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.

April 27, 1973

The Hockey News April 27, 1973

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03129/3811860-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="382" height="517"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

CHL PLAYOFFS

<div class="byline">BY JACK McCARTHY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01876/3810315-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="181" height="591"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY ORR&hellip;&ldquo;The Only Real One&rdquo;</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;While nothing is constant in life, one of the non-constants, if you will, of this hockey season has been the Boston Bruins. After doing everything right for the past few years, they have plunged into turmoil, both in the front office and on the ice.And, even with the knowledge that hockey players are like gold in this expansion era, it would appear that the Bruins will have some new faces next season.The new managing director, Harry Sinden, was highly displeased with the play of some of his veteran players against New York, and did not hesitate to say so. In addition, Don Awrey and Dallas Smith are reported to be dickering, or at least exploring possibilities in the WHA. On top of that, veteran goaler Eddie Johnston is hotly rumored as being the &ldquo;player to be named later&rdquo; in the deal with Toronto for Jacques Plante.After the third loss of the Ranger series in New York, Sinden said. &ldquo;Bobby Orr was the only real hockey player we had out there tonight, but we&rsquo;re not giving him too much help.&ldquo;Maybe there are too many players living on the reputations of being Stanley Cup champions. If they think that&rsquo;s going to last forever, someone is going to have to wake them up.&rdquo;Whether Sinden was talking for the short or long haul is problematical, but, among other things, the Bruins had allowed the Rangers to beat them at the body-checking, banging game, and were not exactly dominant in the corners, either, as they bowed out of the Stanley Cup playoffs in the very first round winning only one game out of five from the Rangers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02715/3810308-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="174" height="288"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harry Sinden</figcaption></div>And, incedentally, this has nothing to do with the knee surgery that shelved star center Phil Esposito; this has been almost a team effort in laxity.Awrey, one of the day-in, day-out &ldquo;triers&rdquo; on this team over the years, was benched by Coach Bep Guidolin after the first two losses in New York, and replaced by Nick Beverley. And, Gary Doak was used as the spare in Beverley&rsquo;s place, which irked Awrey.This prompted a meeting with Guidolin and Sinden, after which Awrey said the meeting was just to clear the air and that it had nothing to do with his rumored &ldquo;jump&rdquo; to the L.A. Sharks.Said &ldquo;Bugsy&rdquo; after the meeting, &ldquo;It had nothing to do with that. I&rsquo;m a very proud person &hellip;&rdquo;His name was also among those being mentioned in the Plante trade with Toronto.But Johnston, who played well in beating New York in one game, 4-2, and also had a good game in losing, 4-0, after little play over the final weeks of the season, was asked by a reporter how much money he would take to go to Toronto.Said Eddie later. There is no use to worry about those rumors. A guy asked me how much money I would go for, and I figured it at $100,000.1 make pretty good money from the Bruins, plus playoff money. I&rsquo;ve got a real estate business and a night club that are doing well, so why should I go anywhere for less than $100,000&ldquo;I&rsquo;d sure like to stay here. I&rsquo;ve been here for 11 years. I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s been any guy (goaltender) who&rsquo;s been with any club in hockey for 11 years.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play on two Stanley Cup-winning teams, and with the two greatest players I&rsquo;ve ever seen in my life &mdash; Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anyone who ever played this game could control a game like Bobby does. It is great to have him playing in front of you.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve also been fortunate in that this team has always had a great bunch of guys to get along with&hellip;Johnston, however, was realistic as to a trade, saying, &ldquo;If it happens, it happens. That&rsquo;s part of the game&mdash;right?&ldquo;I would like to play another four or five years, as long as I get fun out of playing. Look at Jacques, he&rsquo;s 44. I figure I&rsquo;m 36. I figure my age at the start of the season.If Johnston or anyone else goes, it will mark a year of upheaval for Boston, in which Harry Sinden replaced Milt Schmidt as boss, with Schmidt probably about to leave for the new Washington franchise; in which Guidolin replaced Tom Johnson as coach in mid-stream; in which the club was sold to Storer Broadcasting; in which Plante was acquired, and in which they were outhustled and outmuscled by New York.The off-season action should be interesting. &#9632;

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Year Of Upheaval For Bruins Could Produce More Changes

In publishing the final statistics of the World Hockey Association in our April 13 issue, two of the WHA&rsquo;s 12 teams were inadvertently omitted. Here are the two teams:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05132/3811391-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="503" height="286"></div> &#9632;

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Missing WHA Teams

<div class="byline">BY GEOFFREY FISHER</div>OAKLAND&mdash;California Golden Seals would have made the playoffs if the club had been able to stay healthy enough to keep fresh troops available for duty.That the opinion of Fred Glover, the Seals executive vice-president and general manager who coached the club from the time Gary Young resigned in early November.&ldquo;Injuries kept us so thin in the lineups that our players were often compelled to take double shifts or stay out on the ice too long while replacements were resting.&rdquo; Glover said that there were only a few games all through the 78-game schedule when the Seals had a full squad available for action. Depth, or lack of it, was the problem all season and this is what Glover will be working to overcome.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01930/3810746-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="254" height="452"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marv Edwards</figcaption></div>The Seals lost more key players to the World Hockey Association last summer than any other NHL club. Because of their outspoken criticism of owner Charles Finley, who has not displayed the kind of close relationship with the club some players think is essential to proper spirit, there were many rumors that large-scale defections would again be the case for the Seals this summer.But that kind of mass defection seems less probable now. All of the Seals, who had been complaining bitterly about Finley&rsquo;s failure to show up in Oakland for contract talks, have had contract talks with Glover.A number of players have expressed surprise at the generous offers being made to them.One veteran who has another year to go on his contract told THE HOCKEY NEWS that &ldquo;it was obvious the intent of ownership is to hold on to as many of the Seals as possible because of the surprisingly attractive contracts that were being offered.&rdquo;What it all comes down to is that the Oakland area is going to continue to have an NHL club in business whether it is owned by Finley or somebody else. The club would not be worth much as a franchise without players.The NHL has indicated all along that it will not permit the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Area to be vacated. The area is expected to be a prime territory for major league hockey sooner or later.Glover admits the Seals will be looking to improve at all positions with the exception of goaltender, assuming that Gilles Meloche, the brilliant Seals puckstopper, can be signed for a new contract.Meloche will be the sturdy foundation of the Seals in Glover&rsquo;s plans. Glover will have the 38-year-old Marv Edwards backing up Meloche and Edwards is rated as a highly effective goalie in the supporting role.It was the all-around poor defensive play of the Seals that choked off whatever chances they might have had for a better season. The opposition averaged more than four goals per game against the Seals and that&rsquo;s too much for any NHL club to overcome by offensive ability.Glover is quick to point out that the 4.1 goals against is not a reflection of the goaltending.&lsquo;It&rsquo;s a problem of poor defensive play up front,&rdquo; says Glover. &ldquo;Without the proper checking by the forwards up front, the defensemen and goaltender are put in a hole.&rdquo;Glover is looking to the Seals&rsquo; Salt Lake City affiliate to supply the Seals with some talent for next season.&ldquo;There are a couple of players at Salt Lake that could surprise a lot of folks,&rdquo; he says.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02768/3810739-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="469" height="400"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hockey Newt Photo by Robert ShaverGILLES MELOCHE &hellip; Being Counted On In 73-74</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Contract Offers Surprise Seals, No Signs Of Club Being Moved

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01645/3812484-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-02484/3812477-1-eng-US/cover-022.jpg" title="Cover-02" width="431" height="455"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-03217/3812470-1-eng-US/cover-032.jpg" title="Cover-03" width="364" height="564"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK MacLEISHGame Winner In OvertimeHockey News Photos by Robert Shaver</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-0470/3812463-1-eng-US/cover-042.jpg" title="Cover-04" width="486" height="488"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-0524/3812456-1-eng-US/cover-052.jpg" title="Cover-05" width="552" height="459"></div> &#9632;

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HAWKS HOT AFTER RANGERS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02859/3810053-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="432" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">Detroit&rsquo; Red Wings fired JOHN WILSON as coach. Who will replace him next season? For details see page 18.</figcaption></div><h2>SCALLEN BAILED OUT</h2>VANCOUVER&mdash;After putting up bail for Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; chief executive Tom Scallen, millionaire industrialist Jim Pattison is interested in acquiring control of the NHL club. Scallen was sentenced to four years in prison on conviction of $3 million theft and publishing a false prospectus concerning Medicor and Northwest Sports Enterprises which owns the Canucks. He was freed on $25,000 bail pending an appeal.Pattison said he first met Scallen in San Francisco in 1970 when the latter&rsquo;s financial problems became public and indicated his interest in obtaining control of Northwest Sports. Pattison said he holds that interest but has received no indication that Medicor&rsquo;s shares in Northwest Sports are available.<h2>ESPO MAKES PARTY</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Anytime the Bruins have a season&rsquo;s farewell party everybody on the team is expected to show up. Last week star center Phil Esposito threatened to miss the get-together while he was bedridden in Massachusetts General Hospital, encased in a shoulder to ankle cast to protect torn knee ligaments.His teammates didn&rsquo;t consider that as an excuse. Several of the Bruins left the party, just around the corner from the hospital, and took Esposito, bed and all, to the affair. After a few laughs and a few drinks the Bruins carried him back to his hospital room.<h2>HALL IN THE CLEAR</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Glenn Hall, former NHL goalie with Chicago Black Hawks and St. Louis Blues, says he has no chance of taking court action against Theodore Aboud for his rash statements during the current crime probe in Montreal. Aboud, serving 10-years for fraud, was testifying about illicit gambling in Canada&rsquo;s metropolis and claimed receiving tips on some hockey games. Aboud said that during the 1960-61 season he had been told to bet on the Rangers because the Chicago goaltender was wagering against his own team. Aboud didn&rsquo;t name the goalie.Hall worked that full season with the Black Hawks, hence the inference he was involved in gambling. However conditions of the crime probe protect all witnesses from any court action&mdash;no matter what they say&mdash;and Hall has no defense. Besides being defended against such charges by NHL President Clarence Campbell, Hall has emphasized that during his entire hockey career, he never even bet on a game, let alone become involved with gamblers. &#9632;

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Deadline Stoppers

Do you have a &ldquo;friend&rdquo; who borrows your copy of THE HOCKEY NEWS all the time? Tell him to turn to page 21. We&rsquo;ll make him an offer he can&rsquo;t refuse! Then on page 26 you&rsquo;ll find the attractively designed HOCKEY NEWS binders to KEEP your own issues neatly filed away. What&rsquo;s a friend for anyway? &#9632;

Show This To A “Friend”

<h2>NHL Teams</h2>Atlanta&hellip;&hellip;13Boston&hellip;&hellip;5Buffalo&hellip;&hellip;7California&hellip;&hellip;15Chicago&hellip;&hellip;3Detroit&hellip;&hellip;18Los Angeles&hellip;&hellip;9Minnesota&hellip;&hellip;6Montreal&hellip;&hellip;10N.Y. Islanders&hellip;&hellip;23N.Y. Rangers&hellip;&hellip;2Philadelphis&hellip;&hellip;8Pittsburgh&hellip;&hellip;12St. Louis&hellip;&hellip;21Toronto&hellip;&hellip;22Vancouver&hellip;&hellip;14<h2>Other Leagues</h2>World Hockey&hellip;&hellip;24American&hellip;&hellip;27Western&hellip;&hellip;30Central&hellip;&hellip;32Eastern&hellip;&hellip;34International&hellip;&hellip;35OHA Major&hellip;&hellip;36WCHL&hellip;&hellip;37<h2>Columnists</h2>Ken McKenzie&hellip;&hellip;4Bill Libby&hellip;&hellip;8<h2>Other Features</h2>Fan Forum&hellip;&hellip;4Crossword&hellip;&hellip;10Stanley Cup&hellip;&hellip;16Cup Summaries&hellip;&hellip;17WHA Summaries&hellip;&hellip;26Jr. Jottings&hellip;&hellip;39 &#9632;

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT ALL

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;Hysterically screaming &ldquo;Goodbye, Boston, goodbye,&rdquo; in unision and following it up with &ldquo;Eddie, Eddie,&rdquo; Ranger fans let their heroes know how they felt about them after New York I had taken a 3-1 quarter final I lead by winning at Madison Square Garden. When they finished knocking off the suddenly weakened Bruins in Bean-town two days later. 3,000 screaming afficiandos met them at LaGuardia Airport upon their return to New York.Giacomin was sensational in the Ranger net, weathering a pinched nerve in game two during which Gilles Villemure subbed for him in the third period and a portion of the second. He chalked up the first career playoff shutout in New York, challenged Carol Vadnais to fight and then chased him half the way up to the blue line and admitted, &ldquo;This was a very special night for me, our guys did everything to prevent Boston from scoring. They wanted me to have that shutout.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01944/3810022-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="174" height="290"><figcaption class="caption-body">Walt Tkaczuk</figcaption></div>Two nights later when New York had finished off the Teddy Bears 6-3, Giacomin was so happy he even found time to feel sorry for Ross Brooks, the 35-year-old rookie who suddenly was Bruin coach Bep Guidolin&rsquo;s nominee after Jake Plante and Eddie Johnston had been less than brillant.&ldquo;He was on the spot and it got worse when Steve (Vickers) scored in the first 38 seconds. We were teammates at Providence years ago. He hadn&rsquo;t played in a while and suddenly he was it.&rdquo;With Phil Esposito having been knocked into the hospital by a Ron Harris check in the second game, the Bruins were not themselves. For New York intimidated Boston, courtesy of Ted Irvine and Harris.&ldquo;Harris must have scored 30 hits on our guys,&rdquo; said Derek Sanderson after the final game. &ldquo;He was hitting everything moving.&rdquo;Harris, obtained from Atlanta in the much malinged Curt Bennett trade in early December, has proven Emile Francis, the Ranger general manager-coach knew what he was doing. He took over for Rod Seiling, out with a broken collarbone since March 20.&ldquo;Harris has muscles on muscles,&rdquo; says Francis. &ldquo;He looks like a retaining wall and plays like one.&rdquo;Another unlikely hero was Bert Marshall, who subbed in games four and five for Dale Rolfe, out with a bad hand. Marshall, obtained from California just prior to the trading deadline as blue line insurance said, &ldquo;I just want to contribute. I had one shot at the Stanley Cup with Detroit, but we didn&rsquo;t get very far. We just need eight more wins for the Cup.&rdquo;Harris, in a similar vein, said, &ldquo;I played in one Cup series with Detroit and we went out in four straight. I have my confidence and feel great.&rdquo;Vickers, with his hat trick in the fifth game, led in goal scoring with five. Billy Fairbairn, his linemate led scorers with eight assists and center Walter Tkaczuk contributed key goals, and kept the bulldog line in control when they were on the ice.Ed Johnston, the Boston goalie, who won the Bruins one victory, said. &ldquo;Tkaczuk and Harris played a really great series. Walter has second, third and fourth effort and he kept getting his goals at key moments.&rdquo;Bep Guidolin, the Boston coach, in his first Stanley Cup try, commented, &ldquo;The better team won the series. Also, the hit by Harris on Esposito wasn&rsquo;t dirty. It was just one of those things.&rdquo;Turning immediately to the second round and the Chicago Black Hawks, the Rangers find themselves once more behind the eight ball. Forced by legislation to play on the road in four of the seven games because the Hawks finished first in the weaker West Division. New York is counting on its record of seven road wins in their last 11 playoff games. In fact, a case could be made stating that the Rangers lost the Stanley Cup last season at Madison Square Garden, losing twice in the finals at home.Another fact irritating to Ranger brass is that when it comes time for the annual draft in June, the Hawks with 92 points will draft prior to the Rangers with 103.&ldquo;We lose both ways it seems.&rdquo; says Francis.The Cat was not taking Chicago lightly. The teams have met in the last two years, with the Hawks winning a seven game series in 1970-71 and New York sweeping four straight last year.BLUE CHIPS: Most Rangers were amazed they defeated Boston so easily. Steve Vickers had expected a grind it out six or seven game series &hellip; Gilles Villemure won the big second game in Boston when Ed Giacomin had to retire with a pinched nerve in the second period. Giacomin returned and finished the period after Villemure gave him a short breather, but Gilles then took over for the final stanza. &#9632;

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Hysteria Follows Rangers’ Triumph

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01950/3810146-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="387" height="465"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hawks count heavily on All Star defenseman BILL WHITE.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02815/3810139-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="287" height="490"><figcaption class="caption-body">TONY ESPOSITO</figcaption></div>CHICAGO&mdash;Not one to become maudlin over a bygone possession like say, a Bobby Hull, William T. Reay instead prefers to don the old rose-colored glasses when peeking at the future.As springtime rolled around, of course, the future was the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the coach of the Chicago Black Hawks was giving his state of the union message.&ldquo;This is a more balanced club this year,&rdquo; he was saying. &ldquo;Nobody is waiting for one or two guys to do the job. Everybody is going out and doing his own.&rdquo;Of course, Mr. Reay was casting no aspersions on the abilities of Hull, whom he would welcome back into the Black Hawk lineup in about three seconds.What the coach was saying, also, is what he had to say. (He wasn&rsquo;t about to enter the playoffs by proclaiming that the Hawks were weaker.) But what he said also had some semblance of truth to it &mdash; this edition of the Chicago Six features more even talent. Better than last year? Maybe not. But more even? Probably yes.Reay wasn&rsquo;t around the last time the Hawks won the cup in 1960-61 but Robert Marvin Hull was. It has been so long since Chicago&rsquo;s name last appeared on the prized NHL pewter that even the most staunch hockey fan would have trouble remembering the coach then. It was personable and colorful Rudy Pilous.But Reay wasn&rsquo;t the least concerned about the last time the Hawks won it all. He was too pre occupied with the present.His current-day clan had learned over the course of the regular season that looking left in a pinch no longer produced the comfortable vision of Hull, the team&rsquo;s mainstay for 15 years and scorer 50 of the club&rsquo;s 256 goals last winter.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03543/3810132-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="792" height="345"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hot shooting DENNIS HULL still carries on the family tradition and he&rsquo;s doing it in top style. This season he triggered 39 goals.</figcaption></div>This season, no one player was nearly that dominant. Jim Pappin collected 41 of the club&rsquo;s 284 scores, but the supporting cast featured Dennis Hull&rsquo;s 39, Cliff Koroll&rsquo;s 33, Pit Martin&rsquo;s 29, Stan Mikita&rsquo;s 27, and 15 each by parttimers Lou Angotti and J.P. Bordeleau.Then there were late acquisitions such as Ralph Backstrom and Dick Redmond, plus a revived Jerry Korab, to give folks in Chicagoville the feeling that perhaps better distribution would bring better results in short, fleeting playoff series.Conversely, there were folks who believed that without No. 9 carrying the load and producing the big goal as he often did, the Hawks&rsquo; chances for drinking out of the Stanley Cup instead of just dreaming about it were nil.Certainly, the Chicago Six couldn&rsquo;t have done much less this April than they did last, when they disposed of the Pittsburgh Penguins in four straight, but then contracted rigor mortis while being blown out onto the golf courses with four consecutive semi-final defeats to the New York Rangers.This year, there were assorted mentions of how everybody would like to get another crack at the Rangers. No rah-rah statements, but more like a quiet resolve to erase last year&rsquo;s memory.&ldquo;No professional player likes to lose four straight games,&rdquo; Reay said. &ldquo;I think that this team will think about that a little bit if we happen to meet the Rangers.&rdquo;The Hawks started the playoffs quite well this time around. In their quarter-final series versus the St. Louis Blues, the Hawks won the first three matches, including a 7-1 opening rout when Redmond and Martin each scored a hat trick &mdash; the first time in National Hockey League annals when two players for one team had done so in one playoff match.The hat trick was somewhat of a salve for Redmond, whose season was a confused one.&ldquo;The whole year has been crazy and mixed up,&rdquo; said the December import from the California Golden Seals.&ldquo;I was playing defense out there and was a little surprised to come here and switch to left wing,&rdquo; said Redmond &ldquo;The whole trade made a difference like night and day, not only from going from first place to last, but everything &mdash; even the climate.&rdquo;HAW-EY TALK: When the Hawks lost the fourth game of their opening series to St. Louis, it broke a string of 19 straight Chicago victories in quarter-finals over a span of five years. After losing the first two outings to the Rangers in 1968, the Hawks swept the subsequent four. They missed the playoffs in 1969, then swept quarter-finals in 1970, 1971 and 1972 against Detroit, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, respectively. &#9632;

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If Better Balance Will Help Then Reay’s Raiders Have A Chance To Bring Back The Last Glory Days Of 1961

