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.

December 31, 1971

The Hockey News December 31, 1971

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01758/2975005-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2>TOP 25 SCORERS</h2>(INCLUDING GAMES OF SUNDAY, DEC. 19)<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02652/2974998-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="1413" height="905"></div><h3>BOSTON Bruins</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03515/2974991-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="739" height="712"></div><h3>BUFFALO Sabres</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04373/2974984-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="741" height="805"></div><h3>CALIFORNIA Seals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05280/2974977-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="749" height="753"></div><h3>CHICAGO Black Hawks</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06232/2974970-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg" title="f0012-06" width="745" height="724"></div><h3>DETROIT Red Wings</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-07204/2974963-1-eng-US/f0012-072.jpg" title="f0012-07" width="748" height="826"></div><h3>LOS ANGELES Kings</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-08179/2974956-1-eng-US/f0012-082.jpg" title="f0012-08" width="737" height="706"></div><h3>MINNESOTA North Stars</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-09148/2974949-1-eng-US/f0012-092.jpg" title="f0012-09" width="744" height="758"></div><h3>MONTREAL Canadiens</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-10133/2974942-1-eng-US/f0012-102.jpg" title="f0012-10" width="746" height="745"></div><h3>NEW YORK Rangers</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-11123/2974935-1-eng-US/f0012-112.jpg" title="f0012-11" width="741" height="759"></div><h3>PHILADELPHIA Flyers</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-12106/2974928-1-eng-US/f0012-122.jpg" title="f0012-12" width="743" height="803"></div><h3>PITTSBURGH Penguins</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1395/2974921-1-eng-US/f0012-132.jpg" title="f0012-13" width="742" height="814"></div><h3>ST. LOUIS Blues</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1488/2974914-1-eng-US/f0012-142.jpg" title="f0012-14" width="748" height="804"></div><h3>TORONTO Maple Leafs</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1582/2974907-1-eng-US/f0012-152.jpg" title="f0012-15" width="737" height="787"></div><h3>VANCOUVER Canucks</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1673/2974900-1-eng-US/f0012-162.jpg" title="f0012-16" width="745" height="792"></div><h2>NHL&rsquo;S EAST-WEST SCOREBOARD</h2>(Statistics include games of Sunday, Dec. 19)<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1759/2974893-1-eng-US/f0012-172.jpg" title="f0012-17" width="1447" height="232"></div>. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

PLAYERS SCORING PENALTY RECORDS

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01806/2974496-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">TERRY CRISP&hellip;Provides Spark On The Ice (Hockey News Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Terry Crisp is one of hockey&rsquo;s happy warriors.He puts a lot of himself into the game but doesn&rsquo;t demand a lot in return. And he has been highly appreciative of the opportunities and good fortune that have come his way.He minimizes his own talents and is constantly amazed that he&rsquo;s playing with the big boys in the National Hockey League.The fact is that Crispy is a very valuable member of the St. Louis Blues. He is one of three current St. Louis players chosen in the original expansion draft in 1967, and the Blues have never had cause to regret his selection.Lynn Patrick, now the Blues&rsquo; vice president who was the one making the draft selections in 1967, says of Crisp, &ldquo;He provides a spark every time he steps on the ice. A lot of other teams would like to have him.&rdquo;Over the five seasons Crisp has spent one short stint with the Blues&rsquo; farm club at Kansas City and a longer one of loan to Buffalo, but the rest of the time he has been a St. Louis mainstay.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been five wonderful years,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good to know that, when you come back to hockey each fall, you&rsquo;ll be somewhere where you&rsquo;ll have friends and know your neighbors.&rdquo;As a five-year man on the Blues, Crisp is an authority on the team&rsquo;s development. He was with the team for the bleak beginning, then the sudden rise to power by the end of the first season, the three straight Stanley Cup finals, last year&rsquo;s disappointing loss to the Minnesota North Stars in the first round of the playoffs, then this year&rsquo;s bad start followed by a regeneration under new coach Bill McCreary.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of new faces, but the new fellows have fit in,&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll probably never recapture the old days, but this may be the closest we&rsquo;ll come to the original St. Louis Blues&rsquo; feeling.&ldquo;Minnesota right now reminds me of our first couple of years, because they have a mixture of young kids and older guys and they match you line for line,&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;With our bad start this year all we can get is stronger.&rdquo;Crisp personally had a great start this season, beginning with his impressive play as one of the Blues&rsquo; many left handed centers in training camp.&ldquo;You should have seen all the guys that were trying to take my job,&rdquo; said the unassuming Crisp. &ldquo;I had to skate hard to keep it.&rdquo;He also started the regular season with a flourish by scoring three shorthanded goals in the first five games. Crisp took the penalty-killing role on a regular basis with McCreary gone to the coaching ranks and now has added another shorthanded goal to tie the coach&rsquo;s team record of four. Tieing the boss&rsquo; record, however, is not to be considered arrogance, because Crispy is enthusiastic about McCreary&rsquo;s coaching.&ldquo;For a fellow to come back after playing four years and have the respect of the same players is a great achievement,&rdquo; Crisp said of McCreary. &ldquo;Sure, a lot of us were friends with Billy. But the line has been drawn, and it&rsquo;s there; we know it, and Billy knows it. He demands from us what he gave.&rdquo;Crisp is ready to give whatever is needed to stay where he is. Before expansion of the NHL he had spent four years in the old Central Professional Hockey League at Minneapolis and Oklahoma City with time for a cup of tea at Boston in the 1965-66 season. Expansion and the Blues gave him his chance for better days.&ldquo;A few of us were reminiscing the other night about our first years in pro hockey,&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;A guy was making $3,000 a year with maybe $1,000 to sign and living in a trailer. But you wouldn&rsquo;t appreciate what you have now, if you hadn&rsquo;t gone through it.&rdquo;&ldquo;If I had signed for big money, I wouldn&rsquo;t have had the satisfaction of coming up in the game, and my wife the satisfaction of making it with me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Anything we have we owe to hockey. We don&rsquo;t run it down because we owe a lot to it; you look at what you have and you&rsquo;re thankful.&rdquo; &#9632;

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After Five Years, Crisp Still Predating For Blues

<div class="byline">BY JOE MINSTER</div>CINCINNATI&mdash;By some standards, Terry James Ball is considered to be on the small side to play regularly on defense in professional hockey.Ball, who has been outstanding for the Cincinnati Swords in American Hockey League play this season, doesn&rsquo;t agree with this premise. In his eighth year as a pro skater, Terry packs just 165 pounds on a stocky 5-8 frame, but has proven time and again that he can cope with opponents who may have as much as a 40-pound weight advantage over him.&ldquo;Size isn&rsquo;t everything in this game,&rdquo; the assistant captain of the Swords points out. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s true that you have to throw your weight around every now and then out there, but I haven&rsquo;t had too many problems in that department.&rdquo;Ball&rsquo;s value to a team goes a lot farther than playing defense.He also handles the point on power plays and sees plenty of duty in the role of a penalty killer. Altogether, his ice time in a 60-minute contest frequently comes close to, or exceeds, 40 minutes. And you have to be plenty durable to spend that much time on the ice.After Cincinnati&rsquo;s first 29 games, Ball emerged as the team&rsquo;s leading scorer, with 10 goals and 19 assists to his credit for a total of 29 points. Among his impressive total were listed three power play goals, two winning goals and a pair of game tying goals.A native of Selkirk, Manitoba, 27-year-old Ball last year divided his time between the parent Buffalo Sabres of the National League, Amarillo of the Central League and Salt Lake City of the Western League, a Buffalo farm club. In his stints with the three outfits, he totaled seven goals and 44 assists for an aggregate of 51 points.He embarked on his professional hockey career with the New York Rangers system, and after several years in the Central League was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1967 NHL expansion draft.&ldquo;Philadelphia used me almost exclusively at the point on the power play,&rdquo; he recalled.Ball helps give the youthful Swords a certain amount of experience that is so necessary in American League action.Ball is particularly valuable at the point with his hard and accurate slap shot, which has been responsible for many Swords goals this season. A typical performance for him came against the Cleveland Barons in a recent game at Cincinnati Gardens when he played a part in all four Sword goals, scoring once and picking up three assists in a 4-3 Cincinnati victory.That triumph over Cleveland incidentally, snapped a nine game winless streak for the Swords that saw them lose eight times and tie just once (at Rich mond.)When Cincinnati nosed out Cleveland on December 9, it marked the initial victory for the Swords since November 17, when they topped Richmond, 5-3, on the losers&rsquo; ice. It also was the first victory on home ice for Coach Joe Crozier&rsquo;s young team in over a month, since they edged Nova Scotia, 4-3, on November 4.SWORD SLASHES: In an effort to strengthen the sagging Swords, Buffalo dispatched forward Rod Zaine, who contributed a game-winning goal at Tidewater and three assists in his first three contests as a Sword&hellip;Young defenseman Don Brennan looked impressive after being recalled from Charlotte of the Eastern League to face the Barons&hellip;Cincinnati led Cleveland 5-3 in the final two minutes at Cleveland December 12, only to lose, 6-5.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02228/2975742-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="271" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rod Zaine</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01309/2975735-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="570" height="583"><figcaption class="caption-body">TERRY BALL&hellip;Valuable Performer</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Ball’s Ice Versatulity Overcomes Size

<h2>Overtime Not Fair To NHL Players</h2>I am getting pretty tired of reading about how much better hockey games would be if there was overtime in the case of tie contests after the end of regulation play.It might be more exciting for the viewers, but how fair would it be for the players? They play hard enough as it is; another ten minutes or so on the ice after sixty minutes of hard work is, as far as I am concerned, too much to ask.I have seen the strain put on the players during Stanley Cup games when they are subjected to overtime. I understand that this is necessary in the playoffs but am decidedly against it for the regular season.I am an avid hockey fan and am more than satisfied with the effort made by hockey players. I just wish the fans who are complaining would appreciate how hard these men are working and let that satiate their hunger for excitement.KAREN HOCHMAN, Syosset, N.Y.<h2>Teams Should Fight To Keep NHL Stars</h2>I think it is vital to the future of the NHL that it take steps to meet the threat of the proposed World Hockey Association as far as taking away the NHL&rsquo;s top players is concerned.The NHL will have enough difficulty trying to provide quality talent for 16 teams next year, and it can ill-afford to be raided of players like Bobby Hull and Derek Sanderson. Free competition is fair, of course, but what, for example, will the California Seals do if Carol Vadnais is lured away by a big contract the Seals could not match?STEWART ROULEAU, Kensington, Md.<h2>Kings&rsquo; Mikkelson Budding NHL Star</h2>It seems to me that Bobby Orr, Brad Park and J.C. Tremblay and those types monopolize all the publicity for National Hockey League defensemen. I think the most unsung young rearguard in the NHL is Bill Mikkelson of the Los Angeles Kings.Although I am a Kings&rsquo; fan, this is an unbiased assessment. Mikkelson is young, aggressive and a good skater and checker. Also, he seldom gets caught out of position, although he is inexperienced compared to Harry Howell or Larry Hillman.With Fred Glover at the reigns, we&rsquo;re sure to improve and give the other clubs in the West Division a playoff run.BRYAN SHANEZ, Vanier, Ont.<h2>No NHL Games Christmas Day</h2>I would like to register a mild objection to the scheduling of National Hockey League contests on Christmas Day.I realize that every date is vital to completing the mamoth NHL regular season play and that many hockey fans like to take in a NHL contest on this day, but I feel Christmas is one day that should be left open.This year, players from Montreal, Boston, St. Louis, Detroit Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles will be on the road Christmas day and away from their families. I feel this is very regrettable and should be avoided.CLARA POTTER, Saskatoon, Sask. &#9632;

Fan Forum

&mdash;Page 13WHO&rsquo;S BETTER?ORR&mdash;PARK CONTROVERSY RACES AGAIN&mdash;PAGE 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01529/2977192-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg" title="Cover-01" width="577" height="907"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY ORR</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-02402/2977185-1-eng-US/cover-022.jpg" title="Cover-02" width="579" height="906"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRAD PARK</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-03179/2977178-1-eng-US/cover-032.jpg" title="Cover-03" width="1292" height="1517"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY LAFLEUR Canadiens&rsquo; Rookie Sizzling Scorer (Hockey News Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>TOPPLING CANADIENS FLYERS&rsquo; DELIGHT&mdash;Page 11FINLEY DENIES SEALS WILL BE MOVED&mdash;Page 14FLETT, JOYAL WORRIED KINGS&mdash;Page 9NORTH STARS ON ROAD BACK IN WEST&mdash;PAGE 10 &#9632;

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VEZINA RACE TIGHTENS UP

<div class="byline">BY TOM MONAHAN</div>BOSTON&mdash;When Phil Esposito came to the Bruins five years ago he carried the uncomplimentary name of &ldquo;garbage man&rdquo; all the way from Chicago. Well, some garbage Espo has collected for the B&rsquo;s on the way to his 30th birthday in February.While everyone outside of Boston has been waiting for Espo to fall flat on his face, the articulate entrepreneur from Sault Ste. Marie has become the 16th man in National Hockey League history to reach the 300-goal plateau and he has done it in fewer games than the revered Rocket Richard.When Esposito hit the magic number in his 27th game of this season with his 23rd goal of the campaign, it was his 481st NHL appearance. Richard had to go all the way to 564 while Bobby Hull needed 576 and Gordie Howe needed 624 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01711/2974255-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="278" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Esposito</figcaption></div>Purists, of course, will point to expansion of the NHL as the major factor in Esposito&rsquo;s climb from the shadows of the Golden Jet.But Espo has a better answer for his fabulous record of 226 goals for the Bruins. He attribuates it to the development of what he calls &ldquo;the snap shot&rdquo;.&ldquo;This is something between a wrist shot and a slap shot,&rdquo; explains Esposito. &ldquo;And I have to give Bobby Hull credit for helping me develop it.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s the most underrated shot in hockey today. It&rsquo;s a great shot because it is quick and usually it catches the goaltenders going the wrong way. It really has helped me to become a top scorer.&rdquo;In progression with the Bruins, Espo has scored 35, 49, 43 and 76 goals and matched his record output of last year in 27 games by notching 23 to go with 28 assists for a total of 51 points.He now ranks only behind Johnny Bucyk, Milt Scmhidt and Bill Coley as the most productive in Bruins&rsquo; history.Admitting all of this is nice. Espo still insists that points interest him only in so far as they help the team.&ldquo;Points don&rsquo;t interest me,&rdquo; he said when queried on whether he can break his 1970-71 record of 152 for the season,&rdquo; winning does.&ldquo;If I can score 40 goals and get 100 points and we win the Stanley Cup I&rsquo;ll be happy.&rdquo;Perhaps that&rsquo;s because he already has made history by being the first man ever to score 100 points in a season and boosted the goals record out of sight last year with 76.But it is not being simply provincial to believe that Esposito is nothing but candid in his statement, especially when be expressed himself with regard to the Prince of Wales and Stanley Cup trophies.&ldquo;The Prince of Wales Trophy carries almost as much weight as the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; he says.&rdquo; It does with everyone but the fans.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s tougher to go through 78 games and finish first than it is to come out on top in 20 playoff games. It makes a great team to finish first the way the league and schedule is set up today. In one playoff a team can get hot and that&rsquo;s it.&rdquo;Still the Stanley Gup carries its own prestige and Espo has a keen desire to see it back in Boston next spring.From the gleam in his eye when he mentions it, you have to believe that he would be happy with that&mdash;if he didn&rsquo;t score another goal or point the rest of the season.But you also know that Espo has to keep things going in order to realize that ambition. &#9632;

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‘Snap Shot’ Helped Esposito To Reach 300 Plateau Early

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01715/2974293-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY ORR&hellip;Is He Facing Another Challenge?</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Brad Park was on strike. There were so many media people crowding around him that he had to retire to the shower room before meeting his subjects.Douglas Bradford, now a mature man of 23, had just fired his first ever hat trick as the Rangers finally showed the pesky Pittsburgh Penguins who was boss by a 6-1 count in Madison Square Garden on December 12.&ldquo;No, that is my first hat trick,&rdquo; grinned Park. &ldquo;The drinks are on me&mdash;meaning orange and coke, of course. This was satisfying. I am most happy when we win and the team plays well, but this was nice.&rdquo;When asked to recall his somewhat lackluster performance in the Stanley Cup playoffs last year, Park confirmed a strong suspicion of many, &ldquo;I was playing hurt. My knee wasn&rsquo;t what it could have been and I was lese mobile. I just want to forget the playoffs and concentrate on this season. We have a real terrific team here and maybe I&rsquo;m playing better positional hockey. Anyway, I&rsquo;m hot, and as long as we win I&rsquo;m happy.&rdquo;Park had 12 goals and twenty two assists for thirty four points, second amongst defensemen to Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins. Orr had 45 points. When asked if Park was as good as Orr, Brad answered, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t make comparisions. I am a professional and just do my job.&rdquo;This answer was that of a true professional, who knows the fine line between success and failure in pro sports. It was the second game in a row in which the youthful Ranger hero had landed in the spotlight. In the course of a 5-0 Ranger win in Philadelphia on December 9, Park went to the aid of Walter Tkaczuk and drew the automatic game misconduct as the third man in a fight.&ldquo;Walter would have done the same for me. He was fighting Rick Foley, who is a mountain on skates and I just thought he needed a little help. Walter and I will take on anyone in the NHL,&rdquo; quipped Brad with tongue very much in check.Analytically, Park seemed to be going in just far enough in the offensive zone. When Jean Ratelie came back and blocked a shot, he said, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s alright, I get in his way sometimes, too.&rdquo;In truth, Arnie Brown, now with Detroit, went in a bit further on attack last season than either Brad or Dale Rolfe, his defense partner are doing this year. Rollie, as Dale is called, seems to rush in bursts with Park staying back and then they reverse the proceedure. Brownie was Park&rsquo;s partner before being traded to Detroit last year.Whether Park can really challenge Orr is a moot point. Emile Francis thinks he played just as well last season until he got hurt. Of Brad&rsquo;s first ten goals, six were on power plays and two came while shorthanded. And three were game winners. This is the statistics Orr is usually made of.In other developments, Peter Stemkowski returned to the lineup and notched a neat assist in the Pittsburgh encounter. The Stemmer was being wound up by the Rangers for the schedule ahead which included Boston, two Minnesota games and a Montreal contest.Vic Hadfield, tied with Phil Esposito for the NHL lead in goals, is beginning to get special attention. At least, Bryan Watson, the super pest of the Penguins gave Vic some unnecessary licks and Hadfield game them back. Later, Vic ignored Watson, stole the puck behind the net and passed out to Rod Gilbert for a score.Gene Carr seems to be set as the left wing on the Tkaczuk&mdash;Billy Fairbairn line for the moment. Pierre Jarry and Jim Lorentz sat out in recent games, although this can change.Carr, quick off the mark, reminds one of fluid drive with his skating ability. He gets hit upon occasion, but usually bounces right back ready for more.If Boston has a five man third line, so do the Rangers with the return of the Stemmer. Pete, Bobby Rousseau, Bruce MacGregor, Ted Irvine and Glen Sather effectively make up that type of in depth combination. Rousseau, with a fancy 11-15-26 log up to December 15, has made the comeback of the year.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02594/2974286-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1184" height="953"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRAD PARK&hellip;Holding Hot Hand For Rangers</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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WHO IS BETTER? Orr-Park Controversy Raging Again In NHL

