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

February 1, 1974

The Hockey News February 1, 1974

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01679/3433521-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02591/3433514-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="631" height="4274"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03476/3433507-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="610" height="3461"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05262/3433500-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="609" height="3714"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

National Hockey League Scoring By Teams

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div>TORONTO &mdash;Greg Neeld, 18-year-old Toronto Marlboro defenseman who had his right eye removed last month following an accidental injury during an Ontario Major Junior A game in Kitchener, is back in Toronto from his Vancouver home and hopes to rejoin his team Jan. 27 when they play in Sudbury.Under Ontario Hockey Association rules Neeld is permitted to play despite loss of vision however his professional career is in joepardy as the National Hockey League does not allow anyone who has lost an eye or partial sight of an eye to sign a contract.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0371/3434829-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="268" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Edwards</figcaption></div>The World Hockey Association has not made its stand clear on the subject.Neeld played in Sudbury last season and the Wolves are attempting to start a fund which will assist the injured teenager.All his medical bills will be paid by the Marlboros and the Sudbury club will turn the cash over to him for university education if he chooses to continue his schooling.Another player in the league. Greg Holst of Kingston Canadians, also suffered an eye injury last week during warmup when he was accidentally hit by the point of teammate Eric Brubacher&rsquo;s stick.For three days it was not known whether he would lose the eye but fortunately sight returned after the swelling had gone down and doctors said his eye was bruised and the lid cut. He returned to the team in less than a week.This is Holst&rsquo;s first season in Major Junior A and he is leading the Canadians in points with 48 including 18 goals.Last year he played with University of New Brunswick.PETERBORO: In their first week back in Canada after finishing third in the unofficial world junior hockey championships in Leningrad, the Petes found the going a little rough&hellip; They managed a 3-3 tie at home with Kitchener. then lost 4-0 in Kitchener and 4-1 to the Marlboros to drop out of first place for the first time this season&hellip; Howevercoach Roger Neilson isn&rsquo;t too worried as the Petes have games in hand on St. Catharines and London who moved, at least temporarily, above them&hellip; Centre Bob Wasson&rsquo;s slapshot with 35 seconds left gave the Petes the tie before their own fans while Stan Jonathan had the other two&hellip; Club could be tired from hectic shedule and long period of training.ST. CATHARINES: Black Hawks ran their unbeaten streak at home to 13 games (Il wins, two ties) defeating Kingston Canadians 4-1&hellip; All goals camefrom the right side as Dave Gorman and Wilf Paiement split the goals&hellip; Paiement, a hysky, 18-year-old right winger from Earlton, Ont. was the first Hawk this year to go over the 30-goal mark in scoring and will almost certainly go in the under-age junior draft in the spring &mdash; if it materlializes&hellip; Both the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association scouts agree he can&rsquo;t miss&hellip; As well as leading the team in points he also leads it in penalties with almost 100 minutes&hellip; When St. Catharines tied for first place it was first time a team from that city had reached those heights since Stan Mikita played here in the 1958-59 season.LONDON: Knights still coming on strong under coach Bill Long&hellip; Dropped 3-1 decision on home ice to improving Marlboros but then won three in three nights &mdash; 6-3 over Hamilton. 5-3 over Kingston and 4-2 over Ottawa&hellip; Vem Stenlund playing exceptionally well after slow start and scoring regularly&hellip; Dennis Maruk also steady with two goals against 67s&hellip; Entire team solid and definite threat for first-ever London Ontario Junior A championship.KITCHENER: Goaltender Don Edwards. a nephew of former Detroit Red Wing goaltender Roy Edwards, played brilliantly in 4-0 shutout over Peterboro&hellip; Rick Bourbonnais gave Rangers a 1-0 lead in the first period which was really enough but Joe Fortunato, Pete Sturgeon and Mike St. Cyr added the others&hellip; Largest crowd of year in Kitchener, 5,469. watched the game&hellip; Bob Blanchet who has been alternating with Edwards in the nets, moved in the next game and held Oshawa to a 1-1 draw to keep the Rangers within shooting distance of top spot in an exceptionally tight race for lead.SUDBURY: After a remarkable streak of 15 games with only one loss (and three ties) Wolves ran into problems dropping a close 4-3 decision in St. Catharines, then losing by the same score at home to the Hawks and being blasted 6-1 in Toronto by the Marlboros&hellip; They salvaged 3-3 draw against last place Hamilton Red Wings at home in a game in which there were two bench-clearing brawls&hellip; Five players from each team were banished for night&hellip; Wolves drawing much better than previously and coach Mac MacLean feels the siump is only temporary.OSHAWA: Generals had best week in more than a month taking five of a possible six points with a 6-4 win over Kingston and 4-2 over Ottawa before playing a 1-1 tie with the Rangers&hellip; Coach Gus Bodnar has his team playing well although they have gone into occasional slumps which have kept them out of the first division&hellip; Tom Newton scored the only goal in the tie game, Pete Vandemark had a pair against Ottawa&hellip; Bill Lochead has been the most reliable marksman for the Generals all season.TORONTO: Without question the Marlboros are the most improved club in the I l-team league over the past couple of months&hellip; Coach George Armstrong has worked diligently with his young team which lost almost all its 1972-73 Memorial Cup champion roster through the age limit or raids from World Hockey Association&hellip; After being in the cellar for a few weeks they gradually started to climb and are now definite threats to the top teams&hellip; Marlies had a perfect six-point week beating London 3-1. Sudbury 6-1 and Peterboro 4-1 &mdash; indicative of how their defense in particular has improved&hellip; Bruce Boudreau and Brian Dillon are turning in fine efforts offensively while rookie Mark Napier scored twice against Sudbury&hellip; Mike Palmateer almost had a shutout against Petes, only to be give up a goal to Doug Jarvis midway in the last period.OTTAWA: it appears as if coach Leo Boivin may squeeze the 67s into the final playoff spot although Sault Ste. Marie is giving them a tough struggle for the eighth position&hellip; However, the club didn&rsquo;t help its own cause dropping two games in 72 hours. 4-2 to Oshawa and by the same score in London&hellip; Tom Price gave Ottawa a brief lead against Oshawa but they couldn&rsquo;t hold on&hellip; Larry Jacques, acquired from St. Catharines in a pre-Christmas deal, counted one goal against London and is showing improvement since arrival.SAULT: Greyhounds squeezed out a 4-3 decision at home against St. Catharines on Jack Valiquettes&rsquo;s 42nd goal of the season&hellip; The rookie center, only I7 years of age. leads the league in that department as well as total points and is heading for the 100 mark&hellip; Coach Jim Farelli&rsquo;s son Cary is also playing well at center but the team still lacks depth&hellip; With a break or two however they could catch Ottawa&hellip; Charlie Simmer is the big surprise of team&hellip; The 19-year-oldwas drafted in the 29th round but has scored close to 30 goals.KINGSTON: Canadians&rsquo; hopes of making the playoffs are dim but if they can stay out of last place they will have accomplished more than most first-year organizations in Major Junior A&hellip; Coach Jack Bownass has his team hustling but wins are scarce&hellip; They lost 5-3 in London with John Fielding. Barry Scully and Al Forsyth scoring the goals&hellip; In St. Catharines it was a 4-1 defeat after they held the Hawkstoa2-1 score going into last period.HAMILTON: Red Wings picked up a single point in 3-3 draw in a hectic game in Sudbury after losing 6-3 at home to London&hellip; Looks like they&rsquo;ll miss the playoffs for fourth straight season and crowds are still causing concern, not only in Hamilton but throughout league&hellip; If a new arena materializes it could help Major Junior A and the Red Wings in particular&hellip; Otherwise, the club may have to move as attendance remains around the 500-600 mark&hellip; Greg Hickey, one of the few bright spots with the Wings had two of the three goals in Sudbury. &#9632;