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011002/3810198-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="378" height="461"></div>&bull; THE SEMI-FINAL playoff games in the National Hockey League have been classics. All of the games have been packed with excitement and thrills and hockey fans are hoping that the same high-class hockey will continue throughout the entire playoffs&hellip; Philadelphia&rsquo;s 5-4 win over Canadiens in overtime gave the Flyers a big lift and if goalie Doug Favell continues the same magic in the nets the Flyers will be tough to eliminate. They have the goal scorers and they can hit with anybody. One thing they do lack is experience and playoff toughness &hellip; &ldquo;Forechecking is the key to winning this&rdquo;, remarked Bobby Clarke, a Flyers&rsquo; star in every game he plays &hellip;Out-tending player on the Canadiens in the playoffs has been Guy Lapointe on defense. He&rsquo;s been the club&rsquo;s leader in the games against Buffalo as well as against the Flyers &hellip; A number of Philadelphia fans saying they were members of Dave &ldquo;The Hammer&rdquo; Schultz&rsquo; Fan Club attended the games in Montreal. They arrived wearing Whermach helmets with little hammers attached to them. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t met any of them and don&rsquo;t know what to make of it,&rdquo; said the native of Rosetown, Sask &hellip; Keith Magnuson, Chicago&rsquo;s aggressive defenseman, suffered a tough break when he had his jaw broken and lost several teeth after stopping a drive by Brad Park. His jaw is being wired and a special protective helmet will be available in time for him to wear later in the series. The rugged Magnuson hopes to be back in action very shortly &hellip; Pat Stapleton was the No. 1 star for the Hawks with two goals and an assist. He was the team&rsquo;s leader throughout&hellip; Stan Mikita says he is still having trouble getting his wind &hellip; Rod Gilbert is playing his best hockey of the season in the series &hellip; Three Bruins, Wayne Cashman, Derek Sanderson and Mike Walton refused to shake hands with the New York Rangers&rsquo; players after they were eliminated by the Broadway Blueshirts. Bobby Orr. a class guy, was the first Boston player to congratulate the winning Rangers. Vic Hadfield, New York captain, is still being troubled with headaches and dizzy spells since suffering a severe concussion several weeks ago.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03853/3810191-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="253" height="426"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Schultz</figcaption></div>&bull; TED GARVIN is expected to be named the new coach of the Detroit Red Wings after the firing of Johnny Wilson. Garvin has done a tresimendous job coaching the Port Huron Wings of the International Hockey League for the last three years &hellip; Syracuse Blazers overpowered the game but outclassed Roanoke Valley Rebels in the Eastern Hockey League finals to capture the Walker Cup. Bill Charles would like to move his Blazers into the American Hockey League next season or at most the season after next. He has had several discussions with Jack Butterfield, AHL president, and a number of NHL and WHA clubs. Bill would like to be affiliated with National Hockey League team &hellip; Ray Schultz, brother of Philadelphia&rsquo;s Dave and Norm Cournoyer, brother of Montreal&rsquo;s Yvon, both play with Syracuse &hellip; Ray Adduono, clever center of the Blazers who dominates the EHL scoring, hopes he will move up the hockey ladder next season &hellip; Some outstanding Stanley Cup Memories appear in the April issue of HOCKEY WORLD. A feature by Bill Libby titled: &ldquo;Captain Bobby Clarke: A Rare Gem&rdquo; also appears in the same issue of HOCKEY WORLD. It&rsquo;s a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at the brightest star to come into the NHL since expansion &hellip; This marks the first time Philadelphia Flyers have taken part in the semi-final series. It is the 35th time Canadiens have participated in the semi-finals &hellip; Boston Bruins almost made a deal with Atlanta which woul have brought Dan Bouchard, standout young goalie back to the Bruins in exchange for Fred Stanfield, Garnet Bailey Ron Jones and John Adams. Atlanta then planned to deal Stanfield to Canadiens for Wayne Thomas and a couple of other players, but Sam Pollock nixed the deal&hellip; It was Paul Wieland, Buffalo public relations director, who tipped off Joe Crozier that Ken Dryden&rsquo;s pads were too wide &hellip; Reg Wright and Jim Rennie, two enterprising young Canadians, who came up with the idea for the NHL Registered Goal-Puck Collectors Series, were profiled in the latest issue of The Canadian Magazine &hellip; Buffalo Sabres certainly distinguished themselves by the fine way they played against Canadiens in the playoffs and the loyal Buffalo fans took the team to their hearts&hellip; Calls by the NHL linesmen have been particularly sharp during the playoffs&hellip; Tim Ryan getting better with each game on the NBC Game of the Week. In a fairly short space of time Ryan has developed into an extremely capable play-by-play announcer.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05613/3810184-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="246" height="422"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dan Boucha.</figcaption></div>&bull; STEVE VICKERS has been terrific for the Rangers in the playoffs. The young rookie sensetion has supplied more scoring punch to the New Yorkers than they ever expected &hellip; Close to 4,000 fans welcomed the Rangers home at La Guardia Airport after eliminating Boston &hellip; Ron Harris is fast becoming a hero to Ranger fans for the way he plays defense. Obtaining Harris was one of Emile Francis best moves in awhile &hellip; GM Sam Pollock said Buffalo will be as good a team as Canadk&rsquo;s will meet in the cup playoffs &hellip; Syl Apps, Pittsburgh&rsquo;s fine young center, underwent surigery for removal of bone chips in his left knee. Remember Howie Young? The former NHL wild man topped the WHL in penalties with 223 minutes. Howie is a valuable member of the Phoenix Roadrunners these days&hellip; Latest rumor has Harry Sinden acting as general manager-coach next season for the Boston Bruins &hellip; Also that Al McNeil will return to the NHL as a coach&hellip; They say Scotty Bowman could have the general manager&rsquo;s job in Vancouver if he wanted it. If he accepted Scotty would also double as GM-Coach&hellip; Red Kelly has talked with four different NHL clubs about employment for next season. The club he favors is Toronto if he can get the kind of arrangement he wants&hellip; Pete Stemkowski, who always seems to play his best hockey when the chips are on the line, is doing it again this year. He&rsquo;s been going great guns for the Rangers in their playoffs games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04751/3810177-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="255" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Syl Apps</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02958/3810253-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg"></div><h2>Bring On Helmets In Rule Chances</h2>Two rules changes I submit for your consideration:1&mdash;Allow no major penalty to be assessed for causing a head or facial cut on a player not wearing a helmet.2&mdash;On a bench penalty, allow the opposing team captain to select the player to serve from those on the ice, goalie exceptedOne other suggestion on interpretation is to have the offside call at the blueline and the redline be identical.TOM SHAPIRO,Falmouth, Mass.<h2>Mikita Overlooked Among Top Centers</h2>In a recent HOCKEY NEWS, Norm MacLean said that &ldquo;realistically, the three top centers in the NHL are Esposito, Ratelie and Clarke.&rdquo; Has he forgotten Stan Mikita, the Black Hawk who won the scoring championship four times, one more time than all three centers combined? Stan was but a few points away from Espo this year, upon which a broken heel sidelined him for most of the season.DAN MOSELEY,Barrington Ill.<h2>&ldquo;Cherry Pickers&rdquo; Rule Draws opposition</h2>After reading the letter of Mr. Ken Kornick, we feel compelled to offer refutation.Mr. Kornick proposed a three-second time limitation upon offensive players who station themselves in the slot, in the assumption that such a rule would diminish the effectiveness of &ldquo;cherry-pickers&rdquo; a la Phil Esposito. The rationale for such a rule, which Mr. Kornick draws from pro basketball, is not well established. The three-second rule was devised in basketball where the disparity in player size is great; hockey is the one game in which small players can be prolific scorers, as evidenced by the splendid play of Gil Perreault, Bobby Clarke, Andre Lacroix, and Jean Ratelle. Mr. Kornick overlooked the fact that hockey features a permanent defender, i.e., the goalie, whose art includes reading and blocking slot maneuvers, whereas basketball has no such balancing force. Moreover, the superb play of Esposito from the slot position is not as much due to his size as it is to his tremendous physical strength and agility which enables him to ward off as many as three checkers while remaining fixed in the slot.To stifle the excitement of slot play would not only result in a duller game, but would encourage the taking of more 40 and 50-foot shots, thereby resulting in more broken plays and fewer goals.DAVE BROWN,GERRY COLOMBOUrbana, III.<h2>Names On Sweaters Would Aid TV Fans</h2>With increased presentation of the NHL and WHA on television, I think it would be a good idea for the various teams to provide the names of the players on the back of their uniforms, much as they do in the football leagues. This would provide better identification for both fan and statitician.PHILLIPS. REEDER,Orange Calif.<h2>Bruin&rsquo;s Erred Trading Off Ace</h2>I think the Bruins made a mistake trading garnet Ace Bailey for Gary Doak. Although he never got a lot of ice time as a Bruin, Ace always let the opposition know he was around. I liked his keen desire ans spirit to play. His dramatic winning goal in the first game of last year&rsquo;s finals was a classic.I don&rsquo;t see how Gary Doak can possibly help the Bruins. He seems very injury prone, getting hurt in his first shift in Boston uniform.I hope Ace develops into a super star, and contributes big to the Red Wings.EILEEN CRESSMAN,Norristown, Penn.<h2>Pro Hockey Teams Have Clashing Styles</h2>Opinions seem to be divided among hockey fans as to how a hockey game should be played. First there are the advocates of what Boston sportswriters like to refer to as &ldquo;crash&rdquo; style. Equally vociferous are the proponents of the skating style exemplified by Canadiens, Red Wings and most other NHL teams and also by the Whalers, Jets and many WHA teams. I would like to offer a solution.Why not group the skating teams in one league and let them play their 78-game schedule, after which they could challenge the international champions (Russians, Czechs, etc.) for a World Cup. The other teams, Bruins, Flyers, Blues, Leafs and possibly one other, could form a new league which they could call the Crash Bang League. Their games could be played without benefit of referees since they tend to disregard rules anyhow. After their regular schedule of 190 games (crash bang fans never seem to tire of this stuff) they could collectively challenge the roller derby champions and really have themselves a crashing party.ROBERT A. LEPINE,Nashua, N.H. &#9632;

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FAN FORUM

And you have to go out in the cold to return THE HOCKEY NEWS you borrowed from the guy down the street! Do your own thing! Turn to page 21 and subscribe. You&rsquo;ll have 37 issues delivered to your door. That will save you 37 trips down the street. Don&rsquo;t you feel warmer already? &#9632;

Baby It’s Cold Outside

<div class="byline">BY RICK MONAGHAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011033/3810353-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="468" height="414"><figcaption class="caption-body">BARRY GIBBS &hellip; Limped back to score (Hockey News Photo by peter Woolley)</figcaption></div>TWIN CITIES&mdash;The Minnesota North Stars are out of it now but no one could be critical of the sparkling goalkeeping the team received in its six-game quarter-final series with the Philadelphia Flyers.The man who held the Stars in the tighly-contested first round, before the Flyers prevailed 4-2 in games, was the soft-spoken 6&rsquo;3&rdquo; gent from Trail, B.C.That&rsquo;s Cesare Maniago, the very first North Star chosen in the Expansion Draft of 1967. Maniago&rsquo;s track record over the past six seasons bears out the wisdom of that choice by General Manager Wren Blair. Not one of the other five goalies selected first &mdash; Charlie Hodge by California, Joe Daley by Pittsburgh, Terry Sawchuk by Los Angeles, Bernie Parent by Philadelphia and Glenn Hall by St. Louis &mdash; still is active in the National League.But Maniago&rsquo;s still there as the Flyers can testify.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02795/3810346-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="174" height="294"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cesare Maniago</figcaption></div>The tall 34-year-old came out of the area in Trail known as Garlic Gulch to play at such way points as Sudbury, Spokane, Hull-Ottawa, Buffalo, Quebec City, Omaha, Baltimore and Minneapolis and in Toronto and New York before finding a home at Metropolitan Sports Center.Since the first day the North Stars took the ice he has been the main man in goal, the man who year after year has played more games than his partners &mdash; Garry Baumann, Ken Broderick, Fern Rivard, Gump Worsley, Gilles Gilbert, et. al.So it was no surprise that Coach Jack Gordon called on Maniago to open the series against the Flyers. Maniago responded with a 33-save 3-0 shutout in the opening game.Gordon then chose Gilbert as his second game starter, a move that led members of the Philadelphia press corps to question whether the Minnesota coach was conceding the second game to the Flyers.Hardly,&rdquo; answered Gordon. &ldquo;Gilbert is a fine young goalkeeper who has played some superior games for us this season. It&rsquo;s simply a matter of looking ahead to four games in four and a half days.&rdquo;Gilbert stopped 36 pucks in that second game, but Philadelphia had 40 shots and the result was Flyers 4, North Stars 1.Back came Maniago in Game 3. Once again he was unbeatable. This time Philadelphia had 34 shots. He stopped all of them, the North Stars won 5-0 and Maniago&rsquo;s goals-against average was 0.00 for 120 minutes.His magic touch lasted 18 minutes and 57 seconds longer until Philadelphia center Bobby Clarke tucked in his first Stanley (&rsquo;up goal from the side of the net in the first period of the fourth game. Maniago allowed two more goals after that in Minnesota&rsquo;s 3-0 defeat and went into Game 5 with a 1.00 goals-against average.It&rsquo;s typical of the modest goaltender that he gave his teammates credit for the victories and blamed himself for Clarke&rsquo;s go-ahead goal.&ldquo;The first two games I played were not that tough for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;True, they had a fair amount of shots, but our team&rsquo;s defensive play was forcing them to take a lot of bad shots,&ldquo;I tried to poke check the puck off Clarke&rsquo;s stick when he came around the net and, as it turned out, that was a mistake. I didn&rsquo;t manage to do it and he slipped it between my legs.&rdquo;Nevertheless Maniago&rsquo;s two sucessive shutouts were the first time that feat had been accomplished in the playoffs since both Gerry Cheevers of Boston and Jacques Plante of St. Louis turned the trick in 1969. His 138 minutes and 57 seconds of shutout goaltending was the longest in the playoffs since Plante blanked those same Flyers for 146 minutes and 38 seconds in 1969.That puts Maniago in some illustrious company &mdash; which is where the North Stars feel he belongs.NORTH STARS&rsquo; NOTES: Defenseman Barry Gibbs suffered sprained knee ligaments in the first game, missed the second game and came back to score a goal in the third game &hellip;Philadelphia Mad Squad member Dave Schultz didn&rsquo;t fare too well in fights against a couple North Stars. Most observers gave Ted Harris a clear decision in Philadelphia and called Schultz&rsquo; battle with Dennis Hextall in Minnesota a draw &hellip; The crowd of 15,647 for Saturday night&rsquo;s game in Minnesota was the third largest playoff crowd in the history of Metropolitan Sports Center. The crowd dropped off to 15.449 on Sunday afternoon because the game was carried on two television stations in the Twin Cities &hellip; The Flyers&rsquo; Sunday victory was their first at Met Center since Jan. 24. 1970. They had lost six times and tied four times going into that game &hellip; The team scoring the first goal won the first four games of this series. The strategy of both Gordon and Philadelphia coach Fred Shero was to go for the first goal, then check and wait for the breaks. It worked for both of them &#9632;

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Maniago Still No. 1 In Coal

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;Buffalo sports fans were beginning to believe it was more than just his natural optimism when Punch Imlach said his Sabres would be the first expansion club to win the Stanley Cup. They won&rsquo;t do it this year, but there&rsquo;s always next year.Not only did the Sabres become the first expansion team to make the Stanley Cup playoffs in the East Division &mdash; first to beat out pre-expansion clubs to make it &mdash; but they became the second expansion team to win in the playoffs against a team that was in the National Hockey League before 1967.The Sabres did it before the usual capacity crowd of 15,668 in theirown Memorial Auditorium in the fourth game of their quarter-final series against the Montreal Canadiens. They did it again in game five when Rene Robert scored in overtime at Montreal to win 3-2.These same Canadiens were the previous victims of an expansion club, losing twice to the Minnesota North Stars in the 1971 playoffs.It didn&rsquo;t seem likely that the Sabres would beat the East Division champions when they came out for the fourth game. They had lost the first three and even their most faithful fans had to wonder if they could prolong the series.After putting up a fine show in losing the opener, 2-1, the Sabres went down, 7-3 and 5-2, in the next two games. The 5-2 loss was at home and came only the night before they exploded for a 5-1 triumph over the Canadiens. Then they pulled off their overtime win in Montreal but saw the series go to the Canadiens when the teams headed back to Buffalo. The Habs won the clincher 4-2 but they were plenty extended by the surprising Sabres in the series.Said Sam Pollock, the cagy genaral manager of Les Habitants, after the Sabres outskated, out-hustled, outshot and outchecked hisclub:&ldquo;Buffalo probably played as well as a team can play tonight. They certainly outplayed us. They made us look had.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01924/3810384-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="225" height="411"><figcaption class="caption-body">RENE ROBERT&hellip;Winner In Overtime</figcaption></div>One of the best aspects of the playoffs from a Buffalo stand-point, was the way Gil Perrault was performing. The young center Punch Imlach built his club around was skating like a man possessed.Even in the losses in Montreal Gil was weaving his way through the Canadiens&rsquo; team. He scored a spectacular goal on a breakaway, going around veteran defenseman Jacques Laperriere, in the second minute of the second game. The Sabres gained a 2-0 lead in that game, only to fall apart in the second period.Perreault came out of the first two Montreal games with a goal and two assists.In the third game. Buffalo coach Joe Crozier used his checking line of Don Luce, Craig Ramsay and Larry Mickey on the Montreal line of Jacques Lemaire, Frank Mahovlich and Yvan Cournoyer, which wrecked the Sabres in the second game.As Montreal Coach Scotty Bowman had that line on much of the time through the first two periods of the third game, Perreault and his French Connection, played less than 10 minutes of the first 40.But in the third period, Perreault set up Rene Robert for Buffalo&rsquo;s second goal.In Buffalo&rsquo;s 5-1 victory, Gil scored twice, one goal coming on a 60-foot slap shot that whizzed by goalie Ken Dryden, and sent Robert a perfect pass from behind the net for another score. &#9632;

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Imlach’s Optimism Realized In Playoff Victories

The gals made it happen. In the past our advertising was geared only to male readership. NO MORE! Females are subscribing by the thousands BUT still many men are complaining that their copies are being pilfered by their female friends. Do your gal a favor. Turn to page 21 and you&rsquo;ll keep YOUR HOCKEY NEWS and your gal, both!! &#9632;

Sex Revolution And The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011023/3810439-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="540" height="611"><figcaption class="caption-body">TERRY CRISP&hellip;Fits Into Picture</figcaption></div>Keith Allen&rsquo;s batting, average as Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; general manager is better than .500. Perhaps not in the Shrewd Sam Pollock class, but still pretty good.Beneficial Allen deals since 1970 have brought Barry Ashbee, Rick MacLeish, Bill Flett, Ross Lonsberry and Andre (Moose) Dupont to the Flyers. All played vital roles in leading the Flyers into the Stanley Cup playoffs for the fourth time in six years as NHL members.Ashbee, one of the Flyers&rsquo; few short hairs, has been outstanding since he returned from his suspension for punching referee Bryan Lewis. MacLeish, of course, blossomed from a suspect into the NHL&rsquo;s eighth 50-goal scorer. Flett hit his career high of 43 goals, Lonsberry scored over 20 goals for the third time in four full NHL seasons and played superb two-way hockey, and Dupont turned into a reliable defenseman and enforcer.Now, add Terry Crisp to Alien&rsquo;s list of good deals. Terry&rsquo; Crisp? How can a 29-year-old center who isn&rsquo;t a big goal scorer or Mad Squad battler fit into the Flyers&rsquo; plans?Easily, First, Crisp played for coach Fred Shero at Buffalo, then in the AHL, and Shero knew &ldquo;the other guy&rdquo; from Parry Sound, Ont., was a smart player who could, if nothing else, take the penalty-killing pressure off Bobby Clarke.Crisp has done much more than kill penalties. After he joined the Flyers in exchange for little-used more-than-decent defenseman Jean Potvin just before the trade deadline, Crisp moved in as third-line center. The red-haired veteran frequently centered for Dave Schultz and Don Saleski, which meant he need not worry about hitting.With forwards such as Clarke, MacLeish, Flett, Lonsberry and Gary Dornhoefer around, it&rsquo;s hard to believe that Terry Crisp could be the Flyers&rsquo; most consistent front-liner in the early playoff going against Minnesota. But he was. While Clarke&rsquo;s line was being checked by Jude Drouin&rsquo;s line and the MacLeish trio faced the stubborn Dennis Hextall line, Crisp went against Murray Oliver&rsquo;s crew. Crisp forechecked like a master and even scored a goal in the Flyers&rsquo; second-game 4-1 victory.Crisp, a forthright, alert sort, admits he didn&rsquo;t feel he belonged in Philadelphia until the playoffs started.&ldquo;They were having such a good season that I felt I was just sort of dropping in for the last 12 games,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But with the playoffs starting, everyone&rsquo;s starting new and I feel part of it.&rdquo;To his credit, Crisp refused to criticize his previous employers, the much-maligned Islanders. Some expected Crisp to show up in Philadelphia shouting &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to be free.&rdquo; Instead, he insisted the Islanders&rsquo; spirit was good. &ldquo;They all have pride &mdash; they want to keep their heads up in the summer, too. All they need are some experienced players.&rdquo;Mentioning the Flyers&rsquo; league record penalty log and their intimidation of some teams, triggers this honest response from Crisp: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to hear that word intimidation thrown around. Anyone who plays hockey has to have guts, just to lace on the skates.&rdquo;Next to Keith Allen and Shero, no one is happier at having Crisp in Flyers&rsquo; orange-and-black than Don Saleski. The big rookie right wing, who scored five points in Philly&rsquo;s final two regular-season games, and added a goal and assist in his second Stanley Cup outing, was playing like a poised veteran in the playoffs. He gives much of the credit to Crisp.&ldquo;Terry and I talk a lot,&rdquo; Saleski said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been a big help in getting me in position for passes and shots.&rdquo;The last-minute Terry Crisp trade may turn out to be one of Keith Alien&rsquo;s best.FLYER FILLERS &mdash; More than 200 fans greeted the Flyers at the airport following their return from nationally televised shutout victory in Minnesota &hellip; Goaltender Doug Favell called the 3-0 triumph over the North Stars &ldquo;the greatest thing that&rsquo;s ever happened to me.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Crisp Consistent In Playoffs