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01777/2974338-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="516" height="530"></div>&bull; FRED GLOVER, coach of the Los Angeles Kings, told Tim Burke of the Montreal Gazette that most of the NHL players today are &lsquo;swell-headed&rsquo; and that they&rsquo;ve lost their desire and simply don&rsquo;t care. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost impossible to charge up a team any more&rsquo;&rsquo;, the fiery LA leader was quoted. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve become smilers now&rdquo;, he said in a tone dripping with sarcasm. &ldquo;They say, &lsquo;why should we hit each other? We&rsquo;ve got our association&rdquo;, and he smashed his fist into the palm of his hand for emphasis&hellip;What Fred says may be true of a number of players but it certainly isn&rsquo;t true of them all&hellip;The World Hockey Association won&rsquo;t hold its first player draft until next month. What&rsquo;s happening now is that WHA teams are approaching certain individuals to find out if there&rsquo;s any point entering claims for them. In other words, Edmonton, say, doesn&rsquo;t want to waste a draft choice on Bill Goldsworthy if he isn&rsquo;t interested in leaving Minnesota&hellip;A hockey writer recently asked Coach Billy Reay of the Black Hawks how Bobby Hull&rsquo;s transplanted locks were growing. Reay replied &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t ask me. I never look at Hull&rsquo;s head. I look at his legs&rdquo;&hellip;Gordie Howe&rsquo;s executive deal with the Red Wings places a limit on his travels. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to follow the club around&rdquo;, he explains. &ldquo;If I did that, I might as well be playing and that&rsquo;s one of the reasons I decided to retire. I couldn&rsquo;t take the travelling anymore&rdquo;&hellip;Bob Pulford, captain of the Los Angeles Kings, is trying to form an alliance among his teammates whereby they will get together after every home game and talk things over instead of jumping into their cars and scattering in several different directions. His teammates are behind his suggestion and they suggested that no-shows be fined. So far, there have been no absentees&hellip;Dick Bielous, former trainer with Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Totems, is looking for a trainer&rsquo;s job in hockey. Interested parties may contact him through this column&hellip;Gary Dornhoefer&rsquo;s unassisted goal against California Seals was his first in 15 games. He hit six goal posts during that time, and had hit eight posts in 25 games. Dornhoefer once went 31 games without a goal several years ago&hellip;Georges Messier of Granby, Que. calls Boston&rsquo;s Bobby Orr &ldquo;Mr. Quarterback&rdquo; and sent along a million reasons why the nickname applies&hellip;Dennis Hextall of the North Stars is being hampered with knee trouble this season. The knee on which he had surgery in early October has swollen up every time he&rsquo;s tried skating on it&hellip;The average NHL official travels 80,000 miles during the course of a season and handles 90 to 95 games&hellip;Gary Sabourin celebrated his 28th birthday this year with two goals and an assist as the Blues defeated Buffalo, 5-1, and after suffering an early-season goal-scoring slump now is back on a pace that could see him score 30 or more goals by the end of the season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02728/2974331-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="278" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Sabourin</figcaption></div>&bull; WREN BLAIR, general manager of the Minnesota North Stars, received an avalanche of cards and well-wishes following his recent lung surgery. He will require close to a month of recuperation at his Edina, Minn. home before resuming his regular schedule&hellip;The North Stars are proving a popular attraction in Minnesota for commercial appearances. Many of the players have done well with television spots, autograph sessions at business places and other such side ventures&hellip;They say around the NHL that the day of the genuine villain, the brawler whose chief hockey skill was his ability to dismantle an opponent, is gone. One reason might be that the game has speeded up so much in recent years that the opportunity for fights has lessened&hellip;California Seals&rsquo; center Joey Johnston&rsquo;s first child, six-week-old Jeffrey Johnston, died of undetermined causes in Oakland earlier this month&hellip;Dartmouth, Michigan State, Michigan Tech and Notre Dame will compete in the Seventh Annual Great Lakes Invitational College Tournament in Detroit this year&hellip;Buffalo&rsquo;s super rookie Richard Martin scored his 20th goal in his 29th NHL game. Only five of these goals came at home. The 15 goals on the road attest to his strong play on foreign ice&hellip;Right winger Steve Atkinson of the Sabres, off to a slow start, has discarded the helmet he began wearing a year ago. &ldquo;Maybe a change that way will help&rdquo;, he said&hellip;When Syl Apps was injured, Coach Red Kelly of Pittsburgh shifted Ron Shock back to center and the move seems to be paying off. Shock, a center throughout almost all his NHL career is happy to be back at the pivot position&hellip;Besides Henri Richard, Canadiens have two other captains on their team. There&rsquo;s Claude Larose (former skipper at Minnesota) and Jim Roberts (former captain at St. Louis). &ldquo;If we get any more,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to insist they promote me to commodore&rdquo;.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03630/2974324-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="279" height="450"><figcaption class="caption-body">Richard Martin</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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PASSING THE PUCK

OFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded October 1st, 1947Published weekly except monthly June through September by Ken-Will Publishing Co. Ltd.1434 St. Catherine Street West Montreal 107, Canada.U.S. Office: 16 Maple Street, Rouses Point, N.Y. 12979Kenneth William McKenzie President and PublisherCharlie Halpin Editorial DirectorYearly SUBSCRIPTION Rates: $6.00 in Canada $7.00 in the U.S.A. and $9.00 in Foreign Countries.Postpage paid at Rouses Point, N.Y. 12979. Send address changes to 1434 St. Catherine Street West, Suite 212, Montr&eacute;al, 107, P.Q.Second class mail&mdash;Registration No. 1327Printed in CanadaVol. 25 MONTREAL, DECEMBER 31, 1971 No. 13 &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY GIL SMITH</div>MONTREAL&mdash;Watching him through the first part of this season, you had the feeling that something was missing from his repertoire.He was as good as ever defensively, maybe better, and he was carrying the puck as much if not more than in previous years. But, J.C. Tremblay was doing something different when he hit the other team&rsquo;s blueline. Or, perhaps it&rsquo;d be more accurate to say he was not doing something that had been his trademark in other years.Specifically, the &ldquo;Blooper Shot&rdquo; has been dropped from J.C.&rsquo;s bag of tricks.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t use it anymore,&rdquo; he said, referring to the looping, bouncing shot he used to let go from far out. &ldquo;I found that it wasn&rsquo;t connecting often enough for goals, but it always meant that our side would lose possession of the puck. It was a gamble and, as far as I could see, it wasn&rsquo;t paying off.&rdquo;Tremblay had sort of patented the &ldquo;blooper&rdquo; which he&rsquo;d sometimes let go from as far out as center ice. The puck used to sail lazily goalward, high above the heads of defensemen and would then bounce crazily at a point four or five feet in front of a goalie. No netminder could predict what the puck would do after it bounced.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very tough shot to judge,&rdquo; said Jacques Plante, after having misjudged one. &ldquo;Tremblay&rsquo;ll get four or five goals a year with a thing like that.&rdquo;J.C.&rsquo;s new or &ldquo;blooperless&rdquo; approach enables him to do more things when he hits the enemy blueline. He may pass, he may shoot&mdash;hard&mdash;or he may continue to stickhandle his way in close.&ldquo;If I see a teammate ahead of me in a decent scoring position, I&rsquo;ll naturally pass,&rdquo; says Tremblay. &ldquo;Otherwise, I&rsquo;ll shoot as hard as I can from inside the blueline and hope for a goal, or a deflection, or a goal by one of our guys from the rebound of the shot. Sometimes, I&rsquo;ll move in closer and either pass or shoot.&rdquo;Goals were slow in coming for J.C. this season. He didn&rsquo;t connect for his first until the 25th game of the season. Then, he scored twice in the same contest. But, his passing had been sharp enough to account for nearly a point a game through the same stretch.With 10 full years of service behind him and parts of two others, J.C. is the senior man on the Hab blueline these days. Always underrated because of his generally unspectacular style, he was finally chosen a member of the first All Star team, last season. In previous campaigns, he&rsquo;d managed only one nomination to a second squad.HAB-BITS: Scotty Bowman says Habs may be relying too much on good goaltending to carry them through the first period. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t really been hustling in the first twenty minutes of most games,&rdquo; notes Bowman. &ldquo;But, other teams haven&rsquo;t been helping much, either. They play it cautiously and dump the puck into the neutral zone to avoid getting caught. It&rsquo;s hard to get a sustained attack going against that style of play.&rdquo; &#9632;

Tremblay Turns To Rushing-Tyne Game

The flip shot is a handy weapon around the net.Study the illustration, which shows a shot on goal. Our man is facing the target with his eyes on it and his stick across his body. The tip of the stick blade is all that&rsquo;s resting on the ice: Now. a quick flip and the puck is looping in the air.There should be follow through on the flip shot. Let your stick follow the flight of the puck till the blade is pointing at the target.You can practise away from the ice. Fill a plastic garbage bag with crumpled newspapers so it&rsquo;s the same height as a goalie lying on the ice. Practice flipping the puck over the bag.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01726/2974441-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="851" height="767"></div> &#9632;

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The Flip Shot

MONTREAL&mdash;Cesare Maniago had never played against Guy Lafleur before, and the tall goalie isn&rsquo;t likely to forget his first encounter with the highly-touted Hab rookie.Maniago was in the nets on Dec. 11 when Lafleur connected for the first hat trick of his young NHL career. Two of the goals were scored on power plays less than five minutes apart in the third period, and resulted in a come-from-behind 4-3 win for Habs.&ldquo;I would have to say this was my greatest thrill in hockey,&rdquo; said Lafleur, who is not noted for saying much after a game. The goals were Nos. 7, 8 and 9 for the young native of Thurso, Quebec, who fired a historic 130 for Quebec Remparts in the Quebec Junior League last season.To prove it was no fluke, Lafleur went out and fired his second &lsquo;hat&rsquo; less than a week later when he scored three goals on a startled George Garder in the Vancouver net. For Lafleur it represented Nos. 10, 11 and 12 and made him the hottest scoring performer on the Canadiens.&lsquo;&lsquo;He&rsquo;s improving every game out,&rdquo; said Scotty Bowman, who just hopes Lafleur can continue the brisk pace he set during the first couple of weeks of December.The Canadiens-Minnesota North Stars game, one of the better encounters in the Forum this year, also saw defenseman Guy Lapointe and forward Yvan Cournoyer return to action after brief layoffs. Lapointe wore a special helmet and faceguard to protect a fractured cheekbone sustained against Detroit on November 28th. Cournoyer came back after missing a game due to injured ribs. Unfortunately, he re-injured the rib cage when shoved against a goalpost during the Minnesota game. &#9632;

Rookie Lafleur Sizzles With Two Hat Tricks

JULY23-29JULY-AUG.&middot; 30-5 &middot;AUG.6-12 &middot;AUG.13-19<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01754/2974576-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="885" height="627"><figcaption class="caption-body">A view of the training rink</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-04368/2974569-1-eng-US/f0007-042.jpg" title="f0007-04" width="1028" height="1073"><figcaption class="caption-body">J.C. TREMBLAY Montreal Canadiens</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-06196/2974562-1-eng-US/f0007-062.jpg" title="f0007-06" width="882" height="619"><figcaption class="caption-body">Supervised swimming pool</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02663/2974555-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="433" height="535"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACQUES PLANTE Toronto Maple Leafs</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-07149/2974548-1-eng-US/f0007-072.jpg" title="f0007-07" width="427" height="545"><figcaption class="caption-body">JEAN RATELLE New York Rangers</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03505/2974541-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="429" height="540"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLAUDE LAROSE Montreal Canadiens</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-05262/2974534-1-eng-US/f0007-052.jpg" title="f0007-05" width="1590" height="1097"><figcaption class="caption-body">Here&rsquo;s J.C. Tremblay conducting a workout for youngsters as he drops puck to start ice session at Laval arena.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-08119/2974527-1-eng-US/f0007-082.jpg" title="f0007-08" width="429" height="543"><figcaption class="caption-body">SERGE SAVARD Montreal Canadiens</figcaption></div>For Information and BrochuresWriteJ.C. TREMBLAY HOCKEY SCHOOLP.O. BOX 657, MONTREAL 101, P.O. CANADA &#9632;

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J.C. TREMBLAY HOCKEY SCHOOL

<div class="byline">&#x2014;By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01792/2974614-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="284" height="368"></div><h2>Moving Difficult Says Abel</h2>WHEN THE ST. LOUIS BLUES were formed, the presiding Salomons made Lynn Patrick manager and coach and he made Scotty Bowman his aide. When the team started slowly, Bowman became coach. When they finished fast, he became manager, too, and Patrick became a vice-president.Meanwhile, Sid Abel had been operating the Detroit Red Wings for Bruce Norris, but when Bruce brought in college coach Ned Harkness last season, Abel, long-time player, manager and coach with the club, rebelled and resigned in mid-season.Bowman made Al Arbour the Blues&rsquo; coach last season, but late in the season made him a player again and himself a coach again. Disagreements with the Salomons led to his resignation and Abel replaced him as coach this season with Patrick returning to the manager&rsquo;s chair, with Arbour as his aide.Soon, Patrick was back in the vice-president&rsquo;s chair, Abel had become the manager and Bill McCreary was the new coach. Arbour remained an assistant to someone. If you&rsquo;re confused, how about them? If U.S. Steel ran its business the way sports franchises conduct theirs, bricks would still be big.Recently, Abel discussed the Detroit deal. &ldquo;I like Bruce Norris, but I do not like Ned Harkness,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Until Harkness came in, I believe Norris gave me as much freedom to manage my team as any man logically should expect.&ldquo;However, Norris was sold on Harkness. I did not approve of the way he was coaching our club. Norris did not fire me. But he did deny me the right to fire Harkness. Since I felt I could not sit by and see what I had built up torn down, I fired myself.&rdquo;Smiling wistfully, the Hall of Famer sighed and said, &ldquo;I had never been traded or fired in my life. After more than 30 years in Detroit, it was difficult to make a move. My wife and I spent sleepless nights discussing it. I decided it was time for a change.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been able to bring myself to sell our house in Detroit. It has a little land with it, it is a lovely place and we lived there many years. My wife and I took an apartment in St. Louis and we never thought we&rsquo;d be able to adjust to the change from our house, but now we love it.&rdquo;As for loyalties, Sid shrugs and smiles and says, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re loyal to the man who pays you. I did my best for the Red Wings. My most treasured memories are all tangled up with that uniform. But, under the circumstances. I think now I&rsquo;d like to beat them every night of the week. The Blues beat them recently and I loved it. The Blues are my team now.&ldquo;With managers and coaches being hired and fired and players being traded and drafted, there really is not much room for sentiment in sports. Telling a man you like he&rsquo;s going is the hardest thing there is to do in sports, but if it was a move you felt would help your team it was a move you had to make.&ldquo;When I was in Detroit, I traded for Wayne Connelly. He and I and his wife and my wife became fast friends. After I left, he was traded to St. Louis. When I arrived in St. Louis, we had a warm reunion. But then a deal developed which I felt would help us and it involved trading him. When I told my wife, she was distressed. When I told Wayne, he was disappointed. It depressed me. But this is the hard side of doing the job you have to do in sports.&rdquo;There have been many changes in St. Louis since Sid arrived. The Blues were consistently successful under Bowman and have been struggling since he left. Abel admits, &ldquo;I can see where I may be blamed, but I think most can see Scotty had gotten the maximum mileage from aging veterans, the Blues had reached a point of no return and had to turn around and begin rebuilding for the future with youth.&ldquo;We now have passed the time when it will be good enough to be the best of the expansionists. We have to look to the time when we can compete with the establishment equally. Scotty had his system and it worked. I have mine and I have proven in the past it works, too. If we can get enough good players with enough years ahead of them and keep them together a few years, we can be a contender.&ldquo;Everyone seems sympathetic to our problems and we are enjoying marvelous support. And interest in St. Louis seems as keen as ever.&rdquo;<h2>Too Old Now For Coaching</h2>ASKED IF THERE MIGHT be too many cooks stirring up the broth there, Abel said, &ldquo;We are building a strong organization with a lot of good people. Each has his own responsibilities. Lynn is a vice-president, concerned with administrative matters. I took the coaching job with the understanding I would move up to the manager&rsquo;s position eventually. When we got off slowly, it was decided to bring a most promising coach, McCreary, in immediately, to make the moves now that would be made sooner or later, anyway.He said, &ldquo;My hand was not really forced. I had some say in it. I think I&rsquo;ve had it with coaching now. I&rsquo;m too old for it.&rdquo;He is 53. Arbour, who is 39 and whose coaching career lasted only 50 games, smiles and says, &ldquo;I wanted to prove I could handle it and I think I did that. Did you know my record for that time was the best, percentage-wise, any coach has had for whatever time he had coaching an expansion club. They wanted me to prepare for one last stint as a player in the playoffs. So I stepped aside. I knew I was walking away from the coaching job. But that&rsquo;s OK. Billy can have it. They hire coaches to be tired.The slender, bespectacled veteran said, &ldquo;I scout our farm teams and other farm teams and some other NHL games. We&rsquo;re into computer scouting of juniors. We share a basic report with other teams, then have our own men double-check the kids we&rsquo;re interested in. Frank Mario is our chief scout and I channel the stuff that comes into the office through the computer.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02702/2974607-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="573" height="902"><figcaption class="caption-body">SID ABEL&hellip;No Sentiment Left</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY HAL SIGURDSON</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;A sudden rash of injuries has left the Vancouver Canucks hanging on the ropes in their efforts to stay in the race for fourth place in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s eastern division.To make the situation even more upsetting, two of the three serious injuries the club suffered in successive games were accidentally self-inflicted.As the Canucks headed into the final two weeks of 1971, they had to figure out a way to survive without defenseman Barry Wilkins and right wingers Wayne Connelly and Rosie Paiement.Wilkins was the first to be bitten by the injury bug. In the final minute of a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues, Wilkins was checked into the boards by St. Louis forward Jack Egers.The result&mdash;a severe shoulder separation that will keep that hard working defender out of action for a minimum of two months.&ldquo;It was more of a push than a body-check,&rdquo; Wilkins said later. &ldquo;It was the way I happened to fall that got me.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03580/2974645-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="299" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rosaire Paiement</figcaption></div>Wilkins, at least, was sidelined as the result of enemy action. Paiement and Connelly were both accidentally injured by a teammate in the club&rsquo;s next start, a 6-2 loss to the Boston Bruins.Connelly was the first casualty. In the confusion over who was going to take possession of a loose puck, Connelly and linemate Dave Balon both swooped around defenceman Josh Guevremont in an effort to retrieve it.They collided violently and both players crumpled to the ice.Balon was spared serious injury by the helmet he&rsquo;s recently resumed wearing. But that same helmet left Connelly with three small fractures in his cheek bone.Connelly, who has scored four of his eight goals since being traded to Vancouver Nov. 21, will miss at least four games and will require a protective device when he returns.Paiement&rsquo;s injury was even more freakish and potentially much more serious.With the Bruins applying pressure, defenseman Dennis Kearns moved quickly to a loose puck in front of goaltender George Gardner and shot it to the boards, out of harm&rsquo;s way.As Paiement turned to pick up the flight of the puck, it struck him squarely in the eye.For the next 24 hours there was grave concern that Paiement might lose the sight of his left eye. Though the puck wasn&rsquo;t shot hard enough to break the skin, it caused hemorrhaging behind the eyeball.Fortunately the hemorrhaging stopped and doctors are now optimistic that Paiement will suffer no loss of vision. Nevertheless, it will be 1972 before the rugged right winger is able to play again.He had to remain in hospital, completely immobilized, for 10 days.The three joined Paul Popiel in the casualty ward. Popiel was knocked out of the lineup with a broken bone in his right foot Nov. 23. It will be another month before he is able to play again.Vancouver general manager Bud Poile recalled defenseman Greg Boddy and goaltender Ed Dyck from Rochester to help repair the damage.Boddy will join the Canucks&rsquo; four remaining defensemen, Pat Quinn, John Schella, Guevremont and Kearns. Dyck will dress as backup to goaltender George Gardner while Gardner&rsquo;s usual goaltending partner, Dunc Wilson, gets some personal matters cleared up.Meanwhile, coach Hal Laycoe was forced into a quick juggling act. He moved Dale Tallon into Connelly&rsquo;s spot on right wing with centre Andre Boudrias and left winger Balon.Ted Taylor took over Tallon&rsquo;s spot on left wing with centre Fred Speck, while Paiement&rsquo;s position was taken over by Bobby Schmautz.&ldquo;Well, at least players who figured they weren&rsquo;t getting enough ice time will get all they can handle now,&rdquo; said Laycoe. &ldquo;Injuries are part of the game, so there&rsquo;s no sense worrying about it.&rdquo;But with fourth place slipping further and further away, Laycoe can&rsquo;t help but worry. &#9632;

f0008-03

Paiement Eye Injury Adds To Club Gloom As Canucks Falter

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Eddie Joyal is one of two original Kings, who has played with the Los Angeles club since it was formed as a franchise five years ago. Recently he ordered 500 glossy photos to autograph to give out to fans who request pictures. When they arrived, his name at the bottom of each one was spelled &ldquo;Eddie Joyaz.&rdquo;In their quest for a Mexican hockey player to draw from this area&rsquo;s huge Latin population, the organization will go to any length.In any event, the incident seems to typify what happens to hockey players here. They are promoted to instant fame, then take a fast slide into obscurity.In his first season here, &ldquo;Ed the Jet&rdquo; scored 23 goals and was voted the team&rsquo;s first MVP. In his second season, Joyal set the team scoring record with 33 goals. By his fifth season, Eddie &ldquo;Joyaz&rdquo; plays infrequently. In his own words, offered with a wistful smile, &ldquo;They even forget how to spell my name.&rdquo;His troubles started when he missed much of his third season with an injury and then was unable to get a bonus he believed due him, a release or a trade. He reported late and in disfavor for his fourth season and has been struggling as an irregular ever since.He says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d play here or anywhere else, just so I played. It&rsquo;s hard to maintain your enthusiasm sitting on the bench, especially when you&rsquo;re watching your team lose. You just have to keep your head up, keep hoping for a chance, and hope to do your best when you get a chance.&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s depressing when you see your career getting away from you.&rdquo;His best buddy, the other remainder from the original lot, Bill Flett, also suffered an injury in that third season and has been struggling ever since. He is moody and sometimes seems to play hard only in spurts, but he says, &ldquo;It hurts not to play because I can play better than some who have been playing. I&rsquo;ve tried not to complain. I do my best. But this is my career.&rdquo;Neither Flett nor Joyal have been troublemaking popoffs, although they have not been happy here for two or three years now. It is understandable if they feel frustrated by now. Neither is the perfect player.&mdash;Flett could be quicker, Joyal more aggressive,&mdash;but it is hard to believe there aren&rsquo;t NHL clubs, including this one, which couldn&rsquo;t use Flett&rsquo;s strength and slap-shot or Joyal&rsquo;s speed and wrist-shot regularly. Yet trades for them, often rumored, never have materialized, and Flett at 28 and Joyal at 31 worry about their futures.They are two of a long line of L.A. players whose bright promise has faded. A recent addition to this list was Butch Goring, who, after a brilliant rookie year, was sidelined by mononucleosis last year, but then, after being demoted, wound up leading Springfield to the AHL playoff laurels. He expected to return to the majors as a regular in L.A. this season, but hasn&rsquo;t played much Playing regularly the other night, he scored his first two goals since the second game of the season to help the club end its latest losing streak at six<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03572/2974676-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="342" height="812"><figcaption class="caption-body">Five-year Kings&rsquo; veteran EDDIE JOYAL ordered some photos to autograph for fans and found his name was misspelled when they arrived as above. It&rsquo;s been that kind of a year for &lsquo;Ed The Jet&rsquo;. (EDDIE JOYAZ)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-03

