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.

March 16, 1973

The Hockey News March 16, 1973

<div class="byline">BY GIL SMITH</div>MONTREAL-It took him nine games to get his first goal this season, and no sooner had he scored it than a puck caromed off his thumb, breaking it, and shelving him for eight contests.But Guy Lafleur, going resolutely through his sophomore season, seems to have overcome his problems and may be hitting his peak form at a time when it counts the most.&ldquo;The puck has been going in the net for me, lately,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And, I think a lot of the reason for it is because back on the line with Rejean Houle and Marc Tardif. We go well together.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s a sad but true fact that only when a forward starts to score goals consistently does he get a play in the press, but Lafleur had been playing some excellent hockey without actually scoring through much of this season.&ldquo;I started off on a line with Houle and Tardif at the beginning of the season,&rdquo; Guys says, &ldquo;and, we did pretty good. For awhile. Then, I got hurt and the line got broken up. I didn&rsquo;t score much for a while, but lately it&rsquo;s been better.&rdquo;The key game for Lafleur was a February contest against Chicago. He scored the winning goal on as brilliant a piece of work as has been seen in the NHL in years. He virtually stick-handled the puck past a sprawling Tony Esposito after having shown the goalie some spectacular sleight-of-hand; coming up with a series of feints and moves that would&rsquo;ve fooled any netminder in the business. He&rsquo;s soit of kept on going from there.Says Scotty Bowman: &ldquo;For me. Lafleur has been one of the two most improved players on the Canadiens, this season. The other is Jimmy Roberts.&ldquo;People are talking about Lafleur again because he&rsquo;s been scoring,&rdquo; Bowman continues, &ldquo;but, the fact is, he&rsquo;s been doing a lot of thingswell. He&rsquo;s carrying the puck more than he did last year, moving it a lot better, and laying down some good passes. He&rsquo;s more mature both as an individual and a player.&rdquo;Lafleur came into the NHL last season on a tidal wave of publicity that eventually backfired on him. Jumping directly into the NHL from the Quebec Junior Hockey League, where he&rsquo;d scored 307 goals in his last two years, including playoffs, he was hailed as a &ldquo;can&rsquo;t miss&rdquo; type.Guy&rsquo;s 29 goals last season, were way overshadowed by Rick Martin&rsquo;s 44, his 64 points obscured by Marcel Dionne&rsquo;s 77; both those marks being NHL records for rookies. That, and the weight of his own publicity, served to sabotage Laf&rsquo;eur&rsquo;s own good first-year effort.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s all behind me now,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;m just concentrating on the present season and the playoffs ahead. I want to do well, and I hope the team will do well. I hope, also, that I&rsquo;ll stay on the line with Rejean and Marc. It helps if you know what your linemates are going to do. The three of us know each other&rsquo;s moves.&rdquo;In a stretch of games in February the Houle-Tardif-Lafleur combine had been the hardest working unit on the ice. &ldquo;The Bulldog Line,&rdquo; they were being called, for their non-stop digging.Most of the goals, at least most of the key ones, seemed to be coming from the stick of Lafleur.&ldquo;He owns one of the best wrist shots in the league, said Bowman. &ldquo;Right on the net. And, gets it away very fast.&rdquo;Says Lafleur: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve practiced it enough, believe me. Getting the puck away in a hurry and getting the shot on the target is something that a player has to work at. Practice makes perfect. It&rsquo;s a simple as that.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01404/3404713-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="556" height="700"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY LAFLEUR&hellip; Hitting His Peak</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Lafleur Sparks ‘Kid Line’

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01148/3405610-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="625" height="3188"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02109/3405603-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="1887" height="1588"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0378/3405596-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="620" height="1592"></div> &#9632;

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Western-Central Hockey League Summaries

SAN DIEGO &mdash;Jack Evans is not happy with his San DiegoGulls.He has reason.The Gulls have won just one point in the last seven games, have dronned to fourth place in the Western Hockey league standings. 10 points behind second place Phoenix and 14 behind first place Salt Lake.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03100/3405355-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="298" height="474"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jack Evans</figcaption></div>Just two weeks ago the Gulls were challenging for first and second.&ldquo;The whole club has gone sour,&rdquo; said Evans.The Gulls&rsquo; seven-game home-ice victory string was snapped at seven by the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. 6-4. then the Phoenix Roadrunners followed the next night with a 5-0 shutout.Rubbing salt in an already sore wound was Gary Simmons in the Phoenix nets for his first shutout in pro hockey. Simmons languished on the Gulls&rsquo; bench and got into 14 games during the 1970-71 season. After being released by the Gulls early last season, he was picked up as a free agent and joined the Roadrunners this season.The shutout was the first suffered by the Gulls on home ice since the Gulls&rsquo; Ken Broderick and Bob Johnson of the Denver Spurs hooked up in a double shutout Feb. 6 of last season. The Gulls have been whitewashed lour times on the road this season.&ldquo;We know we have to play the body against this team.&rdquo; Evans said after the loss to Salt Lake City. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;ve got some guys who just won&rsquo;t doit.&rdquo;Ken Broderick, still 0-3 against Salt Lake, is still the WHLs leading goaltender, but his average swelled from 2.77 to 3.28 and he is danger of being caught by Salt Lake rookie Ted Tucker. &#9632;

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Irritating To Evans Gulls’ Nose Dive

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>OMAHA&mdash;In spite of injuries, and a very thin blueline corps, Omaha Knights rolled to three straight victories over Texas foes the last week in February.Sharp goaltending and close checking paid off for Fred Creighton&rsquo;s skaters. Ray Reeson posted his first shutout of the season, a 4-0 home triumph over the league-leading Dallas Black Hawks, Feb. l8.Wayne Bell was in the nets for a narrow 3-2 decision in Fort Worth Feb 23. The next night at home the Knights were in charge from the opening minute, as they again tamed back the Wings, 6-4. with Reeson tending goal.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01167/3405534-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="271" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Coalter</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing better, even though we&rsquo;re playing hurt,&rdquo; Creighton said after the back-to-back victories over Fort Worth, The second-place Knights had pulled seven points ahead of the third-place Wings, and had a 10- point bulge on last place Tulsa. But front-running Dallas remained IO points in front of Omaha. The Hawks and Knights each had l8 games left in the schedule, the Oilers and Wings l7 each.Defenseman Ed Kea hurt his back in practice, and right wing Don Martineau pulled a side muscle in the Feb. 24 victory at home. Kea&rsquo;s injury left the Knights with only three defensemen. Forward Wendell Bennett dropped back to share the load. At the week&rsquo;s end the Knights brought up blueliner John Huber from the Des Moines Caps of the International League.&ldquo;We did a better job of checking the Wings&rsquo; big line in Fort Worth than we did at home,&rdquo; Creighton pointed out. The &ldquo;punch line&rdquo; of Bernie Gagnon. Mike Cormier and Boh Collyard didn&rsquo;t get a goal against the Knights in Fort Worth, but Gagnon and Cormier scored one apiece in Omaha.Ree-on&rsquo;s whitewash victory didn&rsquo;t come easily. Hawks outshot the Knights, 20-&Iacute;4. in the first two periods, and the only scoring in that 40 minutes was a goal by Martineau late in the first. But the issue was settled when Wayne Schaab and Brian McKenzie scoied 55 seconds apart, midway in the third. Schaab got another tally with seven seconds left in the game.McKenzie scored on a power play with 2:02 left in the game at Fort Worth to give the Knights their 3-2 victory. Scott Smith and Martineau had given Omaha a brief 2-l lead in the middle period, but it didn&rsquo;t stand up. Danny Gruen scored both Fort Worth goals.Gary Coalter got two goals in the Knights&rsquo; Feb. 24 triumph at home. His first came when the game was only 59 seconds old, and Omaha never gave up that lead. Ot her tallies came from Dwight Bialowas, Schaab. Lynn Powis and Alan Young. Schaab&rsquo;s goal was his 25t h, Powis his 23rd.FORT WORTH:In the disappointment of three straight losses (two before the home folks), Fort Worth fans could find encouragement only in the fact that big left wing Danny Gruen had broken his goal-scoring drought. Gruen got three tallies in the weekend losses to Omaha, running his total to 26.Coach Bob Lemieux ordered twice-daily workouts after what he called a &ldquo;lackluster performance&rdquo; ina4-l loss at home to Tulsa, Feb. l8. It came two nights after the Wings had overwhelmed the Oilers in Tulsa, 6-3. Successive losses against Omaha the next weekend left the Wings still only three points up on Tulsa in the battle for third place and the last CHL playoffspot.Bernie Gagnon got the only Fort Worth goal in the Feb. l8 loss to Tulsa. It came on a third-period power play, after the Oilers had taken a3-l lead.Gruen scored both goals in the home loss to Omaha, as the Knights came from behind twice towin it. At Omaha the next night scoring was by Gruen, Gagnon, Cormier and Jim Paterson, but the Wings were playing &ldquo;catch-up&rdquo; all night.Rookie George Hulme was the Wings&rsquo; only available goalie, as Ron Marlow was mending from his fourth injury of the season. Rookie Glen Seperich went back to the Port Huron Flags of the International League after a four-game trial (three victories, one loss).Gordie Redden, who retained his CHL penalty leadership while spending a month on the injury list, lost it on his first week of return to duty. Redden picked up only a minor penalty the third week of February, and was passed in a hurry by Tulsa&rsquo;s Scott Garland, who collected 22 minutes in a brawling game with San Diego.TULSA: Oilers continued to play better away from home than in their own Assembly Center. When they rang up a 4-l verdict in Fort Worth, it was their third straight triumph away from Tulsa, and they had lost their last two starts at the Center.However, the traveling luck ran out the last week in February. The Oilers didn&rsquo;t play at all well in a &ldquo;home game&rdquo; at Oklahoma City&rsquo;s Myriad, dropping a 4-l decision. The next night in Dallas it was a 32 loss. General manager Ray Miron fumed at inconsistent calls by referee Malcolm Ashford. &ldquo;He ignored major fouls by both sides, then called a couple of cheap penalties on us that cost us the game.&rdquo;Larry McIntyre, an Oiler the past three seasons, was the latest defenseman sent to Tulsa by the parent Toronto Maple Leafs. He came in Feb. 22, replacing Joe Lundrigan, who was in Tulsa for one weekend as a replacement for Dave Fortier. Dale Smedsmo, a left wing who went to Toronto with Fortier, Feb. l2, was due back in Tulsa for the Feb. 28 games.Right wing Bob Duncan, sidelined for one game by a lame back after an injury in Oklahoma City, Feb. l7, banged up a knee on the return to OC, Feb. 23, and could be out for the rest of the season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02114/3405527-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="563" height="597"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM PELUSO&hellip;Fractured Skull</figcaption></div>Oiler goalie Gordie McRae, recently returned by Toronto, came within nine minutes of posting shutouts on successive nights. He whitewashed San Diego, 2-0, in a Feb. 17 game at Oklahoma City, then blanked the Wings in Fort Worth until 11:04 of the third period. when Bernie Gagnon spoiled the shut out on a power play.Before that Mike Sauter, Bob Roselle and Brian Bowles had given the Oilers a 3-0 advantage. Lundrigan added the final goal (his second in three Oiler games on the weekend) with a rink-length rush with 58 seconds left on the clock.Rig Bechtold&rsquo;s 32nd goal was the only bright note in the Feb. 23 loss to Dallas. In was the Oilers&rsquo; first loss in Oklahoma City, after two victories and a tie in their &ldquo;home away from home.&rdquo; Two more games are scheduled in March at the beautiful convention center in downtown OC, the Myriad.Jack Michie gave the Oilers an early lead at Dallas, but two penalties in a row left the Oilers short landed for goals by Dave Kryskow and Brian Ogilvie. Bob Peppier scored later for Dallas, and Randy Osburn for Tulsa.DALLAS: Coach Bobby Kromm, in particular, and Dallas Black Hawks, in general, were raving mad at the Omaha knights and swearing vengeance on Omaha forward Gary Coalter.The reason? Dallas left wing Tom Peluso was hospitalized with a skull fracture. The injury came with 3:45 left in the 4-0 Hawk loss at Omaha, Feb. 18. Kromm said Coalter &ldquo;took a Jong run&rdquo; at Peluso and boarded him viciously.Center Dan Spring was also hurt in that game. He underwent knee surgery Feb. 22 for torn knee ligaments, and would miss the balance of the season.Spring and Peluso had just returned inaction after disabling injuries. Spring had strained ligaments in the same knee in the Feb. 7 game at Portland. Peluso had suffered a torn abductor muscle in the Jan. 20 game at Omaha, when he tripped on a paper cup, thrown onto the ice by a fan.The injuries cut Dallas&rsquo; squad to nine forwards and four defensemen, and forced Kromm to use Bob Peppier at the unfamiliar role of center. Rookie forwards Jim Young and Terry Smith had returned to Flint in the International League after five-game trials.But in spite of their reduced ranks, Hawks whipped Tulsa twice, and held a 10-point first-place margin over Omaha. A year earlier Hawks owned a 20-point bulge over runnerupTulsa, and were close to clinching first place when February ended.The Feb. 24 victory over Tulsa ran the Dallas streak to eight straight wins at home. The Oilers were the last club to win on Dallas ice with a 4-2 decision, Jan. 3 and the Hawks had taken Tulsa twice in theeight-gamespan.Another streak ended at Omaha the previous Sunday, however. Right wing Don Gordon had collected points in 14 consecutive games, before Ray Reeson administered the whitewash brush.Dave Kryskow, Gordon, Clyde Simon and Peppier got the Hawk goals in the 4-l triumph over Tulsa in Oklahoma City. Gordon and Simon scored 24 seconds apart to put the Hawks in charge at the start of the middle period. It was Gordon&rsquo;s 25th goal of the season. &#9632;

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Hobbled Knights Hold Firm But Dullas Running Away

&mdash; Page 17<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01588/3406427-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg" title="Cover-01" width="391" height="333"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-02446/3406420-1-eng-US/cover-022.jpg" title="Cover-02" width="1508" height="1732"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hockey News Photo by Robert ShaverRICK MacLESIHTurns In Second Four-Goal Game</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NHL’s 50-G0AL RACE FLARES UP

BOSTON&mdash;Jacques Plante, 44-year-old former Vezina Trophy winner who was traded to the Bruins from Toronto on Saturday, March3 made his debut for the Bruins in the Boston Garden the next afternoon with an exciting 4-0 shutout over Chicago Black Hawks.The trade was for the Bruin&rsquo;s no. 1 amateur draft pick this year plus &ldquo;future considerations&rdquo;.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02775/3403592-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="271" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Crisp</figcaption></div>After the game in Boston, Plante said, &ldquo;You have no idea how nervous I was about today. I was coming here where they have a bunch of super stars and I didn&rsquo;t want to let these guys down. I never thought I would get another chance to play in a playoff. I hope they are all like this. Believe me, playing behind these guys is much better than facing them.If we always play like we did today, nobody is going to beat us. The least work, the better it is. But I don&rsquo;t care how much I play. The better they play, the longer I&rsquo;m going to stay here. If they need me, I&rsquo;m here.&rdquo;Plante raised his arms in the usual V-for-victory salute as the Boston fans gave him a roaring ovation. Someone said to Plante &ldquo;The fans were good to you today, Jake&rdquo;. He replied, &ldquo;I was good to them, too, wasn&rsquo;t I&rdquo;.In other important Boston news, Bobby Orr was due to be examined by Dr. Carter Rowe, the surgeon who operated on his left knee last summer. Orr was hit directly on the operation scar in Montreal by a slap shot. He did not play against the Hawks. Also to be examined by Dr. Rowe was Garry Doak, who also was hit on a knee. Doak came to Boston in a trade for Ace Bailey, who went to Detroit last week.The Plante trade was one of several player changes in NHL rosters prior to the March 3 midnight deadline for moving players on and off teams.Rangers were active sending defenseman Ab DeMarco to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Mike Murphy, a right winger they once owned and later traded off to the Blues. Rangers also added defenseman Sheldon Kannegiesser from the Pittsburgh Penguins in return for future considerations to the Pens.Detroit swapped defense-man Gary Doak to Boston, where he one played, for left wing-center Garnet &lsquo;Ace&rsquo; BaileyNew York Islanders sold Don Black burn out right to Minnesota North Stars and later became involved in a one-for-one swap with Philadelphia Flyers. The Islanders gave up center Terry Crisp in return for Jean Potvin, a rearguard.Chicago and Los Angeles had earlier gotten in on the late trading when Dan Maloney, to the Kings for Ralph Backstrom.In other late hour moves, St. Louis lopped goaler Bob Johnson off their roster sending him to Denver of the WHL. They also recalled Kevin O&rsquo;Shea before the deadline from the Denver club. Rangers sent Jerry Butler and Tom Williams, two forwards, back to Providence of the AHL.Toronto Leafs had to bring goaler Gordon McRae back from Tulsa when they traded Plante off to the Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins had a new goaler in Andy Brown from Detroit.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01843/3403585-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="1126" height="2852"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACQUES PLANTE &hellip; Thrilling Debut In Hub</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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New Bruin Plante Performs Net Magic For Boston Fans

The Boston Braves became the, first team in the 14-year history of the Quebec International Pee Wee Hockey Tournament to win the tourney and take the Gerard Bolduc Trophy out of the country.The Massachusetts Pee Wee entry put together back to back wins over a team from Montreal Ville Emard to win the two-game total point final and capture the class AA championship by scores of 5-1 and 3-2.In the class A final, Sault Ste. Marie defeated Burlington Braves 3-2 and Gatineau beat out Beaconsfield-Kirkland Braves, a suburban Montreal entry, to win the &rsquo;B&rsquo; final. &#9632;

Boston Kids Make History With Ice Win

<h2>NHL Teams</h2>Atlanta &hellip;&hellip; 21Boston &hellip;&hellip; 5Buffalo &hellip;&hellip; 17California &hellip;&hellip; 18Chicago &hellip;&hellip; 6Detroit &hellip;&hellip; 9Los Angeles &hellip;&hellip; 12Minnesota &hellip;&hellip; 44Montreal &hellip;&hellip; 20N.Y. Islanders &hellip;&hellip; 14N.Y. Rangers &hellip;&hellip; 10Philadelphia &hellip;&hellip; 11Pittsburgh &hellip;&hellip; 13St. Louis &hellip;&hellip; 22Toronto &hellip;&hellip; 15Vancouver &hellip;&hellip; 8<h2>Other Leagues</h2>World Hockey &hellip;&hellip; 24American &hellip;&hellip; 27Western &hellip;&hellip; 30Central &hellip;&hellip; 32Eastern &hellip;&hellip; 34Inlternational &hellip;&hellip; 35Colleges &hellip;&hellip; 36OHA Major &hellip;&hellip; 38WCHL &hellip;&hellip; 39Quebec Major &hellip;&hellip; 40<h2>Columnists</h2>Ken McKenzie &hellip;&hellip; 4Bill Libby &hellip;&hellip; 8<h2>Other Features</h2>Fan Forum &hellip;&hellip; 4Movements &hellip;&hellip; 12NHL Scoring &hellip;&hellip; 16NHL Summaries &hellip;&hellip; 19NHL Scoreboard &hellip;&hellip; 21WHA Scoreboard &hellip;&hellip; 24WHA Summaries &hellip;&hellip; 26Crossword &hellip;&hellip; 41Hockey Tips &hellip;&hellip; 42Jr. Jottings &hellip;&hellip; 43 &#9632;

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT ALL

&hellip; On The Way UpDAVE GARDNER of Nova Scotia Voyageurs, son of Cal Gardner.GLENN PATRICK of Salt Lake, son of Lynn Patrick.MILT SCHMIDT JR., of Dayton of IHL, son of Milt Schmidt.MARK and MARTY HOWE, Toronto Jr. Marlboros, sons of Gordie Howe.ALEX SHIBICKY JR., of Denver Univ., son of Alex Shibicky.BILLY REAY JR., of Denver Univ, son of Billy Reay.RICK FRANCIS of St. Louis Univ, son of Emile Francis.BRIAN LINDSAY of Detroit Jr. Wings, son of Ted Lindsay.DENNIS OLMSTEAD of Western Canada Juniors, son of Bert Olmstead.KEN WHARRAM JR., of North Bay&rsquo;s Scollard High, son of Ken Wharram.DOUG BENTLEY JR., of Flint of IHL, son of late Doug Bentley.LEE FOGOLIN JR., of Thunder Bay, son of Lee Fogolin.JACQUES LOCAS JR., of Quebec Remparts, son of Jacques Locas.WAYNE MOSDELL of Roanoke Valley of EHL, son of Ken Mosdell &#9632;

HOCKEY SONS

<div class="byline">BY GIL SMITH</div>THE HEXTALLS&hellip;BRYAN<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01848/3403685-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="558" height="594"><figcaption class="caption-body">and DENNIS&hellip;</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02719/3403678-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="556" height="588"></div>MONTREAL &mdash;Apps. Clancy, Patrick, Hextall, Pratt, Bouchard. Sounds like an All Star team from the Thirties or forties, doesn&rsquo;t it?But in fact, the bearers of those names are all presently in the NHL and trying, with varying degrees or success, to follow in the foot steps of famous fathers. A matter of continuing the family business, so to speak.&ldquo;Having a famous father can be both an advantage and disadvantage in hockey.&rdquo; says Syl Apps, Jr. whose father was a Toronto Maple Leaf great. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s bound to open certain doors, especially on the way up to the NHL. itself, but once you arrive at the NHL level you have to make it on your own. In fact, it can put a strain on you then, because there are always a lot of people around who remember the famous father &mdash; probably knew hint as a great player &mdash; and they can&rsquo;t help making comparisons.Apps is one often players now in the NHL. whose fathers were once stars of the league. Like his dad Syl junior is a center, and, in fact, eight of the ten youngsters play a position similar to that of their fathers. Bryan and Dennis Hextail, of Pittsburgh and Minnesota respectively. are forwards like their Hall-of-Fame sire. Bryan Sr. Jimmy Peters Jr. of L.A. Kings, is also a pivot like his dad. There was an even closer parallel between the two Peters when Jimmy Jr., first broke in with Detroit, back in the mid-sixties. In his first game with the wings, the kid centered for Gordie Howe and Led Lindsay. His father had centered for them too.Craig Patrick, of the California Golden Seals, is a forward like his dad Lynn Patrick was though the son plays right wing, usually, as &hellip; opposed to Lynn&rsquo;s left. Terry Clancy, son of the famed King Clancy, is a sometime-defenseman and sometime-forward. His lather was, of course, an all-time defense great with Toronto Maple Leafs. Terry is one of two sons-of-the-famous, currently in the NHL. who play for the same team as their fathers did. Pierre Bouchard is the other.Bouchard, of the Montreal Canadiens, is the strapping son of Emile &ldquo;Butch&rdquo; Bouchard who played a robust defense for the old Habs in the &rsquo;forties and &rsquo;fifties. Not as &ldquo;mean&rdquo; as his father on the ice. Pierre nevertheless has the size and strength to fill the role of team policeman, and does occasionally.&ldquo;I was only eight years old when my father quit playing hockey.&rdquo; Pierre says. &ldquo;So. I can&rsquo;t honestly say I learned anything from watching him. If I&rsquo;m going to make it at all I&rsquo;ll have to make it on my own.&rdquo;Tracy Pratt, the Buffalo Sabres defenseman is one of the still relatively few U.S. born players in the NHL. Tracy was born in New York City during the time that his father, Walter &ldquo;Babe&rdquo; Pratt, played for Ranger&rsquo;s. The latter, now a front office man with Vancouver Canucks, also starred with Toronto.Ab DeMarco Jr., the young defenseman, traded by the Rangers this past week to St. Louis, was playing for one of the teams his sire was with during his NHL days in the &lsquo;forties&rsquo; The senior DeMarco, a forward, performed with Toronto. Boston and Chicago, as well.Gariy Smith, the towering Chicago Black Hawk goalie, who has frequently been the subject of trade rumors, is the son of a former NHL defenseman. His dad, Des Smith, rode the blueline for the old Montreal Maroons and Boston Bruins.The fact that only ten second-generation types are presently in the NHL despite rapid xpansion. seems to indicate that it&rsquo;s still a pretty tough league to crack Or does it mean that the kids aren&rsquo;t sufficiently fitred-up to really want an NHL career? Elmer Lach, the old Canadiens pivot of of the Punch Line, is one who subscribes to the latter view.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re not nearly as dedicated or devoted to hockey as we were.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;They like the game and they&rsquo;ll play it, but they have a great many other interests. In my day, we lived and breathed hockey. There was nothing else we were as interested in."Things have changed a lot in the space of one generation, and today the accent is on education with the prospect of a hockey career running second. Some prominent hockey men&hellip; Emile Francis and Billy Reay, to name just a couple &hellip; have boys in college playing hockey. The boys could conceivably make the NHL one day, but first comes their education. Syl Apps, Sr., recounted how he insisted on good grades for Syl Jr.. before he let the boy play hockey.&ldquo;He was to maintain an average of 75 percent in his grades,&rdquo; said Syl. &ldquo;And, then he was free to play. Actually, he fell to an average of 70 percent, or so but that was all right.&rdquo;The &ldquo;Famous Father&rdquo; syndrome can work in reverse, sometimes, and sour a kid completely on a sport. They say one of Maurice Richard&rsquo;s sons got so fed up listening to the &ldquo;well, he&rsquo;s no Rocket &hellip;&rdquo; type of comment, that he quit entirely, though he had talent. Brian Conacher was another son and member of a famous hockey clan who probably didn&rsquo;t benefit from the association with by gone greats.On the other hand, a boy like Craig Patrick represents a third generation of NHL types. In addition to father Lynn, there was of course Grandfather Lester Patrick, and the latter&rsquo;s brother Frank. Both are in the Hall of Fame. And Craig, himself, has a younger brother named Glenn on the way up. Then, there are up-and-coming types like Milt Schmidt, Jr., and Dave Gardner, son of Cal. Plus outstanding juniors like Gordie Howe&rsquo;s boys, Mark and Marty.Despite their famous monickers, most kids want to make it on their own and resist too much identification with the past.Batch Bouchard&rsquo;s famous old No. 3 on Canadiens became available this year when J.C. Tremblay jumped to the WHA and, of course, it was offered to son Pierre. He turned it down.&ldquo;No. 3 belonged to my father.&rdquo; Pierre said. &ldquo;Mine is No. 26. Let&rsquo;s keep it that way.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03485/3403671-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="1196" height="2826"></div> &#9632;

f0003-01

LIKE FATHER …LIKE SON!