<div class="byline">By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02919/3810477-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="272" height="353"></div><h2>Looking Back On The Season</h2>As the playoffs proceed, there still is time to spotlight achievements from the long season, which should not be forgotten. Canadiens captured the pennant with a team effort, tutored over rough spots in the road by tough Scotty Bowman. Bruins, who switched mentors in midstream, from Tom Johnson to Bep Guidolin, were served by stars as usual as they saved second.Phil Esposito is thunder, Bobby Orr lightning. Some say Orr always is the Most Valuable Player. Since Esposito won one, Orr has won three straight. Espo should win another this season. He may repeat as this publication&rsquo;s Player of the Year. In any event, his thunder has not gone unnoticed here. He is more than just sound. He also is fury in action. It is sad he was injured out of the playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03773/3810470-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="282" height="349"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHIL ESPOSITO&hellip;Swept The Board</figcaption></div>Esposito swept the Triple Crown this season, a rare achievement. He led the league with 55 goals, 75 assists and 130 scoring points. He is the first player to score 50 or more goals three straight seasons. He has led in scoring points three straight seasons and four of the last five. Stan Mikita also won four scoring titles. Only Gordie Howe ever won more, six.The powerful pivot is 31, holding at his peak. When Bruins lost a lot of players during the offseason and Orr entered the season unable to play, it was Espo who held them together. Orr missed 15 games, but came back to score 29 goals, set up 72 and total 101 points for third in the points race. He teamed with Espo to flail the club into second place in the East, ahead of Rangers.&rsquo;Professional, proud, often profane, Esposito stands in an empty arena before a game and says, &ldquo;Hell, it&rsquo;s a job. It&rsquo;s the best job. You do it as best you can. And you pick up your paycheck. It doesn&rsquo;t matter who gets the glory.&rdquo;Three players scored 100 or more points this season. Bobby Clarke of Philadelphia tallied 37 goals, set up 67 and totalled 104 points, trailing only Esposito. At 23, he is the youngest captain in hockey. He is not large, except in heart. He lives with diabetes and wearscontact lenses, one of which shattered when he was struck in the eye by a stick in the playoff opener. He is tough. He has improved every season, not only statistically, but really. He is a true star and an inspirational leader and no one could complain if he got a lot of MVP votes.<h3>Fine Year For Clarke</h3>Three players scored 50 or more goals. Aside from Esposito&rsquo;s 55, Mickey Redmond of Detroit scored 52 and Rick MacLeish of Philadelphia scored 50, becoming the seventh and eighth players ever to turn the trick. Redmond shot to stardom with 42 goals last season, proved himself a superstar with 52 this season. He is 25 and teriffic. MacLeish has to be the surprise player of the year. Last season he scored one goal in the majors and spent most of the season in the minors developing. This season at 23 he developed.The object of the game is goals, scored or stopped. Assists often are suspect. A top playmaker needs top shooters to pile up points. The great goal-scorers merit a trophy of their own annually. They deserve as much or more of the spotlight as those who pile up points. The officials don&rsquo;t have to give them their goals.There were an even dozen who scored 40 or more goals this season. Behind the 50-goal guys, there were Jacques Lemaire with 44, Bill Flett with 43, Garry Unger, Jean Ratelie and Jim Pappin with 41 each and Yvan Cournoyer, John Bucyk, Rene Robert and Marcel Dionne 40 each. Dennis Hull just missed with 39. Bobby Schmautz and Frank Mahovlich with 38 each. Rick Martin, Dave Keon and Mike Corrigan with 37.<h3>Dryden May Be MVP</h3>Ken Dryden, who played 54 games and led the league&rsquo;s goaltenders by allowing only 2.26 goals per game, probably is the leading MVP contender from the pennant-winning, Canadiens, and likely winner of the award, although Lemaire and Cournoyer provide their lightning. Ratelle, the model of consistency, probably is the top MVP hopeful from third-place Rangers. Goalers Gilles Villemure and Giacomin did a big job. too.Montreal, Boston and New York each had better records thanfttcago, pennant-winner in the West, but Black Hawks at least did not blow it all after Bobby Hull left. Brother Dennis, Pappin and Pit Martin became hockey&rsquo;s highestscoring line with 109 goals, surpassing the 105 of Buffalo&rsquo;s &ldquo;French Connection,&rdquo; Robert, Martin and Gil Perreault. Chicago&rsquo;s Stan Mikita was having a super season until he cracked his heel. Goaler Tony Esposito was second to Dryden onlvinthe statistics.Philadelphia, paced by Clarke, MacLeish and the bearded Bill Flett, moved up to tie Minnesota for second place in the West. They now are about even as the best of the expansionists since the league increased six seasons back, and they seem about to attack the old Black Hawks as best in the west, which is at least a part of the parity that has been so long awaited. Philly&rsquo;s Fred Shero and Minnesota&rsquo;s Jack Gordon clearly are coaches of class. Taking over St. Louis during the season, Jean-Guy Talbot drove the Blues back into the playoffs.It is hard to tell where Punch Imlach leaves off as manager and Joe Crozier starts up as coach, but Buffalo, despite being in the East, the division of established powers, made the playoffs in only its third season, an astonishing accomplishment. so Crozier may be Coach of the Year.Personally, we&rsquo;d give a slight edge to Bernie Geoffrion, who kept Atlanta in the West playoff race most of its first season. Boom Boom&rsquo;s side slid into seventh at the finish, but sometimes a guy does a great job for an also-ran. Another case in point was Bob Pulford who brought Los Angeles back into playoff contention although the Kings collapsed in the stretch.Often, losers deserve laurels, too. &#9632;

f0008-02

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Although they fell short of a player spot, the Kings set a lot of team records this past season.They tied their team record of 31 victories in a season and set a new one with 21 at home. They also set a team record by winning 73 points. Their first half of 1817-4 was their best ever, but their second half of 13-19-7 made them an also-ran again.Mike Corrigan and Bob Berry surpassed the previous team record for goals scored in one season. With two goals in the last game, Corrigan beat out Berry, 3736. Despite missing 11 games, Butch Goring was third with 28.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01988/3810508-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="165" height="291"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Corrigan</figcaption></div>Following came Serge Bernier with 22. Dan Maloney 17, Juha Widing 16, Vic Venasky 15, Frank St. Marseii: 14, Don Kozak, 14, and Bill Lesuk with six. These were the regulars up front.Widing led in assists with a team-record 54, followed by Bernier with 46, Gilles Marotte with 39, Goring with 31, Corrigan with 30 and Berry with 28.For the third straight season, Widing led in total scoring points with 70, surpassing his own team record, closely followed by Bernier with 68, Corrigan with 67, Berry with 64 and Goring with 59.Marotte led all defensemen with six goals and 39 points. This was second in the West Division only to ex-King Bill White of Chicago, who had nine goals and 47 points.Widing set new team records for assists and points by a center. Corrigan and Berry set team records for goals, assists and points by right and left wings, respectively. As a line they set a team record with 89 goals.With 226 goals, the team feel 13 short of its 1970-71 total, which this season was blasted from the books by Philadelphia and Minnesota as a record for expansionists.Corrigan and Berry set a team record with 14 power-play goals each. They helped the team set a record with 52 in 295 chances.Corrigan also surpassed his own team record with 146 minutes in penalties. Kozak had 104. Goring did not have any until the last game when he got a two-minute call. As a team the Kings were much more aggressive this season, rising from 719 minutes in penalties to 902, sixth highest in the league.The penalty-killing unit of Jimmy Peters and Real Lemieux up front and Gilles Marotte and Terry Harper behind them killed off the last 37 shorthanded situations they faced and 197 of 228 over the season. The 31 power-play goals permitted was the team&rsquo;s fewest ever.Although the Kings have had good goalers in the past, Rog Vachon became the first to finish with a winning record, 22-20-10, and also a goals-against under three, 2.85. Gary Edwards wound up at 9-16-1 and 3.62. &#9632;

f0009-01

Corrigan Top Sniper As Leading Scorers Beat Kings’ Records

<div class="byline">BY GIL SMITH</div>MONTREAL&mdash;Want to know how much past performances mean in hockey? Then read on, and check the findings at the conclusion of the Habs-Flyers playoff round.If the two clubs follow the pattern they set during the regular season, we should see close, bitterly-fought playoff series that would likely go the full seven games and be won by Canadiens on &mdash; and because of &mdash; their home ice.So close were these teams during the regular season that there was virtually nothing to choose between them in five meetings. They had a 2-2-1 record of wins, losses and ties; and each club scored 24 goals for an average of nearly five a game, which is high.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02822/3810546-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="163" height="288"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Dryden</figcaption></div>Canadiens were 2-1-0 at home, and 0-1-1 in Philadelphia. They outscored the Fivers by three goals in the Forum, and were in turn outscored by three in the Spectrum.Here are some things to look for based on their past efforts during the season:Marc Tardif may emerge as a scoring star, especially by connecting for early goals. He has always played well against the Fivers and often blinks the red light before the game is more than a few minutes old.Habs may get early leads in several games, then quit checking. If so, they&rsquo;ll lose whatever contest that happens in.gKen Dryden may find himself in the unusual position of having something to prove. Curiously. Dryden had to be removed from the first Habs-Flyers game this season&rdquo; &hellip; because just wasn&rsquo;t responding.&rdquo; He was replaced by Michel Plasse. Ken didn&rsquo;t play the second game, either, and Plasse was between the pipes again. Wayne Thomas, the rookie, was in goal for Habs during the third outing. Plasse started in goal for Habs in the fourth game between the teams during the season, but was relieved by Dryden late in the contest. Flyers won 7-6. Dryden played the last game, a 4-4 tie. He played well, though Canadiens had to come from behind three times to tie it.There will be several fights between Pierre Bouchard and Dave Schultz. Both will win their share.Canadiens will have a slight edge in powerplay goals, and that, in turn, may force Fivers to forego some of their agressive. hitting style. Which will, of course, work to the advantage of Canadiens.Habs will win at least one game by a lopsided score, then have to overcome feelings of over-confidence.Either Henri Richard or Rejean Houle will get the tough job of shadowing Bobby Clarke. The latter will probably be as deadly as ever against Canadiens. setting up plays and scoring himself. He notched his first NHL career hat-trick against Habs, this season.Peter Mahovlich will have at least one big game, probably scoring a short handed goal or two and will tell reporters that he has finally found himself.It may prove to be a surprisingly tough series for usually reliable defense-types like Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe. Both had bad nights against the Flyers this year.Habs will outshoot the Fivers &hellip; by a sizeable margin in a given game or two &hellip; but not by too much, overall.The series will probably be won by somebody like Jim Roberts.If the above predictions don&rsquo;t work out. this writer will be trying to unload one badly used crystal ball.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03628/3810539-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="223" height="514"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIMMY ROBERTS&hellip;Time For Role?</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-02

Form Chart Gives Habs Edge Over Fivers In Tough Series

<div class="byline">BY JOHN ARNOLD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011011/3810577-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="318" height="429"></div><h2>SOLUTION IN MAY 4 ISSUE</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1. Pictured player8. An NHL general manager.9. One of the Leafs, (init.)10. The(Fr)11. 9th and 1st letters of the alphabet12. One of the Red Wings14. Former Detroit and Chica go defenseman answers to this16. Initials of former Montreal coach17. To make mistakes18. Number of goals scored by Horton this year20. 25th and 9th letters of the alphabet21. A U.S. State, (abbr.)22. One of the Habs. (init)25. First Red Wing to score 5031. Finished 2nd in scoring this year, (init.)33. A Minnesota defenseman34. Nickname of a Red Wing center36. Initials of one of the Red Wings38. Minnesota forward in WHA<h3>DOWN</h3>1. WHA goaltender2. 1st and 22nd letters of the alphabet3. Pictured player is a former winner of this trophy4. Phil Esposito recently injured one5. Martin, Perreault, Robert6. Former Montreal defenseman7. Girl&rsquo;s name13. Former Detroit and Chicago forward15. First name of Neaterenko19. Initials of former Hawk Balfour.23. One of the Canadiens. (init.)24. A San Diego veteran26. Former NHL forward Reibel. (init)27. First name of a Minnesota forward28. Robitaille of Buffalo29. Outside diameter, (init)30. Initials of one of the Red Wings32. One of the Hoekstras answers to this35. To perform37. WHA scoring champ. (init.)<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;s ANSWERS</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1. WILLIAMS.6. BILL.8. SLOAN.11. TONY.12. ANDY.13. APR.14. ONE.16. L.S.18. TO.19. MARSHALL.25. MIKITA.26. EE.27. O.T.28. E.T.A.29. EHMAN.<h3>DOWN</h3>1. WESTFALL.2. LEONARD.3. A.B.4. MINNESOTA.5. S.L.7. LAYCOE.9. L.O.10. A.Y.15. NOLET.17. SMITH.20. A.K.21. R.I.22. STAN.23. H.A.24. LEAF.25. MOE.28. E.S. &#9632;

f0010-01

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01970/3810608-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

HOCKEY’S SUPER STARS

<div class="byline">BY DANDONOVAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02833/3810639-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="360" height="581"><figcaption class="caption-body">JEAN PRONOVOST&hellip;Cougars Interested</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01984/3810646-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="166" height="285"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tad Potter</figcaption></div>One guy called it a wake, but the 11,000 fans who showed up for the Penguins&rsquo; final, meaningless game with the Philadelphia Flyers made it a noisy wake.With a few exceptions the fans cheered the players and stood applauding when the team skated onto the ice.There were a few hecklers, but most of the fans appreciated the effort the Penguin players had made in a last gasp drive to the playoffs. Most saved their disdain for a Penguin management that had fired a coach, Red Kelly, who led a miracle finish last season. A few &ldquo;Fire Jack Riley&rdquo; signs appeared and the loudest boo of the night came when the general manager&rsquo;s name was mentionedBut Penguin general partner Tad Potter said he will be a listen to the signs &hellip; this year.Jack Riley will remain in Pitts burgh as long as the continues to do a fine job,&rdquo; Pottersaid.But Potter admitted this will be a crucial year for Riley and Director of Player Personnel Jack Button, both of whom are on the last year of three-year contracts.&ldquo;I know a lot of people would like to see Jack Riley fired,&rdquo; Potter said, &ldquo;but they don&rsquo;t appreciate what he has done. He just gets a lot of flack.&rdquo;Potter pointed to several successful Penguin trades and noted Riley worked under the handicap of early Penguin owners who wanted him to trade away draft choices.&ldquo;At least he got something for his draft choices,&rdquo; Potter said. &ldquo;At least he got players like Jean Pronovost and Ron Schock. Some of the other teams got nothing for their draft choices.&rdquo;The Penguin scouting system, under the direction of Button for the last several years, has been rapped largely because Greg Polis is the only draftee yet to become a regular and the Penguins have wasted choices on players like Brian McKenzie and Joe Noris.&ldquo;Jack Button has made a lot of changes in the scouting system in the last few years,&rdquo; Potter said. &ldquo;We have one of the best organized systems in hockey.&rdquo;Potter confirmed that Ken Schinkel will return as coach and he is &ldquo;curious to see what he does with a full year.&rdquo;Potter said one of the things that plesed him about Schinkel was his ability to beat the weaker teamson the schedule. Potter noted that former Coach Red Kelly was 9-7-3 against teams like Long Island, California, Vancouver. Los Angeles, Toronto and Atlanta while Schinkel was 10-2-1&ldquo;That&rsquo;s when coaching really comes into play,&rdquo; Potter said. &ldquo;It is easy to get players up for teams that are better than you.&rdquo;Where Schinkel failed was against teams considered equal to the Penguins. Against Buffalo, Minnesota, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Detroit, the Penguins were 3-10-2 with Schinkel.Potter admitted the only thing that saved the past season was financial success.&ldquo;Financially,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;this was the best year in the history of the club. But artistically, it left something to be desired."Before the season began, the Penguins said they needed close to 10,000 people per game to break even and since their average topped 200, they made money.&ldquo;It was a controversial and frustrating season,&rdquo; Potter said. &ldquo;But the fans were here and that&rsquo;s why we have to do a better job.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t have losing seasons year in and year out and still fill up the rink.&rdquo;Potter admitted the Penguins were going to have to make some moves before next year, but wouldn&rsquo;t talk about trading specific players.&ldquo;We never tell our managers or coaches what to do,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We just set a general policy and they do the job.&rdquo;And how they do their job will decide their future with the Penguins.PENGUIN CHATTER &mdash; The Penguins will cut five feet off their rink next year to make it the regulation 200 by 85 feet. An extra row of seats will be added and new dasherboards will be needed &hellip; &ldquo;The smaller rink will help us defensively against a good skating team like Montreal,&rdquo; Potter said &hellip; He also noted the present Penguins&rsquo; boards were too soft &hellip; The Penguins have yet to announce a player signing a contract for next season and have about nine to sign. Most likely to jump are little used young players Cam Newton and Rick Kessell&hellip; Jean Pronovost is an outside bet to join his brother Marcel, coach of the Chicago Cougars. &#9632;

f0012-02

Box Office Boomed But Pens Flat On Ice

<div class="byline">BY JIM HUBER</div>ATLANTA&mdash;The tall, thin red-headed stock broker stood beside the golf cart and absent-mindedly tried to pull a club from his bag. He was looking across the fairway at the stocky little guy getting ready to hit.&ldquo;Gee,&rdquo; he mused, &ldquo;I had no idea they were that small. I just figured they were all big animals.&rdquo;Four days after the Atlanta Flames finished their first season ever, their fan club and the Atlanta Athletic Club decided it might be fun to host an end-of-the-season golf tournament for the players. It was, as it turned out, fun for the players but more, much more for the members who accompanied them on their round.In a way, it tells the story of the magnificent acceptance by this city of the sport of ice hockey. It tells of a drawling, hockey-ignorant people who have begun a love affair that shall last for some time. A year ago, there were laughs when the NHL decided to expand to Atlanta. And the laughs were partly justified. After all, Atlanta had never seen the game in person before. It had but one ice rink in town, a crippled, decrepit old joint that nobody even noticed.Today, though the season is long over, Atlantans still talk in excited, reverent terms of their newest sport. Retail stores are jammed with street hockey equipment when a year ago, they had never heard of such things. Children are rapidly signing up for summer leagues. Parents are rushing out to buy the finest skates. It has become a mania.And so it was this day on the course where the 1976 U.S. Open will be played that almost all of the Flames were wined and dined like so many returning heroes.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve lived in Atlanta all my life,&rdquo; said the stock broker as he watched Bobby Leiter putt out on the first green, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;ve never seen a city so captivated by anything as it is with hockey.&ldquo;And I really believe it&rsquo;s because these guys show us a lot more than just physical ability. They&rsquo;ve got class and they don&rsquo;t give up. We&rsquo;ve had a few expansion teams in this town but they always played like they thought they were not good enough. They didn&rsquo;t give a damn. This team seems to.&rdquo;One member from the prestigous country club rode with each Flame and the questions flowed. How old were you when you learned to skate? How do you stop so quick? What does it feel like to get hit with the puck? What about this bonus system?And, as the man said, the Flames responded with class. They weathered the barrage of innocent questions with remarkable finesse just as they have all season. If the Flames have displayed anything at all this season, it has been extreme and admirable patience. As you might imagine, the year has been one long question and they could very well become excellant teachers when their hockey careers are ended.During that memorable day, there was only one question on the Flames&rsquo; mind: Who was the little guy with all the hair?Answer: Bobby Leiter.The Flames&rsquo; leading scorer, a week ago too bald to endure a part, rolled onto the course with a luxurious head of dark brown hair. It turns out the classy little center had signed a contract to endorse a national toupee firm and was wearing his product. The day was windy and he wanted to test it under yet another condition. He had already been in the pool (the wading pool, since he can&rsquo;t swim) and taken a shower. It worked in those and worked well in the wind as well.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01948/3810677-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="358" height="404"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY LEITER&hellip; A New Hairpiece</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