Joyal, Flett Worried Kings

<div class="byline">BY DICK IRVIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01769/2974714-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="341" height="342"></div>MONTREALA recent article about the current era of sport had as its theme &ldquo;Television Has Made It A Brand New Ball Game&rdquo;. Certainly it has produced a brand new hockey game tor millions of Canadians.Last May 18 over 11 million fans were watching Hockey Night in Canada as Henri Richard scored the goal which won the Stanley Cup. When I heard about those figures, which constituted the largest audience for a single program in the history of Canadian television, it brought back memories of another memorable Stanley Cup winning goal. In 1951 while attending the University of Saskatchewan. I was part of the vast radio audience listening to Foster Hewitt describe the dramatic overtime cup winning goal scored by the late Bill Barilko. But the only people who saw the goal were the 15,000 in attendance at Maple Leaf Gardens. Twenty years later, more than 11 million Canadians were able to share a similar dramatic moment with those who were attending the game.When you analyse what the television audience saw that night, the impact of the medium becomes even more apparent. They not only saw Richard&rsquo;s goal the instant it happened, they were able to see it again on slow motion replay, and from several angles. Thie is the aspect of televised hockey I find most intriguing, the fact that those watching a game thousands of miles away from where it is taking place often can be a lot better informed than the fans who are in the arena.Several times during a season our slow motion replays will immediately settle some questions, especially on controversial plays around the net. The fans in the rink are left to wonder, and often during a season at the Forum some will be waiting for me as 1 come down from the catwalk to ask. &ldquo;Did it hit the post, or was it in??&rdquo; They haven&rsquo;t seen the replay, but they know I have.I&rsquo;m sometimes asked if 1 have seen a replay before it appears on the screen. The answer of couse is no, and in fact 1 look forward to them the same way the viewers do. But it&rsquo;s a different situation with the analysts during the intermissions. They are the ones who usually select the replays to be shown. However our sessions are not rehearsed. Skilled hockey observers such as Howie Meeker, Red Storey, and Jean Beliveau always have definite points they want to bring out. and it&rsquo;s my job to make sure they get the opportunity. In the couple of minutes at our disposal we can&rsquo;t afford the time to get too conversational.On a National production such as Hockey Night in Canada it is imperative that the announcers handle their assignment in an unbiased manner. This area has produced one of the strangest situations I&rsquo;ve come across during the 5-1/2 seasons I have been privileged to have been associated with the show. During the great Montreal-Boston semi-final series in 1969. I received a couple of letters in the same mail. One was from a fan accusing me in harsh terms of being a &ldquo;homer for Montreal. The other, equally as biting was from a Canadiens&rsquo; fan accusing me of being pro-Boston. Both letters had been written following the telecast of the series opening game, and as I compared them, I felt pretty good.I figured that I was doing the job I always try to do&mdash;straight down the middle.In the January 14 issue our guest editor will be Bill Good Jr., of Vancouver.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02697/2974707-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="260" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dick Irvin</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA LA SOIRÉE DU HOCKEY

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Larry Wright and Pierre Plante, forwards, assigned to Richmond of AHL. Jim Mair, defenseman, returned to Richmond.MONTREAL&mdash;Phil Roberto, forward, traded to St. Louis for Jim Roberts, forward. Chuck Arnason, forward, recalled from Nova Scotia of AHL.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Jim Shires and Brian Lavender, forwards, recalled from Denver of WHL. Larry Hornung, defenseman, and Gord Brooks, forward, recalled from Kansas City of CHL. Curt Bennett, forward, returned to Denver.VANCOUVER&mdash;Greg Boddy, defenseman, and Ed Dyck, goalkeeper, recalled from Rochester of AHL. Barry Wilkins, defenseman, Wayne Connelly and Rosaire Paiement, forwards, placed on disabled list.BUFFALO&mdash;Doug Barrie, and Mike Keeler, defensemen, traded to Los Angeles in return for Larry Hillman, defensemen, and Mike Byers, forward. Rod Zaine, and Butch Deadmarsh, towards, and Terry Ball, defenseman, sent to Cincinnati of AHL. Paul Terbenche defenseman, returned to Salt Lake of WHL.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Art Quoquochi, forward, assigned to Columbus of IHL.BALTIMORE&mdash;Hartland Monahan, forward, assigned to Columbus of IHL.CINCINNATI&mdash;Don Brennan, defenseman, recalled from Charlotte of EHL.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>OKLAHOMA CITY&mdash;Bob McMahon, defenseman, sent to Dayton of IHL.DALLAS&mdash;Ron Dussiaume forward, recalled from Tidewater of AHL.FORT WORTH:&mdash;Len Ronson, forward, secured from San Diego of WHL.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>TOLEDO&mdash;Glenn Ramsay, goalkeeper, returned to active roster from voluntary retired list. Moe Brunel, forward, secured from Dayton of IHL on loan.PORT HURON&mdash;Kevin Pettit, forward, released.COLUMBUS&mdash;Ray Brownlee, forward, secured from Dayton of IHL on loan. Gerry Egers, defenseman, sent to Toledo of IHL for future considerations.FLINT&mdash;Derek Harker, defenseman, secured from Port Huron of IHL.<h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>GREENSBORO&mdash;Kirk Bowman, forward, picked up on waivers from Colom-bus of IHL.LONG ISLAND&mdash;CalBooth, forward, signed as free agent after release by New Jersey, Jerry Lamoureux, forward, dropped from active roster.SYRACUSE&mdash;Doug Ferguson, forward, secured from Dallas of CHL. &#9632;

Movements of Players

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01788/2974793-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">PIERRE JARRY&hellip;New York Rangers</figcaption></div>The New York Rangers waited two full seasons for Pierre Jarry to develop and last season when the 22-year-old rookie won the Central Hockey League scoring title with 92 points, the New Yorkers decided he was ready for the big time. Jarry came up this season as a protected member of the Rangers. Young Jarry is a promising piece of hockey property they&rsquo;d hate to lose at this stage. The 5&rsquo;11, 180-pounder pumped in 72 goals in two years at Omaha and he is being groomed slowly this season for the day when he&rsquo;ll be able to step into a regular role with Rangers. &#9632;

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MEET THE ROOKIES

<div class="byline">BY DWAYNE NETLAND</div>TWIN CITIES&mdash;It took only a week for the Minnesota North Stars to tumble from a five-point cushion in first place back down to second place in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s West Division.While the North Stars were losing successive games on a road trip at Buffalo, Toronto, and Montreal, the Chicago Black Hawks were picking up seven points with three victories and a tie. And that was that.The point is, however, that the North Stars, despite their meteoric start, are realistic enough to channel their hopes in the proper zones. First place was great, and they may get back there yet, but the Stars are going all-out to insure that nobody sneaks up and displaces them from second.&ldquo;We had a tough week,&rdquo; observed Jack Gordon, the Minnesota coach. &ldquo;We were not at our best physically, and there&rsquo;s been a lot of pressure, with all that talk about first place.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say our big task now is to keep a point gap between us and teams like St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and California. I&rsquo;d hate to see that great start we had wasted away.&rdquo;The North Stars, for the first time in their five-year history, got the royalty treatment on the road in a recent stopover at Toronto. Frank Orr in the Toronto Star ranked the Stars among the top five powers in the NHL, together with Montreal, Boston, New York and Chicago. After a practice session, the Minnesota dressing room was jammed with Toronto writers probing the reasons for that early-season success, and the next day the North Stars were splashed all over the newspapers.&ldquo;I think all that ballyhoo worked against us,&rdquo; said Gordon. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only natural, I guess, for a guy to start believing all that stuff you read. But it doesn&rsquo;t do much to get you ready for the next game.&rdquo;The North Stars feel this way about their primary divisional rivals, the Black Hawks: They admire the way the Hawks move the puck. They have respect for their goal-scoring and their defense. They concede the Chicago goal-tending to be among the best. But they also regard the Hawks as a challenge not beyond their own limits.&ldquo;We hope we can chase them down to the wire,&rdquo; said Charlie Burns, the veteran Minnesota forward. &ldquo;Nobody can really say that we belonged five points ahead of them, but if we play our game I don&rsquo;t see why we should concede anything to them.&rdquo;Doug Mohns, a former Black Hawks, added: &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t kid yourself, the Hawks are full of talent. They&rsquo;ve got the fire power and the defense. But we talked it over in training camp, and decided that we could give them a very good race for first place.&rdquo;What the North Stars are really saying is they&rsquo;d like to be considered a first-place threat, and can be on their best days, but the main thing is to hold onto second.The money is good, and the runnerup team also gets the home rink edge in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.Aside from an untimely rash of injuries, the North Stars had another recent disruption. That was the disclosure that four members of the team&mdash;Cesare Maniago, Bill Goldsworthy, Barry Gibbs and Jude Drouin&mdash;had been approached by representatives of the World Hockey Association.The story broke as the North Stars were in Toronto, about the same time as the ridiculous item linking Bobby Hull to a $1 million Winnipeg offer. The four North Stars insisted they would discuss the situation no further until after the season. Goldsworthy said he wouldn&rsquo;t even consider any WHA offer unless it included money in escrow, a multi-year contract and a good pension plan.&ldquo;I was not contacted by any one team,&rdquo; said Goldsworthy. &ldquo;It was by a person representing all the owners.&rdquo; Gibbs, however, was approached by Scottv Munro, who has the Calgary franchise in the new league.The timing, from a Minnesota point of view, was bad. The front office of the North Stars maintained a frosty &ldquo;no comment&rdquo; over the activities of the WHA, but finally Gordon, exasperated by all the distractions, did make a comment.&ldquo;I have my own feelings about the WHA,&rdquo; Godon said, &ldquo;but the problem they have started is far from over. It&rsquo;s going to be with us and we&rsquo;re going to have to live with it. I don&rsquo;t want to lose any of our players, but the final decision will have to be made by them.&rdquo;Meanwhile, the North Stars were hoping to avoid what has been for them a longtime December jinx. The truth about that is that the Minnesota schedule is traditionally tougher in December. This month the Stars must play Chicago and New York twice each, Montreal and Boston once. That&rsquo;s a tough haul for anyone.NORTH STAR NOTES: Center Jude Drouin missed several games with a bruised shoulder suffered when he took a blind-side check into the boards at Toronto&hellip;The North Stars were victimized at Buffalo by rookie Craig Ramsay&rsquo;s hat trick, the first three goals of Ramsay&rsquo;s NHL career. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even know his uniform number before the game,&rdquo; said Gordon. &ldquo;But I know it now&rdquo;&hellip;The Stars were leading Montreal 3-2 deep into the third period before taking two controversial penalties, giving up goals on both power plays and winding up with a 4-3 loss&hellip;Gordon Labossiere, called up from Cleveland to fill in for Drouin, scored a picture goal at Montreal by faking out defenseman Terry Harper and goalie Ken Dryden&hellip; &#9632;

North Stars On Road Back

<div class="byline">BY CHARLEY BARTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;Problems inside their own blueline were keeping the Buffalo Sabres in constant trouble despite the continuing brilliant play of goaltender Roger Crozier.Crozier appeared in all but two of the first 30 games, and went the distance in 26 of them. Dave Dryden, his backup man, relieved him with route going jobs in Montreal and Minnesota, and finished up twice in St. Louis.Injuries hit the Sabres in their most vulnerable area, and three defensemen, Jim Watson, Tracy Pratt and Mike Robitaille, were out with varied ailments at the same time.Pratt suffered a broken leg Oct. 16 in Montreal, and Robitaille underwent shoulder surgery Nov. 30. Watson, only one of three Sabres who played in all 78 games a year ago, was out for five games with a groin injury.Chris Evans and Terry Ball were recalled from Cincinnati of the American League, and Paul Terbenche was brought up from Salt Lake City of the Western League. Ball was returned after three games.Watson&rsquo;s injury was a costly one for the Sabres. They were tied, 2-2, with the Toronto Maple Leafs here after two periods when Watson crashed into teammate Butch Deadmarsh and left Ron Ellis with a clear path to the net for what proved to be the winning goal in a 4-2 contest.Punch Imlach, the troubled Buffalo general manager and coach, was the picture of complete frustration.&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t any doubt about, we&rsquo;re getting the best goaltending in the league, and we&rsquo;re not taking advantage of it,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;Crozier has been just fantastic. I hate to think of what might have happened to us without him. But our defense is driving me up a wall.&ldquo;It just isn&rsquo;t one guy, it&rsquo;s all of them. One night one guy ruins us, and the next night it&rsquo;s somebody else.&rdquo;Imlach is convinced his forwards are strong enough to make the Sabres competitive with all but the leaders. &ldquo;&lsquo;If I could switch defenses with most teams, I&rsquo;d be as good or better than them,&rdquo; he insists.The Buffalo leader may be overlooking a distinct lack of back-checking. The Buffalo forwards aren&rsquo;t coming back, and are adding considerable pressure to the blue line corps.The loss to the Maple Leafs here was less than 24 hours after the Sabres were forced to settle for a 3-3 tie in Pittsburgh when the Penguins came from behind three times.&ldquo;We gave away two soft goals in Pittsburgh, then Toronto gets the winning goal here when Watson hits Deadmarsh and Ellis walks in home free,&rdquo; Imlach said.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting so I hate to look up. I&rsquo;m afraid something else is going to happen.ALONG THE BOARDS: The new press rooms have been completed in the revamped Memorial Auditorium. The press room at the ground level is between the dressing rooms and is equipped with telegraph facilities, making it easy for writers to get post-game comments and file stories. Several floors below the press box a second press room has been built where food and drink are available. Unfortunately, a room nearer the press box was not available&hellip;Center Phil Goyette rejoined the Sabres after missing one game with a back injury. The Sabres lead the NHL with 29 power-play goals, and Goyette is a key man on the power-play&hellip;Scout Al Millar of the Sabres, recuperating in a Montreal hospital following serious injuries in an auto mishap last summer, has seen several games from a wheelchair.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01777/2974831-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="269" height="436"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Robitaille</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02710/2974824-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="539" height="1403"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROGER CROZIER&hellip;Just Fantastic</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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But Injuries To Defense Regulars Places Hardship On Buffalo Sabres

<div class="byline">BY ED CONRAD</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Pardon the blasphemy, but the Flyers wish they played half their schedule against the Montreal Canadiens this season.They can&rsquo;t be blamed for entertaining such outrageous thoughts because the Canadiens, the defending Stanley Cup champions, are the only team the Flyers have played consistently well against so far. They&rsquo;ve collected two victories and a tie in three games.In fact, the Canadiens had lost only four times in their first 27 games and half those losses were to the Flyers.&ldquo;I just can&rsquo;t explain why we play so well against Montreal,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; coach Fred Shero. &ldquo;It just seems we come up with a real fine team effort and this is what does it every time&rdquo;.Lack of cohesion as a complete unit has been the Flyers&rsquo; sore spot in this, Shero&rsquo;s baptismal campaign as coach in the NHL. He has been getting a consistent game-in game-out performance from a number of key players, specifically defenseman Ed Van Impe and winger Simon Nolet, but other than that the effort has been rather sporadic.That is, until the Flyers take on the Canadiens when everyone pitches in to carry his share of the load. This happened again in the Flyers&rsquo; recent 4-1 victory at the Spectrum where the Flyers already have clinched the season series with two wins in two tries.This triumph was especially unexpected because the Flyers, who had dipped to sixth place in the West Division, were in the throes of a serious goal-scoring and victory slump. They had won only one game in three weeks, and their per-game offensive average had plummented to just 2.1 goals a game.In fact, the Flyers were in as bad as shape as they could possibly be when they met the Canadiens for the third time this season. Their lineup was rattled due to injuries and illness and, in fact, Shero had to employ the unlikely line of Mike Parizeau, center Bill Clement and right wing Dick Sarrazin. Parizeau had been acquired from the St. Louis Blues and Clement and Sarrazin were promoted from Richmond.The entire line played well against the Canadiens and Clement, a 21-year-old center, was exceedingly impressive with his winner against Canadiens&rsquo; goalie Ken Dryden.&ldquo;You couldn&rsquo;t believe how happy I was to see it go in,&rdquo; gasped Clement. &ldquo;I know I was pretty excited because I even forgot to retrieve the puck. Eddie (van Impe) dug it out for me.&rdquo;The promotion of Clement and Sarrazin, in particular, plus the acquisition of Parizeau, was done not only due to medical reasons but also to shake the defeatist attitude that seemed to have set in at times. The Flyers were beating themselves instead of forcing the other team to do it.There is no doubt this sort of thing happens when the. breaks seem to go the other way. The shot that any other time would be the big goal hits the post. The weak shot by the opposition sneaks in.It&rsquo;s not that the Flyers are a bad hockey team. It&rsquo;s just that they never really should&rsquo;ve been considered having a shot at second place due to their youth. Their frustrations at falling so far off the pace of Chicago and Minnesota has affected them psychologically. They&rsquo;re fighting something they can&rsquo;t see.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03593/2974862-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="270" height="434"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Clement</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Lowly Flyers Delight In Knocking Off Habs

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div>CHICAGO&mdash;The fastidious National Hockey League publicity office, which is almost always right, spells his name &ldquo;Darrel.&rdquo; But it&rsquo;s &ldquo;Darryl.&rdquo;And Darrel&mdash;Darryl has spent almost his whole life on skates as a defenseman, particularly as a pro. But now he&rsquo;s a right wing.And Darrel&mdash;Darryl the defenseman-right wing says he&rsquo;s not so sure about what he&rsquo;s doing. But his boss says he&rsquo;s doing just fine.The center of all these minor contradictions is Darryl Maggs, a burly gent who is the only rookie to have dented the Black Hawks&rsquo; talented roster this autumn.And his chief, Coach Billy Reay, is delighted.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s big, and he&rsquo;s strong and he really loves to play,&rdquo; said the coach. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a hard worker and he&rsquo;s smart, too.&rdquo;&ldquo;Maggs, whose last amateur club was Calgary University, hugged the blueline for Dallas of the Central League last year. Tho he spent 144 minutes in the penalty box, he exhibited enough scoring proclivity to bag 14 goals and register 36 assists.This precipitated his move up front, as did the Black Hawks&rsquo; surplus of defensemen. Including Maggs, the Chicagoans protected eight at the June draft meeting. (Afterward, it was ruled that Maggs needn&rsquo;t have been on a technicality, and thus he now enjoys the same status as an &ldquo;exempt&rdquo; player.)His versatility, plus his size, plus his desire, impressed the Hawk honchos, and Maggs made the big club after training camp. The big opportunity didn&rsquo;t come until Nov. 28 in Toronto, however, when Jim Pappin rammed the boards not long after missing a penalty shot and the high-scoring right wing was sidelined indefinitely with a slight shoulder &ldquo;reseparation&rdquo;.This created a paucity on the right side, and Reay summoned Maggs. Bingo, five nights later in Oakland, he tipped in a pass from Dennis Hull for his first NHL tally. At that time, he was playing with Hull and center Stan Mikita in a Ready reshuffling which dropped Cliff Koroll to another line.Two nights after that, Maggs struck again, twice in fact as he recorded Nos. 2 and 3 against the Kings in a 7-0 Chicago Stadium rout. Both were good plays, born from hustle.Then came the newspaper guys and the TV cameras and the radio mikes and his locker was a bee-hive.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure,&rdquo; he smiled bashfully, &ldquo;that 1 like all this commotion.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a big difference in skating between being a forward and a defenseman,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Up front, you&rsquo;ve always got to be moving. And I have to learn more about moving the puck out of our end. On defense, you work a lot with the puck in the corners.&ldquo;But on offense, you have to learn how to handle the puck on passes when it comes off the side boards. It&rsquo;s a little different. You have to pick the puck up cleanly and you have to be able to do the right thing when you get it&mdash;pass, or skate with it.&rdquo;Maggs punctuated his statements by saying that he &ldquo;didn&rsquo;t really have much of an idea&rdquo; of what to do when he gets around the net.But while Reay agrees that the 6-1, 195-pounder lacks some polish, he likes what he sees. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got the knack&mdash;we&rsquo;ve known that all along,&rdquo; said the coach. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s also has a excellent wrist shot, which is unusual for a young player. A lot of &rsquo;em like to just wind up and slap it. But Darryl gets the puck off right away.&rdquo;Reay felt the main task for Maggs would be that adjustment from minimal skating as a defenseman to increased movement up front, plus the overall polish. As for strength, Maggs possesses it. Ditto on attitude.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know what to think when I first changed over,&rdquo; Maggs said, &ldquo;but gradually, I&rsquo;m learning to adjust.&rdquo;Pappin&rsquo;s absence and a two-game thigh injury to Danny O&rsquo;Shea depleted the Hawk manpower and Reay performed some advanced juggling. Pit Martin, normally the center for the above two, was inserted as pivot for Bobby Hull and Chico Maki.The Mikita&mdash;Dennis Hull&mdash;Koroll line was quickly reunited, and a third line was formed consisting of Maggs, Center Bryan Campbell and Left Wing Jerry Korab. O&rsquo;Shea then bumped Korab.HAWK-EY TALK: In defeating the North Stars 5-3 at home on Dec. 12, Hawks clicked for all goals in the first period, their biggest period of the year&hellip;Through first 30 games, Tony Esposito had won-lost-tied mark of 11-5-1 and Gary Smith 9-2-2&hellip;Bobby Hull, reaping the benefits of his hair transplant, planned to tape TV commercial for a shampoo&hellip;Add Dennis Hull to the members of the Hawk family joining ice rink projects in the Chicago area&hellip;After Reay was informed that retired Gordie Howe was more impressed with Rangers than Hawks, he bristled: &ldquo;After 25 years in hockey, Howe retired and finally makes a provocative statement.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01746/2975036-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="265" height="452"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darryl Maggs</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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New Hawks’ Rookie Maggs Becomes Happy ‘Convert’

