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

January 14, 1972

The Hockey News January 14, 1972

<h2>MONTREAL</h2>GOALPhil MyreDems DeJordyDEFENSETerry Harper AJacques LapernerePierre BouchardJ.C. Tremblay ACENTERHenn Richard CJacques LemairePete MahovlichChuck lefleyR. WINGYvan CournoyerClaude LaroseGuy LafleurChuck AmasonJim RobertsL. WINGMarc TardifFrank Mahovlich ARefean HouleLarry PleauINJUREDSerge SavardGuy LapointeKen DrydenDale Hog an son<h2>CHICAGO</h2>GOALTony EspositoGary SmithDEFENSEPat StapletonBill WhiteKeith MagnusonDoug Jarrett AJerry KorabCENTERStan Mikita APit MartinBryon CampbellLou AngottiAndre LacroixI. WINGCliff KorollChico MakiEric Nesterenko ADarryl MaggsJim PappinL. WINGBobby HullDennis HullOanny O&rsquo;SheaINJUREDGerry Desjardins<h2>BOSTON</h2>GOALGerry CheeversEd JohnstonDEFENSEBobby OrrDallas SmithRick SmithMatt RavlkhBob StewartTed Green ACENTERPhil Esposito AFred StanfieldDerek SandersonR. WINGJohn McKenzieEd Westfoil AReg LeachKen HodgeL. WINGJohn Bucyk AWayne CashmanGarnet BaileyMike WcdfonINJUREDDon Awrey<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2>GOALErnie WakelyJim McLeodPete McDuff*Jacques CaronDEFENSEAndre DupontCarl Brewer ABarclay Plager ABill PlagerBob Plager ACENTERGarry UngerTerry CrispBrian LavenderR. WINGGory Sabourin.Frank St MarseilleMike MurphyL. WINGGeorge MorrisonFloyd ThomsonJack EgersPhil RobertoJimShiresGerry OdrowskiINJUREDNoel PicardChris Bordeleau<h2>DETROIT</h2>GOALAl SmithJoe DaleyDEFENSEGary Bergman AArnie Brown ARon StackhouseLarry JohnstonBob WallRon HarrisCENTERAlex Delvecchio CRed Berenson AMarcel DionneAl KarlanderR. WINGTim EcclestoneMkkey RedmondBill CollinsDoug VolmarI. WINGNick LibelfDanny JohnsonGuy CharronINJUREDLeon Rochefort<h2>CALIFORNIA</h2>GOALGilles MelocheLyle CarterDEFENSECarol Vadnais CBert Marshall AMarshall JohnstonDick RedmondPaui ShmyrCENTERJoey JohnstonWall McKechnieWayne Carleton AIvan BoldirevR. WINGNorm FergusonCraig PatrickGerry PinderTommy WilliamsL. WINGBobby SheehanGary CroteauStan GilbertsonErnie HickeGary JarrettINJUREDTom Webster<h2>TORONTO</h2>GOALBernie ParentJacques PlanteDEFENSEBob Boun AJim McKennyBrad SeiwoodBrian GlennieRicky LeyMike PelykCENTERNorm Ullman ADave Keon CJim HarrissonDon MarshallR. WINGRon Ellis ABrian SpencerGuy TrottierBilly MacMillanL. WINGGarry MonahanDenis DupereDarryl SittierRick KehoeINJUREDJim HarrisonPoul HendersonJim Dorey<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2>GOALDoug FavellBruce GambleDEFENSEBarry Ashbee ALarry BrownWayne HillmanBill BrossartEd Von ImpeJoe WatsonRick FoleyCENTERBobby ClarkeJimmy JohnsonBill ClementR. WINGGary DornhoeferLew MorrisonDick SarrazinSeige BernierL. WINGJean-Guy GendronBob KellyBill LesukLorry KeenanMike PanzeauINJUREDSimon NoletBrent Hughes<h2>NEW YORK</h2>GOALEd GiacominGilles VillemureDEFENSEBrad Park AJim Neilson ARod SeilingAb DeMarcoGary DoakCENTERJean RatelleWalt TkoczukBobby RousseauPete StemkowskiR. WINGRod Gilbert ABill FairbairnPierre JarryBruce MacGregorL. WINGJim LorentzVic Hodfield CTed IrvineGlen SatherGene CorrINJUREDDole Rolfe<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2>GOALRoy EdwardsLes BinkleyJim RutherfordDEFENSEDarryl EdestrondDave BurrowsSheldonKannegiesserBryan WatsonBob WoytowichTim Horton A &bull;CENTERRon SchockRene RobertBryon HextollSyl AppsR. WINGNick HarbarukKen Schmkel&rsquo; AJean PronovostL. WINGKeith McCreary AVol FonteyneGreg PolisJohn StewartBobby LeiterINJUREDNone<h2>BUFFALO</h2>GOALRoger CrozierDave DrydenDEFENSEAl Hamilton ALarry HillmanRay McKoyJim WatsonChris EvansCENTERGilbert Perreault AGerry Meehan CDon LucePhil Goyette AR. WINGRon AndersonSteve AtkinsonKevin O&rsquo;SheaEddie ShackMike ByersFloyd SmithL. WINGDanny LawsonRichard MartinCraig RamsayINJUREDMike Robitaille<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2>GOALRogatien VachonGory EdwardsDEFENSEDoug BarrieHarry Howell AGilles Marotte AJean PotvinBill MikkelsonPoul CurtisCENTERRalph Bockstrom AButch GoringBob Pulford CJuha WidingR. WINGBill RettLucien GrenierAl McDonoughI. WINGEd Joyal ABob BerryRoss LonsberryReal LemieuxMike CorriganINJUREDNone<h2>VANCOUVER</h2>GOALEd DyckDune WilsonDEFENSEPat QuinnJocelyn GuevremontDennis KearnsJohn SchellaGreg BaddyCENTEROdand Kurtenbach CAndre Boudrias ARon WordFred SpeckR. WINGMurray HallBobby SchmautzRon StewartWayne ConnellyL. WINGWayne MakiTed TaylorDave BolonDole Tollon AINJUREDRosaire PaiementPoul PopielBarry WilkinsGeorge Gardner<h2>MINNESOTA</h2>GOALCesare ManiagoLorne WorsleyDEFENSETed Harris CTom ReidBarry Gibbs ADennis O&rsquo;BrienDoug MohnsCENTERTed HampsonMurray OliverCharlie Burns AGordon LabossiereJude DrouinR. WINGBill GoldsworthyLou NanneBob NevinCraig CameronL. WINGDanny GrantJean-Paul Parise ADean PrenticeINJUREDD&laquo;nms Hextall &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

NHL Team Rasters

<div class="byline">BY BOB BRISCOE</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;It will be with more than the usual interest that professional hockey scouts gather at the Western Canada Hockey League&rsquo;s annual All Star game in Vancouver&rsquo;s Pacific Coliseum on Jan. 19.To begin with, the National Hockey League faces yet another expansion to Atlanta and Long Island next season, putting even more of a premium on young hockey talent.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-144/2844051-1-eng-US/f0030-142.jpg" title="f0030-14" width="268" height="425"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Watson</figcaption></div>Secondly, there is the spectre of the newly-formed World Hockey Association, which vows not only to be in operation next season on eight or 10 fronts but also says it will go after some of the top juniors.In fact, there have been rumors that the WHA may sign juniors as young as 18 years ot age as the scramble for hockey talent continues. And that should prove interesting, especially in the west where of the franchise holders in the of operate teams in the WCHL.Scotty Munro, one of the men involved in the Calgary WHA and junior operations, has been quoted as saying he believes the real battle between established pro hockey and the fledging WHA will be in the area of procuring young players.The WCHL this season, operating for the first time in three years without over-aged (20-year-old) players, has approximately 100 who won&rsquo;t be eligible for junior competition under Canadian Amateur Hockey Association rules next season.Of those 100 or so &lsquo;draftables&rsquo;, most hockey scouts agree that somewhere around 20 or so are regarded as good drafts.Pro hockey will get a good look a most of those 20 and several others at the All Star game, which sees the Eastern Division&rsquo;s best against the pick of the Western Division.The format, a change from last few years when an All Star team played the team from the host city format, proved to be an artistic success, for the most part, but a financial disaster, such as last season when the game drew fewer than 3,000 fans in Winnipeg. One of the big knocks from pro hockey&rsquo;s point of view was that there weren&rsquo;t enough draftable hockey players in the game, what with the overaged players dominating the All Star team and the home team comprising of only six or eight draftables, at best.There appeared to be a difference of opinion on the calibre of the WCHL drafts of 1971-72 as the first half of the season concluded. There were some observers who felt there was a clear lack of &lsquo;super&rsquo; drafts of the calibre of Bobby Clarke and Greg Polis of previous years and others who felt some of this year&rsquo;s crop will prove to be just as good in pro ranks.But outside of four top-rated forwards playing for the Toronto Marl boros, the calibre of draft in the OHA, and WCHL should be about equal next June, although it never will be in numbers with the Eastern balance of population in the OHA favor.Here, however, are the leaders in the June draft stakes over the first-half schedule in the WCHL.LORNE HENNING,&mdash; centre with New Westminster Bruins. He&rsquo;s about the closest thing to a complete hockey player since Bobby Clarke played in Flin Flon.PHIL RUSSELL&mdash; defenceman with Edmonton Oil Kings Russell is probably the best skating and rushing defenceman to come out of the West in 10 years.BRIAN WALKER&mdash; forward with Calgary Centennials. Walker does all things expected of a forward very well with only his durability as a pro in question.DWIGHT BIALOWAS&mdash; defenceman with Regina Pats. Bialowas is a good puck handler with a good point shot and makes up for lack of hitting with smart play.JIM WATSON&mdash; defenceman with Calgary. Watson is big and rangy, can carry the puck well and can handle himself in the rough going.LAWRENCE SACHARUK&mdash; defenceman-forward with Saskatoon Blades. Sacharuk is the unquestionable leader of Blades on the blueline and he takes all important faceoffs in either end of the rink.TOM BLADEN&mdash;defenceman with Edmonton. Bladen&rsquo;s main assets are his big shot from the point and ability to hit, which pros would like to see more of.STAN WEIR&mdash; forward with Medicine Hat Tigers. Weir can score profusely with his skating the big question mark as a pro.DON KOZAK&mdash; forward with Edmonton. Kozak, too, can score and skate with his defensive play and ability to handle the tough going in question.BERNIE GERMAINE&mdash; goaltender with Regina. His play over first half of the schedule has been big reason for Regina&rsquo;s success but he isn&rsquo;t big like pros have been liking them lately. &#9632;

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Pro Scouts Eyeing Top 20 Draft Picks

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02665/2842346-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg"></div><h2>THE TOP 10 NETMINDERS</h2>(Including games of Sunday, Dec. 26)<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03618/2842339-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="1110" height="469"></div><h2>COMPLETE GOALKEEPING RECORDS FOR NHL TEAMS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04566/2842332-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="1131" height="1954"></div> &#9632;

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LOOKING AT NHL GOALERS

<h2>Sun., Dec. 19 OMAHA 2 at DALLAS 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0455/2843484-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="594" height="566"></div><h2>KANSAS CITY 5 at TULSA 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0543/2843477-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="596" height="774"></div><h2>Sat., Dec. 25 TULSA 5 at OKLAHOMA CITY 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0637/2843470-1-eng-US/f0024-062.jpg" title="f0024-06" width="592" height="670"></div><h2>DALLAS 2 at FORT WORTH 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0732/2843463-1-eng-US/f0024-072.jpg" title="f0024-07" width="578" height="404"></div> &#9632;

f0024-04

Central League Summaries

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01505/2844258-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GERRY CHEEVES (Hockey News Photo by Stophen Newman)</figcaption></div><h2>NOT BEST BUT&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-02379/2844251-1-eng-US/cover-022.jpg" title="Cover-02" width="1227" height="1144"><figcaption class="caption-body">SERGE BERNIER (Hockey News Photo by Richard Pellegrini)</figcaption></div>BERNIER COMES OUT WINNER IN SHERD&rsquo;S IUGGLING ACT<h2>MICKEY REDMOND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-03167/2844244-1-eng-US/cover-032.jpg" title="Cover-03" width="545" height="826"></div>BARGAIN-BASEMENT LINE PAYING OFF FOR NORTH STARS &#9632;

Cover-01

REDMOND TURNS WINGS ON

<div class="byline">BY DWAYNE NETLAND</div>TWIN CITIES&mdash;When it comes to finesse or cute moves with the puck, Lou Nanne leaves that to his two linemates. Looie dazzles &lsquo;em instead with brute strength.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01679/2841600-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="254" height="431"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lou Nanne</figcaption></div>The rise of Nanne has been one of the most phenomenal chapters in the history of the North Stars. He was originally acquired in 1968 as a National Hockey League version of a &ldquo;home town addition&rdquo;, and at the moment the line on which he is playing ranks as one of the most effective in the NHL.Nanne once led the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in scoring while playing defense for the University of Minnesota. The North Stars tried him on defense, too, but he has found a home at right wing now on the line with Dean Prentice and Murray Oliver.That line, assembled by general manager Wren Blair for the bargain-basement price of $10,000, has been truly amazing. After the first 33 games, Oliver had 32 points, Prentice 30 and Nanne 27. Oliver had 15 goals, Prentice 13 and Nanne 10, the first time in his pro career that Looie has gone into double figures.Prentice and Oliver have a goal-scoring history behind them, but nobody expected Nanne to even come close to the offensive level he has reached. He had made some of the prettiest plays of the season, including one recently against Los Angeles when he bulled his way around Doug Barrie, got the shot off at the same time he was hit by Harry Howell and crashed to the ice at the moment the puck was flicking against the netting behind Rog Vachon.Nanne&rsquo;s line, in fact, had a streak going where it accounted for all the Minnesota goals scored in three straight home games. One of them was recorded by Nanne while playing right point on the power play, where he was filling in for the injured Jude Drouin.&ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; claimed Nanne, &ldquo;you have to credit to our line since I got the goal.&rdquo;Looie is a Canadian, a product of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., but the Minnesota fans regard him as a native. He came to Minneapolis in 1959 to play hockey for the University team and has remained there ever since, except for occasional trips abroad with the U.S. National and Olympic teams.The North Stars wanted to sign him in their inaugural season of 1967-68, but Looie captained the U.S. Olympic team at Grenoble, France, in 1968. Once the Olympics were over, Nanne was still busy with this lineup of jobs: envelope salesman in Minneapolis, TV sports announcing and coach of the University freshman hockey team.He still sells program advertising for the Colwell Press, and is a popular attraction at the rostrum of luncheons or dinners.The fact is that Looie is a very popular man wherever he goes. The fans love him at Metropolitan Sports Center. They used to chant &ldquo;M-o-o-o-s-e&rdquo; whenever Moose Vasko got the puck, but now it&rsquo;s &ldquo;L-o-o-o-o&rdquo; for Nanne.A visitor from Southern Minnesota, sitting in the Met press box recently, couldn&rsquo;t quite understand it. &ldquo;Nanne just made a great play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What in the heck are they booing him for?&rdquo;And now that Nanne has cracked the double figures in goals for the first time, a whole new world has opened up to him. &#9632;

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Bargain-Basement Line Paying Big Dividends For Minnesota Stars

<div class="byline">BY TOM MONAHAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01681/2841638-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GERRY CHEEVERS</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;As a tandem, Eddie Johnston and Gerry Cheevers rank only third in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s goal-tending list. But Bruins&rsquo; coach Tom Johnson wouldn&rsquo;t trade the pair for any other in the league.After 33 games, the Bruins&rsquo; net twins were on top of the East Division with a healthy 2.30 goals per game average and, while Tony Esposito and Gary Smith of Chicago and Gump Worsley and Cesare Maniago of Minnesota were above them in the race for Vezina honors, Johnson could point to several items to bolster his confidence in his veteran pair.Foremost is the caliber of competition between the East and West Divisions.Chicago and California were the only teams in the West with over 100 goals scored, five of the seven Eastern teams had hit or surpassed the century mark, and Detroit was just three goals away from that figure.Against that kind of fire-power, the B&rsquo;s have posted only one shutout (by Johnston) for the season but they have allowed only a total of 76 goals to 78 by third place Montreal and 80 by the division leading New York Rangers.Working on an alternating basis through a stretch of 33 games, Johnston had compiled a 13-3-2 record to put him well on his way to matching last year&rsquo;s 30-victory total. Cheevers had come through with a 10-3-2 record for his tour in the nets.Johnson broke his alternating pattern going into last week&rsquo;s road start by working Johnston the first game in Chicago after his 3-1 victory over Toronto at home.This gave Cheevers the assignment against Minnesota on Thursday night and in New York on Sunday night.It wasn&rsquo;t a matter of preference in personality.&ldquo;I just thought we might be better if the same man didn&rsquo;t have to face both Chicago and New York by working a normal alternating system,&rdquo; explained Johnson.&ldquo;Our goal tending has been excellent all season,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;I have no problem with either of those guys. They do their job as well as if not better than anyone one else in the league.&rdquo;Goalie Johnston is quick to point out the defensive work of the team.&ldquo;The way the guys are playing in front of us makes the job quite a bit easier,&rdquo; he remarked.And it is true that while the Bruins had 136 goals in 33 games they are not playing with the record-conscious abandon of a year ago when they wrote a total of 37 new marks into the book.The B&rsquo;s scored well enough to run off a string of 19 games with only one loss going into the final week of 1971 but the over-all defensive play was the big factor.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to be pleased with our defensive play,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;We are not getting caught on three-on-one and three-on-two breakaways.&ldquo;The forwards are thinking defense better, back-checking better. I&rsquo;ve talked to them about it and they talk about it among themselves.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an important part of our game right now.&rdquo;It was pointed out, however, that the Bruins still have been outshot in most of their games this season, a switch from the last two years.&ldquo;But we still are getting good scoring chances,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;When we are outshot, it usually is by long shots by the other team.&ldquo;With some of the teams playing us tough, putting the forwards and the defensemen on the blueline, we shoot it in long and go get it to make the play up close.&ldquo;The opposition shoots long on our net. They may get shots on goal that way, but it really doesn&rsquo;t reflect the way the game is going.&rdquo;And the way Johnston and Cheevers protect the net, those long shots are money in the bank for the Bruins.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02563/2841631-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1186" height="966"><figcaption class="caption-body">EDDIE JOHNSTON</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0003-01

Coach Johnson Wouldn’t Trade His Bruin Netminders

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01743/2841683-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="520" height="530"></div>&bull; OBSERVERS CLOSE to the Philadelphia Flyers feel that the recent fine play of Bobby Clarke could mean a definite improvement in the Flyer fortunes. Clarke had been having his troubles in the first half of the season but has been playing very well of late. As Clarke goes so go the Flyers it would seem&hellip;Fans at the St. Louis Arena were goggleeyed by the great exhibition put on by Gil Perreault of Buffalo in a recent game. Perreault took the puck at center ice, quickly carried it into the St. Louis zone where he skated in separate fakes around Blues&rsquo; defensemen Billy and Barclay Plager. By the time Git reached Ernie Wakely, the St. Louis goalie was mesmerized, and Perreault easily scored his 15th goal of the season&hellip;Marv Albert&rsquo;s Sportsline show in New York over WNBC Radio conducted a contest for a nickname for Rangers&rsquo; high-scoring line of Rod Gilbert-Vic Hadfield and Jean Ratelle. A 16-year-old student came out the winner with the name: &ldquo;The Goal Diggers&rdquo;&hellip;Fort Worth Wings of the Central Hockey League have a new weekly half-hour TV show. Hosts of the show are Bob Lemieux. GM-Coach of the Wings, and Fort Worth radioman Bob Berry. The show features filmed highlights, an instructional segment, interviews with Fort Worth players and a question and answer period. It is the only show of it&rsquo;s kind in the Deep South&hellip;Larry Hillman&rsquo;s dad had just reached Los Angeles with Larry&rsquo;s car when the veteran defenseman was traded to Buffalo. Incidentally. Buffalo is the closest city to Hillman&rsquo;s off-season home outside St. Catharines, Ont&hellip;Mike Byers, obtained by the Sabres from Los Angeles along with Hillman, played on a line with Punch Imlach&rsquo;s son. Brent, with the Toronto Marlboro Juniors&hellip;The Sabres&rsquo; captain, Gerry Meehan, was the third member of the line&hellip;Shrimp McPherson, former star with the old St. Louis Flyers, is now an assistant trainer with the St. Louis Blues. In 1934 McPherson led the American Association in scoring with 55 points in 48 games&hellip;Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty, 21-year-old son of Peanuts O&rsquo;Flaherty, scout for the Vancouver Canucks, made a fine impression during his tenure with Toronto Maple Leafs. Summoned to the Leafs from the Tulsa Oilers, young O&rsquo;Flaherty gave the impression to everyone that it won&rsquo;t be long before he&rsquo;s in the NHL for keeps&hellip;Promoters of the proposed new World Hockey Association winced when they read what Alan Eagleson. executive director of the NHL Players Association, had to say in a recent house organ sent out to all National Hockey League players. In a short article titled: &ldquo;Look Before You Leap&rdquo;, Eagleson tells all the members to &ldquo;get all the money offered to you in cash or put in escrow. Your money should be in a place where you can get it, even if the new &lsquo;team never gets off the ground&rdquo;. He also mentions that the players may have to sit out a year, because no court has ruled on the NHL reserve clause&hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02694/2841676-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="275" height="427"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Clarke</figcaption></div>&bull; GREG POLIS, the fine young forward with the Pittsburgh Penguins, hails from Dapp. Alberta, and is the first player from that town to make the National Hockey League&hellip;R. J. King, a member of the board of directors of the St. Louis Blues, is a strong candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Missouri. King is currently a state representative from the St. Louis suburb of Clayton&hellip;Vic Stasiuk was a big hit playing Santa Claus at the California Golden Seals&rsquo; Christmas party&hellip;Vic has done a terrific coaching job with the Seals this season. He and Garry Young have made the Seals into one of the most improved teams in the NHL&hellip;Goalie Doug Favell had to be bailed out of the Flyers&rsquo; recent romp over the Penguins when his injured knee started bothering him. Bruce Gamble finished up and protected the Flyers big lead&hellip;Leonard L&rsquo;Italien, father-in-law of Michel Parizeau, rookie Philadelphia Flyer, i$ bound to remember Serge Bernier&rsquo;s recent five-point game which tied a club record. One of Bernier&rsquo;s wayward shots struck L&rsquo;Italien in the face and broke his upper denture&hellip;Some big news will be announced by the National Hockey League at the All Star game later this month.&hellip;Bowling Green (Ohio) State University are broadcasting all home and away games of their hockey team this season in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, a conference including Ohio State, Ohio University and St. Louis University&hellip;Coach Jack Vivian has a very successful hockey program going at Bowling Green&hellip;Terry Shaw and Mike Emrick are the Bowling Green broadcast crew&hellip;Mike Byers scored five goals for Buffalo in his first five games&hellip;Gilles Meloche, who is playing so well in goal for California, was the 70th amateur chosen in the 1970 draft.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03596/2841669-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="275" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