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01901/3403761-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="327" height="379"></div>&bull; THE HOCKEY NEWS annual NHL All Star team is something that always causes a great deal of interest and enthusiasm among ardent hockey fans, and especially since last season when we added a Western Division team to go along with the Eastern All Stars&hellip; It is the only National Hockey League All Star Team where the fans do the actual selecting. The ballots will appear in three conecutive issues of THE HOCKEY NEWS commencing with this one&hellip; Be sure you get your vote in and support your favorite players&hellip; The Molson Cup race for players on the Montreal Canadians is causing considerable excitement among the players. The member of the Canadiens who is picked as one of the game&rsquo;s three stars the most number of times will end up with a most rewarding stipend from the prominent Canadian brewery&hellip; Frans Henricks. &ldquo;Mr. Hockey&rdquo; of Holland tells us that Spain is starting to get interested in hockey&hellip; Still no action from the Minnesota North Stars management on extending the contract of coach Jack Gordon, which expires this year. Managegement keeps saying it will get around to it soon&hellip; St. Louis Blues exposed Phil Govette in the expansion draft three years ago because they had four younger centers. Red Berenson. Chris Bordeleau. Jim Lorentz and Frank St. Marseille. Now the four younger placers have been replaced by even vounger centers. Garry Unger Wayne Merrick. Fran Huck and Dannx O&rsquo;Shea&hellip; The Blues recent ran some timed races to determine the fastest skater on the club, and Merrick emerged the fastest skater. Merrick. a rookie, beat out out last years champion. Gary Sabourin. who was lied another rookie. Steve Durbano. Phil Roberto was fourth&hellip; Bobby Clarke. Philadelphia Flyers&rdquo; great young center, is fast becoming a favorite to capture the Hart Trophx as the National Hockey Leagues most valuable player. There isn&rsquo;t anything the vouthful speedster can&rsquo;t do and he goes all out both ways in even game he plays. What a find he&rsquo;s been to the Fivers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02857/3403754-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="266" height="447"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Clarke</figcaption></div>&bull; ST. LOUIS is the second NHL club to have an assistant coach. The Bines have made defense vet Bob McCord assistant to Jean-Guy Talbot. Philadelphia is the other team with an assistant coach. Mike Nykoluk assist Fred Shero &hellip; Vancouver&rsquo;s Bobby Schmautz has bonus arrangement where by he collects on every goal over 30&hellip; Bob Berry is the finest young player developed by the Los Angele King and it&rsquo;s wonder he hasn&rsquo;t been publicized more&hellip; Suddenly Cincinnati is hockey country. The highflying Cincinnati Swords have finally turned the trick and put the sport over in the Ohio city&hellip; In 139 NHL games Marcel Dionne of Detroit had amassed a total of 151 point 62 goal, 89 assists). Marcel has scored more point than any player in NHL hitory in his first two seasons in the league&hellip;California Seals have never defeated a Jack Cordon coached Minnesota North Starsleam&hellip;New York Rangers elated at getting right wing Mike Murphy front St. Louis in exchange for defenseman All DeMarco. Murphy was the second highest goal scorer on St. Louis at the time of the trade Rangers also acquired defenseman Sheldon Kannegiesser from Pittsburgh. The New York-St. Louis trade is one that should really help both teams&hellip; This year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup win nets will play a series of games in Czechoslovakia immediately following the playoffs. It opens up a whole new world of amateur hockey and could eventually lead to a world-wide junior playoff.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03752/3403747-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="265" height="405"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Murphy</figcaption></div>&bull; DON CHERRY is getting his share of raves for the outstanding coaching job he has done this season with Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League. I&rsquo;he Amerks were not bought by local interests until about six weeks before training camp and newly-appointed coach Don Cherry didn&rsquo;t have; single player under contract. He assembled a team in record time and has led them to one of the most successful seasons in the history of hockey in Rochester. They say you can&rsquo;t make a silk purse out of a sow&rsquo;s ear. Don Cherry has done just that. He&rsquo;s made somebodys out of a team of nobodys&hellip; Ray Miron&rsquo;s Tulsa Oilers are plaging six home games this sea son in the brand new $23 million Oklahoma City Mvriad which seats 13,400 for hockey. It&rsquo;s hoped that Oke City will be back in hockey again next season&hellip; Milt Schmidt has the insidet rack lort he general manager&rsquo;s job with the new Washington entry&hellip; When Jim Rutherford and the Pittsburgh Penguins shut out the Chicago Black Hawks the other night, it marked the first time the Hawks had been blanked since March 11, 1970. The Hawk&rsquo; had scored in 22$) consecutive league games and 263 games including playoffs. One Chicagoan &rsquo;cored in the game against Pittsburgh, however, when Chuck Tanner, manager of the baseball Chicago White Sox was on hand for the game from his nearby New Castle. Pa. home and as the guest celebrity in between periods he &ldquo;beat the goalie&rdquo; in I he Scortul contest held by the Penguins. His prize was a check for $625 before he headed South for spring training&hellip; Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Lowell MacDonald is one of the leading candidates lot the Bill Masterton Award. After tour knee operat ions in two years. MacDonald has come back Io score 27 goals and is only one point away from becoming the first winger to break tit) points for Pit I &rsquo;burgh in a season. With only eight penaltx minute&rsquo; he rates highly in the Lady Byng voting&hellip; Goalie Bob Perreault has been brought out of retirement by the Los Angeles Sharks of the WHA. He&rsquo;s 42 years old. weighs oxer 185 pounds one 5 foot-8 inch frame and looks like 50 and might passsor 55&hellip; The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association will lose it standout president when Calgary&rsquo;s joe Kryczka steps down at the end of the current season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04650/3403740-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="257" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Cherry</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05524/3403792-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2>Francis Shrewd Hockey Dealer</h2>In your Feb. 16 edition a reader takes exception to some of the trades made in recent years by manager Emile Francis and lists a number of ex-Rangers now playing elsewhere. Let me now list the players that Emile received in return during this period; Peter Stem-kowski, Bruce MacGregor, Glen Sather, Dale Rolfe, led Irvine, Gene Carr, Bobby Rousseau, Ron Harris, and fine young prospects Larry Sacharuk Steve Andrascik and Al Blanchard.I think it will be agreed by all that each of these players have more than helped the Rangers to attain their present high position and are a verification of Emile&rsquo;s shrewd dealings. It should be also pointed out that under present regulations only a certain number of players can be protected and Rangers would have lost a number of players through the draft anyway, so I say to the unhappy fan from Brooklyn &ldquo;count your blessings&rdquo; and remember what the Rangers were like before the &ldquo;coming of the i Cat&rdquo;.PAT FITZGERALD,Guelph, Ont.<h2>Torrey&rsquo;s Changes May Help Islanders</h2>Although the New York Islanders perhaps best epitomize the woeful ineptitude of expansion teams, I must admit that General Manager Bill Torrey is taking steps to revert the situation. By firing Phil Goyette&rdquo; he unloaded a coach that was unable to keep his players in proper condition (remember all thoses third period collapses?) In obtaining new, young players such as Ralph Stewart, Bobby Cook, and Ernie Hicke for practically nothing, Torrey has shown that he can be a knowledgeable trader who will not part with future amateur draft choices. Nice going. Bill.JEFF LEVINE,Brooklyn. N.Y.<h2>There Are Better Penguins Than Polis</h2>In my opinion, coach Billy Reay of the Chicago Black Hawks made a big mistake in choosing Greg Polis for the West All Star leant. I feel there are several left-wingers having better seasons than Greg. One of them is teammate Loewill MacDonald Mac is off to his best season ever with 25 goals and 30 assist at this writing.Another underrated Penguin is defenseman Dave Burrows. An everimproving Burrows is playing an iron-clad defense, the type of defense typified by the Chicago system which he came from.JIM WAYNE,McKees Rocks, P. A.<h2>Violence In Hockey Greatly Overrated</h2>There is entirely too much criticism of the so-called violence in NHL hockey&mdash;the brawls, the high sticking incidents, the fist fights etc. The NHL has greatly improved its rules resulting thereby in the curtailment of these dangers. High sticking and brawls are more severely dealt with. A third man interfering in a fight gets a game misconduct. It should also be noted that when two players are fighting, the skates under them don&rsquo;t give them enough leverage to do the kind of damage that seemingly appears.Although I am not an advocate of brawls and stick swinging, I say leave the game alone, and enjoy it. &rsquo;The rules have great control. A hard fought game brings more satisfaction to both fans and players alike.LOUISTSEKO,Dedham, Mass.<h2>More NHL Awards For Goaltenders</h2>How come only one trophy for the goaltender? I think there should be more. There should also be one for best goals-against average by a goaltending tandem in the playoffs.CHUCK HITTLEFIELD,Seabrook, N.H.<h2>Golden Gumper Gone Too Soon</h2>Gump Worsley has to be missed. If this latest retirement is to last, it will end the era of the maskless netminders of old. Gump has given a lot to hockey. While playing with the Rangers, he won the Calder Memorial Trophy, and with the Canadians be shared the Vezina Trophy twice.If he doesn&rsquo;t came out of retirement, the NHL will have only Crozier. Plante and Johnson remaining as Golden Oldies. Let&rsquo;s hope Gump will be back soon.RON BAYLER,Boston, Mass.<h2>New York Fans Stick By Rangers</h2>I also feel that I must answer Garry Unger&rsquo;s statement that the New York Rangers believe that the New York fans are the worst in the league. It is true that we do get slightly riled when the team is not playing good hockey, but you better believe that we are behind them 200 per cent. I am certain the Rangers know their fans are some of the FINEST in the league.I also become very disturbed when the players say that the fans have every right to be angry as they pay to see good hockey. I go to the Garden to see hockey that is true; but I will always stand behind the Rangers, whether they finish in first place or last.ELSIE BUBLICK,Passaic, N.J.<h2>Parity Problems Prevent Protection</h2>I can&rsquo;t understand why some of your readers (and also some NHL officials) keep calling for parity. Teams like last year&rsquo;s Boston Bruins could and did fill even the Oakland Coliseum, while Vancouver or St. Louis are sure of sell-outs at home even if their clubs were hopelessly in the last place.On the contrary, teams should be allowed to protect at least four complete lines and three goalies, if they skip one draft round for each player protected above 19. Thus the weaker clubs could build up their strength gradually from among the new talents, while the outstanding and crowd-draying units could and should be preserved from forced break-ups.R. K. JANSKY,St. Louis, Mo. &#9632;

f0004-05

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">by JACK McCARTHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01823/3403823-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHIL ESPOSITO &hellip; Versatile Performer For Bruins</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;Harry Sinden has been watching Phil Esposito play hockey for quite a while now, both in the I NHL with the Bruins and with Team Canada, where he coached I him, and this year with the Bruins where Harry is now managing director.Naturally, Sinden would think I that Espoisa great player, and few would ever dispute that. But, Sinden has something else to say about the big center. &ldquo;I think Espo is underrated,&rdquo; Sinden says. &ldquo;As a matter of fact. I think he is the most underrated player in hockey.&rdquo;How can a guy be underrated I when he is an All-Star, wins the MVP. the Pearson Trophy, the Ross Trophy, etc., et.?Says Sinden, &ldquo;everyone looks at Phil as a great goal scorer, but he doeseverything else well and never gets credit for it. He should be rated at lot closer to Bobby Orr as the best player in the game.&rdquo;&ldquo;In the Team Canada play, I Expo&rsquo;s full contribution were evident, but in the last lews season&rsquo;s in the NHL, he has been looked on primarily as a scorer.&ldquo;I feel he&rsquo;s underestimated, really. Some people think of him as a guy who plays in the slot all I the time, and that&rsquo;sjust not true.&ldquo;Phil has developed into one of the best faceoff men in the league. And. with the loss of Eddie Westfall and Derk Sanderson in the first part of the season, he did a lot of penalty-killing and he is one of the best in the league at that, too. Fantastic.He can play either point or center on the power play, and he is an expert at covering up for his wings when they are forechecking. When he is in the slot, he takes a lot of physical abuse to stay in position to be able to score when the pass comes out from the corner.&ldquo;But, he is durable. He never misses a game can&rsquo;t recall when Espo missed a game because of injury. The gap between him and Orr is not as great as some people think.&ldquo;And, he has a fantastic attitude toward the game. He is a great team player. But, again, all people think of is that he is a scorer&hellip; much more than that, believe me..,&rdquo;Esposito was leading the league in scoring after 62 games, with 40 goals and 57 assists for 97 points. He was the leader in goals and points.Orr, however, who had played in 14 less games due to his knee problem early in the year, was leading the league in assists, with 58 in 48 games. He had 18 goals and a 76 point total, tying him for fifth in scoring. In the last four years, either Esposito or Orr has won the scoring title.Orr had a streak of 32 points over a 20-game span.Meanwhile, the Bruins came off a West Coast road trip with 10 out of a possible 12 points. Their sights were set first on the Rangers, who were just ahead of them in second place, and, ultimately, on the Canadiens. Their only loss on the road came in Minnesota, and it was the only loss for the Bruins since Bep Guidolin took over as coach. &#9632;

f0005-01

Esposito Still ‘Underrated’ Player Claims Sinden Boston

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01931/3403861-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="559" height="603"><figcaption class="caption-body">RALPH BACKSTROM&hellip; Shocked By Trade</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02741/3403854-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="576" height="600"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAN MALONEY&hellip; Fretting On Bench</figcaption></div>CHICAGO&mdash;He&rsquo;s no young colt, is Ralph Gerald Backstrom but he&rsquo;s a center and a winner two good reasons why the Black Hawks hired him for immediate assistance down the homestretch.The 35-year-old former Montreal star, who tasted Stanley Cup bubbly six times with the Canadiens, was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for left wing Dan Maloney ina late February transaction.Obviously obtaining Backstrom was somewhat of a stopgap measure. It&rsquo;s entirely possible, in fact, that the Chicagoans will some day be moan losing Maloney, a 22-year-old ruffian who lacks some polish, but not desire.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been after a center for some time,&rdquo; said Chicago general manager Tommy Ivan. &ldquo;Now, with Stan Mikita out, we needed one in the worst way. We hate to give up on a young player like Maloney, but the situation couldn&rsquo;t have gone on the way it was.&rdquo;The trade came just when the Black Hawks were experiencing trying times. After losing four straight games, their West Division lead had been shaved to seven points and they were girding for an arduous seven-game road spin which would touch both coasts.Furthermore, with Mikita sidelined because of a foot injury, the Hawk offense was sputtering. It finally stalled Feb. 24 in Pittsburgh, when the Penguins blanked the Chicagoans 2-0, the first whitewash suffered by the Hawks in almost three years.Boston&rsquo;s EdJohnston had been the last man to blank the Hawks when he and Tony Esposito dueled to a 0-0 tie in Chicago on March 11, 1970.Three night later, the Hawks scored a goal in Toronto, and they&rsquo;d been scoring ever since until Rutherford snapped their streaks at 228 consecutive regular season games and 262 including playoffs &mdash; both National Hockey League records. The previous mark had been 130 established by the New York Rangers from 1968 to 1970.The offense became so stodgy that Coach Billy Reay at times busted up the league-leading MPH line of Pit Martin, Jim Pappinand Dennis Hull.The latter became left wing on a different trio and scored two goals to propel the Hawks to a 4-2 victory over Atlanta, one night after the Pittsburgh setback. Hull&rsquo;s production, while skating with Right Wing Cliff Koroll and Center Chico Maki, averted the Hawks&rsquo; first five-game losing skein since October, 1969.Shortly after the triumph over the Flames, the trade was announced. Maloney&rsquo;s departure was made a little more palatable to Hawk brains by the improved performance of port siders Dick Redmond and JerryKorab.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s was killing me sitting on the bench,&rdquo; said Maloney, whose agressive ways made him a crows favorite. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll miss the guys and the organization, but 1 hope I&rsquo;ll get to play in L.A.&rdquo;Maloney scored 12 goals as a Hawk rookie two winters ago, then spent last season with the Dallas farm club. This year, he had collected 13 before his departure. He&rsquo;ll never be a Bobby Hull, but his muscle up front was important to a sometimes docile Hawk crew.Backstrom who came to Chicago with 272 NHL goals, had grown to love the West Coast after a dozen distinguised seasons with Montreal. He and his family (wife Fran and three children) will continue to live in Los Angeles during the off-season.&ldquo;I was a little shocked about the trade,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but after thinking about it. I consider it a move upward in the standings. I feel the Hawks have as good a chance as anybody to go all the way.&rdquo;The 5-10, 170-pounder quit hockey briefly in 1970 after becoming disenchanted with the Montreal scene. His retirement ended after two months when the Canadians promised they&rsquo;d trade him.&ldquo;I had some good years in Montreal,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I always felt I was perhaps a better hockey players than I showed with the Canadiens. I played behind two of the greatest centers in the history of the game. Jean Beliveaultnd Henri Richard. There were games when Ididn&rsquo;tget muchice time.&rdquo;This season, Backstrom had played predominately at left wing, and had registered 20 goals and 28 assists. He notched 13 goals in 33 games with Los Angeles after being traded there in January. 1971. Last year, in 76 games, he taillied 23 times. &#9632;

f0006-01

Mikita’s Doubtful Status Made Backstrom Deal Must Chicago

CHICAGO&mdash;Defenseman Doug Jarrett, idled with a fracture above his right ankle since January, was due back on skates in early March. The out-look for Mikita was more clouded, and Ivan remarked, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s a possibility he might not even be ready for the playoffs.&rdquo;&hellip; A touch of irony to the Maloney trade: he was poised to jump to Los Angeles of the World Hockey Association last summer when the Hawks came up with a healthy two-year contract for an estimated $75,000&hellip; Backstrom&rsquo;s contract, by the way expires at season&rsquo;s end&hellip; During the late February losing string, the Chicagoans managed but six goals in four games. &#9632;

WHA Nearly Got Maloney

To help you in your NHL All Star team selections, we have prepared a breakdown of the complete players by position. We hope it will make tour task that much easier.<h2>GOALKEEPERS</h2>East: Ed Johnston, Ross Brooks, Roger Crozier, Dave Dryden, Roy Edwards, Denis DeJordy, Michel Plasse, Ken Dryden, Wayne Thomas, Jerry Desjardins, Billy Smith, Ed Giacomin, Gilles Villemure, Jacques plante, Ron Low, Dune Wilson, Ed Dyck.West: Phil Myre, Dan Bouchard, Mary Edwards, Gilles Meloche, Gary Smith, Tony Esposito, Gary Edwards, Rogatien Vachon, Cesare Chicago, Gilles Gilbert, DougFavell, Bob Taylor, Michel Belhumeur, Jim Rutherford, Andy Brown, Wavne Stephenson, Jacques Caron.<h2>DEFENSEMEN</h2>East: Bobby Orr, Nick Beverley, Carol Vadnais, Dallas Smith, Don Awrey, Gary Doak, Tim Horton, Mike Robitaille, Tracy Pratt, Larry Hillman, Jim Schoenfeld, PaulTerbenche, Gary Bergman, Larry Johnston, Thommie Bergman, Ken Murray, Ron Stackhouse, Jacques Laperriere, Dale Hoganson, Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard, Larry Robinson, Bob Murdoch, Pierre Bouchard, Gerry Hart, Bryan Lefley, Jim Mair, Bill Mikkelson, Neil Nicholson, Ron Stewart, Brad Park, Dale Rolfe, Jim Neilson, Rod Seiling, Ron Harris, Joe Lundrigan, John Grisdale, Mike Pelyk, Dave Fortier, Terry Clancy, Jim McKenny, Brian Glennie, Larry McIntyre, Jocelyn Guevremont, Barry Wilkins, Jim Hargreaves, Jim Mair, Dennis Kearns, Dale Tallon, Gregg Boddy.West: Bill Plager, Pat Quinn, Noel Price, Bob Paradise, Randy Manery, Arnie Brown, Kerry Ketter, Darryl Maggs, Rick Smith, Bob Stewart, Bert Marshall, Ted McAneely, Bill White, Keith Magnuson, Doug Jarrett, Phil Russell, John Marks, Pat Stapleton, Terry Harper, Larry Brown, Gilles Marotte, Harry Howell, Barry Long , Neil Komadoski, Barry Gibbs, Fred Barrett, Ted Harris, Dennis O&rsquo;Brien, Doug Mohns, Tom Reid, Ed Van Impe, Barry Ashbee, Wayne Hillman, Joe Watson, Tom Bladon, Jean Potvin, Andr&eacute; Dupont, Duane Rupp, Dave Burrows, Bryan Watson, Sheldon Kannegieasser, Jean-Guy Lagac&eacute;, Darryl Edestrand, Steve Durbano, Brent Hughes, Paul Curtis, Bob Plager, Chris Evans, Barclay Plager, Jean Hamel, Bob McCord, Connie Madigan.<h2>CENTERS</h2>East: Phil Esposito, Fred Stanfield, Gregg Sheppard, Derek Sanderson, Gilbert Perreault, Gerry Meehan, Don Luce, Doug Rombough, Marcel Dionne, Red Berenson, Alex Delvechio, Rejean Houle, Pete Mahovlich, Jacques Lemaire, Henri Richard, Lome Henning, Dave Hudson, Ralph Stewart, Tom Miller, Walt Tkaczuk, Jean Ratelie, Pete Stemkowski, Bobby Rousseau, Norm Ullman, George Ferguson, Dave Keon, Darryl Sittier, Andr&eacute; Boudrias, Don Lever, John Wright, Richard Lemieux, Bobby Lalonde, Orland Kurtenbach.West: Curt Bennett, Bob Leiter, Rey Comeau, Walt McKechnie, Ivan Boldirev, Stan Weir, Joey Johnston, Lou Angotti, Pit Martin, Stan Mikita Vic Venasky, Jim Peters, Frank St Marseille, Juha Widing, Butch Goring, Charlie Burns, Murray Oliver, Jude Drouin, Dennis Hextall, Bill Clement, Bobby Clarke, Rick MacLeish, Bryan Hextali, Rick Kessell, Ron Schock, Syl Apps, Garry Unger, Fran Huck, Wayne Merrick, Dannv O, Shea.<h2>RIGHT WINGS</h2>East: Ken Hodge, Don Marcotte, Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, Doug Roberts, Ren&eacute; Robert, Jim Lorentz, Larry Mickey, Steve Atkinson, Tim Ecclestone, Mickey Redmond, Bill Collins, Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer, Claude Larose, Brian Marchinko, Bill Harris, Ed Westfall, Craig Cameron, Bob Cook, Rod Gilbert, Bill Fairbairn, Bruce MacGregor, Ron Ellis, Pierre Jarry, Rick Kehoe, Bobby Schmautz, Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty, Brian McSheffrev.West: Lew Morrison, Leon Rochefort, Billy MacMillan, Larry Romanchych, Reg Leach, Craig Patrick, Hilliard Graves, Morris Mott, Marshall Johnston, Jim Pappin, Chico Maki, Cliff Koroll, J.P. Bordeleau, Mike Corrigan, Doug Volmar, Serge Bernier, Don Kozak, Bill Goldworthy, Bob Nevin, Fred Harvey, Lou Nanne, Don Saleski, Gary Dornhoefer, Simon Nolet, Bill Flett, Al McDonough, Robin Burns, Nick Harbaruk, Jean Pronovost, Gary Sabourin, Mike Murphy, Pierre Plante, Don Blackburn.<h2>LEFT WINGS</h2>East: John Bucyk, Wayne Cashman, Mike Walton, Rick Martin, Craig Ramsay, Randy Wyrozub, Fred O&rsquo;Donnell, Hugh Harris, Guy Charron, Brian Lavender, Nick Libett, Alan Karlander, Henry Boucha, Marc Tardif, Murray Wilson, Steve Shutt, Chuck Lefley, Frank Mahovlich, Germain Gagnon, Brian Spencer, Ernie Hicke, Glen Sather, Steve Vickers, Vic Hadfield, Ted Irvine, Gene Carr., Errrol Thompson, Denis Dupere, Paul Henderson, Garry Monahan, Barry Wilcox, Don Tannahill, Dave Balon, Garnet Bailey.West: Keith McCreary, Butch Deadmarsh, Jacques Richard, John Stewart, Stan Gilbertson, Gary Croteau, Pete Laframboise, Dennis Hull, Dick Redmond, Jerry Korab, Ralph Backstrom, Dan Maloney, Real Lemieux, Bill Lesuk, Bob Berry, Jean-Paul Parise, Danny Grant, Dean Prentice, Bill Barber, Dave Schultz, Bob Kelly, Ross Lonsberry, Lowell MacDonald, Greg Polis, Eddie Shack, Jack Egers, Phil Roberto, Floyd Thomson.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01862/3403951-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="436" height="520"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEN DRYDENMontreal Goaler</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02738/3403944-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="447" height="521"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY ORRBoston Defens</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03536/3403937-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="445" height="520"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRAD PARKRangers&rsquo; Defense</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-04381/3403930-1-eng-US/f0007-042.jpg" title="f0007-04" width="442" height="520"><figcaption class="caption-body">GILBERT PERREAULTBuffalo Center</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-05268/3403923-1-eng-US/f0007-052.jpg" title="f0007-05" width="438" height="523"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICKEY REDMONDDetroit R. Wing</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-06201/3403916-1-eng-US/f0007-062.jpg" title="f0007-06" width="444" height="523"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRANK MAHOVLICHMontreal L. Wing</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0007-01