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Neeld Returns Hoping To Play Again; Touring Petes Given Rough ‘Welcome’

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div>DETROIT &mdash; Whenever they&rsquo;re asked, whether it&rsquo;s by a broadcaster or a writer. Detroit Red Wings players say that sure, they think they&rsquo;ve got a chance to make the Stanley Cup playoffs.As the games dwindle down, the chances are more and more remote because the Red Wings, with 36 games remaining, would have to play 13 points over .500 hockey just to match last season&rsquo;s 86 points which weren&rsquo;t good enough to make it and cost Johnny Wilson his job.Forty-two games into this season the Red Wings were five points under. 500 and giving no indication that they&rsquo;d turn from plodders to sprinters.Most distressing was the continued lack of support given rookie goalies DougGrantand Bill McKenzie. In a4-l defeat at Chicago, just 24 hours after McKenzie registered his first NHL shutout with a 6-0 blanking of Los Angeles, three of the four goals scored against Grant were on rebounds.That has been one of the primary reasons why the Red Wings goals against record continues to lead the league Rival forwards rarely are cleaned out from in front of the net and they obviously have had little difficulty in converting the rebounds into goals. Nowhere is that more evident than on the road &mdash; the Wing road mark is a puny 3-15-2.Coach Alex Delvecchio has bemoaned the lack of aggressiveness by the defense almost from the time he took the job but he hasn&rsquo;t been able to do anything about it.Delvecchio consistently has gone with a quartet of Ted Harris. Ron Stackhouse. Brent Hughes and Larry Johnston.Harris, was acquired from Minnesota for Gary Bergman two days before Delvecchio was promoted to coach (a dubious promotion considering the state of the club) and general manager Ned Harkness said he was getting a policeman Harris hasn&rsquo;t been the intimidator Harkness thought he was getting and Stack house, another big six-footer (6-3, actually) has been a big disappointment. Hughes and Johnston have been the only two defensemen who have bodychecked with any regularity.Thommie Bergman, the tall Swedish import, has been riding the bench almost from the time Delvecchio became coach and his future with the club certainly is questionable.Tom Mellor, the rookie defenseman from Boston College, was loaned to club owner Bruce Norris&rsquo; London Lions for the Ahearne Cup Tournament in Sweden (London finished fourth) and when that was over, he was recalled to Detroit and played ahead of Bergman.Bergman isn&rsquo;t the only man riding the bench. Ace Bailey and Guy Charron, who had teammed with Mickey Redmond for a considerable time, were used sparingly because their line&rsquo;s defensive record was poor. &#9632;