Atlanta Fans Still Buzzing

<div class="byline">BY HALSIGURDSON</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;No matter what, the Vancouver Canucks are going to be sporting new faces &mdash; on and off the ice next season.And the man who apparently will be calling the shots is Coleman E. Hall, one of the club&rsquo;s most influential directors.Hall, who is recuperating in Hawaii after back surgery, said the Canucks&rsquo; day-to-day business will carry on normally despite the decision of a Vancouver assize court judge to send club president Tom Scallen to prison for the next four years for misappropriation of the team&rsquo;s funds and affairs.&ldquo;The running of the club was going to change anyway,&rdquo; said Hall, a veteran of the hockey wars dating well back into the Canucks&rsquo; Western Hockey League history. Hall left the impression he will again become directly involved in the operation of the NHL team.He said he is currently engaged in hiring a new general manager to replace Bud Poile, who resigned recently because of ill health.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01967/3810708-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="168" height="297"><figcaption class="caption-body">Richard Lemieux</figcaption></div>Hall also said he is not opposed to trading young defense star Dale Tallon &ldquo;for the right offer,&rdquo; adding, &ldquo;I think Tallon could be an outstanding player with an established club.&rdquo;Hall&rsquo;s comment came on the the heels of a trade-him-or-lose-him statement from Alan Eagleson, TaiIon&rsquo;s business agent.Eagleson stated Tallon would not play in Vancouver again.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll get good players for him,&rdquo; Eagleson said, &ldquo;but even if they only got a sack of flour they&rsquo;d be ahead because if they don&rsquo;t trade him, he&rsquo;ll jump to the WHA.&rdquo;Coincidentally, Eagleson happened to mention that Don Awrey and Mike Walton of the Boston Bruins are also prepared to jump if they&rsquo;re not traded. He thus &ldquo;casually&rdquo; laid the groundwork for a Vancouver-Boston trade.Meanwhile, the Canucks&rsquo; office staff has been instructed vice-president Lyman Walter will be in direct command until further notice.&ldquo;Mr. Walters will run things working closely with Bud Poile,&rdquo; a club spokesman said. Poile, though relinquishing the GM&rsquo;s post, is still a vice-president of the hockey club. &hellip;Walters, charged with Scallen on issuing a false team prospectus, was found not guilty at the direction of the judge at the conclusion of the prosecution&rsquo;s case.On the ice, the Canucks signed two of their pintsized stars for the 1973-74 season. Richard Lemieux and Bobby Lalonde &mdash; small in size but big in spirit &mdash; were tendered three-year contracts.Although they were centremen by trade when the Canucks drafted them from the Montreal Junior Canadiens in June of 1971, both youngsters showed this past season they are capable of playing anywhere on the forward line.Lemieux finished the &rsquo;72-73 regular season with goals and 35 assists, third highest on the club. He I played the full 78-game schedule.Lalonde was right behind with 47 points on the strength of 20 goals and 27 assists in 77 games.Both Lemieux and Lalonde have weddings planned within the next couple of months and in each case they will move to the West Coast and become Vancouver residents year-round. Lalonde&rsquo;s honeymoon has already been paid for thanks to a poll of fans this year who named him the Canucks most sportsmanlike player. The prize was a trip for two to Hawaii.Lemieux, who turned 22 on April 19, hails from Temiscamingue, Quebec, while Lalonde, the older of the two by three weeks, is a Montreal native. &#9632;

f0014-01

Canucks Changes Next Season Not Limited to Team Players

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02664/3810808-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="244" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Stapleton</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03532/3810815-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="195" height="280"></div>CHICAGO &mdash;Last year&rsquo;s playoff rout has been forgotten and the Black Hawks and Rangers are fighting like playoff cousins again. At least it appeared that way after the first two games of their Stanley Cup semi-final which the teams split at Chicago Stadium.The Rangers pulled sort of an upset, following their elimination of Boston in the quarter-final, by convincingly winning the series opener 41. However the West Division champions came back strong in the second contest for a nard-earned 5-4 triumph.Instead of last season&rsquo;s debacle won by New York 4-0, this series is shaping up as a repeat of the classic 1971 playoff between same rivals that went seven games and included three overtime contests.The Rangers drew first blood this time as captain Vic Hadfield came out of a slump-hampered by injury &mdash; to score the winning goal.The big winger connected with a solid blast to beat Hawk goalie Tony Esposito early in the third period, breaking a 1-1 tie and setting the stage for Rangers to bag two insurance goals.Earlier Pit Martin had scored for Chicago and Bobby Rousseau for New York in the opening period. Walt Tkaczuk iced the win with the third and fourth Rangers&rsquo; goals.The triumph belonged to Hadfield since it was his first point in six playoff games. He went zero in the all-important series against Boston.&ldquo;I knew it was in as soon as I shot,&rdquo; the 32-year-old winger said of the goal that came from just inside the Chicago blueline.And centre Jean Ratelle was just as happy about Vic&rsquo;s counter.&ldquo;We got the big goal,&rdquo; said Ratelle, talking about the Rangers&rsquo; top line with Rod Gilbert as the right-winger. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been getting our chances but just missing. It&rsquo;s a good thing the other lines have been scoring. Now maybe we will start connecting.&rdquo;Hadfield hadn&rsquo;t been playing regularly since he was decked by Walt Tkaczuk&rsquo;s shot Feb. 28. He suffered a slight concussion and was bothered by dizzy spells. He was used sparingly in the Boston series.Hadfield followed up with a couple of assists in the second game but the Rangers were in an uphill duel most of the way before losing by a goal.Pat Stapleton, the Hawks&rsquo; fine playmaker on defense, set the pace with two first period goals. Then Dennis Hull bagged the first of a pair and Chicago had jumped to a 3-0 lead.It could have been a rout but the Rangers refused to collapse and rallied to tie the game nine minutes into the middle period. Rod Gilbert tipped in a shot from Bert Marshall at the close of the opener. Then Jean Ratelle and Billy Fairbairn clicked in succession.New York momentum stopped, however, when Steve Vickers tripped Bill White along the boards and set the stage for a Chicago power-play. Dennis Hull wound up scoring during Vickers&rsquo; penalty and then Dick Redmond tipped in a shot by Stapleton to put Chicago two goals ahead again. &#9632;

f0016-02

STANLEY CUP ’73

BOSTON&mdash;All right, So Chicago was fully expected to make St. Louis sing the Blues and Montreal was picked to shuffle Buffalo out of the Stanley Cup quarter-finals. And by the way Philadelphia played to make second place, the Flyers had to be favored to knock down the Minnesota North Stars.But New York eliminating Boston, especially the way the Rangers folded in the stretch of the schedule and with the first two games of the series in Beantown? Not even the most rabid Broadway booster was betting on this one.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04416/3810853-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="245" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">Yvan Cournoyer</figcaption></div>Somehow the Rangers pulled themselves up from their bootstraps and all the injuries that hampered them and came on to humiliate the Bruins in a five-game series. They got the jump by winning the first two contests on Boston ice, lost the third at New York but won the fourth, again at Madison Square Garden.Then they took out the Bruins with a convincing 6-3 victory right in Boston Garden.Some observers tried to devaluate the Rangers&rsquo; triumph by pointing to all the problems with the Bruins. They listed the loss of brilliant Phil Espositio in the second game of the series, Bobby Orr skating at half speed favoring his gimpy knee and the failure of veteran goalie Jacques Plante to perform as expected in the playoffs.But Emile Francis was proud of his Blueshirts.&ldquo;I look at it not as what they didn&rsquo;t do but what we did&rdquo;, said the GM-Coach. &ldquo;This was our finest game of the year&rdquo;, he referred to the deciding triumph. &ldquo;If we play the same way we can beat anybody.&rdquo;The Rangers won by outhustling and outskating the Bruins and got great goaltending from Ed Giacomin who played all five games.In the clincher, rookie Steve Vickers pulled the hat-trick, Bruce MacGregor scored a pair, Rod Gilbert and Walt Tkaczuk were the other NY scorers. The Bruins, who led briefly 2-1 in the first period got goals from Bobby Orr, his first point of the series, Ken Hodge and Don Marcotte.Young Vickers said it for all the Bruins.&ldquo;The first game set the pattern. We showed them we were not going to be shoved around and everybody got the feeling we could take them&rdquo;.There was also an element of surprise that the Buffalo-Montreal series lasted six games, especially after the Canadiens had taken the first three contests. The Sabres, sparked by the brilliance of Gilbert Perreault, gave their home fans a treat just by trouncing the Habs 5-1 in the fourth game at Buffalo. Then hotshot scorer Rene Robert gave them dessert with an overtime goal that sent the series back to Buffalo.In the long run, Montreal depth made the difference. The Habs quickly jumped into a 4-0 first-period lead in the sixth contest before the Sabres staged some last period heroics for two goals, going down 4-2.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05314/3810846-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="456" height="515"><figcaption class="caption-body">Veteran GARY DORNHOEFER helped put the Philadelphie Flyers in the semi-finals when he scored an overtime goal to defeat Minnesotg in the fifth of their Stanley Cup series. The stars went out in six games.</figcaption></div>The Sabres&rsquo; line of Perreault. Robert and Richard Martin really dominated the series while some of the Montreal forwards didn&rsquo;t produce. But Yvan Cournoyer wound up with five goals.Philadelphia advanced to the semi-finals for the first time in the club&rsquo;s six year history by downing Minnesota in six games. The Flyers won the last two scores of 32 and 4-1.Goalie Doug Favell was a standout in the series while allowing only three goals in the last three games and turning aside 37 shots in the windup game. His 13-save effort in the first period was rewarded by two goals from Ross Lonsberry, one from Terry Crisp and hardrock Dave Schultz.Losing Minnesota coach Jack Gordon praided the play of Favell, plus forwards Bobby Clarke, Ross Lonsberry, Rick MacLeish and Gary Dornhoefer who had scored in overtime for Philadelphia&rsquo;s 3-2 win in the fifth game.The Black Hawks had a couple of toughies against the Blues, like their 1-0 win in the second game&rsquo; and a 5-3 loss in the fourth contest, but posted victories of 7-1, 5-2 and 6-1 in the other meetings. &#9632;

f0016-04

Rangers Knock Bruins Out In First Upset Of Playoffs

MONTREAL &mdash;Considering Montreal finished 35 points better than Philadelphia on the regular season, only token resistance might have been expected &mdash; other than rough stuff &mdash; from the Mad Squad Flyers when they met in the Stanley Cup semi-final. But it was obvious right after the opening game of the best-of-seven round that the East Division champions will have their hands full.Coach Fred Shero&rsquo;s skaters, buoyed by their quarter-final triumph over Minnesota North Stars, promptly invaded the Forum and got the jump on the favored Canadiens. The Flyers did it the hard way, too, as brilliant Rick MacLeish scored in just 2:56 of overtime for a 5-4 Philadelphia victory.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01773/3810777-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="269" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick MacLeish</figcaption></div>The youngster&rsquo;s extra-period goal &mdash; after 50 during the season and three in the series with Minnesota &mdash; climaxed a seesaw battle in which the Habshad to scramble to get even most of the way. It was sort of a gift goal as MacLeish intercepted a bad back pass by Frank Mahovlich and then beat goalie Ken Dryden with a quick high shot.Before that the Flyers twice held the lead with Simon Nolet scoring his third and fourth goals of the playoffs, Bill Barber and Gary Dornhoefer getting the others.Yvan Cournoyer bagged his sixth goal of Stanley Cup &rsquo;73 with defenseman Guy Lapointe scoring twice for the Canadiens. Jacques sent the game into overtime by connecting with less than five minutes left in the third period.The Canadiens, who had to struggle in the last three games of their six-game quarter-final against Buffalo, disappointed the home crowd of 16,929. Only a few of the Montreal forwards appeared to be in skating form and while Ken Dryden did make 32 saves the Vezina Trophy goalie wasn&rsquo;t up to par while fighting the puck.Nevertheless, the Flyers were full value for their victory which came without the fireworks that marred some meetings of the teams during the regular schedule.&ldquo;It takes two teams to play tough and we didn&rsquo;t have to,&rdquo; said Shero. &ldquo;We used enough bodily contact up and down the wings so the Canadiens didn&rsquo;t have much &ldquo;skating room.&rdquo;The Flyers relied on sustained forechecking and the defense, especially Barry Ashbee and Ed Van Impe, kept the slot clear. Goalie Doug Favell came up with a stand out effort of 41 saves, including 17 in the thrid period when the Canadiens began to fly themselves. &#9632;

f0016-01

Surprising Flyers Get Jump On Hubs; Hawks Battle Back To Topple Rangers

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01666/3810905-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02575/3810898-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="743" height="442"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03465/3810891-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="512" height="860"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04356/3810884-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="687" height="815"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hockey New Photo by Robert ShaverMinnesota goaler CESARE MANIAGO bends backwards to trap puck on scoring attempt by Philadelphia&rsquo;s ROSS LONS BERRY during first round of Stanley Cup playoffs. Maniago was standout despite elimination of Minneso in west Division series.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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STANLEY CUP SUMMARIES

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaDETROIT&mdash;The writing was on the wall as the team floundered at the close of the schedule and Johnny Wilson saw it. So it didn&rsquo;t come as such a shock when he was fired as coach of the Red Wings.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not surprised,&rdquo; said Wilson after getting the pink slip from GM Ned Harkness and owner Bruce Norris. &ldquo;I could see it coming.&rdquo;Immediately after the regular season ended, Harkness said Wilson&rsquo;s job was &ldquo;up for review&rdquo; while several player changes would be considered for the 1973-74 season. Besides the coach, public relations man Joe Vargo also was dismissed by Detroit.Release of the 43 43-year-old Wilson came after the Red Wings missed the playoffs for the third straight season and sixth time in the last seven years. Still they had shown improvement under Johnny both seasons he coached.Detroit had a 33-35-10 record two years ago after Wilson took over the team in near collapse as early as November of that season. This campaign the Wings finished with a 37-29-12 mark but were nosed out of a playoff spot by Buffalo due to two windup losses on the West Coast.No successor was announced before Wilson scheduled a press conference to air his feelings and the Red Wings in turn planned a meeting with the media. However Ted Garvin and John Maclnnes were reported as leading candidates.Garvin has been doing a fine job as coach of the Port Huron Wings, Detroit&rsquo;s affiliate in the International League. Maclnnes is head man at Michigan Tech and highly-regarded by Harkness who made his own hockey name as a college coach at Cornell.&ldquo;Whoever gets the job, I wish him well,&rdquo; said Wilson. &ldquo;Coaching is a tough job and he will have his hands full.&rdquo;Wilson, the fifth coach since 1969 to be fired by the Red Wings, knows what he&rsquo;s talking about. His coaching career started with the senior amateur Ottawa Montagnards, before he moved to Princeton University for two years and then handled Springfield Kings of the AHL. He led the Kings to both the AHL championship and the Calder Cup in 1971 and also worked a short span as Los Angeles Kings pilot.Wilson played 11 seasons in the NHL with Detroit, Chicago, Toronto, and New York Rangers and his career of 688 games included a string of 580 consecutive contests.After the firing, Wilson tried to hide his disappointment but said he would call a press conference &ldquo;to reveal some of my feelings. I think the fans should be aware of some things.&rdquo;He recalled a few seasons when the Red Wings had 87 and 88 points to finish in first place.&ldquo;This year we got 86 points and suddenly they declare it a disaster. They should check the box office receipts the last couple of years.&rdquo;Despite missing the playoffs this year, the Red Wings enjoyed two home attendance marks. A new single-game high of 16,197 jammed Olympia Stadium for the March 14 game against Montreal Canadiens, the fifth time that attendance topped the 16,000 figure. Over-all, a new season record of 544,590 was established.Some of the Red Wings came out openly in favor of Wilson after his dismissal.Defenseman Gary Bergman went to bat for his erstwhile coach.&ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s going to satisfy everyone, no matter what sport, said Bergman. &ldquo;But John was well liked.&rdquo;Wilson, whose unlucky day was Friday the 13th, said he would take a vacation with his family now and wouldn&rsquo;t be looking for a new job immediately. However he does intend to remain in hockey.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t want to do anything else. I grew up in hockey and I&rsquo;ve been in it all my life.&rdquo; &#9632;

Wings’ Attendance Highs Didn’t Save Wilson As Coach

<h2>In The East</h2>There&rsquo;s an old axiom that experience pays off most in playoff hockey but you&rsquo;d never know by Steve Vickers, the young hotshot of the New York Rangers. After scoring 30 goals during the season to emerge as a leading candidate for rookie of the year honors, Steve hasn&rsquo;t felt a tinge of playoff pressure through either the quarter-final or semi-final series.As the Stanley Cup semis moved into high gear, the 22-year-old right-winger was right up among leading scorers on five goals and four assists.He pulled a playoff hat trick in the quarter-final clincher against Boston after previously netting three goals in the other games. Vickers also helped set up two goals in the Rangers&rsquo; 4-1 triumph over Chicago in that series opener and had one assist in the 5-4 second game loss to the Black Hawks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01681/3810967-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="267" height="291"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE VICKERS&hellip;New York Rangers</figcaption></div><h2>In The West</h2>Dennis Hull didn&rsquo;t waste any time during the regular season moving away from the shadow of his brilliant brother Bobby who defected from the Black Hawks to the WHA Winnipeg Jets. Apparently realizing he would be under pressure, Dennis became a real menace to NHL goaltenders and wound up with 39 goals and 51 assists in a big hand towards Chicago&rsquo;s West Division title.Now Dennis is at it again in the playoffs, sharing the points leadership as the Hawks are battling Rangers in the Stanley Cup semi-final. Hull, a veteran of nine NHL seasons at only 29, has chalked up three goals and seven assists in seven games &mdash; just three points less than he earned in 18 playoff starts during 1971.Dennis was the Hawks&rsquo; big gun with a pair of goals that helped beat Rangers 5-4 to square the semi-final series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02545/3810960-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="263" height="291"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENNIS HULL&hellip;Chicago Black Hawks</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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⋆Player’s of the week⋆

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01652/3811012-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="267" height="432"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY LAPOINTE&hellip;Five Playoff Goals</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02539/3811005-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="304" height="1873"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03425/3810998-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="461" height="378"></div> &#9632;

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Stanley Cup Storeboard

MOSCOW&mdash;The Russian National Hockey team romped through the 1973 World Hockey championship tournament without faltering but even the most die-hard European hockey fans admitted the tourney was hollow without a Canadian team in it.The Soviets skated to their 10th world title against the Swedes, Czechs, Finns, Poles and West Germans without losing a game in 10 games. Only runner-up Sweden gave the Russians any kind of competition and that happened early in the tournament.The Swedes ended up with a 72-1 record, losing twice to the Russians including a 6-4 defeat that wound up the 1973 event. Czechoslovakia was third with 6-3-1, Finland fourth with 3-6-1. Poland was fifth and West Germany last in the six-country event.The Russians, who scored 100 goals in the 10 games, highlighted the tournament when they bombed hapless Poland 20-0 in recording their eighth victory. Captain Boris Mikhailov scored seven times in the game. Previously the Reds had beaten West Germany 18-2.But inspite of the Russians&rsquo; ominous power, there were rumblings that the victory by the Soviets wasn&rsquo;t the real thing unless Canada was present in the tournament.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the Canadians we should have been playing for the title,&rdquo; commented one Russian, obviously disappointed with the ease with which the Soviets won the world title.The Canadians have refused to participate in world tournament play unless all players including pros, were eligible for their national Team. The Russians and most other European countries have objected strenuously to Canadian professionals playing in the world tourney.A tournament observer said that the Russia-Team Canada matches of last fall had made an impact on the world tournament. The tempo of the play, the combativeness of the players and the enthusiasm of the fans was the best it has ever been is this kind of competition. &#9632;

Russians Win 10th Ice Title

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNELL</div>SAN DIEGO&mdash;San Diego Gulls&rsquo; coach Jack Evans had no predictions about the first round of the Lester Patrick Cup playoffs with the Coleman E. Hall Cup champion Phoenix Roadrunners.&ldquo;We think we can win it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how many it will take and we&rsquo;re just going to play every game that comes along.&rdquo;Sandy Hucul, Roadrunner coach, said he looks for the series to go at least six games, probably seven, and warns that goaltending could have a lot to say about which team goes into the best-of-seven finals against the winner of the Salt Lake-Denver semi-final.&ldquo;One hot goaltender could turn the series around,&rdquo; said Hucul. &ldquo;Remember last year when we ran into Jim McLeod and got beat by Portland?&ldquo;There&rsquo;s not doubt both clubs have good goaltending,&rdquo; agreed Evans. &ldquo;That will mean a lot.&rdquo;The series pits the league&rsquo;s highest scoring team, Phoenix with 310 goals, against the league&rsquo;s best defensive club, the Gulls with just 239 goals against.The Roadrunners have the league&rsquo;s leading goal scorer, Murray Heatley, who fired 43, against the league&rsquo;s top goaltender, Boston-bound Ken Broderick, who posted a 2.94 goals against average. Broderick will report to the NHL Bruins next fall after being sold by San Diego recently.In fact, the Gulls also have the No. 2 goaltender, Bob Champoux, with a 3.31 average.The Roadrunners&rsquo; Don Caley and Gary Simmons rank third and fourth with 3.43 and 3.44 averages. Denver&rsquo;s Bob Johnson matches Simmons&rsquo; average but Gary has a better won-lost mark.The Gulls lost just five of their last 18 games, playing some of their best hockey in the final weeks.When seemingly locked into third place, Evans got himself out of a corner.&ldquo;I had been going with Broderick don&rsquo;t know how many consecutive games (18 straight) because he was hot, the best in the league, and we needed the wins,&rdquo; said Evans. I got sort of hooked and it wouldn&rsquo;t have been fair to the club or to Champoux to throw him back in there.But we used him in four of the last five games, when we couldn&rsquo;t go any higher than third and he played well in every one.&ldquo;So, we&rsquo;ve got two good goaltenders ready for the playoffs. And Champoux has the playoff experience. In 12 playoff games for the Gulls, heownsa2.81 goals against average.&rdquo;The medical report: Bud DeBrody, out with a dislocated shoulder, is back on skates, but is still a question mark; Bruce Cowick is still bothered by a pinched nerve in his neck.The Gulls and Roadrunners have built a tremendous rivalry with the Roadrunners holding a slight edge this season, 7-5-2 in the 14 games between the two clubs. Phoenix posted a 5-1-1 mark over the Gulls in Phoenix and San Diego held a 4-2-1 mark in San Diego.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01499/3811067-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="169" height="284"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Broderick</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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San Diego Playoff Hopes Rest On Boston-Bound Goaler