Know Your Players Before Picking Them

MONTREAL&mdash;Last season the THE HOCKEY NEWS gave its readers something new in its long-time All Star selections &mdash; we asked them to pick an Eastern and a Western team both.The innovation was so popular with the fans and the response was so overwhelming that we decided to continue the format again this season &mdash; the 26th consecutive year of THE HOCKEY NEWS All Star poll.However, we have added one important category to this year&rsquo;s selection by the fans in addition to a&rsquo;ready picking the best from the East and the best from the West on separate teams. We now have a most valuable player choice for both divisions. In other words, fans can pick an MVP for the East and one for the West.It&rsquo;s all part of our broadening faith in legion of HOCKEY NEWS readers as All Star selectors. We think the fans pick good teams. So now you can select a team for the East and West, MVP&rsquo;s in both divisions and the oustanding overall lookie of the year &mdash; only one selection from all the NHL teams.All Star selections are something most hockey fans look forward to. We think it&rsquo;s a brand new challenge to the selectors who have been coming back year after year to choose the best in the NHL and try to match wits with the hockey experts.Every enthusiastic hockey fan leves the challenge of being able to sit down and select their own All Star team. It&rsquo;s fun and might require a little more concentration on your part to come up with the team to match the official NHL All Stars.So don&rsquo;t wait. Sit right down now and knock them off and see if you can come close or even better the NHL experts in our annual poll.Merely clip the ballot shown on this page, read the voting regulations carefully and then fill in your selections. It&rsquo;s simple and exciting both.The ballot will appear in three issues only and your team will be announced in THE HOCKEY NEWS dated April 13.Remember, if one of your favorites should fail to gain a berth on the Fans&rsquo; All Star team by the &rsquo;argin of just a few points, it could be because you didn&rsquo;t send that ballot in as you had entended. So tight now, while it&rsquo;s still fresh in your mind, fill out the ballot on 1 his page and mail it right away to All Star Editor, THE HOCKEY N EWS, Room 212,1434 St. Catherine St. West, Montreal 107, Canada.Hockey fans take note. This is your only chance to exercise your light to select an NHL All Star team. THE HOCKEY NEWS is pleased to be able to extend this opportunity to its readers. &#9632;

HOCKEY NEWS OPENS 26th ALL STAR POLL

1&mdash; Anyone is eligible to cast ballots for the National Hockey League All Star Team, but each reader may submit ONLY ONE ENTRY, naming an Eastern and Western team, as well as MVP and Outstanding Rookie overall in the NHL.2&mdash; The ballots will run for three weeks. Final ballot will appear in the issue dated March3O, 1973.3&mdash; Use blanks published in THE HOCKEY NEWS, or reasonable facsimile or tracings of same if you do not wish to deface your copy. Be sure to fill in your own name and address.4&mdash; Ballots must be mailed to. All Star Editor, THE HOCKEY NEWS, Room 212, 1434 St. Catherine St. W., Montreal 1 07, Canada. &#9632;

All Star Voting Regulations

<div class="byline">By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01920/3404037-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="314" height="380"></div><h2>The High Point&hellip;</h2>PAUL HENDERSON SCORED seven goals in the eight games of the Team Canada-Russia series last fall, including the equalizing goal in an early tie, and the game-winners in the last three games, as the National Hockey League All Stars stormed dramatically from behind to defeat the Soviet team. They had surprised and embarrassed them in the first part of the series.The 29-year-old left-winger tallied the tieing goal in the third game of the series, a 4-4 deadlock in Winnipeg, and he almost got the winner when the acrobatic Russian goal-tender Tretiak got to his blast from five feet away in the late stages of the tense, exciting struggle.After winning two of the contests and tying one of the four in Canada, the Russians won the first one in Moscow to take what appeared to be an insurmountable lead, three victories to one, with one tie. Canada was becoming a mob. Some wanted to lynch their disappointing players, who were deemed disgraced by the Communist club.In the sixth game, however, Henderson darted past a Soviet defender and hammered home what proved to be the winner in the second period of a contest that concluded at 3-2.Late in the seventh game, Henderson outraced a Russian defenseman, lunged forward and, sliding past the left of the goal face on his stomach, reached out with his stick and nudged the puck past the goaler.The score came with two minutes and six seconds remaining, and brought the NHL a 4-3 triumph and evened the series, setting up a dramatic finale.With time practically expired in the eighth game, the score tied and almost all assumed the series would wind up tied. Phil Esposito and Henderson rushed, Esposito banging a backhander off Tretiak and Henderson rifling the rebound home with only 34 seconds to play. The 6-5 victory brought relief and satisfaction to the players and touched off a country-wide celebration in Canada.There were other heroes, but Henderson&rsquo;s heroics were almost beyond belief. He was acclaimed by his teammates, by all hockey, by his countrymen. &ldquo;I am just thrilled,&rdquo; he grinned. &ldquo;When I got the game-winner in the seventh game I thought nothing in my career could ever top it, and then to come right back and get another in the eighth game, my third straight, well I&rsquo;m simply stunned.&rdquo;Nothing could top it. He sensed that. In fact, he had done so much, nothing he could do from then on would ever be enough. He had set an impossible standard to sustain. It should be enough, to have done something like that, just once in a lifetime. It never should be , I made to haunt him, though it seems to do just that.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02821/3404030-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="577" height="795"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAUL HENDERSON&hellip; Being Hero Tough</figcaption></div><h2>And The Low &hellip;</h2>HE IS &ldquo;A YEAR OLDER&rdquo; NOW. He turned 30 in January. His hours of heroism in that most publicized hockey series of all time seem to have happened a hundred years ago now. Was it really just last fall, just before the start of this season? So many who took part in it, admit to suffering a letdown from it, and confess to entering this season as if it was an anticlimax. But this is the one that is played for the money.In his team&rsquo;s first 58 games, Henderson played only 40 and scored but 18 goals. He has been booed. He has not been the only disappointing performer on his team. The Toronto Maple Leafs have a tremendous tradition of success to support, especially in playoffs, but they will not even make the playoffs this season. They are winning only one of every three games they play.This is the sixth straight season they have been an ordinary team. Three times they lost the first round of the playoffs. This will be the third time in this stretch they have not made the playoffs. The team started to slide even before the supremely successful commander Punch Imlach was dismissed. Maple Leaf Gardens is becoming a morgue.A promising rebuilding job by general manager Jim Gregory was ruined by raids from the new WHA which removed Jim Harrison, Rick Ley, Brad Seiwood and Bernie Parent. Now Gregory and coach John McLellan are on the ropes, although owner Harold Ballard shared in the high-level decision not to offer rewards beyong reason so the jumpers would remain.Writer Dan Proudfoot reports only Dave Keon, Darryl Sittier, Rich Kehoe and Jim McKenny have had outstanding seasons. The years finally caught up to 44-year-old goaler Jacques Plante, who may join the WHA as manager in Quebec. Injuries slowed others. They hit Henderson two ways. First, his center, Norm Ullman, was hurt. Then, Henderson himself was hurt with a pulled muscle and chipped bone in a leg.The handsome Henderson has had an up and down history. He once scored 18 goals in a single kids game. He averaged a goal a game one season as a junior. He made the majors with Detroit started swiftly, then slowed with sickness. With Ullman and Floyd Smith, he was sent to Toronto for Frank Mahovlich, Garry Unger, Pete Stemkowski and Carl Brewer in a contreversial trade five years ago.He scored 20 to 30 goals his first three seasons in Toronto, then 38 last season. With this and with his pre-season spectacular, a lot was expected of him in this, his season major league. He could not produce until he recently nailed nine goals in nine games.He says, &ldquo;Wearing a helmet in games, I seldom was recognized until after the Russian series. Suddenly, I was singled out wherever I went. My life became very hectic. I struggled, started to straighten out, then got sidelined, came back and had to start all over again.Sighing, he concludes, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been at my highest and at my lowest this season. It&rsquo;s been like riding a roller-coaster. I&rsquo;ll never forget the Russian series, but I wish now it could be put aside until my career is over. I can&rsquo;t top it. I can&rsquo;t even come close. I can only do my best and hope to help my team become one of the best again.Life is a lot more fun with a winner than a loser,&rdquo; he observed. &#9632;

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY HALSIGURDSON</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;A Montreal writer described him as no bigger than an inflamed wart. His own teammates kid him unmercifully abou his size.Nevertheless, Bobby Lalonde is casting an increasingly bigger shadow with the Vancouver Canucks as the National &rsquo; Hockey League season draws to a close.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03684/3404068-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="261" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Lalonde</figcaption></div>At five-foot-five and 153 pounds, Lalonde is easily the league&rsquo;s smallest player. He&rsquo;d be the smallest player on a lot of midget clubs. Still, he&rsquo;s proving he belongs in the NHL.For a while a lot of people, probably including Lalonde, were beginning to wonder. He suffered through a long, unproductive spell midway through the season, but to his credit the little battler never failed to give it less than his best shot.Then, late in January, he finally broke out of his slump. He hasn&rsquo;t gone on any spectacular streak, mind you, but his production has been steady. And by Vancouver standards, 13 points-seven goals and six assists &mdash; in 16 games isn&rsquo;t bad.Over that stretch he has conistently rated as one of the Canucks&rsquo; better players.With 14 games left to play. Lalonde has scored 15 goals and if he can maintain his current pace, he could become one of the Canucks&rsquo; few 20-goal scorers.Bobby Schmautz (31) and Andre Boudrias (20) are already there. Don Tannahill, with 19, is virtually certain to make it and Lalonde could give them a fourth forbridge.The thing Lalonde has going for him is fantastic skating ability that takes away much of the curse of his lack of size. He&rsquo;s also learning that an adroitly positioned hockey stick can be a useful tool in fending off large chaps intent on depositing him in the 13th row.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got most of the left defencemen in the league backing up when they see him coming&rdquo;, says coach Vic Stasiuk of his fleet right winger. &ldquo;Now he&rsquo;s got to learn to start shooting into all that traffic he creates in front of the goal. He&rsquo;s got a pretty good shot, too, but I guess the fact he&rsquo;s been a centre all his life until this season still has him instinctively thinking pass instead of shoot when he crosses the blueline.&rdquo;Recently, however. Lalonde has started shooting more often and the results have been gratifying Unfortunately they are not enough to significantly improve the Canucks unhappy record.The Canucks&rsquo; halted a sevengame losing streak with a win over Atlanta and a tie with Detroit. They almost added the scalps of the Boston Bruins, too, but after opening up an early 4-0 lead, they faded and the Bruins came on to win 7-6.Since then the Canucks have lost two more, 3-1 to the Sabres in Buffalo and 7-3 to the Canadiens in Montreal. But in each of those last two losses, Lalonde was named as Vancouver&rsquo;s best player.CANUCK CAPERS: Captain Orland Kurtenbach, who was operated on Jan. 5 for removal of gall bladder and appendix, made his first appearance in a Vancouver uniform since Dec. 21 in the loss to Montreal &hellip; He played remarkably well and collected an assist &hellip; However; now the Canucks have lost defenceman Jim Hargreaves to the surgeen&rsquo;s knife &hellip; A shoulder separation required surgery Feb. 22. &#9632;

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Being The Smallest Performer In NHL Not Fazing Lalonde Vancouver

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div>DETROIT&mdash;Ned Harkness has gone through some trying times in Detroit, but right now the Red Wings general manager is getting some grudging credit for the team&rsquo;s revival.It doesn&rsquo;t come close to matching the notice he attracted when he distributed the third place team he inherited around the National Hockey League of course but the fans are coming back, just like the team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01892/3404099-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="273" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Stackhouse</figcaption></div>Mentioned before was the reacquisition of goaltender Roy Edwards, grabbed from under Toronto&rsquo;s nose on the eve of the season, for a second round draft choice and less than the $30,000 waiver price from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Edwards has played brilliantly for Detroit.The Wings got their money back, and then some, plus a third round choice from Pittsburgh for goaltender Andy Brown at the end of February. Brown was the Wings&rsquo; No. 3 man.Another Harkness deal that has worked out expectionally well was made early last season and involved the dispatch of swift right wing Tom Webster, a proven scorer, to Oakland for defenseman Ron Stackhouse.Webster is closing in on 50 goals but he&rsquo;s doing it in the World Hockey Association, having jumped Oakland&rsquo;s ship, but Stackhouse has been playing excellent hockey for Detroit and he&rsquo;s only 23 years old.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate that he hasn&rsquo;t had any All-Star mention but he&rsquo;s an All-Star on our club,&rdquo; Coach John Wilson said after Stackhouse set up two Marcel Dionne goals in a 5-0 Red Wing victory over the St. Louis Blues in a nationally televised game.Stackhouse&rsquo;s contributions on offense have been substantial &mdash; he was Detroit&rsquo;s leading point man on defense with four goals and 23 assists through 62 games &mdash; but his contributions on defense counted far more.At 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds Stackhouse is bigger than most of the forwards he has to work against and he has used his size, particularly his reach, to great advantage.&ldquo;He just kinda sits back and surveysthe situation.&rdquo; said Stackhouse&rsquo;s bachelor quarters mate and fellow Harkness acquisition. Mickey Redmond. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t look spectacular but he gets the job done.&rdquo;Stackhouse admits his confidence is growing and that he does &ldquo;take it cool&rdquo; on the ice.&ldquo;Sometimes I think maybe it&rsquo;s too cool, that I don&rsquo;t get excited enough,&rdquo; Stackhouse said and then a smile spread beneath his mustache. &ldquo;At least some of the fans in the balcony don&rsquo;t think get excited enough.&rdquo;When you&rsquo;re that big, fans just naturally expect you to be a belter. Stackhouse does some smacking but that isn&rsquo;t his entire game. What he&rsquo;s best at is manipulating the puck in front of the net, making his check and getting the puck out of there.Stackhouse and Redmond are perfect housemates and this is the second season they&rsquo;ve batched it logether. Redmond was renting a house alone last season when Stackhouse joined the club and moved in with him.This season they&rsquo;ve got a large house in a posh suburb and Redmond does the cooking and Stackhouse the cleaning.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s big enough that we don&rsquo;t bump into each other,&rdquo; Redmond said. And Stackhouse picks out his country and western tunes on his guitar.If the roomates keep doing their thing on the ice, Redmond scoring and Stackhouse preventing goals. Stackhouse will be picking out &ldquo;Pretty Red Wing&rdquo; well into the playoffs.RED WING NOTES: Denis DeJordy continued his comeback from a dismal first half by registering his first shutout in the St. Louis game, stopping 24 shots. It was Detroit&rsquo;s sixth whitewash, two more than the club had all last season.Marcel Dionne scored his second three-goal game in a 3-3 tie with Montreal and went on to score three more times in his next two games to hike his count to 34 and pass his rookie output of 28 &hellip; some &ldquo;sophomore jinx.&rdquo;Chief penalty-killers Henry Boucha and Bill Collins helped the Wings kill 46 enemy power plays over a 17-game stretch by allowing only three goals. At one point they went six games without giving up a goal. Then Montreal hit.Boucha showed off a beaded Indian head band, sent to him from Iriends in Warroad, Minn., on the St. Louis TV game, but the leather lies broke &hellip; and a good thing because the NHL will allow his regular red and white sweatbands, but frowns the tie-ons.Montreal Coach Scotty Bowman questioned Boucha&rsquo;s head band after Guy Lapointe tripped on it a few weeks ago but Bowman didn&rsquo;t pursue it &mdash; &ldquo;That would be like attacking motherhood and besides, he&rsquo;s going so well that I don&rsquo;t want to get him mad,&rdquo; Bowman said, smiling. &#9632;

f0009-01

Player Trades By Harkness Start To Pay Off For Wings Detroit

<div class="byline">BY NORMMacLEAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;Bobby Rousseau was surrounded by reporters in front of his dressing room area. This in itself was unusual this season. For the most part Emile Francis, the Rangers general manager-coach has employed Bobby sparingly, as a point I man on the power play, utility forward, occasional penalty killer and odd job man. This, despite Bobby&rsquo;s leading the Blueshirts in playoff scoring just last spring.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01911/3404137-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="281" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Rousseau</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Bobby gets tired so I&rsquo;m saving him for when it gets important,&rdquo; Francis would explain with a smile.It got important for the Rangers after Vic Hadfield and Bruce MacGregor were injured. Two lines were disrupted as the Rangers took on Los Angeles February 21. Suddenly there was Rousseau, taking a full shift and directing traffic as if he was Jean Beliveau.&ldquo;No I&rsquo;m not Beliveau,&rdquo; grins Bobby. &ldquo;Our Beliveau is Jean Ratelle. You notice he got the game winners twice in three games."Rousseau was right. New York roared from a 3-1 deficit in the LA game to see Rat ty win it in the last ten seconds. Then on February 25 after Minnesota had assumed a 41 lead New York came back to win 6-5, Ratelie again getting the big goal that counted.What Rousseau hadn&rsquo;t mentioned was his shot which really broke the North Stars&rsquo; back and gave New York a 5-4 lead. The 32 year old. five ten, 180 pounder was flying, while playing with Ratelle and Glen Sather on a catch line. This is Bobby-modest almost to a fault.&ldquo;Rousseau, Ratty and Slats saved us,&rdquo; noted Francis.The Rangers had to win because sandwiched between their two come-from-behind thrillers was a horrendous 5-2 pasting by the California Golden Seals on Feb 23. First place seems farther away and Boston Bruins are right behind the Rangers heels in the battle for second.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02768/3404130-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="1785" height="928"><figcaption class="caption-body">Three of the Rangers&rsquo; big name stars show off their young offsprings at a recent team gathering in Madison Square Garden. From the left, WALT TKACZUK and daughter SARA, 6 months, BRAD PARK and son JAMIE, 5 months, and BILL FAIRBAIRN and daughter CORRIE LYNNE, 9 months.</figcaption></div>Rod Gilbert returned to action after missing the two West Coast games due to an attack of the flu, apparently contacted in Florida where he competed in an All Sports competition with Johnny Bench and other stars. Rod won $2,500. Hadfield also returned against Minnesota, earlier than anticipated and this should enable the Cat to pick up the pieces with the GAG Line of Ratelle-Gilbert and Hadfield once more. Vic got his 24th of the year on a close in shot set up by Jim Neilson and Rod Seiling.&ldquo;I felt better than I thought I would. Did a little running during the week and kept skating so it wasn&rsquo;t too bad,&rdquo; said Vic.Both of the Hadfield thumbs are out of place and he will have to undergo surgery during the offseason to correct the problems.Dale Rolfe and Seiling returned to action, settling down the defense, but Brad Park was still out. He was still hurting when he walked so his return to action was indefinite. Park re-injured his knee against the Islanders on February 18.On the defense, Jim Neilson has been playing very well of late and Seiling was outstanding against Minnesota.The Minnesota contest erupted near the end when Ed Giacomin came out of his goal and chased the North Stars, Bill Goldsworthy almost to center ice trying to slash him with his big goalie stick. Goldsworthy had hit Eddie on the wrist with hisstick.&ldquo;When he hit me I took after him. It was just one of those things that happen. I don&rsquo;t want to be classified as a fighter,&rdquo; said Eddie.Francis has been using Giacomin more than Gilles Villemure with Ed now being 24-8-3 and Gil 16-8-2. Peter McDuffie is 1-0-0.BLUE CHIPS: Bob Rousseau now has 8 goals. He had 21 last term and 4 with Minnesota the year before &hellip; Jean Rate lie had scored in five straight games and held the Rangersup with both Gilbert and Hadfield out. Ratty was leading the team with 34 goals &hellip; Unnoticed Rod Seiling had 9 goals and 30 assists for 39 big points from the blue line &hellip; Injured Brad Park was stopped at 9-33-42 behind Guy Lapointe and Bobby Orr &hellip; Of the Rangers last sixteen games, eight are home, eight away with two remaining with Boston and one with Montreal&hellip; Jerry Butler scored his first NHL goal against LA &mdash; and it was the game tier &mdash; setting up Ratelle&rsquo;s winner. &#9632;

f0010-01

Rousseau, Ratelle Rally Rangers

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;The three-goaltender system, ordinarily an awkward approach that keeps two-thirds of the stable miserable, has provided some lighter moments for Philadelphia Flyers this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01889/3404175-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="283" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Taylor</figcaption></div>For instance, after Doug Favell won in Atlanta in early January for his first victory in six weeks, teammate Gary Dornhoefer hollered. &ldquo;You just solidified your hold on the No. 3 goaltender&rsquo;s job.&rdquo; Favell laughed and replied, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good thing I won or I would have solidified my hold on the No. 4 job.&rdquo;Writers covering the Fivers decided coach Fred Shero picked his starting goaltender by rolling dice so a die showing numbers one (Favell), 30 (Bobby Taylor) and 35 (Michel Belhumeur) was painted up and presented to Shero. Predictably, Shero accepted the joke and didn&rsquo;t try wedging the die in a writer&rsquo;s ear.Those who witnessed Phil Myre and Denis DeJordy gather dust while Ken Dryden guarded Montreal&rsquo;s goal last season might not believe three goaltenders could accept the crowded company, but the Flyers are proving it&rsquo;s possible.Be assured that neither Favell, Taylor nor Belhumeur like it, but they&rsquo;ve learned to live with it &mdash; for this season, at least.Several things have contributed to the masked-men&rsquo;s harmony. One, they&rsquo;re all young and like each other. Taylor, 28, and Belhumeur, 23, are NHL rookies who have progressed together trhough the Flyers&rsquo; farm system. Favell, 27, is an original Flyer with naturally, six years NHL experience.Secondly, one of the three has either been hurt or in the doghouse, making Shero&rsquo;s choice easier. Taylor was the first sidelined. He missed nearly two months with a pulled hamstring. Belhumeur started in the doghouse, losing his first start to the Rangers 7-3 after Taylor was hurt. With Favell slumping, Shero turned to Belhumeur in desperation and the Sorel, Que., native responded with a 5-31 record in nine straight starts. Later, Belhumeur won back-to-back games over Pittsburgh before a thumb injury on his catching hand sidelined him for 11 games.Which brings us to Favell. One of the NHLs more delightful, witty characters, Favell watched 14 consecutive games during January and February. Eight of those games he didn&rsquo;t even suit up, which triggered all sorts of rumors: Favell was ticketed for Boston, Shero didn&rsquo;t like his carefree practice attitude, etc. Confirming these reports with the Flyers&rsquo; front office was as difficult as trying to steal the puck from Bobby Orr.After Taylor started six straight games, including four on the road, Favell was finally alerted for duty and he responded with three victories in four starts including a sensational final period in St. Louis Feb. 20 when the Flyers held off a late Blues&rsquo; challenge to win 53.&ldquo;With the rivalry we&rsquo;ve had over the years with St. Louis, that has to be one of my most satisfying wins in a long time,&rdquo; an unusually serious Favell said. Then he added, &ldquo;But I still don&rsquo;t know my status.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02802/3404168-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="547" height="748"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICHEL BELHUMEUR&hellip; Came Through In Pinch</figcaption></div>Unless a trade develops before the March 4 deadline, a development Flyers&rsquo; GM Keith Allen indicated was unlikely, Favell&rsquo;s status will continue as one third of hockey&rsquo;s friendliest goaltending trio. However, by next season, surely one of the three will be playing elsewhere.As Shero says, &ldquo;I know they aren&rsquo;t happy because they all want to play, but I&rsquo;m happy. I remember last season when we didn&rsquo;t have any healthy goaltenders (Bruce Gamble heart attack, Don McLeod injured leg, Favell back spasms).&ldquo;They must realize the team comes first,&rdquo; continued Shero. &ldquo;If they&rsquo;re good enough, they&rsquo;ll eventually be traded to another big league club.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0011-01