Absence Of Aggressive Defenders Plague Wings

<h2>Sat. Dec. 29 SAN DIEGO 8 at DENVER 6</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Denver, Gassoff (Brooks, Williams) &hellip; 0:202&mdash;Denver, McPherson (Collyard) &hellip; 2:273&mdash;Denver, Collyard (Stevens, G. Brooks) &hellip; 6:184&mdash;San Diego, Stanfield (O&rsquo;Ree, Lafreniere) &hellip; 10:295&mdash;San Diego, Courcy (Kennett, Goyer) &hellip; 10:486&mdash;San Diego, Rathwell (Goyer) &hellip; 13:00Penalties: Villemure 14:15: Stumpf 18:52.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>7&mdash;Denver, Kelly (Forey) &hellip; 4:008&mdash;San Diego, Courcy (Goyer) &hellip; 5:009&mdash;San Diego, Courcy (Goyer, Adams) &hellip; 8:4010&mdash;San Diego, Shires (Bloom) &hellip; 15:1211&mdash;Denver, Villemure (Slater, B. Brooks) &hellip; 19:05Penalties Gassoff 6:18: Kelly. Patrick, Williams 12:34.Shires 13:05: Williams 13:20: Shires 16:25.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>12&mdash;Denver, G. Brooks (Stevens) &hellip; 0:2613&mdash;San Diego, Rathwell (Hurlburt) &hellip; 12:5114&mdash;San Diego, Courcy (Shires, Goyer) &hellip; 19:48Penalties: Bond 7:00; G. Brooks 11:34; Gassoff 14:24: Gresdal 18:13.Saves: Adams (San Diego) 35, Watt (Denver) 27.Attendance: 3,194.<h2>PORTLAND 5 at SALT LAKE 9</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Salt Lake, Hrechkosy (Serafini, Coalter) &hellip; 2:282&mdash;Salt Lake. Holt (Moxey, Serafini) &hellip; 8:273&mdash;Salt Lake, King (Shakes) &hellip; 11:304&mdash;Portland, Haggarty (Jones, Campbell) &hellip; 12:045&mdash;Portland, Haggarty (Campbell, Jones) &hellip; 15:166&mdash;Salt Lake, Coalter (Jacobs, Bradley) &hellip; 16:26Penalties: Trachsel 6:08: Patey 10:50: Jacobs 14:03.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>7&mdash;Salt Lake, Holt (Jacobs, Huston) &hellip; 3:118&mdash;Salt Lake, King (Patey, Hall) &hellip; 5:129&mdash;Portland, Jones (Giannini, Abgrall) &hellip; 9:01Penalties: Bellerive 14:50.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>10&mdash;Portland, Lewis (Trachsel, Peters) &hellip; 2:1811&mdash;Salt Lake, Patey (Hall, Shakes) &hellip; 10:2312&mdash;Portland, CampbellPoffenroth, Haggarty) &hellip; 11:5213&mdash;Salt Lake, Coalter (Bradley, Hrechkosy) &hellip; 13:3214&mdash;Salt Lake, Coalter (Hall, Huston) &hellip; 19:57Penalties: king 5:58: Wilson, Holt 8:11.Saves: Kelley (Porland) 22, Herron (Salt Lake) 20.Attendance 5,122.<h2>Tue. Jan. 1 SAN DIEGO 2 at SEATTLE 2</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>No Scoring.Penalties: Shires 5:32, O&rsquo;Neil 11:53, Miszuk 14:07.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;San Diego, Trevelyan (Bond, Goyer) 9:16Penalties: None.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>2&mdash;Seattle, Amadio (Cowell) &hellip; 0:583&mdash;San Diego, Gagnon (Hurlburt) &hellip; 5:104&mdash;Seattle, Stone (Gloor, Gould) &hellip; 17:51Penalties. Sobchuk 5:59.Saves: Adams (San Diego) 37, Bullock (Seattle) 33.Attendance. 3,246.<h2>Wed. Jan. 2 DENVER 2 at SALT LAKE 4</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>No Scoring.Penalties: Stumpf 3:09, 7:18, Serafini 9:35, Serafini 12:08, Roberts 13:23, Collins 14:04, G. Brooks 18:32.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Salt Lake, King (Patey) &hellip; 3:04Penalties: Patrick, Coalter0:52,Roberts(minor, misconduct) 3:00, King 3:54, Coalter 9:18, Monahan 11:07, Jacobs 15:50, King 18:26.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>2&mdash;Salt Lake, Patey (King) &hellip; 2:023&mdash;Salt Lake, Patey &hellip; 3:154&mdash;Salt Lake, Hrechkosy (Coalter, Bradley) &hellip; 5:575&mdash;Denver, Slater (McPherson) &hellip; 17:166&mdash;Denver, Stumpf (Forey, Slater) &hellip; 17:41Penalties: Gassoff 1:53, Stevens (misconduct, game misconduct) 7:43. Shakes 8:07, Bradley 12:19, Stumpf 13:26Saves: Yeo (Denver) 29, Headley (Salt Lake) 44.<h2>Thu. Jan. 3 DENVER 4 at SEATTLE 5</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Denver, Kelly &hellip; 13:242&mdash;Seattle, Wisener (Westbrooke, Amadio) &hellip; 16:593&mdash;Seattle, Amadio (Gloor) &hellip; 19:09Penalties: Collyard, Bullock 10:16, Brooks 14:55. McPherson 17:09.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Denver, Villemure (MacNeil, Collyard) &hellip; 10:22Penalties: Gassoff 0:41, 5:12, McCord 9:34, Brooks 12:04, Westner 15:39.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>5&mdash;Denver, Stumpf (G. Brooks, Stevens) &hellip; 9:366&mdash;Denver, G. Brooks &hellip; 15:227&mdash;Seattle, Westner (Gloor, Gould) &hellip; 18:538&mdash;Seattle, Cowell (Seguin, Sheard) &hellip; 19:51Penalties: Roberts 5:48, Roberts, Seguin (double minor), Wisener 8:30, Slater 11:42, Forey 16:37, Forey (major), Gassoff (double major), Yeo MacNeil (major), Bullock, Brady, Mair (major, game misconduct) Gould (major) 19:14.<h3>OVERTIME PERIOD</h3>9&mdash;Seattle, Sobchuk (Roselle) &hellip; 7:00Penalties. None.Saves, Yeo (Denver) 34, Bullock (Seattle) 29.Attendance: 3,791.<h2>Fri. Jan. 4 PHOENIX 3 at SALT LAKE 5</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Salt Lake, Bradley (Girard, Hrechkosy) &hellip; 0:502&mdash;Salt Lake, Patey (Hall, Jacobs) &hellip; 11:563&mdash;Salt Lake, Patey (Hall, Jacobs) &hellip; 19:04Penalties: Serafini 3:54, Holt 13:33, Braun 16:05, Young. Holt 20:00.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Phoenix, Keogan (Mowat, Murray) &hellip; 5:145&mdash;Phoenix, Murray (Barlow) &hellip; 6:456&mdash;Phoenix, Young (Barlow) &hellip; 7:257&mdash;Salt Lake, Hall (Shakes) &hellip; 14:32Penalties: Collins 3:17, Mowat 5:05.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>8&mdash;Salt Lake, Coulter (Hrechkosy, Bradley) &hellip; 19:55Penalties: Murray 0:22, Phoenix bench 8:06, Collins 10:29, Serafini 12:36, Braun (game misconduct), Keller (game misconduct) 19:55.Saves: Simmons (Phoenix) 28, Herron (Salt Lake) 24.Attendance: 5,014.<h2>Sat. Jan. 5 DENVER 2 at PORTLAND 3</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Portland, Haggarty (Jones, Campbell) &hellip; 13:28Penalties: Trachsel 7:23, Gassoff 13:05, Patrick 16:34.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>2&mdash;Portland, Trachsel (Abgrall, Giannini) &hellip; 8:273&mdash;Denver, Forey (Stumpf) &hellip; 9:054&mdash;Denver, Spring &hellip; 11:04Penalties: McNabb 0:13, Spring3:03, McElmury 3:52.Spring 6:40. Wilson 11:22, Forey 13:29, Trachsel 15:36.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>No Scoring.Penalties: Gassoff (major). Wilson (major), Trachsel, Buhr (major) MacNeil (major) 1:18, Jones 9:46, Forey 14:35.<h3>OVERTIME PERIOD</h3>5&mdash;Portland, Jones (Abgrall, Giannini) &hellip; 0:42Penalties: NoneSaves: Yeo (Denver) 22. Charron (Portland) 23.Attendance: 4,035.<h2>SALT LAKE 4 at SAN DIEGO 4</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;San Diego, Hurlburt (Bond, Miszuk) &hellip; 5:482&mdash;San Diego, Bond (Boyer, Madigan) &hellip; 10:103&mdash;San Diego, O&rsquo;Ree (Shires, Bloono) &hellip; 16:28Penalties: Patey 3:12, Coalter 5:32, Pozzo 7:02. Holt 9:39, Girard 12:57.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Salt Lake, Coalter (Bradley, Huston) 1:175&mdash;Salt Lake, Huston 9:266&mdash;San Diego. Bloom (Pozzo) &hellip; 18:58Penalties: Miszuk 0:18, King, Madigan 1:46, Hrechkosy 7:04, Fortin 15:38.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>7&mdash;Salt Lake, Patey (King) &hellip; 8:518&mdash;Salt Lake, Coalter (Hrechkosy) &hellip; 17:37Penalties: Girard 2:13, Coalter, Bloom (double minor) 7:13, Shakes (game misconduct) 7:13, Lafreniere 11:19.<h3>OVERTIME PERIOD</h3>No Scoring.Penalties: NoneSaves. Headley-Herron (Salt Lake) 29, Adams (San Diego) 33.Attendance: 8,774. &#9632;

