Muskegon 519, Toledo 582, Flint 6(X), Dayton 614, Columbus 650 and Port Huron 673.</p><p><b>FORT WAYNE</b>&mdash;The Ko mets finally found a replacement for injured Jim Wilcox when they purchased defenseman Butch McLean from Toledo. Bill Bond was shifted to front line, with Ron Ullyot and Eric Sutcliffe out&hellip;The K&rsquo;s got a win and tie out of two games in Des Moines&hellip;Goalie Jim Keough had a great 46-save game in beating the Oak Leafs, 3-2&hellip;Merv Dubchak was back in action, recovering from broken forearm&hellip;Trevor Fahey and Rich Brown, secured from Des Moines, moved up to second and third in scoring.</p><p><b>MUSKEGON&mdash;</b>The Mohawks pulled up 13 points ahead in the Northern Division with straight wins. They had lost only one game on home ice, back on Nov. 7 to Port Huron&hellip;The Hawks had a 6-2 record against Dayton, 5-2 against Toledo and 18-7-2 overall against Southern Division teams&hellip;Hugh Harris saw his first action since going out with a shoulder separation on Dec. 7.</p><p><b>COLUMBUS&mdash;</b>Danny Belisle netted his first hat trick as a Checker&hellip;New centerman Bob Trembecky from Dayton had six points in his first three games&hellip;The Chex lost their third home game to Des Moines, the team they must beat to reach the playoffs&hellip;Bert Fizzell was well ahead of last year&rsquo;s pace, when he finished second in IHL scoring.</p><p><b>TOLEDO&mdash;</b>Wayne Zuk, Blades, candidate for rookie honors, with a four-goal game against Columbus tied Ray Germain for scoring lead&hellip;Veteran defenseman Harley Hodgson was secured from Long Island of the Eastern League&hellip;After seven straight without a loss, the Blades dropped five straight.</p><p><b>FLINT&mdash;</b>Goalie Bob Perani had his third shutout of the season and the Generals&rsquo; second straight at home&hellip;They had a 6-5-4 record for January&hellip;Jim Booth left for a five-game trial with Oklahoma City&hellip;Bob Clyne went back on injured list for two weeks&hellip;The Gens had 10 tie games, hightest in league.</p><p><b>DAYTON&mdash;</b>Dunc Rousseau started to skate and was strengthening his legs with daily weight lifting&hellip;Mike Dumas had his third shutout of the season&hellip;Billy Staub was robbed of $25 in a holdup following a Sunday night game&hellip;The Gems hadn&rsquo;t you a regular season game in Muskegon since Feb. 2, 1968&hellip;New winger Art Thomas moved onto a line with Barry Merrell and Garry MacMillan.</p><p><b>PORT HURON&mdash;</b>Goalie Bob Perani of Flint had 48 saves in a 2-2 tie with the Flags, who had their first tie in 22 games at home&hellip;Bob Cunningham, center and left wing, was brought in from Baltimore of the American League&hellip;</p><p><b>DES MOINES&mdash;</b>Meehan Bonnar was placed on a 14-day injured list&hellip;The Oak Leafs were averaging over 3,200 per game&hellip;General Manager Terry Slater said no player would sit out because of injuries&mdash;short of a broken leg&hellip;The Leafs took over third place by beating Columbus fro the third straight time&hellip;Cliff Pennington had 12 shots on goals stopped by the Komets&rsquo; Jim Keough.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-108/2605356-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="551" height="574"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>WAYNE ZUK&hellip;Joins Four-Goal Club</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-09

Dayton Coach Wilson Claims IHL Schedule Hurting Cems; Zuk Turns In 4-Goal Effort

<h2><b>IHL JUNIOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. Jan. 30)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-117/2605415-1-eng-US/f0026-112.jpg" title="f0026-11" width="568" height="172"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-125/2605408-1-eng-US/f0026-122.jpg" title="f0026-12" width="572" height="283"></div><h2><b>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Thurs. Feb. 5)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-134/2605401-1-eng-US/f0026-132.jpg" title="f0026-13" width="568" height="169"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-143/2605394-1-eng-US/f0026-142.jpg" title="f0026-14" width="567" height="359"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-11