MONTREAL&mdash;It has been said that baseball has become a pitcher&rsquo;s game while in the last few seasons hockey has been the hitters or scorers game belonging to the likes of Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr and several others who have shattered the once unheard of 100-point plateau.This season, however, Tony Esposito and Gary Smith of Chicago Black Hawks appear to be out to prove that hockey is a goaltender&rsquo;s game and are making believers out of everyone by displaying the finest netminding the National Hockey League has witnessed in the last 17 seasons. In 33 games to date, the pair has allowed only 55 goals for a combined average of just 1.66 per game&mdash;the lowest average turned in since 1955-56 when Jacques Plante and Bob Perreault of the power-packed Montreal Canadiens teamed together for a 1.45 goals against average after as many games. That season Plante won the Vezina Trophy with an average of 1.86; the last time the award was won with an average under two goals per game.While Esposito and Smith have compiled a very respectable 2.23 goals against average away from home, it is within the friendly confines of Chicago Stadium that the two have come into their own having allowed the opposition a meager 17 goals in 16 games, an average of 1.06 per game. The Hawks have yet to lose a home game this season. By restricting enemy snipers to only two goals in three games last week the pair has opened a 21-goal per game lead over Minnesota North Stars duo of Gump Worsley and Cesare Maniago who led the race until a week ago. Esposito, with an average of 1.66 goals against per game, and Smith, with 1.67, each have three shutouts for a league-leading team total of six.Meanwhile, in the scoring race, Boston&rsquo;s Phil Esposito continues to occupy the number-one position with 56 points including a league leading 25 goals despite the dogged pursuit of New York Rangers&rsquo; line of Jean Ratelle, Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert. Ratelie scored his 20th goal of the season Sunday&mdash;the 200th of his career in regular season&mdash;and is second with 54 points, six ahead of Hadfield and seven more than fourth-place Gilbert. Each member of that Ranger line has now reached the 20-goal mark. &#9632;

NHL WEEK—In Review

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02691/2975105-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg"></div><h2>THE TOP 10 NETMINDERS</h2>(Including games of Sunday, Dec. 19)<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03638/2975098-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="1118" height="477"></div><h3>COMPLETE GOALKEEPING RECORDS FOR NHL TEAMS</h3><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04584/2975091-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="1126" height="1930"></div> &#9632;

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LOOKING AT NHL GOALERS

<div class="byline">BY JOHN PORTER</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaOAKLAND&mdash;Despite the vastly improved play of the California Golden Seals over last season, the rumor mill over franchise shifting continues to scare fans in the San Francisco-Okland Bay Area.Before the club was bought by Charles Finley two seasons ago, the Seals were to be spirited off to Vancouver one day, then shuffled off to Buffalo the next. The National Hockey League took the stance that the Northern California area must have a team, in part to protect the national television contract with CBS.So the Seals stayed in Oakland.However, the California Golden Seals have no radio and no television this season, the only team in the NHL deprived of such. As a consequence, the specter of moving the club arose again.There were rumors aplenty. One story had Finley ready to block the latest expansion if he didn&rsquo;t receive permission to relocate the Seals. Another had the owner trying to sell the Seals to a Bay Area owner with the proviso Finley would get one of the new expansion clubs. Even another claimed the insurance millionnaire wanted to switch the team to San Francisco ice or San Jose ice (neither, constructed yet), or even build his own arena in the area.To all that sort of speculation, Finley was quick with denials. Obviously, fans aren&rsquo;t going to get excited about something that&rsquo;s here today and gone tomorrow. lt was no surprise then, when another story popped up in the second week of December, this one traced to a Chicago Sun-Times reporter, Jerome Holtzman.The essence of the article was that Finley was packing up not only the Seals, but his Athltics baseball team&mdash;which has been in the black every season in Oakland&mdash;and running off to Washington D.C.Just before the report, the Seals had beaten Chicago, 2-1, and immediately afterwards, the Golden Ones knocked off Boston, 4-2.&ldquo;I have no intention whatsoever of moving either one of my clubs out of Oakland&rdquo;, said Finley. &ldquo;You can be emphatic about it.Holtzman&rsquo;s story quoted Finley saying: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to talk about it. I don&rsquo;t want to get into hot water with the people of Oakland&rdquo;.The Alameda County Coliseum Complex, home of the A&rsquo;s and Seals, has 16 years to run on its contract with the baseball team and three more years with the hockey club. &#9632;

Finley Denies Reports He Plans To Move Seals Out

DETROIT&mdash;NHL President Clarence Campbell told The Detroit News that the Ron Stackhouse-Tom Webster deal stands. California had been making noises that the deal should be negated or altered since Webster has a back condition that will require surgery. The Red Wings said they knew nothing about it. Webster led Detroit in scoring last season with 30 goals. &#9632;

Campbell Says Trade To Stick

<h2>In The East</h2>When a rookie scores a hat trick in the National Hockey League, it becomes a memorable event. But when he does it a second time in a span of six days, it has to rate as something special.It happened in the NHL this past week to Guy Lafleur of the Montreal Canadiens as he broke out of his scoring shell to display some of the form expected of him after a whirlwind 130-goal season last year in his windup junior hockey semester.Lafleur broke the ice against Minnesota North Stars when he drilled three past Cesare Maniago, including the. game winner. He did it again in Vancouver as he raised his week&rsquo;s work to six goals and his season total to an even dozen goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01745/2975191-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="550" height="672"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY LAFLEUR&hellip;Montreal Canadiens</figcaption></div><h2>In The West</h2>The Minnesota North Stars picked themselves a bargain when they landed Murray Oliver in a trade with Toronto. He hasn&rsquo;t stopped producing for the West Division team.Oliver pumped in three goals this past week scoring twice as the Stars downed St. Louis Blues 4-1 and adding the only goal in a 1-1 standoff with the highflying New York Rangers.In all Oliver had a four-point week to push himself into the No. 1 spot on the North Stars as scoring leader. He has 14 goals and 15 assists for 29 points but most important, nine of his 14 goals have been in the &lsquo;important&rsquo; category. Oliver has scored three game winners, three on the power play and three game tieing goals as well.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02633/2975184-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="557" height="661"><figcaption class="caption-body">MURRAY OLIVER&hellip;Minnesota North Stars</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Player’s of the week

C-CaptainA-Alternate Captain<h2>MONTREAL</h2>GOALKen DrydenPhil MyreDenis DeJordyDEFENSETerry Harper AJacques LaperrierePierre BouchardJ.C. Tremblay ADale HogansonGuy LapointeCENTERHenri Richard CJacques LemairePete MahovlichChuck LefleyR. WINGYvan CournoyerClaude LaroseRejean HouleChuck ArnasonJim RobertsL. WINGMarc TardifFrank Mahovlich ALarry PleauINJUREDSerge SavardGuy Lafleur<h2>CHICAGO</h2>GOALTony EspositoGary SmithDEFENSEPat StapletonBill WhiteKeith MagnusonDoug Jarrett AJerry KorabCENTERStan Mikita APit MartinBryan CampbellLou AngottiAndre LacroixR. WINGCliff KorollChico MakiEric Nesterenko ADarryl MaggsL. WINGBobby HullDennis HullDanny O&rsquo;SheaINJUREDGerry DesjardinsJim Pappin<h2>BOSTON</h2>GOALGerry CheeversEd JohnstonDEFENSEBobby OrrDallas SmithRick SmithMatt RavlichBob StewartTed Green ACENTERPhil Esposito AFred StanfieldDerek SandersonR. WINGJohn McKenzieEd Westfoil AReg LeachKen HodgeL. WINGJohn Bucyk AWayne CashmanGarnet BaileyMike WaltonINJUREDDon Awrey<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2>GOALErnie WakelyJim McLeodPete McDuffeDEFENSEAndre DupontCarl Brewer AGerry OdrowskiBarclay Ploger ABill PlogerBob PlogerLarry HornungCENTERGarry UngerChris BordeleauTerry CrrspBrian LavenderR. WINGGary Sabounq AFrank St MarseilleMike MurphyGord BrooksL. WINGGeorge AAorrisonFloyd ThomsonJock EgersPhil RobertoJim ShiresINJUREDNoel Picard<h2>DETROIT</h2>GOALAl SmithJoe DaleyDEFENSEGory Bergman AArnie Brown ARon StackhouseLarry JohnstonBob WallRon HarrisCENTERAlex Delvecchio CRed Berenson AMarcel DionneAl KarlanderR. WINGTim EcclestoneMickey RedmondBill CollinsDoug VolmarL. WINGBrian ConacherNick LibettAb McDonaldDanny JohnsonINJUREDLeon RochefortGuy Charron<h2>CALIFORNIA</h2>GOALGilles MelocheLyle CarterDEFENSECarol Vadnais CBert Marshall AMarshall JohnstonDick RedmondPaul ShmyrCENTERJoey JohnstonWalt McKechnieWayne Carleton AIvan BoldirevR. WINGNorm FergusonCraig PatrickGerry PinderL. WINGBobby SheehanGary CroteauStan GilbertsonErnie HicheGary JarrettINJUREDTommy Williams ATom Webster<h2>TORONTO</h2>GOALBernie ParentJacques PlanteDEFENSEBob Baun AJim McKennyBrad SeiwoodBrian GlennieJim DoreyRicky LeyCENTERNorm Ullman ADave Keon CJim HarrisonR. WINGRon Ellis ABrian SpencerGuy TrottierBilly MacMillanL. WINGPaul HendersonDenis DupereDon MarshallDarryl SittierINJUREDMike Pelyk<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2>GOALDoug FavellBruce GambleDEFENSEBarry Ashbee ALarry BrownWayne HillmanBrent HughesEd Van ImpeJoe WatsonRick FoleyCENTERBobby ClarkeJimmy JohnsonBill ClementR. WINGGary Dornhoefer ALew MorrisonDick SarrazinL. WINGJeon-Guy GendronBob KellyBill LesukLarry KeenanMike ParizeouINJUREDSimon NoletSerge Bernier<h2>NEW YORK</h2>GOALEd GiacominGilles VillemureDEFENSEBrad Park AJim Neilson ARod SeilingDale RolfeAb DeMarcoGary DoakCENTERJean RatelieWalt TkaczukBobby RousseauPete StemkowskiR. WINGRod Gilbert ABill FairbairnPierre JarryBruce MacGregorL. WINGJim LorentzVic Hodfield CTed IrvineGlen SatherGene CorrINJUREDNone<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2>GOALRoy EdwardsLes BinkleyJim RutherfordDEFENSEDarryl EdestrandDove BurrowsSheldon KonnegiesserBryan WatsonBob WoytowichJoe NorisTim Horton ACENTERRon SchockBobby LoiterBryan HextaliSy&rsquo; App&raquo;R. WINGNick HarbarukKen Schinkel AJeonPronovostL. WINGKeith McCreary AVol FonleyneGreg PolisJohn Stewart<h2>BUFFALO</h2>GOALRoger CrozierDave DrydenDEFENSEAl Hamilton ALarry HillmanRay McKayJim WatsonChris EvansCENTERGilbert Perreault AGerry Meehan CDon LucePhil Goyette AR. WINGRon AndersonSteve AtkinsonKevin O&rsquo;SheaEddie ShackMike ByersL. WINGDanny LawsonRichard MartinCraig RamsayINJUREDTracy PrattMike Robitaille<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2>GOALRogatien VachonGary EdwardsDEFENSEDoug BarrieHarry Howell AGilles Marotte AJean PotvinBill MikkelsonPaul CurtisCENTERRalph Backstrom AButch GaringBob Pulford CJuha WidingR. WINGBill RettLucien GrenierAl McDonoughL. WINGEd Joyal ABob BerryRoss LonsberryReal LemieuxMike CorriganINJUREDNone<h2>VANCOUVER</h2>GOALGeorge GardnerDune WilsonEd DyckDEFENSEPat QuinnJocelyn GuevremontDennis KearnsJohn SehellaGreg BoddyCENTEROrland Kurtenbach CAndre Boudrias ARon WardFred SpeckR. WINGMurray HollBobby SchmautzRon StewartL. WINGWayne MakiTed TaylorDave BalonDale Tallon AINJUREDRosaire PaiementPoul PopielBarry WilkinsWayne Connelly<h2>MINNESOTA</h2>GOALCesare ManiogoLorne WorsleyDEFENSETed Harris CTom ReidBarry Gibbs ADennis O&rsquo;BrienDoug MohnsCENTERTed HampsonMurray OliverCharlie Burns AGordon LabossiereR. WINGBill GoldsworthyLou NanneBob NevinCraig CameronL. WINGDanny GrantJean-Poul Parise ADeon PrenticeINJUREDJude DrouinDennis Hextail &#9632;

NHL Team Rosters

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01720/2975383-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="441" height="313"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02645/2975376-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="481" height="295"></div><h2>Tues. Dec 14 TORONTO 4 at ST. LOUIS 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03543/2975369-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="574" height="584"></div><h2>DETROIT 4 at VANCOUVER 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04424/2975362-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="580" height="688"></div><h2>Wed. Dec. 15 MONTREAL 3 at LOS ANGELES 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-05316/2975355-1-eng-US/f0015-052.jpg" title="f0015-05" width="584" height="481"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH 2 at TORONTO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-06263/2975348-1-eng-US/f0015-062.jpg" title="f0015-06" width="588" height="532"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 2 at NEW YORK 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-07236/2975341-1-eng-US/f0015-072.jpg" title="f0015-07" width="590" height="788"></div><h2>BUFFALO 1 at CHICAGO 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-08212/2975334-1-eng-US/f0015-082.jpg" title="f0015-08" width="598" height="501"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 1 at MINNESOTA 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-09196/2975327-1-eng-US/f0015-092.jpg" title="f0015-09" width="594" height="584"></div><h2>Thurs. Dec. 16 NEW YORK 1 at BOSTON 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-10173/2975320-1-eng-US/f0015-102.jpg" title="f0015-10" width="598" height="814"></div><h2>BUFFALO 0 at PHILADELPHIA 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-11152/2975313-1-eng-US/f0015-112.jpg" title="f0015-11" width="591" height="532"></div><h2>Fri. Dec. 17 MONTREAL 6 at VANCOUVER 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-12125/2975306-1-eng-US/f0015-122.jpg" title="f0015-12" width="599" height="700"></div><h2>DETROIT 3 at CALIFORNIA 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-13111/2975299-1-eng-US/f0015-132.jpg" title="f0015-13" width="592" height="617"></div><h2>Sat. Dec. 18 BUFFALO 1 at TORONTO 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1498/2975292-1-eng-US/f0015-142.jpg" title="f0015-14" width="594" height="754"></div><h2>NEW YORK 5 at ST. LOUIS 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1582/2975285-1-eng-US/f0015-152.jpg" title="f0015-15" width="593" height="677"></div><h2>BOSTON 4 at PITTSBURGH 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1677/2975278-1-eng-US/f0015-162.jpg" title="f0015-16" width="598" height="652"></div><h2>CHICAGO 4 at MINNESOTA 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1773/2975271-1-eng-US/f0015-172.jpg" title="f0015-17" width="591" height="523"></div><h2>DETROIT 2 AT LOS ANGELES 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1864/2975264-1-eng-US/f0015-182.jpg" title="f0015-18" width="590" height="693"></div><h2>Sun. Dec. 19 MONTREAL 3 AT CALIFORNIA 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1955/2975257-1-eng-US/f0015-192.jpg" title="f0015-19" width="589" height="589"></div><h2>TORONTO 4 AT PHILADELPHIA 0</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02490/2975250-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="585" height="488"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 1 AT NEW YORK 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03389/2975243-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="580" height="386"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH 2 AT BOSTON 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04306/2975236-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="585" height="511"></div><h2>VANCOUVER 1 AT BUFFALO 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05232/2975229-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="583" height="525"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 0 AT CHICAGO 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06185/2975222-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="577" height="378"></div> &#9632;

f0015-01

National Hockey League SUMMARIES

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div>DETROIT&mdash;Despite the intense conditioning program, a change in coaching and the overhaul of the roster, the Detroit Red Wings have been moving at almost the same pace they set last season.That pace saw them finish in last place in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s East Division.Coach Johnny Wilson has been striving for a more consistent effort and the Wings have responded and have, generally, played better hockey.But so far they haven&rsquo;t been able to put together the kind of winning and unbeaten streaks they need to really challenge the Toronto Maple Leafs for fourth place in the East which is top heavy with talent.The only good run came during last month&rsquo;s seven game trip when Detroit managed a four-game unbeaten streak at the beginning of the journey (two victories and two ties) and the finished drearily with two defeats and a tie.In Wilson&rsquo;s first 18 games as coach the club compiled a 6-7-5 won-lost-tied record. That&rsquo;s certainly better than the 3-8-0 start under Doug Barkley but it still lacked the surge the Wings needed to get hot on Toronto&rsquo;s heels.And, matter of fact, the overall pace was one point behind that of the first nine weeks of last season.That of course was not a banner effort and the whole thing eventually erupted in early January with the resignation of General Manager Sid Abel, elevation of then-Coach Ned Harkness to GM, and the wholesale trade of most of the team&rsquo;s top players.This team is one that has to work hard for every point it gets. Only rarely has it been able to mount an offense that enables the goalkeeper to breathe easy.It even happened in a 6-3 victory over Philadelphia before the Wings departed for their second west coast trip. Detroit grabbed a fast 3-1 lead, saw the Flyers rally with two in the second period, one during a Detroit power play, and then they had to pop home three in the final period to win.Giving up a goal during a power play has become rather embarrassing for Detroit&mdash;it happened six times in the first 29 games, more than against any other club.Conversely, the Red Red Wing power play has not quite struck fear in the hearts of its rivals, showing the fourth worst efficiency rating in the NHL.The Wings haven&rsquo;t had consistency from their point men. Defenseman Ron Stackhouse has a hard, accurate shot from the right point but he&rsquo;s been slow on the trigger.Doug Volmar, who has a blistering shot, lacks quickness to get back in case of a breakaway.Defenseman Gary Bergman, often the left point man, is a skater and can get back but his shot isn&rsquo;t that of a Jacques Laperrriere or Brad Park.Two other factors have to give the Wings heart approaching the holidays&mdash;Vancouver didn&rsquo;t get off to a brisk start, the way it did a year ago, and Buffalo has been struggling too.Furthermore, the Wings now are going into a five week stretch in which they&rsquo;ll play 11 of 17 games at home where they&rsquo;ve played their best hockey. In that stretch they play Montreal and Boston only once and they don&rsquo;t meet New York or Chicago.RED WING NOTES: Brian Conacher&rsquo;s future was somewhat in question when the Wings headed west for the second time&hellip;Conacher was left behind in Detroit.Conacher has been used sparingly what with the improved play of Al Karlander who kills penalties, plays center and left wing, and the acquisition last month of Danny Johnson from Vancouver.Add Nick Libett, who leads in goals scored with nine along with Red Berenson, Charron and Ab McDonald and the Wings have an oversupply on left wing even with Charron currently mending from surgery for a fractured cheekbone.Conacher has been attempting a comeback since quitting the NHL in 1968 when Detroit drafted him from Toronto. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Western Ontario University graduate went into radio and television and played for Canada&rsquo;s National Team and then last summer decided to take a whack at the NHL again.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07172/2975445-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="266" height="437"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Conacher</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01567/2975438-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="553" height="577"><figcaption class="caption-body">NICK LIBETT&hellip;Top Scoring Wing</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0016-07