Western Hockey League Summaries

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0001-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-01203/3434960-1-eng-US/f0001-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0001-02176/3434953-1-eng-US/f0001-022.jpg" title="f0001-02" width="1186" height="1800"></div>BOBBY CLARKE West Team Leader For Chicago GamePHIL ESPOSITO Carries East&rsquo;s Hopes In All Star ClassicPENGUINS TAKING ON NEW LOOK IN TRADES&mdash; Page 17HOCKEY NEWS 27th ANNUAL ALL STAR GAMEISSUE&mdash; Page 2-3STARTING EAST, WEST LINEUPS&mdash; Page 3TARDIF LIKES CALIFORNIA &lsquo;GOLD&rsquo; A BUT IT&rsquo;S NOT HOME FOR L.A. STAR&mdash; Page 25 &#9632;

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NHl WHA AGREENENI DRAWS NEARED

<div class="byline">BY CHRIS ZELKOVICH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01850/3432931-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;The National Hockey League and World Hockey Association, facing a United States court order, are close to a settlement which could lead to exhibition games between the two leagues and, eventual playoffs.Lawyers for the two leagues met in Washington. D.C. last week and drafted a list of proposals after a U.S. federal court in Philadelphia had given the leagues until March 18 to reach a settlement.The proposals include:&mdash; The WHA will drop its $50 million dollar lawsuit against the NHL over the validity of the reserve clause. In turn the NHL will pay $1.9 million to the WHA for legal costs.&mdash; At least 15 inter-league exhibition games are to be played before the start of next season with more games to be negotiated.&mdash; A possible All Star game will be played between the two leagues and a playoff series between the two league champions will be considered.&mdash;The WHA will be allowed to use NHL rinks. &mdash;WHA teams will be allowed to place players on NHL farm clubs.&mdash; Inter-league trading will be provided for on the understanding that every team in a player&rsquo;s league has had a chance to claim him.&mdash; The WHA will honor the NHL&rsquo;s new option clause on player contracts.&mdash; On August 1 each league will sign releases on all legal action against each other.What the settlement means is that the financial war between the two leagues has become far too costly to continue. Both WHA and NHL teams are feeling the squeeze of higher salaries due to the war between the two leagues.NHL president Clarence Campbell says he is optimistic that league governors will approve the settlement.&ldquo;I have heard from all of the governors,&rdquo; Campbell said. &ldquo;There have been differences of opinion. Despite these differences, though, I am optimistic that the settlement will be made.&rdquo;The NHL&rsquo;s major objection comes in the area of exhibition games, playoffs and All Star games.The NHL Players Association has taken a dim view of the entire settlement. Alan Eagleson. executive director of the NHLPA, says he will oppose any moves that will bring the leagues closer thus reducing the bidding for players.The NHLPA has also rejected the option clause introduced by the league a month ago. Eagleson has instructed the players to refrain from signing contracts with the new clause.Eagleson says his group will fight the settlement even if it means launching an anti-trust suit.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re satisfied that the US and Canadian governments will prevent this inter-relationship of owners, which perhaps is a better word than merger at this point,&rdquo; he said. The leagues are barred from merging because of antitrust regulations.&ldquo;Because these discussions took place.&rdquo; Eagleson continued, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s obvious that the NHL owners have breached the agreement made with the players association in 1973 that there would be no merger talks.&ldquo;The NHL tried to get merger talks under way last year and we caught them with their hands in the cookie jar. They promised that it wouldn&rsquo;t happen again without the players association consent, but it has.&rdquo;Eagleson was also disappointed in the WHA saying that the NHLPA had helped the new league be rejecting the option clause and the WHA thanked them by turning around and entering discussions with the NHL.The settlement could mean a near-merger of the two leagues, an end to the bidding wars and an end to astronomical salaries for players.What it definitely means is that the WHA, which has made amazing strides in its two seasons, is here to stay.<h2>All Star Game Facts, Figures</h2><h2>ALL STAR RECORDS</h2>MOST GAMES PLAYED&mdash;22, Gordie Howe.MOST CONSECUTIVE GAMES PLAYED&mdash;14, Gordie HoweMOST GOALS &mdash; 10, Gordie Howe.MOST ASSISTS &mdash; 8. Gordie Howe.MOST POINTS &mdash; 18. Gordie Howe.MOST PENALTIES &mdash; 11 Gordie HoweMOST PENALTY MINUTES &mdash; 25 Gordie Howe.<h2>GOALTENDERS RECORDS</h2>MOST GAMES PLAYED &mdash; 13, Glenn HallMOST GOALS AGAINST &mdash; 22, Glenn HallMOST GOALS AGAINST, ONE GAME &mdash; 6, Terry Sawchuck and Glenn Hall.<h2>1973 GAME STATISTICS</h2>The East Stars edged the West Stars 5-4 before a record crowd of 16,986 in New York&rsquo;s Madison Square Garden on Jan. 30 Bobby Schmautz broke up a 4-4 game with the winner at 13:59 of the third period for the East. Other Eastern scorers were Rene Robert. Frank Mahovlich, Paul Henderson and Jacques Lemaire Greg Polis, named the game&rsquo;s MVP. scored twice, and Pit Martin and Terry Harper once each for the West. Gilles Villemur&rsquo;e and Ed Giacormin goaled for the East. Tony Esposito and Rogatien Vachon for the West Villemure and Esposito were the starting goalkeepers. Lloyd Gilmour refereed the game.<h2>WHERE YOU&rsquo;LL FIND IT ALL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02782/3432924-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="528" height="2114"></div> &#9632;