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 WestMontreal 107, Canada.U.S. Office: 16 Maple Street, Rouses Point, N.Y. 12979Kenneth William McKenzieCharlie HalpinEditorial DirectorPresident and PublisherLyndon LittleAssistant To EditorYearly 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 addresschanges to 1434 St. Catherine Street West, Suite 212. Montreal.107. P.Q.Second class mail Registration No. 13&rsquo;7Printed in CanadaVol. 25 MONTREAL, JANUARY 14, 1972 No.15 &#9632;

The Hockey News

<h2>Rangers&rsquo; Francis Key To NY Success</h2>I would like to stress the ingenuity of Emile &ldquo;The Cat&rdquo; Francis, the general manager-coach of the New York Rangers. It seems that whatever this man pulls off&mdash;via trades or protection from the draft&mdash;always turns out to be a blessing.How anyone can acquire Rolfe, MacGregor and Stemkowski for a bunch of unproven players is unbelievable.This past summer Emile had to decide whether to protect from the NHL draft either Gilles Villemure or young netminder sensation Peter McDuffe. As of today, Villemure has a 1.83 goals-against average so it looks as if he made the right decision again. If there will be another Stanley Cup in New York, &ldquo;The Cat&rdquo; will lead the way.WALTER KOWAL JR, Newark, N.J.<h2>NHL Fan Picks His First Half Stars</h2>It&rsquo;s time we started thinking about NHL All Stars. Here&rsquo;s how my selections shape up in each division.NHL EAST: Goal: Dryden. Villemure; Defense: Orr. Park, Tremblay. Neilson, Laperriere. Tallon: Left-Wing: Mahovlich. Hadfield, Martin; Center: Esposito. Keon. Ratelle; Right Wing: Gilbert, Ellis. Cournoyer, Perreault.NHL WEST: Goal: Worsley. Gary Smith; Defense: White. Stapleton, Magnuson. Harris. Horton, Vadnais; Left-Wing: Sheehan, Grant. Bobby Hull; Center: Oliver, Drouin. Mikita. Clarke; Right-Wing: Goldsworthy. Flett. Sabourin. Nolet.RON PARLOW,&nbsp; Penn Valley, Pa.<h2>Shack Inspires New NHL Penalty</h2>I would like to suggest a new penalty be added to the NHL official infractions to be named in the honor of Eddie Shack of the Buffalo Sabres. This new penalty should be called &ldquo;SHACKLING &ldquo;,This new penalty should be called on any player who gets up an good head of steam, then pounces on his opponent.Robert Shaver, a photographer who works for the Sabres, has captured the originator of this new penalty in a prize-winning photo which, I understand, is on display in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. So when you get to Toronto get a look at the &ldquo;Shackler&rdquo; in action or, better yet, come to Buffalo and see the Great Entertainer for yourself.JEFFREY COTTER, Kenmore, N.Y.<h2>New Rule Wins Fan&rsquo;s Approval</h2>The rules committee of the National Hockey League deserves a word of commendation for the success of the new regulation penalizing a goalkeeper who deliberately shoots or flips the puck over the boards into the crowd to gain a stoppage in play.One of hockey&rsquo;s greatest assests will always be its sustained action, and any legislation that promotes this aspect of the game will always be welcomed by the fans.WILLIAM BEASLEY&rsquo; Prince George, B.C. &#9632;

Fan Forum

<div class="byline">BY CHARLEY BARTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;An opportunity to share the spotlight with his younger brother, Ken, was a long time coming for Dave Dryden. Both are goalkeepers.A year ago, Ken, at 24 six years younger than Dave, played a major role in the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; march to the Stanley Cup. He won the Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs, and has been grabbing the headlines again this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01696/2841762-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="261" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Dryden</figcaption></div>Last winter, Dave was the No. 3 man with the Buffalo Sabres, ranked behing Roger Crozier and Joe Daley. To get him some work, Dave was sent to Salt Lake City of the Western League for a month.Daley was dealt to the Detroit Red Wings during the off-season, and Dave took over as Crozier&rsquo;s backup man.He appeared in only two of the first 15 games, and Crozier started 22 in a row before Dave drew four straight starting assignments. With Dryden in the nets, the Sabres won two and tied two.The 30-year-old Dave, at 6-2, four inches shorter than Ken, turned in a brilliant performance in a 4-4 tie at St. Louis, and steered the Sabres to a 6-3 win over the Blues the following night in Buffalo.&ldquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s great to play more, and I guess the two of us are doing all right now instead of just one of us,&rdquo; said Dave.&ldquo;1&rsquo;11 be happy to read more about myself, and give my kid brother a chance to read about me for a change, as well.&ldquo;I need to play to be relaxed. I wasn&rsquo;t relaxed in the first game with St. Louis, but the back-to-back games give me an opportunity to feel at ease.&rdquo;Dave made seven starts in the Sabres&rsquo; first 37 games, and had played in 10 games. His record showed two wins, two ties and four losses.Punch Imlach, the Buffalo general manager and coach, obviously was pleased with Dave&rsquo;s work.&ldquo;This guy has a great attitude, and it&rsquo;s certainly a big plus for us to be able to throw him in there and have him come up with the type of goaltending he&rsquo;s given us,&rdquo; Imlach said.&ldquo;He deserved to win both games of that doubleheader with St. Louis.&rdquo;In the first game the Blues, making their first start under new coach Al Arbour, scored twice in the last two minutes to get the tie. The closing score came with 27 seconds remaining and the Blues a man short.ALONG THE BOARDS-The Sabres&rsquo; Steve Atkinson suffered a deep head laceration when accidentally clipped by the stick of the Blues&rsquo; Barclay Plager in St. Louis. Atkinson was hospitalized for several days&hellip;With 24 goals in the first 37 games, the Sabres&rsquo; sensational rookie, Rick Martin, was taking dead aim on the freshman record of 38 set a year ago by his linemate, Gilbett Perreault. &ldquo;The way the kid is going he could get 50, but that&rsquo;s a lot to ask of a rookie,&rdquo; said Punch Imlach, the Buffalo general manager and coach&hellip;When the Sabres&rsquo; Chris Evans flipped a puck into the stands, Mrs. Dodo Imlach, wife of the Buffalo boss, reached out for it and narrowly missed making a fine catch. &#9632;

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Dave Dryden Making His Own Headlines

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02618/2841793-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="914" height="899"></div><h2>Skate From The Knees</h2>Both your legs have springs in them&mdash;the knees. Use them when you&rsquo;re skating for more speed, quicker turns and a strong base you can&rsquo;t be knocked off.Try skating with your legs stiff and your body upright. See how awkward it feels? Now, crouch a bit, but not enough to cut off your wind. Start skating, lifting your feet off the ice by bending your knees. Your first strides should be short and powerful but once you get moving, lengthen them. Keep thinking of those springs you have in your legs; make use of them. &#9632;

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Hockey for Kids

BUFFALO&mdash;The Buffalo Sabres spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in St. Louis, and it was a memorable Yuletide for defenseman Jim Watson.Watson&rsquo;s wife, Carol, gave birth to identical twin girls early Christmas afternoon. The young ladies, the Watsons&rsquo; first children, weighed 4 pounds two ounces and 4 pounds nine ounces.The girls were born in Douglas Memorial Hospital in Ft. Erie, Ont., and the Sabres&rsquo; big defenseman got his first look at them the morning after their birth.Other members of the Sabres who became fathers earlier this season were Steve Atkinson, Dan Lawson and Al Hamilton. &#9632;

Santa Delivered Twins To Watsons

<div class="byline">BY BOB SMIZIK</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;It is typical of the Penguin&rsquo;s Ron Schock that he didn&rsquo;t like playing left wing because he didn&rsquo;t have to work hard enough at the position.It is also typical of Schock that despite his preference for playing center, he said nothing to Coach Red Kelly about it.And, finally, it is typical of Kelly that he knew Schock did not like playing left wing despite his silence on the matter.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01772/2841855-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="270" height="440"><figcaption class="caption-body">Syl Apps</figcaption></div>So after a six-week run at left wing, Schock was returned to his favorite position.Schock was thrust into the unfamiliar left wing spot three days before the season began when the Penguins traded Dean Prentice and decided rookie Brian McKenzie wasn&rsquo;t quite ready for the NHL.&ldquo;I told Red I was willing to play left wing and I still am.&rdquo; said Schock.When Syl Apps was hurt Nov. 20, Schock was moved back to center. It figured to be just a temporary move until Apps recovered. But when Schock got back to center Kelly found out his true feelings. Shock didn&rsquo;t have to say a word. His actions spoke for him.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s really digging out there,&rdquo; Kelly said after watching Schock a few games. &ldquo;Ask him and I think he&rsquo;ll tell you he prefers center to left wing.&rdquo;After watching the 27-year-old Niagara Falls, Ont., native a few more games at center, Kelly was moved to say, &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t like left wing.&rdquo; It was that obvious, in Kelly&rsquo;s mind.But you&rsquo;ll get no such statements from Schock. He will say, though that he likes center better.&ldquo;You wonder if you&rsquo;re in the game at left wing,&rdquo; said Shock in a statement guaranteed not to make him popular with left wingers around the league.&ldquo;At center you&rsquo;re doing a bit more skating. At left wing I&rsquo;d finish a shift and I wouldn&rsquo;t be tired. Your job there is to go the way the other team&rsquo;s wingman goes. If he&rsquo;s not getting the puck, it&rsquo;s a pretty simple shift.&rdquo;Schock came straight out of the amateurs to the Boston Bruins in 1964. He went to St. Louis in the 1967 expansion draft and came to Pittsburgh two seasons later with Craig Cameron in exchange for Lou Angotti and a first round draft choice.The scoring statistics show that Schock hasn&rsquo;t been much of an asset to the Penguins. His 14 goals last season were the most he ever has scored as a professional.But statistics don&rsquo;t always tell the whole story and this is one of those cases.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a good checker and that&rsquo;s part of the reason I&rsquo;ve been playing in the NHL,&rdquo; said Schock. &ldquo;1 work at my job. If you&rsquo;re not scoring, you have to make up for it by checking, killing penalties or what ever they want you to do.&rdquo;Even if it means playing a position you don&rsquo;t like.PENGUIN PATTER: With Schock back at center and Apps healthy, Kelly found himself with too many centers once again This time Bob Leiter had his position changed. He was switched to left wing and so far Kelly has been pleased with the way Leiter has been playing.Keith McCreary injured his shoulder Dec. 12 at New York and missed the next three weeks.Rookie defenseman Dave Burrows continued his excellent play and Kelly called him &ldquo;the surprise of the season.&rdquo; The Penguins plucked Burrows from Chicago in the intra-league draft.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02631/2841848-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="545" height="587"><figcaption class="caption-body">RON SCHOCK&hellip;Back To Center</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Actions Speak Louder Than Words With School

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01758/2841893-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY EDWARDS&hellip;Rookie Turns Hot Hand For Kings (Hockey News Photo by Steve Goldstein)</figcaption></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Sometimes when a team is not going good, it is overlooked that an individual player may be going good. With the Los Angeles Kings this season, this has been the case with Real Lemieux and Gary Edwards.And when the team got going good recently for the first time this season, these two were key figures. The Kings won three of five games prior to Christmas night. Edwards was in the nets for all three and Lemieux scored three goals in the five.Although he has been their No. 2 goaler, Edwards probably has been their No. 1 player through the first half of the season, the only logical MVP candidate on the club to that point.Denis DeJordy and his successor as No. 1 goaler, Rog Vachon, suffered from lack of support, but somehow Edwards has overcome this. The team had an 8-24-1 record and Edwards had a 6-8 mark, which was remarkable.It would seem that someone would have to notice eventually. There have been stretches of five games in a row twice when Edwards did not start a single game, but when the little rookie has played, he has been outstanding.He has backstopped the club to 13 of the 17 points it has won. In his last three starts at this writing, he has won 4-1 and 2-1 over St. Louis and 4-2 over Detroit.Meanwhile, Lemieux has been one of the few Kings credited by coach Freddie Glover with going all-out all the time, in practices and games. The fun-loving Frenchman is a free spirit who worries his bosses with his ways sometimes, but on the ice he gives it an honest effort.At 5-11 and 170 pounds, he is not big, but he is tough. He is not tremendously talented, but he hustles. The left-winger checks his wing and tries to play the game the way it should be played.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02669/2841886-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="487" height="437"><figcaption class="caption-body">REAL LEMIEUX</figcaption></div>Owner Jack Kent Cooke always liked him, referring to him as a fellow who would try to walk through a brick wall for you. He traded him to New York in 1969, but traded to get him back last year.Lemieux spent part of last season in the minors, but regained a regular role this fall. He scored only three goals in 43 goals last season, but had eight in the first 33 this season.&ldquo;I always give it the best I got,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The team wins, the team loses, I do the same, I do all I can.&rdquo;Early this season, he scored two goals in a romp. Then made it four goals in four games with singletons in losses. Recently, he went through a 15-game drought, but broke it with open-net goals at the end of victories over St. Louis and Detroit.He was blanked as the Kings came from 3-0 to 3-2 in a narrow loss in Minnesota, but then shot the tying goal that got the Kings going to a 2-1 win in St. Louis, their second victory there in 18 starts.Benched most of the season, Butch Goring scored two goals, including the winner after a steal from Carl Brewer, in the 4-1 win over the Blues, the lead goal in the 4-2 win over the Wings, and the winner in the 2-1 win in St. Louis.The 22-year-old is the team&rsquo;s best young prospect and may just have needed work, which he has been getting since Glover put together a line of Lucien Grenier. Mike Corrigan and Goring, which has scored five goals in the last six games, including all three game-winners.Glover seemed to have the team going a bit better as the old year neared an end. &#9632;

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Lemieux, Edwards Among Best Of Kings In Christmas Spurt

<div class="byline">BY ED CONRAD</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Flyers&rsquo; coach Fred Shero didn&rsquo;t realize how quickly he&rsquo;d get results when he experimented and placed Serge Bernier on an line with center Bobby Clarke and left wing Bob Kelly.&ldquo;It was a last-minute happening explained Shero. &ldquo;I just didn&rsquo;t like the way the Bernier-Jimmy Johnson-Gary Dornhoefer line was going, so I decided to do some juggling.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03552/2841924-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="253" height="377"><figcaption class="caption-body">Serge Bernier</figcaption></div>That was minutes before the Flyers battled the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Spectrum and, when it was over, the Flyers had enjoyed one of their most productive goal-scoring nights of the reason.Most impressive was Bernier&rsquo;s goal and four assists which set a new single-game scoring point record for the Flyers.Bernier, a center-right wing, assisted on three goals in the first period&mdash;on scores by Clarke, Kelly and defenseman Barry Ashbee. He also assisted on a goal by defenseman Ed Van Impe early in the second period as the Flyers took a commanding 4-0 lead in a key four-point game for the Flyers.Then, later in the period, Bernier scored himself for his fifth point beating goalie Roy Edwards from close range.It broke a record held by eight Flyers, including Clarke who also chipped in a goal and three assists for another four-point game.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know anything about it (Shero&rsquo;s juggling act) before the game but I imagine he wanted to do something because I had been playing bad in the past two games,&rdquo; said Bernier. &ldquo;I never dreamed I&rsquo;d play on a line with two new guys and do so much scoring. It really feels great.&ldquo;I guess that&rsquo;s what can happen, though, when things are going right for you. Clarke&rsquo;s a good guy to play with he really knows what to do with the puck.&rdquo;Although it was a personal high in the NHL for Bernier, the big French-Canadian remembers an even more productive night as a professional.&ldquo;It was our last game of the season when I was still in Quebec,&rdquo; he recalled. &ldquo;I had seven points two goals and five assists and we won 9-1. It really was a big night for me because it helped me get my bonus.&rdquo;Although his offensive production against Pittsburgh didn&rsquo;t bring similiar instantaneous monetary rewards, Bernier was keeping his fingers crossed that (a) it would get him going again, and (b) it would igite the Flyers&rsquo; goal-scorers.Until beating the Penguins, the Flyers had been averaging just a shade above 2.15 goals per game while allowing an average of 3.1. Their games of four goals or more were few and far between.&ldquo;I really felt this game against the Penguins was our biggest of the year,&rdquo; said Shero. &ldquo;We just had to win it and we did. Our guys really came though, especially the line we put together at the last minute.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Fred Shero’s Line Juggling Act Pays Off As Bernier Sets Record With New Mates