VANCOUVER&mdash;CANUCK BRIEFS: Vancouver prospect Danny Gloor has won the rookie-of-the-year award in the International League. He scored 42 goals and 51 assists for 93 points in 73 games with Des Moines &hellip; The Canucks have signed young leftwinger David Wiesner to a pro contract. He was captain of the Boston University hockey team this past season &hellip; Wiesner, a 22-year-old who stands 5&rsquo;10 and weighs 180 pounds, was recommended to the Canucks by his former Boston U. teammate Dan Brady, now tending goal with the WHL Seattle Totems. &#9632;

Vancouver Signs Boston U. Captain

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Wayne Merrick was one of this year&rsquo;s rookies who was thrown into the pressure-cooker of the Stanley Cup playoffs.&ldquo;It was nerve-wracking,&rdquo; says the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; top draft choice. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot tighter in the playoffs than in regular league play. You can&rsquo;t make a mistake because it might cost a game.&rdquo;And Merrick couldn&rsquo;t look to either of his linemates for playoff experience. Coach Jean Guy Talbot had him skating with Pierre Plante and Floyd Thomson, neither of whom had any Stanley Cup experience before this season.The Blues realized long ago that Merrick is a blue-chip youngster, and his development has been one of the goals this season. Merrick spent about six weeks of the season with Denver in the Western Hockey League. He played a total of 50 games with the Blues and had 10 goals and 11 assists.&ldquo;I wish I could start my rookie season all over,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I started really slow, and I was so tense I didn&rsquo;t even want to touch the puck. But now I have confidence that I can do it. If I could go through my rookie season again, I&rsquo;d have 20 goals.&rdquo;The Blues are satisfied with Merrick&rsquo;s progress, and the young center is part of the team&rsquo;s future plans. Merrick himself is happy with his own development but he wishes there were an easier way to break into the National Hockey League.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re a big scorer in junior, you figure you know something about hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s a lot to learn, and the first thing you learn in the big league is that it&rsquo;s a lot of hard, hard work. I just keep plugging away.&rdquo;&ldquo;Playing the Black Hawks in the playoffs I watched guys like Pat Stapleton and Bill White,&rdquo; Merrick said. &ldquo;Now these two really know what they&rsquo;re doing out on that ice. They&rsquo;ve got the experience.&rdquo;Merrick is a friendly young man but admits to some shyness in the company of established big-leaguers.&ldquo;It really takes awhile to get to know the guys on a team, and I think it takes longer for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had it hard my first year in junior hockey because I didn&rsquo;t know anybody at Ottawa. It means a lot to know the guys.&rdquo;&ldquo;But these guys on the Blues have been really good to me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;For three-fourths of the year I was really down, but every one of them has been great. This summer in camp will be a lot different than last summer because I&rsquo;ll know everybody.&rdquo;Merrick started seeing more action in the second half of this seson after the Blues traded Frank St. Marseille to the Los Angeles Kings for defenseman Paul Curtis. When Talbot created the line of Merrick, Plante and Thomson, all three started playing better hockey. The move gave the Blues a good third line to back up Garry Unger, Jack Egers and Fran Huck on one threesome and Garry Sabourin, Phil Roberto and Danny O&rsquo;Shea on another.Merrick is the playmaker on his line, and both of his hustling wingers have thrived on the arrangement. Talbot probably will be inclined to leave the three together for next season.Merrick&rsquo;s slow start may have left him behind some of the league&rsquo;s better known rookies this season. But the Blues are happy to have their big, young center. Those who haven&rsquo;t heard of Wayne Merrick, the rookie, will hear about him in his second year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01340/3811122-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="546" height="463"><figcaption class="caption-body">WAYNE MERRICK&hellip; Picks Up Confidence</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Merrick Bright Hope For Blues

<div class="byline">BY DAN PROUDFOOT</div>TORONTO&mdash;It took relatively little time after Jacques Plante was traded from the Maple Leafs to Boston Bruins until newspapers were naming who the Toronto team would receive in exchange.The supposedly-mystery player Leafs would receive at the end of Bruins&rsquo; playoff stint, in addition to Bruins&rsquo; pick in the first round of the amateur draft, was reported to be Eddie Johnston, the 37-year-old goaltender.Immediately both Bruin and Leaf management denied the story.Harry Sinden, managing director of the Boston team, spoofed the suggestion it was Johnston, explaining Leafs had a list of &ldquo;four or five players&rdquo; then on the Bruins from which they could pick one.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not denying any name you give me,&rdquo; said Sinden, &ldquo;because that would narrow down the possibilities. It&rsquo;s the same with the players if any of them come and ask me if they&rsquo;re the one or if they&rsquo;re on the list.&rdquo;Soon the complete if unconfirmed, list of names was in print: Johnston, Fred O&rsquo;Donnell, Nick Beverley and Don Awrey. Leafs would pick one soon after Bruins&rsquo; playoff drive ended.However, most players on both teams understood that Johnston was the marked man all along.&ldquo;He will help the Leafs,&rdquo; commented Jacques Plante, &ldquo;he is an extremely sharp individual, he will fit in well, and the Leafs will be a much-improved team over this past season.&ldquo;Why do I think it&rsquo;s Eddie who&rsquo;s going? Well, even he thinks it&rsquo;s him who should be packing his bags. He has been asking me about the best places in the city to look for a house.&rdquo;Johnston, like Plante, is known for his book on NHL shooters. He knows what to expect from any opponent, and he is judged a more-than-competent observer. Again like Plante, he will be able to coach Leafs&rsquo; young goalies, Ron Low and Gord McRae, should they be with the team next season.Johnston will be 38 in November, and his hot-and-cold year with Bruins produced a goals-against average of 3.27, off 24 wins, 17 losses and seven ties. But the evidence is that it wasn&rsquo;t entirely Johnston&rsquo;s fault the team&rsquo;s goals-against climbed. Bruins were hot a great deal of the time, enough to take second place, but they were cold often, too. The team cost coach Tom Johnson his job.For much of the second-half of the season, Johnston seldom played. He didn&rsquo;t attempt to hide feelings of anger toward Sinden, coolness that went back to Team Canada&rsquo;s games in Moscow when Sinden was coach and he didn&rsquo;t play Johnston.When Johnston did appear, in the second-last game of the schedule, the situation was rife with irony. Bruins were playing in Maple Leaf Gardens. The day of the game, Johnston demonstrated his sense of humour by arriving on the ice for the warmup in a Leaf practice sweater. There were no laughs at the end, though. Bruins lost to Leafs 7-3. &ldquo;It annoys me all to hell,&rdquo; said Phil Esposito, &ldquo;that we go out and we don&rsquo;t play for Eddie. We make him look bad here. True, it was a game after we clinched second, but we should have done better for Eddie.&rdquo;It was possible, of course, that Leafs would choose another player. Leafs had NHL rights to one player most fans had forgotten &mdash; goaltender Bernie Parent. When Parent and his lawyer Howard Casper claimed, in the middle of the WHA playoffs, that the Philadelphia Blazers weren&rsquo;t meeting the requirements of their contract, the possibility arose that Parent could return to the NHL. He has sworn he never will play for Leafs again, but the Toronto team could trade his rights to an NHL team such as Philadelphia Flyers.Assuming Leafs cured their goaltending problems (they want more experience than Low or McRae can offer), they could then reasonably consider choosing Awrey, Beverley or O&rsquo;Donnell from Bruins. Awrey would be a major acquisition, making Leafs adequate on defense.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01371/3811153-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="355" height="526"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hockey News Photo by Robert shaverDON AWREY&hellip;Will He Land With WH A Club?</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Don Awrey Instead Of Johnston May Be Leafs’ Pick

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01349/3811184-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hockey News Photos by Harry KlattTwo young players who figure prominently in the Islanders&rsquo; rebuilding plans for next season are rookies LORNE HENNING, on left, and brilliant BILLY HARRIS, shown zeroing in on Rangers&rsquo; goal in unsuccessful scoring attempt. Harris led club with 50 points and in goals with 28. Henning notched only seven goals but picked up valuable experience in his first 63 NHL games.</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND &mdash;The Islanders had just tied the Atlanta Flames with two late third period goals in the final game of the season. The point was the only one the Isles had earned against their expansion counterparts, and coach Earl In garfield wasted no time in congratulating his club.Earl wasn&rsquo;t smiling solely because of his team&rsquo;s effort that night. His grin also expressed his satisfaction in the way the squad had responded to him after he took over for Phil Goyette the day before the All-Star game.Ingarfield&rsquo;s appointment as coach was tentatively an interim one. The former Ranger center had turned down the coaching position last summer before accepting a post as the Islanders&rsquo; Western scout.General Manager Bill Torrey and owner Roy Boe have been openly pleased with Ingarfield&rsquo;s work, but the Lethbridge, Alberta native still hasn&rsquo;t made up his mind as to whether or not he wants to remain behind the bench on a full-time basis. A standing offer seems to have been made; now it is up to Ingarfield to accept or reject.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to talk it over with Bill Torrey for a couple of days, and then I&rsquo;m going home to Lethbridge for a while,&rdquo; said Earl quietly, following the season&rsquo;s finale. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do some scouting in the juniors and the NHL playoffs.&rsquo; The odds seem to be pretty good that Ingarfield will be back, however. A man doesn&rsquo;t go around promising that &ldquo;things will be different next season&rdquo; unless he planned to be around to see them happen.Although no one knocks Goyette, the players have been praising Ingarfield in unison. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s done a darn good job with this club,&rdquo; said captain Eddie Westfall near the end of the campaign. &ldquo;The team is in better shape and is playing a more organized brand of hockey. A number of players credit Ingarfield with their personal improvements toward the end of the season, notably right wing Bob Cook, who registered his first NHL hat trick down the stretch. &ldquo;Earl has been working with me on my shot,&rdquo; he said following his feat. &ldquo;I used to be reluctant to let it go. He helped me gain confidence.&rdquo;Earl&rsquo;s record speaks for itself. Under Goyette the Islanders stood at 6-40-4, while going 6-20-2 under Ingarfield. Earl&rsquo;s marks are deceptive in that his style could not be expected to take affect overnight. He needed time to re-mold his out-fit.Perhaps the key date to remember in the Islanders first year on ice is February 24. That night the playoffs-contending Detroit Red Wings visited the Nassau Coliseum expecting an easy win. Instead the inspired Islanders whipped them 4-2.The Islanders&rsquo; record from then on was a more respectable 5-9-1 as compared to a 7-51-5 slate going into that contest. The club&rsquo;s percentage (calculated by dividing possible points into actual points) over the last five weeks was .392 compared to an earlier mark of .150,In addition, the Islanders scored 48 goals in the final 15 games for an average of 3.20 as compared to an average of 1.94 earlier. The defense also improved considerably, allowing 48 goals (excluding a 10-2 shellacking handed out by the Philadelphia Flyers on March 31) for a GAPG of 3.42. Over the first 63 games the Islanders&rsquo; cage had been thumped 4.59 times per night.During the first half of the season countless comparisons were made betwenn the Islanders and the Atlanta Flames, who had emerged as the surprise of the NHL by contending for a Western Division playoff spot in their first year. Everyone praised the work of the entire Atlanta organization while the Islanders were called the Mets (1962) variety) of hockey.When the Flames went into a late-season tailspin, the comparisons seemed to stop. But perhaps the case should be reopened on the basis of new evidence.Since February 24, the Flames compiled a record of 2-11-3 &mdash; worst in the NHL. In that span, Bernie Geoffrion&rsquo;s club had scored 31 goals for a 1.93 average (as compared to the Islanders&rsquo; 3.20), and give up 62 goals at a rate of 3.88 a game (as compared to the Islanders 3.42). It seems that the Flames weren&rsquo;t all that much better than the Islanders after all.It seems that the Flames weren&rsquo;t all that much better than the Islanders after all.Just for the record, the California Golden Seals posted 6-8-2 slate after February 24th, while the Vancouver Canucks checked in at 6-8-1. Therefore, not only were the Islanders better than Atlanta over the final five weeks, but almost on a par with their older brethren, California and Vancouver. When Earl Ingarfield promises that &ldquo;things will be different next year,&rdquo; he&rsquo;s not just whistling Dixie. &#9632;

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Ingarfield Ponders Return As Coach

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02281/3811215-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="264" height="1181"></div> &#9632;

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WHA Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY WALT BURROWS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01359/3811246-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="365" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">DALEHOGANSON&hellip; Being Wooed By WHA</figcaption></div>QUEBEC&mdash;Jean Claude (J.C.) Tremblay figured to have a great year. The figures support the tact that he had one.The &ldquo;iron man&rdquo; of the World I Hockey Association and the super-duper of the Quebec Nordiques talked about it recently, how he averaged 45 to 50 minutes a game in the recently completed season.&ldquo;I was doing what I like to do best,&rdquo; explained Tremblay. &ldquo;Anytime I play hockey, I&rsquo;m happy.&rdquo;Tremblay, one of the early National Hockey League defectors, called the move one of the best things he had ever done in his life.Needless to say, he would do it all over again. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; he said with a deep French accent. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t expecting a big salary playing for Montreal, but I deserved a big one.&ldquo;For me, though, it was staying in a French-speaking Quebec community where my wife, Nicole and my two youngsters would feel more at home, since they don&rsquo;t speak any English.&rdquo;Tremblay expects bigger and better things for the Nordiques next year, primarily through the additional raiding of the National Hockey League. He expects to see another batch of NHLers defect to the infant circuit.&ldquo;Quite a few,&rdquo; he replied, when asked how many he thought would transfer allegiance. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s not good to talk about them until the players have signed. I have spoken to a few members of an NHL team.&ldquo;I told them to forget about talking to WHA teams. They owe their best to the teams they&rsquo;re playing for now but, that after the season is over, they should listen to other offers.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s no big secret that Quebec people have been talking to a few Montreal Canadiens.The most receptive ears are likely to belong to the Canadiens&rsquo; Marc Tardif and Rejean Houle. Also, defenseman Dale Hoganson of the Canadiens has been reported ready to jump to the Nordiques.Guy Lafleur appeared to be in the bag for Quebec, since he&rsquo;s engaged to marry the daughter of one of the club&rsquo;s directors, but he signed a new 10-year contract with Montreal.With all the possibilities of newfound talent fitting perfectly in with what Tremblay called the Quebec needs, little is left to the imagination.J.C.&rsquo;s evaluation of the Nordique requirements to become a contender is a couple of defensemen and a couple of wingers who like to check.&ldquo;I believe the club has made moves to correct the deficiencies, but I wouldn&rsquo;t want to say what they are at this time,&rdquo; Tremblay reported. &ldquo;I would say a lot of people will be surprised by them, though.&rdquo;Tremblay, at age 34, looks trim and 24 and credits a rigid training program for his youthful appearance.&ldquo;I always start practice a couple of weeks before the rest,&rdquo; said Tremblay, who made the Eastern Division&rsquo;s All Star team. &ldquo;I take lot of pride in being able to condition myself.&ldquo;I would like to do more checking, but I play a lot of the game. If I did check more, I wouldn&rsquo;t be able to play my 45-50 minutes a game. It would take too much out of me.&rdquo;Quebec coach Maurice Filion is the first to endorse Tremblays value to the Nordiques. &ldquo;He plays great defense, participates on both our power plays and the penalty-killing unit,&rdquo; advised Filion. &ldquo;He was the most outstanding player in the league for my money. Of course, I might be a little prejudiced, too.&rdquo;Tremblay finished 11th in the individual scoring race with 89 points, including a league leading 75 assists while playing in 75 of the Nordiques&rsquo; 78 games. Minor injuries kept him out of three games.The gruelling campaign has J.C. thinking in terms of a brief rest and he expects to take a month or two off now that the season is over.&ldquo;I have my hockey school though,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We run for five weeks. That helps me keep in shape, too. But I think this might be the last year for the camp. It&rsquo;s getting a little more like work each year.&rdquo;But, then again, J.C. Tremblay thrives on work. And all you have to do to convince yourself about that, is check his figures.Quoting an old adage: Liars figure. but figures don&rsquo;t lie. J.C. Tremblay had one heckuva year.OTTAWA: The late-season boom in attendance may have failed to save the World Hockey Association franchise for Ottawa.Forced out of the Ottawa rink by the lack of playing dates, the Nationals signed to play their playoff games in Toronto&rsquo;s Maple Leaf Gardens.&ldquo;We signed an agreement for the playoffs,&rdquo; a Toronto Gardens official said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll take our time about negotiating the possible permanent move of the Nationals.&rdquo;The city of Ottawa also wants the team back. Mayor Pierre Benoit told the club it would not be required to pay $100,000-a-year performance bonds for the next two seasons if it returned for the playoff games and for next season.The Nationals are to be offered a contract similar to the one which the junior 67s have &mdash; $1,000 a gameor l5 percent of the gate. Ottawa has already paid its bond for the 1972-73 season, but is overdue on the bond for next year. &#9632;

f0024-01

Tremblay Sees More Jumpers As Nordiques Plan To Rebuild

WINNIPEG&mdash;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01304/3811277-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="493" height="486"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM WEBSTER&hellip;Fires Hat Trick</figcaption></div>Four goals within a span of four minutes in the second period lifted Winnipeg Jets to their 8-5 victory over Minnesota Fighting Saints and victory in five games of their World Hockey Association quarter-final.However Winnipeg playing-coach Bobby Hull was talking more about one of pro hockey&rsquo;s retreads than of the outburst by his team. His subject was Bill Sutherland, 38-year-old journeyman who has played for 12 different clubs.Sudsy answered the call from Hull to replace injured Chris Bordeleau at center between his coach and right-wing Norm Beaudin. Sutherland quickly made himself at home and wound up with two goals and four assists in the deciding game against Minnesota.Beaudin scored a pair as his contribution as the Jets moved into the semi-final round against either Houston Aeros or Los Angeles Sharks. Houston took a 3-2 lead in that quarter-final by way of a 6-3 triumph on homeice.In the East Division quarter-final, New England Whalers defeated Ottawa Nationals 5-4 to wrap up the series in five games. Some 12,033 still-hockey-hungry Boston fans saw Mike Byers win it for the Whalers.The Whalers, division champs, built up a 4-1 lead midway through the second period on Tommy Webster&rsquo;s three goals and one by Larry Pleau.The triumph sent New England into the semi-final series against Cleveland Crusaders.The Crusaders swept their quarter-final series in four games from the troubled Philadelphia Blazers. &#9632;

f0025-01

Jets Fly Past Saints To Gain Western Final

<div class="byline">BY ALEX HARDY</div>EDMONTON&mdash;For the good of hockey, there will be a merger between the NHL and WHA. And it could come a lot sooner than most people think.This view from lawyer Leon Prodor, who has handled contract negotiations for several pro stars with teams in both leagues.&ldquo;Hockey is booming and will continue to grow tremendously until it is undoubtedly the No. 1 sport in the world,&rdquo; says Prodor, a former top-notch athlete himself who has many close friends in the sport. &ldquo;But not even hockey can continue to pay the salaries that some players received this season.&rdquo;Prodor visualizes a redistribution of teams in the two leagues based on geography. In cities with both NHL and WHA clubs, the competing teams would either be in separate divisions as in other sports, or franchise shifts could take place.PLAYOFF NOTES: Alberta Oilers veteran Billy Hicke has indicated he may retire. The line of Hicke, Val Fonteyne and Ed Joyal, all veterans, was effective when the pressure was greatest the last month of the season. Hicke was especially strong as a power play specialist in the late going, while Fonteyne did a great job killing penalties&hellip; Winnipeg Jets have ordered Brian Cadle to gain weight before next season. &ldquo;I need the pounds or I could have a lot of trouble making this club,&rdquo; Cadle admits. &ldquo;I think these legs of mine could handle about 15 pounds more.&rdquo; Cadle currently hovers around the 160-pound mark&hellip; Much of the reason for Ottawa Nationals&rsquo; surge during the season&rsquo;s late stages has been the maturing of their younger defensemen &mdash; Brian Gibbons, Steve Warr, Mike Amodeo and Rick Cunningham, /particularly Cunningham. Nats also got a boost when, with goalie Les Binkley hurt, Gilles Gratton who is right out of junior ranks showed he fits right into the WHA&hellip; Bobby Hull denies he is trying to talk brother Dennis into joining him with Winnipeg Jets. &ldquo;I think he wants to continue his success with the Black Hawks,&rdquo; says Bobby&hellip; One area Alberta Oilers aren&rsquo;t looking for improvement for next season, is in goal, where Jack Norris proved he is a major leaguer. When Norris was given adequate rest, he was sensational. Oilers are also in good shape on the blueline and at center&hellip; Winnipeg owner Ben Hatskin is making it plain he wants a new rink or at least a massive renovating job on Winnipeg Arena so it can accommodate at least 14,000 fans.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02224/3811308-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="379" height="355"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alberta Oilers&rsquo; general manager BILL HUNTER, left, talks with lawyer LEON PRODOR as two discussed ways and means to strengthen fifth-place Oilers for next sea&rsquo; Alberta missed playoffs in first ye WHA.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-02