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Peace Agreement, Inter-League Play Proposed In NHL-WHA Negotiations

MONTREAL&mdash;Boston Bruincenter Phil Esposito continues to lead the National Hockey League&rsquo;s individual scoring parade, although for the first time this season he has dipped below a goal-a-game pace with 41 goals in 42 games and 86 points.Esposito is, however, the only player who occupies the same position among the 10 leading scorers this season as last. A year ago after 42 games. Esposito led with 66 points and 29 goals. Three other players among the top 10 this season were also among the leading 10 a year ago.Further research into a comparison between 1972-73 and this season for the current leaders-reveals that runner-up Bobby Orr of Boston is 30 points ahead of his total a year ago. although he had missed 14 games then because of a knee injury. He now has 74 points, including 21 goals. Last year he had 11 goals and 44 points.The next best advance is by center Norm Ullman of Toronto who is in a ninth-place tie with Jacques Lemaire of Montreal. Ullman has 18 goals and 48 points, a 24-point increase over last season when he had missed 13 games through injury. Lemaire, on the other hand, was second last season with 60 points, including a League-leading 32 goals. He now has 17 goals and 48 points.Here are the remaining players in the top 10 with last season&rsquo;s goals, assists and points totals at this stage, of the season in brackets: Ken Hodge. Boston. 31-32-63 (23-27&mdash;50): Richard Martin, Buffalo, 32-26&mdash;58 (27-23&mdash;50) Dennis Hexlall. Minnesota. 10-41&mdash;51 (16-28&mdash;44): Phil-Goldsworthy, Minnesota, 27-22&mdash;49 (15-15&mdash;30); Rene Robert, Buffalo, 15-34&mdash;49 (28-30&mdash;58); Brad park. New York Rangers, who had missed 20 games a year ago through injury, 14-35&mdash;49 (7-21&mdash;28). &#9632;

Orr Up 30 Points Over ‘73

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01855/3432993-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div>CHICAGO&mdash;Chicago Stadium, an aged abattoir which has hosted circuses, ice shows, indoor football, concerts from Bach to rock and, of course, the Black Hawks, will be the rink in focus when the National Hockey League holds its 27th annual All Star game Tuesday night. Jan. 29.It isn&rsquo;t elaborate, this stoic building on the Windy City&rsquo;s west side, but there is history within its oft-painted walls. Since opening in March. 1929. President Franklin D. Roosevelt has been nominated there. Hopalong Cassidy has hopped there. Sugar Ray Robinson has punched there, and many a goal has been scored there.No event, of course, is as elaborate as the next one, and the NHL All Star affair shall not be wanting for glitter. It will be telecast internationally, covered by a bevy of newsmen from coast-to-coast, and will actually serve as the anchor for a two-day conclave which has become a mid-season tradition in the NHL.But the game&rsquo;s the thing, and for a nothing game it&rsquo;s usually something of a spectacle, if not a display in artistry.&ldquo;You hear about some players who would rather have a day off than play in an All Star game,&rdquo; said Bobby Clarke, the most valuable Philadelphia Flyer. &ldquo;But I can&rsquo;t see it. I try to get up for it like any other game. After all, you want to do your best when you&rsquo;re playing with and against the best.&rdquo;Clarke, last year&rsquo;s Hart Trophy winner, will be one of the West Division cornerstones. The team, coached by Chicago&rsquo;s Billy Reay, dean of NHL pilots, will feature six members of the Black Hawks. That should make the capacity throng of around 20,000 happy.&ldquo;I like our edge in goaltending.&rdquo; said Reay, who will have Flyer Bernie Parent and his own Tony Esposito guarding the twine. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard all that talk about how the East Division is a better one, so I think we have something to prove with a victory.&rdquo;If so, the West will have to derail an East squad coached by Montreal&rsquo;s Scotty Bowman which possesses awesome firepower, starting with none other than Boston&rsquo;s scoring machine. Phil Esposito. a former Hawk who usually is booed here. Maybe because he collects so many goals.For all the criticism directed its way as a mid-season interruption, the All Star game has produced some memorable moments not the least of which was last year&rsquo;s 5-4 triumph by the East before a record crowd of 16,986 in New York&rsquo;s Madison Square Garden.That was the evening when Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Greg Polis, a brand, new father, dashed into Gotham quick enough to score two goals, win a car, then leave in the wake of a game-winning puck fired, by Vancouver&rsquo;s Bobby Schmautz 13:59 into the final period.The triumph was the fourth for the West in five attempts since the All Star game format was changed to pit division versus division following expansion.The first All Star event was held in 1934, a benefit in Toronto for Ace Bailey, a Maple Leafs&rsquo; star who was derailed by Eddie Shore and never played again&hellip; almost never lived again.Starting in 1947, the Stanley Cup champions annually played a All Star squad composed of the best of the rest of NHL teams. There was a temporary switch in 1951 and 1952 when a so-called First Team, aided by players from the four United States squads, confronted a Second Team, fortified by athletes from the Canadian duos of Toronto and Montreal.In 1967, the contest was switched from the beginning of the NHL regular season to midseason. Then came the current alteration of having East play West at a different site each year.The last All Star Game hosted by Chicago Stadium was on Oct. 7, 1961. when the NHL All Stars downed the Stanley Cup Champion Black Hawks 3-1 before an audience of 14,534.Preceding this year&rsquo;s match will be the usual gathering of NHL executives. It should be a lively episodes, what with the current talk of peace between the NHL and rival World Hockey Association.On Monday night. Jan. 28. the league will hold its annual All Star Dinner in the Palmer House Hotel. It will be a black tie affair, each plate will cost $100. and the proceeds will go to Hull House, one of the nation&rsquo;s largest settlement houses.&ldquo;We had the option to chose a local charity.&rdquo; said Arthur Wirtz, chairman of the board for the Black Hawks, &ldquo;and we picked Hull house not because of Dennis Hull&rsquo;s slapshot but because the Hull House is a great institution.&rdquo;The featured entertainer at the dinner will be Joan Rivers, a well known comedienne who has been a guest and host of the Johnny Carson Show, among other TV appearances.After the jokes are over, and the meetings are finished and the meals are consumed, attention will turn to the game. Players for the winning team will make $500 each, players for the losers will take home $250.But, for this night at least, money won&rsquo;t be the name of the game.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02726/3432986-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1741" height="871"><figcaption class="caption-body">When East meets West &mdash; as they did last year at New York above, with Chicago&rsquo;s STAN MIKITA warding off a determined BOBBY SCHMAUTZ of Vancouver, in the 26th NHL game won by the East 5-4 &mdash; proceeds from this year&rsquo;s $100-a-plate All Star dinner in Chicago&rsquo;s Palmer House Hotel will be turned over to Hull House, one of the largerst settlement houses in the U.S. On hand for pre-game fanfare were from the left, DENNIS HULL of the Hawks, who will play in the 27th annual game at Chicago Stadium, ARTHUR WIRTZ, chairman of the Black Hawks, and JOHN TRUTTER of Hull House. Delighted lady is MRS. GIGI MAXWELL, also of Hull House.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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CHICAGO STADIUM FOCAL POINT