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div>CHICAGO&mdash;There was this little old package underneath the Black Hawk&rsquo;s Christmas tree and when Coach Billy Reay opened it, the thing really was dynamite.Out popped Louis Frederick (Lou) Angotti, aged 33, and a valuable member of the Chicago clan for sometime. But these were tough times, so just around Yule, Reay summoned Angotti from the role of a spot player specialist penalty killer-what-have-you to the more tiring role of regular center for the team&rsquo;s third line.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01737/2841955-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="276" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lou Angotti</figcaption></div>Now, everybody knows how long the Hawks have been looking for another center, right? And if Angotti could handle the load well, Happy New Year Hawks, right?&ldquo;But with a guy like Looie who goes out there and plays as hard as he does,&rdquo; cautioned Reay, &ldquo;gets tired after a while. You just can&rsquo;t go on.&rdquo;And so, alas, the promotion for Angotti from a regular irregular to an irregular regular was just temporary. But Angotti himself was not upset. He&rsquo;s quick to admit that stamina is not his forte. But when he becomes a &ldquo;regular&rdquo; as he did around Christmas time as one of several components on Reay&rsquo;s third line, the popular Angotti, a bumble bee on skates, does his thing.Like two breakaway goals in the first period of the Dec. 26 game in Chicago when the Hawks downed the scrappy Los Angeles Kings 6-3. He skated in that contest between right wing Cliff Koroll and Danny O&rsquo;Shea.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s basically a checking line,&rdquo; Angotti sweated afterward. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s a help to me because I&rsquo;m not depended on to score. Our main job is to keep the other team from scoring, so it isn&rsquo;t necessary for me to make scoring rushes. If I also have two other wings who can backcheck, that takes some of the responsibility off me and I think I might be able to pace myself better.&rdquo;Then Angotti was asked the how long he could play regularly without feeling the aches and pains and fatigue.&ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Going like I am now, as I said, on a checking line, probably I can go longer than if not. I think I can conserve myself. Then again, I may collapse tomorrow.&rdquo;Should he collapse, Reay listed a number of other candidates for spots on the third line besides Angotti, O&rsquo;Shea and Koroll. Among them were Darryl Maggs, Eric Nesterenko, Andre Lacroix, Bryan Campbell, and Jerry Korab.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll keep changing around here and there,&rdquo; Reay said, &ldquo;as long as the third line does its job, that&rsquo;s what matters. Meanwhile, I&rsquo;d like to have two lines basically set,&rdquo;For them, Reay, placed crafty Pit Martin between Chico Maki and left wing Bobby Hull, and Stan Mikita as center for Left wing Dennis Hull and Jim Pappin.Bobby Hull and Maki had grown accustomed to not having a regular pivot, and Reay awarded them Martin early in the month after Pit&rsquo;s regular linemates, O&rsquo;Shea and Pappin, were ailing. But the Martin&mdash;Maki&mdash;B. Hull trio did so well since its birth that Reay refused to break it up. On Dec. 3 in California, Reay used the trio as a unit for the first full game, and after a 2-1 loss that evening the Hawks went on a 10-game unbeaten string, including a clubrecord eight straight victories.For the 10-game spell entering the final week in December, the line had 48 points and Hull was bombing at a goal-a-game clip.&ldquo;Martin is such a great skater,&rdquo; admired Reay, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that line has ever has one better than him.&rdquo;Mikita and Dennis Hull were familiar with each other, but Pappin was new to the line. He bumped Koroll, who was struggling through a slump of just one goal in 18 games.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll just see how Pappin does in his place for the time being,&rdquo; Reay said. &ldquo;Koroll&rsquo;s been having a tough time, but I expect he&rsquo;ll work everything out.&rdquo;Meanwhile, though, the most interesting development was the Angotti line (or non-line) and its number of possible formations.&ldquo;I just play wherever I&rsquo;m told,&rdquo;Looie mentioned.&rdquo;Although I do get tired once in a while.&rdquo; Who would&rsquo;t at his pace?HAWK-EY TALK: With victory over Los Angeles the night after Christmas, Hawks extended their unbeaten string at home to 17, one short of the club mark set last season&hellip;Other statistical milestones: Mikita near the 600 assist mark, Martin registered 350th point, Dennis Hull notches 150th goal, Angotti hits for 75th&hellip;Hawks enjoyed a rare holiday treat: Christmas off with their families for the first time in five years. &#9632;

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Angotti Becomes ‘Regular In Hawk Shift

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02679/2841986-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CRAIG RAMSAY&hellip;Buffalo Sabres</figcaption></div>The Buffalo Sabres have had more than their share of success with rookies. First it was Gilbert Perreault. Now Richard Martin. Who will it be next? The name is Craig Ramsay, an exciting young player who jumped directly from Ontario junior league ranks right into the NHL this season. Ramsay, a 21-year-old, 5&rsquo;10, 168-pounder collected 106 points in his windup junior year with Peterborough, a performance that prompted Buffalo to draft him No. 2 last summer. A rugger left winger, Ramsay figures to be a future star for the Sabres. &#9632;

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MEET THE ROOKIES

<div class="byline">BY GIL SMITH</div>MONTREAL&mdash;He&rsquo;s nearly 30 years of age and it&rsquo;s been almost 10 years since he first donned a Canadiens uniform. But, Claude Larose may finally be showing the form that Habs expected of him af far back as the early 1960&rsquo;s.&ldquo;Rosie&rdquo; recently bagged his 11th goal of the season in a standout effort against the Toronto Maple Leafs, to put himself one ahead of last year&rsquo;s entire goal production.He also collected two assists in that late December game against Leafs, and earned the first star of the game. But, the hard-driving Montreal winger claimed that it wasn&rsquo;t the best effort he&rsquo;s made as a member of the Habs.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played as well before, said Larose. &ldquo;But, in that game the puck just seemed to follow me around, and it made me look good. When you&rsquo;re left in the open, as I was quite a bit in that game, you get more opportunities to shoot the puck and it makes you look really sharp.&rdquo;Larose has been working recently on a line with Henri Richard and Marc Tardif and they&rsquo;ve been among the most productive untis on the club. Larose was inserted at right wing on that line after Rejean Houle had had a fling at it. Rosie&rsquo;s blended in well with the veteran Pocket Rocket and young Tardif, but the fact is he&rsquo;d been playing pretty well right from the start of the season.&ldquo;I got off to a pretty good start this season,&rdquo; said Larose. &ldquo;I had two goals in the first four games we played, and that helped. When a guy has to wait a long time for his first goals of a season it can affect him badly.&rdquo;Larose knows what it&rsquo;s like to live through scoring famines. One of his worst came, ironically, in a season which saw him score 21 goals for Canadiens. It was in 1964-65 and he notched his 21st goal&mdash;a career high up to that point&mdash;against N.Y. Rangers on February 24th. Then he went the rest of the season, till March 28th, and on through 13 playoff games without scoring once. In fact, all he managed in that time was a single assist.&ldquo;Can you understand it?&rdquo; Toe Blake, the coach at the time, was asked.&ldquo;Understand it?&rdquo; screamed Blake. &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t even believe it!&rdquo;Larose has always said that he goes best when he&rsquo;s being aggressive on the ice, though he&rsquo;s not that big in the physical sense.&ldquo;I like a rough game, where I can move and hit the opposition,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I feel I&rsquo;m at my best in that kind of a situation.&rdquo;He used to get a lot of chippy penalties in those kind of situations, too, but has cut down on that. Maturity seems to have taken some of the edge off what used to be a violent and, at times, uncontrollable temper.Rosie returned to the Hab fold last year in a trade that dispatched Bobby Rousseau to Minnesota. He couldn&rsquo;t have been overjoyed about returning to Canadiens after two of the best seasons of his life with the North Stars. But, he&rsquo;s settled in like the pro that he is, and there&rsquo;s no reason why he couldn&rsquo;t top even the 25-goal season he had with Minnesota in &lsquo;68-69, if he stays healthy.HAB-BITS: If Ken Dryden doesn&rsquo;t falter, he&rsquo;ll have to get serious consideration for the MVP award. He&rsquo;s held Canadiens in there game after game during the first 20 minutes. Then Habs have been able to come on strong in the later stages. A recent example was the Dec. 22nd Toronto&mdash;Montreal game. Leafs outshot Habs 17-8 in the first period, but led only 1-0 due to Dryden&rsquo;s sensational netminding. Canadiens won 4-2. &ldquo;Fantastic&rdquo; was how Leaf coach John McLellan described Dryden&rsquo;s efforts&hellip;When Claude Larose played for Minnesota, he had a good opportunity to study Canadiens as opponents. Who impressed him most? &ldquo;Jacques Laperriere,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I had a very tough time getting around him in two years of trying&rdquo;&hellip;Marc Tardif became the first Canadien to score 20 goals this season. The sturdy left-winger from Granby, P.Q. is showing tremendous form this year. &#9632;

Larose Late Bloomer In Upping Goal Mark

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Jacques Caron, goalkeeper, recalled from Denver of WHL.Chris Bordeleau, forward, placed on 21-day injury list with broken bone in his foot.BUFFALO&mdash;Tracy Pratt, defenseman. returned from disabled list injury list and assigned to Cincinnati of AHL to play himself into condition. Randy Wyrozub, forward, recalled from Cincinnati.NEW YORK&mdash;Dale Rolfe, defenseman, placed on 21-day injury list with broken finger.DETROIT&mdash;Ab McDonald, forward, assigned to Tidewater of AHL. Brian Conacher, forward, assigned to Fort Worth of CHL.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Joe Noris, defenseman. and Jim Rutherford, goalkeeper, assigned to Hershey of AHL.TORONTO&mdash;Rick Kehoe, forward, recalled from Tulsa of CHL. Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty, forward. returned to Tulsa.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>CINCINNATI&mdash;Don Brennan, defenseman. returned to Charlotte of EHL.RICHMOND&mdash;Yvon Bilodeau, defenseman. called up from Charlotte of EHL On five-game tryout.<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>PORTLAND&mdash;Bill Pettinger, forward, called up from Flint of IHL on five-game pro tryout.SALT LAKE&mdash;Bob Jones, forward, placed on disabled list for six weeks with knee injury.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>TULSA&mdash;Murray McLachlan, goalkeeper, quit team and returned to home in Toronto. Gord McRae, goalkeeper, secured from Toronto of NHL as replacement.KANSAS CITY&mdash;Jim Graham, defenseman. placed on disabled list with shoulder injury.OMAHA&mdash;Barrie Meissner, forward, on disabled list with torn chest muscles.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>MUSKEGON&mdash;Gord Malinoski, defenseman. and Gary MacMillan, forward placed on disabled list likely for rest of season after undergoing surgery for injuries. Ross Butler, forward, signed as free agent after release by Seattle of WHL. John Anderson, goalkeeper, released.<h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>GREENSBORO&mdash;Don Carter, forward, stepped up as coach to replace Ron Spong, who remains with club as general manager. Ken Turlilk, defenseman, secured from disbanded Jacksonville club. Don Labelle, defenseman, added to roster to replace, Ted Lanyon, defenseman, who went on injury list. Craig Stamp, forward, placed on waivers. Jim Notman, forward, sent to Roanoke of EHL but refused to report.SYRACUSE&mdash;Blake Ball, defenseman, and Ted Ouimet, goalkeeper, secured from disbanded Jacksonville club. Ed Skyhar, forward, sent to Johnstown of EHL. Roland Goyette, forward, relased. Doug Ferguson, forward, secured from Fort Worth of CHL.ROANOKE&mdash;Doug Carpenter, forward, secured from disbanded Jacksonville club.CLINTON&mdash;Dave Lee, forward, secured from disbanded Jacksonville club.NEW HAVEN&mdash;Doug Hearns and Herb Price, forwards, secured from disbanded Jacksonville club.SUN COAST&mdash;Cliff Pennington, forward, secured from disbanded Jacksonville club. Bob Lacey, forward, released &#9632;

Movements of Players

MONTREALKen Dryden, already distinguished as a netminder, seems determined to add to his laurels before this season is out.The storied Hab goalie recently tied the mark for assists by a netminder. with his third of the young NHL campaign.Dryden collected assist No. 3 against the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 15, thereby tieing the record set by Bernie Parent in 76 games with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1969-70.Dryden&rsquo;s latest scoring play was, according to reports, the result of a kicked out shot. The puck went to Jacques Lemaire and he, in turn relayed to Frank Mahovlich for the goal.So good has Dryden been in the early going this season, that Habs had little choice but to trade off Vachon and keep Phil Myre virtually inactive on the sidelines. The latter situation is not a happy one. and Myre has shown signs of increasing restiveness at the lack of work. But Dryden has simply been too hot to replace. Until last week when a back injury forced him to the sidelines in favor of Myre.It&rsquo;s been said that Dryden may be overlooked in the voting for the rookie award this season, because people tend to think of him as a fixture rather than a newcomer who&rsquo;s definitely in the running for the Calder Cup. The fact that Dryden appeared in 20 playoff games for Habs last spring and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable in playoffs does not alter his rookie status this season.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the guy will be overlooked by selectors who know their business,&rdquo; says coach Scotty Bowman. &ldquo;They get a list of eligible rookies, don&rsquo;t they? His name&rsquo;ll be on the list.His performance should account for the rest.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01755/2842065-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="833" height="1418"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEN DRYDEN (Hockey News Phofo by Robert Shave)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Dryden Ties Coaler Record With Third Assist Of Year

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01745/2842096-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Incoming president JACQUES COURTOIS, left, poses with outgoing prexy DAVID MOLSON after sale of the Montreal Canadiens to a new group headed by Courtois was announced last week by Molson. John Bassett of Toronto was among purchasing group and announced he would serve as NHL Governor for club.</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;The Montreal Canadiens have changed hands at the ownership level but don&rsquo;t look for any face lifting on the ice&mdash;unless the team goes into an unexpected tailspin.The change at the top simply means a new company headed by prominent Montreal businessman and lawyer Jacques Courtois, will control the Stanley Cup champions&rsquo; operations with the Molson brothers&mdash;David, Bill and Peter&mdash;selling out their entire interests in the club.The new shareholders consist of Edward and Peter Bronfman, the Bank of Nova Scotia and Baton Broadcasting Ltd., a Toronto-based firm which has as its president John Bassett.It seems the Canadiens will have a new acting NHL Governor in the person of Bassett, who was formerly executive&rsquo; vice-president of Toronto&rsquo;s Maple Leaf Gardens and current owner of the Toronto football Argos. Bassett will replace David Molson on the NHL&rsquo;s executive slate.The changeover in ownership of the Canadian Arena Company, which owns and operates the NHL Canadiens and the Forum, came as somewhat of a surprise to Montreal hockey people. They had little inkling the Molsons were negotiating for the sale of their 60 percent shares in the company. The Molson brothers has purchased controlling interest in 1968. David Molson had served as club president since 1964 and saw his teams win five Stanley Cups in seven years.The new president, Courtois, said he and his associates would endevour to carry on the fine tradition of the Club de Hockey Canadien in the future.Courtois is chairman and president of Montreal&rsquo;s Metropolitan Gaz Company and a partner in a law firm. He is prominent in Montreal business circles and is a native Montrealer. He is 51 years of age.The Bronfmans are active in Montreal area real estate development but have not had a hand in sports prior to their purchase of the Canadian Arena Company. Bassett, the 56-year-old former Quebecor who is now a major figure in Toronto television, radio and sports and recently establied his financial empire as a public company by setting up private holding corporation known as Baton Broadcasting Inc. Baton controls CFTO-TV in Toronto as well as Glen-Warren Productions, CKLM radio and TV stations in Windsor and a variety of other interests.The new owners declared that no changes would be made at this time in the operation of the hockey Canadiens or the Forum &#9632;

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Montreal Man To Head New Canadiens’ Owners

<div class="byline">BY JOHN PORTER</div>OAKLAND&mdash;Stung once before, Gerry Pinder isn&rsquo;t about to stir up another hornet&rsquo;s nest.The little California Golden Seals right winger clams up at the first sight of pencil and notebook. &ldquo;No quanotes today, is his favorite salutation to reporters.For variation, he&rsquo;ll give you a &ldquo;no comment&rdquo; sometimes, even when he&rsquo;s played a good game and potted a goal or two.Off the record, pin is good-natured and talks freely, but he&rsquo;s always careful to ask, &ldquo;is this off the record?&rdquo;In the Stanley Cup playoffs last season, Gerry publicly aired his feeling about the Chicago Black Hawks and coach Billy Reay, who were his employers at the time.Not surprisingly, his uncomplimentary remarks eventually earned him a ticket to the West Coast as part of the trade for goalie Gary Smith from the Seals.Pinder is-playing more for the Seals than he did for the Hawks, but one wonders if he&rsquo;s happy with his lot. For the record, he won&rsquo;t say.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02686/2842127-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="542" height="515"><figcaption class="caption-body">GERRY PINDER&hellip;Not Talking</figcaption></div>So it was then, that a huddle with linemates Ivan Boldirev and Bobby Sheehan, coach Vic Stasiuk and general manager Garry Young before a game in Vancouver aroused interest.When the line scored twice in the first period with Pinder netting both goals, it had to be more than a coincidence.&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you ask them,&rdquo; was Gerry&rsquo;s predictable response when asked about that pre-game get-together. His finger was pointed in the general direction of Younsr and Boldirev.&ldquo;We just thought it would be a good idea to talk things over and try to get their line going again. They were our best for scoring, but hadn&rsquo;t done much lately,&rdquo; said GM Young.According to Ivan, &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t been going well in the last five games, so we switched She-Cat (Sheehan) to right wing where he can cut in better for shots and Pinder to left wing.&rdquo;The Seals have been using four lines quite a bit, As a consequence, the Boldirev contingent may not be on the ice as much as Pinder would like, but no one is going to get him to say so.It&rsquo;s pretty difficult to think of anyone on the Seals&mdash;with the obvious exception of goaltender Smith last season&mdash;who doesn&rsquo;t want more ice time. &#9632;

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Pinder Playing It Cool

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01724/2842270-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2>TOP 25 SCORERS</h2>(Including Games of Sunday Jan. 2)<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02626/2842263-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="1376" height="880"></div><h2>BOSTON Bruins</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03496/2842256-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="732" height="750"></div><h2>BUFFALO Sabres</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04366/2842249-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="721" height="765"></div><h2>CALIFORNIA Seals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05274/2842242-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="732" height="775"></div><h2>CHICAGO Black Hawks</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06227/2842235-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg" title="f0012-06" width="717" height="721"></div><h2>DETROIT Red Wings</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-07199/2842228-1-eng-US/f0012-072.jpg" title="f0012-07" width="717" height="766"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES Kings</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-08174/2842221-1-eng-US/f0012-082.jpg" title="f0012-08" width="720" height="695"></div><h2>MINNESOTA North Stars</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-09143/2842214-1-eng-US/f0012-092.jpg" title="f0012-09" width="717" height="752"></div><h2>MONTREAL Canadiens</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-10128/2842207-1-eng-US/f0012-102.jpg" title="f0012-10" width="719" height="741"></div><h2>NEW YORK Rangers</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-11119/2842200-1-eng-US/f0012-112.jpg" title="f0012-11" width="722" height="765"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA Flyers</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-12102/2842193-1-eng-US/f0012-122.jpg" title="f0012-12" width="727" height="762"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH Penguins</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1391/2842186-1-eng-US/f0012-132.jpg" title="f0012-13" width="718" height="797"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS Blues</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1484/2842179-1-eng-US/f0012-142.jpg" title="f0012-14" width="728" height="786"></div><h2>TORONTO Maple Leats</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1578/2842172-1-eng-US/f0012-152.jpg" title="f0012-15" width="723" height="796"></div><h2>VANCOUVER Canucks</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1669/2842165-1-eng-US/f0012-162.jpg" title="f0012-16" width="715" height="772"></div><h2>NHL&rsquo;S EAST-WEST SCOREBOARD</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1755/2842158-1-eng-US/f0012-172.jpg" title="f0012-17" width="1412" height="285"></div>(Statistics include games of Sun. Jan. 2) &#9632;

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PLAYERS SCORING PENALTY RECORDS

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01712/2842301-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="531" height="521"><figcaption class="caption-body">AB MCDONALD&hellip;Cut From Roster</figcaption></div>DETROITIn a year filled with disappointments, Mickey Redmond was one of the biggest for the Red Wings last season.It wasn&rsquo;t Redmond&rsquo;s fault, however, and he&rsquo;s barreling this year to make up for it, with the aid of ski boot techonolgy.A bright young star for the Montreal Canadiens, Redmond came to Detroit last January in Ned Harkness&rsquo; first major deal as Detroit general manager. Harkness shuffled super star Erank Mahovlich to the Canadiens for Redmond, then 23. Guy Charron and Billy Collins.Redmond figured to be the big man for the rebuilding Red Wings but Bob Woytowich fell on him in Redmond&rsquo;s very first game with the Wings. At first it was diagnosed as a sprained ankle and doctors often say a bad sprain is worse than a fracture.It was in Redmond&rsquo;s case. He got in only 20 more games the rest of the season, scored only six goals and didn&rsquo;t look anything like star material&mdash;he just didn&rsquo;t have any thrust.The Wings sent him to a Toronto doctor during the summer and he disgnosed the trouble as tendonitis in the ankle and prescribed eight months rest. That&rsquo;s the length of a hockey season.Redmond reported to training camp and the ankle wasn&rsquo;t responding. Then he remembered former Montreal teammate Terry Harper had promoted a revolutionary hoot last year and Redmond ordered a pair.They&rsquo;re Lange&rsquo;s and that&rsquo;s one of the top ski boots made, a boot favored by leading international racers. It&rsquo;s a heavy plastic, unlike the regular leather boot used bv most players, pro and amateur, and it&rsquo;s different in another way&mdash;it&rsquo;s hinged.There is forward movement but not sideways and it&rsquo;s exactly what Redmond needed.&ldquo;If I hadn&rsquo;t switched, 1 probably wouldn&rsquo;t be playing,&rsquo;&rsquo; Redmond said.And the handsome, dark curlyhaired product of Kirkland Lake. Ont., is playing extremely well.Redmond took the Red Wing goal lead with a holiday surge of five goals in four games. Redmond also is getting hack to check his man and has been playing all-around sound hockey.&ldquo;He can really be an inspiration to this team,&rdquo; Coach Johnny Wilson said. &ldquo;He can really dance&hellip;and he&rsquo;s got a long shift that&rsquo;s tough for a checker to pick up.&rdquo;Redmond has been playing well despite an assortment of linemates, the result of injuries. He&rsquo;s been working with Alex Delvecchio at center and Al Karlander on left wing. But Delvecchio was injured and missed some games and before Karlander was on the wing. Guy Charron was there and thriving until suffering a fractured cheekbone that required surgery.The Wing were healthy heading toward New Year&rsquo;s though and they also were three men over strength. Harkness, reluctant to play Scrooge, didn&rsquo;t want to send anyone down before Christmas but afterward he said &ldquo;we obviously are carrying too many men.&rdquo;To pare the roster. Harkness optioned Ab McDonald to Tidewater of the American League sent Brian Conacher to Fort Worth of the Central League.RED WING NOTES: All the Red Wing brass, from club owner Bruce Norris on down, watched an amalgamation of Detroit Junior Wings and Port Huron Wings of the International League play the United States Olympic team at Olympia and it was a generally disappointing night.Five of the Olympians have been drafted by Detroit including top scorers Henry Boucha. their second round choice last June, and Tim Sheehy. Boucha has had rave notices from the Wing scouts and from National team coach Murray Williamson.But with an opportunity to really impress Norris, General Manager Ned Harkness and Coach Johnny Wilson. Boucha played a very ordinary game and was on the ice for the Ione goal scored against the Olympians who won the dreary game. 6-1.Sheehy sprained an ankle at first it was thought to he fractured&mdash;and had to be carried off on a stretcher. The only plus of the night was the play of defenseman Tom Mellor, Detroit&rsquo;s fifth round pick in the 1970 draft and a former Boston College player. &#9632;