Three-Goaler System Can Work In NHL

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>TORONTO &mdash; Jacques Plante, goalkeeper, traded to Boston along with Leafs&rsquo; third-round amateur draft pick in exchange for Boston player to be named later and Bruins&rsquo; first-round amateur draft pick. Gordon McRae, goalkeeper, recalled from Tulsa of CHL. Larry McIntyre, defenseman, assigned to Tulsa.DETROIT &mdash; Gary Doak, defenseman, traded to Boston in return for Garnet &lsquo;Ace&rsquo; Bailey and future considerations.MINNESOTA &mdash; Don Blackburn, forward, secured from New York Islanders in straight cash deal.ST. LOUIS &mdash; Bob Johnson, goalkeeper, assigned to Denver of WHL. Kevin O&rsquo;Shea, forward, recalled from Denver.N.Y. RANGERS &mdash; Tommy, Williams, and Jerry Butler, forwards, returned to Providence of AHL. Ab DeMarco, defenseman traded to St. Louis in return for Mike Murphy, forward, Sheldon Kannegiesser, defenseman, secured from Pittsburgh for future considerations.BOSTON &mdash; Ken Broderick, goalkeeper, purchased from San&rsquo; Diego of WHL in returned for three players &mdash; a goaler, forward and defenseman &mdash; to be delivered at end of season. Broderick to report at conclusion of 1972-73 season.VANCOUVER Bruce Bullock, goalkeeper, assigned to Seattle of WHL. Jim Hargreaves, defenseman, placed on injury list for rest of season after undergoing knee surgery.PITTSBURGH Cam Newton, goalkeeper, and Ron Lalonde, forward, returned to Hershey of AHL.N.Y. ISLANDERS &mdash; Ron Smith, defenseman, recalled from New Haven of AHL and later returned. Terry Crisp, forward. traded to Philadelphia in return for Jean Potvin, defenseman.PHILADELPHIA &mdash; Jim Watson, defenseman, returned to Richmond of AHL.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>RICHMOND &mdash; Bob Gerrard, forward, returned to New Jersey of EHL.JACKSONVILLE &mdash; Mike Hornby, forward, called up from Saginaw of IHL on live-game protrial.<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>SAN DIEGO &mdash; Willie O&lsquo;Ree, forward, recalled from New Haven of AHL.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>MAHA &mdash; John Huber, defenseman, called up from Des Moines of IHL on five-game protrial.FORT WORTH &mdash; Glen Seperich, goalkeeper, returned to Port Huron of IHL.DALLAS &mdash; Jim Young and Terry Smith, forwards, returned to Flint of IHL after 5-game protrials.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>FLINT &mdash; Doug Carpenter, defenseman, secured from Roanoke Valley of EHL Brian Dickie, forward, sent to Des Moines of IHL on loan. Dickie refused to report and was promptly suspended.TOLEDO &mdash; Pat McCool defenseman, secured from Vancouver of NHL on loan for rest of season.MUSKEGON &mdash; Duffy McCarthy, forward, secured from Des Moines of IHL on loan. Jim Pollock, forward, released.DES MOINES &mdash; Jim Park, goalkeeper, secured from New Jersey of EHL on loan. Jack Criel, defenseman, secured from Green-sboro of EHL. &#9632;

Movement of Player

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOSANGELES&mdash;The Kings have won only two of their last 17 games at this writing, have only 16 games left and are losing out in the race for a playoff position. They have long since dissipated the advantages they gained through a fine first half, which included an eight-game winning streak, now only a memory.They still can come through with a fast finish and they did play winning hockey in their last two games, but they were beaten by better teams. Both were home games, however, and the losses hurt heavily.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01882/3404230-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="275" height="476"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gilles Marotte</figcaption></div>They now have not beaten New York&rsquo;s Rangers in 19 consecutive meetings and it appears they do not expect to do so. They blew a 30 lead before being tied, 4-4, in their previous meeting and they blew a 3-1 lead before being tied in the last period, then beaten, 4-3, with only 10 seconds to play.Bobby Rousseau intercepted a pass from Gilles Marotte, went around Harry Howell, slid the puck in front of the net. Jean Ratelle poked it past Rog Vachon for the crusher, which disappointed the 10,856 fans leaving the Forum. It left the Kings dazed with disbelief in their dressing room. They have not beaten Rangers, Canadiens and North Stars this season and it is difficult to finish in the first four in your division when there are three teams you cannot beat even once.LA snapped back with surprising spirit three nights later and thrilled the third sellout house of 16,005 fans in their history with a courageous comeback from 5-2 deficit to tie at 5-5 early in the third period, but Boston banged in two in the last 10 minutes to win, 7-5.Although outshot, 52-23, by Bruins, the Kings wre not outplayed that decisively. Gary Edwards was great in goal and the team made mistakes but gave a super effort. Afterwards, as owner Jack Kent Cooke walked among them to console them, they seemed more hopeful than after the previous game.Cooke, manager Larry Regan and coach Bob Pulford have been desperate to do something that will help.Regan admitted that Marotte, a first-half all-star, had been benched in the Boston game because of erratic play, in the hopes it would shake him up. It turned him bitter. He feels he has given his best all season. He admits he has made mistakes lately. But so have many others. Only tough Terry Harper has been a more consistent defenseman.Pulford said Marotte was sat down &ldquo;because of a groin.&rdquo;The day after the Boston game, the Kings, who have been trying to trade to beef up the club finally made a deal, but it was a controversial one. They sent Ralph Backstrom to Chicago for left-winger Dan Maloney. This shook up the Kings, though for better or worse remains to be seen.Backstrom is 35, but the 15-year NHL veteran had been hailed as a symbol of the new Kings. An intelligent, hustling player, he was regarded as a team leader on and off the ice.The center unselfishly shifted to left wing this season so Butch Goring could, as he demanded, be shifted back to center. This made it an effective line. Backstrom loved southern California, bought and moved his family into a home here, and was supposed to create a feeling of franchise spirit that had not developed with all the wheeling and dealing of the past few seasons.At the time of the trade, Backstom&rsquo;s production topped Maloney&rsquo;s, 20 goals and 29 assists to 13 goals and 17 assists. But the 6-2, 185-pound Maloney is only 22, younger, bigger and rougher than Backstrom and a fine prospect who, in his third pro season, has a lot longer to go. He scored 12 goals for Chicago season before last, 25 for Dallas in the minors last season.Backstrom had not scored in eight games and had only two goals in his last 17 games, so he was not producing.The Kings remain within reach of a playoff spot and play a lot of teams on their level at home the final four weeks. They are anxiously reaching out for something which will avert a fourth straight finish among the also-rans. &#9632;

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Trading Of Backstrom Heads Desperation Shakeup By Kings Los Angeles

<div class="byline">BY DAN DONOVAN</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Traded players are often in a hurry to get to their new teams, but Andy Brown was so eager, he was there before he was traded.The 29-year-old goaltender appeared at Buffalo&rsquo;s Statler-Hilton Hotel shortly before noon on the day the Penguins were scheduled to play the Sabres.A few hours later, penguin General Manager-Jack Riley arrived from Pittsburgh and was surprised to learn Brown was with the club. According to Riley, Detroit general manager Ned Harkness had turned down his final offer the night before.While Riley waited for Harkness to make a counter offer. Harkness told Brown to meet the Penguins in Buffalo. When he heard about the situation. Brown tried to say there was no trade.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t belong to the Penguins.&rdquo; he told a reporter. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just flying black with them to visit a few friends in Pittsburgh.&rdquo;It was a pretty lame excuse since a hockey player rarely gets a weekend off just to visit friends. But soon Brown was assured he could visit his friends in Pittsburgh as a Penguins.After two more telephone calls. Riley said that Brown definitely was Penguin property and the Red Wings would get cash and a 1973 draft choice for him.&ldquo;That was our final offer the other night,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been trying for almost two years to get him.&rdquo;The Penguins&rsquo; need became even more acute with the recent loss of faith in Can Newton. For a month, Newton only appeared when first string Jim Rutherford attended his grandfather&rsquo;s funeial. Coach Ken Schinkel didn&rsquo;t believe enough in Newton to use him at home against Long Island even though Rutherford had already shown sings of wear from continual play.Playing behind Roy Edwards and Denis Dejordy, Brown, hadn&rsquo;t seen action in a month, but when he gets into shape, he will probably be the backup for Rutherford the Penguins need.Rutherford is not a sturdy Dryden or Esposito type. He once had a breakdown in junior hockey and after he plays several consecutive games his eves swell up and he looks like he just woke up.The trade is the latest of several goalie switches between the two teams. Rutherford. Edwards. Al Smith and Joe Daley have each been owned by both clubs.PENGUIN CHATTER: The directors of the Civic Arena are considering several plans for expansion of the arena, but no work will probably begin for a couple of years &hellip; The Penguins are ahead only of the California Golden Seals as far as road record for a Western Division team goes &hellip; Penguins already have five 20-goal scorers and that is most in their history. &#9632;

Brown Eager For Trade, Showed Before Deal Finalized

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div>LONG ISLAND &mdash;When General Manager Bill Torrey drafted Craig Cameron off the roster of the Minnesota North Stars last June, he knew he was getting one of the better checkers in the league. Torrey figured that if his club was to achieve any level of respectability, he would have to build around some fierce checking forwards.As expected, in the beginning of the year Carnet on was placed on the Islanders top checking unit by ex-coach Phil Goyette, along with Brian Lavender on left wing and Terry Crisp at center. As any hockey fan knows, Torrey&rsquo;s hopes of building a defenive-minded team didn&rsquo;t exactly work out &mdash; not this year at least and the line was broken up.Lavender&rsquo;s talents were found to be the most lacking, and he was shipped to Detroit with Ken Murray in exchange for Bob Cook and Ralph Stewart. When Crisp went to the sidelines at the same time with a fractured cheekbone, Cameron was left by himself.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01866/3404285-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="241" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gilles Marotte</figcaption></div>Eventually Craig was teamed with scrappy Brian Spencer on the left flank and rookie Lorne Henning as the pivot man, and almost immediately a funny thing began to happen: Craig began to pop goals with an incredible frequency!A look at Cameron&rsquo;s scoring chart reveals that he had scored five times before New Year&rsquo;s Day, but then came a long dry spell. The drought finally ended on January 23rd when he registered his first NHL hat trick against California.Since then, Cameron&rsquo;s hard shot has been finding the net like radar. In the month&rsquo;s span from that memorable California game to February 22nd, the 27 year-old Edmonton native has scored ten times, giving him a personal high of 15 for a season. It wasn&rsquo;t too long before his teammates awarded him a new nickname indicative of his newly-found scoring prowess &mdash; &ldquo;Gunner.&rdquo;The always-smiling right winger can&rsquo;t really explain his sudden success. &ldquo;I guess I&rsquo;m just shooting more now,&rdquo; he says modestly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m concentrating a bit more on taking my shots now and I look to be set up. So far I&rsquo;ve just been lucky.&rdquo;Cameron&rsquo;s linemate Brian Spencer doesn&rsquo;t feel that he should be so modest. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing great hockey right now.&rdquo; says the Spinner. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s really making our line go. I like to go into the corner and dig the puck out, and look for him in the slot. He can let a shot go faster than anyone around, and if he&rsquo;s on net, it&rsquo;s going to goin.&rdquo;A professional since 1966, the Gunner&rsquo;s itinerary resembles &ldquo;Around the World in Eighty Days.&rdquo; At one time or another Craig has belonged to Detroit, St. Louis (twice), Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Minnesota. He never actually got on the ice for all of them, as some stops were merely transfer points in a three-way deal.&ldquo;It got a little hectic for a while,&rdquo; grins Cameron. &ldquo;I never knew who I&rsquo;d be with next. All I knew was that I couldn&rsquo;t ever think seriously about settling down in any one city. I&rsquo;m glad I&rsquo;m here with the Islanders now though. Now I finally have a chance to stick.&rdquo;Despite concentrating a bit more on the offensive side of the game, Cameron hasn&rsquo;t given up his obligations as a checker. &ldquo;I still don&rsquo;t go into the offensive zone that much when I think we might get caught up ice,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I still consider myself a checker first, and so far it&rsquo;s been working.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s been a long season for the Islanders and their many suffering fans. Perhaps a 20 goal season for cunner Cameron could sweeten the bitter memories of a team&rsquo;s first year in the NHL.ISLAND SOUNDS: &mdash; By scoring two goals in the Islanders&rsquo; 4-2 win over Detroit on Feb. 25th, Brian Spencer bettered his entire previous NHL output. The goals gave him 31 pts. tor the season, while his total for two campaigns with Toronto was 30 &hellip; Goaltender Gerry Desjardins, playing very well of late, had to retire from the Detroit game in the first period after suffering strained knee ligaments. He shouldn&rsquo;t miss more than a few days &hellip; With the sale of defenseman Jim Mair to Vancouver. coach Earl Ingarfield has moved Eddie Westfall back to the blueline &hellip; Newcomer Ralph Stewart is now centering the Germain Gagnon-Billy Harris line &hellip; The victory over Detroit was only the club&rsquo;s second since Ingarfield took over for Goyette on Jan. 25th. &#9632;

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‘Gunner’ Cameron Islanders’ Newest Goal Scoring Threat New York

<div class="byline">BY DAN PROUDFOOT</div>TORONTO &mdash;It was a sad thing to discuss, something which caused anyone in Maple Leaf management to lower his voice: the case of Dave Fortier and his bad habits.Now, any number of flaws can exist in a promising, young defenseman. Fortier spent the winter at Tulsa, Okla., with the Leaf farm team, the Oilers, while the brass here in Toronto fussed and bothered about the fact he was just the thing the Leafs needed, except&hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01841/3404316-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="262" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Fortier</figcaption></div>Certain flaws can keep a guy in the minors &mdash; bad living habits, bad skating, lack of desire, no brains. None of these things hampered Fortier.The problem was, Leaf scouts had decided he gave the puck away too much. Brutal with the puck, was the word.Fans could be excused for thinking that poor puck handling was a necessary qualification for playing on the Leaf defense, of course, but that flaw nevertheless was the one that kept Fortier down on the farm.Independent reports from Tulsa indicated Fortier was the best defenseman on the Oiler club, tough, hard-hitting and thorough. Nevertheless, the scouts&rsquo; criticism counted.Then, in February, injuries to three regular Leaf defencemen created the kind of situation in which Toronto management had no choice but to reach down to the minor for a body.Fortier arrived in Toronto, hardly with rave reviews. But it didn&rsquo;t take long for the rave reviews to start. Soon fans were asking where Fortier had been when he was needed, when Leafs still had a chance of making the playoffs. His case was eerily similar to that of Joe Lundrigan, a rookie with experience at Tulsa who sat on the Leaf bench because of poor puck handling until injuries forced him into the lineup.Like Lundrigan, Fortier impressed with hard-hitting and determined play. Fortier had a reputation from junior hockey days with St. Catharines Black Hawks of the OH A Junior A league tor aggressiveness, and he showed every sign of maintaining the reputation in the NHL.I&rsquo;m very surprised by this Fortier,&rdquo; said Jacques Plante, who gets closeup views of defensemen from his position in goal, &ldquo;all I heard was bad things about him, but he is playing very well here &mdash; I can&rsquo;t fault him.&rdquo;John McLellan, coach of the Leafs, admitted, &ldquo;he has played good games since coming here. He comes to play.&rdquo;Fortier, 21, got most attention after a game against St. Louis Blues. Leafs won the game 4-2; Fortier won a fight, by a wider margin, against Garry Unger.In post-game comments Unger noted that the entire Leaf team was playing more aggressively. Had Fortier made a difference?Unger duly admitted that Fortier&rsquo;s truculence probably had boosted Leafs. He noted that, as well as Fortier&rsquo;s number. Unger was counting on Fortier to stick in the NHL for round two in their disagreement, and because Blues and Leafs weren&rsquo;t scheduled to meet again this season, that means the rookie defenseman has at least one booster counting on him making the team in 1973-74.Fortier struck a modest pose. &ldquo;All I do,&rdquo; he said to reporters after the St. Louis tiff, &ldquo;is try to take guys into the corner, or clean them out from in front of the net.&rdquo; And that, of course, was just what Leafs needed all season. &#9632;

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Fortier Silences Ice Critics With Ruaaed Play For Leafs

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01672/3404375-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02584/3404368-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="814" height="4172"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03470/3404361-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="1545" height="2484"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04362/3404354-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="770" height="4167"></div><h2>NHL&rsquo;S EAST-WEST SCOREBOARD</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05263/3404347-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="1410" height="334"></div> &#9632;

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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02505/3404406-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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TOP 25 SCORERS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03419/3404437-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Looking At NHL Gaolers

MONTREAL&mdash;With exactly four weeks remaining in the 1972-73 National Hockey League&rsquo;s regular schedule, the chances look bright for at least a record-equalling feat of three players blasting their way to and perhaps through the 50-goal barrier.Phil Esposito of Boston, who holds the all-time record of 76 goals which he set in 1970-71, is closest to the mark at the moment with44goals. However, it appears almost out of the question that he will equal his output of 66 goals last season. The Bruins have 13 games left to play.The surprise player in the trio is Rick MacLeish of Philadelphia, who picked up seven points including his second four-goal game in nine starts during Flyers&rsquo; 10-0 win over Toronto Sunday. That raised his total to 42 goals, second only to Esposito, and only two goals away from equalling the highest total by a player of a post-1967 team. Rick Martin of Buffalo Sabres last season scored 44 goals which is also the rookie record.Mickey Redmond, who missed two games through injury, is the other player with a good shot at the 50-goal mark. He now has 40 and the Wings have 13-games left to play. Last sea son he had 42 goals with Wings.The only other time there have been three 50-or-more-goal scorers in one season was in 1971-72 when Esposito, Vic Hadfield of New York and Bobby Hull of Chicago scored 66, 50 and 50 goals, respectively.In NHL history there have been 11 50-goal seasons attained by six players &mdash; Hull, five times; Esposito, twice; and Maurice Richard of Montreal, the first player to reach the plateau; Bernie Geoffrion of Montreal; John Bucyk of Boston; and Hadfield.Esposito last week picked up rive points in Bruins&rsquo; three games to move past the 100-point mark for the fourth time in five seasons and third straight term. He has 102 points, 12 more than second-place Bobby Clarke of the Flyers, who leads in assists with 59. MacLeish&rsquo;s seven points against Toronto was the most by a player in one game since Garry Unger of St. Louis had three goals and four assists during a 9-0 win against Buffalo, March 13, 1971. It is also only the 12th time that has happened in NHL history. Maurice Richard and Bert Olmstead of Montreal share the record of eight points in a game.It took all teams 229 regular-season and 263 games, including playoffs, to shut out Chicago. Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Jim Rutherford was the hero who ended the streak, Feb. 24 when he blanked the Hawks 2-0. Any hopes Chicago had of trying another streak were ended when Boston and new Bruin goaler Jacques Plante blanked the Hawks 4-0, Chicago&rsquo;s second shut-out loss in five games, on the NBC&rsquo;s TV game-of-the-week. Plante had been traded from Toronto to Boston 24 hours before the game. &#9632;

NHL WEEK — In Review

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;As the going gets tough in the battle for fourth place in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s East Division, Coach Joe Crozier of the Buffalo Sabres is mighty glad he has his checking line of Don Luce, Craig Ramsay and Larry Mickey.The trio held down the scoring of the opposition&rsquo;s top lines as Sabres moved to a four-point lead over Detroit in seven games after dropping a point behind the Red Wings in a 5-2 home loss to the Detroiters in the final game between the teams. Then did much of Buffalo&rsquo;s scoring, as well.The Sabres posted a won-5 lost-tied-record in the seven games subsequent to the Detroit loss. In the last three games of the string, the Luce-Ramsay-Mickey line scored four of the seven goals the Sabres put in.Coach Joe Crozier, who was getting little production from the two lines that had been doing his scoring earlier, began shifting his forwards around. He even broke up his French Connection for a while, after acquiring Norm Gratton from the Atlanta Flames.Gratton, who played with Gil Perreault and Rick Martin for the Montreal Junior Canadiens, was teamed with them off and on in live games and produced three goals.Robert, who missed most of one of those games with a game misconduct penalty to give Crozier a chance to try Gratton, was moved to right wing on a line with Gerry Meehan and Jim Lorentz.Lorentz, who had been playing right wing, shifted to the left side and Hugh Harris dropped off.This didn&rsquo;t work too well, however, after a promising start and Robert returned to right wing with Perreault and Martin in a 2-1 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Gratton went to the left side (he is a lefthand shot, as is Lorentz) with Meehan and Lorentz.The French Connection came through for the winning goal in that game &mdash; Perreault scored it on a 45-foot blast after a pass from Robert &mdash; but it was the checking line which started the Sabres on their way to victory.Ramsay scored from a difficult angle after a pass from Mickey. The night before, Mickey and Luce got the Buffalo goals in a 4-2 less to the Minnesota North Stars. The game before that, Luce and Mickey scored in a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.Luce came to the Sabres with defenseman Mike Robitaille from the Detroit Red Wings in a trade for goalie Joe Daley before the 1971-72 season. Daley now is in the World Hockey Association. The lanky center who proved a good penalty killer in his first campaign with Buffalo teamed with Danny Lawson, also now in the WHA.Looking for some one to team with Luce in killing penalties, Coach Joe Crozier came up with Ramsay, the Sabres&rsquo; second choice in the 1971 amateur draft. They worked well together against opposing power plays and also on a checking line against the opposition&rsquo;s top scoring combine.Crozier tried various right wingers with them and it wasn&rsquo;t until a 1-1 tie with the New York Islanders that the well-traveled Mickey got a steady job there. He scored Buffalo&rsquo;s goal in that game and got three in the next four outings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01574/3404492-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="273" height="469"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Luce</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Crozier s Line Shifts Keeping Sabres In Fast Playoff Battle