Despite Overhaul, New Coach Wings At Last Year’s Pace

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-08" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08156/2975483-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg"></div>(Standings on Tues. Dec. 21)<h2>EAST DIVISION</h2><h2>WEST DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09135/2975476-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="1103" height="344"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tues. Dec. 14Toronto 4 at St. Louis 1Detroit 4 at Vancouver 3Wed. Dec. 15Montreal 3 at Los Angeles 1Pittsburgh 2 at Toronto 3Philadelphia 2 at New York 6Buffalo 1 at Chicago 2St. Louis 1 at Minnesota 4Thurs. Dec. 16New York 1 at Boston 8Buffalo 0 at Philadelphia 5Fri. Dec. 17Montreal 6 at Vancouver 2Detroit 3 at California 3Sat. Dec. 18Buffalo 1 at Toronto 8New York 5 at St. Louis 2Boston 4 at Pittsburgh 3Detroit 2 at Los Angeles 4Chicago 4 at Minnesota 1Sun. Dec. 19Montreal 3 at California 3Toronto 4 at Philadelphia 0Minnesota 1 at New York 1Pittsburgh 2 at Boston 2Vancouver 1 at Buffalo 5St. Louis 0 at Chicago 2<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tues. Dec. 21Los Angeles at MinnesotaWed. Dec. 22Toronto at MontrealPittsburgh at New YorkVancouver at DetroitChicago at CaliforniaLos Angeles at St. LouisThur. Dec. 23Boston at BuffaloSat. Dec. 25Montreal at PittsburghDetroit at TorontoNew York at MinnesotaPhiladelphia at BostonBuffalo at St. LouisCalifornia at Los AngelesSun. Dec. 26Montreal at New YorkToronto at BostonMinnesota at DetroitSt. Louis at BuffaloCalifornia at Vancouver (afternoon)Los Angeles at ChicagoPittsburgh at PhiladelphiaTues. Dec. 28Toronto at PittsburghWed. Dec 29California at MontrealSt. Louis at TorontoPhiladelphia at New YorkBoston at ChicagoDetroit at BuffaloVancouver at Los AngelesThur. Dec. 30Boston at MinnesotaFri. Dec. 31California at DetroitBuffalo at Pittsburgh &#9632;

f0016-08

NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01480/2975514-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0017-01

LAST SUMMER’S 1200 HAPPY CAMPERS ALSO EXTEND A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallacaberg, Ootarie Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallacaberg, Ootarie Sold in U.S. and Canada<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE(Standings on Mon. Dec. 20)<h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01485/2975566-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="584" height="160"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02393/2975559-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="583" height="182"></div>Affiliations: 1&mdash;Montreal 2 Detroit 3&mdash;Boston 4 New York 7&mdash;Los Angeles 8&mdash;Pittsburgh 9&mdash;California 10&mdash;Philadelphia 11&mdash;Minnesota 13&mdash;Vancouver, 14&mdash;Buffalo).<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tues. Dec. 14Richmond 3 at Boston 5Providence 3 at Cincinnati 6Wed. Dec. 15Nova Scotia 5 at Providence 2Cleveland 3 at Richmond 8Baltimore 2 at Tidewater 1Fri. Dec. 17Springfield 1 at Boston 3Providence 2 at Richmond 1Nova Scotia 3 at Rochester 4Sat Dec. 18Cincinnati 2 at Baltimore 4Nova Scotia 0 at Cleveland 2Rochester 2 at Hershey 9Richmond 1 at Springfield 6Providence 2 at Tidewater 4Sun. Dec 19Nova Scotia 4 at Cincinnati 4Boston 5 at Providence 2Hershey 2 at Richmond 2Springfield 2 at Rochester 4Baltimore 5 at Tidewater 4<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. Dec. 20Cleveland at BostonThur. Dec. 23Baltimore at BostonSat. Dec. 25Rochester at ClevelandRichmond at HersheyProvidence at SpringfieldSun. Dec. 26.Cleveland at CincinnatiBoston at Nova ScotiaSpringfield at ProvidenceHershey al RochesterRichmond at TidewaterTue. Dec. 28Tidewater at CincinnatiProvidence at Nova ScotiaWed. Dec. 29Boston at ClevelandTidewater at RichmondCincinnati at SpringfieldThur. Dec. 30Nova Scotia at HersheyFri. Dec. 31Boston at Cincinnati<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3>Including games of Sun. Dec. 12<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03293/2975552-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="586" height="543"></div><h3>GOALTEEPERS&rsquo; RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04230/2975545-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="586" height="595"></div>Shutouts, Smith 3, Bouchard 2, Kurt, Whidden, Brooks, Gilbert, Rivard, Plasse, Zimmerman, Voss, 1 each Penalty Leader. Dave Schultz, Richmond. 161 mins. &#9632;

f0018-01

AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY BOB BROWN</div>CLEVELAND&mdash;The Cleveland Barons have resembled Merlin the Magician in closing minutes of some recent games at the Arena and, as a result, have managed to remain in the thick of things in the American League&rsquo;s Western Division race.The Barons have not enjoyed overwhelming success on the road but thanks to third period heroics in several games at home made a run at the top spot in the West. The Barons have extended their Arena streek to 14 games without a loss.In a recent weekend, John Muckler&rsquo;s skaters scored with 43 seconds remaining to pull out a tie with Providence, then came back the next afternoon to score three goals in the last two minutes of play to turn what looked like certain defeat into victory. Cincinnati was the victim in the latter game and led Cleveland 53 with under two minutes to play.The fireworks began with 1:38 on the clock when the Barons&rsquo; Gary Geldart scored to close the deficit to 5-4. Just twenty-two second later at 18:44 Buster Harvey tied the count at 5. Then, at 19:15, Billy Heindl took a picture pass from Dennis Patterson, skated in on Rocky Farr, and popped home the winner. Three goals in a fifty-three second period and the Barons unbeaten string at home had reached fourteen games.And, although those two games had a little more drama than most in the string, the Barons third period antics have been something to see. Through that Cincinnati game, the Barons had won seven and tied two in their last nine games at home and in so doing had registered twenty-six third period goals while opponents had collected just nine.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been showing great poise in the late stages at home,&rdquo; Muckier said. &ldquo;This club has good morale and believes it can do anything.&rdquo; Things weren&rsquo;t so bright on the road, however. &ldquo;We just haven&rsquo;t been doing the things in other rinks we do at home,&rdquo;&lsquo;Muckier said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s that simple&rdquo;Still the Barons found themselves in the thick of the division race that at the moment is a three way scramble. If the Barons can continue their magic at home and improve at all on the road, their chances of getting the title that has eluded them since 1961 can be had this season.Right winger Buster Harvey is making the Barons scoring race interesting. He moved to within one point of Gordon Labossiere totaling 37 points on 13 goals and a team leading 24 assists. Labossiere, who missed two weekend games while on temporary recall with the Minnesota North Stars, has 38 points on a team topping 20 goals and 18 assists. Terry Caffery with 34 points and Norm Beaudin with 31 give the Barons four players with more than 30 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05175/2975604-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="279" height="374"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buster Harvey</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06144/2975597-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="1792" height="950"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cincinnati goaler ROCKY FARR sprawls on ice to make save off stick of Cleveland&rsquo;s BILL HEINDL (21) but it was Heindl who had the last say as he scored winning goal with 45 seconds to play enabling Barons to edge Swords 6-5.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-05

Home Ice Heroics Put Barons In Thick Of Western Race As Streak Reaches 14

Four-goal games are a rare occurence in hockey and the American League is no exception. Gary Peters of Boston was the first to turn the trick this season in the AHL and now Baltimore&rsquo;s Pete Laframboise is only the second to do it. The Clippers&rsquo; winger counted four times in a 61 romp over Providence to raise his season total to 15. With 19 assists for 34 points, he ranks 5th in the individual scoring race and currently tops the Baltimore club in scoring.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07126/2975635-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="476" height="586"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETE LAFRAMBOISE</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-07

Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div>ROCHESTER&mdash;A Hollywood script writer would have a hard time improving on what actually happened here Friday, Dec. 10, when the Rochester Americans played the Providence Reds.Like how many hockey games are there where a coach tangles physically with a fan? Okay, it happens once in a great while&hellip;but this time it was the home side&rsquo;s coach and a man reported to be a season ticket holder.Doug Adam, the Amerks&rsquo; rookie coach and general manager, brought his team into the game with five straight defeats, a 2-9 record for its last 11 tries and in a scoring slump that had seen Rochester muster just 16 goals while allowing 51 in the 11 games.Providence, a point ahead of the last-place Americans, seemed well on the way to opening up real daylight in the standings by grabbing a 5-3 lead in the first two periods.The teams were already back on the ice for the start of third period and Adam was wending his way through the spectators toward the Rochester bench.The stories vary on what happened. But a loud-mouthed customer did follow him closely, all the time berating him. There was a sudden flurry of movement&mdash;some say Adam swung and others say it was the fan who attacked first.Adam&rsquo;s glasses were knocked off in the fracas, which ended quickly as the Amerks swarmed over the sides of the rink to protect their boss.His ruffled feelings were quickly smoothed by his club, however. The Amerks exploded for three goals in the space of a minute and 22 seconds early in the finale and added two more goals before it all ended with Rochester winning 8 to 5 to reclaim fourth place in the Eastern Division.They poured in the five third-period goals in less than 12 1/2 minutes. Five was the most goals the Amerks had scored in any previous game.There were other highlights, too.Rookies scored all eight Rochester goals&mdash;Rich Lemieux 3, Bobby Lalonde and Doug Brindley two apiece and Barry Wilcox one.And the fans got to see what seemed a stream of goaltending changes. Serge Aubry started for Rochester but was yanked by Adam after the Reds&rsquo; fifth goal. Lynn Zimmerman came on and played exceptionally well until he was knocked down by a Providence player who had been sent flying by an Amerk. Zimmerman injured an ankle, so back on came Aubry. Providence started Don McLeod, but he gave way to Rick Charron during the third period uprising.All in all, certainly a night to remember.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01464/2975680-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="570" height="561"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY LALONDE</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02400/2975673-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="568" height="544"><figcaption class="caption-body">BARRY WILCOX</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03325/2975666-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="569" height="562"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICHARD LEMIEUX</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-01

Rookies Store Eight In 8-5 Romp

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE McCLELLAND</div>NORFOLK&mdash;Of their nine November games the Tidewater Wings won three and tied two, scarcely a gaudy total, but a marked improvement nonetheless. In October the Wings were 1-11-1, beginning a streak which saw them go 13 games without a victory.&ldquo;We need 18 points in December to get back in the race,&rdquo; Coach Larry Jeffrey was saying before the Wings set off in that direction by thumping Rochester, 7-2, in their first December effort.Eighteen points in 11 games may be an impossible dream for this fledgling American Hockey League club.But the Wings are better and they do play seven of their 11 games this month at home. Make that homes, for Tidewater plays 14 regular season games in the Hampton Roads Coliseum, 24 in Scope.But what the Wings must do to get clearance up the steps from the Western Division cellar is start winning on the road. Their mark on foreign ice in 0-11-3.Since Jeffrey took over Nov. 1, the Wings have managed more ice time for practice and the parent Detroit Red Wings have made a concerted effort to improve their new affiliate.Art Stratton from Seattle, Bill Sutherland from St. Louis and Ralph Stewart from Vancouver have given the Wings a lift and Detroit obtained Billy Hicke on waivers from Pittsburgh and sent the veteran right winger to Tidewater.Since the season began Detroit has sent down Andy Brown, the All Star goaltender in the AHL last year, and two solid defensemen, Jim Niekamp and Serge LaJeunesse. Lee Carpenter, up from Fort Worth, is another backline addition.Stratton and Stewart have provided center strength for a team that had great difficulty scoring goals earlier.Left wingers Tom Gilmore and Rick Sentes each have 10 goals and the MGM line, Gilmore, Rick McCann and Tommy Martin has been especially productive as a unit.&ldquo;We still have a long way to go,&rdquo; Jeffrey admits, &ldquo;but we have come a long way, too, and the club now has the feeling it can win consistently. That, I think, is half the battle.&rdquo; &#9632;

Wings Making Progress In Bid To Quit Cellar

<h2>Tues. Dec. 7 PROVIDENCE 1 at BALTIMORE 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03189/2975822-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="595" height="715"></div><h2>ROCHESTER 1 at BOSTON 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04144/2975815-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="587" height="589"></div><h2>HERSHEY 0 at NOVA SCOTIA 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0578/2975808-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="592" height="613"></div><h2>Wed. Dec. 8 CLEVELAND 4 at TIDEWATER 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0660/2975801-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="593" height="939"></div><h2>Fri. Dec. 10 PROVIDENCE 5 at ROCHESTER 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0751/2975794-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="590" height="1012"></div><h2>SPRINGFIELD 4 at BOSTON 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0844/2975787-1-eng-US/f0020-082.jpg" title="f0020-08" width="591" height="642"></div><h2>HERSHEY 3 at BALTIMORE 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0930/2975780-1-eng-US/f0020-092.jpg" title="f0020-09" width="600" height="686"></div><h2>TIDEWATER 4 at RICHMOND 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1025/2975773-1-eng-US/f0020-102.jpg" title="f0020-10" width="599" height="828"></div> &#9632;

f0020-03

American Hockey League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY GREG FARLEY</div>BOSTON&mdash;&lsquo;&lsquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a long haul, but we&rsquo;re looking forward to it. It&rsquo;ll be a real test for us.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s how Braves&rsquo; coach Bep Guidolin views his team&rsquo;s upcoming eight game, two-week road swing, which opened at Nova Scotia on Dec. 26 and winds up Jan. 9 at Tidewater.&ldquo;We want to develop the same confidence on the road that we have on our own ice,&rdquo; explained Bep. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been unbeatable at home, but we&rsquo;ve had our troubles on the road despite our winning record.&rdquo;Most coaches are satisfied to bat .500 on the road. Not so Guidolin.&ldquo;Oh, I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;d be disappointed if we split the eight games,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;After all, eight road games in two weeks is a tough order for any team.&ldquo;I think we can do better than that though. Something along the lines of 6-2 would be most satisfactory.&rdquo;Bep made no secret of the fact that certain stops on the trip are more important to him than others.&ldquo;Naturally we&rsquo;re hoping to be &lsquo;up&rsquo; for all of the games. However, I&rsquo;m looking to the games at Nova Scotia, Cleveland, and Springfield as the most important on the trip.&ldquo;Since it&rsquo;s very possible that we might encounter one or more of those teams in the playoffs, I&rsquo;d like to get a couple of victories on their ice under our belt.&ldquo;Then we won&rsquo;t have anything hanging over our heads come playoff time,&rdquo; he added.Bep didn&rsquo;t mention it, but it&rsquo;s a pretty safe bet that the players will be sky-high for the Voyageurs tilt.Nova Scotia coach Al MacNeil made some uncomplementary remarks about the Braves&rsquo; during his last visit here, claiming that the &ldquo;Braves have no real talent. They&rsquo;re getting by on sheer hustle along with their great fan support.&rdquo;MacNeil&rsquo;s warriors, who have already dropped a pair of close contests at Boston, had better brace themselves. The Braves figure to come out hitting when they encounter the Vees.BRAVES BRIEFS: Bruin Don Marcotte has shown well in recent appearances in Braves&rsquo; spangles&hellip;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m coming along much quicker than I anticipated,&rdquo; pointed out Marcotte, &ldquo;but my wind still isn&rsquo;t what it should be. I&rsquo;m getting stronger with each game though&rdquo;&hellip;Braves&rsquo; received rousing cheers prior to a 3-2 loss at Springfield from a number of fans who ventured westward across the Mass. Pike for the game&hellip;First home game following the road trip is Jan. 11 against Springfield&hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01170/2975853-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="257" height="469"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Marcotte</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

Guidolin Eyes Big Bead Trip

<div class="byline">BY JOHN TRAVERS</div>HERSHEY&mdash;The injury bug finally struck the Hershey Bears and it couldn&rsquo;t have come at a worse time.Hershey, riding on top of the American League&rsquo;s Western Division since the season&rsquo;s outset, took off Nov. 29 for a six-game road trip.Even before the club got underway, defensemen Larry Bignell was sidelined with suspected mononucleosis and is expected to be out of action for a least a month.&ldquo;He may be back by mid-January&rdquo;, said coach Frank Mathers. &ldquo;He really was playing well and we miss him on the backline&rdquo;.Later, defenseman Yvon Labre hurt his knee and Hershey&rsquo;s blueline crowd suddenly was pared to four players.Added to this Brian McKenzie had an infected foot, while veteran center Gil Gilbert injured a knee.The National League parent Pittsburgh Penguins then recalled forward Rick Kessell from Dec. 1 to Dec. 8, a stretch that saw him miss four of the six road games.Hershey went through the tour with only a win and tie on plus side, while dropping four to garner three of a possible 12 points. It was the club&rsquo;s poorest performance of the season.Forced to juggle lines, Mathers couldn&rsquo;t strike on a consistent scoring effort with any of the front line arragments.The Bears notched only 12 goals, while allowing 21 in the span. Until the road trip, Hershey had shelled the opposition for 85 goals in the first two months, while permitting only 51.&ldquo;At least we get a break in the schedule for the rest of this month&rdquo;, said Mathers, whose outfit has only two road games, while playing four on home ice.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll get a chance to rest everyone and we should be in good shape for January when we play eight of 14 games at home. We don&rsquo;t catch another long road trip until Febrary&rdquo;.Despite coming off the road journey with a losing record, the Bears are still on the plus side for foreign ice play with a mark of 6-5-2. They have scored 37 goals, while allowing 38.&ldquo;As long as we can keep above or close to the .500 mark on the road&rdquo;, added Mathers, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ll be okay&rdquo;. &#9632;

Injury Bug Takes Bite Out Of High-Flying Hockey Bears

LIUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLIUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Dec. 22)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01188/2975915-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="578" height="231"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Dec. 15Denver 5 at Salt Lake 1Seattle 2 at Portland 8San Diego 1 at Phoenix 7Fri. Dec. 17Phoenix 4 at Denver 7Salt Lake 4 at Seattle 3Sat. Dec. 18Denver 4 at Son Diego 1Seattle 5 at Portland 6Sun. Dec. 19Salt Lake 2 at Seattle 1GAMES TO COMEWed. Dec. 22Denver at PortlandSat. Dec. 25Salt Lake at DenverPortland at SeattleSun. Dec 26Phoenix at San DiegoSeattle at PortlandWed. Dec. 29Portland at PhoenixSeattle at San DiegoThur. Dec. 30Seattle at Salt LakeFri. Dec. 31Salt Lake at DenverPortland at PhoenixSan Diego at Seattle<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3>(Including games of Sun. Dec. 12)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02126/2975908-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="583" height="430"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

HOW THEY STAND

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div>PORTLAND&mdash;The Portland Buckaroos aren&rsquo;t wiping clubs off the Western Hockey League map the way they did last season, but their last road trip gave cause for manager-coach Gord Fashoway to smile a little.The Buckaroos had won once, lost eight times and tied once in their 10 previous road dates but split even last time out. They won at Salt Lake City where Connie Madigan broke the all-time career penalty record, lost to the league leading Spurs at Denver and took a 5-5 tie from the Phoenix Roadrunners on Art Jones&rsquo; 500th WHL career goal.The Buckaroos set a long list of records last season, including most road victories, 10; most victories, 48; most points, 103; most points at home, 62; fewest games lost, 17; fewest games lost at home, three. They also tied the record for most home victories, 29.The Buckaroos have lost four home games already this season, one more than all of last season.The Buckaroos were decimated by the loss of five members off last season&rsquo;s Lester Patrick Cup champions&mdash;the WHL&rsquo;s leading goaltender, Jim McLeod, to the St. Louis; two 37-goal scorers, Norm Johnson and Oscar Gaudet to retirement; WHL penalty record holder, Rick Foley, who also scored 71 points, and defenseman Ray &ldquo;Spider&rdquo; McKay also to the NHL. Defenseman Jerry Korab went up to the NHL during last season.Jones&rsquo; goal, with 4:11 remaining in the game, &ldquo;couldn&rsquo;t have come at a better time,&rdquo; grinned Fashoway.It was the 13th of the season for the 36-year-old Buckaroos captain. He broke the WHL record of 485 last season. It had been set by Fashoway, Jones&rsquo; former teammate.Guyle Fielder of the Salt Lake City Golden Eagles, holder of the career points and assists records, is next to Jones among active goal scorers. He is only a couple short of his 400th.Madigan, 37, missed the first 30 days of this season with a suspension for his knockout of referee Dave Newell during last season&rsquo;s play offs. He needed only 34 minutes to surpass the total of 1,462 career penalty minutes, set by his former teammate, Jim &ldquo;Red Eye&rdquo; Hay.The 5-10, 180-pound native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, who now calls Portland home, broke the record in his usual style. He collected 12 minutes in the victory at Salt Lake City, which was telecast live back to Portland. It gave him 38 minutes in his first 12 games this season.Madigan, in his 11th WHL season, also set the league record of most assists by a defenseman, 59, last season. His 67 point total was a personal high.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0490/2975953-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="294" height="434"><figcaption class="caption-body">Connie Maddigan</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0579/2975946-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="1163" height="1681"><figcaption class="caption-body">ART JONES&hellip;Reaches Another Milestone</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-04