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Redmond Becomes Goal Leader With Help Of New Boot

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U. S. and CanadaNEW YORK&mdash;Glen Sather finally popped his first goal of the season on December 26 against the Montreal Canadiens. Glen&rsquo;s goal was one of the more sensational of the season and it marked the second time that netminder Gilles Villemure had landed a key assist.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01712/2842377-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="281" height="455"><figcaption class="caption-body">Glen Sather</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Walter Tkaczuk was screening Habs&rsquo; Ken Dryden. Ken was moving one way and I pulled it back and put it where he had been. Billy Fairbairn really hit me with that pass. And wasn&rsquo;t it something for Villemure to start the play?&rdquo; said a happy &ldquo;Slats&rdquo; in the Ranger room afterwards.Sather, mobbed by his teammates after his historic tally, had given himself a Christmas present and Emile Francis, the Rangers&rsquo; general manager-coach food for thought. With the exception of the GAG Line, lead by the peerless center Jean Ratelle and flanked by wingers Rod Gilbert and Vic Hadfield, New York has been juggling their threesomes of late. Bobby Rousseau was tried on the Tkaczuk-Gene Carr line at right wing instead of Billy Fairbairn and Bob popped a key goal in the Rangers 4-2 win over Pittsburgh on December 22. But it was still Gilbert, on passes from Hadfield and Ratelle, which broke this game open in the third period after Pittsburgh had bounced back into a 2-2 tie.Against Minnesota on Christmas night, Francis put Sather with Tkaczuk and restored Fairbairn to his right wing spot. Rousseau went back to centering for Ted Irvine and Bruce MacGregor. Peter Stemkowski, who had taken Rousseau&rsquo;s spot for a time in the Pittsburgh game, was put back on spot duty. This was no refelction on the Stemmer, who is still is not in top game shape following a layoff of almost two months with a back and head injury. And it was no reflection on young Gene Carr, simply the fact that Francis wanted the tough checking Sather in against the North Stars and Canadiens.&ldquo;Would you believe it,&rdquo; asked Glen, a blonde 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 180 pounder from High River, Alberta. &ldquo;I got five shots on goal. I bet if I could score ten goals in the season, the Cat (Francis) would let me play regular.&rdquo;With Tkaczuk and the splendid forechecking of Fairbairn, the revaped Bulldog line is suddenly getting scoring chances galore, although still not cashing in on them as much as perhaps they should. Fairbairn had a neat breakaway against Montreal and shot wide of the net. It didn&rsquo;t matter as the Rangers, playing just about their best game of the year, defeated the Canadiens 5-1 and wiped out the memory of their 8-1 lapse against Boston in another recent big game confrontation of NHL East pennant contenders. Following a 2-1 win over Minnesota it gave the Broadway Blue-shirts momemtum for a five game home stand in Madison Square Garden during which they hope to pile up points.Immediately following this home soree, New York takes to the&rsquo; road for games in Chicago Jan. 12, Buffalo Jan. 13, Toronto Jan. 15, Los Angeles Jan. 19, California Jan. 21 and Vancouver Jan. 22.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter where we play, we can beat &ldquo;em,&rdquo; says Sather.. Contact and keeping the opposition off balance is Glen&rsquo;s main forte. He starts many fights just for effect and is always effective killing penalties.His fight with Philadelphia&rsquo;s Rick Foley on December 15 was a classic and Glen gave as good as he got with the Quaker City Man Mountain.&ldquo;If you guys keep talking that one up, you may get me killed.&rdquo; said Sather, in mock fear of Foley, an acknowledged accomplished pugilist. &ldquo;He outweighs me by forty pounds, but maybe I can still outthink him if it happens again.&rdquo;Both Fairbairn and Tkaczuk have had bad luck from the slot this year and this may have affected their confidence at times. A hot hand now would help the GAG line and take a bit of pressure off Jean Ratelle and company.Gil Villemure was the winning goalie versus the Canadiens and this shows that Francis is trusting Gil with the so-called &ldquo;big games&rdquo; now. He was worked in slowly last season against expansion at first, mixed with a couple of Chicago games, but now Gil is ready for one and all. He is 14-12.&ldquo;I had to prove myself in the big games, but I think I have,&rdquo; said Villemure. &ldquo;You know, I got four assists one season with Buffalo of the AHL. I used to feed Guy Trottier (now with Toronto), but I hear Dryden has three already. Maybe, I can catch him. The record for assists by a goalie is three, held by Bernie Parent, while with Philadelphia in the 1967-68 season. Dryden has already tied this mark.&ldquo;Tkaczuk, Fairbairn and Sather are a heck of a checking line,&rdquo; commented Francis. &ldquo;And they force scoring chances for themselves by forechecking the other guys in their own end.&rdquo;BLUE CHIPS: Munroe Schwebel, amateur hockey director and philanthropist, died suddenly Christmas eve. He backed the Greater New York Ice Hockey League and had plans for a New&rsquo; York State Major Junior circuit. New York&rsquo;s victory over Montreal on December 26 gave them 2-0-1 margin over Canadiens in three games so far this year&hellip;Vic Hadfield now has an amazing 12 power play goals. Not too many seasons ago this was almost a year&rsquo;s work for Victor&hellip;Jean Ratelle continues to amaze, taking key offensive and defensive end faceoffs whenever Francis pushes the Ratelle button&hellip;Against the East, New York was 10-3-2 and against the West 14-2-4&hellip;Rangers have now ripped off 14-0-3 for 17 straight unbeaten &#9632;

f0014-01

Streaking Rangers Put NHL Lead On Line In Road Safari

<h2>In The East</h2>The Detroit Red Wings have been waiting for the famed Frank Mahovlich trade of Jan. 13, 1971 to pay off and it appears their patience has finally been rewarded by a fellow named Mickey Redmond.The 24-year-old Detroiter has become the hottest piece of hockey property in the NHL in the last two weeks and his sensational scoring outburst has helped carry the Wings back into playoff contention in the East Division.Redmond, who came to Detroit from Montreal for the Big M along with Guy Charron and Bill Collins, has been tearing the NHL apart in his last few outings. He has popped 13 goals in his last nine games, a fantastic scoring performance. Last week alone he scored six times and had an assist to vault from 29th to 15th place in the scoring race.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02602/2842415-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="540" height="671"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICKEY REDMOND&hellip;Detroit Red Wings</figcaption></div><h2>In The West</h2>The Los Angeles Kings figured if they could get Juha Widing to move, the rest of the team&rsquo;s offense would pick up and the club could conceivably figure in the West Division playoff race.Well the Kings just might be right judging by their performance last week and the goal-scoring exploits of their Scandinavian ace.Widing fired three goals and helped set up two more as Los Angeles rolled over Vancouver twice to continue their recent upsure in which they have won four and lost four in their past eight games, quite an improvement from their early-season apathy.Widing game up with two goals in the second Vancouver tussle raising his season count to 12, which makes him the No. 1 goal scorer on the Kings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03464/2842408-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="537" height="643"><figcaption class="caption-body">JUHA WIDING&hellip;Los Angeles Kings</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0014-02

Players of the week

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01686/2842579-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="437" height="296"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02618/2842572-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="485" height="279"></div><h2>Tues. Dec. 28 TORONTO 4 at PITTSBURGH 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03522/2842565-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="584" height="566"></div><h2>Wed. Dec. 29 CALIFORNIA 2 at MONTREAL 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04406/2842558-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="582" height="517"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 6 at TORONTO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-05307/2842551-1-eng-US/f0015-052.jpg" title="f0015-05" width="591" height="743"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 1 at NEW YORK 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-06255/2842544-1-eng-US/f0015-062.jpg" title="f0015-06" width="590" height="665"></div><h2>BOSTON 5 at CHICAGO 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-07229/2842537-1-eng-US/f0015-072.jpg" title="f0015-07" width="594" height="659"></div><h2>DETROIT 7 at BUFFALO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-08205/2842530-1-eng-US/f0015-082.jpg" title="f0015-08" width="597" height="759"></div><h2>VANCOUVER 1 AT LOS ANGELES 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-09190/2842523-1-eng-US/f0015-092.jpg" title="f0015-09" width="586" height="513"></div><h2>Thurs. Dec. 30 BOSTON 2 AT MINNESOTA 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-10167/2842516-1-eng-US/f0015-102.jpg" title="f0015-10" width="593" height="565"></div><h2>Fri. Dec 31 BUFFALO 3 at PITTSBURGH 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-11147/2842509-1-eng-US/f0015-112.jpg" title="f0015-11" width="591" height="569"></div><h2>CALIFORNIA 3 at DETROIT 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-12120/2842502-1-eng-US/f0015-122.jpg" title="f0015-12" width="594" height="746"></div><h2>Sat. Jan. 1 MONTREAL 2 at TORONTO 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-13106/2842495-1-eng-US/f0015-132.jpg" title="f0015-13" width="590" height="591"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 4 at ST. LOUIS 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1493/2842488-1-eng-US/f0015-142.jpg" title="f0015-14" width="594" height="723"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 3 at LOS ANGELES 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1577/2842481-1-eng-US/f0015-152.jpg" title="f0015-15" width="592" height="566"></div><h2>Sun. Jan. 2 MONTREAL 4 at DETROIT 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1672/2842474-1-eng-US/f0015-162.jpg" title="f0015-16" width="590" height="817"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES 6 AT VANCOUVER 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1768/2842467-1-eng-US/f0015-172.jpg" title="f0015-17" width="599" height="770"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 2 AT CHICAGO 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-1859/2842460-1-eng-US/f0015-182.jpg" title="f0015-18" width="583" height="690"></div><h2>BOSTON 4 at NEW YORK 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04286/2842453-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="577" height="591"></div><h2>CALIFORNIA 4 at BUFFALO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05215/2842446-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="572" height="732"></div> &#9632;

f0015-01

National Hockey League SUMMARIES

<div class="byline">BY DAN PROUDFOOT</div>TORONTO&mdash;Typical scene after almost one-third of Toronto Maple Leaf games: John McLellan, the coach, walking stiffly outside the dressing room door.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t afford to make mistakes against a team like that,&rdquo; he&rsquo;s saying. And inside the room, his players are silent.To complete the picture, one only has to imagine the opposition.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03359/2842634-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="257" height="417"><figcaption class="caption-body">Billy MacMillan</figcaption></div>McLellan is saying &ldquo;Bruins are too good to miss a chance like that.&rdquo; Or he could as easily be saying Rangers, Canadiens or Black Hawks.As the halfway mark in the 1971-72 season approached, Leafs were depending on a win against Canadiens Jan. 1, which they got 5-2 and Boston Jan. 5, both at Maple Leaf Gardens, to renew beliefs the team can rise higher than fourth place in the eastern division.Up to the New Year, there was no such indication. Leafs still hadn&rsquo;t beaten any of the four teams which are considered the upper class of the National Hockey League.Against Bruins, Leafs had a tie and two losses.Against Hawks, Leafs had a tie and two losses.Against Rangers, Leafs had a tie and one loss.Against Canadiens, Leafs has a win and two losses.The team showed an amazing ability to turn leads into losses. In four of the seven defeats and one of the ties, Leafs scored first but couldn&rsquo;t protect their lead.Against Montreal Canadiens Dec. 22, Leafs went ahead 2-0 early in the second period, but three Canadiens The in less than seven minutes reversed the momentum.In their next upper class appearance, in Boston Garden Dec. 26, Leafs never led but checked well enough through most of the game to earn a tie or win. Instead they lost 3-1, the last Bruins score shot into the empty Leaf net.McLellan&rsquo;s eyebrows could be seen lifting the next day when he read a Boston Globe report of the game. Tom Fitzgerald suggested, in kindly terms, that Leafs&rsquo; checking made up for &ldquo;a conspicuous lack of talent.&rdquo;Fitzgerald raised a relevant point, however, when he suggested Leafs lack manpower. McLellan admits the only way Leafs can beat a top team is with ceaseless checking, but the question remains if his players are capable of that assignment.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to start beating those top teams if we expect to get beyond fourth,&rdquo; Billy MacMillan said after the loss in Boston.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s for sure none of the other teams are going to beat them. It&rsquo;s up to us.&rdquo;MacMillan, a reliable right wing, was asked if perhaps Leafs were going into games against the majesties believing they couldn&rsquo;t win.&ldquo;No, no way we&rsquo;re going into those games psyched.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to start winning against those teams. Don&rsquo;t forget, we&rsquo;ve been hurting badly. We missed some good players in the last two games against Boston and Montreal, and they would have made a difference.&rdquo;Leafs won five consecutive games before travelling to Montreal, but in the last win of the series Paul Henderson suffered a deep bruise on the left knee. The injury would keep him out of uniform at least five games. &#9632;

f0016-03

Beating Too Teams Only Wav Up For The Leafs

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01533/2842672-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div>(Standings on Tues. Jan. 4)<h2>EAST DIVISION</h2><h2>WEST DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02458/2842665-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="1094" height="352"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Tues. Dec. 28Toronto 4 at Pittsburgh 2Wed. Dec. 29California 2 at Montreal 3St. Louis 6 at Toronto 3Philadelphia 1 at New York 5Boston 5 at Chicago 1Detroit 7 at Buffalo 3Vancouver 1 at Los Angeles 3Thurs. Dec. 30Boston 2 at Minnesota 2Fri. Dec. 31California 3 at Detroit 6Buffalo 3 at Pittsburgh 3Sat. Jan. 1Montreal 2 at Toronto 5Philadelphia 4 at St. Louis 4Minnesota 3 at Los Angeles 2Sun. Jan. 2Montreal 4 at Detroit 6Boston 4 at New York 1California 4 at Buffalo 4Los Angeles 6 at Vancouver 3Philadelphia 2 at Chicago 6<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Tues. Jan. 4California at Los AngelesWed. Jan. 5Vancouver at MontrealBoston at TorontoSt. Louis at New YorkDetroit at MinnesotaPittsburgh at ChicagoLos Angeles at CaliforniaThurs. Jan. 6Boston at BuffaloSt. Louis at PhiladelphiaFri. Jan. 7Detroit at CaliforniaSat. Jan. 8Los Angeles at MontrealPhiladelphia at TorontoBoston at St. LouisVancouver at MinnesotaChicago at PittsburghSun. Jan. 9Montreal at ChicagoToronto at BuffaloLos Angeles at New YorkPittsburgh at DetroitCalifornia at PhiladelphiaTue. Jan. 11Montreal at St. LouisPhiladelphia at DetroitMinnesota at VancouverWed. Jan. 12Los Angeles at TorontoNew York at ChicagoBoston at PittsburghMinnesota at CaliforniaThur. Jan. 13Pittsburgh at MontrealNew York at BuffaloLos Angeles at BostonFri. Jan. 14Vancouver at California &#9632;

f0016-01

NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY HAL SIGURDSON</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;There was a time when Ron Ward had all but given up on a career in the National Hockey League. Earlier this season Ron Stewart must have suspected his lengthy NHL career was over.Today they&rsquo;re linemates with the Vancouver Canucks and may just provide the right combination to take some of the heat off their coach, Hal Laycoe.Two seasons back Ward, who had just won the American Hockey League&rsquo;s rookie-of-the-year award, got his first shot at the big leagues.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03326/2842703-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="258" height="374"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Ward</figcaption></div>It came with the Toronto Maple Leafs and for Ward it was not a happy experience.After 18 games and preciously little ice time, Ward was sent back to the minors, bitter because he felt he hadn&rsquo;t been given a fair chance.Whether Ward&rsquo;s grievances were real or imagined, he still had a sour attitude last season when fates and the expansion draft cast him in the camp of the Canucks.&ldquo;I was still so bitter that I didn&rsquo;t even want to play in the NHL,&rdquo; Ward says now. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d decided I wanted to play in the minors and I wanted to go to Phoenix. I&rsquo;d played a few games there the year before and liked it.&rdquo;If Ward made any real effort to crack the Canucks&rsquo; lineup that first season it wasn&rsquo;t apparent either to Laycoe or general manager Bud Poile.But the Canucks refused to grant Ward&rsquo;s wish and assign him to Phoenix. Instead they sent him to their AHL club in Rochester where for the first half of the season he played neither frequently nor well.Then, sometime in January, his attitude changed. He was the floundering Americans&rsquo; most valuable player in the second half of the season. He scored frequently and killed penalties with exceptional skill.He did the latter job so well the Canucks made him one of their protected players last June and invited him back to training camp. Right from the outset he made it obvious he intended to stay.He was cast in a specialist&rsquo;s role, but he filled it well. Teamed with Poul Popiel, he gave the Canucks a solid performance as a penalty killer. When Popiel was injured he continued to play with his new partner, Stewart.Stewart, of course, came back to the NHL as a result of that Vancouver-New York trade that also put Canuck sweaters on Wayne Connelly and Dave Balon. Before the deal, Stewart had been playing in Providence, the Rangers&rsquo; AHL affiliate.But while the Canucks&rsquo; penalty killing may have been adequate their win-loss record left much to be desired and as the losses piled up, so did the pressure on coach Laycoe.The club&rsquo;s major problem was a lack of goals, so finally Laycoe turned to his penalty killing specialists to help solve the problem.Ward was assigned a regular shift at center with Stewart on right wing and Ted Taylor on left wing. In their first start as a line the trio combined for a goal in a 6-2 victory over the California Golden Seals, a win that ended a five-game Vancouver losing streak.&ldquo;You can safely assume both Ward and Stewart will be getting a lot more ice time from now on,&rdquo; Laycoe said of their performance.&ldquo;Ward has been champing at the bit to get more playing time,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;and Stewart is just rounding into good playing shape now. If that line continues to play as well as it did against California, it will be like pennies from heaven.&rdquo;Translate that to mean goals. A team that has already been shut out seven times this season can use all the goals it can get.The problem has been that recently most of the Canucks goals have been coming from the same line&mdash;the one manned by Balon, Andre Boudrias and Dale Tallon. When that line was blanked, so frequently were the Canucks. &#9632;

f0017-03

Ward Making Good On Second Try With Canucks

<div class="byline">BY BILL GOOD JR.</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01447/2842741-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="335" height="339"></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;There was a time when being named coach of a team in the National Hockey League provided almost as much job security as an appointment to the Senate. Then came expansion in 1967 when the NHL took in six new cities and 1970 when Vancouver and Buffalo joined. Coaching suddenly became a precarious sort of thing to do. Now we find that the NHL will move ahead to 18 teams and goodness only knows where enough leaders will be found. After all with only 14 coaches now, at least five cities aren&rsquo;t entirely sure their&rsquo;s is good enough.Here in Vancouver the Canucks were greeted with tremendous enthusiasm in their maiden season at the Pacific Coliseum despite the fact that the biggest reason for their pre-Christmas success was a serious slump by the much more talented Toronto Maple Leafs. After the new year the Leafs, with people like Bob Baun, Dave Keon, Norm Ullman, Paul Henderson, Ron Ellis, Bernie Parent and Jacques Plante, started playing up to their capabilities and the Canucks faded.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02395/2842734-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="253" height="427"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Good Jr.</figcaption></div>This year Toronto&rsquo;s slump lasted but two weeks and Vancouver found the playoffs a long way off before Christmas and fans here are yelling for Hal Laycoe&rsquo;s job. Laycoe has been in hockey for about 27 years and he knows that with help from Lester Patrick, Dick Irvin, Jack Adams and Toe Blake he&rsquo;d still miss the playoffs but the fans are unconvinced.In Buffalo Punch Imlach has a reputation as being perhaps the best in the business when it comes to getting the most out of old legs but his Sabres aren&rsquo;t world beaters yet.In St. Louis you won&rsquo;t convince Bill McCreary that Christmas is the season to be jolly&hellip;he got his notice on the 25th of December when the Blues made Al Arbour their third coach in three months. It seems that a taste of success has made the job even tougher since Chicago moved into the West Division and Minnesota teamed up Cesare Maniago and Gump Worsley in goal.In Los Angeles Fred Glover claimed recently that players today are too comfortable and can&rsquo;t be motivated. When you re 35 points out of first place you say things like that!In fact the NHL has moved ahead faster than the talent has become available and the coaches are paying the price. On the other hand there only used to be six NHL coaching jobs, and a fellow could wait a lifetime for one. Today he doesn&rsquo;t have to wait as long at either end. &#9632;