Booming Salaries To Force Merger Predicts Lawyer

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01310/3811360-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="400" height="477"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02253/3811353-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="507" height="819"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03213/3811346-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="260" height="669"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04166/3811339-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="507" height="153"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

World Hockey Association Summaries Playoff

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01290/3811422-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="591" height="1659"></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

AHL PLAYOFFS

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div>HALIFAX&mdash;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02231/3811460-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="243" height="398"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tony Featherstone</figcaption></div>It was just as everyone expected. The Nova Scotia Voyageurs swept into the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs.The Powerful Vees, spearheaded by the Yvon Lambert Tony Feat herstone-Morris Stefan iw line, picked up in the playoffs where they left off during the regular season. And so did the big line with the Providence Reds the unwitting victims.The highest-scoring line in AHL history wound up the regular schedule with 131 goals as all three sailed over the 100-point mark. Lambert won the scoring title with 52-52&mdash;104, while Featherstone was second with 49-54&mdash;103 and Stefaniw third with 30-71&mdash;101.In the first three games of the Vees opening playoff series against Providence, that trio scored 11 of the team&rsquo;s 18 goals and set up two others. For the first three games, Featherstone had five goals and five assists, Stefaniw three goals and six assists and Lambert three goals and three assists.The Voyageurs swept the series as expected to move to the semi-finals against Boston. Lambert scored at 10:22 of the sudden-death overtime in Game 4 to knock the Reds out, 3-2.Nova Scotia&rsquo;s 6-4 victory in Providence in Game 3 was only the second on the road for the Voyageurs since Jan. 27 and the first in Providence all season. The Reds won twice and tied two at home during the regular schedule, holding the high-scoring Vees to seven goals in the four games.Featherstone&rsquo;s three goals and two assists sparked Nova Scotia to a 7-2 triumph in the series opener in Halifax. Five different players scored goals in the second game, also in Halifax, as the Vees won 51. Nova Scotia trailed 4-2 with only 8:49 remaining in the third game, but scored four straight goals including one into an open net to rally for the win.Lambert brought the Vees within one at 11:12, Pete Sullivan netted an unassisted goal 40 seconds later and then Featherstone tallied at 13:17 and again into the vacant cage at 19:46.CINCINNATI: The record-wrecking Swords are starting the playoffs with an eye to wiping out some more marks. They scored 25 goals in sweeping past Richmond 4-0 in their best-of-seven playoff series.The AHL record for total goals during one year&rsquo;s playoff games is 64 set last spring by both Baltimore and Nova Scotia. The Clippers did it in 18 games and the Vees in 15. The Swords were nearly a third of the way there after only three games after 5-1 and 8-3 romps at home and a 7-4 decision in Richmond.Five players had three or mon goals in the three games for Cin-cinnati. Joe Robertson and Billy Inglis had four apiece, with Steve Richardson, Doug Rombough anc Murray Kuhtz collecting three.Two goals in the first four minutes of the second period snapped e 1-1 tie and started the Swords or to victory in the series opener.Rombough scored after just If seconds in Game 2, but Richmonc tied it 22 seconds later. The Swords scored three more goals in the first period, however, to breal it open early. The teams tradec goals twice in the first period of the third game before Inglis scored al 17:01 for a 3-2 lead and the Swords pulled away from there. Rom bough&rsquo;s sudden-death overtime goal finished the Robins off 5-4 in game four.The four wins to start the play offs stretched Cincinnati&rsquo;s winning streak to nine games and it; undefeated string to 12-1 triumphs and a tie. For the 11 games, the Swords piled up 81 goals for an average of near seven game, while allowing 30.ROCHESTER: &ldquo;You could have flipped a coin in all of them,&rsquo; is the way Rochester coach Dor Cherry described the Amerks&rsquo; firs three playoff games with the injury-riddled Boston Braves.The Braves won the opener 3-2 in Boston on an overtime goal by Dave Forbes. A penalty shot goal by Richie Leduc started a Boston comeback in the second game after Rochester scored the first two goals, and the Braves went on for a 6-4 verdict, with the final going into an empty net.The &ldquo;score-first-and-lose-the-game&rdquo; bit held up for the third straight game in Game 3 as Boston tallied first. But three goals by defenseman Rick Pagnutti, which probably is an AHL record but none are available for that, and a goal and three assists by Barry Merrell sparked the Amerks to a 54 verdict on home ice. Merrell&rsquo;s game-winning goal didn&rsquo;t come until just 60 seconds remained to be played.Oddly, earlier in the evening he had received the Rochester Executive Club&rsquo;s award for most game-winning goals during the regular season. Actually, Merrell, Bob Kelly and Bob Ellett tied in goals, but the booster club&rsquo;s rules then go to game-winning assist to break a tie.Rookie defenseman John Bednarski assisted on six of the Amerks&rsquo; 12 goals forthe first three games. And veteran Red Armstrong, who rode the bench or was a spectator most of the time at the end of the regular season, played a big part in the third game victory. Armstrong was a surprise starter on defense in the first game, didn&rsquo;t dress for the second one because of a bruised leg muscle and then started on right wing in Game 3. His hard checking from the opening faceoff helped the floundering Amerks revive.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03168/3811453-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="530" height="563"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG ROMBOUGH&hellip; Finished Off Robins</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0027-02

Cup Favorites Vees, Swords Sweep First-Round Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY GREG FARLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02201/3811491-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="270" height="270"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICH LEDUC&hellip; Two-Goal Games</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01276/3811498-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="162" height="280"><figcaption class="caption-body">Norm Dube</figcaption></div>Heroics and dramatics abounded in the recently completed. Braves-Amerks quarter final showdown.Rick Pagnutti, Barry Merrell, Matt Ravlich, Lynn Zimmerman and John Adams represent only a handful of several players whose clutch performances made picking a series MVP an impossible task. But for game in and game out consistency, one man dwarfed the rest &mdash; the Braves&rsquo; clever center man, Rich Leduc, who went on a one-man warpath against the Amerks.Almost hopelessly out manned entering the series following the losses of stalwarts Ron Anderson, Ron Boehm, Ray Fortin, Dave Fortin, Dave Reece and Wayne Elder, the hub club received still another jolt when 38 goal man Bob Gryp was sidelined prior to game two after requiring 80 stitches in the head resulting from an automobile accident.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t like making excuses any more than people like listening to them,&rdquo; confessed Braves&rsquo; player-coach Matt Ravlich after learning of Gryp&rsquo;s mishap, &ldquo;but this is getting ridiculous.&rdquo;So Leduc, the last of the Braves&rsquo; big scorers, took it upon himselfto pick up the slack, which he did with a string of two goal games beginning in the second game, where one of his goals occured on a rarely called penalty shot.&ldquo;I thought I blew it,&rdquo; sighed the cat-like Leduc later in the dressing room, after recalling how his shot first struck Lynn Zimmerman&rsquo;s pads before crossing the goal line.But then Leduc, who has held the unofficial title of Mr. Inspiration since joining the team last year from Cleveland, never misses when the chips are down.His contributions to the Braves over the past two seasons are too numerous to recount here, and he will be sorely missed next season when he graduates to the big time, be it with the Bruins or some other club, or league.If Rich Leduc belongs in the AHL, Derek Sanderson belongs in a monastery.PROVIDENCE: Reds just couldn&rsquo;t get untracked against Nova Scotia. In the opening two games at Halifax, penalties,&rdquo; lamented Larry Popein,&rdquo; and their power play finished us.&rdquo; Reds still had an opportunity to rebound back at the Civic Center when they stormed out to a 4-2 final period lead in game three, only to surrender three unanswered Voyageur tallies within a two minute span and succumb, 6-4, nullifying what could have been a turning point in the series.SPRINGFIELD: Despite the Kings&rsquo; poor showing in his first year at the helm, coach Jerry Toppazzini is hopeful that his club, with an average of only 23, will be poised for a playoff bid next year &hellip; To no one&rsquo;s surprise. Norm Dube was chosen Kings&rsquo; rookie-of-the-year. Stormin&rsquo; Norman totalled 30 goals and 30 assists, and led the team in game winning tallies with five.NEW HAVEN: Nighthawks went for the collar against Cincinnati 0-6-0 &hellip; Hawks didn&rsquo;t win a single season series, and split only one against Jacksonville. &#9632;

f0028-02

Leduc One-Man Gang In Playoffs

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03150/3811536-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="304" height="1567"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04119/3811529-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="895" height="526"></div> &#9632;

f0028-03

AHL And Calder Cup Summaries

<div class="byline">BY JOHN TRAVERS</div>HERSHEY&mdash;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01237/3811567-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="224" height="501"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG GRANT&hellip;Rookie Sparkles</figcaption></div>Goaltending was the name of the game in the first two quarterfinal Calder Cup matches between the Hershey Bears and Virginia RedWings.In the opener at Virginia, 20-year-old rookie Denis Herron backstopped Hershey to a 3-2 win, but in the next outing Doug Grant, another rookie flash, led Virginia to a 3-2 decision to square the series, 1-1.Herron was a last-minute starter for Hershey. Paul Hoganson, also a rookie, was slated to open. However, he suffered an injured finger and gave way to Herron.Coach Frank Mathers said that Hoganson would get his chance before the series was completed. Hoganson, in the regular season&rsquo;s final two months, won 14 of his last 15 home starts and had won nine of ten games in overall action. He closed with a five-game win streak at the Sports Arena.Grant, a prime candidate for rookie-of-the-year laurels, was the league&rsquo;s second-best goalie in average (2.54). Top man was Nova Scotia&rsquo;s Michel Larocque with a 2.50 mark.The Hershey-Virginia series turned into a bruising one as 98 minutes in penalties were meted out in the first 120 minutes of play. Hershey drew 60 minutes.The Bears&rsquo; top scorer in the early going was Hugh Harvey, who notched two goals and assisted on another. Brian Watts had a pair for the Wings to lead his teammates.Grant&rsquo;s best success came in the final 20 minutes against Hershey. He didn&rsquo;t allow a goal in that span. In regular-season play the Bears&rsquo; attack shelled opposing goalies for 109 goals in the closing period, while allowing only 75.Neither the Wings or Hershey&rsquo;s big guns could break open the early games. Close, hard checking prevailed and Virginia&rsquo;s Art Stratton and Nelson DeBenedet and Hershey&rsquo;s Gil Gilbert and Ted Snell were collared.RICHMOND: As expected the Robins&rsquo; defense simply couldn&rsquo;t handle the powerful Cincinnati Swords&rsquo; attack and went out four straight. Coach Floyd Smith&rsquo;s Swords will be well rested for the winner of the Hershey Virginia series, one which could go the limit since boths clubs are evenly balanced. The pre-playoff choices to meet in the finals were Cincinnati and Nova Scotia by most league followers. The two clubs dominated regular-season play.BALTIMORE: Bob Rivard, the Clippers&rsquo; veteran center, paced his team in scoring with 75 points on 25 goals and 50 assists. He and Garry Swain were the only two to play the complete 76-game schedule. Marc Dufour was named the team&rsquo;s most valuable player, carting off the annual Sports Boosters of Maryland Award. He ended the season with 30 goals and 32 assists, though missing nine games. Randy Miller was chosen as the team&rsquo;s unsung hero and received the Dan Ellis Plaque from the Clippers&rsquo; Booster Club. &#9632;

f0029-01

Bears, Wings Get Top Goaling As Grant, Herron Steal Show

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div>CLEVELAND&mdash;As the coach of a team which did not make the American Hockey League playoffs this season, John Muckier of the Cleveland-Jacksonville Barons could be expected to find an excuse for the lack of success.He might blame the players for performing poorly.Or he might blame the Minnesota North Stars, who supplied the players, with not supply players with enough talent.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02196/3811598-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="331" height="540"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Muckier</figcaption></div>But Muckier is doing neither. In fact, he says he&rsquo;s proud of the squad which suffered more losses than any team in the Barons&rsquo; 37-year history in the AHL and allowed more goals than any other Baron team.&ldquo;It was really nobody&rsquo;s fault&hellip; it was just a matter of circumstances being caught between the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I can really sympathize with both sides in this, even though we were the ones in the middle.&rdquo;While Minnesota of the NHL supplied the players, the Barons are owned by Nick Mileti, who when spurned in his NHL bid last June quickly joined the WHA and lured players from National League teams, including a couple from Minnesota.&ldquo;We never had a full lineup of 18 players from the start of the season, and we lost guys at key times because of injuries and recalls,&rdquo; Muckier explained. &ldquo;I remember one night against Nova Scotia we had to go with 13 players. We finished the season with 14, and that&rsquo;s counting the two goaltenders.&ldquo;It was just one thing after another &hellip; and it was just too much,&rdquo; Muckier added.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve never been associated with a better bunch of players before. They tried their best, but the odds were just too much against them. I have to give everybody a lot of credit&hellip; I&rsquo;m proud of them. &#9632;

f0029-02

Muckier’s Club Victim Of Ice War

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03164/3811629-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="403" height="708"></div> &#9632;

f0030-03

WHL PLAYOFFS

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div>PHOENIX&mdash;Gary Simmons placed the responsibility right where it belonged.In a dressing room flowing with victory champagne, Simmons declared: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all Sandy Hucul&rsquo;s fault.&rdquo;Sandy Hucul, in his first year out of uniform and behind the bench, put together the Phoenix Roadrunners&rsquo; first Western Hockey League championship club from a group of mostly retreads and rejects.Simmons is typical.The 4-0 shutout he recorded over the San Diego Gulls in the second last game of the season to put the lock on the title was his second in pro hockey and his second of the season.His first came last month against the same Gulls and in San Diego.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have much to do tonight,&rdquo; said Simmons, modestly but correctly.He made just 15 saves while San Diego goaltender Bob Champoux was peppered by 40 shots.Simmons and Don Caley have both had less work since Hucul put the pads on and his foot down to install a new defense pattern and make it work.In the last 19 games, or since the new-look defense, the Roadrunners allowed just 35 goals in 19 games to go from the most scored upon team to the second least scored upon.Simmons gave up four goals in his last four starts and 16 in his last nine to post a 7-2-0 stretch-run record. Caley allowed 29 in 10 games for a 5-3-2 mark.Simmons, whose average at midseason, was over 4.00, finished with a 3.435 average, just a fraction above Caley&rsquo;s 3.434 mark. They finished 3-4 in the goaltending race.The Roadrunners&rsquo; stretch-run wiped out a mid-January 10-point advantage by the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, when the Runners had dropped to third place, behind San Diego.When all the shooting was done, the Runners Were four points ahead of Salt Lake City and eight ahead of the Gulls.Since mid-January, the Roadrunners improved their record of 16-17-5 to 37-26-9 by winning 21, losing just nine and tying four of the last 34.At the same time, the Golden Eagles won just 12, lost 15 and tied eight.Pointing up the excellent job executed by the rookie coach and the club&rsquo;s president and general manager. Jim Wells, was the fact that 14 of the 21 members of the championship Roadrunners were not with the club last season.Simmons, who had appeared in only 14 games for San Diego in 1970-71, was back in the amateur ranks last season.Dave Woodley, the defenseman who some nights blocks almost as many shots as Simmons or Don Caley, bounced among seven teams in just over two years before finding a home in a Roadrunner uniform..Leo Thiffault, who had a seven-game, 10-point streak broken up by some hot goaltending by Champoux. had been out of hockey for three years.Until Hucul grabbed him, Jack DeCloe, just out of College, was unwanted by anyone. He was turned down in Tulsa of the Central League and Columbus of the International League.Too slow! But no one could catch the 6-1, 198-pound youngster on the breakaway for the final goal against San Diego. He had 13 in 38 games of mostly spot duty.Defenseman Gary Braun couldn&rsquo;t crack the pro ranks until coming under Hucul&rsquo;s confidence building wing. The big 24-year-old has provided the Roadrunner netminders with a much-needed service &mdash; someone who could think out the goal front traffic.Bob Mowat, another first year pro has turned into one of the WHLs best checking wingers.The list isn&rsquo;t endless, but it is long.Don Liesemer was waived out of pro hockey last season, toiled for Muskegon in the IHL was plucked from the California Golden Seals camp by Hucul and responded with a 26-goal season while moving from left wing to center the checking line.Jim Murray was written off as a run-of-the-mill minor leaguer but today is a prime candidate for the WHL first All-Star team and with Seattle&rsquo;s Dave Dunn a principal contender for the Hal Laycoe Cup as the WHLs outstanding defenseman, the award won last season by Hucul.Murray, who kills penalties as well as playing the point on the power play, scored career highs of 10 goals and 62 points.Bob Barlow, who had been told that at age 27 he&rsquo;s too old, finished the season with 26 goals and 68 points in 51 games.But for a back injury which cost him 21 games and hampered him in at least a dozen more. Barlow might have won everything the WHL has to offer to an individual.As it was, the veteran leftwinger who moved into the center slot the day before the season opened, won what club president Wells calls the &ldquo;most important award this club can ever give a player.&rdquo;The Sandy Hucul Award, named for its first recipient, last season, was presented to Barlow between periods of the final game.Howie Young sat out last season rather than plan anywhere except Phoenix, and the Roadrunners made a deal last summer to obtain his contract from San Diego.Between Young and the Phoenix fans there is a great mutual admiration. For the second time in his two seasons with the Roadrunners (he played the 1970-71 season on loan from Vancouver), he won the House of Lords Trophy as most popular player.Another award, bestowed on him by spectator ballot, was the Arizona City Our Hero award, which was accompanied by a $1,000 savings bond.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never had $1,000 all at once before,&rdquo; Young told an admiring audience in the Phoenix Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and noting the House of Lords trophy was accompanied by a case of gin, added, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good thing I&rsquo;m not drinking tonight.&rdquo;He hasn&rsquo;t any day or night for almost nine years now.The former National Hockey League badman then responded with his 20th goal of the season in the final period of the 1972-72 schedule. It was a career high (he had 17 as a center at Rochester in 1969-70), a team record for defensemen and the WHLs high of the season by a defenseman.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01271/3811667-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="387" height="300"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phoenix coach SANDY HUCUL presents Sandy Hucul Award as most inspirational Roadrunner to veteran BOB BARLOW.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02213/3811660-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="386" height="287"><figcaption class="caption-body">LEO THIFFAULT, left, and top Phoenix scorer MURRAY HEATLEY celebrate club&rsquo;s WHL championship win with shower champagne.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

Runners Lock Up First Title Passing Credit On To Hucul

<div class="byline">by DOUG McCONNELL</div>SALTLAKE CITY &mdash;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01249/3811698-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="329" height="573"><figcaption class="caption-body">Roger Bellerive</figcaption></div>Salt Lake Golden Eagles&rsquo; coach and general manager Al Rollins isn&rsquo;t counting on his club&rsquo;s domination of the Denver Spurs to continue during the Lester Patrick Cup playoffs.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve certainly had their number all season,&rdquo; said Rollins, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;ve been in the sport long enough to know it&rsquo;s a whole new ball game when the playoffs start.&rdquo;The Eagles held a 9-2-1 season&rsquo;s edge over the Spurs, shut them off completely 6-0 in the Salt Palace and taking two wins and a tie in three tries in the Mile High City.The Eagles have to reverse gears if they are to handle the defending Patrick Cup champions.Salt Lake seemed to have the WHL title and the Coleman E. Hall Cup wrapped up with a 10-point bulge over the Phoenix Roadrunners in mid-January.Since then, the Eagles posted a 12-15-8 record while the Roadrunners were streaking to a 21-9-4 mark to finish four points ahead of the Eagles.Rollins blames the decline on injuries to two of his top scorers and to his team getting out of condition in the late going..Roger Bellerive missed 17 games with a broken foot but still had the best season of his pro career. The 29-year-old leftwinger scored 19 goals and 28 assists for 47 points in 55 games. He had twice before reached the 42-point level, including last season with the Eagles.Vipond, lost once for three games to a callup by the parent California Golden Seals, was knocked out of the lineup for three more with strained ankle tendons and according to Rollins &ldquo;played on one leg for at least six more.&rdquo; The 23-year-old left winger scored 33 goals and 24 assists for 57 points in 66 games.Ron Huston, the rookie who played with his broken jaw wired shut over the last month of the season and lost 20 pounds, still wound up with 42 goals to tie the WHL rookie record set by Jim Baird for Vancouver in 1961-62.&ldquo;Huston played well with his jaw wired up,&rdquo; said Rollins. &ldquo;Whether he could have played any better, I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;Huston, fifth in the WHL in points with 84, was second among the Eagles. Lyle Bradley scored 87 to break the team record of 66, set by Guyle Fielder in 1969-70. Bradley&rsquo;s total included 29 goals.&ldquo;We had to start juggling our lines,&rdquo; said Rollins. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have a great hockey club and unless everyone is skating, we aren&rsquo;t in it. Maybe the juggling of the lines had something to do with our not playing our skating game.Then, the conditioning of four or five our players got bad. On that last Central League swing, we were travelling around, not getting enough ice time for practice and we went for a month without practing in the Salt Palace.As for the WHL title, Rollins said: &ldquo;We had it but we lost it. We lost a couple of key games to San Diego here at home. We outshot them both games but ran into two hot goaltenders, Ken Broderick and Bob Champoux.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Eagles’ Domination Of Denver Won’t Hold In WHL Playoffs