<h2><b>ONTARIO JUNIOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tues. Feb. 10)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0179/2605551-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="580" height="375"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPUTED</b></h2><p><b>Tues. Feb. 3</b></p><p>St. Catharines 4 at London 8</p><p><b>Thurs. Feb. 4</b></p><p>Ottawa 4 at Hamilton 5</p><p>St. Catharines 1 at Peterboro 4</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 5</b></p><p>Montreal 7 at Kitchener 2</p><p>Oshawa 2 at Niagara Falls 4</p><p>St. Catharines 2 at Toronto 4</p><p>Ottawa 2 at London 4</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 6</b></p><p>Montreal 3 at Peterboro 3</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 7</b></p><p>Montreal 2 at Torgnto 8</p><p>London 2 at St. Catharines 8</p><p>Hamilton 7 at Oshawa 7</p><p>Kitchener 1 at Ottawa 5</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><p><b>(Including Games of Sun. Feb. 1)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0249/2605544-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="589" height="713"></div><h2><b>WESTERN ONTARIO JUNIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 4)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0329/2605537-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="572" height="208"></div><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><p><b>(Including games of Sun. Feb. 1)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0424/2605530-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="582" height="410"></div><h2><b>WESTERN CANADA JUNIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 4)</b></p><h3><b>Eastern Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0516/2605523-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="575" height="173"></div><h3><b>Western Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0611/2605516-1-eng-US/f0027-062.jpg" title="f0027-06" width="574" height="173"></div><h2><b>NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 4)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-078/2605509-1-eng-US/f0027-072.jpg" title="f0027-07" width="578" height="203"></div><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-088/2605502-1-eng-US/f0027-082.jpg" title="f0027-08" width="585" height="361"></div><h2><b>NORTHERN ONTARIO SENIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Thurs. Feb. 5)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-098/2605495-1-eng-US/f0027-092.jpg" title="f0027-09" width="577" height="166"></div><h2><b>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 6)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-107/2605488-1-eng-US/f0027-102.jpg" title="f0027-10" width="582" height="306"></div><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><p><b>(Including games of Tues. Feb. 3)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-116/2605481-1-eng-US/f0027-112.jpg" title="f0027-11" width="586" height="455"></div><h2><b>SASKATCHEWAN JUNIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Sat. Jan. 31)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-125/2605474-1-eng-US/f0027-122.jpg" title="f0027-12" width="579" height="167"></div><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-132/2605467-1-eng-US/f0027-132.jpg" title="f0027-13" width="585" height="307"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC JUNIOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tues. Feb. 3)</b></p><h3><b>East Section</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-142/2605460-1-eng-US/f0027-142.jpg" title="f0027-14" width="579" height="234"></div><h3><b>West Section</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-152/2605453-1-eng-US/f0027-152.jpg" title="f0027-15" width="576" height="203"></div><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-162/2605446-1-eng-US/f0027-162.jpg" title="f0027-16" width="583" height="302"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0027-01