f0017-01

LA SOIREE DU HOCKEY

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in canada by HILLERICH A BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U. S. and Canada<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tues. Jan. 4)<h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02362/2842793-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="573" height="156"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03266/2842786-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="578" height="283"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tues. Dec. 28Tidewater 3 at Cincinnati 6Providence 2 atNova Scotia 2Wed. Dec. 29Boston 1 at Cleveland 4Tidewater 2 at Richmond 4Cincinnati 3 at Springfield 9Thurs. Dec. 30Nova Scotia 2 at Hershey 5Fri. Dec. 31Boston 1 at Cincinnati 1Sat. Jan. 1Nova Scotia 4 at Baltimore 2Cincinnati 4 at Cleveland 3Tidewater 2 at Hershey 6Boston 0 at Springfield 5Sun. Jan. 2Cleveland 3 at Cincinnati 6Boston 4.at Providence 4Novo Scotia 4 at Richmond 6Tidewater 6 at Rochester I<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tues. Jan. 4Boston at BaltimoreHershey at CincinnatiWed. Jan. 5Novo Scotia at Tidewater 2Fri. Jan. 7Tidewater at BaltimoreHershey at ClevelandNova Scotia atProvidenceBoston at RichmondRochester at SpringfieldSat. Jan. 8Baltimore at ClevelandCincinnati at HersheyProvidence at SpringfieldSun. Jan. 9Baltimore at CincinnatiSpringfield at ProvidenceHershey atRichmondNova Scotia at RochesterBoston at Tidewater<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3>(Including games of Sun. Dec. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04210/2842779-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="584" height="407"></div><h3>GOALKEEPERS&rsquo; RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05156/2842772-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="580" height="612"></div> &#9632;

f0018-02

HOW THEY STAND

<div class="byline">BY GREG FARLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01452/2842824-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="548" height="599"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON TANNAHILL</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;The recent 16-game goal famine suffered by the Braves&rsquo; 22-year-old blond left winger Don Tannahill failed to ruffle the durable youngster.&ldquo;I was happy when it ended, that&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; smiled Tannahill, &ldquo;but I wasn&rsquo;t overly-Concerned about it. Heck, with all the shots we take, everyone&rsquo;s going to get more than his share of goals.&rdquo;This is Don&rsquo;s first fling at the AHL after a season and a half with Oklahoma City of the CHL, and he&rsquo;s enchanted with the new surroundings.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really great&mdash;the league, the team and the fans,&rdquo; he enthused. &ldquo;The style of play up here is much closer to the NHL for one thing. There&rsquo;s a lot more emphasis on defense here than in the Central League.&rdquo;Boston&rsquo;s hockey-crazed fans came as no surprise to Don.&ldquo;I heard about them when I was playing junior hockey at Niagara Falls,&rdquo; recalled Tannahill, &ldquo;and everything I heard was true.&ldquo;There can&rsquo;t be much doubt that Boston is the best hockey town around. The team, solidly in first place, sold more than 7,000 season tickets before the squad was formed, which is just unbelievable.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just happy that we&rsquo;ve given them something to be excited about, and I hope we can continue to please them and draw more fans (the current per game average is 11,000). Those big crowds make us want to play that much better.&rdquo; The Braves have had four 12,000-plus turnouts this season.Tannahill&rsquo;s 10 goals and 24 assists through 33 games were good for third place on the Braves&rsquo; scoring sheet.&ldquo;With a little luck I should score around 25 goals,&rdquo; he projected, and I&rsquo;d have to consider that to be an excellent season for me.&ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;m hoping to make it up to the NHL next year. In fact most of the guys on the team are. But right now we&rsquo;re concentrating on three objectives&mdash;a playoff berth, first place in our division, and the Calder Cup.&rdquo; The Braves won&rsquo;t settle for anything less says Tannahill.Meanwhile, much of the credit for the Braves&rsquo; outstanding defensive record, far and away the league&rsquo;s best, has been given to the team&rsquo;s dynamic one-two goaltending crew of Dan Bouchard and Ross Brookes.And justifiably so.Let us not, however, pass over the tremendous corps of talented young defensemen on the squad which has made things that much easier for the netminders.The defense received its severest test of the campaign just a few weeks into the season when hardrock blueline leader Bill Speer was suprisingly peddled to the Providence Reds.&ldquo;Speersy was a team leader and was one of the most popular players on the squad,&rdquo; pointed out Paul Hurley. &ldquo;It was somewhat of a shock when he went to Providence, but we couldn&rsquo;t sit around worrying about it.&ldquo;We all realized that each of us would have to put out that much more. So we did&mdash;and look at the results.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-01

Boston Fans Wild About Leading Braves; Tannahill Admits Club Hot After Cup

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK SANTANIELLO</div>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;The Springfield Kings are getting some fine point-making from top players. Yet Coach Gary Dineen is still not entirely pleased with his club. He figures they should be much closer to first place. But with the way the Boston Braves have been playing, that seems impossible!An indication of the Kings&rsquo; offensive power war generated last week when veteran Wayne Rivers turned in a fantastic five-goal performance as Springfield overwhelmed Cincinnati 9-3. It gave him 28 for the season and made him to No. 1 AHL goal sniper nudging Boston&rsquo;s Garry Peters off the top perch.At this stage, the veteran Rivers is leading the club with 39 points on 28 goals and 11 assists. He will be trying to pop 45 goals and has a good shot at the club record, held by Doug Robinson who is now a member of the Nova Scotia club.Rivers is enjoying an outstanding season with the club. The 10-year performer, who is playing well enough to be back in the NHL, has really been around the hockey wars. Last winter, he pumped in 38 goals while a member of the Baltimore Clippers.He was obtained by the Los Angeles Kings in the reverse draft last spring and has been a steady scorer since he came here. Rivers digs in the comers, skates well and always seems to be in position for a good shot on goal.Following him in the team scoring, is the amazing Ed Hoekstra, who at age 35 is playing a fine, steady brand of hockey with the Kings. Right now, Ed has only six goals but has 26 assists. The native of St. Catharines, Ontario is also a very good man to have on the power play and to kill penalties.Mike Boland is third in club scoring with four goals 18 assists and is in his second season with the Kings. He was dropped during training camp last season and coach John Wilson brought him back and he performed well with the club during the last few months of the season.Wayne Schultz right now is scoring many key goals. He is another strong skater, tough checker and generally makes a pest of himself in the other club&rsquo;s end. He has popped 12 goals and nine assits. Wayne came here in a trade along with Bill Orban from Cleveland last winter.Most amazing youngster is rookie Brian Carlin, who works hard, wants to learn the game and his scoring record proves it. Last season he was with Medicine Hat in Western Canada Junior Hockey, Brian has proved very quickly this year that he is suited for AHL play. He has 12 goals, seven goals so far this season, including a recent hat trick against Richmond. &#9632;

Rivers’ 5-Goal Came Shows Kings’ Power

Wayne Rivers of the Springfield Kings appears intent on winning the AHL&rsquo;s goal-scoring title. This past week the veteran winger scored five times in the club&rsquo;s 9-3 whalloping of Cincinnati to raise his season high to 28 and relieve Boston&rsquo;s Garry Peters of the lead in the goal getting department. It was the first time this season an AHL player had scored five goals in a game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01431/2842879-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="510" height="520"><figcaption class="caption-body">WAYNE RIVERS</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-01

Player Of The Week

<h2>Fri. Dec. 17 NOVA SCOTIA 3 at ROCHESTER 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02378/2842980-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="582" height="623"></div><h2>PROVIDENCE 2 at RICHMOND 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03307/2842973-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="581" height="484"></div><h2>SPRINGFIELD 1 at BOSTON 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04264/2842966-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="581" height="428"></div><h2>Sat. Dec. 18 CINCINNATI 2 at BALTIMORE 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05219/2842959-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="580" height="532"></div><h2>RICHMOND 2 at SPRINGFIELD 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06171/2842952-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="583" height="606"></div><h2>Sun. Dec. 19 BOSTON 5 at PROVIDENCE 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-07148/2842945-1-eng-US/f0019-072.jpg" title="f0019-07" width="589" height="623"></div><h2>NOVA SCOTIA 4 at CINCINNATI 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-08133/2842938-1-eng-US/f0019-082.jpg" title="f0019-08" width="581" height="646"></div><h2>HERSHEY 2 at RICHMOND 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-09112/2842931-1-eng-US/f0019-092.jpg" title="f0019-09" width="574" height="421"></div><h2>BALTIMORE 5 at TIDEWATER 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1095/2842924-1-eng-US/f0019-102.jpg" title="f0019-10" width="585" height="786"></div><h2>SPRINGFIELD 2 at ROCHESTER 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1180/2842917-1-eng-US/f0019-112.jpg" title="f0019-11" width="581" height="493"></div><h2>Mon. Dec. 20 CLEVELAND 3 at BOSTON 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-1274/2842910-1-eng-US/f0019-122.jpg" title="f0019-12" width="581" height="676"></div> &#9632;

f0019-02

American Hockey League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY HANK FROSHAUG</div>HAMPTON&mdash;Virginia&rsquo;s new Tidewater Wings are firmly bogged down in the Western Division cellar as the American Hockey League skates into 1972.However, the Detroit farmhands are starting to display some offensive muscle that may spoil the dreams of several of the present contenders.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01275/2843011-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="245" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body">Art Stratton</figcaption></div>Leading the Virginia expansion team&rsquo;s scoring surge in some recent sparklers is Art Stratton, the 36-year-old center who joined Tidewater from the Seattle Totems on Nov. 12. Goalie Bob Sneddon went to the Western League team in the deal for Stratton.Immediately after Stratton came, the Wings completed a four-game undefeated streak that included a 1-0 shutout over Cleveland (John Voss was in goal for Tidewater), a 3-3 tie at Boston. a 4-4 deadlook at Springfield and then a resounding 5-2 triumph over Baltimore.On the eve of a two-game road trip. Detroit recalled right wing Doug Volmar, who had been skating on Stratton&rsquo;s line. The Red Wings also summoned center Rick McCann, who has sparked Tidewater&rsquo;s top offensive unit including Tom Martin and Tom Gilmore.Shaken by this dent in two lines, the Wings dropped a 4-3 nod at Baltimore and a 6-1 decision at Providence.Back at home, Tidewater then put together its longest winning string of the season with three straight wins&hellip;5-2 over Hershey, 7-2 over Rochester and 8-4 over Cleveland.In his first 15 games with the Wings, Stratton piled up 18 points on four goals and 14 assists. Veteran AHL observers will recall that Stratton still holds the league record for assists in one game (9), which he set in 1963 for Buffalo against Pittsburgh. That is also the top number of individual points scored in one AHL game.Previous to the appearance of Stratton, Tidewater had averaged less than two goals per game. Since he added his quick skates and quicker stick-handling. the Wings have edged up to better than a 3.5-average.Biggest point explosion of the year came in an 8-4 landslide over the Cleveland Barons. Ron Walters, 23, skating in place of Volmar on the Stratton line, turned in the first hat trick of the season for the Wings. He also got an assist. Stratton collected three assists and left winger Rick Sentes added a goal and an assists.Walters had tallied only two goals in 23 games before shifting from center to right wing on the Stratton line.Tidewater broke a four-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over Providence. This time another converted center, 23-year-old Ralph Stewart, joined Stratton and Walters, as Sentes was sidelined with a bad knee.This trio accounted for all four goals. Stratton got two, his wingers one each. Stratton and Walters each added two assists and Stewart collected three.Stewart couldn&rsquo;t make a place for himself with the Rochester Amerks and is on loan to Tidewater. The combination of three centers on one line seems to be paying off for Coach Larry Jeffrey. &#9632;

f0020-01

Veteran Stratton Starts Club’s Offense Rolling

<div class="byline">BY JOHN TRAVERS</div>HERSHEY&mdash;Coach Frank Mathers is of the opinion his Hershey Bears are right on schedule in their bid for the American League&rsquo;s Western Division crown. For that matter, he&rsquo;s not counting out a chance of his charges eventually claiming the loop&rsquo;s overall title.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played well through the first 28 games,&rdquo; said Mathers. &ldquo;We did have a short slump in early December but part of it could be traced to injuries.&ldquo;Overall, though, I feel our young players have progressed at a steady pace.&rdquo;A check of the records would indicate the veteran mentor is right.After 28 games, the Bears had played 14 on the road and 14 at home and showed an overall standard of 15-8-5 or 35 of a possible 56 points, a fine 64 per cent win standard.Breaking it down finer the club was 9-3-2 on home ice, a sparkling 714 average, while on the road the record was 6-5-3 or a 535 standard.&ldquo;Our scoring has been balanced,&rdquo; added Mathers. &ldquo;Any of the lines is capable of exploding in any given game. No club can afford to try and sit on any one particular line.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02200/2843042-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="543" height="582"><figcaption class="caption-body">CONNIE FOREY&hellip;Makes Auspicious Return</figcaption></div>On this count Mathers is correct. Jean Gratton paces the club with 14 goals, while Gil Gilbert and Ron Snell each have 11 and Rick Kessell 10. Right behind them with eight apiece are Wally Boyer and Steve Cardwell, while Brian McKenzie has seven. Both Robin Burns and Ted Snell each have six.Newcomer Connie Forey, a rangy 21-year-old winger, had an auspicious AHL debut Dec. 18 against Rochester, popping in two goals and setting up two others. He was on a line with Gilbert and Ron Snell for his initial start after overcoming a lingering illness.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what was wrong,&rdquo; said Forey, who spent about a week in a Montreal hospital. &ldquo;I lost about 30 pounds. But I feel great now.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0020-02

Mathers Feels Young Bears Capable Of Going AH Way

<div class="byline">BY JOE MINSTER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01139/2843073-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="534" height="562"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN GOULD&hellip;On The Way Up</figcaption></div>CINCINNATI&mdash;Surefire National Hockey League material&mdash;that&rsquo;s the word from Cincinnati Sword Coach Joe Crozier about young John Gould.The versatile 22-year-old Gould, who plays left wing but can easily double on defense, is in his first year as a professional after a banner season with Charlotte of the Eastern Hockey League. With Charlotte, he rolled up 48 goals and assisted on 53 others for a total of 101 points.Gould, who packs 185 pounds on a solid six foot frame, has shown in the early American Hockey League going that he has all the trademarks of a big leaguer.The native of Alliston, Ontario, pumped home 13 goals and chipped in with eight assists for 21 points in his first 31 AHL contests to rate as one of the most consistent scorers for the fledgling Sword club. His total includes four power play goals and a pair of game-winners.&ldquo;No doubt about it, John has all that it takes to play in the National League,&rdquo; Crozier unhesitatingly stated. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s also got an extremely good attitude about the game.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t be too surprised to see John earn a spot for himself in the big time as soon as next season, because he seems to be learning all the time and he&rsquo;s always willing to listen to advice and follow up on it.&rdquo;Against the Cleveland Barons in a recent skirmish won by the Swords, 7-4, Gould was an early casualty by participating in a brawl between teammate Ken Murray and Barons&rsquo; Dennis Giannini. This little fracas earned John a match misconduct penalty as &ldquo;third man in a fight&rdquo;. Up to that point, he had accumulated only 14 minutes in penalties.Gould, of course, aspires to be a National Leaguer, just as do all young hockey players. But he realizes the importance of the experience he can gain by playing in the strong American League.&ldquo;We have a good club at Cincinnati,&rdquo; John said, &ldquo;with a lot of young players like myself. We&rsquo;re bound to improve as the season progresses, and we&rsquo;re going to make our presence felt in this American League race before it&rsquo;s all over.&rdquo;Help from the parent Buffalo Sabre club has bolstered the sagging forces of Crozier&rsquo;s Swords, who have added a great deal of firepower to their lineup, while shoring up their defense corps, too.After a few weeks in Buffalo, Butch Deadmarsh returned to Cincinnati, and he wasted little time in showing his great value to the team. Against Cleveland in his first AHL outing since December 1, Deadmarsh netted two goals and added an assist. This made him the No. 1 sniper on the Sword roster, with 14 goals to go with 12 assists for 26 points in 26 games. Incidentally, he had tallied 11 goals in 12 contests prior to being called up by Buffalo.Rod Zaine, a winger, and husky Tracy Pratt, a defenseman, also looked like money in the bank for the Swords, with the latter at 6-2 and 195 pounds looming as one of the policemen for the Cincinnatians. Zaine, in his first seven Sword encounters, accounted for 10 points on two goals and eight assists.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy with our team,&rdquo; Crozier admitted after that 7-4 conquest of Cleveland. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re young and we&rsquo;re good right now. And we&rsquo;re defintely going to get better. Our scoring has picked up and there&rsquo;s no doubt that the return of Deadmarsh will give us a big boost. Zaine and Pratt have helped, too, and we&rsquo;ve been getting some good goaltending from Rocky Farr in recent games&rdquo;SWORD SLASHES: Defenseman Terry Ball continues to be the No. 1 point-getter on the Swords. After the first 33 games, he had tallied 11 goals and added 24 assists for 35 points, four more than runner-up Paul Andrea&hellip;The Ohio series between Cincinnati and Cleveland shows the Swords with an advantage in their first seven meetings thus far. Cincinnati has won four, lost two and tied one with Cleveland to date&hellip;Deadmarsh, on his return from Buffalo, made no bones about the fact that experience is the big difference between the American and National Leagues. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad to be back with Cincinnati,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;although it certainly was great to be playing in the big league. I hope to get back there soon.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0021-01