Jones Scores 5OOth WHL Career Coal; Madigan Sets Mark

<h2>MID-WEST AMATEUR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tues. Dec. 7)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03109/2975998-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="577" height="189"></div><h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tues. Dec. 14)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0660/2975991-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="578" height="158"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0755/2975984-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="581" height="541"></div> &#9632;

f0022-03

SEATTLE&mdash;The Seattle Totems set a new Western Hockey League record for consecutive home defeats at eight when they were blanked 6-0 by the first place Denver Spurs.The loss also tied the WHL record for consecutive overall defeats at 14 and was the Totems&rsquo; 21st setback in 23 games.Rookie coach Chuck Holmes is ready to throw in the towel.&ldquo;If some other coach could take this team and do any more,&rdquo; he declared, &ldquo;then he&rsquo;s welcome to it.&rdquo;Holmes attempted to shake up the Totems by hitting them where it hurts&mdash;in the wallet.The loss cost each Totem $25 under a new fine system imposed by Holmes. Each loss by more than two goals costs each player $25 and it can be redeemed at $25 per victory.&ldquo;I thought the fine would bring &rsquo;em up to go full speed for 60 minutes,&rdquo; said Holmes.The previous record of seven consecutive home losses was set by California in 1947-48 and matched by Winnipeg in 1956-57. The overall consecutive loss record of 14 was set by Victoria in 1949-50. &#9632;

Even Fines Fail To Stop Losing Ways As Totems Drop Record 14th In Row

Little wonder Jim Shires of Denver is back in the National Hockey League with St. Louis. The Blues&rsquo; farmhand turned a hot hand before his departure for the NHL last week as he connected for four goals in one game to culminate a 12-game stretch that saw Shires register a total of 11 goals and eight assists.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01166/2976053-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="516" height="590"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM SHIRES</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0023-01

Player of The Week

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div>PHOENIX&mdash;Mrs. Ellen Jones, wife of a captain in the United States Air Force, was declared the Phoenix Roadrunners&rsquo; &ldquo;One Millionth Fan&rdquo; at the Western Hockey League team&rsquo;s 12th home game this season. It was their 165th game in the Phoenix Veterans Memorial Coliseum.Capt. William H. Jones is stationed at Williams Air Force Base. The Joneses saw their first hockey game when they moved to Arizona a year ago.Numerous prizes from the Rodrunners&rsquo; radio and television sponsors and an all-expenses paid trip to Denver for a WHL game with the Roadrunners are among the prizes presented to Mrs. Jones.The Roadrunners drew 8,217 opening night, Oct. 21, 1967, of their first season in the Western Hockey League. They defeated the San Diego Gulls, 7-4, that night.The Roadrunners&rsquo; four-season-plus average is 6,089 and average attendance this season is just over 7,000.The largest crowd was 11,748 last season, April 3, when the Runners defeated the San Diego Gulls 3-0 to cinch second place in a climb which saw them vacate the league basement during Christmas week.The largest crowd this season was 11,339. Nov. 13, when the Roadrunners thumped the Portland Buckaroos, 6-2, to mark the return of the Buckaroos&rsquo; All-Star defenseman, Connie Madigan, after a 30-game suspension for striking an official in last spring&rsquo;s playoffs. &#9632;

Runners’ One Millionth Fan Given Red Carpet Treatment

<h2>Wed. Dec. 8 PORTLAND 1 at DENVER 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02127/2976157-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="591" height="649"></div><h2>SALT LAKE 1 at PHOENIX 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03100/2976150-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="593" height="597"></div><h2>Thurs. Dec. 9 PORTLAND 5 at SALT LAKE 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0479/2976143-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="597" height="657"></div><h2>SEATTLE 3 at SAN DIEGO 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0563/2976136-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="593" height="622"></div><h2>Fri. Dec. 10 SEATTLE 1 at DENVER 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0654/2976129-1-eng-US/f0023-062.jpg" title="f0023-06" width="595" height="715"></div><h2>PORTLAND 5 at PHOENIX 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0750/2976122-1-eng-US/f0023-072.jpg" title="f0023-07" width="591" height="744"></div><h2>Sat. Dec. 11 DENVER 2 at SAN DIEGO 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0842/2976115-1-eng-US/f0023-082.jpg" title="f0023-08" width="593" height="582"></div><h2>Sun. Dec. 12 DENVER 6 at SEATTLE 0</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0934/2976108-1-eng-US/f0023-092.jpg" title="f0023-09" width="587" height="577"></div> &#9632;

f0023-02

Western League Summaries

DENVER&mdash;Center Ron Buchanan scored his second &ldquo;hat trick&rdquo; of the West ern Hockey League season and pushed his league leading goal scoring total to 21.But left winger Jim Shires was flying along at an even hotter clip. The 6-0, 180-pounder has scored 11 goals and eight assists in 12 games since the St. Louis Blues assigned him to the Spurs. As it turned out it was a short term assignment for the former Denver University star who was recalled to St. Louis.The 26-year-old who broke loose for four in a 9-1 lacing of the last place Seattle Totems, has almost reached his career high for goals in a season&mdash;16 for Forth Worth in the Central League in 1969-70.Chuck Hamilton, veteran left winger, turned the three goal performance a few nights later, also against the Totems, for the Spurs fourth &ldquo;hat trick&rdquo; of the season.Bob Johnson also made his mark in that game, the 6-0 shutout the first in pro hockey for the rookie netminder. His goaltending partner, Jacques Caron, is rolling along with a 2.17 goals against average and challenging for the league lead.The Spurs, meanwhile, broke out of a tie with the Phoenix Roadrunners for three points of daylight atop the WHL standings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1026/2976188-1-eng-US/f0023-102.jpg" title="f0023-10" width="270" height="447"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chuck Hamilton</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0023-10

Denver Trio Sizzles As Spurs Rip Rivals

<h2>Sun., Dec. 5 OKLAHOMA CITY 4 at OMAHA 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0469/2976299-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="587" height="616"></div><h2>Wed., Dec. 8 OKLAHOMA CITY 4 at KANSAS CITY 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0554/2976292-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="581" height="641"></div><h2>Fri., Dec. 10 OMAHA 2 at TULSA 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0645/2976285-1-eng-US/f0024-062.jpg" title="f0024-06" width="595" height="659"></div><h2>Sat., Dec. 11 TULSA 4 at KANSAS CITY 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0738/2976278-1-eng-US/f0024-072.jpg" title="f0024-07" width="485" height="788"></div><h2>OKLAHOMA 2 at DALIAS 13</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0834/2976271-1-eng-US/f0024-082.jpg" title="f0024-08" width="486" height="1088"></div><h2>FORTH WORTH 2 at OMAHA 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0929/2976264-1-eng-US/f0024-092.jpg" title="f0024-09" width="587" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0024-04

Central League Summaries

The Dallas Hawks are unquestionably the top scoring team this season in the CHL with their overpowering offense. A player like J.P. Bordeleau is one of the many Hawk skaters who has really turned it on in recent weeks. In his last four games, he has collected six goals and four assists to raise his total to 13 goals and 25 points for the season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0388/2976330-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="474" height="540"><figcaption class="caption-body">J.P. BORDELEAU</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-03

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH A BRADSBY. LTD. Arnold Street Wallaceburg, Ontarie. Sold in U.S. and CanadaLIUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH A BRADSBY. LTD. Arnold Street Wallaceburg, Ontarie. Sold in U.S. and CanadaOMAHA&mdash;The New York Rangers&rsquo; first three draft picks of last June were playing a big role as the Omaha Knights began to climb up in the Central League standings in early December.After being tied for the cellar at Thanksgiving time, the defending champion Knights won four of their next five games to move into third place Dec. 11, four points behind second-place Tulsa, and nine back of front running Dallas.&ldquo;I told you we were ready to make our move,&rdquo; chuckled silver-haired general manager Jake Milford.&ldquo;Our second-year pros were carrying the load at the start of the season&rdquo;, commented Milford, &ldquo;but the rookies are finding themselves now.The most pleasant surprise among the fledgling Knights was 20-year-old forward Tom Williams, who had become the Knights&rsquo; leading scorer with 11 goals and 22 points.The former Hamilton Red Wings&rsquo; standout plays left wing, although he&rsquo;s a right handed shot. &ldquo;He handles the puck well, and has a really good shot,&rdquo; Milford said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve also used him some at center. I predict a big future for Tommy.&rdquo;New York&rsquo;s No. 1 draft choice in the Montreal meetings last June was another forward, Steve Vickers from the Toronto Marlboros. He&rsquo;s a lefthanded shot, but had been playing the right side, until Knight coach Larry Popein moved him to left wing.&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s another eventual NHL, player,&rdquo; Milford observes. &ldquo;He has a lot of ability, a lot of great moves, and he can really skate.&rdquo;Steve Durbano, 205-pound defenseman, also from the Marlboros, was New York&rsquo;s third draft choice. The 19-year-old was the Central League&rsquo;s leading penalty-sitter with 220 minutes in the first 24 games.&ldquo;Durbano&rsquo;s improving a lot,&rdquo; Milford said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s using his head, and he&rsquo;s cut down on the foolish penalties. That makes him more effective.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s big, and he hits hard. He needs to improve his skating. But he has the hardest shot on the club, it&rsquo;s a heavy shot, nearly always on the net, and he really gets it off in a hurry.&rdquo;The Knights began their post Thanks giving surge with a 4-2 home victory over Kansas City, and they downed Tulsa by the same score, Dec. 4, then turned back Oklahoma City, 5-4, the next night.The three-game victory string was snapped Dec. 10 in Tulsa, when Cal Swenson&rsquo;s two power goals sparked a 5-2 Oiler victory. But the Knights made it four straight home triumphs by taking Fort Worth, 4-2, the following night. (Three of their four home victories were by the 4-2 count, which Milford may have a copyright on.)Left wing Larry McKillop, a veteran of four American League seasons, had missed seven games with a torn rib cartilage.DALLAS: Some clubs need a couple of weeks or more to score 13 goals, but Bobby Kromm&rsquo;s Black Hawks did it in one night at home, Dec. 11, trouncing the Oklahoma City Blazers, 13-2, to delight the State Fair Coliseum fans.The Hawks scored a league record of seven goals in the final period. J.P. Bordeleau, Michel Archambault and Larry Roman-chych each contributed a pair of tallies. Five of the Dallas goals came on power plays (out of seven chances), also believed to be a CHL record.&ldquo;Everything just went right for us,&rdquo; commented Kromm after the holocaust. &ldquo;It was just one of those games. The whole team was moving the puck very well. We got a fast start, got four or five goals up, and after that the Blazers were disorganized.&ldquo;But they&rsquo;ll regroup. They aren&rsquo;t that bad a hockey club. I remember one year we went into Tulsa and got blistered, 12-3, and we weren&rsquo;t that bad, either.&rdquo;In spite of playing only once in seven days, the Hawks maintained their five-point bulge over second-place Tulsa, which lost a 6-4 decision in Kansas City after beating Omaha at home.J.P. Leblanc, with a goal and five assists in the big barrage, became the Hawks&rsquo; scoring leader, with 25 points on five goals and 20 assists. He was tied for seventh in the league with Kansas City&rsquo;s Ron Climie. Bordeleau had three assists, along with his two goals, running his total to 24 points.Left wing Bill Young was sidelined for three weeks by surgery to remove a wood splinter, which had forced itself into a knuckle of his left hand breaking off a piece of bone.The injury was received in Oklahoma City, Nov. 12 when Young cross-checked a Blazer. The stick broke, and a piece of it entered Young&rsquo;s hand. The Blazers&rsquo; doctor performed immediate surgery, and though he had removed all of the splinters. One small splinter was overlooked, however, and when Young&rsquo;s had continued to pain him, a specialist. Dr. Felix Segovia was called for the operation at Dallas&rsquo; Brookhaven General Hospital.Ron Dussiaume, second-year Hawk right wing who was loaned to Tidewater in the American League in early November, was recalled by Dallas. A 22-goal scorer last season, Dussiaume had never broken into the Hawks&rsquo; lineup, after missing some early-season games to get married.TULSA: Rookie goalkeeper Ron Low, who played for Jacksonville in the Eastern League last winter, turned in impressive performances, as the Oilers beat their turnpike rivals from Oklahoma City, 5-3, Dec. 3, and turned back Omaha, 5-2, a week later. However, Murray McLachlan, the Oilers&rsquo; more experienced goalie, was handled roughly in a Dec. 11 trip to Kansas City, where the Oilers were out hustled in a 6-4 setback.Low said he became a goalkeeper at the age of 12 in Warren, Man., because &ldquo;I was the biggest kid on the team, and I wasn&rsquo;t too good a skater.&rdquo; He&rsquo;s still the biggest fellow on his team, with 211 pounds on a 6-1 frame.Veteran Oiler center Jean Payette regained undisputed second place in the CHL scoring race. Two goals and an assist for the week gave him 31 points, but he stayed four points back of Blazer Greg Sheppard, who also had two goals and an assists.OKLAHOMA CITY: The Blazers&rsquo; five road games, while their home rink was given over to rodeo performers, produced only three points&mdash;a victory in Kansas City, Dec. 4, and a tie in the same rink, Dec. 8. They lost fairly close games in Tulsa and Omaha, before the 13-2 humiliation in Dallas.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0371/2976233-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="560" height="594"><figcaption class="caption-body">LEN RONSON&hellip;Vet With Wings</figcaption></div>Sheppard provided one happy note, as he collected his 19th goal, and led the league with 35 points. His linemate, Bill Klatt, hampered by an injury in November, ran his total to 13 goals and 17 assists by getting two of each during the week.Tom Dirato resigned as Blazer publicity director. He had been a sports writer for the Oklahoma Journal before taking the Blazer post last summer. OC general manager Bill Levins said no one would be hired as Dirato&rsquo;s replacement. Dick Reno, who has been handling group sales and promotions, would take over much of Dirato&rsquo;s duties, with Levins handling the rest.KANSAS CITY: The Blues hadn&rsquo;t won in five games before the welcome win over Tulsa, Dec. 11, at the American Royal Arena. Coach John Choyce&rsquo;s lads were still without a triumph in their last five starts away from home.Right wing Gordon Brooks was summoned to the parent St. Louis Blues. To ice three complete lines, Choyce inserted second-year defenseman Dave Pulkkinen at left wing.Dec. 8 the Blues had to pull goalie John Garrett and score with 11 seconds left to pull out a 4-4 tie with Oklahoma City. The Blazers had scored three early goals and taken a 4-1 lead in the opening period. But Tom Earl tallied for KC in the second. Norm Dennis midway in the third, and veteran Brit Selby in the closing seconds.FORT WORTH: Coach Bob Lemieux was having better luck shooting quail on his day off in the cold, rainswept West Texas plains than in winning hockey games. His Wings outplayed Omaha, and ousthot the Knights, 28-21, in their only game of the week, but still went down to a 4-2 defeat. It was the Wings&rsquo; 18th straight game without a victory in Omaha.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01178/2976226-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="554" height="599"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE VICKERS&hellip;Hot On Left Side</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02125/2976219-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="555" height="593"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM WILLIAMS&hellip;Big Surprise</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-03

Young Knights Put New Life In Surging Omaha

<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Sat. Dec. 25)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01147/2976368-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="579" height="235"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Dec. 15Tulsa 5 at Dallas 4Kansas City 5 at Oklahoma City 3Thurs. Dec. 16Kansas City 2 at Fort Worth 5Fri. Dec. 17Dallas 4 at Omaha 3Fort Worth 4 at Tulsa 4Sat. Dec. 18Dallas 8 at Kansas City 1Fort Worth 2 at Oklahoma City 2Tulsa 5 at Omaha 2Sun. Dec. 19Omaha 2 at Dallas 4Kansas City 5 at Tulsa 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Fri. Dec. 17Dallas at OmahaFort Worth at TulsaSat. Dec. 18Dallas at Kansas CityFort Worth at Oklahoma CityTulsa at OmahaSun. Dec. 19Omaha at DallasKansas City at TulsaSat. Dec. 25Dallas at Fort WorthOmaha at Kansas CityTulsa at Oklahoma CitySun. Dec. 26Tulsa at Kansas CityOklahoma City at Omaha<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3>(Including games of Sun. Dec. 12)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0298/2976361-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="592" height="755"></div> &#9632;

f0025-01

FORT WORTHLen Ronson, one of the top scoring stars of the Western Hockey League, has arrived in the camp of the Fort Worth Wings of the Central Hockey League.The 35-year-old Ronson scored a goal in his first start with the Wings, something the hard-shooting left winger had been highly proficient at during his six years with the San Diego Gulls of the WHL.The crafty Brantford, Ont., native had the distinction of leading the WHL in goal scoring twice with 45 goals in 1967-68 and 51 in 1969-70.Ronson hadn&rsquo;t been scoring with his usual touch this season with the Gulls, who decided a change of scenery would be in the best interests of the veteran skater. The long-time pro had tallied 183 goals in five years with the Gulls prior to starting out this season with an injury.In other Wings&rsquo; happenings, All Star defenseman and the CHL&rsquo;s most valuable player, Joe Zanussi, was operated on for a torn cartilage last week and is expected to be out of action until at least mid-January.Center Ross Perkins, who lost the league scoring lead when he suffered a charley horse in late November, was blanked last week, and his 28 points dropped him to fourth place. &#9632;

Fort Worth Lands Ronson After Big Years In WHL

<div class="byline">BY HARVEY POLLACK</div>JACKSONVILLE&mdash;Plagued by financial setbacks and an inferior hockey club on the ice, the downtrodden Jacksonville Rockets finally threw in the towel to reduce the Eastern Hockey League to 10 teams for the balance of the 1971-72 season.The troubled Jacksonville team announced it was erasing operation after eight shaky years leaving the league&rsquo;s Southern Division going with four clubs&mdash;Greensboro, Charlotte, Roanoke Valley and Sun Coast.The Jacksonville board of directors voted to sell the franchise. At first it was thought that the league might operate the franchise but prexy Tom Lockhart said it didn&rsquo;t have the finances. Don Gibbons, Jacksonville prexy, said he would have sold the club for $13,000 if the new owner would pay off $30,000 debt. Evidently there were no takers though there was one interested party despite the fact the club was averaging just about 1,200 a game. Players were finally declared free agents to make their own deals when the Rockets quit.Meanwhile, the Rockets weren&rsquo;t the only ones who had to make a momentous decision. New Haven&rsquo;s Don Perry had to do likewise, although not quite of as serious a nature.It appears Perry will have to lean towards veteran Jim Armstrong if the policy of the Blades to retain one goalkeeper is sustained.The club&rsquo;s board of directors flatly told Perry to drop either Dave Hainsworth or Armstrong since club economics couldn&rsquo;t stand the strain of paying the salaries of both goalies. Hainsworth had been the club&rsquo;s net-minder for three seasons and Armstrong, who had been in the EHL before, joined the team this year after his release from Salt Lake City.From the time the ultimatum was given, Armstrong seemed to do better in the net for the Blades. Jim just missed a shutout in one game. In another game at Jacksonville, Hainsworth allowed five first period tallies, and Armstrong was sent in by Perry to finish the game. As Don said, &ldquo;Armstrong was definitely the difference. He had several key saves when we were behind that really helped us.&rdquo;Perry hated to be placed in the situation of choosing between the duo. In the first place, it was pointed out that teams like Clinton and Charlotte have two goaltenders and both are leading their divisions. Most other clubs have two also.SUN COAST: Opposition two-on-one breaks bothering coach Lloyd Hinchberger. Hinch split his defensemen recently to make one a rusher and the other a defender. Suns playing well at home and improvement on road is Hinchberger&rsquo;s current target. Two wins at Charlotte were bit road conquests of season. Club&rsquo;s board of directors and GM Walter Brock having some differences about expenditures.JOHNSTOWN: Skipper Eddie Kachur suffered a shoulder dislocation after a board check and will be sidelined indefinitely. Galen Head considering quitting his job as lumber salesman in Grande Prairie and staying in Johnstown all year. Line of Gene Peacosh, Brian Vescio and Kachur had been scoring more than any of the other trios.CLINTON: Pat Kelly worked on fundamentals and power play in effort to get team out of slight slump. Some mistakes on defense by Jim Pritchard have hurt team. Kelly says Comets can beat New Haven any time they play if his Comets play tough. Murray McNeil hadn&rsquo;t scored in 15 games so Kelly shifted his lines. Bill Bannerman being pressed by Smith for club scoring lead.JERSEY: Goalie Pete Donnelly placed on Buffalo&rsquo;s NHL list. Claude Chartre pacing the EHL in goals scored with 23 at last count. Claude attributes his good start to his recent marriage. Rookie Bob Miller had two-goal game against Johnstown, Rick Molinari has joined club to fill vacancy caused by injury to Gary Cunningham. A 1,600 mile trip in four days bushed Devils.LONG ISLAND: Cal Booth has joined Ducks after being with Jersey earlier. Jerry Lamoureaux dropped to make room for him though Jerry will be available as a Long Island resident. Billy Norris and Phil Persia in running for rookie laurels. Coach Ed Stankiewicz celebrated 40th birthday with win over Johnstown. Butch Morris&rsquo; shoulder bothering him.ROANOKE VALLEY: Goalie Roger Kosar had road shutout at Syracuse, second road whitewash in club history. Colin Kilburn now is coach only as GM duties have been taken over by new owner Gene Hawthorne. Kilburn delighted that Jack Dame no longer has vote at EHL meetings since latter chose not to follow Colin&rsquo;s wishes in voting.GREENSBORO: Gens added Brian Randall, Craig Stamp, and Kirk Bowman, the latter secured from Columbus. To make room, Ron Spong put Ken Rzepeckin on the injured list and waived Mike Healey. Club is now much speedier that it was before as Spong says speed pays off better than brawn. Gens playing great in third periods and worst in first periods. Wally Sprange posted second hat trick.CHARLOTTE: Checkers were up for New Haven visit since it was repeat of last year&rsquo;s EHL finals. They routed visitors, 7-1. Allie Sunterland aggravated a previous lower abdomen injury. Mike Rouleau tossed out of Roanoke Valley game. Bob Shupe is off injury list and Don Brennan has moved back to front line.SYRACUSE: Ray Addulono making shambles of northern scoring race. Blazers secured center Doug Ferguson from Dallas. He scored 32 goals for Blazers last year. Les Calder and Roland Goyette due off injury list but Guy Dufour not ready yet. Bob Peppler&rsquo;s shoulder bothersome.NEW HAVEN: Dave Hrechkosy scored two goals in losing cause at Johnstown. Blades had tie in southern opener and then lost the rest of their jaunt to disappoint Don Perry&rsquo;s hopes of picking up some ground. Both Armstrong and Hainsworth like two goalie system but the board of directors don&rsquo;t.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0642/2976430-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="271" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Armstrong</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01154/2976423-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="548" height="601"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLAUDE CHARTRE&hellip;Top EHL Sniper</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0026-06