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04325/3404523-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="549" height="686"></div> &#9632;

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TEAM PENALTIES

<div class="byline">BY GEOFFREY FISHER</div>OAKLAND&mdash;The question is not where the California Golden Seals will finish in the NHL West this season, hut where will the players be next season.Some will be lost by defections to the World Hockey Association and some will be gone by choice of the Seals&rsquo; management.But one thing is certain. If Fred Glover is still calling the shots, the Seals will be taking on a load of muscle. High on the priority list in Glover&rsquo;s philosophy of hockey is something called &ldquo;combat&rdquo;. He rates true grit on a level with uncut diamonds.Following the mass defections of Seals to the WHA last summer. Glover has been sending his troops over the top backed by only one player who could be expected to mug an opponent when the need was imminent. That has been Bob Stewart, but with a club so green with recruits as the Seals, a single strongarm agent is about the same as challenging the Hell&rsquo;s Angels with a water pistol.Glover&rsquo;s frustration over the Seals&rsquo; inability to slug it out with their tormentors was especially apparent after the Seals were crushed 7-0 by Philadelphia Flyers at Oakland, Sunday, Feb. 25.Besides being outdone by the Flyers in all basic elements of hockey, the Seals were also outmuscled (except for the valiant maraudings of Stewart). Stewart was bounced to the dressing room for brawling in successive games, against Rangers and Flyers.Glover exressed his views in colorful bleep phrases after the Philadelphia holocaust.&ldquo;I had a strong desire to get on the ice,&rdquo; said Glover, suggesting that he had wished he was in a Seals&rsquo; uniform when the Flyers were intimidating his players.&ldquo;If I got thrown out of the game, I&rsquo;d take at least a few of their guys with me.&rdquo;Those who knew Glover as a player would not argue with that bit of oratory.All was not gloom, however, in the week that ended so disastrously against the Philly henchmen. Forty-eight hours earlier the Seals had slapped a 5-3 loss on the New York Rangers before an Oak land audience of 9,157 incredulous witnesses. The Oakland victory broke a 14-game losing string.Glover was elated with his yearlings after that disrespectful treatment of the lordly Rangers. But inconsistency has been a hallmark of the Oakland Seals this campaign The very defensemen who drew high parise if not eulogies, from the boss for their work against Rangers, allowed Philadelphia&rsquo;s attackers to hang around in front of the Oakland net as though they had paid for parking privileges.As for the Seals on offense, their best stick work occurred when they tapped one another on the posterior for encouragement.The fans booed Flyers&rsquo; hardrock defenseman Andre Dupont when he was penalized for delay of game. They should have given Dupont a humanitarian award if he would have delayed the game until some night when the Seals were ready to play hockey.But before Charley Finley and his triple threat excutive Fred Glover (v.p., g.m. and coach) close the edger on the 1972-73 season, they should make an entry for the purchase of a couple of sympathy cards.They should be addressed to Gilles Meloche and Marvin Edwards. Those two fellows deserve no less for serving as goaltenders for the Seals this tour of duty. &#9632;

Glover Vows More Muscle For Young Seals Next Season

<h2>In The East</h2>Bob Cook has always had the reputation of being a relatively good goal-scorer in the minor leagues. He had enjoyed 22, 26, and 22-goal seasons in the American Hockey League.However, his NHL totals were nothing to write home about probably because he never had the opportunity to play regularly in the big league, except for two games. Now he&rsquo;s getting that chance.The New York Islanders came along earlier this season and made a trade with the Detroit Red Wings, involving Cook. And, he has come into his own with the new East Division team. Cook scored four goals last week for the lowly New Yorkers, including a hat trick as the Islanders shelled the Vancouver Canucks 9-3.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01581/3404585-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="582" height="624"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBCOOK&hellip;New York Islanders</figcaption></div><h2>In The West</h2>Prior to this season, Rick MacLeish had been considered a disappointment. He had scored only two goals in 26 games in the 1970-71 season and one goal in the 1971-72 campaign.But he&rsquo;s put it all together this year and he&rsquo;s more than doing his share to make the Philadelphia Flyers winners. He&rsquo;s scoring goals like they are going out of style.MacLeish pounced on the hapless Toronto Maple Leafs for a seven-point night last week, including four goals. It was the second time in nine games MacLeish had scored four goals in a game. It boosted his total to 42 for the season, second only to Boston&rsquo;s Phil Esposito with 44. It also was his third hat trick of the current campaign.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02473/3404578-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="565" height="627"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK MacLEISH&hellip;Philadelphia Flyers</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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⋆Player’s of the week⋆

MONTREALGOALKen DrydenWayne ThomasMichel PlasseDEFENSEGuy LapointeSerge SavardLarry RobintonDde HogantonBob MurdochJacques Laperriere APierre BouchardCENTERHenri Richard CJacques LemaireReean HouleR. WINGGuy LafleurClaude LaroseJimmy RobertsYvon Cournoyer AL WINGFrank Mahovlkh AMarc TardifChuck LefleyMurray WiltonSteve ShuttINJUREDPete MahovliBOSTONGOALEd JohnstonRott BrooksJacques PlanteDEFENSEDallas Smith ADon Awrey ACarol VadnatsNick BeverleyBobby OrrGary DoakCENTERPhi Esposito AFred StanfieldGregg SheppardDerek SandersonR. WINGKen HodgeFred O&rsquo;DonnellDoug RobertsTerry O&rsquo;ReillyL WINGJohn Bucyk ADon MarcotteWayne CashmanMike WaltonINJUREDNoneDETROITGOALRoy EdwardsDenis DejordyDEFENSERon StackhouseLarry JohnstonThommie BergmanKen MurrayGary Bergman ACENTERRed Berenson AMarcel DionneAlex Delvecchio CHenry BouchaR. WINGBill CollinsBrian LavenderMickey RedmondL WINGNick LibettTim EcclestoneGuy CharronAl KarlanderGarnet BaileyINJUREDNoneTORONTOGOALRon LowGordon McRaeDEFENSEMike PelykJim McKennyLarry McIntyreTerry ClancyDave FortierJohn GradaleJoe LundriganCENTERDave Keon CGeorge FergusonDarryl SittierNorm Ullman AR. WINGRon Ellis ARick KehoePierre JarryDde Smeds moL WINGGarry MonahanErrol ThompsonDenis D&nu;perePaul HendersonINJUREDBrian GlennieRANCERSGOALEd GiacominGilles VillemurePeter McDuffeDEFENSERod SeilingRon HarrisDale RolfeJim Neilson ACENTERJean RatelleWalt TkaczukPete StemkowskiBob RousseauR. WINGRod Gilbert ABill FairbaimL WINGSteve VickersTed IrvineGene CarrVic Hadfield CINJUREDBruce MacGregorBrod Park ABUFFALOGOALDave DrydenRoger CrozierDEFENSELarry HillmanMike RobitailleTracy Pratt APaul TerbencheTim Horton Ajim SchoenfieldCENTERGilbert PerreaultGerry Meehan CJim LorentzDon LuceR WINGRene RobertSteve AtkinsonLorry MkkeyCraig RamsayNorm GrattonL WINGRkk MartinRandy WyrozubHugh HarrisINJUREDNoneVAHCOUVERGOALDune WilsonEd DyckDEFENSEJocelyn Guevremont ADde Tallon AJim HargreavesGregg BoddyBarry Wilkins ADennis KearnsJim MairCENTERAndre Boudrias ARichard LemieuxJohn WrightOrland Kurtenbach CR WINGBob Schma&nu;ltzBobby LdondeGerry O&rsquo;FlahertyBarry WilcoxL WINGDon TannahillDon LeverDave BatonINJUREDWayne MakiISLANDERSGOALGerry DesjardinsBilly SmithDEFENSEBill MikkelsonNeil NicholsonBrian LefleyGerry HartRon SmithCENTERDave HudsonTom MillerLome HenningRdph StewartBrian MarchinkR. WINGBilly HarrisCraig CameronEddie Westfall CBob CookTerry Crisp ARon StewartL WINGBrian SpencerDon BlackburnGermain GagnonINJUREDErnie HkkeCHICAGOGOALTony EspositoGary SmithDEFENSEBill White AKeith MagnusonPhi RussellJohn MarksPat StapletonCENTERPit MartinLou AngottiChico MakiWalt LedinghamR WINGCliff KorollJim Pappin J. P.BordeleauL WINGDennis HullRalph BackstromJerry KorabDick RedmondINJUREDDoug Jarrett AStan Mikita AST.LOUISGOALJacques CaronWayne StephensoDEFENSEBob Plager ABarclay Plager CJean HamelBob McCordChris EvansAb DeMarcoSieve DurbanoConnie MadiganCENTERGary UngerFran HuckWayne MerrickR WINGMike MurphyGary Sabourin APhil RobertoPierre PlanteKevin O&rsquo;SheaL WINGJock EgersFloyd ThomsonDanny O&rsquo;SheaINJUREDBrent HughesPaul CurtisCaliforniaGOALGilles MelocheMory EdwardsDEFENSERkk Smith ABert Marshall CMarshall JohnstonTed McAneeleyBobby StewartCENTERWalt McKechnieStan WeirIvan Boldirev AR. WINGReggie leachHilliard GravesCraig PatrickDarryl MaggsMorris MottL WINGStan GilbertsonGary CroteauPete LaframboiseJoey JohnstonINJUREDNonePHILADELPHIAGOALDoug FavellMkhel BelhumeurBob TaylorDEFENSEAndre DupontWayne HillmanTom BladonEd VanImpe Joe Watson ACENTERBobby Clarke CBill ClementRkk MacLeishR WINGGary Domhoefer ADon SaleskiSimon NoletJean PotvinBill RettL WINGBob KellyRoss Lonsberr&gamma;Dave SchultzBill BarberINJUREDBarry Ash beePITTSBURGHGOALJim RutherfordAndy BrownDEFENSEDave BurrowsDarryl EdestrandDuane Rupp ASheldon KanneglesseiJean-Guy LagoceBryan WatsonCENTERSyl Apps ABryan Hextail ARon SchockRkk KessellR WINGNkk HarbarukAl McDonoughJean PronovostEddie ShackL WINGGreg PolisLowell MacDonaldJim ShiresRobin BurnsINJUREDNoneLOS AHGELESGOALRogatien VachonGary EdwardsDEFENSETerry HarperGilles Marotte AHarry HowellBarry LongNeil KomadoskiLarry BrownCENTERJuha Widing AJim PetersVic VenaskyFrank St. MarseilleButch GoringR WINGDoug VolmarMike CorriganBill LesukSerge BernierL WINGBob BerryReal LemieuxDon KozokDan MaloneyINJUREDNoneMINNESOTAGOALCesare ManiagoGillos GilbertDEFENSETed Harris CTom ReidDennis O&rsquo;BrienFred BarrettDoug MohnsBruce McIntoshCENTERJude DrouinDennis HextailMurray OliverCharlie BurnsR. WINGBob NevinBuster HarveyLou NanneTerry HolbrookL WINGDanny GrantJean-PaulParise AJerry ByersBill GoldsworthyINJUREDBarry Gibbs ADean PrentkeATLANTAGOALDan BouchardPhil MyreDEFENSEArnie BrownPat Quinn ABill Plager ARandy ManeryKerry KetterNoel PicardBob ParodiseNoel Prke ACENTERBobby LeiterRoy ComeauCurt BennettR. WINGLew MorrisonLarry RomanchychLeon RochefortL WINGKeith McCreary CBilly MacMillanJohn StewartJacques RkhardButch DeadmarshINJUREDLucien Grenier &#9632;

NHL Team Rosters C-Captain A-Alternate Captain

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01561/3404658-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="444" height="332"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02474/3404651-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="503" height="350"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03373/3404644-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="646" height="3832"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04317/3404637-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="1932" height="1477"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05263/3404630-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="628" height="3778"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02184/3404623-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="607" height="2450"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03131/3404616-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="654" height="1914"></div> &#9632;

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National Hockey League SUMMARIES

<div class="byline">BY JIM HUBER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01252/3404744-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="557" height="787"><figcaption class="caption-body">ARNIE BROWN&hellip;Asked For Swap</figcaption></div>ATLANTA&mdash;Arnie Brown sat rather uncertainly in the hotel room as the radio announcer prepared to tape a first-period intermission.4Only hours before, he had been on Long Island, prisoner to an expansion team going nowhere, unhappy, entertaining thoughts of retiring.Then it finally came. The trade he had wanted since the first day of the season when the Detroit Red Wings had sent him to the Islanders. He told them then; Trade me, quickly. They finally granted his wish&hellip; four months later.Now he sat in Oakland, the property of another expansion team, waiting with his new Atlanta Flame teammates to go out and meet the Seals."We&rsquo;ll talk.&rdquo; said the announcer, &ldquo;a little about your experience with the lslanders and then&hellip;&rdquo;&ldquo;Hold it,&rdquo; interrupted the veteran defenseman, covering the microphone, &ldquo;you want the straight stuff or would you rather I gloss it over?&rdquo;He could laugh about the problems now. &ldquo;Someday, we&rsquo;ll sit down for a few weeks and I&rsquo;ll tell you all about it,&rdquo; he says.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m right where I want to be now.&rdquo;The Flames were happy when they finally made the trade that sent winger Ernie Hicke to the Island for Brown but not nearly as much as that night in Oakland. Noel Price, the best flame defenseman, was flipped head over skates by a rough Hilliard Graves check and came down with a strained knee. He was out &hellip; but Arnie Brown was there to pick up the slack.Moments before the game, the Flames learned that Hicke had been checked hard by Philadelphia&rsquo;s Bill Flett in Hicke&rsquo;s first appearance as an Islander and had torn up his right knee. He was out for the year.Another trading coup, say you, by Flames&rsquo; general manager Cliff Fletcher? Some were angry when it happened. Hicke. though playing only sporadically, had 14 goals when he left. &ldquo;Arnie&rsquo;s a good defenseman,&rdquo; said Price when he learned of the trade, &ldquo;but we gave up too many goals, I think.&rdquo;The five-game trip that took the Flames to Oakland, Vancouver, Los Angeles. Toronto and Chicago saw many unusual things happen. Brown for Hicke, Norm Gratton to Buffalo for Butch Deadmarsh (to fill the vacated left wing spot). That was only the beginning.The Flames played their worst game of the season in Vancouver and fell to a 5-0 decision. Nights before, they had helped the Seals break a nine-game losing streak by tying, 3-3. The 5-0 loss gave the Canucks their first win in seven games. Only a 65-foot slap shot that goalie Phil Myre didn&rsquo;t see kept the Flames from beating the Kings instead of tying them, 2-2. A loose puck lying on the goal line behind Ron Low was the difference between beating Toronto and tying the Leafs.But the talk in Toronto was not of the tie but the disappearance of No. 1 draft choice Jacques Ri-Richard. The 20-year old forward missed the morning meeting and was punished by being kept out of the game against the Leafs. When teammates returned to the hotel. Richard was gone. He had packed his bags and gone home to Quebec City.After some long-distance haggling, Richard finally returned, was fined $1,000 and expected to sit out the Chicago game. Instead, he was on the ice On the second shift and played regularly.Of the five games, the Flames brought home just three point&rsquo;s on three ties and finished up their worst month of the campaign with a 2-6-3 record. Their hopes for a playoff berth in the mad West Division were still alive &hellip; but only barely.They were forced to look into March and see 15 games. 13 of which were against either teams contending for or assured of a playoffspot. It was not to be easy.But then again, nothing much has been easy for the upstart Flames this year. It&rsquo;s been kind of a first season. &#9632;

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Brown Waited Four Months For Trade

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04103/3404775-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01277/3404813-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hockey New Photo by Steve GoldsteiHere&rsquo;s TIM MADDEN lounging in his home &alpha;w&alpha;y from home in th&laquo; lower confines of the St. Louis Areno. Madden, the club&rsquo;s asst, public ity director, actually lives in specially furnished quarters alongsid the dressing rooms at ice level in the 18,000 &mdash; seat rink.</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;If Tim Madden ever throws a big party at his home, he&rsquo;ll be able to invite 18,000 guests and still have a seat for everyone.Madden is assistant publicity director of the St. Louis Blues. He lives at the St. Louis Arena&mdash;not figuratively, but literally.Madden&rsquo;s quarters consist of a comfortably furnished room plus bath located on ice level and near the visiting team&rsquo;s dressing room. In keeping with an orderly system numbering the various dressing rooms and first-aid rooms and boiler rooms. Madden&rsquo;s door is numbered &ldquo;8&rdquo; and isstenciled with the words &ldquo;Authorized Personnel Only.&rdquo; &hellip;Madden attends morning classes at St. Louis University and works afternoons and evenings at the Arena. He needed a place to live, and Sid Salomon III, executive vice president of the Blues, was the one to come to Tim&rsquo;s aid by suggesting. &ldquo;You can stay here; there&rsquo;s a room in the back.&rdquo;&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect any special arrangements like that.&rdquo; Madden said, &ldquo;but he always is doing the unexpected. The Salomons have been great to me for the little I&rsquo;ve done for them.&rdquo;Madden&rsquo;s room has wall-to-wall carpeting (blue, of course), a built-in double-door closet, a bed which converts to a couch, a built-in desk that runs nearly the length of one wall and a small refrigerator plus other items of furniture. Decorations include some large color hockey photos, and Tim has added two large mementoes from Notre Dame University, which he attended before enrolling at St. Louis University. On one wall hangs a huge photographic blow-up of a ticket to a Notre Dame-Northwestern game, and emblazoned across an opposite wall is the score of Notre Dame&rsquo;s 24-11 victory over Texas in the 1971 Cotton Bowl.&ldquo;At first living alone in the Arena was scary, but now it&rsquo;s my home,&rdquo; Madden said. &ldquo;I know everybody in the building from the guy who sweeps the floor to the guy who runs the joint.&rdquo;&ldquo;I can come and go as I please,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo; John Sher is the Director of Building Operations and has been great to me.&rdquo;On nights when there is no scheduled event, Tim may take the opportunity to skate. When a visiting hockey team arrives late at night, he will usually help the trainer unload the equipment.&ldquo;My room is great for studying, because it&rsquo;s quiet in there, no matter what&rsquo;s going on in the building, &lsquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so quiet that I slept for two hours the night the motorcycle races were here."Madden, of course, works on nights when there are Blues&rsquo; games and will also help the Arena staff on other events.Tim came home late one night and was stopped by a policeman from the nearby Hampton Ave. district station who was patrolling the neighborhood.&ldquo;What are you doing here?&rdquo; the policeman demanded.&ldquo;I live here,&rdquo; Madden replied.&ldquo;Oh, sure,&rdquo; said the officer, &ldquo;and I suppose you play right wing.&rdquo;&ldquo;I had to show him my key fit the door before he would believe me,&rdquo; Madden said.On another night the power failed, and Madden was unable to see a thing inside or outside his room.&ldquo;I started walking up the hallway, and it got darker and darker,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When I started bumping into things that I thought shouldn&rsquo;t be there. I came back to my room and dived into bed and stayed there.&rdquo;Madden has used the players&rsquo; sauna bath and regularly runs up and down the steps between the Arena seats to stay in shape. When he tore some ligaments while playing basketball, trainer Tommy Woodcock treated Madden with the Blues&rsquo; new whirlpool baths.&ldquo;One day I came out of the sauna with a towel wrapped around me and got locked out of the dressing room,&rdquo; Madden said. &ldquo;There was some girl skating on the ice, and I don&rsquo;t know what she was doing there, but I got pretty cold going through all kinds of strange doors and hallways to get back to my room.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02204/3404806-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="305" height="236"></div> &#9632;

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Blues’ Asst. Publicity Man ‘At Home’ In St. Louis Arena

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01255/3404844-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="606" height="962"></div> &#9632;

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HOW THEY STAND

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04108/3404920-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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WHA SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY WALT BURROWS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01260/3404889-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="551" height="486"><figcaption class="caption-body">TERRY CAFFERY&hellip; A Big Surprise</figcaption></div>BOSTON &mdash;Jack Kelley talked about surprises. He started counting on his fingers.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s Tim Sheehy, Kevin Ahearn, John Danby, Larry Pleau,&rdquo; he paused. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s our two goalies, but the biggest surprise of tern all is Tommy Webster. There&rsquo;s a real story for you,&rdquo; continued the general manager &mdash; coach of the New England Whalers. &ldquo;He had a situation with his back that almost finished him in hockey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02197/3404882-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="263" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body">Norm Ferguson</figcaption></div>But he had an operation&hellip; an operation that isn&rsquo;t always successful, one involving the disc in his back. He had consultations with orthopedic surgeons and it was decided to go ahead.&rdquo;Webster had made an amazing recovery. He has been part of the Terry Caffery, another one of Kelley&rsquo;s super surprises, and Brit Selby line that has sparked the Whalers throughout the season in the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s Eastern Division.&ldquo;Tommy has shown me something,&rdquo; said Kelley. &ldquo;He sat out practically a year before the operation and then came back and practiced just a month before the season started. But he was one of our workhorses from the first game.&rdquo;&ldquo;Hawkeye&rdquo;, as he is referred to by his teammates because of the thick glasses he wears off the ice, is headed for a 50-goal season.He wears contact lens while playing and he says they give him great peripheral vision. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have any trouble picking up people on the ice. They certainly are a great invention. Without them, I probably wouldn&rsquo;t be playing hockey.&rdquo; said the 23-year-old star.&ldquo;I think Webster has one of the best plus-minus records in the league,&ldquo; Kelley said recently. &ldquo;Through our first 60 games, I believe he was a plus 28.&rdquo;Kelley is extremely pleased with Caffery&rsquo;s play, also.&ldquo;For a kid just out of the American League, Terry has done a lot of things right for us,&rdquo; said Kelley. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s displayed the savvy of a professional from the start. Caffery and Webster have gotten a boost from the veteran Selby and the three complement each other very well.&rdquo;While the Whalers have gotten good mileage from their scoring punch, Kelley is quick to give praise to the five defensemen, who have alternated in helping make New England a strong contender for first place in the East.Rick Ley, Jim Dorey, Brad Selwood, Paul Hurley and the veteran Teddy Green have provided the Whalers with formidable backliners.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t hesitate using any one of those defensemen,&rdquo; Kelley said. &ldquo;They all do the job and do it well. We&rsquo;ve been pretty fortunate back there with injuries and I think that&rsquo;s going to be the key to winning the championship.&ldquo;We have some good teams in our division&hellip; all with talent enough to win it all. And I believe the one that avoids the injuries down the stretch will be the one to win.&rdquo;Kelley was talking with tongue in cheek as Caffery had just missed four games with a twisted knee and Pleau was recovering from a bout with the flu. &ldquo;We miss both of those guys,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but as I said before, it will be those little injuries and ailments that will decide the championship.&rdquo;CLEVELAND: Cleveland saw its divisional lead diminishing as it dropped a home game to Minnesota before bouncing back to defeat Alberta, 5-4, on Ron Buchanan&rsquo;s 29th goal of the season. Gerry Cheevers lost his goalie average leadership in WHA as it jumped to 2.81 following a pair of six-goal games against the Blazers. Paul Shmyr missed a pair of games with a leg injury. &ldquo;W&rsquo;ve been pretty fortunate with injuries, though,&rdquo; said coach Bill Needham. &ldquo;Our injuries have been the two or three game type, not the lengthy ones that can cause you real problems.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03140/3404875-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="555" height="489"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM WEBSTER&hellip; Real Workhorse</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA: Blazers built longest winning streak of season (5 games) during recent home stand and moved into third place. Danny Lawson became first WHA player to score 50 goals by scoring winning one against Ottawa in 6-5 victory. Play of defenseman Ron Plumb sparkled in victory skein as did the line of John Migneault Don Burgess and Don O&rsquo;Donoghue. Centers Andre Lacroix and Bryan Campbell nursed injuries back to playing form and were instrumental in playoff drive. Lacroix took over WHA scoring lead during surge. Defenseman Iry Spencer missed two games with ankle injury, but rookie Dave Hutchison played well in his place. John McKenzie and Don Herriman scored 20th goals in streak. Blazers play last four games of season on home ice. &ldquo;I think we have a favorable schedule,&rdquo; said Blazer coach Phil Watson. &ldquo;We play nine of our last 13 games at home and we&rsquo;ve been playing our best hockey at home lately.&rdquo;NEW YORK: Raiders suffered a severe setback when Norm Ferguson broke his leg in a game against Alberta which New York won, 5-4. Ferguson, one of the Raiders&rsquo; top stars had scored 28 goals and added 39 assists for 67 points. New York trailed Alberta 4-1 in the game, but tied it on Ron Ward&rsquo;s 41 st goal and won it when Wayne Rivers scored withl:O4 left. Ferguson was replaced by Ted Scharf. Kent Douglas, veteran defenseman, who received an eye injury in January, has started working out again, after the eye began clearing up and his vision improved. Douglas has been acting the role of an assistant coach.QUEBEC: A rugged road schedule has dampened Nordiques&rsquo; playoff hopes. Only six of the final 19 games were to be played on Quebec ice. Chicago whipped Quebec, 4-2, despite being outshot, 40-25. J.C. Tremblay, the league&rsquo;s top defenseman in scoring, contributed his 11th goal in a losing cause. The Nordiques also dropped a road game at Houston, 4-1, as Aeros scored three goals in the final period.OTTAWA: National&rsquo;s drive to finish fourth hit a pair of back-to-back snags against Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Steve King and Gavin Kirk scored for Ottawa in a 4-2 loss to Los Angeles. Nationals then wasted two goals each by Kirk and Wayne Carleton in a 6-5 defeat at the hands of the Blazers, whose Danny Lawson supplied the winning margin with his 50th goal. Ottawa&rsquo;s bright spot is reflected in the schedule which shows them playing 10 of their last 15 games at home. &#9632;