Swords’ Gould Winning Rave Notices

<div class="byline">BY JERRY LINDQUIST</div>RICHMOND&mdash;For Eddie Bush, the Richmond Robins&rsquo; coach, the tune remains the same. So are the lyrics. After the Robins dropped a 2-0 decision to Tidewater in Norfolk, Bush said, &ldquo;All we had out there tonight was a goaltender.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02103/2843104-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="257" height="421"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michel Belhumeur</figcaption></div>Bush felt compelled to say that quite a few times lately. After closing to within a game of 500 hockey, the Robins went into a tailspin that saw them manage only one win&mdash;and a total of five points&mdash;in eight games.The low point came against Tidewater, for 24 hours after playing Hershey to a 4-4 standoff in Hershey Christmas night, Richmond went into the new $30 million Scope and reached a season&rsquo;s high for futility. John Voss, the Wings&rsquo; goalie, never had it so good.The Robins managed 24 shots on goal, but the way Voss saw it, only one could be described as a difficult save. With the notable exception of their own man behind the mask, Michel Belhumeur, the Robins were incredibly flat.Both Belhumeur and Bob Taylor, used by Bush on an alternating basis, had been outstanding during the campaign&rsquo;s first half. After 14 games, Belhumeur had a 2.64 average. Taylor&rsquo;s mark for 15 was 2.93. To give you some idea of the club&rsquo;s lack of consistency on offense, neither had a winning record.Losing two of their high scorers, Bill Clement and Dick Sarrazin, to the injury and illness plagued Philadelphia Flyers hardly helped the Robins.Then there was a knee injury to Ralph MacSweyn, the All Star defenseman who hadn&rsquo;t played since November 30 and wasn&rsquo;t expected to return until well after the first of the year.Roger Pelletier missed almost a month-with an elbow injury. The Flyers recalled Bill Brossart and suddenly the defense which had been so solid and deep was more than a little shaky, too.PARTING SHOTS: Crowd of 10,471 for Hershey game December 19 thought to be largest ever for indoor sporting event in Virginia. &#9632;

f0021-02

Netminding High Point For Robins

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01156/2843135-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACQUES CARON&hellip;A New Lease On Life</figcaption></div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH A BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U. S. and CanadaDENVER&mdash;Jacques Caron, the lanky goaltender for the Western Hockey League leading Denver Spurs, had just stood the San Diego Gulls on their collective ears again. A few days later he was on his way up to the National Hockey League and a crack at the St. Louis Blues goaltending Job.Max McNab, the San Diego general manager and coach, shook his head in disbelief.&ldquo;He can&rsquo;t be the same guy&rdquo;, said McNab. &ldquo;I just wouldn&rsquo;t believe he&rsquo;s that good. His WHL average is more than four goals a game.&rdquo;Caron&rsquo;s average in the Spurs&rsquo; nets two years ago was 4.57 and was 3.92 last season. His record is dotted with 4s, mostly 3s and he had a low mark of 2.62 for Springfield in the American League in 1965-66.This season, &ldquo;Jocko&rdquo; is leading the league with a stingy 2.14 average, well under the league record of 2.29, set by Portland&rsquo;s Jim McLeod, one of the men he&rsquo;ll be performing alongside with the St. Louis Blues.The 6-2, 182-pound netminder says the only thing he&rsquo;s changed is his attitude.&ldquo;This year, going to a National Hockey League training camp,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you feel differently. There&rsquo;s that chance to go up.&rdquo;Caron is also looking ahead to NHL expansion next season and the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s initial season, which is one reason St. Louis wants to test him under fire in the NHL.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not that old,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just 31 and a lot of guys are older than that before they get to the NHL.&rdquo;That is quite a change in attitude for someone who twice quit the game in the last five years. And considered it again last summer.&ldquo;I never liked Denver,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I came here from Los Angeles in the NHL and from Springfield which was in the American League. We lost our first 10 games and we had no crowds.&rdquo;His second retirement was during training camp last season. &ldquo;I had been drafted from Los Angeles by Denver and I kind of lost interest, you know, being owned by a minor league club. I went home from training camp, but Rudy Pilous then general manager of the Spurs got on the telephone and changed my mind.&rdquo;His first retirement was to a machinist&rsquo;s job in Toronto but he returned to Springfield when Los Angeles bought the American League team. Again there was that chance at the NHL. He played one game, giving up four goals, that year, 1967-68, and three more the following year when he allowed nine goals. &#9632;

f0022-01

Rejuvenated Caron Wins Crack At NHL Jon

SAN DIEGO&mdash;The San Diego Gulls and the Phoenix Roadrunners set two Western Hockey League penalty records en route to a 2-2 tie in a Dec. 26 game here.Referee Andy Hellemond almost wore out the pea in his whistle as he called a record 45 penalties. The previous record of 35 penalties in one game was set by Spokane and Seattle in Seattle. March 11. 1960.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0296/2843166-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="256" height="393"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian McDonald</figcaption></div>The Gulls took 23 penalties, one more than the Roadrunners, for a single team record. The previoux high was 20. set by Spokane in that same March 11. 1960 game.The final tally was 36 minors, five majors, three match penalties and one misconduct.Brian McDonald and Willie O&rsquo;Ree of San Diego and Ted McCaskill of Phoenix were ejected with match penalties for &ldquo;deliberate attempts to injure.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Ree and McCaskill engaged in an ugly stick-swinging fight. Only minutes before. McDonald had departed for what Hellemond ruled was a kick with his skate blade at the face of Phoenix defenseman Jim Murray.Phoenix trainer Tom Ellis, thinking as did many viewers, that Murray had taken the blow to the face, raced onto the ice.&ldquo;I thought he caught him right under the chin.&rdquo; said Hellemond. &ldquo;It could have been pretty bad.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0022-02

Gulls, Runners’ Ice Battle Draws Record 45 Penalties

Art Jones of the Portland Buckaroos continues to bounce back into first place in the individual scoring race in his battle to outlast Larry Lund of Phoenix. Jones produced a six-point week to regain the lead from Lund by scoring twice and setting up four others. Jones has 48 points to 44 for Lund.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0382/2843197-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="463" height="489"><figcaption class="caption-body">ART JONES</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-03

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0376/2843228-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rookie defenseman JOHN VAN HORLICK of Portland hustles the puck out of the reach of Phoenix star scorer LARRY LUND during WHL action. Lund could end season with 130 points, a new mark, at his present pace for the Roadrunners.</figcaption></div>PHOENIX&mdash;Larry Lund is doing his best to give Jim Wells his wish.When Wells, president of the Phoenix Roadrunners, announced in September that Lund had signed his 1971-72 contract, he added the comment:&ldquo;Judging by the bonus structure he wanted, Larry is aiming to break Art Jones&rsquo; scoring record. And I hope I have to pay that bonus.&rdquo;If Lund continues his present pace, Wells will get his wish with three points to spare.The 31-year-old center, sometimes known as &ldquo;The Magician&rdquo; and often handling the puck like one, scored six points in two games to regain sole possession of the Western Hockey League scoring leadership just before Christmas.He scored 16 goals and 27 assists for 43 points, playing in 22 of the Roadrunners&rsquo; 27 games.His pace of almost two-points-per-game will net him 130 points. Jones, the 35-year-old Portland pivotman, set the record of 127 points in 1969-70.Lund was making a runaway of the scoring race before a liver infecting virus knocked him out of the lineup for five mid-November games. He lost seven pounds, has regained the weight but not the same degree of strength and conditioning.&ldquo;The best condition of my life,&rdquo; was Lund&rsquo;s own description as the season opened. Roadrunner coach Aut Erickson went farther&mdash;&ldquo;the best condition I&rsquo;ve ever seen any athlete.&rdquo;At one point in early season, Lund&rsquo;s line had scored an incredible eight consecutive goals. Lund scored points in 12 successive games.He&rsquo;s only missed scoring at least one point in two games, the season opener and his second game back after his illness. &#9632;

f0023-03

Lund’s Record Scoring Pace Delights Prexy

<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Jan. 5)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01136/2843266-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="577" height="229"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed Dec 29Portland 5 at Phoenix 11Seattle 1 at San Diego 1Thurs. Dec 30Seattle 2 at Salt Lake 3Fri Dec 31Salt Lake 1 at Denver 6Portland 3 at Phoenix 5Son Diego 2 at Seattle 4Sat Jan 1San Diego 2 at Salt Lake 1Denver 4 at Portland 2Sun. Jan 2Phoenix 2 at San Diego 4Denver 3 at Seattle 1<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed Jan 5Seattle of PortlandThur. Jan 6Denver at Salt LakeFri. Jan 7Portland at San DiegoSat Jan 8Portland at Salt LakePhoenix al SeattleDenver at San DiegoSun Jan. 9Phoenix atPortlandWed Jan 12San Diego at Salt LakeDenver at PortlandPhoenix at SeattleThur Jan 13San Diego at PhoenixFri Jan 14Portland at Salt lakeDenver at Seattle<h2>Wed. Dec. 22 DENVER 1 at PORTLAND 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0299/2843259-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="585" height="658"></div> &#9632;

f0023-01

PORTLAND&mdash;Mike Donaldson is a man who has made his living partly by falling down.John Van Horlick is a&rsquo; young man who has earned a reputation with his fists but with Donaldson&rsquo;s help is developing into a solid defenseman. Some night, the voice on the public address system in the Portland Memorial Coliseum will annouce: &ldquo;Saves for Portland by Dave Kelly 26 and bv Mike Donaldson 27.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0463/2843304-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="267" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Donaldson</figcaption></div>Donaldson often seems to throw his 5-8, 165-pounds in front of as many shots as the goaltender.That&rsquo;s not all the 32-year-old defenseman does. Portland manager-coach Gord Fashoway called him &ldquo;our steadiest defenseman this year.&rdquo;That could go for a lot of other years.Fashoway, as do all other coaches in the WHL, keeps plus and minus figures on all his players but won&rsquo;t make them public. It is known, however, that Donaldson has always led the defensemen in that important statistic.He led the league in another statistic, one season, even setting a record. The &ldquo;Toy Tiger&rdquo; drew 226 minutes in penalties in 196364, his second season with the Buckaroos.He no longer charges at everything that moves, although he doesn&rsquo;t back down either.Neither does Van Horlick. the 6-0, 190-pound rookie. He&rsquo;s taken on all comers in establishing himself as one of the Western Hockey League&rsquo;s leading heavyweight contenders.Among the 98 penalty minutes he had accumulated just before Christmas were six major penalties. The Buckaroos record for a season is seven, set by Doug Messier in 1964-65 and matched by Jerry Korab in 1969-70.Fashoway signed Van Horlick because of his rugged reputation but has found an improving defenseman as well.Every time Aut Erickson, coach of the Phoenix Roadrunners, sees Van Horlick, he almost becomes ill thinking how close he came to landing the prized youngster.Erickson had difficulty clearing a spot on the Runners&rsquo; negotiation list but when he finally did and wired Van Horlick&rsquo;s name to Central registry, he was informed that Fashoway got there just the day before.<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2>(Including Games of Sun. Dec. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0548/2843297-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="574" height="376"></div> &#9632;

f0023-04

Steady Mike Donaldson Helps Take Rough Edges Off Rookie

Gerald W. Zisk of 10 Nevada Ave., Rumford, R.I., 02916, U.S.A. is the December winner of the monthly Gruen Precision Watch contest. &#9632;

WINS GRUEN WATCH

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH A BRADSBY. LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Thurs. Jan. 6)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0828/2843387-1-eng-US/f0024-082.jpg" title="f0024-08" width="588" height="232"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Dec. 29Oklahoma City 2 at Dallas 2Tulsa 5 at Fort Worth 1Fri. Dec. 31Dallas 3 at Oklahoma City 1Fort Worth 3 of Omoha 5Sat. Jan. 1Tulsa 1 at Dallas 6Fort Worth 0 at Kansas City 4Omaha 2 at Oklahoma City 4Sun. Jan. 2OklahomaCity 0 atDallas 4Omoha 4 at Fort Worth 2<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Thur. Jan. 6Oklahoma City at Fort WorthFri. Jan. 7Omaha at DallasFort Worth at TulsaOklahoma City at Kansas CitySat. Jan. 8Dallas at TulsaKansas City at Fort WorthOklahoma City at OmohaSun. Jan. 9Dallas at OmahaTulsa at Kansas CityWed Jan. 12Kansas City at Oklahoma City<h2>NEW ENGLAND LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Sun. Dec. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0924/2843380-1-eng-US/f0024-092.jpg" title="f0024-09" width="579" height="182"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1021/2843373-1-eng-US/f0024-102.jpg" title="f0024-10" width="583" height="286"></div><h2>CANADIAN CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1120/2843366-1-eng-US/f0024-112.jpg" title="f0024-11" width="576" height="160"></div><h2>ST. PAUL SUBURBAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Sun. Dec. 26<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1217/2843359-1-eng-US/f0024-122.jpg" title="f0024-12" width="576" height="153"></div> &#9632;

f0024-08

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01147/2843432-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="541" height="587"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRIT SELBY&hellip; Saved The Day</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0299/2843425-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="540" height="618"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRIAN MARCHINKO&hellip;Broke Out Of Slump</figcaption></div>KANSAS CITY&mdash;Injuries and all, the Kansas City Blues refused to quit in late December. When he gets a healthy hockey club once more, general manager-coach Johnny Choyce could give the Central League leaders a run for their money.Choyce took the reins at Kansas City in the middle of last season, and the Blues made a torrid bid for fourth place (the final playoff spot), losing to Oklahoma City by only a point.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0370/2843418-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="255" height="400"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Choyee</figcaption></div>Alter a slow start this season, the Blues took over third place in early December, and widened their margin with a 5-2 Christmas night victory at home against Omaha, their third straight victory over the Knights in KC by that score. That gave KC a four-point bulge over Omaha and Oklahoma City, who were tied for fourth. But the Blues were still 10 points behind second-place Tulsa, and 13 back of league-leading Dallas.Defenseman Larry Hornung was recalled by the parent St. Louis Blues Dec. 14. The next night Kansas City broke a three-year jinx in Oklahoma City by beating the Blazers there, 5-3. But it was a costly victory, as defenseman Jim Graham suffered a shoulder separation.With only three regular defenseman available, Choyce shifted left wing Dale Yutsyk back to the blueline, where the rookie hadn&rsquo;t played since early in his juvenile days.Then right wing Gord Brooks was forced out of the lineup with a knee injury, and goalie Chris Worthy was slowed by the flu on top of a shoulder injury.With rookie John Garrett playing every night in the nets, and a makeshift defense in front of him, the Blues dropped a 5-2 decision in Fort Worth, then were pummeled in Dallas, 8-1, Dec. 18.Playing their fourth game in five nights, the Blues appeared headed for another humiliation in Tulsa, Dec. 19. Oiler goals by Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty, Jean Payette and Rick Kehoe in a span of just 1:44 of the first period had Worthy on the ropes.Mickey Oja got Kansas City on the scoreboard before the first period ended. Ron Climie scored early in the second, but O&rsquo;Flaherty and Payette tallied again, and the Blues were down 5-2 before the second period was half gone.Norm Dennis scored on a KC power play late in the second, and Dick Proceviat cut the deficit to 5-4 with another power goal, as the clock showed 9:06 left.With Tulsa shorthanded on a penalty, Choyce lifted goaltender Worthy with 50 seconds left, and had a two-man advantage in the battle to tie the score. The penalty expired, but a one-man advantage paid off. With 32 seconds left, Brit Selby tapped in a rebound for a 5-5 deadlock.It was the second time this year the Blues have tied a game by lifting a goalie, and the second time Selby has tied it up. He-scored with only 11 seconds left for a 4-4 tie at home against Oklahoma City. Dec. 8.DALLAS: The Black Hawks celebrated an anniversary, Dec. 21, having spent a full month in first place, and they protected that spot Christmas night by winning a 2-1 game in Fort Worth, their first victory in three years at the other end of the turnpike. But a three-point lead over second-place Tulsa could hardly be termed &ldquo;breathing room&rdquo;. The Hawks had won four straight games, three on the road, after losing a pair of back-to-back showdowns with the Oilers.Veteran netminder Ken Brown was termed &ldquo;out of the doghouse&rdquo; by manager-coach Bobby Kromm, as he handed out presents at the Hawks&rsquo; Christmas party. But he still hadn&rsquo;t seen game action since Dec. 15, when he showed a temper after being relieved after one period against Tulsa. Rookie Michel Dumas was handling all the chores in Brown&rsquo;s absence, with Clarkson College product Bruce Bullock available if needed. Brown, however, did return to practice, as veteran center J.P. Leblanc ran the workouts for a few days before Christmas. Kromm took advantage of the holiday lull to visit his home in Trail, B.C.Don Gordon scored early in the first period of the jinx-breaking victory at Fort Worth, and Bart Crashley made it 2-0 early in the second. Herb Boxer counted for the Wings with 50 seconds gone in the third, but Dumas held off further Fort Worth attempts. It was a rough game, ending in a team brawl after Dumas came out of his net to tangle with Fort Worth rookie defenseman Gordon Redden.TULSA: Two Oiler players headed for Toronto just before Chirstmas, but for differing reasons. Versatile Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty, second-year pro who plays both left and right wing, was called up by the parent Toronto Maple Leafs, hard hit by injuries and flu.Goalkeeper Murray McLachlan, another second-year pro who had an oustanding&rsquo; collegiate career at Minnesota, was given a couple of weeks off to rest and regain his confidence.McLachlan, despondent after a couple of poor games, had begged out of a starting assignment Dec. 17, saying he felt he couldn&rsquo;t do a good job for the team. Three days later general manager Ray Miron suggested McLachlan take &ldquo;a couple of weeks off&rsquo;. Rumors spread in Toronto that the young goalie had quit the club, but Miron firmly denied this.As a replacement the Oilers called in Gordon McRae, former Michigan Tech goalie who played at Charlotte in the Eastern League a year ago. After narrowly losing his bid for a pro job in the Maple Leaf camp last fall, McRae had been playing amateur hockey in Toronto, and had just agreed to return to Charlotte. He drove from Toronto to Charlotte, just in time to get word to drive to Tulsa.Rookie Ron Low, 6-1, 211-pound Manitoba farmer who played at Jacksonville in the Eastern League last year, had become the Oilers&rsquo; No. 1 netminder. He played six straight games, five of them in an eight day span.Although unbeaten in six starts, the Oilers had lost ground in their fight to regain first place. Two straight victories over Dallas, Dec. 12-15, had narrowed the difference to a single point, but the Oilers fell three back when they tied two of their next three games, while Dallas won three in a row.Christmas night the Oilers went into Oklahoma City and scored their first victory there in nine trips since Feb. 28, 1970. After giving up two early Blazer goals, the Oilers counted five in a row, and won by a 5-3 margin.Center Jean Payette became the CHL&rsquo;s first 20-goal scorer, and took over the league point making lead, as he also had an assist Christmas night. That gave him 20 of each for 40 points, one ahead of teammate Cal Swenson, who also scored in the holiday victory.Left wing Errol Thompson, who had missed most of the previous nine games with a groin injury suffered Nov. 28, scored one goal and set up another, playing the point on the power play. Right wing Brian Marchinko, goal-less in his first 24 Oiler games, scored twice in the third period-The Oilers were evicted from their home rink for three weeks (until Jan. 7), but had come up with three straight road victories, while in their last two starts at home they yielded late goals and had to settle for ties.OMAHA: The defending league and playoff champion Knights had lost four straight games, including their last two starts at home, and were merely holding their own in the battle for the fourth and final playoff spot, tied with Oklahoma City and a mere point ahead of sixth place Fort Worth.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to stand pat,&rdquo; said general manager Jake Milford. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re got to make changes, if we can&rsquo;t win with this club.&rdquo;Milford and the Omaha fans had been pleased with the hard checking of veteran right wing Barry Meissner, obtained on loan from the Minnesota North Stars. The 25-year-old forward from Unity, Sask., who spent last season at Cleveland, had an assist in his first two games for the Knights, and proved a real steadying influence for the rookies. But Meissner was hurt in the Dec. 18 home loss to Tulsa, suffering torn chest muscles and ligaments, and wasn&rsquo;t expected back until after New Year&rsquo;s.OKLAHOMA CITY&mdash; The Blazers were winless in six straight games, four at home, which was no way to break their fourth-place tie with Omaha.The Blazers&rsquo; light schecule for the two weeks through Christmas was costing center-left wing Greg Sheppard in his bid for the league scoring title. He was limited to one assist in two starts Christmas week. With a total of 36 points he fell to third in the individual scoring race, four be hind Tulsa&rsquo;s Payette and three back of the Oilers&rsquo; Swenson.The Blazers lost two players in a deal the parent Boston Bruins made with the Los Angeles Kings. Defenseman Al Beaule was sent to Springfield in the American League, and right wing Bud DeBrody to Seattle in the Western League.On the bright side, there was some strong, aggressive play by defenseman Pat Westrum, Minneapolis native who formerly played for the U.S. Nationals. He was called up from Des Moines in the International League for a five-game pro trial.FORT WORTH&mdash; The combination of six days off, and then a home loss to the front-running Dallas Black Hawks, kept the Wings from fulfilling their hopes of vacating the CHL basement by Christmas.The setback by Dallas left the Texas turnpike series tied at 3-31, but the Wings have been beaten only four times in their last 11 outings. The previous week they had scored in the last minute for a 5-5 tie at Tulsa, and had given up two late goals for a 2-2 tie in Oklahoma City. Two of the three games the Wings have played in OC this season have been 2-2 draws. &#9632;

f0024-01

Blues Loom As Threat Despite Troubles; Dallas, Tulsa Continue Struggle For Top

The Tulsa Oilers are keeping the Dallas Hawks in their sights in the battle for first place in the CHI and one player who is doing his part is Jean Payette, who came up with another highly productive week. Payette scored three times and assisted on two more for five points. He also became the CHI&rsquo;s first 20-goal scorer of the season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01125/2843515-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="492" height="543"><figcaption class="caption-body">JEAN PAYETTE</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-01