Jacksonville Folds Up Troubled Operation

<h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 20)<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02106/2976482-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="581" height="184"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0384/2976475-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="579" height="264"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Dec. 13Roanoke Valley 5 at Sun Coast 4Tues. Dec. 14Greensboro 1 at Charlotte 6Wed. Dec. 15New Jersey 0 at Syracuse 1Long Island 4 at New Haven 6Thun. Dec. 16Charlotte 5 at Roanoke Valley 1Clinton 4 at Sun Coast 4Syracuse 1 at Johnstown 3Fri. Dec 17Roanoke Volley 2 at Charlotte 7Long Island 4 at Syracuse 4New Haven 5 at New Jersey 2Sat. Dec. 18Clinton 0 at Long Island 5Greensboro 3 at Johnstown 4Sun. Dec. 19Clinton 3 at Syracuse 3Greensboro 1 at New Jersey 4Roanoke Volley at Sun Coast (postponed)<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tues. Dec. 21Greensboro at Sun CoastWed. Dec. 22Clinton at SyracuseNew Jersey at New HavenThurs. Dec. 23Johnstown at Sun CoastClinton at Long IslandSat. Dec. 25Sun Coast at Roanoke ValleyJohnstown at GreensboroSyracuse at CliptonSun. Dec. 26Johnstown at Roanoke VolleyClinton at New HavenLong Island at New JerseyMon. Dec. 27Greensboro vs Sun Coast (at West Palm Beach)Tues. Dec 28Johnstown at CharlotteRoanoke Volley vs Sun Coast (at West Palm Beach)Wed. Dec. 29Long Island vs Clinton (at Utica)Syracuse at New HovenJohnstown at New JerseyThur. Dec. 30Syracuse at Long IslandFri. Dec. 31 Greensboro at CharlotteClinton at Johnstown<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3>(Including gams of Sun. Dec. 12)NORTHERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0462/2976468-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="578" height="286"></div>SOUTHERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0553/2976461-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="575" height="290"></div> &#9632;

f0026-02

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GUGGER</div>FLINT&mdash;While some here might not think so, it appeared a case for the defense was in order.Flint&rsquo;s third-year team was challenging for the lead of the topsy-turvy International Hockey League&rsquo;s North Division, but the 34 consecutive sellout crowds that had viewed Generals&rsquo; hockey weren&rsquo;t crediting Flint&rsquo;s blueliners.Whenever the Generals looked bad, the defense drew most of the adverse criticism. There was continual talk about improving the defense, and when the club won, praise was heaped on the forwards or goalie Bob Perani.But a close look at the statistics showed Flint&rsquo;s five defensemen&mdash;Gary Gilbert. Bill Horton, Barry Graham, Jim Young, and Jack Turner&mdash;had played a large part in helping Flint to a 16-9-3 record.Flint had allowed 85 goals in its first 28 games, just about three per game. And when one considered the Generals&rsquo; offensive output of 109 goals over the same period was less than every club except cellar-dwellers Columbus and Toledo, the work of the defense took on more importance.The big rap against Flint&rsquo;s defensemen was they didn&rsquo;t score. But then, defensemen were supposed to prevent goals rather than score them until Bobby Orr came around, weren&rsquo;t they?&ldquo;Our defensemen have pride,&rdquo; Flint coach Ken Hodge said. &ldquo;They might not get the credit others deserve, but they&rsquo;re proud to know they&rsquo;re allowing the fewest goals in the league.&ldquo;I think we could do even better if we accented just defense. We&rsquo;ve been blessed with good goaltending, but I think the real reason we haven&rsquo;t been blown out of a game is because they have pride.&rdquo;Flint&rsquo;s defense was helped by the work of All Star Perani in goal, the return of Pierre Farmer&middot; from an injury, the switch of Tom Serviss from center to the blueline plus the purchase of Derek Harker from Port Huron was further insurance. Serviss had scored nine goals and had 20 assists as an attacker. Gilbert was the top offensive defenseman for the Generals with six goals and 11 assists.FORT WAYNE: Bob Fitchner&rsquo;s goal beat Dayton&hellip;Unbeaten string snapped at five games in 2-1 loss to Port Huron&hellip;Line of Larry Billows, Gary Swain, Rusty Patenaude most productive at moment&hellip;Bernie MacNeil decisioned Dayton&rsquo;s Gary MacMillan&hellip;K&rsquo;s were 2-2 against powerful Dayton&hellip;Paul Hogan-on was looking better in goal&hellip;TOLEDO: Losing streak reached 10 in row, including seven at home&hellip;Glenn Ramsay came out of retirement to play goal&hellip;Moe Brunel on loan from Dayton&hellip;Jim Paterson was bright spot with consistent goal production&hellip;Coach Bill Needham returned to action following jaw surgery&hellip;Dino Mascotto out after knee operation&hellip;MUSKEGON: Gary Ford continued to lead league in assists, averaging better than one a game&hellip;GM Jerry DeLise offered post with Miami Beach entry in WHA&hellip;Mohawks were 1-4 against Des Moines&hellip;DeLise was critical of inconsistent play of goalie Glenn Resch&hellip;Four-game win streak ended by back-to-back losses in Des Moines&hellip;<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2>(Including games of Sun. Dec. 12)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0378/2976527-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="587" height="532"></div>PORT HURON: Wings lost five in row on road, three of them by one goal&hellip;Len Fontaine&rsquo;s goal with 25 seconds left beat Columbus&hellip;Kevin Pettit dropped&hellip;Wings were 10-6 in one-goal games&hellip;Bill Le Caine received game misconduct for being third man in fight&hellip;Marty Reynolds reported OK after shoulder injury&hellip;COLUMBUS: Seals were constantly changing personnel with latest additions being Ray Brownlee from Dayton and Art Quoquochi from Boston of AHL&hellip;Almost who months passed between first win and second success, 8-5 lacing of Port Huron on Dec. 12&hellip;Gerry Egers sent to Toledo for future considerations&hellip;Further deals with Hornets were under negotiation&hellip;Officials hoped attendance would pick up after New Year&rsquo;s with more competitive club&hellip;The Seals, who had not scored a victory since October 20, notched their second win of the season dropping Port Huron Wings, 8-5 on Columbus ice&hellip;Hart Monahan notched the Seals&rsquo; first &ldquo;hat trick&rdquo; of the season in the game. He had been sent to the Columbus from Baltimore of the American League&hellip;DES MOINES: Leafs won nine of 10 and had nine-game victory streak at home&hellip;Bob Perreault suffered cut over eye and was sidelined for three games&hellip;No. 2 goalie Rich Dumas backstopped 6-2 win over Toledo and 5-4 and 3-1 defeats of Muskegon&hellip;Ken Sutyla was on scoring rampage and led league in goals with 20&hellip;Pete Mara and Bob LePage left at home on two-game road trip&hellip;DAYTON: Gems lost two in row for first time, then rebounded with 5-3 victory over Fort Wayne&hellip;Team had lost just once at home in 14 games&hellip;Don Westbrooke won&rsquo;t be returning&hellip;Bob McMahon sent here by Oklahoma City&hellip;Team scoring balance key to high standing as seven players have 11 or more goals&hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01139/2976520-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="266" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hartland Monahan</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02105/2976513-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="551" height="573"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM SERVISS</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0027-03

Defense Plays Key Role In Flint’s Rise To Top

<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tues. Dec. 21)<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0472/2976565-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="581" height="135"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0558/2976558-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="594" height="215"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Dec. 15Columbus 2 at Dayton 3Toledo 3 at Des Moines 5Fri. Dec. 17Des Moines 7 at Columbus 3Dayton 9 at Flint 3Muskegon 8 at Toledo 6Fort Wayne 2 at Port Huron 6Sat. Dec. 18Dayton 1 at Fort Wayne 3Flint 2 at Muskegon 5Columbus 3 at Toledo 1Des Moines 3 at Port Huron 7Sun. Dec. 19Port Huron 3 at Dayton 5Toledo 4 at Columbus 2Muskegon 3 at Flint 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tues. Dec. 21Dayton at ColumbusWed. Dec. 22Columbus at DaytonSat. Dec. 25Flint at Des MoinesDayton at MuskegonColumbus at Fort WayneToledo at Port HuronSun. Dec. 26Fort Wayne at ColumbusPort Huron at MuskegonDes Moines at DaytonToledo at FlintWed. Dec. 29Port Huron at ToledoMuskegon at Columbus &#9632;

f0027-04

DAYTON&mdash;Larry Wilson, the most successful coach in the Dayton Gems&rsquo; eighth year history, was inducted into the Dayton Hockey Hall of Fame prior of the Gems-Fort Wayne Komets hockey game here Dec. 12 at Hara Arena, as 5.000 fans looked on.Wilson, presently the coach of Province Reds in the American League, was with Dayton two years as a player-coach and in that time his teams won two International Hockey League championship and two Turner Cup playoff titles. He compiled a record 95-53-15 during that span.Lefty McFadden, general manager of the Dayton team and the last previous one to be inducted into the Gems Hall Of Fame, presented a plaque. Bob Leduc of the Reds presented Wilson with a chafing dish from the Reds&rsquo; players and Reds&rsquo; general manager Dave Creighton presented a silver tray from the Providence Hockey Club Inc.Mr. and Mrs. Ted Wilson, Larry&rsquo;s parents, were on hand, coming from their home in Fort Erie, Ont. They joined Mrs. Larry Wilson who had made the trip from Riverside, R.I.The entire Reds&rsquo; hockey club witnessed the evening&rsquo;s activities.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0650/2976596-1-eng-US/f0027-062.jpg" title="f0027-06" width="269" height="437"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Wilson</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0027-06

Ex-Gems Coach Wilson Joins Dayton Fame Hall

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BOSTON&mdash;&ldquo;If this is what it&rsquo;s like to be a hockey coach,&rdquo; said Billy Cleary as he gulped down a coke in the locker room, &ldquo;Then I don&rsquo;t know how much of it I&rsquo;ll be able to take.&rdquo;The rookie mentor was referring to his Harvard squad&rsquo;s first true ECAC acid test, a game with defending NCAA champ Boston University which had just finished in a 4-4 overtime tie at BU&rsquo;s Walter Brown Rink. It was an exact replay of a tilt one year previous in which the two Boston area sextets had battled to a 4-4 standoff at Watson Rink.&ldquo;We skated well today,&rdquo; Cleary declared, &ldquo;And we were strong all the way through. The kids bounced back when they had to. Give a lot of credit to my defensemen because we had to go with four of them all the way after Kevin Hampe was hurt in the first period.&rdquo;BU took an early 2-0 lead, but the Crimson rebounded to a 3-3 count at the end of the second period. Juniors Harry Reynolds and Dave Hynes and captain Tom Paul all tallied in that frame while Ron Anderson scored his second goal of the game to keep BU apace.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0273/2976627-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="520" height="708"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL CLEARY&hellip;Coaching Tough</figcaption></div>Guy Burrowes beat Joe Bertagna at eight seconds of the third period to make the score 43 for BU, where it remainded until 15:51 when Bob Me-Manama shoved home a Mark Noonan rebound. Both teams had good chances in the extra period but couldn&rsquo;t click.Bertagna, an inexperienced junior whose development will largely determine Harvard&rsquo;s final standing this season, had 35 saves, 19 coming in the second period. Dan Brady had 34 stops in the BU cage.&ldquo;We made some isolated mistakes which cost us,&rdquo; said BU coach Jack Kelley. &ldquo;But overall it was a great game. Figure Harvard as a contender for first place.&rdquo;The Crimson miss Joe Cavanagh&rsquo;s line, but have a more balanced attack this season. Cleary&rsquo;s practices go heavy on the skating and conditioning, so Harvard should never be outrun by an opponent. If Bertagna is capable enough as Bruce Durno&rsquo;s replacement, watch out. &#9632;

f0028-02

Cliff Hanger With BU Hard On Rookie Coach

<div class="byline">By John Gilbert</div><h2>Wisconsin Steps Up As Sioux Lose Hold</h2>Wisconsin moved into first place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association by ripping Colorado College twice, 7-2 in the first match but needing a rally and an open-net tally at the finish for a 5-3 decision.The Badgers, with a 7-1 record, leads North Dakota by only two points, but North Dakota has a 5-5 record, giving Wisconsin a big boost in the loss column.Balanced scoring led the Badgers in the 7-2 game, with seven different players scoring. Freshmen Dean Talafous and Bob Lundeen from Minnesota, and Billy Reay Jr. were among the goal-getters. It was 0-0 until the Badgers erupted for goals at 5:18, 6:00 and 7:53.The next night, Wisconsin trailed 3-1 in the third period when Gary Winchester and Talafous, a tall, gangly center, scored to tie it 3-3. Jim Young, who also had a goal in the first game, got the actual winner at 14:01, then Winchester hit an open net in the final seconds to ice it.Michigan, considered a long-slumbering giant in WCHA action, arose to knock North Dakota out of first place with 9-6 and 4-2 verdicts over the Sioux in games at Ann Arbor, Mich.Bernie Gagnon scored two goals and set up another in the 9-6 game, which pushed Michigan over the .500 mark at 4-3. The Wolverines became 5-3 in the WCHA the next night, when Rick Mallette scored an unassisted tally at 13:24 of the third period to break a 2-2 tie, then Punch Cartier got an insurance goal with 33 seconds to go.Coach Al Frenfrew&rsquo;s Michigan club is red-hot, having swept Notre Dame the week before, making it two straight weekends that the Wolverines had knocked a team out of the WCHA lead.Denver, which started out strong, ran into more trouble on the road. Denver beat Michigan State 7-6 with Mike Lampman scoring to end the wild game in sudden-death overtime. The score stayed tied at the end of each period, with Gilles Gagnon and Don St. Jean scoring twice each for Michigan State, and Vic Venasky getting two for Denver.The next game, though, found Michigan State coming back to whip Denver 6-3 and leave the series split. Venasky, an outstanding freshman last season for Denver, has led the Pioneers this season with 11 goals. He hadn&rsquo;t scored his first goal at this point last year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01129/2976658-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="262" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gilles Gagnon</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

WESTERN WAY

<div class="byline">By Tom Burke</div><h2>SLU Larries Ecstatic After Clarkson Upset</h2>Ordinarily, a 4-3 win by your favorite hockey team isn&rsquo;t a cause for dancing in the streets, but a lot of people up in Canton, New York, are mighty happy about a 4-3 squeaker by St. Lawrence University over upstate rival Clarkson on Clarkson&rsquo;s home ice.When sophomore winger Don Hanninen scored with just eight seconds remaining in the game, the Larries realized that it would mean the first time since the 1959-60 season that they&rsquo;d defeated Clarkson twice in a single campaign. The win left the Larries 2-1 in ECAC Division One as they broke for exams, a mite better than people had expected of new coach Bernie McKinnon&rsquo;s charges.&ldquo;Frankly, the difference has been in the goal&rdquo;, said McKinnon. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been getting some scoring from our sophomores, but Allen Howes has kept us in every game. He seems a lot more confident in there than he did a year ago when he had his good games and some bad ones&rdquo;.SLU has been involved in six one-goal games so far, winning four. Howes backstopped them to a 3-2 win over the Golden Knights in the North Country Thanksgiving Tournament, foiling high-scoring forward Jerry Kemp on a penalty shot in the third period. In the rematch, he allowed but one goal in the first period as Clarkson had a man advantage a good deal of the way and threw 20 shots at him.Allan McCormack, another soph forward, notched two goals as SLU rebounded and stayed even the rest of the way, setting the stage for Hanninen&rsquo;s game winner.&ldquo;We could be 0-6 now&rdquo;, admitted Mc Kinnon who took over from George Menard last spring. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve made our mistakes but we&rsquo;ve worked hard and hustled. It&rsquo;s still too early to talk playoffs, since we&rsquo;re still some time away. But I&rsquo;m pleased&rdquo;.Elsewhere in the East, Princeton doubled its win total of last season when they defeated Army, 5-4 in overtime at West Point. Walt Snickenberger, a sophomore, had the hat for Bill Quackenbush&rsquo;s Tigers, who won on John Hepburn&rsquo;s goal at 1:32 of the extra period. Three nights later Army got a 48 save effort from sophomore goalie Eric Gorzelnick as they lost to Harvard 5-2. Dave Hynes had the hat for the Crimson, whose Jay Riley was playing for the first time against his father Jack, the Cadets&rsquo; coach.Boston College skated away from Brown in McHugh Forum to take a 4-1 decision from the surprisingly slow Bruins, who dropped to 0-4 and last place in the East a few nights later losing to RPI, 5-2. Brown, a traditionally sluggish starter due to a perennially difficult early schedule, had better get moving or could wind up out of the top eight; most of the coaches had the Bruins slated for fifth.Joe Keaveney scored twice for the Eagles in their win over Brown, and managed another in a losing cause three nights later as Northeastern jumped off to a four goal lead and staved off a BC rally in the third period to win 8-7. Dan Eberly made 46 saves for the Huskies, who got five goals out of the sophomore line of Terry Toal, Al Dunkie, and Wayne Blanchard. Seven sophs dot the forward lines for Fernie Flaman&rsquo;s crew, who were beating BC for only the ninth time against 67 losses and four ties.Bill MacDonnell scored twice in the third period to lead Penn past stubborn Yale, 4-3. Dick Gagliardi is happy with his young team, now 2-3 but against some rugged opposition: i.e. losses to BU and Cornell on the slate already. The big Red had to come from a two-goal deficit after one period to beat Yale up at Ithaca, 7-3. Bob Murray and defenseman Jim Higgs both had two goals for Dick Bertrand&rsquo;s club, the only unbeaten-untied outfit left in the Division.NOTES FROM THE EAST:&mdash;Ed Kenty of Boston College has scored in nine consecutive BC games to move into second in the all-time category of consecutive games scoring a goal at BC&hellip; BU&rsquo;s Tim Regan will take a leave of absence from the Terriers to join the U.S. Olympic team. Murray Williamson must have been impressed with Regan in the 4-4 exhibition tie at Boston Garden, although Dan Brady is probably a more consistent netminder<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0348/2976696-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="265" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body">Allen Howes</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0437/2976689-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="239" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Hynes</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0028-03

DOWN EAST

<h2>ECAC CONFERENCE Division 1</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 13)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0199/2976783-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="594" height="464"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>New Hampshire 7, Bowdoin 4Boston College 4, Brown 1Providence 7, Northeastern 2Harvard 4, Boston University 4Pennsylvania 4, Yale 3Princeton 5, Army 4St. Lawrence 4, Clarkson 3Dartmouth 5, Middlebury 4Merrimack 2, RPI 1Northeastern 8, Boston College 7Providence 5, St. Louis 5RPI 5, Brown 2 Harvard 5, Army 2Boston University 6, Princeton 1New Hampshire 6, Colgate 2Cornell 7, Yale 3Pennsylvania 7, Merrimack 4Lowell Tech 4, Holy Cross 2Connecticut 5, Babson 4Massachusetts 8, Norwich 2Babson 7, Amherst 6<h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Dec. 15)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0274/2976776-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="585" height="281"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wisconsin 7, Colorado College 2Wisconsin 5, Colorado College 3Michigan 9. North Dakota 6Michigan 3, North Dakota 2Denver 7, Michigan State 6Michigan State 6, Denver 3<h2>NEW YORK COLLEGE LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Sat. Dec. 11)<h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0348/2976769-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="581" height="183"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0437/2976762-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="580" height="186"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0533/2976755-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="584" height="257"></div><h2>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 13)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0623/2976748-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="582" height="235"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sir George Williams 6, Montreal 3Trois-Rivieres 7, Sherbrooke 3Sir Georges Williams 8, Trois-Rivieres 2<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0717/2976741-1-eng-US/f0029-072.jpg" title="f0029-07" width="586" height="335"></div><h2>NEW BRUNSWICK JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Thurs. Dec. 9)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0814/2976734-1-eng-US/f0029-082.jpg" title="f0029-08" width="580" height="152"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0913/2976727-1-eng-US/f0029-092.jpg" title="f0029-09" width="583" height="280"></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