SEATTLE&mdash;Bob Walton who took over the scoring leadership from Murray Heatley in the final weeks of the season, held on to win the Western Hockey League scoring title.Ken Broderick of San Diego who led all season, won the goaltending award with a 2.94 goals against average. His own teammate, Bob Champoux, was his nearest rival, with a 3.31 mark.Walton, slender center of the Seattle Totems, posted a three-point margin over Murray Heatley of Phoenix.The 23-year-old Walton scored 40 goals and a league-leading 61 assists, despite the fact his team missed the playoffs.Heatley, 24-year-old Phoenix Roadrunner rightwinger, led in goals with 43, and totalled 98 points.Art Jones of Portland, the scoring champion for the last five consecutive seasons, finished third with 89 points, two ahead of Salt Lake&rsquo;s Lyle Bradley.Ron Huston, Salt Lake&rsquo;s outstanding rookie who played the final month of the season with his jaw wired shut and his weight dropping by 20 pounds, was second to Heatley in goals with 42 and fifth in points with 84.Huston&rsquo;s 42 goals tied the WHL rookie record set by Jim Baird of the Vancouver Canucks in 1961-62.Seattle defenseman Dave Dunn placed eighth among the point getters with 75 points, breaking by one the WHL record for defensemen set by Doug Barkley with Calgary in 1961-62.Dunn had 19 goals but the lead in that department went to Howie Young of the Phoenix Roadrunners, who scored 20 and set a WHL record with two hat tricks by a defenseman in one season.Young also led the league in penalty minutes with 233.Broderick, who has signed a three-year National Hockey League contract with the Boston Bruins, also led in shut outs with three.Broderick won the most games, 23, but lost 21 and tied six, leaving the best mark to Don Caley of Phoenix 20-12-6. &#9632;

Totems Miss Playoffs But Walton Top Scorer

DENVER&mdash;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03161/3811753-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="219" height="221"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOE NORIS</figcaption></div>The defending Coleman E. Hall Cup and Lester Patrick Cup champions of the Western Hockey League, the Denver Spurs, pulled out of a slump just in time.After going seven straight games without a victory and losing four straight, the Spurs wound up the schedule with a three-game winning streak to nose out the surging Seattle Totems by a single point in the struggle for the fourth and last playoff spot.It was the first time in the WHLs 25-year history that the Northwest had been shut out of the Patrick Cup playoffs.The Portland Buckaroos, up until two years ago, the powerhouse of the WHL, finished in the basement, eight points behind Seattle.The Buckaroos had never before missed the playoffs since entering the WHL in 1960-61 and eight times in 11 years finished first. The other three seasons produced second-place finishes.Last season, the Buckaroos slipped to third, interest declined in the &ldquo;Old Folks&rdquo; among Portland fans and the operation&rsquo;s financing had to be guaranteed by the league.The future of hockey in Portland is in doubt but WHL president Bill MacFarland says he has assurances from the National Hockey League that a farm club will operate in the Rose City.The Spurs, riddled all season by injuries and callups to the parent St. Louis Blues, closed out the - schedule with home victories of 5-3 over their rivals, the Totems, and 8-3 over Portland, then took on the monumental task of whipping the league champion Phoenix Roadrunners in their own backyard.The Roadrunners had lost only three home-ice decisions all season, a league record if they could have maintained it.The Spurs were more motivated than the. Roadrunners, who had cinched the league title the night before, and skated to a 5-3 victory. Despite the Totems whipping the Buckaroos 7-1 in Seattle, it did them no good.Joe Noris, the only American-born player playing for his hometown in the WHL, made it a night to remember in the windup at Phoenix. He scored his first hat trick of the season, goals 11, 12 and 13, and assisted on another.Norm Dennis produced three assists and the kind of a back-checking game that kept the Roadrunners from organizing the powerhouse attack that produced 310 goals this season.Dennis wound up as Denver&rsquo;s leading scorer this season, in addition to his great backchecking. Dennis was seventh in the WHL with 27 goals and 50 assists for 77 points.Don Borgeson tied for 10th in the WHL and second on the Denver club with 31 goals and 41 assists for 72 points.The Spurs voted Dennis the team&rsquo;s most valuable player. Chuck Hamilton won the best defenseman award and Borgeson the best offensive player award as well as the Spur of the Moment Award as the most popular player.Hamilton, who was back in the lineup less than a month after undergoing knee surgery, gave the &#9632;

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Denver Spurs Snapped Slump At Right Time

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02199/3811784-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="258" height="560"></div> &#9632;

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HOW THEY STAND

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0480/3811891-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="241" height="482"></div> &#9632;

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<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>TULSA&mdash;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01251/3811829-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="249" height="412"><figcaption class="caption-body">Danny Gruen</figcaption></div>For the second straight season, the Central Hockey League individual scoring race ended in a tie between a member of the Tulsa Oilers and a member of the FortFor 1972-73 the league title was shared by Lyle Moffat, a second-year pro at left wing for Tulsa, and Danny Gruen rookie left wing for Fort Worth. They wound up with 80 points each. Moffat had 40 goals and 40 assists, Gruen 35 and 45.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02188/3811822-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="365" height="421"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON GORDON</figcaption></div>Moffat, 25, from Calgary byway of Michigan Tech, counted three goals and two assists in the Oilers&rsquo; two games in the first week of April to tie for the title. Oruen, 21. who came up from the Thunder Bay. Ont. juniors, had three goals in three outings for the week. Moffat had 15 goals and 16 assists as an Oiler rookie last winter. Gruen hit 39 goals and 60 assists for Thunder Bay.A year ago it was a pair of centers. Tulsa&rsquo;s Jean Payette and Fort Worth&rsquo;s Ross Perkins, sharing the league scoring championship with 97 points each.Moffat and teammate Reggie Bechtold collected their 40th goals in the season finale, and shared the league lead in that department, one short of the league-leading mark shared a year ago by Perkins. J.P. Bordeleau of Dallas, and Greg Sheppard of Okiahoma City. Bechtold wound up with 79 points, one off the pace.For the last-place Oilers, it was the first 4()-goal performance in eight seasons. Torn (the Bomb) McCarthy had 53. and Mike (Shaky) Walton 40 for the Oilers in 1964-65. their first season in the CHL.Coach Gerry Moore&rsquo;s Oilers, who experienced one skid alter another in the disastrous season, closed out on a triumphant note, with back-to-hack victories over the formerly-streaking Omaha Knights. It was 5-4 in Tulsa. Apr. 6. and 5-3 in Omaha&rsquo;s Ak-Shar-Ben Coliseum the next night.The Apr. 6 victory snapped Omaha&rsquo;s CHL record string of 13 games without a loss. The last previous team to beat the Knights was the Oilers, in a 9-1 rout at Omaha. Mar 3.The Oilers had 3-0 and 5-1 leads in that Apr. 6 game, but had to hang on desperately to quell an Omaha comeback. Bob Roselle. Moffat and Bechtold made it a 3-0 first period.Omaha&rsquo;s Scott Smith scored at 4:13 of the second, but Osburn and Moffat made it 5-1 for Tulsa before the Knights&rsquo; Ed Kea scored late in the period. Doug Horbul and Allie Sutherland pulled Omaha to within a goal with 9:13 left, but the Oilers and goalie Don Wallis were equal to the final challenge.The next night Tulsa lost early 2-0 and 3-1 advantages, but won on third-period goals by Moffat and John Gray (his second of the game). Brian St. John and Bechtold had made it 2-0 in the first 10 &frac12; minutes, and Gray tallied between Omaha goals by Suther land and Lynn Powis before the first period ended. Don Martineau tied it up with the only goal ot the middle period. Grant Cole, who has played expecially well in Omaha, was the guard the Oiler nets.DALLAS: The Black Hawks finished in first place tor the second straight season, then had to wait a week to face Omaha, who romped past Forth Worth in four games in their semi-final series.First place was clinched in a 2-2 home tie against the Knights. Apr. 1. With all playoff positions decided, the only thing at stake in the tinal weekend of the schedule was the individual scoring title (for which no Hawk was contending) and the turnpike series with Fort Worth. The Wings tied up that hard-fought series with a 4-2 victory in Fort Worth. Apr. 6, hut the Hawks won by the same margin at home the next night to take the series. 8-7-1.Doug Kerslake. a rough young right wing from Flint in the International League (where he earned 217 penalty-minutes) was brought up to and muscle for the playoffs. He scored his first professional goal in the home victory.The Hawks led the league with 87 points six shy of last year&rsquo;s record. Their scoring total of 256 goals was far from last year&rsquo;s record total of 317. But they yielded only 208 goals, shaving 24 off last season&rsquo;s mark. The CHL record for stinginess was set by Oklahoma City in 1967-68. The Blazers gave up only 174 in 70 games for a 2.49 average, compared to the Hawks&rsquo; 2.89thisseason.The club scoring leaders were checked effectively in the last three games. Don Gordon was blanked. Moe L&rsquo;Abbe had a goal and an assist, and Dave Kryskow a lone goal. That gave Gordon the club lead on 63 points, ninth in the CHL. while Kryskow and L&rsquo;Abbe were tied for 10th at 62.Although finding a few difficulties on the road. Dallas ended the schedule with a six-game unbeaten streak at home. The game that set the champagne corks popping was that 2-2 draw with Omaha in State Fair Coliseum. Apr. 1. Omaha had won 10 straight games, night after night postponing the Hawk victory celebration.I Abbe was almost the whole offensive show for Dallas (just as he had been the previous night when he scored all five Hawk goals in Tulsa). He tied the score at 1-1 on a right wing rush at 11:14 of the middle period, then set up linemate Walt Ledingham for the go-ahead goal two minutes later.Lynn Powis had scored for Omaha in the first. Brian McKenzie got the tying counter at 7:28 of the third, after Allie Sutherland&rsquo;s interception had caught most of the Hawks up the ice on attack.Ledingham had the first goal of the Apr. 6 game in Fort Wort h, and Brian Ogilvie tied it at 2-2 late in the second period. But the Wings won it on Danny Gruen&rsquo;s two goals in the final stanza. Vvon Bilodeau, Kryskow, and Ian McKegney joined Kerslake in scoring for the Hawks the next night.OMAHA The Knights&rsquo; record unbeaten string of 13 games went down the drain Apr. 6 in Tulsa, and the cellar-dwelling Oilers made it two straight the next night in Omaha. But coach Fred Creighton was more concerned with getting his club ready for the playoffs than with extending the streak.The Knights set the record when they followed the 2-2 tie in Dallas by winning at home against Fort Worth, 4-2, Apr. 4. But they closed out the regular schedule by losing a 5-4 game in Tulsa, Apr. 6, and a 5-3 game to the same foes at home.Creighton rested forwards Wayne Schaab, Dave Murphy and Alan Young in that final series, and used every conceivable combination of other players, often sending a defenseman or two to play on a forward line.The Knights closed with 80 points, seven behind first-place Dallas, and 12 in front of third-place Fort Worth. They faced the Wings in a best-of-five semi-final playoff series, with the winner to meet Dallas in a best-of-seven for the Adams Cup.The semi-final showdown started in Fort Worth, Apr. 10, with games in Omaha Apr. 11 and 13, back in Fort Worth Apr. 14 and in Omaha, Apr. 15(if needed).Omaha was the heavy favorite in the series, owning 10-3-3 advantage in the season series with the Wings, including a 4-2-2 record in Fort Worth.The Knights brought up player-coach Jack Wells from Charlotte in the Eastern League (Creighton&rsquo;s former club) to become the badly-needed fourth center. Brought up from Des Moines in the International League were goalie Ted Lenssen and defensemen Ed Sidebottom and John Huber.Left wing Lynn Powis had four goals and an assist for the busy week, and won the club scoring title with 74 points, fourth-best in the league. Schaab was seventh on 66 points, Allie Sutherland had 53, Young 52, Brian McKenzie 51, and Don Martineau 50.Powis had two second-period goals in the Apr. 4 victory that set the record. Defensemen Dwight Bialowas and Al Beaule also tallied, as the Knights grabbed a 2-0 lead in the opening period, and made it 4-0 in the second, before Wings Gordie Redden and Al Genovy solved Lenssen in the third.The string included seven home games without defeat and six on the road.FORT WORTH &mdash; Losing the turnpike series and then seeing Gruen have to settle for a tie in the league scoring race was too much for Fort Worth coach Bob Lemieux. Gruen got one of the goals in the Wings&rsquo; closing 4-2 loss at Dallas, Apr. 7, but, according to the press box, was not on the ice when Mike Cormier scored the other. Still Lemieux argued with the official scorer and finally climbed to the press box to continue his tirade.With 80 points and 35 goals, Gruen tied for the CHL scoring title with Tulsa&rsquo;s Lyle Moffat, and shared the club&rsquo;s goal-scoring lead with Cormier. Bob Collyard, however, led the Wings and the league in assists, with 50.Cormier had a total of 73 points to rank fifth in the CHL. Collyard was sixth at 67. Ralph Stewart, traded away from the Wings Jan. 16, finished eighth in the race with his 65.The unsatisfactory finale was the Wings&rsquo; fifth straight loss on the road, and they faced a difficult task in taking on Omaha in the playoff series. Three of those five games were to be played in Omaha&rsquo;s Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum, if the series went that far.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01224/3811815-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="336" height="389"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON GORDON&hellip;Top Hawk Scorer</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Omaha In Final With Dallas After Ousting Fort Worth

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02171/3811936-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="431" height="1878"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03127/3811929-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="606" height="995"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04104/3811922-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="595" height="771"></div> &#9632;

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Western-Central Hockey League Summaries

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0494/3812012-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="272" height="925"></div> &#9632;

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EHL Playoffs

1954-55&mdash;Washington Lions1955-56&mdash;New Haven Blades1956-57&mdash;Charlotte Checkers1957-58&mdash;Washington Presidents1958-59&mdash;Clinton Comets1959-60&mdash;Johnstown Jets1960-61&mdash;Johnstown Jets1961-62&mdash;Johnstown Jets1962-63&mdash;Greensboro Generals1963-64&mdash;Clinton Comets1964-65&mdash;Long Island Ducks1965-66&mdash;Nashville Dixie Flyers1966-67&mdash;Nashville Dixie Flyers1967-68&mdash;Clinton Comets1968-69&mdash;Clinton Comets1969-70&mdash;Clinton Comets1970-71&mdash;Charlotte Checkers1971-72&mdash;Charlotte Checkers1972-73&mdash;Syracuse Blazers &#9632;

EHL Champs

<div class="byline">BY FRANK BROWN</div>ROANOKE VALLEY&mdash;The Walker Cup final series took the Eastern Hockey League beyond the limits of credibility. Each game became an exercise to see which team could pull off a more unexpected victory.You won&rsquo;t hear the fans complaining, however, for the championship excitement reached a fever pitch with the power-laden Syracuse Blazers culminating a spectacular season by winning their first league cup from a fighting band of Roanoke Valley Rebels.The Blazers, who had been stunned by two Rebel victories in the best-of-seven final, came back strong to virtually wipe the Rebs off the ice 15-1 in game five at Syracuse before putting the finishing touches to the series and the season right here on Roanoke ice.Syracuse won the windup game 4-1 to take it all in six games, a fitting climax for General Manager Bill Charles and Coach Ron Ingram, who put together one of the strongest teams in league history.Everyone knew the Blazers had everything but they didn&rsquo;t know the Rebels had such self determination to win. They never quit for a minute in the series despite being outclassed.People were awed enough when the mighty Blazers were conquered 5-4 in overtime by the &ldquo;upstart&rdquo; Rebels in the first game of the finals, but nobody believed it when Syracuse returned the favor with a record breaking 17-1 shellacking of the Roanoke visitors in game two. Ray Adduono, with a goal and six assists, led the Blazers to a nine-goal second period that nearly ran the Rebs out of the building. It was 10-1 when goaltender Dan Sullivan was forced from the nets by a knee injury and Roanoke used its trainer. Dave Stettlemyre, as backup for the last seven goals.Yves Archambault, Rebs&rsquo; other goalie had been felled by mononeucleosis and infected tonsils, thus wasn&rsquo;t available for the game. He was forced into availability by the WHA Philadelphia Blazers, though, who rushed Archambault to the City of Brotherly Love on an emergency basis when top-flight star Bernie Parent jumped the club over contract trouble.At Roanoke Valley, however, there was anything but Brotherly Love, as the Blazers eked out a 7-4 triumph in a different style from their crushing win in game two the night before. Gordie Gallant of Syracuse was suspended for the rest of the series after a deliberate attempt to injure Roanoke winger Wayne Horne in game two, and countless fighting, roughing, and high-sticking penalties were handed out.The Rebs have overcome the tide of Syracuse momentum and a number of injuries to keep themselves in the series. The Blazers, meanwhile, have found themselves hard put to stay a step ahead of the spirited underdogs as the season came down to the wire, but gave indications of their mettle and championship quality when they thumped Roanoke 15-1 in the pivotal fifth game with Adduono getting 3-7-10.SYRACUSE: Dave Ferguson leads all playoff competitors in penalty minutes with 45, one more than teammate Blake Ball. Fergy also owns the only four-goal game of the playoffs. Barry Brooks has scored three game-winning goals since the playoffs started &lsquo;way back when. Joe Junkin and Yves Belanger had goals against average of 2.86 and 0.94 respectively. Doug Ferguson iced the 7-4 game on a rare penalty shot, called by ref Mike McCormack when the Rebels were found guilty of having too many men on the ice with less than two minutes remaining in the game. The rulebook says that infraction receives a penalty shot as punishment. The free-shot goal was Doug&rsquo;s third of the game. Two players received match penalties for the same fight in game three when Mike Morton and Roanoke&rsquo;s Serge Beaudoin tried to interfere with the Ray Schultz-Pierre Paiement main event. HOCKEY NEWS publisher Ken McKenzie on hand to present Blazers&rsquo; G.M. Charles with award as minor league executive of year for 1972.ROANOKE VALLEY: Dave Settlemyre probably won&rsquo;t ask for a raise next year&hellip; his goals-against average is 23.33! Claude St. Sauveur finished as the Rebels&rsquo; top scorer despite near decapitation by Billy Orr. He had a hat trick in one game, the Rebs&rsquo; 6-4 triumph that evened the series at two wins apiece, and had 10 goals, 14 assists for 24 points going into game five. Tony Killman, the Rebs&rsquo; veteran center was forced to leave the club and return to Canada to settle some personal business. He had tried to finish the series, but things became too serious. Coach Gregg Pilling moved Dale MacLeish and John Huttoh around to cover the absence of Kollman, spotting either at center or wing. Pilling has made it clear he&rsquo;s not a fan of the Blazers&rsquo; game plan: &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t respect them for their style of play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve taken all we&rsquo;re going to take, and if we have to, we will get pretty crude, too,&rdquo; The Rebs were 7-1 at home going into the last couple of games.CLINTON: A Syracuse newspaper reports rumors that the Comets have already been sold, with plans to remain in Clinton. Ed Stanley will be retained as business manager.CHARLOTTE: Rumors have it that the Syracuse Blazers will move to Jacksonville, Fla. next season and become part of the proposed Southern League with the Checkers, Greensboro, Roanoke Valley, Suncoast, and, possibly Johnstown. It seems that Syracuse will become an American Hockey League city.NEW JERSEY: It would appear that the Devils will have to do considerable manoevering to get up the $35,000 performance bond needed by the April 30May 1-2 meetings in Montreal. The club may have played its last game.LONG ISLAND: The status of the Ducks remains up in the air as well. One thing has been clear from the end of the season, though: Al Baron was disappointed with the lack of support given by his parent club, the New York Raiders. His club, however, used some 35 players over the season just ended.JOHNSTOWN: Galen Head and Tom Steeves had hat tricks in the playoffs, byt only Vern Campigotto finished in the top 15 playoff scorers. He had 6 goals, 9 assists in 12 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01243/3811981-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="349" height="366"><figcaption class="caption-body">RAY ADDUONO</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02189/3811974-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="355" height="372"><figcaption class="caption-body">BARRY BROOKS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03145/3811967-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="355" height="373"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG FERGUSON</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