Player of The Week

<div class="byline">BY HARVEY POLLACK</div>SYRACUSE&mdash;If the Syracuse Blazers are going to regain their pre-season form, they could have secured the individual to light the fuse in the person of Blake Ball, the former skipper of the defunct Jacksonville Rockets.This is a strange situation in the Eastern Hockey League&rsquo;s Northern Division since Ball has been the target of as many catcalls here as any visiting player in the circuit. But now as a Blazer the fans are learning to appreciate his value on the ice and are applauding the moves as a hometown performer that they hooted when he was a visitor.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0634/2843546-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="260" height="431"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cliff Pennington</figcaption></div>General manager Bill Charles was the highest bidder in getting Ball when Jacksonville&rsquo;s personnel went on the block after the demise of their franchise.Coach Ron Ingram was enthused over his acquisition claiming, &ldquo;his experience and know how will be extremely valuable to use. He&rsquo;ll be quite an asset.&rdquo;The 6-4. 235-pound defenseman has been around the league with many clubs like New Haven, Johnstown and Long Island to name a few and has earned the reputation of being one of the top policemen in the loop. There&rsquo;s no doubt his presence will help the club in keeping the enemy from getting out of hand.Charles was delighted both by his ability to land Ball and also goalie Ted Ouimet. Goalie Pierre Sigman had been in the Syracuse cage almost non-stop since the outset of the campaign, and Ouimet&rsquo;s acquisition from Jacksonfille was also pleasing to Ingram.&ldquo;We now have two top goalies who can do the job when called on, and the maneuverability I&rsquo;ll have to give both a rest during the gruelling schedule in the last portions of the season could definitely mean a higher spot tor us in the standings.&rdquo;Ouimet had played for the St. Louis Blues and the Kansas City Blues and he replaced goalie Dave Reece on the roster shortly after the latter was obtained from the U.S. Olympic squad.Blazers dropped a 12-6 decision to the Olympic team which took a check for $10, (XX) away for the Olympic fund. Bob Peppier on injured list. Winger Ed Skyhar sold to Johnstown. Goalie Pierre Sigman posted first hockey shutout in five years. Roland Goyette dropped. Doug Ferguson back from Fort Worth. Ray Adduono deemed most effective one-on-one shooter against goalie in league.ROANOKE VALLEY: Doug Carpenter picked up from Jacksonville. Claude Piche bothered by fib and Dale MacLeisdr by ankle injury. Jerry Wright had to return to Canada briefly for some personal business. Owner Gene Hawthorne said southern division meeting to reschedule Jacksonville games also brought forth ideas that will aid league expansion and improvements. Jack Chipchase&rsquo;s hard check sent Charlotte&rsquo;s Blaine Rydman to dressing room. Bobby Gujndon had hat trick against old New Haven mates.LONG ISLAND: Goalie Guy DeNoncourt&rsquo;s stop on a penalty shot saved win at Roanoke Valley. Alain Langlais bruised shoulder in board crash. DeNoncourt had to leave&rsquo;Syracuse game when he was struck in face by shot. Later he had shutout over Clinton. Jean-Marie Nicol is pacing club in scoring and goals. Corky DeGraauw had melee with Jersey&rsquo;s Jamie Kennedy that eventually resulted in 105 penalty minutes. Al Baron favored Jacksonville switch to Houston.JOHNSTOWN: Jets had 10-game unbeaten streak at home to get into thick of northern race. Center Gene Peacosh widened club scoring lead. Forward Ed Skyhar. purchased from Syracuse. went home to Canada first when he wasn&rsquo;t told of the trade. Jets getting into many fights with Wynne Dempster taking on Jersey&rsquo;s Gary Gresdal and Ron Legault and Jim Trewin slugging it out with Clinton&rsquo;s Dennis Desi osiers.CLINTON: Desrosiers tossed out of Long Island game for pushing a linesman. Coach Pat Kelly says his club is defensive-minded and looks for mistakes of opposition. David Lee secured from Jacksonville. Comets slump dropped them from first to fourth in tight race. Comets nearing EHL record for ties as they won one out of 15. Don Herriman&rsquo;s goal got tie at St. Petersburg.NEW HAVEN: Goalie Dave Hainsworth sent to Muskegon leaving job to Jim Armstrong. Doug Hearns and Herb Price picked up from Jacksonville. Denis Romanesky had jaw fractured at Greensboro. Randy Siguerson came up to Blades from juniors. Don Perry invited retired Bobby Brown to try for spot on club. Many vet players still awaiting raises that were delayed by wage freeze. Blades wanted Ball but the Jacksonville skipper chose Syracuse.CHARLOTTE: Checkers like other southern teams will play 73-game log instead of 74 due to loss of Jacksonville. Gary Bromley&rsquo;s third shutout came against Roanoke Valley. Defenseman Don Brennan had ode-game looksee at Cincinnati. Checkers averaging over 5,000 fans at home. Mike Rouleau had hat trick against old New Haven mates, and so did Bob Mowat. Coach Fred Creighton evicted for tossing stick at ref Pat McCormick. Ernie Dyda replaced him as coach. Allie Sutherland on injured list.SUN COAST: Game here postponed because ice surface wasn&rsquo;t safe for play. Suns bought Cliff Pennington from Jacksonville. Team given Xmas party at local yacht club. Suns are spending money to get help as evidenced by purchases of Billy Smith and Pennington. Suns still concerned over attendance. Bob Lacey dropped. Suns had 10-game unbeaten streak at home.JERSEY: Winger Ken Gratton secured from Toledo and Rick Molinaro returned to Syracuse. Jamie Kennedy&rsquo;s four goals helped beat Johnstown. Pete Donnelly continues to play super in nets and had 52 saves at New Haven. Gary Cunnigham back on active list and Phil Witliff released. John Brophy named team captain and Kennedy and Ted Sharf alternates.GREENSBORO: Don Labelle came out of retirement temporarily to fill in for injured Ted Lanyon. Craig Stamp dropped. Ken Turlik secured from Jacksonville. Don Carter is back after long absence from broken rib. &#9632;

f0026-06

Syracuse Bids High For Vet; Kennedy’s Four Routs Jets

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01133/2843577-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="481" height="428"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON CARTER</figcaption></div>GREENSBORO&mdash;Don Carter, long-time forward of the Greensboro Generals, has taken over as coach of the Eastern Hockey League&rsquo; club.Carter, who almost had his playing career cut short by a heart condition several years ago was named to succeed Ron Spong as coach of the Generals, who had been somewhat unproductive of late.Spong, who had been at the helm of the club for the past 11 1/2 years, will be retained by Greensboro as director of player personnel.Carter returned to the club last season as an active performer and has been playing regularly this season. &#9632;

f0026-01

Carter New Greensboro Ite Pilot

<h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tues. Jan. 4)<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0286/2843629-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="571" height="186"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0368/2843622-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="579" height="260"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Dec. 27Greensboro 2 at Sun Coast 4Tues. Dec 28Johnstown 1 at Charlotte 5Roanoke 3 at Sun Coast 4Wed Dec. 29Long Island 2 at Clinton 7Syracuse 2.at New Haven 5Sun Coast 3 at Greensboro 4Johnstown 3 at New Jersey 2Thurs. Dec. 30Syracuse 4 at Long Island 5Fri. Dec. 31Greensboro 1 at Charlotte 4Clinton 1 at Johnstown 9Sat Jan. 1Sun Coast 2 at Clinton 2New Jersey 5 at Long Island 6Roanoke 2 at Greensboro 6Syracuse 6 at Johnstown 3Sun. Jan. 2Charlotte 8 at Greensboro 3Sun Coast 2 at Syracuse 1Johnstown 1 at New Haven 3Long Island 2 at New Jersey 3<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Tues. Jan. 4Roanoke Valley at CharlotteWed Jan 5Johnstown at SyracuseSun Coast at New HavenClinton at New JerseyThur. Jan. 6Charlotte at Roonoke ValleyLong Island at ClintonFri. Jan. 7Greensboro at CharlotteNew Hoven at SyracuseNew Jersey at long IslandSun Coast at Johnstown<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0450/2843615-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="576" height="253"></div><h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0543/2843608-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="571" height="254"></div> &#9632;

f0026-02

JACKSONVILLE&mdash;What happens to the players when a hockey team folds up its operation?In the case of the Jacksonville Rockets, who recently threw in the towel after incuring $30,000 in debts, the club was turned over to the Eastern Hockey League, which put all the players in a pool and sold them to the highest bidders to pay off the Rockets&rsquo; deficit.In all eight of them passed to other EHL clubs. Greensboro took defenseman Ken Turlik. Syracuse grabbed Jacksonville coach and defenseman Blake Ball and goaler Ted Ouimet. Roanoke Valley Rebels took Doug Carpenter. Dave Lee went to Clinton. New Haven won possession of Doug Hearns and Herb Price and Sun Coast Suns bought Cliff Pennington&rsquo;s contract. &#9632;

EHL Clubs Pick Off Rockets

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GUGGER</div>TOLEDO&mdash;For a while, it looked like the Toledo Hornets might go winless in December.The Hornets, stuck in a losing rut that had found them going down 13 times in a row, had lost their first nine games of December. Then, almost unbelievably, they turned the tables on Columbus, Port Huron, and Flint in consecutive road games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0362/2843691-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="249" height="432"><figcaption class="caption-body">Glenn Ramsay</figcaption></div>&ldquo;If someone had told me we&rsquo;d win three in a row on the road and allow just four goals doing it, I wouldn&rsquo;t have believed them,&rdquo; Hornets&rsquo; general manager Paul Bright said. &ldquo;But if someone had told me we&rsquo;d lose 13 games in a row, I wouldn&rsquo;t have believed that, either.&rdquo;The Hornets shook out of the slump with a 4-2 victory over the suffering Golden Seals, took Port Huron, 3-1, on Christmas Night, then handed Flint a 5-1 setback before another sellout crowd at IMA Sports Arena in Flint.What had been Toledo&rsquo;s weak point&mdash;allowing goals&mdash;suddenly became its forte. The drastic reduction in goals given up coincided with Glenn Ramsay&rsquo;s return from a two-month retirement.Ramsay stopped 67 of 69 shots on net in the victories over Port Huron and Flint and had a 3.25 goals-against average in four games since returning. His average is low when compared with Toledo&rsquo;s team yield of around 5.5 goals per match.&ldquo;Ramsay means a lot to this team,&rdquo; Bright said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not only the fact he&rsquo;s been an All Star 10 times, but it means our guys can make a mistake and not get burned every time they do.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a mental thing as well as physical.&rdquo;Tok do had goaltending problems from the season-opener on and had lost home games by scores of 8-6, 8-5, 6-5, and 8-7. The Hornets had released rookies Rick Duffett and Rich Coutu before luring Ramsay away from his job with a railroad company.&ldquo;We scored enough goals in those four home games to win,&rdquo; Bright said. &ldquo;With adequate goaltending, we would have. But those are days gone by, and we&rsquo;re looking to the future now.&rdquo;The Hornets, led offensively by Jim Paterson who had a 14-game scoring streak. Willie Marshall, Hal White, and Greg Jablonski, were averaging around four goals a game. The defense was boosted when player-coach Bill Needham returned from a jaw operation policeman Dino Mascotto was about ready to play following a knee operation.Toledo carried an 11-22-0 record into the last week of 1971, but its chances of catching either Muskegon, Flint, or Port Huron for a playoff berth were considerably boosted by the improved defensive yield. One stumbling block might be Toledo&rsquo;s play at home, though, where the Hornets had lost nine in a row and were 5-12 overall.PORT HURON: Marty Reynolds bothered by old shoulder injury&hellip;Goalie George Hulme, Don Grierson, and coach Ted Garvin tossed out of game in Dayton&hellip;Wings suffered first shutout of season in Muskegon&hellip;Line of Bill LeCaine-Don Grierson-Bob Brinkworth has scored 19 of team&rsquo;s last 27 goals&hellip;Wings drew 2,003 for stick night promotion on Christmas&hellip;Wings winless in last seven road games&hellip;FLINT: Winger Bill Pettinger called up to Portland for four games&hellip;Generals considering trade with Fort Wayne that would send a defenseman to Komets&hellip;Defenseman Bill Horton played nearly eight minutes without relief&hellip;Duane Wylie&rsquo;s 17th goal equalled production for all of last season&hellip;Dave Gorman&rsquo;s goal prevented home-ice shutout at hands of struggling Toledo&hellip;MUSKEGON: Glenn Resch registered second shutout&hellip;Newcomer Dave Hainsworth rocked for four third-period goals in debut at Flint&hellip;Ross Butler secured from Seattle of Western League&hellip;Gary Ford led league in scoring and was closing in on 60-poing mark&hellip;Spare goalie John Anderson was released&hellip;Mohawks had heavy home schedule coming up and four games in two weeks with lowly Columbus&hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0457/2843684-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="538" height="584"><figcaption class="caption-body">RAY MARTYNUIK&hellip;62-Sove Night</figcaption></div>DAYTON: Gordie Malinoski and Gary MacMillan feared lost for season after ankle and knee operations, respectively&hellip;Gems pusher home mark to 17-1 by rallying to beat Des Moines&hellip;Goalie Pat Rupp had 2.85 goals-against-mark, best in league&hellip;, Sid Garant&rsquo;s goal with minute left capped rally from 5-1 deficit in 7-6 win over Columbus&hellip;Gems had 61 shots on goal in 101 pasting of Seals&hellip;FORT WAYNE: Komets wiped out 3-1 deficit with big third period to overcome Columbus, 8-4&hellip;Komets were 6-1 against Seals&hellip;Komets ended power-play drought with two against Seals in 3-2 loss&hellip;Jim Wilcox sat out when Gerry Methe returned after broken ankle&hellip;Goalie Robbie Irons had just two saves in first period against Columbus&hellip;Jim Boys and Larry Billows in battle for team scoring lead&hellip;DES MOINES: Leafs set club record with 11th straight win at home&hellip;Des Moines was unbeaten in last 13 home games&hellip;Bob Perreault returned to goal after two-weeks absence because of eye injury&hellip;Leafs dropped 94 decision to Waterloo of U.S. League&hellip;, Leafs had run where 10 out of 13 games were on road&hellip;Club had rugged practices after loss in Waterloo&hellip;COLUMBUS: Ray Martynuik had 62 saves in 3-2 victory in Fort Wayne&hellip;Dan Helm and Brian Law still sidelined with injuries&hellip;Smallest crowd of season, 786, watched Dayton game here&hellip;Tom Reilly returned to defense after missing nearly month&hellip;Injuries forced Seals down to two forward lines in victory at Fort Wayne&hellip;Ray Brownlee was scoring consistently after acquisition from Dayton&hellip; &#9632;

f0027-03

Ramsay’s Return, Top Offense Gives Toledo Lift

<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Jan. 5)<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01117/2843736-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="572" height="131"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0286/2843729-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="576" height="206"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed Dec. 29Port Huron 4 at Toledo 5Muskegon 5 at Columbus 3Fri. Dec. 31Des Moines 4 at Fort Wayne 1Columbus 6 at Muskegon 8Dayton 3 at Toledo IFlint 2 at Port Huron 5Sat. Jan. 1Toledo 3 at Fort Wayne 9Des Moines 1 at Muskegon 6Columbus 2 at Port Huron 6Flint 3 at Dayton 4Sun. Jan. 2Fort Wayne 2 at Dayton 7Muskegon 4 at Columbus 2Toledo 3 at Flint 7<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Jan 5Toledo at DaytonFort Wayne at FlintFri. Jan. 7Muskegon at Fort WayneDayton at Des MoinesPort Huron at ToledoFlint at ColumbusSat. Jan 8Flint at Fort WayneColumbus at MuskegonDayton at Des MoinesToledo at Port HuronSun. Jan. 9Port Huron at FlintFort Wayne at ColumbusMuskegon at ToledoTues. Jan. 11Des Mones at DaytonWed Jan. 12Columbus at FlintDes Moines at Fort WayneFri. Jan. 14Flint at ColumbusDayton at MuskegonFort Wayne at ToledoDes Moines at Port Huron<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3>(Including games of Sun. Dec. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0544/2843722-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="586" height="663"></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01109/2843767-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame emerged as winners of the ECAC Holiday Festival in New York&rsquo;s Madison Square Garden and the man who contributed largely to the title coup was goaler DICK TOMASONI, who backstopped both Irish wins over BC and St. Lawrence.</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;You&rsquo;re Joe Sports Fan&mdash;all sports, mind you, but since you&rsquo;re a Bostonian there&rsquo;s a special place in your heart for hockey.Did you go to the ECAC Christmas Tournament at the Boston Garden? Probably not. Only 5,530 combined came to see defending NCAA champ Boston University take on Fernie Flaman&rsquo;s Northeastern team and Leon Abbott&rsquo;s up and coming Engineers.Why the anemic response to some fine&mdash;or at least potentially fine hockey? ECAC commissioner-elect Scotty Whitelaw wishes he knew. But he does have some fairly direct reasons at his disposal.For one thing, BU and Northeastern had both just completed exams, and their student populations had scattered for Christmas. RPI is too far away and too little known in the Boston area, at least to the general sport minded public. Ditto UNH.Nowhere is the complex growth of college hockey more perplexing than in these vacation tourney attendance figures. All teams with the possible exception of NU draw extremely well on their own campuses, so the problem seems to lie in attracting the ordinary Joe Fan, the guy with no college ties who just likes the sport of hockey per se. He&rsquo;s especially important during the holidays when the students are away.Some of the attraction has to be entrusted to luck. If the Bruins are on the tube at Montreal that night, he&rsquo;s staying home. Better publicity is needed, and it&rsquo;s coming. But slowly.The NCAA could help itself in a few ways by realizing that its burgeoning sport of hockey is in need of outside interest. One thing that will help is the increasing influx of college players to pro hockey, just as basketball and football have it now; it&rsquo;d be too bad if college hockey became an outright NHL farm, but a little move in this direction can&rsquo;t hurt the game&rsquo;s reputation.Maybe the NCAA should consider lifting its ban on selling beer at games. Let&rsquo;s face it. College hockey is more refined than the pro game, but it&rsquo;s still closer to bear-baiting than it is to Shakespearean drama. While Joe Fan won&rsquo;t see bloodhsed, he&rsquo;s primed for speed and hitting, which just doesn&rsquo;t seem to mix with diet cola.Another possibility would be to follow the lead of schools like Brown, which televises selected home games. The shows are extremely well done on a Providence station that gets good reception as far away as the Boston area. More good exposure.If Joe Fan doesn&rsquo;t come to the college games, there&rsquo;ll be not one loser but two. The teams, at the gate, and himself, who thinks that NHL action on TV is still the only authentic representation of the game of hockey in this ridiculously expanded age. &#9632;

f0028-01

Empty Seats Cast Gloom On Holiday Tournaments

<div class="byline">By Tom Burke</div><h2>Goalers Spotlighted In Holiday Tourneys</h2>&lsquo;Twas the week before Christmas and all through the East, not a regular-season game was played. The only action of any consequence for ECAC Division One came in a couple of pre-Christmas tournaments. Notre Dame became the first WCHA team to win the ECAC Holiday Festival in Madison Square Garden, defeating Boston College 7-4 and St. Lawrence 4-2 to take the crown.In &ldquo;standings&rdquo; games in the Big City, the Larries upped their record to 3-1-1 with a 4-3 screamer over Brown in the tourney opener. BC broke a four-game losing streak with a 6-3 dumping of the Bruins in the consolation match, raising their slate to 4-2 in the loop. Brown fell deeper into the pit, leaving the tourney with a 1-6 mark.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0333/2843805-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="261" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dick Gagliardi</figcaption></div>Boston University took the Boston Garden Christmas Tourney with wins of 4-1 over Northeastern and 4-0 over RPI. The Terriers moved into second place in the East with a 5-0-1 record. RPI maintained their. 500 position with a win over UNH, 5-3 in the first round.In the Cleveland Cup Tournament, Yale made it to the finals with a 2-1 job over Ohio State. They led Bowling Green 3-2 in the third period before defensive lapses cost them the game, which ended up 3.Harvard played International Rules for the first time and lost their first tilt of the season, 5-2 to the U.S. Olympics at Watson Rink. Craig Sarner had a pair of goals for the Nationals and Tim Sheehy added four assists.Yale kept its season mark at 500 (4-4) with the split in Cleveland, though their divisional mark stayed at 1-3. Dick Gagliardi is pleased with his young club which skates 13 sophomores regularly. Soph rearguard D&rsquo;Arcy Ryan was named the outstanding defenseman on the all-tourney team and another rookie, Dan Hurtubise, recovering from a shoulder injury, was the first team left wing.&ldquo;This is the first time in a long while that we&rsquo;ve had such good talent here,&rdquo; commented Gagliardi. &ldquo;I think our situation is comparable to St. Lawrence&rsquo;s; we have a lot of young players and are improving. In fact, in three of our losses we&rsquo;ve been ahead before the other team got to us.&rdquo;Ryan scored the first goal on a 40-foot backhander against Ohio State, then hit Hurtubise with a perfect up-the-middle floater pass on a short handed situation which resulted in the game winner.Goalies were the dominating figures in the New York and Boston tourneys. St. Lawrence&rsquo;s Al Howes was named MVP in a losing effort at MSG. His Larrie mates were outshot both by Brown and Notre Dame, but he kept them in the games all the way. When ND scored an empty net goal to make its winning margin 4-2 in the final, it marked the first time this season a Larrie win or loss was by more than a goal. And that was only on paper.The SLU opener against Brown was the best game. Trailing 2-1 with five minutes left, SLU tied it up on a power play goal by Eric Sanford. Bruin Doug Smith poked a puck in off a scramble just 12 seconds afterword, but Alan MacCormack responded with a 40-foot slapper just six ticks later to make it 3-3. Junior Glenn Johnson got the winner at 18:07.Howes made 44 saves against ND to Dick Tomasoni&rsquo;s 36 the next night, but it wasn&rsquo;t quite enough. Neil Higgins and Tom Murray combined for 29 stops to just 13 for Brown&rsquo;s Mark Donahue in the consolation tilt. Ed Kenty and Scott Godfrey, linemates after a major shuffle which followed a 14-3 lashing of BC by Notre Dame out in Chicago, each had a pair of goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0423/2843798-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="261" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott Godfrey</figcaption></div>BU&rsquo;s Dan Brady won the MVP award in the Boston tourney since he allowed but one goal in two nights. But Northeastern senior Dan Eberly, who&rsquo;s seen enough rubber in three years to qualify for a pension from Goodyear after he graduates, put on the most spectacular show. He stopped 43 shots, one shy of the tourney record, in the loss to BU, then followed up with 44 save job, all in vain, against UNH the next night. RPI soph netminder Don Cutts also impressed onlookers.Attendance at the Boston event was a terribly disappointing two night total of 5,530. In New York, crowds were quite a bit better, averaging between 7,0(M) and 8.000 per night. But some people are beginning to wonder if it&rsquo;s profitable to keep these tourneys going year after year if they can&rsquo;t at least approach filling the house to pay the bills. &#9632;