COLLEGE RACES

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div>MINNEAPOLIS&mdash;Glen Sonmor, who coached the University of Minnesota to the WCHA title two years ago and brought them in second in the NCAA tournament last season, resigned to become the coach general manager of the new Minnesota Saints in the fledgling World Hockey Association, which is trying to get organized in time to start play next season.Sonmor, in becoming the first coach to be named in the new WHA, said he is looking forward to the challenge of being &ldquo;in on the ground floor of something that is going to be tremendously successful.&rdquo;Jim Adams, president of the team, said the WHA plans to hold a draft some time in the next few months.In his place, former Minnesota All-American hockey star Ken Yackel stepped in as interim coach of the college club.Yackel found a few problems facing him, such as a 1-7 record, good for last place in the WCHA; the loss of top scorer Mike Antonovich and defenseman Bill Butters for at least part of the next series, against big rival Minnesota-Duluth; and only four days in which to get to know the team and put them out to face UMD.Antonovich went out with stretched knee ligaments against the United States Olympic team, while Butters was tossed out of the U.S. game for fighting, a penalty which carries with it a mandatory suspension for the next Minnesota game, under NCAA rules. Butters exchanged punches with the Olympics Keith Christiansen, who coincidentally was tossed out for a fight against Denver which cost Denver the use of Tom Peluso on the same suspension rule.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1010/2976814-1-eng-US/f0029-102.jpg" title="f0029-10" width="563" height="596"><figcaption class="caption-body">GLEN SONMOR&hellip;New Challenge</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0029-10

Sonmor Leaves Minnesota For WHA Post

<div class="byline">BY BOB BRISCOE</div>REGINA&mdash;Earl Ingarfield&rsquo;s Regina Pats are not content to settle quietly into second or third place in the Eastern Division of the Western Canada Hockey League.After dropping a couple of games on the road to Flin Flon Bombers, Pats came right back with three straight home victories&mdash;over Flin Flon, Calgary and Swift Current&mdash;to move right up into top place.Ingarfield, the former longtime NHL pro in his first season as a junior coach&mdash;had to be pleased with the way Pats came back off the two losses in Flin Flon, one of which the rookie Regina mentor felt was caused by poor officiating.Ingarfield was fuming about the 5-4 loss in Flin Flon the day after Pats had lost 4-0 in the northern Manitoba mining center. He was upset about a game misconduct given star forward Dennis Sobchuk and a 10-minute misconduct to defenseman Dwight Bialowas. Ingarfield was ejected after arguing the Sobchuk penalty.&ldquo;That was the most imcompetent display of officiating I have ever seen,&rdquo; Ingarfield was quoted as saying following the game.A 6-3 win three days later over Bombers in Regina soothed that somewhat and then a big 4-3 overtime win over Calgary Centennials kept things going. Pats parlayed it into three wins in-a-row at home with a decision over cellar-dwelling Swift Current Broncos.SASKATOON: Jackie McLeod&rsquo;s Blades continued to remain right up their in the fight for first place and after 24 games had the fewest losses in the division&mdash;six&hellip;Play of 17-year-old rookie Bob Bourne has McLeod elated&hellip;In his last 13 games Bourne has six goals and nine assists with a total of seven goals and 11 assists&hellip;The native of Netherhill is also considered a top baseball prospect&hellip;BRANDON&mdash; The balloon went up for Rudy Pilous and his young Wheat Kings on their first extensive road trip of the season&hellip;They dropped five of six road games&mdash;losing in Winnipeg, New Westminster, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary and winning in Victoria&hellip;Wheat Kings were pummelled 12-2 by the expansion Vancouver Nats, which pointed up their defensive problems&hellip;FLIN FLON&mdash; The Bombers continued to have problems on the road, losing three straight before returning home for a couple of important wins over Medicine Hat Tigers&hellip;Newly-acquired winger Harvey Schmidt scored two goals in the Sunday win over Tigers&hellip;Bombers scored three late in the Saturday game to pull out a 5-3 win&hellip;Coach Pat Ginnell&rsquo;s club still has most losses in the division&mdash;21&mdash;but appeared set for a run at a playoff spot&hellip;WINNIPEG: Nick Mickoski&rsquo;s Jets moved above the .500 mark with a 3-2 win over Saskatoon in Winnipeg&hellip;Mickoski feels his club will jell after Christmas and grab a playoff spot but it appears as though one of three teams&mdash;Brandon, Flin Flon or Winnipeg&mdash;won&rsquo;t make it&hellip;Rookie Randy Knight starred in win over Brandon, first at home for Jets over their provincial rivals&hellip;SWIFT CURRENT: If Stan Dunn&rsquo;s Broncos could play Flin Flon Bombers all year, they&rsquo;d be in great shape&hellip;Broncos continued their domination over Bombers, lashing them 8-0 with Dan McCarthy, acquired in a trade from Saskatoon Blades, scoring three goals&hellip;Broncos haven&rsquo;t lost to Bombers this season but after the last win, the Swift Current club lost two straight to trail the division by six points&hellip;CALGARY: The Centennials, generally conceded to have the best balanced team in the league, continued to dominate the division&hellip;They won two of three road games and opened a sound five-point lead over Edmonton Oil Kings&hellip;Cents won two of three road games and another at home in space of one week&hellip;They&rsquo;ve won 19 and tied one of their first 25 games with veteran centre Ron Homenuke keeping up a hot scoring pace and rookie goaltender John Davidson running away with the best goals-against average.EDMONTON: Oil Kings won five, lost two and tied one of an eight-game home stand but didn&rsquo;t look too impressive in any of the games&hellip;Coach Brian Shaw claimed team&rsquo;s problems stemmed for a lack of shooting as the club prepared for a three-game trip to the West Coast&hellip;Hot scoring pace set by wingers Don Kozak and Darcy Rota cooled off and the defending WCHL champions just don&rsquo;t have the depth this year although second-year man John Rogers was taking up some of the slackMEDICINE HAT: After set ting a club record of five consecutive games without a loss, Jack Shupe&rsquo;s Tigers lost three straight, one at home to Calgary and two in Flin Flon&hellip;Goaltender Leo Karchie faced 50 shots in second loss in Flin Flon&hellip;Rookie Lanny McDonald, a star with the Alberta Junior League Lethbridge Sugar Kings, is coming on strong as a scorer, threatening team-mate Stan Weir for the team point leadership. &middot;NEW WESTMINSTER: After struggling through early-season injuries, sickness, a big turnover and the untimely loss of defenseman Barry Smith killed in an auto accident, Bruins appear to be coming on strong to make a bid for third spot, held down by Medicine Hat&hellip;A big win over Edmonton in Edmonton pulled Bruins to within five points of Tigers&hellip;The biggest improvement in Bruins has been in goal where Terry Richardson prevailed as the number one man and on the blueline.VANCOUVER: Coach Alf Cadman decided to dump some last-year men in favor for youth after a disatrous road trip&hellip;&ldquo;The older players haven&rsquo;t been pulling their weight,&rdquo; said Cadman as he admitted trying to make deals with Edmonton, Flin Flon and Swift Current&hellip;An immediate result was a 12-2 drubbing of Brandon Wheat Kings&hellip;Dave Andruchiw, goaltender Jack Cummings, forwards Pat Russell and Gord Stewart only ones not in the doghouse.VICTORIA: Cougars have won only five games and tied two of their first 31 games and mired deep in the basement, four points behind Vancouver&hellip;Club continues to make deals in effort to put some points in standings but results was a loss at home to Brandon and home play has been only warm spot with Cougars.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01122/2976852-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="559" height="587"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB BOURNE&hellip;Hot Scoring Blade</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0817/2976845-1-eng-US/f0030-082.jpg" title="f0030-08" width="533" height="602"><figcaption class="caption-body">EARL INGARFIELD&hellip;Raps Officiating</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

Regina Vaults Into Lead As Pats Roar On Home Ice

<h2>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Man. Doc. 13)<h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0277/2976918-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="583" height="181"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0353/2976911-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="582" height="183"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0441/2976904-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="585" height="544"></div><h2>NEW YORK METRO LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 10)<h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0538/2976897-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="576" height="158"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0629/2976890-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="578" height="134"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0721/2976883-1-eng-US/f0030-072.jpg" title="f0030-07" width="580" height="383"></div> &#9632;

f0030-02

<div class="byline">BY JOHN ARNOLD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0914/2976949-1-eng-US/f0030-092.jpg" title="f0030-09" width="834" height="1117"></div><h2>SOLUTION IN JANUARY 7 ISSUE</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1&mdash;Former member of the Scooter Line.6&mdash;15th and 12th letters of the alphabet.7&mdash;First name of pictured player.8&mdash;Pictured player&rsquo;s team.11&mdash;A former Leaf defens-man.13&mdash;Article.15&mdash;Doug Jarrett was born in this month.17&mdash;Initials of Stratton of Tidewater.18&mdash;Fifty one. (Rom. Numb.)19&mdash;An NHL referee answers to this.20&mdash;Ronson of Fort Worth answers to this.22&mdash;13th and 9th letters of the alphabet.23&mdash;First name of an NHL right winger.25&mdash;1962-63 Lady Byng Trophy winner.26&mdash;First name of an NHL captain.27&mdash;A Canadian Province. (abbr.)28&mdash;Bobby Orr played in the NHL while one.30&mdash;Scored 51 goals last season.<h3>DOWN</h3>1&mdash;Pictured player.2&mdash;Former St. Louis defenseman.3&mdash;Stan Mikita won this trophy in 1967-68.4&mdash;Highest male voice.5&mdash;Initials of one of the Canadiens.7&mdash;A Hawk veteran.9&mdash;15th and 13th letters of the alphabet.10&mdash;Native Province of pictured player.12&mdash;Former minor league forward.14&mdash;Ex-Montreal defenseman.16&mdash;First name of former Chicago captain.21&mdash;Injured Philadelphia forward.24&mdash;One of the North Stars answers to this.25&mdash;A former rookie award winner.26&mdash;Former Ranger Heller answers to this.29&mdash;Initials of one of the Habs.<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1&mdash;VAN IMPE7&mdash;OILER9&mdash;CASSELMAN11&mdash;TS12&mdash;Rl.13&mdash;ONE.15&mdash;NOR.16&mdash;UJ.18&mdash;LE.19&mdash;BOB.20&mdash;TEN.21&mdash;RH.22&mdash;TKO.24&mdash;NINE.26&mdash;ORR.28&mdash;AS.29&mdash;OR.31&mdash;EA.32&mdash;COD33&mdash;BERENSON.<h3>DOWN</h3>1&mdash;VACHON2&mdash;NESTERENKO3&mdash;MOE.4&mdash;PILL.5&mdash;ELM.6&mdash;ARNIE.8&mdash;EAR.10&mdash;SS.14&mdash;NOLET.16&mdash;UBRIACO.17&mdash;JOHNSON23&mdash;OREE.25&mdash;BOB.27&mdash;RAN.30&mdash;RE. &#9632;

f0030-09

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECUFF</div>TORONTO&mdash;During his 25 years in the National Hockey League Gordie Howe was involved in his share of on-ice fights.However these were almost insignifiant in comparison with the off-ice battles over the playing rights to Gordie&rsquo;s talented sons, 16-year-old Mark and 17-year-old Marty.Both played last season with Detroit Red Wings of the Southern Ontario Junior A League. The Wings won the Tier Two championship with Marty playing a prominent role on defense and Mark leading the league in scoring. Virtually every team in the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A League (Tier One) sought the services of the Howe brothers.St. Catharines appeared to have the inside track until Marty changed his mind just before the training camps opened and signed with Toronto Marlboros.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0280/2976987-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="263" height="436"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul McIntosh</figcaption></div>Mark has not played this season because of an operation to correct a knee injury but because of a close friendship with St. Catharines&rsquo; defenseman Ron Serafini, who was his teammate last year in Detroit, he indicated he would play with St. Catharines and against his brother in Toronto. But he later changed his mind, too.However, Mark will not join brother Marty with Marlboros this year, if at all, the OHA Junior A council has now decided.The council, at a special meeting, passed a motion that the Marties, who signed Mark last weekend, will not be allowed to play him this year, pending further consideration of the case at the council&rsquo;s annual meeting Jan. 17.OHA president Clarence (Tubby) Schmalz, said the motion was taken because of an earlier decision by the OHA that if any one OHA club wound up with both of the Howe boys, that club would lose its first two selections in the annual draft of over-age midgets for the next two-years.Toronto is not in a position ot forfit its draft choices in that manner, said Schmalz, because they owe Oshawa Generals a second or third draft choice from an earlier trade deal.To complicate the situation the OHA council is said to be considering drafting United States-born players next season rather than leaving them as free agents.Mark Howe, if he hadn&rsquo;t signed with the Marlboros this year, might therefore have been open to draft by one of the lower teams such as Hamilton or Montreal while he had narrowed his personal choice down between the Marlboros and St. Catharines.OSHAWA: The Generals earned five of a possible six points during the week with a 5-5 tie against Hamilton, a close 6-5 home victory over Montreal and an equally-tight 3-2 decision over the 67s in Ottawa&hellip;Ability to win, or at least tie, the close games has been a contributing factor to the Generals&rsquo; grip on first place since the schedule opened.TORONTO: Although the Generals were still first, Marlboros continued their relentless climb towards the top&hellip;Even with only one-half the Howe brother act the Marlies crushed London 11-5, tied Ottawa 2-2 and came from behind a three-goal deficit to beat Niagara Falls Flyers 65&hellip;Steve Shutt having another tremendous year&hellip;Last season he finished with 70 goals.OTTAWA: The 67s, who have variously challenged for the top spot, slipped off the pace when they were edged 32 by Oshawa in their only game of the week&hellip;However coach Bill Long still has the makings of a provincial championship contender.KITCHENER: The Rangers split their two games, winning 5-2 over Montreal in Memorial Auditorum, then suffering a surprise 7-2 setback to last place Canadiens in the Montreal Forum&hellip;Like Ottawa the Rangers are talent-laden but have not won as consistently as most people expected.NIAGARA FALLS: The Flyers are still clinging to a place in the first division&hellip;Although not putting together Paul Emms has them playing steady hockey with Don Lever and Wayne Chrysler particularly effective&hellip;PETERBOROUGH: The Petes suffered a serious blow when defenseman Paul McIntosh suffered a broken knee and fractured ankle while involved in an automobile accident&hellip;Coach Roger Neilson doesn&rsquo;t expect him back for the remainder of the season&hellip;Fortunately three other Peterborough players in the car at the time were not severely injured (Mike St. Cyr, Bill Evo and Jim Turkiewicz) and have already returned to the lineup.LONDON: The Knights dropped their only two games of the week 11-6 to Toronto and 4-2 in Niagara Falls but retained a firm grip on seventh place, well below the top six teams but with plenty of space above St. Catharines, Montreal and Hamilton&hellip;Dennis Ververgaert playing well after returning to the team following a contract dispute.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01105/2976980-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="515" height="700"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARK HOWE</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0031-02

OHA Makes Ruling Mark Howe Can’t Play With Marlboros This Season—If At All

<h2>ONTARIO MAJOR JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Tues. Dec. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0365/2977123-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="580" height="264"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tues. Dec. 14London 0 at Ottawa 5Toronto 5 at Hamilton 6St. Catharines 3 at Oshawa 3Thrurs. Dec. 16Ottawa 3 at Peterborough 4Fri. Dec. 17Hamilton 2 at Kitchener 7St. Catharines 3 at Ottawa 1Montreal 4 at Niagara Falls 5Sat. Dec. 18Oshawa I at Toronto 5Sun. Dec. 19Ottawa 1 at London 3<h2>QUEBEC JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 20)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0450/2977116-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="584" height="285"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 10)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0540/2977109-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="576" height="133"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0623/2977102-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="582" height="307"></div><h2>NEW ENGLAND LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fr. Dec. 10)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0718/2977095-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="580" height="182"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0816/2977088-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="583" height="276"></div><h2>MICHIGAN SENIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 13)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-099/2977081-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg" title="f0031-09" width="585" height="135"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-108/2977074-1-eng-US/f0031-102.jpg" title="f0031-10" width="581" height="286"></div><h2>MICHIGAN JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 13)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-116/2977067-1-eng-US/f0031-112.jpg" title="f0031-11" width="580" height="183"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-126/2977060-1-eng-US/f0031-122.jpg" title="f0031-12" width="582" height="234"></div><h2>CENTRAL JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 17)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-134/2977053-1-eng-US/f0031-132.jpg" title="f0031-13" width="579" height="158"></div><h2>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 17)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-144/2977046-1-eng-US/f0031-142.jpg" title="f0031-14" width="580" height="231"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-154/2977039-1-eng-US/f0031-152.jpg" title="f0031-15" width="585" height="487"></div><h2>SOUTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 13)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-162/2977032-1-eng-US/f0031-162.jpg" title="f0031-16" width="583" height="236"></div><h2>NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Thurs. Dec. 16)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-172/2977025-1-eng-US/f0031-172.jpg" title="f0031-17" width="577" height="134"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-18/2977018-1-eng-US/f0031-182.jpg" title="f0031-18" width="587" height="409"></div> &#9632;

f0031-03

Looking At The Races

<div class="byline">BY BOB SMIZIK</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Red Kelly has been experimenting with a three-goalie system this year and as far as the Penguin coach is concerned it&rsquo;s a fine idea.It wasn&rsquo;t something Kelly planned on doing, but circumstances forced him into it. At training camp all indications pointed to Kelly going with two goalies in the regular season&mdash;veterans Les Binkley and Roy Edwards. Second-year man Jim Rutherford was getting a good look, but few expected him to stick with the big team.Edwards, however, walked out on the Penguins less than a week before the season began, announcing he needed more time to decide whether he wanted to continue playing hockey.With Edwards back home in Ontario, Rutherford, naturally, stayed on with the Penguins.His early play was spectacular, so when Edwards eventually returned to the Penguins, Rutherford could hardly be shipped out.Kelly found himself with three goalies that were playing well and stuck with them.Although he has no set rotation, the three are pretty much dividing up the games. Rutherford has played a little less than the two veterans, but that was because he missed 20 days with a leg injury.Kelly said that for the moment he will continue to go with three goalies. &ldquo;I think two goalies are sufficient to handle the situation,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;ve got ourselves into a three-goalie set up and since it&rsquo;s working, we&rsquo;ll, stick with it.&rdquo;Kelly said, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had pretty good goaltending. It&rsquo;s certainly better than last year. They&rsquo;ve been handling the job alright and playing less doesn&rsquo;t seemed to have hurt them any.&rdquo;Kelly pointed out another plus for the three-goalie system. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been in a couple of long losing streaks,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And because we&rsquo;ve been using three goalies none of them have felt like they were particularly at fault. It saves a guy from getting down on himself.&ldquo;And you never know. They may just be a little fresher at the end of the season when the pressure is on.&rdquo;Through the first 30 games of the season Edwards goal-against average was almost one point lower than that of Rutherford and Binkley, but, strangely enough, his won-loss record was the worst on the team.Of the Penguins first 10 wins, Binkley and Rutherford won four a piece and Edwards just two.The subject of trade comes up frequently and Kelly admits, &ldquo;We&rsquo;d deal one of them if the right offer came along.&rdquo;Rutherford, at age 22, is the most marketable of the three goalies, but his youth makes him of more value to the Penguins. Binkley is 35 and Edwards 34 and both should have a couple of more good years left in them.Edwards, however, would be suspect as trade bait since he has threatened to quit several times in the past year and has admitted he definitely wouldn&rsquo;t want to play on the West Coast.For the time being, he&rsquo;s happy in Pittsburgh and Red Kelly is happy to have him and Binkley and Rutherford.PENGUIN PATTER: The injury jinx continues to plague the Penguins. In addition to Rutherford, Tim Horton, Jean Pronovost and Syl Apps have been out for extended periods of time. The latest casualty was Greg Polis, who bruised his hip Dec. 8 and subsequently went on the injury list. Polis was leading the team in goals at the time.John Stewart, a left winger recalled from Hershey Nov. 25, has impressed Kelly and it looks like he&rsquo;ll be around for the rest of the season. The speedy skating Stewart has teamed with veterans Ken Schinkel and Bryan Hextall.When Apps returned to the lineup Kelly was slow to return him to his regular line which had Polis and Pronovost on the wings and which was becoming the best Penguin line ever before being hit with injuries.Apps played one game as the odd man, working on power plays and filling in at right wing and center. In his second game Kelly played him with a fourth line that included Val Fonteyne and Rene Robert. But by the third game he was back with Pronovost and Polis rejoined them when he recovered from his bruised hip. &#9632;

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December 31, 1971

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