LOOKING AT THE RACES

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div><p>ST. CATHARINES&mdash;</p><p>After slipping briefly out of first place, Montreal Canadiens wasted little time in regaining the top spot in the Ontario Hockey Association Junior A League.</p><p>The Canadiens hit an early-January thaw in which they won only one and tied two of seven games, permitting Peterborough to take over the league lead.</p><p>In fact for 48 hours the Canadiens slipped back to third as St. Catharines Black Hawks took off on a 13-game undefeated streak.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-172/2605582-1-eng-US/f0027-172.jpg" title="f0027-17" width="261" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Danny Gloor</b></figcaption></div><p>However the defending Canadian junior champions abruptly ended their slump and snapped the Hawks&rsquo; unbeaten string, defeating the Hawks 6-5 before a season&rsquo;s record crowd of 4,050 at Garden City Arena.</p><p>They backed up that decision with a 4-1 win over Niagara Falls and a 9-4 victory over Hamilton Red Wings and once again nudged into first position.</p><p>The Canadiens can thank their mastery of the Hawks for their lofty spot.</p><p>In four games with St. Catharines, three of them on the Hawks&rsquo; home ice, the Canadiens have not dropped a point. The two remaining games between the clubs are in the Montreal Forum.</p><p>In five games the Marlboros have won three and lost two and their most recent win over the Canadiens (5-4) was watched by more than 14,000 fans in the Forum.</p><p><b>MONTREAL:</b> Although slightly below last year&rsquo;s record attendance, the Canadiens continue to draw the largest crowds in the 10-team circuit. The juniors are averaging more than double the number of fans turning out for the AHL Montreal Voyageurs. Gilbert Perreault continues his brilliant play and has been instrumental in keeping the Canadiens at or near the top since the 54-game schedule opened. Perreault is everyone&rsquo;s choice as the first junior draft in June.</p><p><b>PETERBOROUGH:</b> Balance and basic hockey are the reasons for Peterborough&rsquo;s challenge for the pennant. However, they have also had excellent individual performances from Rick MacLeish, defenseman Ron Plumb and perhaps the best midget draft choice in the league, Danny Gloor.</p><p><b>ST. CATHARINES:</b> Marcel Dionne suffered a bruised ankle in the first period against Marlboros but still managed to pick up three assists and boost his league-leading points total over the 100 mark. Last year, his rookie season, Dionne was second to Rejean Houle of the Canadiens with exactly 100 points.</p><p><b>TORONTO:</b> Still considered by many to be a distinct threat for the junior A championship, the Marlboros continue to blow hot and cold. Dale Tallon has been moved to defense by coach Gus Bodnar in an effort to give more ballast to that part of the team but their chief problem is inconsistent goaltending.</p><p><b>KITCHENER:</b> The Rangers lost four successive games to Peterborough (5-2), Oshawa (6-2 and 8-2) and London (8-2) but fortunately earned enough points in December and early January to virtually clinch one of the eight playoff positions. After their dismal last place finish in 1968-69 even an eighth place would be rewarding for the Kitchener fans</p><p><b>OTTAWA:</b> Failure to win on the road has been a handicap to the 67s. Of their total points only 11 (three wins, five ties) have been on foreign ice. However they have won a large percentage of games at home and this will give them a position in the playoffs. They must improve on the road or suffer a quick demise in the post-season games.</p><p><b>OSHAWA:</b> The Generals could be the &ldquo;sleeper&rdquo; in the second division. Off to a poor start the Generals suddenly caught fire late in January and in one stretch won six and tied one in seven games. Bob Kelly, an aggressive, quick-breaking forward is the undisputed Oshawa leader and may give them the drive to survive one pr more playoff rounds.</p><p><b>LONDON:</b> Darryl Sittier is the key to the Knights&rsquo; immediate future. Although not enjoying as spectacular a season as last year Sittier, on occasion, is among the most dangerous in the league.</p><p><b>HAMILTON:</b> Without question the disappointment of the year has been the Red Wings. Starting the season with 12 experienced players the Wings were picked, by many observers, to finish in the first division. Despite line juggling, trades and his usual vociferous support behind the bench, Eddie Bush has been unable to bring the Wings to their supposed potential.</p><p><b>NIAGARA FALLS:</b> Before the season started manager Hap Emms and his son Paul claimed that this was a year for rebuilding. Few believed the Emms father-son duo, feeling that this was another of their efforts to camouflage another fine Flyer hockey club. However Hap and Paul have proven they were serious. The Flyers, for the first time since transferring from Barrie 10 years ago, will not make the playoffs.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-17