<h2>EAST STARS</h2>GIL GILBERT Goal&rsquo;Boston 5DAVE DRYDEN GoalBuffaloBOBBY ORR DefenseBostonBRAD PARK DefenseN.Y. RangersGUY LAPOINTE DefenseMontrealSERGE SAVARD DefenseMontrealDALLAS SMITH DefenseBostonDENIS POTVIN DefenseN.Y. IslandersPHIL ESPOSITO CenterBostonNORM ULLMAN CenterTorontoGIL PERREAULT CenterBuffaloJACQUES LEMAIRE CenterMontrealY. COURNOYER R. WingMontrealKEN HODGE R. WingBostonBOB SCHMAUTZ R. WingVancouverMICKEY REDMOND R. WingDetroitR. MARTIN L. WingBuffaloW. CASHMAN L. WingBostonF. MAHOVLICH L. WingMontrealED WESTFALL L. WingN.Y. Islanders<h2>WEST STARS</h2>TONY ESPOSITO GoalChicagoBERNIE PARENT GoalPhiladelphiaBILL WHITE DefenseChicagoDON AWREY DefenseSt. LouisED VAN IMPE DefensePhiladelphiaBURROWS DefensePittsburghB. PLAGER DefenseSt. LouisJOE WATSON DefensePhiladelphiaBOBBY CLARKE CenterPhiladelphiaD. HEXTALL CenterMinnesotaSTAN MIKITA CenterChicagoGARRY UNGER CenterSt. LouisB. GOLDSWORTHY R. WingMinnesotaAL McDONOUGH R. WingAtlantaPAPPIN R. WingChicagoPIT MARTIN R. WingChicagoDENNIS HULL L. WingChicagoL. MacDONALD L. WingPittsburghBOB BERRY L. WingLos AngelesJOEY JOHNSTON L. WingCalifornia(*&mdash;Indicates selected by NHL Writers&rsquo; Association for All Star teams. Rest added by respective coaches to fill out rosters.) &#9632;