f0024-01

Injury-Free Team Will Win It All Claims Kelley

<div class="byline">BY ALEX HARDY</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Although some WHA franchises are suffering growing pains, Ben Hatskin, owner of Winnipeg Jets, is convinceed the league will be back with a full 12 teams next season.&ldquo;Few, if any, of our clubs will break even, let alone make money this year,&rdquo; Hatskin says, &ldquo;but the league has still been a much greater success than we dared hope for at the start.&rdquo;Hatskin says the most pleasant surprises have been Los Angeles and Houston, where attendance has been beyond expectation. &ldquo;The Sharks were on shaky financial ground at first, but they&rsquo;ve come up with fresh money and Dennis Murphy will definitely keep the team in Los Angeles,&rdquo; Hatskin says.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01211/3404958-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="261" height="471"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harry Neale</figcaption></div>Houston is even brighter. Aeros are receiving good press and consequently building a greater following every game. A new arena, badly needed, is in the works. If it is built, Hatskin feels Aeros can&rsquo;t miss.Hatskin is more than pleased with the support Jets have received from Winnipeg fans. He expects attendance will pass 200,000 for the regular schedule, with near-sellouts for the playoffs.Hatskin doesn&rsquo;t know yet whether he&rsquo;ll make or lose a little money. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be touch and go either way, but I&rsquo;m not too concerned because I think have proven that Winnipeggers will support professional hockey.&rdquo;Meanwhile, on the ice Jets looked like a lock-up for first place. Bobby Hull continued to score and Joe Daley took over the WHA lead in goals against average. Another Jets&rsquo; star, Dune Rousseau, was victim of a fluke injury during a morning skate when a shot hit the goal post and bounced back hitting him in the eye. He needed three stitches.HOUSTON &mdash; Aeros rebounded from a brief slump and put together some winning efforts. With plenty of home games left in their schedule, they appear to be a solid playoff bet. Aeros have been winning despite playing shorthanded more than any other team in the WHA (they have been penalized an average of five minutes more than the opposition every game). Houston&rsquo;s power play continues to be the best in the league.MINNESOTA: Harry Neale, former Junior OHA coach and the new face behind the Fighting Saints&rsquo; bench, produced spectacular immediate results, steering the club into a winning streak. Previous coach Glen Sonmor (who also doubles as general manager) installed Neale behind the bench for the next three weeks because of Sonmor&rsquo;s mounting league obligations. The WHA is actively engaged in setting up a development league and Sonmor is working on getting the program into high gear. Minnesota set a major league record for the two fastest goals at the start of a game when Saints grabbed a 2-0 lead on Cleveland in 28 seconds.LOS ANGELES: Sharks, with more than half the remaining schedule at home, appear to be good playoff bets if they can win at the L.A. Sports Arena with more consistency. In a move to beef up an already beefy roster, Sharks acquired rookie Mike Hyndman (61, 205) from New England for veteran Mike Byers. Hyndman is not a scoring threat but will fit into Sharks&rsquo; checking line. Another recent acquisition, Fred Speck from Minnesota, paid a handsome dividend by scoring the winning goal against Ottawa.ALBERTA: Oilers slipped badly on the road, including two heartbreaking one-goal losses. In one, they were up by four goals midway through the second period. In another, defenceman Al Hamilton took over as bench coach when Hunter was late getting to Boston from meetings with the CAHA in Toronto. Oilers led 1-0 till Hunter arrived, then succumbed 4-2. Assistant coach Glenn Hall, former NHL great who has been tutoring Oiler goalie Jack Norris, quit after Hunter replaced Ray Kinasewich behind the bench. Coincidence or not, Norris immediately slumped.CHICAGO&mdash; Bobby Sicinski, Cougars&rsquo; high-scoring center, moved into the league&rsquo;s top 10 in scoring after a four-point outburst in one game. The 5-11, 180-pounder is also seventh in assists. Cougars continued to win their share, although time is running against them. League statistics showed Cougars third best in the West on the power play but worst in the league in killing penalties.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02150/3404951-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="1191" height="1339"><figcaption class="caption-body">Young MICHAEL GAINEY was one of 50 New York area youngsters from the Association For The Help Of Retarded Children who were on hand to watch the New York Raiders of the WHA play at Madison Square Garden Michael received an extra thrill when he got to meet the Raiders&rsquo; goaler, PETE DONNELLY. For most of the kids, it was their first experience seeing a live sporting event.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-01

Jets’ Hatskin Predicts WHA Will Be Back With 12 Teams

<h2>NEW ENGLAND</h2>GOAL: Al Smith. Bruce Landon.DEFENSE: Jim Dorey, Ted Green, Paul Hurley, Rick Ley, Brad Selwood.CENTER: Terry Caffery, John Danby, John French, Larry Pleau.R Wing: Tom Earl, Mike Byers, Tim Sheehy, Tommy Williams.I. WING: Kevin Ahearn, John Cunniff, Tom Webster, Brit Selby.<h2>QUEBEC</h2>GOAL: Serge Aubry, Jacques Lemelin, Rickhard Brodeur.DEFENSE: Jacques Blain, Ken Desjardine, Frank Lacombe, J.C Tremblay, Pierre Roy.CENTER: Michel Harvey, Jean Payette, Andre Gaudette.R. WING: Yves Bergeron, Alain Caron, Rejean Giroux, Paul Larose, Renald Leclerc, Frank Golembrosky.L. WING: Mike Archambault, Jeon-Guy Gendron, Bob Guindon, Pierre Guite, Michel Parizeau.<h2>NEW YORK</h2>GOAL: Gory Kurt, Peter Donnelly, Ian Wilkie.DEFENSE: Kent Douglas, Jean Gauthier, Wally Olds, Ken Block, Bill Speer, Hal Willis, Bob Winogrod. Bob Brown.CENTER: Norm Ferguson, Mike Laughton, Gene Peacosh, Garry Peters, Bob Sheehan, Ron Ward, Brian Perry.R. WING: Jamie Kennedy, Wayne Rivers, Bob Jones.L WING: Brian Bradley, Craig Reichmuth, Jarda Krupicaka, Ted Scharf.<h2>OTTAWA</h2>GOAL: Les Binkley, Giles Gratton, Frank Blum.DEFENSE: Mike Amodeo, Rick Cunningham, Brian Gibbons, Chris Meloff, Ken Stephenson, Steve Warr.CENTER: Gavin Kirk, Bob Leduc, Bob Charlebois.R WING: Mike Boland, Steve King, Tom Martin, Dick Sentes, Guy Trottier, Brian Conacher.L. WING: Wayne Carleton, Ron Climie, Jack Gibson, Tom Simpson.<h2>CLEVELAND</h2>GOAL: Gerry Cheevers, Bob Whidden.DEFENSE: Ray Clearwater, John Hanna, Jim McMasters, Wayne Muloin, Paul Shmyr, Billy Horton.CENTER: Doug Brindley, Ron Buchanan, Bob Dillabough, Skip Krake, Dick Pumple.R. WING: Jim Wiste, Paul Andrea, Ted Hodgson.L WING Joe Hardy, Grant Erkkson, Garry Jarrett, Gerry Pinder.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2>GOAL: Bernie Parent, Marcel Paille.DEFENSE: Jim Cardiff, Iry Spencer, Ronnie plumb, John Migneault, Rickhard Campeau, Dove Hutchison.CENTER: Bryan Campbell, Andre Lacroix, Camille Lapierre.R WING: Danny Lawson, Johnny McKenzie, Don O&rsquo;Donoghue, Michel Boudreau.L. WING: Don Herriman, Don Burgess, Michel Plante.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2>GOAL: George Gardner, Russ Gillow, Bob Perreault.DEFENSE: Bart Crashley, Ralph MacSweyn, Jim Niekamp, Gerry Odrowski, Jim Watson.CENTER: J. P Leblanc, Ted McCaskill, Tom Serviss, Joe Szura, Gary Veneruzzo.R WING: Steve Sutherland, Mike Hyndman, Alton White, Peter Slater.L. WING: Tom Gilmore. Earl Heiskala, Fred Speck, Bernie MacNeil.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2>GOAL: Joe Daley. Ernie Wakely, Gordon Tumil-son.DEFENSE: Bob Ash, Steve Cuddie, Larry Hornung, Bob Woytowkh, Joe Zanussi.CENTER: Chris Bordeleau, Wally Boyer, Danny Johnson, Garth Rizzuto, Duke Asmundson.R WING Norm Beaudin, Milt Block, BHI Sutherland, Brian Cadle.L WING: Bobby Hull, Ab McDonald, Dune Rousseau, Cal Swenson, Jean-Guy Gratton.<h2>MINNESOTA</h2>GOAL: Mike Curran, Jack McCartan, Carl Wetzel.DEFENSE: John Arbour, Terry Ball Mike McMahon, Dick Paradise, Frank Sanders, George Konik, Blaine Rydman.CENTER Mike Antonovich Ted Hampson, Jim Johnson, Terry Ryan.R WING: Keith Christiansen, Wayne Connelly, Billy Klatt.L. WING: George Morrison, Mel Pearson, Bob MacMillan, Len Lilyholm, Craig Falkman, Bill Young.<h2>ALBERTA</h2>GOAL: Ken Brown, Jack Norris.DEFENSE Ken Baird, Doug Barrie, Steve Carlyle, Bob Falkenberg, Bob Wall, Al Hamilton, Roger Cote.CENTER: Jim Mormon, Ed Joyal, Bob McAneeley, Ross Perkins.R WING: Ron Anderson, Bernie Blanchette, Billy Hicke, Rusty Patenaude.L WING: Brian Carlin, Val Fonteyne, Dennis Kassian, Ron Walters, John Fisher.<h2>HOUSTON</h2>GOAL: Wayne Rutledge, Don McLeod, Bill Hughes.DEFENSE: Dune McCallum, Gord Kanneigiesser, John Schella, Larry Hale, Roy Larose.CENTER: Murray Hall, Ed Hoekstra, Gord lebosiere, larry Lund, Keke Mortson.R WING: Don Grierson, Duke Harris, Frank Hughes, Brian Smith.L. WING: Brian McDonald Paul Popiel, Jack Stanfield, Ted Taylor.<h2>CHICAGO</h2>GOAL: Andre Gil, Jim McLeod, Paul Menard.DEFENSE: Ron Anderson, Butch Barber, lorry Cahan, Dick Proceviat, Larry Mavety.CENTER: Bob Sicinski, Bob Whitlock Rod Zaine.R. WING: Dan Lodboa, Jim Benxelock, Rick Sarraxin, Rosaire Parement.L WING: Reg Homing, Brian Glenwright, Bob Liddington, Rick Morris, Jan Popiel &#9632;

WHA Rosters

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0659/3405041-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="270" height="285"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01217/3405034-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="618" height="1462"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02165/3405027-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="648" height="3836"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03132/3405020-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="654" height="2586"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04100/3405013-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="1236" height="1030"></div> &#9632;

f0026-06

World Hockey Association Summaries

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0579/3405072-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="628" height="2262"></div> &#9632;

f0026-05

WHA LEADERS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03118/3405141-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="628" height="2140"></div> &#9632;

f0027-03

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04101/3405172-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0027-04

Looking At AHL Leaders

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div>HALIFAX &mdash;Less than a year ago, Pete Sullivan weighed 127 pounds and was more worried about staying alive than he was about scoring goals.So it didn&rsquo;t really bother the young centerman as much as it would most players that he was gathering splinters on the end of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs&rsquo; bench through much of the first four months of this American League season.He scored 40 goals, assisted on 30 and was third in the All Star voting while with Oshawa of OHA Major League in 1969-70. With another year of junior left, the future was bright for Sullivan. But his scoring dropped off (29 goals and 23 assists) in &lsquo;70-71 and Montital Canadiens made him the 95th pick in a draft of 117 players.Lack of stamina was evident, but Sullivan couldn&rsquo;t explain his sudden tiredness.&ldquo;It turned out I had blood poisoning,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d had at hleste&rsquo;s foot and scratched it a lot. It got infected. My groin was sore and I had red streaks on my left leg. But I was too scared to tell anyone or see a doctor. I knew Bruce Draper (who died from cancer in 1967) and our families were very close. His brother Dave told me afterward that pain in his groin was Bruce&rsquo;s first symptom. I can&rsquo;t explain my feeling &hellip; I was scared.&rdquo;Sullivan&rsquo;s sister finally got him to see a doctor when she noticed the streaks and he underwent treatment in the summer of 1971. He was told had he waited a few more days, his left leg would have had to be amputated.But his problems were far from over.He went to Canadiens&rsquo; training camp in the fall, but was told he wasn&rsquo;t in good enough shape. He bounced around a bit one game for Muskegon in the International Leagues and five for Sun Coast in the Eastern League &mdash; before going to Calgary to visit a borther and to attend Mount Royal College.&ldquo;My weight dropped from about 165 to 143 late last March and early in April before my brother got me to a doctor. This time they found a thyroid condition. For a while they were afraid it was leukemia. My weight fell to 127 &hellip; I figured I was done.&rdquo;Sullivan had another hospital May in June and weighed 153 when it leased early in July. That gave him two months to get ready for training camp, but he made it and earned a spot on the Vess&rsquo; squad.He scored Nova Scotia&rsquo;s tying goal in the season opener, but seldom got off the bench again until late January. Then coach Al MacNeil gave him a chance and Sullivan scored the game winning goals in two of his first three games.&ldquo;I put him on in place of Dave Gardner, who had been called up. with Chuck Arnason and Randy Rota and he quickly earned himself a regular job,&rdquo; says MacNeil.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very explosive hockey player. It didn&rsquo;t hurt him to sit the first half of the season. They can watch and learn about the other teams and players in the league by sitting.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say they enjoy not playing, but for a lot of them, it acutally helps them adjust to pro. It&rsquo;s been a plus for Pete Sullivan. He&rsquo;s a good hockey player now.&rdquo;For Sullivan, being alive isn&rsquo;t bad, either.The Vees clinched a playoff spot Feb. 23 then Springfield lost a home game to Cincinnati. That meant Nova Scotia could finish no lower than fourth.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01199/3405110-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="556" height="612"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETER SULLIVAN&hellip;Amazing Comeback</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02155/3405103-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="554" height="607"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENNIS GIANNINI&hellip;Six-Goal Spree</figcaption></div>Tony Featherstone caught linemate Yvon Lambert in the AHL&rsquo;s individual scoring race with a goal in New Haven Feb. 21. The Featherstone &mdash; Lambert-Morris Stelaniw line really enjoyed playing Rochester this season. For the eight games, Featherstone had eight goals and eight assists. Lambert five and five and Stefaniew three and 11.CINCINNATI &mdash; Swords set the first of what is expected to be a number of AHL records when they captured their 21st road victory of the season Feb. 25 in Providence. The former mark was 20 set by Rochester in 1974-65. To erase the record. Cincinnati had to rally from a 3-0 deficit in Springfield for a 5-3 triumph Feb. 23 and then spotted Providence the first goal two nights later before rallying for a 3-1 verdict.Attendance has picked up in Cincinnati. Swords averaged 7,094 for five February home games, raising the season average to 4.089 &mdash; compared to 2,790 last season. Included in the February turnouts was the largest in the city&rsquo;s history &mdash; 10,156 of Feb. 18 when the Swords were beaten 4-1 by Hershey. A crowd of 7.230 was on hand two nights earlier, and a Kid&rsquo;s Night turnout of 7.547 were on hand on the 20th despite it being a Tuesday night and the game being televised live throughout the Cincinnati area.John Gould, who was battling for the NHL scoring lead when re-called by Buffalo, has rejoined the Swords but is just now returning to action as the result of torn shoulder muscles. He suffered the injury in a Sabres&rsquo; practice. And Billy Inglis, who was challenging in the point race, missed a game because he had sliced the fat part of his left hand with a knife while separating frozen hamburgs at home.JACKSONVILLE &mdash; Playing short of a full squad all season, the Barons lost two more skaters when Minnesota recalled both Jerry Byers and Terry Holbrook because of injuries.Jacksonville brought in Denis Romansky (31 goals and 25 assists in 56 games for Saginaw of the International League) as an emergency replacement for Byers, and Mike Hornby (15-47&mdash;62 for Saginaw) to fill in for Holbrook. Manger-coach John Muckler said he would have called up Dennis Desrosiers 48 goals. 28 assists and 157 penalty minutes for Saginaw), but he was out with a split elbow. &ldquo;I expect we&rsquo;ll take a look at Desrosiers when he&rsquo;s ready to play if and when Saginaw is finished.&rdquo; Muckler said.Dennis Giannini had quite a three-night spree Feb. 18-19-20. He scored twice on the 18th. three times on the 19th and another pair on the 20th &hellip; Mike Chernoff reached the 30-goal mark Feb. 25 with a three-goal hat trick in the 3-0 conquest of Virginia &hellip; Goalie Fern Rivard registered his second shutout of the season &mdash; both in Jacksonville &mdash; in the Virginia game.ROCHESTER &mdash; Amerks escaped from the exhausting seven-games-in-nine-days road trip with two victories four losses and a tie to retain a solid grip on third place in the Eastern Division. Top point getters on the trip were Barry Merrell with three goals and four assists, Gene Sobchuk with four goals and two assists and defenseman Rick Pagnutti with a goal and five assists.After Rochester beat Springfield 5-3 in Rochester on the 25th, manager-coach Don Cherry said: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s it. I finally have to admit we&rsquo;re in the playoffs. All I was shooting for was fourth spot so anything else now is gravy.&rdquo; his is the first year of independent operation of the Amerks after four seasons under the Vancouver Canucks. Rochester finished last each of those four years. &#9632;

f0027-01

And Lucky — To Be Alive; Rochester Makes Playoffs

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0395/3405248-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="609" height="1164"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0475/3405241-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="1910" height="1847"></div> &#9632;

f0028-03

American Hockey League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY JOHN TRAVERS</div>NORFOLK &mdash;Coach Doug Barkley&rsquo;s Virginia Red Wings will have their work cut out this month as the Western Division race heads into the stretch.The Wings, who started the final month of regular season play camped in third place, have been striving for several weeks to try and overhaul Hershey Bears. The second place Bears headed into the last week of February showing a five point spiead over the Wings, who are faced with playing ten of their last 15 games on the road.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01190/3405210-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="267" height="454"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc Dufour</figcaption></div>However, Barkley&rsquo;s men have played outstanding hockey on foreign ice through the first 25 games, showing a 13-7-5 log, second best mark in the 12-team circuit.Meanwhile, Hershey, with little chance of catching the powerful West leading Cincinnati Swords, have nine of last 14 at home. Coach Frank Mathers team boasts a 16-65 home standard. The Bears, since Nov. 4, lost only three of 22 games at their own rink.Virginia, however, had played two less games than Hershey and this edge could prove a vital factor should the Bears catch any kind of a short slump.&ldquo;The way our guys are fired up,&rdquo; said Mathers, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ll hit a slump. They&rsquo;ve been playing steady hockey. Everyone is playing well and if we can stay healthy I don&rsquo;t think Virginia can catch us. The hardest part of the schedule is behind us. We just came off a seven game road swing and we did okay.But Barkley will have his Wings flying, especially with veteran Art Stratton still making a run at the individual scoring lead and also a well-deserved All Star berth.In the club&rsquo;s first seven games in February, the Wings lost only one, while winning two and tieing four.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02129/3405203-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="553" height="733"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAULHOGANSON&hellip; Long-Awaited Shutout</figcaption></div>HERSHEY: Rookie Paul Hoganson turned in his first American League shutout in 31 games, blanking Baltimore, 5-0. He came up with 29 saves, including a spectacular stop on a breakaway effort by Bob Rivard. &ldquo;I was lucky to beat Rivard,&rdquo; said Hoganson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a smart player, but he just didn&rsquo;t lift the puck when he had a chance.&rdquo; Winger Ted Snell is having his greatest AHL season. The seasoned forward showed 22 goals and a like number of assists for 44 points after 58 games. In seven previous AHL campaigns Snell never hit the 20 goal level and the most points he ever tallied was 40. Hershey&rsquo;s defense continues to sparkle with the solid play of rookie Jack Lynch, Gerry Methe, Ralph Keller, Larry Bignell and Yvon Labre.BALTIMORE: Coach Jim Morrison has installed new life in the Clippers as the club came to life, winning three of five games in a short stretch in mid-February. One of their biggest goal outputs of the season came in a 9-1 win over Springfield. In one six game stretch, Baltimore&rsquo;s defense and goaltending allowed only 13 goals, one of the team&rsquo;s best marks of the season. Morrison is still shooting to bring the team home with 20 victories. He needs nine wins in the last 18 games to achieve the standard and the way the club&rsquo;s hustling, the Clippers just might deliver. Veteran Marc Dufour scored his 25th goal recently marking the fourth time he had turned the trick with the Clippers.RICHMOND: If the Robins can continue to maintain their current pace, coach Larry Wilson figures to drive the team to fourth place and a playoff spot in the West. With 17 games remaining, the Robins held a comfortable six point (52-46) lead over the Jacksonville Barons, the only team challenging for the last place open in the playoffs. Crest Kindrachuk and Rene Drolet continue to pace the club&rsquo;s scorers. They have combined for 53 goals, while Danny Schock is the top goal getter with 35, third best effort in the league. &#9632;