Canadiens Scramble Back On Top By Dominating St. Catharines

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="C0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0141/2605613-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>CARL BREWER&hellip;Years Have Made Him A &ldquo;Pacifist&rdquo;</b></figcaption></div><p>DETROIT&mdash;</p><p>Not even in his best Toronto days did Carl Brewer set up goals the way he has this season for the Red Wings.</p><p>Brewer had some pretty good years for the Maple Leafs, you&rsquo;ll remember&mdash;the first All-Star team in 1962-63 and the second team in 1961-62 and 1964-65.</p><p>His top assist years were 196263 and 1964-65, his final year with the Leafs. Brewer set up 23 goals each season.</p><p>He&rsquo;s passed that already as a Red Wing, setting up eight goals in a five game stretch. The Wings scored 15 goals in those five games and won four of them.</p><p>Now eight assists in five games is rather modest by Bobby Orr standards but it&rsquo;s some achievement for the Red Wing defense and Brewer is outstripping Gary Bergman as the top blue line playmaker for the Wings and is closing in on Red Kelly&rsquo;s club record for assists by a defenseman&mdash;37, back in 1950-51.</p><p>Despite the surge, Brewer isn&rsquo;t playing as well as manager-coach Sid Abel thinks he can nor is he playing the style of hockey the Red Wings envisioned when they finally signed him the day after last season ended.</p><p>He&rsquo;s certainly giving the club some take-charge defense and moving the puck up and out of danger and into the opposition zone as evidenced by his assists.</p><p>But he&rsquo;s been much more Dr. Jekyll than the Mr. Hyde the Red Wings envisioned and that&rsquo;s evidenced by his penalty minutes. Brewer collected 100-plus penalty minutes in five of his seven Toronto seasons and came close the other two.</p><p>As a Red Wing he&rsquo;s practically been the height of decorum on the ice&hellip;as least after that first half-minute in his opening exhibition game when he was slapped with a minor and, in fast order, misconduct and game misconduct penalties.</p><p>Brewer is by far the least penalized of Detroit&rsquo;s four regular defensemen and that&rsquo;s a drastic departure from his Toronto style. Carl changed his game during his four-season absence from the NHL, during his tours with the Canadian National team, the International League and a Finnish team.</p><p>He&rsquo;s said that he tried to win the Finns over to the North American concept of winning bring everything but instead, they converted him and his style seems almost serene, pacifistic.</p><p>However, the NHL style is based very much on the winning above all else principle. The Red Wings turned the other cheek the past three seasons and consequently they weren&rsquo;t even the fourth best team in a six team race.</p><p>That has left the fans rather unhappy and owner Bruce Norris more so.</p><p>And this year, even with the addition of Brewer giving the Wings their best all-around defense in years plus Chicago&rsquo;s horrendous start, the Wings haven&rsquo;t been able to shake loose from the Black Hawks.</p><p>They stayed ahead of the Hawks but each time they had an opportunity to knock Chicago down, they came up flat and the Hawks came up high. In one stretch Detroit posted a 15-6-3 won-lost-tied record, a pretty fancy pace.</p><p>But three of the six losses were to the Hawks and the Wings beat Chicago only once in that span.</p><p>Largely on the basis of Brewer&rsquo;s return, nearly all the pickers picked Detroit to make the playoffs this season.</p><p>If they don&rsquo;t, Olympia may resemble a disaster area that first week of April.</p><p><b>WING NOTES:</b> Assistant general manager Baz Bastien is recuperating from a mild heart attack, one that went undetected for five days.</p><p>The exciteable Bastien, who lives and dies on every play, suffered the attack at his Detroit hotel the night of Jan. 25&mdash;the Wings had lost to Montreal, 4-1, that night.</p><p>Bastien had chest pains but figured it was congestion and a chest cold and didn&rsquo;t do anything about it. Then, after he&rsquo;d gone to bed on Jan. 29&mdash;another game that night with the Wings hanging on to beat Philadelphia, 4-3, in a thrilling finish&mdash;Bastien suffered more pains.</p><p>He went to the doctor the next morning and was hustled to Detroit Osteopathic Hospital where he is convalescing.</p><p>Also hospitalized was Harry (Scotty) Watmuff, veteran clubhouse aide, with high blood pressure and rapid pulse.</p><p>Detroit has continued to do much better against Western clubs than it did the first two years of expansion&mdash;for instance, the Wings swept their first two California trips this season and they couldn&rsquo;t win two in a row on the coast either of the first two years of expansion.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

C0004-01

Fire Wings Hoped For, Gone From Brewer’s Game

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BERRY</div><p>DETROIT&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>G</span>ordie Howe&rsquo;s jerseys often are targets of souvenir hunters. A couple winters ago University of Montreal students broke into the Red Wing dressing room in the Forum and swiped Howe&rsquo;s sweater which they used in their winter carnival.</p><p>Then, when the Wings went to California not long ago, someone stole Howe&rsquo;s sweater from their Los Angeles Forum dressing room. A young Marine from Detroit, stationed at El Toro Marine Base, showed up at the game proudly wearing number 9 and he was seized.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0242/2605644-1-eng-US/c0004-022.jpg" title="C0004-02" width="260" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Gordie Howe</b></figcaption></div><p>The marine, a life-along Red Wing fan, had gotter the jersey from the Detroit sports goods store where the Wings do their business and he had some time explaining it to officials who figured he was the culprit.</p><p>Howe wore sweater number 11, Garry Monahan&rsquo;s, because it was the only one that would fit him. Monahan switched to number 20. And the marine sat on his number 9 to avoid being grabbed again.</p><p>He had something to cheer about, though. Frank Mahovlich scored Detroit&rsquo;s opening goal on a Howe feed and the Wings went on to win the game, 2-1.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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February 20, 1970

Americans Keep Fingers Crossed As Cotton Hit By Another Injury

PAPPIN FLYING AGAIN FOR HAWKS

Central League Summaries

Clinton Leaving New Haven Behind; Nashville’s Sprange On Hot Streak