HOCKEY 1 NEWS 27th ALL STAR ISSUE

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01908/3433069-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="457" height="451"></div>IT LOOKS right now as if Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers will win their respective divisions in the National Hockey League. No other team is about to catch them with the commanding leads the Bruins and Flyers hold&hellip; Boston and Philadelphia finished second in their respective divisions, NHL East and NHL West a year ago&hellip; The best bet for the Stanley Cup, as we&rsquo;ve insisted right from the opening game of the season, is Philadelphia&hellip; The Flyers are the most exciting team to play in the NHL for a number of years. It&rsquo;s been proven of late by the fact that the Flyers broke attendance records in six NHL cities they&rsquo;ve visited this season&hellip; Most improved team in the World Hockey Association this year has to be Pat Stapleton&rsquo;s Chicago Cougars. Houston is coming on strong and fast becoming the best draw in the WHA. They drew 9,827 the other night against Los Angeles Sharks, which was the largest crowd to ever see a hockey game in Houston&hellip; Washington&rsquo;s new NHL entry for 1974-75 recently conducted a name-the-team contest and no less than 12.000 entries were submitted. There were some dandy names suggested. One fan said, &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s call them the Washington Buggers&rdquo;&hellip; Owner Abe Pollin will have the final say on the selection of the Washington nickname&hellip; Hard-working Nick Libett is the last player on the Detroit Red Wings who was with the team before Ned Harkness moved on the scene. They say that he might even be traded soon to the New York Rangers&hellip; Rangers and Red Wings have made a considerable number of trades during the last four years and they have a big one in the works right now.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02864/3433062-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="306" height="404"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nick Libett</figcaption></div>NEWEST BUMPER sticker in Philadelphia reads: &ldquo;Only the Lord Saves More Than Bernie Parent&rdquo;&hellip; Flyers, incidentally. are enthralled over the play of rookie defenseman Jim Watson, 21-year-old brother of Flyer veteran, Joe&rsquo; Watson&hellip; St. Louis Blues have been devastating against Montreal goalie Wayne Thomas. Thomas allowed 41 goals in his first 17 games this season and nine of those goals were scored by the Blues in two games&hellip; King Clancy, vice president of the Toronto Maple Leafs who has been around the NHL longer than anyone, will celebrate his 71st birthday soon&hellip; Johnny McLellan, the Leafs&rsquo; assistant general manager, is being mentioned as the possible coach of the new Washington entry. Other names mentioned have been Red Sullivan, the club&rsquo;s chief scout of the moment, and Jack Riley, recently fired general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins&hellip; Owner Tad Potter of the Penguins made more changes in both the front office and on the ice in one week than any pro club has made for a long time. They are now known as the &ldquo;New Look&rdquo; Pittsburgh Penguins&hellip; Boston goalie Gilles Gilbert has more cousins around than any player in pro hockey. His father comes from a family of 24 children and his mother was one of nine&hellip; Aurel Joliat, who scored 270 goals for Montreal Canadiens in 16 seasons, is now 72 and resides in Ottawa. A member of Hockey&rsquo;s Hall of Fame Joliat stated: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m insulted that I haven&rsquo;t had an offer from the World Hockey Association&rdquo;&hellip; Toronto Maple Leaf fans and Maple Leaf Gardens have the reputation of being the quietest in the NHL. Some Leaf followers feel this has an adverse affect on the team winning at home&hellip; Jackie Gordon, former coach of the Minnesota North Stars who is presently scouting for the team, feels the attitude of Minnesota fans may be a problem. He says they are usually satisfied no matter how poorly the team is playing&hellip; If Gordon returns to coaching it could be with the New York Rangers where his longtime pal and former associate Emile Francis is the major domo&hellip; Bep Guidolin, Boston coach, laughed at Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s strategy to contain the Bruins, which incidentally backfired as the Bruins clobbered Canadiens 8-0. &ldquo;All the strategy in hockey,&rdquo; said Bep, &ldquo;is in the legs&rdquo;.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03759/3433055-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="320" height="486"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Watson</figcaption></div>CLARENCE CAMPBELL may retire as president of the NHL after the NHL-WHA peace agreement is a certainty. The 68-year-old Campbell would undoubtedly retain some association with the league but a younger man would look after the day-to-day operations. Campbell would make an ideal commissioner of all of hockey with the NHL and WHA each having their own presidents&hellip; Estevan, Sask, played host to the second annual Saskatchewan Amateur Junior Hockey League All Star Game. The home of the Junior Bruins did an outstanding job in hosting the big game&hellip; Garry Unger is enjoying a hot scoring streak with St. Louis&hellip; The National Hockey League last played overtime games prior to the war (except in playoff games). After the war the league refused to go back to overtime saying: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with an honest tie&rdquo;. Last season 87 league contests ended in ties&hellip; The World Hockey Association adopted an extra 10-minute overtime with the first goal scored ending the game. It proved highly popular with fans from the start of the WHA. Of the 64 games that went into overtime during the first season of play in the WHA. only 19 ended in a tie. In the other 45 games, it took an average of 4.27 minutes for the winning club to score the tie-breaking goal&hellip; Danny Gallivan, Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; outstanding play-by-play announcer, missed his first game in 22 years the other night. The 56-year-old sports announcer was undergoing tests in hospital and it brought his consecutive game streak just short of the 1,350 mark. Hockey&rsquo;s premier announcer hopes to be back at the mike within days.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04657/3433048-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="316" height="487"><figcaption class="caption-body">Clarence Campbell</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05531/3433100-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2>Too Much Pressure On Graduating Juniors</h2>I believe a major fault of NHL publicity directors is trying to make &ldquo;stars&rdquo; too soon out of promising juniors just coming into the NHL. The idea, of course, is to sell more season tickets (or to convince ticket holders to renew). Whatever the reasoning, you can be sure it is tied up with making more profit for the club owners, but is unfair to the rookies themselves.Often the buildup and pressure is too much forthem to cope with, and when they can&rsquo;t perform to their advance publicity, they tend to lose confidence in themselves.Examples of the ballyhooed buildup which fater flopped are Dale Tallon and Marcel Dionne, both of whom became unhappy with their original clubs were they were exposed to this treatment.Vancouver may have learned a lesson in its handling of Tallon, and not so much pressure was applied to Don Lever. He is developing in his own way and will certainly be a star center in the years to come. Canuck fans consider him a star now but we don&rsquo;t want to put the strain on him. An excellent penalty killer, he also serves his regular shift on ice, usually assigned to check the biggest lines of the opposition.A real worker every game, he is a fan favorite. Pleasant, easy going, no ego at all. Watch out for our Lever, he&rsquo;s a real comer.H. BEAUGRAND,Langley, B.C.<h2>Hull Should Play With NHL Canucks</h2>First, I would like to agree with Bob Showyer in your Dec. 7 issue that fans should boycott WHA games. Let&rsquo;s get hockey back to the caliber the fans deserve.I also read in this edition that Bobby Hull might come back to the NHL and the Black Hawks would not block his way if he wanted to play for another NHL team.I would suggest that Bobby Hull stay in Canada and play for the Vancouver Canucks. I would think a player like Bobby would like to help another Canadian team become a playoff contender.I&rsquo;m sure the fans in Vancouver would treat him as a hockey hero should be treated.If Bobby stays in the WHA, he&rsquo;ll lose most of the fame attained in the NHL. Already his name doesn&rsquo;t mean that much to hockey fans. So Bobby, let&rsquo;s help Canadians keep pace with the U.S. teams in the NHL.ELDON SMITH,Saskatoon, Sask.<h2>Blues&rsquo; Davidson Merits Rookie Award</h2>Were getting close to the time of the season when hockey fans begin to take special notice of the top rookies to see who deserves the Calder Trophy.You hear names like Potvin, Savard, Lysiak, and McDonald who are all fine candidates. However, the rookie who stands out the most in my mind is John Davidson of the St. Louis Blues. This young goaltender is right out of junior hockey and into the major leagues. This is a tremendous achievement for a goalie. John is currently sporting a 2.52 goals against average which is third in the NHL at the present time.Over the past 10 years, such goalies as Ken Dryden, Tony Esposito and Roger Crozier won the Calder. So this shows that goaltenders can win the award as well as defensemen or forwards.Unlike Dryden, Esposito or Crozier, Davidson went straight from the junior ranks into the NHL. John has my vote and hopefully many others.ROGER HETELLECarrollton, III.<h2>WHA Will Eventually Reach Level Of NHL</h2>I am writing to all hockey fans who feel the WHA can compare to the NHL. There are only a handful of WHA. players who have the ability to play in the NHL. The others would end up in the minor leagues where they came from before the WHA came into the ability to play in the NHL, you the NHL have proved they nave the ability to play in the NHL. You cannot take a handful of good WHA players and use them as a basis for an entire league.Considering the WHA has only been in existence for two years, I feel that, given time to mature and develop as a league, they will eventually receive the recognition and status the NHL now has. This will take time, but as of now they are still suffering from growing pains.JAMES GRAHAM,Burlington, N.J.<h2>NHL Should Crack Down On Intimidators</h2>Expansion and the emergence of the WHA have not only watered down the quality of hockey but have also resulted in the increased frequency of &ldquo;bush league&rdquo; occurrences. In his Dec. 14 column, Bill Libby reminded readers of the game in Minnesota where Steve Durbano threw his gloves at referee Ron Wicks, pushed him and shouted obscenities. For these foolish and reprehensible actions, Durbano was assessed a $250 fine and a two-game suspension.Surely if the NHL is to retain any semblance of &ldquo;class&rdquo;, such tactics from a player whose hockey career in Junior A and professional ranks has been a history of physical intimidation and violence, must merit a greater deduction from salary and a much longer enforced holiday from the game of hockey.JIM BRADLEY,St. Catharines, Ont. &#9632;