f0028-01

Virginia Driving To Overhaul Hershey

<div class="byline">BY GREG FARLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01157/3405293-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="259" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rich Leduc</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;Having already eclipsed Garry Peters&rsquo; club record for most goals in a single season, rampaging right winger Ron Anderson now looms as an odds-on favorite to better the league rookie record of 44 jointly held by Doug Volmar and Wally Hergesheimer.This was supposed to have been Ron&rsquo;s senior year at Boston University, where he served as co-captain of the defending NCAA champions for the past two campaigns. But despite severe criticism, Ron bypassed his final year at BU to turn pro along with several other of his ex-teammates because &ldquo;the money is there now.&rdquo;&ldquo;Besides, I&rsquo;m still going to continue my education in the off-season,&rdquo; revealed the Moncton, New Brunswick native after announcing his plans last year.&ldquo;This is an excellent opportunity which I feel I&rsquo;ve got to take advantage of, and I&rsquo;m sorry if I&rsquo;m disappointing anyone.&rdquo;Ron&rsquo;s brilliant performance as a Brave this season has undoubtedly erased any lingering resentment harbored by his friends or ex-team mates.Anderson, together with fellow ex-terriers Bob Gryp and Steve Stirling, have enlisted a large local campus following, particularly from their alma mater.Not surprisingly, Ron credits coach Bep Guidolin&mdash;now with the Bruins&mdash;for helping him to successfully make the transition from college to prostyle.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02127/3405286-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="563" height="600"><figcaption class="caption-body">RON ANDERSON&hellip; After 44 Goals</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0385/3405279-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="560" height="592"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARRY WRIGHT&hellip;5-Goal Game</figcaption></div>However, Ron may some day be more indebted to Bep for enhancing his NHL aspirations than he realizes, since it was Guidolin who joined Anderson with Rich Leduc and Dave Forbes to form the Braves&rsquo; bread and butter line several months ago.Recently, a number of NHL agents approached Boston managing director Harry Sinden with trade proposals involving the multi-talented Leduc&mdash;which thus far have fallen upon deaf ears&mdash;and Anderson&rsquo;s abilities have no doubt come under their scrutiny also.Ron&rsquo;s achievements have gone practically unnoticed by the hockey-crazed Hub fans this season, who have deserted the Braves in favor of the Bruins, Whalers, the many local college powers, and even Cape Cod Cubs.&ldquo;He may not get the credit he deserves from the press or the fans,&rdquo; remarked player-coach Mat Ravlich, &ldquo;but the guys on the team sure appreciate him. He doesn&rsquo;t have to prove anything more to us.&rdquo;Nor to his loyal legion of followers at Boston University, who have insisted all along that Boston hockey is BU-tiful.NEW HAVEN: At press tiem, the oncoming Nighthawks were closing in on the league record for most ties (18)&hellip; Had the Hawks started to jell a month sooner, they would have had an excellent shot at finishing as high as third&hellip; Hawks&rsquo; season record vs. Nova Scotia (0-43) is deceiving. They&rsquo;ve played the Vees tough all season, and the series advantage could very well be reversed. A playoff meeting between the two could have proved very interesting&hellip; Hawks&rsquo; final chance to salvage a win in the series occurs next Tuesday night at Halifax, where New Haven has played some of its finest hockey. The Hawks lost Willie O&rsquo;Ree, who was recalled by San Diego of the WHLSPRINGFIELD: Robins&rsquo; Larry Wright became the second player to riddle the Kings&rsquo; defenses for five goals in one game this year in Richmond&rsquo;s 8-2 cakewalk at the Civic Center two weeks ago&hellip; Goalie Bob Vroman was victimized for Wright&rsquo;s first four goals before yielding to Bernie Germain, who surrendered the fifth&hellip; The outstanding play of Phil Hoene has been the lone bright spot for the sputtering Kings during their current drought&hellip; Phil has bolted into a substantial team scoring lead and is threatening to crack the league&rsquo;s top ten&hellip; This will be the Kings&rsquo; first out of-the-money finish in four years.PROVIDENCE: Reds welcomed the return of high-scoring right winger Jerry Butler following a brief emergency fill-in stint with the Rangers in which he notched his first NHL goal against the LA Kings&hellip; The Reds still hold an outside chance of finishing third, but will need cooperation from the rest of the league&hellip; With a 2-3-1 series slate and two games remaining at the Civic Center, the Reds needn&rsquo;t dread a quarter-final confrontation with the front-running Voyageurs&hellip; Reds have yet to post a victory over the powerful Cincinnati Swords since their inception into the league last year, and it was at the Civic Center that the Ohioans established a league mark for most road wins last week. &#9632;

f0029-01

Anderson On Record Course

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNELL</div>SEATTLE&mdash;The governors of the Western Hockey League agreed to revert to the playoff alignment employed prior to the 1971-72 season.The first place team will play the third place team and the second place team will meet the fourth place club in the best-of-seven semi-finals. The final round is a best-of-seven.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01184/3405324-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="265" height="455"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill MacFarland</figcaption></div>Last season the WHL followed the NHLs lead in pairing the first and fourth and second and third teams in the best-of-seven semi-final round.The belief was that a team would have more incenctive to finish third instead of four and first instead of second.Bill MacFarland, president of the WHL, made the announcement but with no explanation why the change was made nor why the announcement was not made until two-thirds thrugh the season.If two teams are tied for the last playoff position, they will play a sudden-death game in the home arena of the team having won the greater number of games. If both clubs have won the same number of games, the home game will be awarded to the team with the best goals for and against average. If the goals for and against records are tied, the home game will go to the team with the best season record against the other.The Seattle Totems won a sudden-death playoff for fourth place over the Phoenix Roadrunners in Seattle at the conclusion of the 1969-70 schedule.MacFarland also announced a playoff pool of $123,000.The maximum possible payoff is $2,700 per player on a team which finishes first and wins the Lester Patrick Cup in the playoffs. The payoff is based on 20 shares per team.A team receives $800 per player for finishing first, $400 for second, $300 for third and $200 for fourth.The semi-final winners receive another $8(X) per player with $550 going to the losers. The winners in the final series collect $1,100 per play and the losers $650.A second place team winning the Patrick Cup will receive $2,300 per play. Third place finishers winning the Cup would collect $2,200 per man and fourth place finis hers $2.100 per man. &#9632;

f0030-01

WHL Governors Vote To Use Old Playoff Plan

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02132/3405386-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="603" height="1564"></div> &#9632;

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SEATTLE&mdash;Seattle Totems are lacing a nine-game road trip. For any other club in the Western Hockey League, it might be a disastrous fate. For the Totems, getting away from home is a welcome relief.The Totems have played 500 hockey in their last nine road games, a 4-4- record. At home, the Totems have been unable to win in their last 13 games, a new league record.The old record of 10 straight winless games at home was set by last season&rsquo;s Totems, who won only 12 games all season and went 18 games (home and away) without a win.Center Bob Walton is third in the WHL individual points race with 68 points, including 25 goals, in 51 games. His wingers, Dan Seguin and Bryan McSheffrey are also producing but the rest of the club isn&rsquo;t.Seguin is eighth in the WHL with 58 points, 26 on goals, and McSheffrey, returned recently from Vancouver, hasa 13-12&mdash;25 record for l8 games.The Totems have scored just 45 times in their last 15 games and their S biggest night&rsquo;s production included an empty net goal in a 5-3 win over Portland &hellip; on the road, naturally.There is a brighter side, though.The Totems have clinched their season&rsquo;s series with arch-rival Portland. only the second time in 13 years they have held the upper hand over the Rose City gang. The Totems have won seven, lost two and tied on with Portland with four games remaing in the series.And the Vancouver Canucksned goaltender Bruce Bullock.Bullock and Dan Brady formed a strong combination in early season when the Totems were in first instead of fifth place.Brady, who has played better than his 3.93 goals against average indicates, welcomes Bullock back.Brady, a 22 year-old from Canton. N. Y. who was named All-America at Boston University last season, has started 26 of the Totems&rsquo; last 31 games. &#9632;

Bullock Return Timely As Totems Hit Road

<div class="byline">by DOUG McCONNELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01165/3405441-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="588" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBJOHNSON&hellip;Bolsters Spurs</figcaption></div>DENVER&mdash;Denver Spurs move into third place in the Western Hockey League standings and received &gt;ome help to keep them there when St. Louis Blues returned goaltender Bob Johnson.The 6-1. 180-pound native of Farmington, Mich., was called up to the parent St. Louis club in late November.Johnson, an ex-Michigan State University star, led the WHLgoal-tenders last season with a 2.83 average for league champion Denver and led the Spurs through the playoffs to the Lester Patrick Cup championship with five goals a lowed in the five games he played.This season, the 24-year-old held a 2.57 goals against average f r 14 games when called by the Blues. San Diego&rsquo;s Ken Broderick held the lead at 2.35 but has since Hipped to 3.28 and still holds the lead.At St. Louis, Johnson played 12 games and posted a 2.68 goals against average.The scrappy youngster also proved last season that he can handle his fists as well as his goal stick. He pounded out a unanimous decision over tough Ted McCaskill, former captain of the Phoenix Roadrunners, now playing for the Los Angeles Sharks in the World Hockey Association.Kevin O&rsquo;Shea, a recent addition from the Blues, continues his torrid scoring for the Spurs. He has scored goals in each of the last eight games except for the 3-0 shutout at the hands of the San Diego Gulls. O&rsquo;Shea has 10 goals and four assists in the eight game streak.Norm Dennis, who centers O&rsquo;Shea and Mike Lampman, has three goals and nine assists for 12 points in the same span.Milan Marcetta, the old vetelan, keeps rolling along with two goals and an assist in a 5-2 victory at Omaha. It was a carbon copy of his earlier performance, Jan. 12. &#9632;

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Fiery Johnson Back For Stretch Drive

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LEADING SCORERS

Rick MacLeish &hellip;&hellip; 15Ken Hodge &hellip;&hellip; 14Mike Corrigan &hellip;&hellip; 13Phil Esposito &hellip;&hellip; 12Bob Berry &hellip;&hellip; 12Mickey Redmond &hellip;&hellip; 11Jirr Lorentz &hellip;&hellip; 10Rene Robert &hellip;&hellip; 9JacquesLemaire &hellip;&hellip; 9Garry Unger &hellip;&hellip; 9<h2>WINNING GOALS</h2>Phil Esposito &hellip;&hellip; 9John Bucyk &hellip;&hellip; 8Gil Perrault &hellip;&hellip; 7Dennis Hull &hellip;&hellip; 6Rene Robert &hellip;&hellip; 6Marcel Dionne &hellip;&hellip; 6WaltTkaczuk &hellip;&hellip; 6Gerry Meehan &hellip;&hellip; 6Ralph Backstrom &hellip;&hellip; 6Chuck Lef ley &hellip;&hellip; 6<h2>SHORTHANDED GOALS</h2>Phil Esposito &hellip;&hellip; 3Don Luce &hellip;&hellip; 3Bill Flett &hellip;&hellip; 3Ron Schock &hellip;&hellip; 3Bobby Clarke &hellip;&hellip; 2FrankMahovlich &hellip;&hellip; 2Jim Pappin &hellip;&hellip; 2Syl Apps &hellip;&hellip; 2Bill Fairburn &hellip;&hellip; 2PeterMahovlich &hellip;&hellip; 2<h2>TIEING GOALS</h2>Yvan Cournoyer &hellip;&hellip; 6Bobby Clarke &hellip;&hellip; 4Walt McKechnie &hellip;&hellip; 4Richard Martin &hellip;&hellip; 3Bobby Schmautz &hellip;&hellip; 3Hilliard Graves &hellip;&hellip; 3Reynold Comeau &hellip;&hellip; 3Stan Weir &hellip;&hellip; 3 &#9632;

POWER PLAY GOALS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0369/3405565-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="620" height="2058"></div> &#9632;

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<div class="byline">BY FRANK BROWN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01159/3405648-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="563" height="753"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adduono Storing Champion&hellip;AgainRAYADDUONO&hellip; Third Time</figcaption></div>ROANOKE VALLEY&mdash;The Roanoke Valley Rebels have won the South and they did it the hard way&mdash;on the final weekend of the 1972-73 Eastern Hockey League schedule.Gregg Pilling&rsquo;s aroused Rebels stormed into the Southern Division lead by beating Long Island 14-4 and the Generals themselves 5-2 on Greensboro ice in the closing two games to finish on top with 91 points, three more than the Gens, who saw their hopes for a division title jolted by a 7-2 setback at the hands of Suncaost on the second-to-last game of the year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02110/3405641-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="271" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body">Luc Simard</figcaption></div>The rest of the EHL playoff spots were pretty well wrapped up before the teams headed into the last weekend. Syracuse cake walked through the North and Cape Cod Cubs breezed home to the Central Division title. The Long Island Ducks wrested the last playoff position in the Central section from New Jersey by the slim margin of one point.The defending champion Charlotte Checkers didn&rsquo;t make it to the Southern Division playoffs marking a rarity in the EHL. Most league champs come back but the Checkers just didn&rsquo;t have this season.In the individual scoring statistics, Ray Adduono of Syracuse easily won his third EHL scoring crown with 170 points on 54 goals and 116 assists. Luc Simard of Cape Cod led the goal scorers with 68 while Syracuse netminder Yves Belanger was the No. 1 man in the big pads with a 2.37 goals-against average.With the regular season finally completed, let&rsquo;s look back for a moment on what has to be the most exciting, interesting, and unpredictable year in recent history.Things got off to their usual rumbling start and moved smoothly until New England Blades owner Nat Podoloff filed ruptcy and took the Blades out of the league in late November.Then problem number two arrived: with the Blades out of the league, the schedule had to be revised, travel schedules updated, new tickets sold, new press releases printed.Then came a two-week period in which everybody and his mother was pulling out of the EHL to play with another league or form a separate league of their own. Syracuse was courted by Cleveland mogul Nick Mileti, Charlotte by the American League and Greensboro by the AHL as well.Nonetheless, it still took until the last week of the season to decide the playoff races. Cape Cod, Rhode Island, and Long Island fought tooth and nail &mdash; often no more than five points separated them &mdash; in EHL Central.In the South Greensboro and Roanoke Valley had battled all the way for the top spot. It was different only in the North, where Syracuse breezed to the championship without extensive effort.Looking ahead, then, to the playoffs provides an opportunity for fans to see the real side of &ldquo;Eastern League hockey at its best&rdquo;. The teams that made it this year didn&rsquo;t get there without a fight. The playoffs for the Walker Cup shouldn&rsquo;t be any different.LONG ISLAND: Ducks entered the final weekend of the regular season with a 10-game nonwinning string and the shattering thought of having only one home game during the playoffs. The first round series between Long Island and Cape Cod is scheduled to begin March 6, but after that game, the Flower Show invades the Commack Arena, and forces the remainder of the series to the Cubs&rsquo; home ice. Defenseman Terry Marshall had at least one point in nine straight games.SYRACUSE: Blazers lost again! That&rsquo;s twice in less than three weeks! This time Johnstown beat &rsquo;em 3-1 with Normand Cournoyer scoring the only goal. It was an important goal for Norm, though, as it made him the third Blazer this year to score 100 points. Syracuse made amends for it&rsquo;s low goal output that game, scoring 14 six nights later on a whopping 69 shots. The home unbeaten streak is still intact: the Blazers have not lost at home since the 17th game of the 1971-72 season. Some teams boast six 20 or 30-goal scorers, but the Blazers have six 40-goal scorers in Adduono, Dave Ferguson, Norm Cournoyer, Al Rycroft, Ron Morgan, and Mike Morton.JOHNSTOWN: Syracuse made it clear who they think is the second best team in Eastern League: Johnstown. Goalie Ron Docken, defenseman-coach Ted Lanyon, right winger Galen Head, and left wing Wynne Dempster were voted to the Syracuse all-opposition team. Dempster observed a milestone, breaking the 200-minute mark in penalties. After a long period with balance problems, Bill McEwan was hospitalized. Jets displayed some fine work in their defeat of Syracuse, with Dempster and Reg Kent provinding the margin of victory.RHODE ISLAND: Center Dave Walter, third highest scorer in the league with 106 points, signed a pro contract with the Chicago Cougars. At just 20 years of age. Dave is a natural for many years of hockey greatness in the future. One advantage the Eagles will carry into the playoffs is youth. Goaltender Jim Armstrong is the oldest player on the club &mdash; a &ldquo;grandfather&rdquo; at 30. Jim Jago is a close second at 29.ROANOKE VALLEY: Left wing Pierre Henry and trainer Dave Settlemyre faced assault charges in a Greensboro court after going into the stands during a melee with rambunctious fans. The Rebs scored their biggest victory of the season, topping Greensboro 42 on the road.CHARLOTTE: Charlotte had been trying gamely to sneak past Suncoast for that last playoff spot. It had been coach Jack Wells&rsquo; opinion all along that winning on the road was the key to gaining the playoffs. The Checkers haven&rsquo;t quite shined away from home.SUNCOAST: Marty Desmalais scored 11 goals in his first 11 games with the Suns. Billy Yeo has been playing very well of late. He&rsquo;s been especially tough on Charlotte, who voted him the roughest goalie to score on. Jerome Engele also got some all-opposition team votes from the Checkers. Coach Lloyd Hinchberger on his team: &ldquo;They figured it out that they aren&rsquo;t a bad hockey team. Heck, they&rsquo;ve been in third place all year &mdash; in second sometimes, and close to first. We&rsquo;ve got to be good.&rdquo;CLINTON: After a 4-3 loss to Johnstown a while back, Kelly kept his men on the ice for a full hour of practice, despite the fact that at the time the club was all but eliminated from the playoffs. &ldquo;If things don&rsquo;t change, they&rsquo;ll be here every night after the games,&rdquo; he said. Butch Williams, from Duluth, Minn., is one of the league&rsquo;s few American players. Ron Riley was working on a master&rsquo;s degree in psychology before coming to the Comets. Les McAninch holds a commercial pilot&rsquo;s license.GREENSBORO: Defensemancaptain Brian Derksen was close to a club record for goal scoring. The standard was set by Butch McKay in 1961. What made 35-year-old Don Ward come out of retirement to join the pro hockey ranks once again? &ldquo;Money,&rdquo; was the reply when the question was put to Ward. Goaltender Mike Ralph has been drawing the praise of his teammates for his strong play of late. Generals are the second best offensive team in the league behind (of course) the Syracuse scoring machine. Steve Self collected his third hat trick in a 7-6 win over Charlotte.NEW JERSEY: Bobby Gerrard celebrated return from Richmond of American League with two goals in pacing 5-3 victory over Rhode Island. Ray Boutin backed Gerrard&rsquo;s performance with 39 saves. Wayne Hawrysh and Harry Van Drunen have played excellent hockey all season. Hawrysh potted goal no. 37 recently.CAPE COD: Cubs had virtually locked up first place after a struggle with Rhode Island that lasted nearly the entire season. The word on Joe Mulcahy&rsquo;s operation was that all went well and that the promising 20-year-old center should be back on skates within two months. Luc Simard, most prolific goal scorer in any league, gained the 100-point mark, as did Jim Sherritt. It&rsquo;s been a super year for the Cubs, who should have a ton of momentum going when they open playoffs with Ducks March 6. &#9632;

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Roanoke Rebels Outlast Generals For Southern Title In EHL Windup

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All quarter-final series best-of-seven<h2>Series &lsquo;A&rsquo;</h2>Syracuse vs. Rhode IslandWed. March 7 at SyracuseSat. March 10 at SyracuseSun. March 11 at Rhode IslandWed. March 14 at Rhode IslandFri. March 16 at SyracuseSat. March 17 at Rhode IslandSun. March 18 at Syracuse<h2>Series &lsquo;C&rsquo;</h2>Cape Cod vs. Long IslandFri. March 9 at Cape CodSat. March 10 at Cape CodTue. March 13 at Cape CodThu. March 15 at Cape CodFri. March 16 at Cape CodSat. March 17 at Cape CodSun. March 18 at Cape Cod<h2>Series &lsquo;B&rsquo;</h2>Grensboro vs. JohnstownTue. March 6 at GreensboroSat. March 10 at JohnstownSun. March 11 at JohnstownTue. March 13 at GreensboroWed. March 14 at GreensboroSat. March 17 at JohnstownSun. March 18 at Greensboro<h2>Series &lsquo;D&rsquo;</h2>Roanoke Valley vs SuncoastTue. March 6 at RoanokeThu. March 8 at RoanokeFri. March 9 at CharlotteMon. March 12 at SuncoastWed. March 14 at RoanokeFri. March 16 at RoanokeSun. March 18 at Roanoke &#9632;

EHL Playoff Dates

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0474/3405779-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="628" height="2317"></div> &#9632;

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<div class="byline">BY LEN HOYES</div>FORT WAYNE&mdash;Rivals are almost ready to accuse Fort Wayne Coach Marc Boileau of witchcraft.While the International Hockey League&rsquo;s &ldquo;smart money&rdquo; has pointed to Dayton as the choice for the overall point championship, Boileau&rsquo;s Komets have quietly rallied from a January slump and seized the initiativeBy posting a 9-2-1 record over a 12-game span. Fort Wayne tied Dayton for the South Division lead and had the better schedule for the stretch run.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01148/3405748-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="269" height="450"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc Boilea</figcaption></div>However, it appears that the No. 1 position won&rsquo;t be decided until the final weekend of the season. The duel is enhanced by the fact that the Dayton-Fort Wayne series is over for this season unless they meet in the Turner Cup finals.Boileau&rsquo;s handling of personnel qualifies as a prime candidate for coach-of-the-year. While other teams have several outstanding candidates for All Star honors, Fort Wayne&rsquo;s strong point is team balance.The Komets have three good scoring lines and five good defensemen. Injuries have played key parts in their season. Goalie Robbie Irons was injured shortly before the opener and Komets lost five of their first six games. Only three weeks into the season they trailed Dayton by 10 points. On Dec. 8 they were 12 points back.But a rally enabled Komets to capture first place on Jan. 13. However, the lead lasted one day and on Jan. 30 Dayton had moved to an 11-point lead. During this period the Komets lost high-scoring rookie Brian Walker with an injury. Walker&rsquo;s return, plus the addition of Jim Hrycuik from Hershey Bears of the AHL, filled out the three lines. Walker or Hrycuik would be bonaf&igrave;de All Star candidates if they had played more.Center Wayne Ego, the team scoring leader, has found himself after playing for four teams in three previous seasons but will be against tough competition, such as Muskegon&rsquo;s Gary Ford and Dayton&rsquo;s Gerry Mazur, in the All Star balloting.Fort Wayne&rsquo;s best hopes may be defensemen Terry Pembroke and Jim Pearson. Pembroke won&rsquo;t match Pearson as a goal scorer but he&rsquo;s as good on defense as anyone in the IHL. He&rsquo;s also come up with timely goals, as indicated by two goals and two assists in a 7-2 shellacking of Flint.Fort Wayne, the oldest of the IHL&rsquo;s nine active club&rsquo;s hasn&rsquo;t wen the Turner Cup since the 1964-65 season and reached the finals only once in the last seven years.But, if the Komets take the Huber Trophy, they&rsquo;ll be favored to take the Turner &#268;up as well.COLUMBUS: One night after handling 46 shots against Flint, goalie Ray Martynuik had 56 saves against Port Huron&hellip; Gordon Bradley, lost for the rest of the seaion with a wrist fracture, wanted to saw off the cast and play against Flint&hellip; Seals finally bagged 10 th victory in67th game.FLINT: Dave Gorman converted first successful penalty shot in General&rsquo;s four-year history&hellip; Laurie Yaworski scored two goals in 5-3 victory over Dayton which had cut him loose two weeks earlier&hellip; Ernie Moser became fifth 30-goal scorer, following Wayne Zuk, Gaston Boulanger, Dave German and Doug Manchak&hellip; Defenseman Ken Southwick recalled by Richmond.MUSKEGON: Gary Ford&rsquo;s 112th point in 48th game put him well beyond last year&rsquo;s scoring title total of 109 in 7 games &hellip; Pat DeMarchi&rsquo;s first hat trick for Mahawks all came on power plays&hellip; Mohawks totaled 24 goals in three successive home games&hellip;PORT HURON: Defenseman Dave Haley returned after missing more than two months because of knee injury&hellip; Gilles Gagnon, former Michigan State star, scored goals in four straight games&hellip; Wings concerned about knee injury suffered by versatile Ray Germain &hellip; Six shorthanded goals offset six power play goals by rivals, in 19-games span&hellip; Wings allowed two power-play goals only once in 38 game.SAGINAW: A 4-3 loss at Des Moines was the Gears&rsquo; 15th setback by one goal&hellip; A sidelight to the Iowa trip produced a 4-2 victory over Waterloo of the U.S. League in an exhibition&hellip; Marcel Comeau was penalized for illegal curvature in his stick &hellip; Coach Don Perry juggling personnel because Bruce McIntosh was with Minnesota North stars, Denis Romanesky and Mike Hornby at Jacklonville and Dennis Desrosiers injured.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02121/3405741-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="557" height="563"><figcaption class="caption-body">TERRY PEMBROKE&hellip; Possible All Star</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0391/3405734-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="560" height="596"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAT DeMARCHI&hellip; First Hat Trick</figcaption></div>TOLEDO: Coach Skip Burchell trying many line combinations to get Hornets untracked in struggle with Muskegon for final playoff berth&hellip; Battle should go to final week and when Hornets and Mohawks play home-and-home set&hellip; Toledo&rsquo;s problems magnified by 1-6-1 record against Dayton&hellip;DES MOINES: Steve Stone&rsquo;s eight goals in eight games included tying tally with 37 seconds left and game winner in overtime against Muskegon&hellip; Caps had only three victories in 16 games before beating Muskegon and Saginaw twice at home&hellip; Only 642 fans turned up for Muskegon game.DAYTON: General Manager Lefty McFadeen vacationing in Florida while Gems were tied for south lead by Fort Wayne&hellip; Gems rewarded Coach Jim Anderson&rsquo;s confidence by whacking Toledo, 62. after getting three-day vacation&hellip; Gems puzzled by inability to win at Muskegon in last two seasons&hellip; Pete Gaw and Jerry Kemp in friendly rivalry for team goals coring lead. &#9632;