f0028-03

DOWN EAST

TORONTO&mdash;Veteran goaltender Chuck Goddard of the undefeated St. Mary&rsquo;s University Huskies of Halifax turned in the most outstanding individual performance as 24 Canadian college hockey squads competed in six Hockey Canada-sponsored tournaments over the Christmas holidays.Goddard, who starred for five seasons in the OH A Junior A League with the Peterborough Petes then played several seasons of semi-pro hockey before turning up at St. Mary&rsquo;s, led his team to victory in the Kingston, Ont., tournament with consecutive shutouts wins over Guelph University and host Queen&rsquo;s Golden Gaels.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0256/2843836-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="263" height="413"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chuck Goddard</figcaption></div>The pair of outstanding games by Goddard almost cinches his selection to the starting net spot on Canada&rsquo;s Collegiate National team that will compete in the World Student Games at Lake Placid, N.Y., in late February.Final selection of the national team will be made later this month by the nats&rsquo; coach, Clare Drake of the University of Alberta.Five other regional winners were declared in Moncton, Trois-Rivieres, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Vancouver.Loyola College Warriors took the Maritime section crushing hometown Moncton Blue Eagles, 6-1; host Trois-Rivieres Patriots defeated Dalhousie of Halifax, 8-3, for Quebec section honors: Laurentian romped 10-1 over University of Montreal at Sudbury for the Northern Ontario title; McMaster University of Hamiltor edged Manitoba 4-3 at Thunder Bay and British Columbia downed Alberta 5-2 to reign as Western Canada titlists.Another outstanding individual performance was turned in by Dave Brandt, a rookie winger with the Loyola Warriors. Brandt who played Junior B hockey in Montreal last year, totaled five goals in the two Loyola victories and was selected as the to; player in the Moncton tourney.The defending national champions, the University of Toronto Blues, were defeated in the opening round of the Vancouver section but bounced back to down Sir George Williams University of Montreal. 7-2. to win the consolation final. &#9632;

f0028-02

Goddard’s Net Play Sparks St. Mary’s

CLEVELAND&mdash;Bowling Green State University put back to back wins over Ivy League schools together to capture the Holiday Hockey Festival at the Cleveland Arena this year.The Falcons downed Yale, 53, in the championship contest to gain possesssion of the Cleveland Cup, awarded to the winner of the tourney. Ohio State made it two victories for the Buckeye State with a 3-2 overtime win against Princeton in the consolation contest.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0257/2843874-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="265" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jerry Bradbury</figcaption></div>In opening night action, Yale and Ohio State confined all their scoring to the final 20 minutes with Yale&rsquo;s Dan Hurtubise lighting the red light at 11:40 to give the Eli&rsquo;s a 2-1 victory. The second contest, between Bowling Green and Princeton was the highest scoring of the tourney with the Falcons advancing to the finals with a 6-4 win over the Tigers. Gerry Bradbury paced the BG win with the only hat trick of the tourney tallying single goals in each period including the game winner at 10:12 to put Bowling Green on top 5-3.Ohio State captain Peter Bart kiewiez scored an unassisted goal at 0:35 of the overtime to give the Buckeye&rsquo;s their 3-2 consolation victory. Dick Hocking had kept the Tigers in the contest with goals in each of the first two periods while Ohio State matched that with goals by Eldon Simpson and Daryl Gorzki.The championship contest was a see-saw affair with BG taking an early lead with two first period goals only to see Yale bounce back into the lead with three in the second period. Not to be outdone, the Falcons scored three unanswered goals in the final 20 minutes to emerge with the 5-3 win. The winning goal came off the stick of BG&rsquo;s Steve Sertich at the 13:50 mark and defenceman Chuck Gyles added at the final tally into an open net with only 10 seconds remaining to insure the win.The most successful of the three tournies held at the Cleveland Arena saw almost 6,800 fans in attendance at the two-day festival. The All-Holiday Hockey Festival squad, as voted by the working press at the tourney, saw Bradbury of Bowling Green. Walt Snickenberger of Princeton and Hurtubise named at forwards with d&rsquo;Arcy Ryan of Yale and BG&rsquo;s Gyles tabbed for the backline spots and Bill McKenzie of Ohio State was named the top netminder after allowing only two goals in each contest.Cleveland Barons&rsquo; president Nick Mileti was on hand to present the Cleveland Cup to Bowling Green coach Jack Vivian as well as individual momentos to the winning team.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0332/2843867-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="1774" height="1177"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jubilant members of the Bowling Green University hockey team gather around coach JACK VIVIAN after he accepted Cleveland Cup from Barons&rsquo; owner-president NICK MILETI, right, following the Falcons victory in the Cleveland Holiday Festival tournament held in the Cleveland Arena.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0029-02

Bowling Green Beats Yale For Cup Sweep

<h2>ECAC CONFERENCE DIVISION I</h2>(Standings on Sat. Doc. 25)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0182/2843905-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="587" height="468"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>ECAC HOLIDAY FESTIVALNotre Dame 7, Boston College 4St. Lawrence 4, Brown 3Boston College 6, Brown 3Notre Dame 4, St. Lawrence 2ECAC CHRISTMASBoston University 4, Northeastern 1RPI 5, New Hampshire 3New Hampshire 6, Northeastern 2Boston University 4, RPI 0NON-CONFERENCE GAMESU.S. Olympics 5, Harvard 2Royal Military College 3, Army 2U.S. Olympic 11, RPI 5CLEVELAND CUP TOURNAMENTYale 2, Ohio State 1Bowling Green 6, Princeton 4Ohio State 3, Princeton 2Bowling Green 5, Yale 3 &#9632;

f0029-01

COLLEGE RACES

<h2>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tues. Dec. 28)<h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01103/2844020-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="576" height="185"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0258/2844013-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="576" height="186"></div><h2>QUEBEC JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 3)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0334/2844006-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="579" height="284"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3>(Including games of Sun. Dec. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0424/2843999-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="575" height="237"></div><h2>NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Thurs. Dec. 30)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0524/2843992-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="572" height="136"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0618/2843985-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="576" height="435"></div><h2>SOUTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Wed. Dec. 29)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0714/2843978-1-eng-US/f0030-072.jpg" title="f0030-07" width="574" height="234"></div><h2>CENTRAL JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Dec. 29)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0811/2843971-1-eng-US/f0030-082.jpg" title="f0030-08" width="571" height="157"></div><h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 31)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-099/2843964-1-eng-US/f0030-092.jpg" title="f0030-09" width="573" height="158"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-108/2843957-1-eng-US/f0030-102.jpg" title="f0030-10" width="577" height="365"></div><h2>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Dec. 29)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-116/2843950-1-eng-US/f0030-112.jpg" title="f0030-11" width="573" height="235"></div><h2>MID-WEST AMATEUR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 24)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-126/2843943-1-eng-US/f0030-122.jpg" title="f0030-12" width="571" height="183"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-135/2843936-1-eng-US/f0030-132.jpg" title="f0030-13" width="572" height="289"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

VANCOUVER&mdash;Former National Hockey League goaltender Charlie Hodge is going to take a crack at coaching.Hodge has been named to replace Alt Cadman as coach with the Vancouver Nats of the Western Canada Hockey League for the balance of the 1971-72 campaign.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-154/2844082-1-eng-US/f0030-152.jpg" title="f0030-15" width="264" height="347"><figcaption class="caption-body">Charlie Hodge</figcaption></div>Hodge began the current season as an active player with the Vancouver Canucks, but was shunted out of the goaling picture by Dune Wilson and George Gardner. The Canucks tried to trade him without success. He later became a scout with the NHL Vancouver club until his appointment as Nats&rsquo; coach.Cadman, who served as both coach and general manager, was fired by the club. Gil Lundihn, an executive with the Nats, will take over his GM duties. &#9632;

f0030-15

Vancouver Names Charlie Hodge Coach

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div>MONTREAL&mdash;Since Montreal Canadiens obtained a franchise in the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A League in the 1960-61 season they have always qualified for the playoffs and with one exception&mdash;1963-64 when they finished fifth&mdash;have placed in the first division.They have also been blessed with more than their share of superjuniors such a Jacques Laperri&egrave;re, Yvan Cournoyer, R&eacute;jean Houle, Marc-Tardif, Gilbert Perreault and Rick Martin, now all with NHL clubs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0187/2844120-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="278" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Gardner</figcaption></div>It was a different story the first half of the 1971-72 schedule.The Canadiens were stripped of almost all their talent from last season and when coach Roger Bedard looked down the bench he could see no Laperrieres, Cournoyers, Houles, Tardifs, Perreaults or Martins.After winning only two of their first 21 games and adding five ties the Canadiens found themselves in the unaccustomed position of bringing up the rear in the 10-team league.Since mid-December, however, the Junior Habs have looked more like their predecessors.They won three of four games (7-3 over Ottawa. 6-4 and 6-1 over Hamilton) and finally vacated the cellar, leaving it to the Red Wings who have failed to crack a season-long slump.Eight of the 10 teams qualify for the playoffs and the-Canadiens, with games in hand over all other clubs, have an excellent chance of earning a post-season berth if they can maintain their present pace.Bogdan Podwysoki, one of the few regulars still with the team from last season, has been leading the Canadiens&rsquo; surge, scoring four goals in their three most recent wins and the slim forward could be the salvation of the Montreal club in the last half of the schedule.OSHAWA: The Generals under coach Gus Bodnar just keep rolling along&hellip;In their only two games they defeated Kitchener 42 and London 8-1 to retain first place over Toronto Marlboros&hellip;Bill Lochead scored two in the win over London but the Generals are well-balanced and have three lines which produce regularly&hellip;Many felt the relatively inexperienced Generals would fold, or at least slow down their-clip, but so far their are no indications that this is about to occur.TORONTO: The Marlboros and Generals are developing a two-team race for the pennant&hellip;Plenty of offensive power but their defense is still suspect&hellip;This problem was compounded when Marty Howe suffered a fractured cheekbone while playing an exhibition game with his former Detroit team-mates against United States National Team&hellip;Dave Gardner, son of ex-NHL, star Cal Gardner, and Steve Shutt still scoring regularly with three and two respectively against Kitchener.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0263/2844113-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="558" height="589"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOGDAN PODWYSOKI&hellip;Turns It On For Habs</figcaption></div>OTTAWA: Making a strong challenge for first place until just before Christmas the 67s ran into a three-game losing streak, dropping a 3-1 decision to St. Catharines on home ice. 3-1 in London and 5-4 in St. Catharines&hellip;The slump has coach Bill Long mystified after his team had a splendid start but the talent is still there with players such as goaltender Bunny Larocque, defenceman Denis Potvin and forward Bryan McSheffrey to make the 67s dangerous if they it their stride late in the season.NIAGARA FALLS: The Flyers lost a chance to move ahead of Ottawa into third place when beaten 7-3 in Peterborough but their record is far better than the last two seasons when they finished last&hellip;Don Lever still a big factor in the Niagara Falls attack along with small but rugged Wayne Chrysler and defenseman Jim Schoenfeld&hellip;Attendance up at home games but still not nearly as high as the previous big seasons the Flyers enjoyed in the Falls.KITCHENER: The Rangers, like the 67s, have had problems lately after looking like pennant-contenders in the first 20. games&hellip;Coach Ron Murphy&rsquo;s club suffered back-to-back losses, 4-2 to Oshawa and 6-3 to Toronto but are still in the thick of the battle for third place with Ottawa. Niagara Falls. Kitchener and Peterborough&hellip;Al Blanchard still playing steady hockey as well as Tom Cassidy and Jerry Byers.PETERBOROUGH: Roger Neilson&rsquo;s Petes remained solidly among the top six with 7-3 win over Niagara Falls&hellip;Paul Raymer showing great improvement with three goals against the Fivers while rookie defenseman Paul Lyon has plugged a big gap on the blueline and added offensive power with a goal and three assists in same game&hellip;The goal was Lyon&rsquo;s first in Junior A&hellip;The Petes have usually started quickly, then faded&hellip;Neilson hopes the reverse will be true this year.LONDON: With only one win in their last five games the Knights slipped farther behind the &ldquo;Big Six&rdquo; and were in danger of being bypassed by the improving St. Catharines Black Hawks&hellip;They only win in two weeks was 3-1 decision over Ottawa but they were crushed 8-1 by Oshawa as their No. 1 line of Dennis Ververgaert. Reg Thomas and Randy Osburn hit first slump of season&hellip;Unless they start moving the Knights could possibly be caught by Montreal as well as St. Catharines.ST. CATHARINES: After their slowest start in years the Hawks have suddenly come to life, losing three of their last dozen games&hellip;This bore out prediction of coach Frank Milne that team would not reach full potential until midway in the schedule&hellip;The Hawks won three straight, all by close scores, 3-1 and 5-4 over Ottawa, 3-2 over Oshawa and have had outstanding service from defenseman Tim Jacobs, forwards Jeff-Jacques, Bob MacMillan and recent Junior B graduate Joe DeVirgilio, a native of Brooklyn&hellip;DeVirgilio&rsquo;s goal in last two minutes broke 44 tie with Ottawa at Garden City Arena before largest crowd of season, 2,840.HAMILTON: Rookie coach Harry Neale still suffering from lack of enough qualified Junior A players&hellip;After upsetting Toronto 6-5 the Red Wings went on four-game losing streak falling 10 points out of last playoff position and into basement below Montreal&hellip;Mike Veisor playing well in nets despite pour team record&hellip;Offensively Eddie Gilbert and Terry Ryan holding their end up but not too much help from rest of team. &#9632;

f0031-01

Podwysoki Leads Way As Habs Fight Back

<h2>ONTARIO MAJOR JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Tues. Jan. 4)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0348/2844158-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="581" height="280"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Mon Dec. 27Ottawa 0 of Kitchener 5Tues. Dec. 28Niagara Falls 3 at Oshowa 8Kitchener 8 at Hamilton 1London 4 at Montreal 7Thurs. Dec. 30Montreal 1 of Peterborough 6Sat. Jan. 1Toronto 2 at Oshawa 7Sun Jon 2Niagara Falls 5 at Kitchener 8Oshawa 2 at London 7Peterborough 3 at Toronto 4Hamilton 5 ot St Cofharmes 3Ottawa 5 ot Montreal 4<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2>(Incudinq qames of Sun. Dec. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0435/2844151-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="578" height="306"></div> &#9632;

f0031-03

<div class="byline">BY JOHN ARNOLD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0528/2844189-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="827" height="1109"></div><h2>SOLUTION IN JANUARY 21 ISSUE</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1&mdash;Pictured player.8&mdash;First name of an NHL linesman.9&mdash;Number of times Bobbv Hull has won the Lady Byng trophy.11&mdash;Initials of one of the Bruins.12&mdash;An NHL general manager.13&mdash;Pictured player shoots this way. (abbr.)14&mdash;Initials of one of the Canadiens.15&mdash;Nickname of 7 down.17&mdash;One of the Penguins answers to this.19&mdash;First name of an NHL referee.20&mdash;Initials of Buffalo farmhand Lacombe.21&mdash;Former Ranger Irwin.22&mdash;Number of shutouts registered by Dave Dryden last season.24&mdash;Initials of a former Chicago defenseman.25&mdash;1962-63 Lady Byng Trophy winner.27&mdash;One of the Penguins answers to this.29&mdash;Denotes scoreless tie.30&mdash;First name of one of the Hawks.32&mdash;Former Toronto captain, (init.)34&mdash;Stanley Cup winning coach last season.<h3>DOWN</h3>1&mdash;Registered 11 goals for Buffalo 1st season.2&mdash;An NHL veteran.3&mdash;Initials of an NHL coach.4&mdash;15th and 12th letters of the alphabet.5&mdash;Nickname of a former Montreal coach.6&mdash;Ex-Seals&rsquo; center7&mdash;Former New York and St. Louis forward.10&mdash;Initials of former Leaf Apps.12&mdash;One of the Flyers.16&mdash;Former minor leaguer Thiffault.18&mdash;High scoring Minnesota forward.23&mdash;Twin vowels.26&mdash;Initials of Armstrong of Baltimore.28&mdash;Gilles Meloche is one.29&mdash;1966-67 top rookie.31&mdash;No. (fr.)32&mdash;Sam Pollock is one. (abbr.)33&mdash;Initials of a former St. Louis coach.<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1&mdash;NORRIS.5&mdash;G.F.7&mdash;VET9&mdash;SASKATOON10&mdash;N.H.L.11&mdash;E.H.13&mdash;ROD.14&mdash;DAY.15&mdash;ED.16&mdash;N.G.17&mdash;G.E.18&mdash;KEON.21&mdash;DE22&mdash;GILBERT27&mdash;CESARE.28&mdash;VASKO.29&mdash;N.Y.<h3>DOWN</h3>1&mdash;NESTERENKO2&mdash;ROSS.3&mdash;IVAN.4&mdash;SETH.6&mdash;FONTEYNE.8&mdash;TOLEDO.12&mdash;HODGE.17&mdash;GERRY.19&mdash;O.G.20&mdash;NICK.21&mdash;DEAN.23&mdash;LEO24&mdash;B.S.25&mdash;T.E.26&mdash;S.A. &#9632;

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HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Bill McCreary&rsquo;s chance to coach the St. Louis Blues lasted 24 games.His record was 6-14-4, and the team&rsquo;s management decided that the record was not good enough. Al Arbour replaced McCreary on Christmas Day.St. Louis fans were surprised. In McCreary they saw a hockey man of sound thinking-who vowed repeatedly that he was a disciple of the gospel according to Scotty Bowman&mdash;spirited, tight-checking defensive hockey that put the Blues in the Stanley Cup finals for three straight years.The fans were willing to put their confidence in McCreary, a man who had inspired confidence as a steady performer for four solid years as a Blues&rsquo; player. However, the fans should not have been surprised that management was less patient.Sidney Salomon Jr., the team&rsquo;s president, and Sid Salomon III, executive vice-president, are highly competitive men. Both father and son have made their successful ways in the insurance business. They are accustomed to success and they are accustomed to working hard to get it. They are pragmatic men not in the habit of acting rashly. They loathe mistakes, and their own number of mistakes is far below the average for a human being.In their hockey operation the, Salomons are the antithesis of the unconcerned owner who worries only about profit or loss. Rather they are concerned about every detail of the entire operation, which has been profitable from the first year. They want their arena to be the cleanest, their fans the happiest, their players the most rewarded, their organization the most modern and efficient and their team the most successful. If they are criticized, they feel the hurt and react by increasing their forts.Losing hurts. And depite whatever may be said for or against McCreary during his tenure as St. Louis coach, there is the fact that it was a time of losing. The few wins came with a spark generated by the trade that brought Jack Egers, Mike Murphy and Andre Dupont to St. Louis for Gene Carr, Wayne Connelly and Jim Lorentz. But the Blues&rsquo; winless string had reached eight when McCreary was told he was no longer coach.Arbour takes the job under conditions that are more favorable to him than the last time he was the Blues&rsquo; coach. At the beginning of last season he followed the successful Bowman as coach after the Chicago Black Hawks had carpetbagged their way into the Western Division. Arbour was coach for 50 games and had a 21-15-14 record, the best percentage of any St. Louis coach, including Bowman. But the Blues fell farther behind the Black Hawks, and St. Louis captain Red Berenson was traded to Detroit. Arbour returned to the ice as a player and captain with Bowman returning as coach, and at the end of the season Arbour was made assistant general manager.Now Arbour has succeeded McCreary and can only hope that the team will have a winning record. Arbour was the coach of the Blues at the beginning and at the end of 1971. But during the year Bowman, Sid Abel and McCreary also had the job for periods of varying lengths.Abel, now general manager, said on the day Arbour was reinstated, &ldquo;We hope he will be our coach for a long time.&rdquo;Undoubtedly that hope is held by many in the Blues&rsquo; organization; and it is a sincere hope sincerely expressed. But the hope would be dashed if the Blues miss the playoffs for the first time.Arbour could be at the beginning of the longest term of any Blues&rsquo; coach. &#9632;

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January 14, 1972

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