Syracuse Blazers Win It All Overpowering Fighting Rebels

<div class="byline">BY LENHOYES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01235/3812074-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="242" height="461"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Zuk</figcaption></div>TOLEDO&mdash;It will take another year to make sure but Toledo&rsquo;s status in the International Hockey League is much &lsquo;brighter.&rsquo;If Paul Bright can&rsquo;t make the Hornets a success, Toledo&rsquo;s reputation as a poor hockey town will be assured.Bright doesn&rsquo;t plan to let that happen. Three weeks after his club was eliminated in the Turner Cup Quarter-finals by Port Huron, he was hard at work preparing for 1973-74.&ldquo;The potential is here and I think we&rsquo;ll make Toledo a successful franchise with hard work. We&rsquo;ve come a long way but we have a long way to go. We&rsquo;re willing to work night and day, so, if we can&rsquo;t make it, there&rsquo;s something wrong,&rdquo; said Bright, who&rsquo;s been associated with hockey for more than 20 years.He and associates bought control of the Toledo franchise when it was on the verge of going belly-up after the 1970-71 season. The year before, energetic Jerry Nuerge formed a group to rescue the franchise. Nuerge was wise as a businessman but didn&rsquo;t have the hockey knowledge to keep the franchise afloat.Enter Bright.He had been associated with the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League as investor, stockholder and officer and was top man for eight years. He was out of hockey for two years.&ldquo;I was offered jobs by other teams but I turned them down. Hockey is interesting to me for more than just money. Besides, I&rsquo;m an Ohioan and I wanted to stay in Ohio. When someone mentioned that Toledo was for sale, we looked into the situation and bought it,&rdquo; he explained.Although hockey means more than money to Bright, he doesn&rsquo;t figure to operate the Hornets merely as a hobby. The franchise lost $70,000 in 1971-72 and, with figures still to be finalized, the losses probably will total $35,000 for 1972-73.&ldquo;And I&rsquo;ve worked without a salary for two years. That must amount to a few dollars,&rdquo; Bright grinned.Nevertheless, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel.Bright vowed to operate Toledo for three years and vowed to produce a winning team. Losses have been cut and the Hornets&rsquo; 36-33-5 record was their first winning record since 1968-69.&ldquo;Our league is on a year to year basis. One year you can have a great team and the next year you don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Bright said.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have to win the title every year but we have to put a team on the ice which has pride in itself and tries to win every game. Winning is the cream,&rdquo; he added.Bright, who operates several successful business ventures in the Cleveland area, set a goal of selling 1,000 season tickets for 1973-74. That sounds like a modest number compared to 2,500 season sales in Flint, but it&rsquo;s a gradual increase.In Bright&rsquo;s first year, he sold 445 season tickets. Last year the figure was 605. Considering that the Toledo area&rsquo;s population is 685,000, a goal of 1,000 should be hit easily.Along with his own hard work, Bright has convinced owners of Toledo&rsquo;s Sports Arena to renovate the 5,200-seat building. Last year $250,000 was poured into it. This year there&rsquo;ll be more.Bright said, &ldquo;We want to show our fans that we can have a building just as clean and just as attractive as anywhere else. The owners have been very cooperative and they&rsquo;ll carry out their part of the bargain.&rdquo;The rest is up to the Toledo fans. For the first 20 home games, an average of only 2,006 showed up. For the last 17 games of the regular season, the average was 2,614.That&rsquo;s still only half the capacity.If fan interest catches up to Bright&rsquo;s capacity for making the Toledo franchise successful, the figure should be much bigger next winter.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02197/3812067-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="366" height="421"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHICK BALON&hellip; Fired Game Winners</figcaption></div>On the ice, Fort Wayne Komets surprised by sweeping their Turner Cup final against Port Huron &mdash; an unexpected turn of events in view of the Wings&rsquo; fine finish in the regular schedule.FORT WAYNE &mdash; Goalies Robbie Irons and Don Atchison cowinners of James Norris Memorial Trophy after Komets yielded 2.96 over 78-game regular season &hellip; Chick Balon, playing third game after recovering from foot injury, scored deciding goal in 5-3 victory over Port Huron&hellip; Atchison posted 5-1 record for first six playoffPORT HURON &mdash; Sweep of Dayton gave Coach Ted Garvin eighth straight series triumph and 10th in last 11 &hellip; Bill Miller, who scored one goal all season, got two goals, including clincher, in 5-4 wrapup against Dayton &hellip; Garvin pooh-poohed rumors about getting job with Detroit Red Wings but admitted talking about future with another NHL club.FLINT &mdash; Wayne Zuk named most valuable. Doug Manchak top rookie. Rod Collins best defenseman, Ernie Moser unsung hero, Rod Cox most improved and Doug Kerslake most popular in team vote &hellip; Bob Perani secured as Port Huron backup goalie when injury sidelined All Star Bill MacKenzie &hellip; Center Terry Smith and Kerslake went to Dallas of Central League for balance of season.DAYTON &mdash; Coach Jim Anderson attributed Gems&rsquo; early exit from playoffs to &ldquo;not enough veterans in the front lines.&rdquo; &hellip; Gems&rsquo; 44-25-4 record produced 92 points, second best in club&rsquo;s nine-year history &hellip; Back-to-back playoff losses to Port Huron at home first in history.DES MOINES Dan Gloor&rsquo;s selection as IHL rookie of year followed General Manager Ken Wilson&rsquo;s charm. He&rsquo;s had top rookie four times in six years as an IHL boss &hellip; Goalie Ted Lenssen and defenseman John Huber called to maha for rest of season. &#9632;

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Toledo Hopes Future Bright; Fort Wayne Posts Cup Win

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03146/3812105-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="249" height="519"></div> &#9632;

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IHL PLAYOFFS

1945-46&mdash;Detroit Auto Club1946-47&mdash;Windsor-Spitfires1947-48&mdash;Toledo Mercurys1948-49&mdash;Windsor Hettche1949-50&mdash;Chatham Maroons1950-51&mdash;Toledo Mercurys1951-52&mdash;Toldo Mercurys1952-53&mdash;Cincinnati Mohawks1953-54&mdash;Cincinnati Mohawks1954-55&mdash;Cincinnati Mohawks1955-56&mdash;Cincinnati Mohawks1956-57&mdash;Cincinnati Mohawks1957-58&mdash;Indianapolis Chiefs1958-59&mdash;Louisville Rebels1959-60&mdash;St. Paul Saints1960-61&mdash;St. Paul Saints1961-62&mdash;Muskegon Zephyrs1962-63&mdash;Fort Wayne Komets1963-64&mdash;Toledo Blades1964-65&mdash;Fort Wayne Komets1965-66&mdash;Port Huron Flags1966-67&mdash;Toledo Blades1967-68&mdash;Muskegon Mohawks1968-69&mdash;Dayton Gems1969-70&mdash;Dayton Gems1970-71&mdash;Port Huron Flags1971-72&mdash;Port Huron Wings1972-73&mdash;Fort Wayne Komets &#9632;

IHL Champs

<div class="byline">BY JOE WATKINS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02160/3812160-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="343" height="571"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bruce Boudreau</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01213/3812167-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="207" height="234"><figcaption class="caption-body">WRICK MIDDLETON&hellip; A Big Year</figcaption></div>LONDON&mdash;Like Toronto Marlboros&rsquo; George Armstrong, Peterborough Petes&rsquo; Roger Neilson and Ottawa. 67&rsquo;s Leo Boivin, Bill Long hopes to sruide his London Kniehts to the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A championship.But, unlike the others, the Knights&rsquo; gener al manager coach has gone on record by naming the team he would like to meet in the title round.&ldquo;I want to get in the final with Ottawa,&rdquo; said Long who handled 67&rsquo;s from their inception in 1967 until joining Knights this season. Long, who had just watched his Knights eliminate Kitchener Rangers in four games, was quick to point out that he left Ottawa on good terms. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no particular reason why I prefer to meet Ottawa except that I would like to show the Ottawa people that we have a good team,&rdquo; he explained.Both 67&rsquo;s and Knights face an uphill battle if his wish is to become fact. 67&rsquo;s battled Marlboros to a 5-5 stalemate before dropping a 5-2 decision in the second game of their best-of-seven semi-final series.Petes, meanwhile, opened their set with a 4-1 win over Knights in the opener of the other series and then played a 4-4 tie in game two.Knights were able to manage only one win over Petes during the regular schedule. But they earned two ties in games at Peterborough.&ldquo;The games were close,&rdquo; pointed out Long. &ldquo;We were seldom more than a goal apart.&rdquo;Knights, of course, will have to win at least one game in Peterborough if they are to eliminate the defending champions. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not impossible,&rdquo; says Long. &ldquo;We have a good road record. We picked up 35 of our 74 points away from home.&rdquo;The Toronto-Ottawa opener, in Ottawa, attracted a season record crowd of 10,055 who watched the homesters open up a 2-0 lead in the first period.The pennant winners battled back to create a 4-4 tie before the teams divided a pair of goals in the final period.Peter Marrin was the top Marlboro shooter with two goals while Bruce Boudreau, Brad Winton and Glenn Goldup netted singletons.Peter Lee, David Lee, Gary McAdam, Denis Potvin and Paul Sheard replied for 67&rsquo;s.Rookie Boudreau was the big gun for Marlboros in the second game of the series that automatically becomes an eight-point affair after the tie.Boudreau scored three times for the pennant winners with defenseman Bob Dailey and Winton getting the others.Jim Cowell and David Lee scored for the stubborn 67&rsquo;s who cut Dukes&rsquo; lead to 3-2 after the Torontonians had scored the first three goals.The game, played before 7,355 Maple Leaf Gardens witnesses, marked the first time in the playoffs that Ottawa&rsquo;s Blake Dunlop, the league scoring champion, was unable to pick up at least one point. He amassed 19 scoring points in five previous playoff appearances.Petes and Knights were tied, 11, before Petes&rsquo; Neil Korzack. Doug Gibson and Jim Jones scored unanswered goals in the third period. Earlier, London&rsquo;s leapin&rsquo; Lou Nistico had matched a goal by rugged defenseman Bob Neely.Each of the four survivors had an easy road to the semi-finals by winning their quarter-finals in four straight.Marlies outscored St. Catharines Black Hawks, 24-9, in their series, Petes sidelined Oshawa Generals by scoring 30 goals and giving up only 14, 67&rsquo;s overwhelmed Sudbury Wolves, 37-8, winning the final game, 14-2, and Knights counted 36 goals. &#9632;

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Marlies, Petes In Command But Long Still Optimistitc

OSHAWA&mdash;Rick Middleton completed his finest year of junior hockey for the Oshawa Generals and the young right wing has a few momentos to show for it.Middleton was named the recipient of the Red Tilson Memorial Trophy as the player in the Ontario Hockey Association Major League who best combined outstanding play with gentlemanly conduct on the ice. Middleton was in pretty select company as he beat out Ottawa 67s defenseman Denis Potvin and league scoring champion Blake Dunlop, also of Ottawa.Middleton, recently selected to the right wing position on the OHA&rsquo;s second All Star team, enjoyed a highly productive season with Gus Bodnar&rsquo;s Generals, leading the team in scoring with 137 points.Middleton also emerged as the league&rsquo;s No. 1 goal scorer this past season with 67 goals in 62 games. He finished up as the third highest point man behind Dunlop and London&rsquo;s Dennis Ververgaert. &#9632;

Oshawa Ace Gets OHA’s Tilson Award

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03118/3812222-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="203" height="511"></div> &#9632;

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OHA PLAYOFFS

<div class="byline">BY BOBSTRUMM</div>EDMONTON&mdash;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01190/3812260-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="256" height="427"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Price</figcaption></div>Brian Shaw, fiery coach of the Edmonton Oil Kings, has been avoiding black cats and leaning ladders lately.He has good reason. Shaw&rsquo;s luck has been downright lousy.Superstitions aren&rsquo;t really Shaw&rsquo;s bag. But when a coach finds two of his pivotal players riddled by the injury jinx, then he&rsquo;s liable to try anything.Randy Smith, a hulking left winger, was the first to go. Smith severely twisted his knee with three weeks of the Western Canada Hockey League&rsquo;s regular schedule remaining, and has not yet returned.Oil Kings managed to win their quarter-final series without Smith, even though he&rsquo;s a 21-goal man with the size of an over-fed bull. Edmonton eliminated New Westminster Bruins in five games in their best-of-seven series.The playoff victory over the Bruins was also costly though. Leftwinger Darcy Rota, the WCHL&rsquo;s leading goal-scorer with 73, slid into the boards and dislocated his shoulder in the series&rsquo; final game.Rota&rsquo;s absence in the Oil Kings&rsquo; semi-final confrontation with Medicine Hat could be extremely damaging to Edmonton&rsquo;s chances. The Tigers eliminated Calgary Centennials in six games in the other Western Division playoff.There&rsquo;s only one complication. Nobody seems to know how long Rota will be out. One doctor says seven to 10 days, one says three weeks and yet another says six weeks.&ldquo;If we could only get two doctors to agree, we&rsquo;d know where we stand,&rdquo; says Shaw.The Oil King coach is even considering sending Rota to John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for observation. Obviously, the situation is serious.&ldquo;His performance speaks for itself.&rdquo; says Shaw. &ldquo;Certainly a team is going to miss a player who scored 73 goals during the season. What&rsquo;s more, Darcy is a leader on our club out there.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s more heartache involved as far as Smith and Rota are concerned. They&rsquo;re both 19 years old with an eye on a professional hockey future.Smith, especially, was banking on a big playoff performance to enhance his chances in the annual junior draft. Rota, on the other hand, has already sold pro scouts on his credentials and he&rsquo;ll go high in the draft even in his absence.&ldquo;Randy should be ready to go in seven to 10 days,&rdquo; explains Shaw. &ldquo;And if we can get Darcy ready to go in the same time, then we&rsquo;ll have them for games three and four in Medicine Hat.&rdquo;Fortunately for the Oil Kings, they have the home game advantage in the series. They edged the Tigers for first place in the Western Division by one point.&ldquo;All we have to do to win the whole league championship is win all our home games,&rdquo; beams Shaw. &ldquo;The western team gets the extra home game against the Eastern Division this season.&rdquo;Shaw seems to feel his club can win it all, providing Rota returns on time. The Oil Kings dominated Medicine Hat during the regular schedule, winning seven and tying two of 10 games. Edmonton also&rsquo; won three and lost only once to eastern favorite Saskatoon Blades.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re optimistic. A club has to be that way in the playoffs or forget it,&rdquo; says the Edmonton boss.&rdquo; Medicine Hat will probably take a lot of penalties as usual. If they do, we&rsquo;ll capitalize on the power plays.&ldquo;Against Saskatoon or Flin Flon. we&rsquo;ll check, check, check &hellip; that is, if we get by the Tigers,&rdquo; Shaw said with a touch of conscience.One Oil King who has been super-duper during the playoffs is club captain John Rogers, a 19-year-old right winger with a love for the pressure. Rogers fired eight goals and added nine assists in five games against New Westminster.He also spent 48 minutes in the penalty box, standing up for his squatters&rsquo; rights in front of the Bruin goal.&ldquo;John has played tremendous hockey for us ever since Christmas,&rdquo; says Shaw. &ldquo;He finished the regular schedule with 63 goals and hasn&rsquo;t slowed his pace at all during the playoffs.&rdquo;Brian Shaw does not take kindly to losing. He was a winner last season in his first year behind the Oil King bench, and he has visions of success again this season.But a lot of it depends on a i couple of fellows named Smith and Rota. Without them, Shaw may have to use mirrors to win the WCHL championship.In other round, Medicine Hat Tigers won the quarter-final series 4-2 with a convincing 6-3 victory right in Calgary &hellip; Lanny MacDonald, the playoffs&rsquo; goal leader with nine, led the Tigers with a hat-trick &hellip; Ken Gassoff, Tom Lysiak and Ed Johnstone added singles, as Medicine Hat poured the offense at Calgary goaltender John Davidson &hellip; Tigers had a 3-0 lead after five minutes and led 5-1 after one period &hellip; Mike Rogers paced Calgary with two goals while Jerry Holland scored the other.Saskatoon Blades took a convincing 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven semi-final with a pair of 6-1 victories in Saskatoon &hellip; Bob Bourne scored twice and assisted on a third goal in the opening triumph &hellip; Defenseman Dave Lewis, Blades&rsquo; leading playoff scorer with 11 points, added a goal and two assists .., Blaine Stoughton foiled Ed Humphreys&rsquo; bid for his third playoff shutout with a goal midway through the first period.The specialty teams made the difference for Saskatoon in game number two&hellip; Blades scored four power-play goals in 10 opportunities while shutting out the Bombers in nine man-advantage situations &hellip; Blueliner Pat Price, who also has 11 points, contributed two goals on sensational end-to-end rushes and also chipped in with an assist.Nineteen-year-old rightwinger Bill Laing, Blades&rsquo; top goal-scorer in playoff play with six, also had two goals and an assist &hellip; Del Iannone&rsquo;s third-period goal spoiled a combined shutout bid by Humphreys and Blade backup goaltender Blaine Ferguson.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02149/3812253-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="535" height="572"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN ROGERS&hellip; Hot In Ployoffs</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0037-01

Riddled Oil Kings Move Past Bruins But Pay Price

THUNDER BAY&mdash;The Thunder Bay Twins head out on the Allan Cup trail after wrapping up the United States Hockey League playoff championship to go with their regular season title.Lee Fogolin&rsquo;s Twins had to go the full limit to oust the pesky Chicago Warriors 3-2 in the best-of-five final series.With the USHL championship and most of the league&rsquo;s individual laurels in their hip-pockets, the Twins moved into competition for Canada&rsquo;s national senior crown with their first test against the Newfundland champions to earn a crack at the strong Ontario Senior Hockey League winners in the Eastern finals.The Twins will open against St. John&rsquo;s in their first cup test with the entire best-of-five series slated to be contested in Newfoundland. Winner of the series will move against either Orillia Terriers or Barrie Flyers, the Ontario Senior League finalists, who are fighting it out for their league championship.Should Thunder Bay get past the Newfie representatives, they will return home to play the entire Eastern final with the OHA winner with a victory in that series assuring the Lakehead of the complete Allan Cup final, which would be a first in the city&rsquo;s long hockey history.Fogolin&rsquo;s newly-crowned USHL champions walked off with all the league awards as well. Jack Byerley was a double winner. Besides winning the scoring title, he was chosen the league&rsquo;s most valuable player. Another Twin John Ferguson won the trophy as the USHL&rsquo;s oustanding defenseman and goaler Doug Long captured the netminding honors and the trophy for the lowest goals-against average.The league final was an exciting one with Gene Ubriaco&rsquo;s Warriors giving it everything they had before bowing out. The Chicagoans won the series opener 4-3 then Thunder Bay came back to take the next two, 6-3 and 7-1. The Warriors evened the series at 2-2 with a 4-2 victory before the Twins clinched it in game five by a 6-2 count.The Twins also swept individual playoff scoring honors with Dave Bragnalo, Brian Depiero and Murray McLeod ending up tied each with 13 scoring points. Jack Byerley was next with 11 followed by two more Twins, Dave Nuttal and Dave Vaillant, who had 10 a piece. Tom Mikola and Allen Pyette were Chicago&rsquo;s best scorers in the playoffs.The triumphant Twins may. have swept the finals had it not been for a hot Chicago goaler by the name of Dave Mayard, who made 49 saves in the windup game to keep the Warriors in contention.Barry Hogan provided the offensive punch for Thunder Bay with two goals in the deciding game including the game-winning goal. Mike Mithrush, Chuck Kelner, Murray McLeod and Depiero scored the other Twins&rsquo; goals. Over 3,(MX) fans watched the final game raising the three-game attendance in Thunder Bay to 10,953.Despite the loss to the Twins, Chicago owner Emil Greco was pleased with the Warriors&rsquo; performance in the playoffs and along with Ubriaco, manager Moose Vasko and general manager Mike Nardella promised Chicago would come back next season bigger and better. &#9632;

Thunder Bay Eyeing Allan Cup After Wrapping Up USHL Title

BRAINTREE&mdash;Brandishing an overpowering offense, Braintree Hawks skated to the New England Hockey League playoff championship by disposing of Concord Eastern Olympics in a six-game final series.The Hawks trailed 2-1 in the title series before coming back strong to win three straight, 8-2, 5-0 and 4-3 to win the best-of-seven series 4-2 in games.Braintree romped past Framingham 9-1, 10-3, 7-4 and 5-2 to sweep the semi-finals. Concord cleaned out Manchester Monarchs 5-0, 5-4, 7-6 and 6-1 in the other semi-final series. &#9632;

Ice Laurels To Braintree

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02154/3812346-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="258" height="1551"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03119/3812339-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="254" height="1231"></div> &#9632;

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April 27, 1973

CHL PLAYOFFS

Year Of Upheaval For Bruins Could Produce More Changes

Missing WHA Teams

Contract Offers Surprise Seals, No Signs Of Club Being Moved