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Streaking Komets Hit Top In Showdown With Dayton

<div class="byline">BY STEVE KLEIN</div>DENVER&mdash;The McNaughton Cup, symbol of the Western Collegiate Hockey Assn, championship, has found itself a home, even if its winner, the University of Denver, hasn&rsquo;t.The Pioneers clinched their second consecutive WCHA championship and eighth under Coach Murray Armstrong in 16 years over the Feb. 23-24 weekend with a 5-0 and 9-3 sweep over Michigan State in the Denver Coliseum.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0368/3405879-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="246" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">Murray Armstrong</figcaption></div>The McNaughton Cup has been in Denver&rsquo;s possession for the past year, of course, and is on display in a glass-enclosed, lighted showcase in the Denver Arena. The Pioneers are usualy on display in the Arena, too and their eviction from their usual home ice in December because of the building&rsquo;s structural problems has to make this championship all the more meaningful and rewarding to Armstrongand his team.Not many people expected Denver to retain the McNaughton Cup this season when All-American forwards Vic Venasky (now with the LA Kings) and Tom Peluso (Dalilas) gave up remaining eligibility to turn professional. Gone too were All-American defenseman Mike Christie to Dallas, Brian Morenz to the New York Raiders and Mike Lampman to St. Louis. The only freshman to play regularly this season for the Pioneers has been defenseman Bruce Affleck, which means that many players who were not stars or even regulars had to carry on the Pioneers&rsquo; championship tradition. Ob&rsquo; viously, they have.Forwards like Rob Palmer, Pete McNab, Bob Krieger (despite a broken hand early in the season) and Ed Hays have not surprised anyone with their excellent play, but Mike Busniuk switched from defense to center and forwards Alex Shibicky, Doug Gibson and Rich Preston and defenseman John Clayton, seniors but never regulars, made the most of the opportunity to play.Ron Grahame, always respected but never really feared, should be the West&rsquo;s All-American goaltender, keeping his average right around 3.0 all season and picking up his first WCHA shutout to demoralize the Spartans, who came to Denver with a good chance to take over first. Grahame, along with defensemen Bob Young, Dave Tomassoni. Mitch Brandt, John Pearson, Affleck and Clayton have made the Pioneers the best defensive team in the WCHA.Despite playing in three different home rinks, the Pioneers compiled a 19-3 home record. And when the playoffs begin in Denver March 6 and 7, Denver will try a fourth home ice site &mdash; the Air Force Academy.The Pioneers have won 13 of their last 16 WCHA games, but just as hot over the same period has been Notre Dame, winner of 14 of its last 17 games. The third place Irish tacked on two victories to that streak at home with 8-5 and 4-3 wins over second place Wisconsin.In the first game, senior center John Noble, one of college hockey&rsquo;s all-time leading scorers (he now has 216 career points) scored the first three goals of third period during a six-goal Irish rally to turn around a 3-2 Badger lead. Wisconsin&rsquo;s Norm Cherrey also scored a hat trick, including a shorthanded goal, to give him seven goals, four shorthanded, in his last twogames.The Irish won the second game with two third period goals to snap a 2-2 tie. But Notre Dame&rsquo;s penalty killing and Mark Kronholm&rsquo;s superb goaltending was the big story as the Irish played nearly 15 minutes shorthanded against the WCHA&rsquo;s most organized power play.Badger coach Bob Johnson started using the Russian power play &mdash; Wisconsin fans call it the Czech power play because the Czechs pass better than the Russians &mdash; after coaching the U.S. World Cup team during Christmas, a duty he will continue this spring in Europe. Five of Wisconsin&rsquo;s eight weekend goals came on the power play, including all three Saturday. But after giving up two power play goals in the first period Friday, Irish coach Lefty Smith made an adjustment in his defense, and Wisconsin did not score as often as opportunity might have permitted.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0448/3405872-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="516" height="900"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE ZUKE&hellip; Gives Tech Lift</figcaption></div>Michigan Tech kept its hopes for home ice in the playoffs alive by sweeping Michigan in Houghton, 5-3 and 9-6. Freshman Mike Zuke from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., scored the winning goal in the first game and assisted on the winner in the second. He had six points, including three goals, in the second game. Junior wing Mike Usitalo, out all season after knee surgery in the fall, returned Saturday night and scored the winning goal.In Minneapolis, Duluth finally slowed down Minnesota&rsquo;s streaking Gophers with 8-0 and 5-3 victories. Goaltender Jerome Mrazek played both games and made 52 saves to earn the first night shutout. Senior Mark Heaslip, who scored eight goals last years after two years on the junior varsity, scored the winning goals both nights and now has 24 for the season, just two short of Walt Ledingham&rsquo;s school record. Junior wing Pat Boutette, certainly an All-American candidate, had six points in the series to break one of UMD&rsquo;s most respected records, Keith (Huffer) Christiansen&rsquo;s point record for a season, 62.And finally, Colorado College, which has suffered through 14 and seven game WCHA losing streaks this season, swept North Dakota for the first time in 10 years. 4-2 and 3-1, behind freshman Eddie Mio&rsquo;s superb goaltending. In their last three games, the defensively weak Tigers have turned around and allowed but six goals.The Sioux received some bad news besides the two losses &mdash; leading scorer Jim Cahoon suffered an eye injury when a contact lense broke in his right eye. He had to stay behind in a Colorado Springs infirmary. &#9632;

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Denver Wraps Up 2nd Title In Row

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BOSTON &mdash;Dartmouth. Yale, and Providence all bowed quietly out of the ECAC Division One playoff picture in the second-last week of regular season play, but their departures hardly clarified matters as seven teams were still embroiled in the fight for the four lower playoff positions.Biggest newsmaker of the week was RPI. bouncing back from a four loss string to post three straight wins, 3-0 at Providence, 7-3 at New Hampshile, and 3-2 in overtime over St. Lawrence at Troy. The wins vaulted the Engineers over the .500 mark to a 10-9 record with one league game remaining.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01129/3405810-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="250" height="437"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Hearns</figcaption></div>Harvard and Cornell are assured of 1-2 seeds, with Boston College probably third. Penn, despite a tie and a loss on the week, remained in fourth, while Brown, New Hampshire, Clarkson, and Boston University joined RPI in the lower bracket dogfight. Mathematically still in were St. Lawrence and Northeastern.Northeastern finished up with wins over Army 9-3 and 4-3 over Darthmouth to make for a 10-11 slate. The Huskies closed with a 41 win over second division Colby which boosted their goals scored mark to 144, surpassing the previous season high of 140. The Dartmouth game, revenge for a 15-5 loss at the Green&rsquo;s hands last year, spelled virtual doom for the Hanoverians. Charlie Huck&rsquo;s second goal of the night at 8:56 of the third period proved the winner after a 30 NU lead had melted away.Across town at Boston University. BC and BU battled to a 2-2 overtime standoff. The Eagles&rsquo; goalie Ned Yetten rated top star with 42 saves to Ed Walsh&rsquo;s 32. He stopped Ken Kuzyk on a breakaway in the extra period, and also robbed Bill Burlington late in the third period.&ldquo;We had our chances to win its.&rdquo; said chagrined Leon Abbott. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d make a good play and theirgoaltender would make a better one.&rdquo;BC&rsquo;s defense was bolstered by Harvey Bennett, moved to the backline from his fourth line forward slot by Len Ceglarski. The Cranston. R.I. senior had a goal and an assist.That same night at Ithaca. Penn and Cornell also battled to a tie, 1 - 1 through overtime. Paul Daigle scored with 2:27 remaining after a shorthanded goal by Doug Marrett had given Cornell a second period edge. Penn returned home on Saturday and blew a chance to conclusively wrap up home ice when they lost 4-3 to a desperate New Hampshire sextet. UNH shot out to a 4-1 lead and staved off a third period Quaker surge.&ldquo;We just started too late in that third period,&rdquo; said a gloomy Bob Crocker. &ldquo;Naturally there was something of a letdown after that Cornell game, but if we&rsquo;d played UNH like we have been playing most of our games lately, I&rsquo;m sure we could have done better.&rdquo;New Hamphsire was fighting back from the precipice of e limination, having lost 7-3 to a flying RPI crew three nights earlier back home in Durham. Don Hearns scored a hat trick and Don Cutts had 36 saves, following a 27-save show in the Providence shutout the previous night.&ldquo;I knew we could win both games,&rdquo; said RPI coach Jim Salfi. &ldquo;The only problem I envisioned was morale. The kids were a little tired, but they certainly had not rouble getting up for this one.&rsquo;Cutts stopped 53 St. Lawrence shots and Greg Bull poked in a rebound at 1:39 of overtime to give the Engineers their sweep of the week. It was the goalie&rsquo;s 20th biithday.Brown sophomore Peter Rotelli emerged from handyman&rsquo;s obscurity to fire five goals &mdash; his first tallies of the season &mdash; in wins of 7-4 over 5 ale and 5-1 over Dartmouth. Brown, coming on with their wonted late rush, moved up to 10-7.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t single anybody out&rsquo;,, shrugged coach Al Soares, &ldquo;The whole team is just playing much better together. One big difference is that we can skate with anybody this year&rdquo;.Clarkson scored its second win in four tries over nemesis St. Lawrence, 6-3 at Potsdam. Bob Baldwin, senior third liner who&rsquo;s finally managed to stay healthy thus far this season, potted two goals including the game winner when he whirled around before back-handing John Paterson&rsquo;s rebound past Jacques Martin. Stan Spadoni and Mike Ornella effectively killed off six of St. Lawrence&rsquo;s seven power plays.Harvard, kicking into gear just in time for the playoffs after some post-exam sputters, blasted Princeton 13-2 and Yale 9-1 to even its record with Cornell&rsquo;s. Big Red will be seeded above the Johns, however. having twice beaten them.BC and BU each won a game after their tie which, incidentally, made the all-time Commonwealth Avenue series standing 5.1-51-5. The Eagles followed Richie Smith&rsquo;s two goals to a 5-2 win at Army. Sophomore center Mark Riley scored against his father Jack and barely missed several other opportunities. The Terriers ei upted for four goals in the second period(at Hamilton and defeated Colgate 6-2.Army, a few days previous, announced that she would drop to Division Two beginning next year.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t compete any more.&rdquo; explained Riley.&ldquo;Why should a win over us count the same as a win over Cornell?Jack, who coached the ILS. Olympic team to a Gold Medal at Squaw Valley in 1960. has been lighting a losing battle in recent years. He has been unable to recruit topnotch talent for the military life, to keep pace with the improving Division One powers. As of this writing, he needs just 10 collegiate victories to attain the coveted 300 win circle. He&rsquo;ll do it. next year. &#9632;

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ECAC’s Lower Playoff Battle Rages

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0288/3405841-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="568" height="592"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK KENNEDY&hellip; CCHA Scoring Champ</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;The St. Louis Billikens are champions of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and they did it the hard way.Forced to win seven straight games to finish ahead of Lake Superior, St. Louis came on like gangbusters in the closing weeks of the schedule to virtually steal the title away from the Lakers, who finished their schedule ahead of time and had the anguish of sitting around hoping one of the other CCHA teams would at least tie or knock the Bills off.It never happened.The Billikens wrapped up the league title by sweeping past Bowling Green 11-6 and 5-1 in the final weekend of play to earn a season total of 26 points, the same as Lake 5 Superior. However, the Billikens won the nod on the basis of their three wins over the Lakers.The Billikens won their seventh straight, all CCHA games, on Friday at Bowling Green, as Rick Kennedy and Charles Labelle led the way with hat tricks. The three &#309; goal performance was the fifth of the year for Kennedy, who also annexed the CCHA scoring title with 21 goals and 20 assists for 41 points.St. Louis took a 4-2 lead to the dressing room in the 11-6 game on the strength of goals by Kennedy, Jim Peck. Dave Davies and John Nestic.Kevin Healy neeted a goal at 1:17 of the second period after picking up an errant pass. Kennedy, Sean Coghlarrand Labelle added goals in the second four-goal period of the night.EG twice cut the margin to three goals in the third period, but Labelle&rsquo;s second goal and Kennedy&rsquo;s third quickly put the distance back to four. Labelle added his hat 1 rick goal at 18:25 on assists by Davies and Kevin O&rsquo;Rear.Mike Ballanger scored a goal in the late stages of the first and second periods to give St. Louis and goalie Ralph Kloiber enough to beat the Falcons on Saturday at 20.Coghlan scored at 3:15 of the third period to make it 3-0, before Rich Nagai scored for Bowling Green. The last two goals were scored by Friday&rsquo;s heroes, Kennedy and Labelle.The next stop for St. Louis is Bowling Green again, as the new champs head into the league playoffs.Lake Superior dropped from the lead of the CCHA for the first time since the opening week of the season, as St. Louis was winning two games. However, the Lakers were clinching a share in the ICHA and the important first seed in the NATA national tournament.The Lakers gained the ICHA tie with Bemidji State, as they took two games from Bemidji 4-1 and 6-2. Thus LSSC took three of four to gain the important tourney spot. They will play the winner of the Lakehead &mdash; Augsburg game. Bemidji plays Boston State in the other first round action.Defenseman Bill Slewidge set two new scoring records for the Lakers with his performance on the weekend. He scored three goals and added four assists. He now has 17 goals, one record, and a total of 51 points which is the other new LSSC mark.Ohio State Buckeyes split their final regular season series with Ohio University. OSU dropped the game in Athens 6-4, but went home and skated to an 11-3 vitory.Ray Meyers, although stopped cold on Friday, was the star for the Buckeyes on Saturday. The 5-9, junior from Hamilton, Ont., scoted five goals in the 11-3 win and added an assist to tie two individual game records and enable him to shatter the single season goal scoring record. Meyers tied his own record for five goals in a game, and the six points ties a record shared with teammate Hugh Prentice. The five-goal game gives him 32 for the year breaking the old mark of 28 he shared with Jerry Welsh and Pete Bartkiewicz.The Buckeyes got other six-point weekends from Gord Peters (3-3), Jerry Welsh (2-4) and Dave Hoyles (1-5). Bob Park made 25 saves in the 11-3 win, Dan Stergiou lost the first game, allowing five goals. The Bucks lost despite outshooting the Bobcats 65-33. &#9632;

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St. Louis Streaks To Title

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01119/3405924-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="642" height="2690"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0291/3405917-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="657" height="2429"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0363/3405910-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="615" height="593"></div> &#9632;

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College Races

<div class="byline">BY STEVE KLEIN</div>ANNARBOR&mdash;Dan Farrell one of the most respected assistant coaches in the Western Collegiate Hockey Assn., will have the opportunity to do things his way as head coach at the University of Michigan next season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0451/3405955-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="266" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dan Farrell</figcaption></div>Michigan announced Farrell&rsquo;s appointment on Feb. 21. He succeeds Al Renfrew, who is finishing his 16th season in Ann Arbor. Renfrew, whose Wolverine teams had a 217-180-10 it cord before this season, will become ticket manager this summer when Don Weir retires. Renfrew also coached at Michigan Tech from 1951 until 1956 before moving to North Dakota and finally Michigan a year later.Farrell has been Tech head coach John Maclnnes&rsquo; assistant since 1968 and played for MacInnes from 1957 through 1960. A native of Toronto, Farrell earned a B.S. in geology in 1960 and teaching certification from the University of Toronto in 1962. He taught science and physical education in a Thunder Bay high school from 1962 until 1965, also serving as the school&rsquo;s athletic director for a year.In 1965. Farrell accepted a post with the Canadian International Development Agency as an education specialist and spent three years in Rhodesia and Ghana before Maclnnes persuaded him to return to Houghton.Besides his obvious hockey knowledge, Farrell is one of the WCHA&rsquo;s most respected recruiters. He faces a difficult rebuilding job at Michigan, where the Wolverines are suffering through a 4-27season with three games remaining their worst record in the s school&rsquo;s 51 year hockey history.&ldquo;We will stress defense and try to get the players who can play the type of defense I expect,&rdquo; says Farrell. who will inherit a young team, including freshman goaltender Robbie Moore and three freshman defensemen. &ldquo;This is certainly a great opportunity and challenge to develop a hockey program like Michigan&rsquo;s. Ann Arbor is in a great geographic area for recruiting players. It&rsquo;s a solid hockey town, and Michgan has everything to offer academically.&rdquo; &#9632;

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New Michigan Coach Dan Farrell To Place Emphasis On Defense

A noted publisher in Chicago reports there is a simple technique of rapid reading which should enable you to increase your reading speed and yet retain much more. Most people do not realize how much they could increase their pleasure, success and income by reading faster and more accurately.According to this publisher, many people, regardless of their present reading skill, can use this simple technique to improve their reading ability to a remarkable degree. Whether reading stories, books, technical matter, it becomes possible to read sentences at a glance and entire pages in seconds with this method.To acquaint the readers of this publication with the easy-to-follow rules for developing rapid reading skill, the company, has printed full details of its interesting self-training method in a new booklet, &ldquo;How to Read Faster and Retain More&rdquo;, mailed free to anyone who requests it. No obligation. Send your name, address, and zip code to: Reading, 555 E. Lange St., Dept. 746-41, Mundelein, Ill. 60060. A postcard will do. &#9632;

I.Q. of 145 and A Slow Reader?

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div>HAMILTON &mdash;If Hamilton Red Wings qualify for the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A playoffs it won&rsquo;t be because of any prowess on the road.The Wings extended their winless streak away from the Hamilton &ldquo;Friendly Forum&rdquo; to 19 games when they were blanked 5-0 in Ottawa.The only point coach Dave Draper&rsquo;s club picked up on foreign ice during that stretch was a 4-4 tie in St. Catharines. All others have been losses. The string goes away back to Nov. 2 &mdash; more than four months &mdash; when they posted a surprise 4-1 victory in Peterborough.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01142/3406010-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="273" height="461"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dennis Maruk</figcaption></div>Oddly enough the Peterborough rink is generally regarded as the most difficult place for visiting leams to obtain points.Fortunately for the Wings they have been slightly more impressive at the Forum and are clinging to the final eighth playoff position although both Kitchener and Sault Ste. Marie have slim chances of catching them.While they weren&rsquo;t any ball of fire in late September and October Hamilton managed to post road victories in Kitchener. St. Catharines and the Sault and played a 4-4 tie in Sudbury.As one Hamilton fan expressed it: &ldquo;The last four months they might as well have mailed in the two points and saved travelling expenses.&rdquo;Meanwhile Toronto Marlboros were streaking to a record in goals scored and were certain to finish first as well as erasing the 367-goal mark they established last season.TORONTO: Marlboros skated to their sixth straight game without a less but were given a real argument by Oshawa Generals&hellip; Oshawa led 2-0 in the first period before Marlies unloaded their big guns to win 6-4&hellip; Wayne Dillon still drawing rave notices for his fine play as rookie coach George Armstrong leads the club to its second straight pennant&hellip; As well as scoring far more goals than any other team Marlboros have the best goals-against record, an indication of their over-all strength.PETERBOROUGH: Pete&rsquo;s7-2 loss in London just about wrote off their chances of catching Maries boros for the top spot&hellip; Petes won 6-3 at home against Hamilton but &le; with less than three weeks left in r the schedule will have to settle for &ldquo; second place at best&hellip; Rick Chinnick scored three goals in victoiy over Wings, his second hat trick in two weeks&hellip;Peterborough upset Toronto in semi-finals last season and the two Z are almost certain to meet again this year.OTTAWA: The 67s set a one-period record for shots on goal when they poured 35 on Hamilton goaltender Rolly Kimble enroute to 5-0 win&hellip; Wings managed only three shots in the same 20 minutes&hellip; Denis Potvin still playing outstanding two-way game and contributed one of the goals&hellip; The strapping defenseman is almost certain to be the first NHL draft choice in June&hellip; Coach Leo Boivin retaining hopes of catching Peterborough for second place especially after 9-3 win in St. Catharines.LONDON: Excluding Marlboros, Knights have been hottest hing on ice the last six weeks despite surprising 6-2 upset in Hamilton&hellip; The loss was their first in 10 games&hellip; Their last previous defeat was Jan. 18 in Peterborough&hellip; However they bounced back for win over Petes to all but clinch fourth place&hellip; Rookie Dennis Maruk having superb season and will reach 40-goal plateau&hellip; Maruk set rookie record for 17-year-olds going over l()O-point mark in 6-3 win against Sault Ste. Marie.ST. CATHARINES: Hawks continued inconsistent play defeating Oshawa 6-3 at Garden City Arena, thensplittingtwogameson Northern Ontario swing, losing 8-3 in Sudbury and winning 5-3 in Sault &hellip; Captain Jeff Jacques, who has been playing center and defense, latest casualty after blocking shot with foot in game with Oshawa&hellip; However he&rsquo;s expected back shortly &hellip; Gary Lariviere also out with similar ankle injury&hellip; Goaltending by Brian Cousineau and Jim Pettie solid &hellip;OSHAWA: If coach Gus Bodnar was 20 years young he would certainly get into uniform to help Generals who have seemingly never-ending list of injuries&hellip; In several games they have been down to 13 and 14 regulars&hellip; Defeats in St. Catharines and Toronto hampered their chances of climbing higher than sixth&hellip; Bill Lochead and Rick Middleton carrying a lot of scoring load of team which finished second last year&hellip;Generals defeated Sudbury 10-2 to close gap on Hawks.SUDBURY: Terry Casey, traded by St. Catharines to Sudbury in mid-season came back to haunt ft animates with three goals in 8-3 win over Black Hawks &hellip; Victory confirmed Wolves position in seventhand a spot in the playoffs after being transferred from Niagara Falls this season&hellip; Attendance still dismal and one game attracted lowest crowd of season in Junior A when fewer than 500 turned: up &hellip;HAMILTON: Red Wings hoping two-game home stand against Peterborough and Oshawa will provide them with enough points to clinch last playoff position&hellip; Wings have been eighth most of season but Kitchener and Sault lurking not too far behind &hellip; Despite poor record goal-lenders Roily Kimble and Steve Miskiewicz are ranked among best in league and have been bombed regularly by opposition &hellip; Jim Moxey scored four of seven goals and added an assist in 7-2 win over London &hellip; Crowds increasing as schedule draws to close.KITCHENER: Rangers had been counting on victory at home against Sudbury to boost them closer to playoffs and outshot them 44-37 but dropped 6-4 decision&hellip; This could mean curtains for post-season games&hellip; Team still working hard and have lost many close games&hellip; Joe Fortunato very consistent and American-born defenseman, sophomore Rick Chartraw. improving after flow start.SAULT: After trouncing Hamilton 12-2 Greyhounds attracted one of largest home crowds of season &mdash; just over 2,500 &mdash; but disappointed their fans losing 5-3 to St. Catharines&hellip; Carey Farelli, only 14 years old when season started, one of top rookies in league with 25 goals&hellip; The fine centre has four more seasons of junior eligibility left&hellip; Although small he has speed, a good shot and is an adept stickhandler&hellip; &#9632;

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March 16, 1973

Lafleur Sparks ‘Kid Line’

Western-Central Hockey League Summaries

Irritating To Evans Gulls’ Nose Dive

Hobbled Knights Hold Firm But Dullas Running Away