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FAN FORUM

OFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded October 1st, 1947Published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd., 1434 St. Catherine Street West, Montreal 107, Canada. U.S. c/o W.C.C. Publishing Corporation, 150 E. 58th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022.Kenneth William McKenzie President, Publisher and Advertising DirectorCharlie Halpin Editorial DirectorChris Zelkovich Asst. To EditorUnited State Advertising Representative Boton: Steve Ganak, Ad. Rep. 479 Statler Office Bldg. Boaton. Mass. 02116, telephone (617) 542-6913: Chicago: Hooper Janes 4 Associates, 3322 W. Peterson Ave. Chicago. Ill 60645. telephone (321) 478-5544. New York: Oaniel B. Turner, National Sports Publishing Corp., 150 East 58th Street, New York. N.Y. 10022, Telephone (212) 593-2100. &#9632;

The Hockey News

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>PITTSBURGH: Jim Rutherford, goalkeeper, and Jack Lynch, defenseman, traded to Detroit for Ron Stackhouse, defenseman. Bryan Watson, defenseman, Greg Polis, forward, and optional second round draft pick traded to St. Louis in exchange for Steve Durbano and Ab DeMarco, defensemen, and Bob Kelly, forward, Gary Inness, goalkeeper, and Bob McManamma, forward, recalled from Hershey of AHL.VANCOUVER: Dan Gloor, Steve Stone and Larry Gould, forwards, returned to Seattle. Don Tannahill, forward, assigned to Seattle for 14-day conditioning period, recalled.CALIFORNIA: Gilles Meloche, goalkeeper, returned to active roster from injury list. Bob Champoux, goalkeeper, Brent Meeke, defenseman, returned to Salt Lake of WHL. Ron Houston, forward, recalled from Salt Lake and later returned.MINNESOTA: Rick Chinnick, forward, returned to New Haven of AHL.N.Y. ISLANDERS: Brian Marchinko, forward, returned to Fort Worth of CHL.ST. LOUIS: John Wensink, forward, recalled from Rochester of AHL. Bernie MacNeil, forward, traded to San Diego of WHL in return for Jim Stanfield. Stanfield assigned to Denver.LOS ANGELES: Larry Brown, defensemen, assigned to Springfield but later recalled on emergency conditions.<h2>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</h2>LOS ANGLES: Paul Hoganson, goalkeeper, recalled from Greensboro of SHL. Kirk Bowman, forward, and Jerry Zrymiak, defenseman, returned to Greensboro after recall. Mike Hyndman, forward, assigned to Phoenix of WHL.JERSEY: Jim McLeod, goalkeeper, traded to Los Angeles in return for Russ Gillow, goalkeeper, and Earl Heiskala, forward. Gillow assigned to Syracuse of NAHL.WINNIPEG: Cal Swenson, forward, recalled from Jacksonville of AHL.CLEVELAND: Bill Heindl, forward, assigned to Jacksonville of AHL.TORONTO: Lou Nistico, forward, returned to Jacksonville of AHL.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>ROCHESTER: Billy Knibbs, forward, placed on disabled list for rest of season with broken leg.CINCINNATI: Fred Hunt Jr. and Frank Richardson, forwards, recalled from Charlotte of SHL. Yvon Dupuis, forward, returned to Charlotte.NOVA SCOTIA: Henry Levhonen, defensemen, released.<h2>SOUTHERN LEAGUE</h2>CHARLOTTE: Danny Sullivan, goalkeeper, secured from Roanoke Valley of SHL. Dale MacLeish, forward, signed as free agent.MACON: Steve Johnson, defenseman, released. Ray Gibbs, goalkeeper, left team to return to New Brunswick home.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>OKLAHOMA CITY: Jack Decloe, forward, reassigned from Tulsa of CHL by Toronto Leafs.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>FLINT: Doug Carpenter, defenseman, named interim player-coach replacing Jerry Serviss, Brian Dickie, forward, released. Bill Pettinger, forward, announced retirement after being suspended by club.FORT WAYNE: Renaud Duguay and Doug Elliott, forwards, released.MUSKEGON: Angus Beck and Darrell Knibbs, forwards, secured from suncoast of SHL. George Klasons and Tom Pinder, forwards, released.PORT HURON: Mike Korney, defenseman, secured from London Lions. &#9632;

Movements of Players

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01938/3433155-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL FAIRBAIRN&hellip; An Unproductive Season</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Any way you look at it. the return of Emile Francis to the coaching spot behind the New York bench was inevitable. He is the one man who is both respected and. to some extent, even feared if that is possible in 1973-74 hockey, by his players. And, secretly, Mr. Francis has never relinquished his cherished dream of directing the Rangers to the Stanley Cup.When the Rangers blew apart in the third period of the January 10 game at Buffalo, allowing the Sabres to win 7-2 and giving up two clutch goals in the first 31 seconds, only 10 seconds apart, Francis made up his mind.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll get to the bottom of the problem,&rdquo; was his comment.In today&rsquo;s crazy world of the overpaid, under motivated player, Larry Popein never had a chance. He did not really hit it off with his players right from training camp. He is introverted, very serious and almost sphinx-like in non-talk. He didn&rsquo;t establish rapport with his men. In his days in the NHL, the coach didn&rsquo;t establish rapport, he simply travelled around with train tickets to the minors.Hal Laycoe said it best saying, &ldquo;In my days as a player 75 percent of the players in the NHL had to bust a gut or they were gone the next day. The guys in the AHL were close to the majority of NHL players and everyone knew it.&rdquo;Today, with expansion and the WHA, it is another story. No cut, multi-year, no trade $150,000 and more contracts do tend to slow down a man, no matter what anyone says.The Rangers&rsquo; high spots this season, a 7-3 win over Boston and 2-1 over Philadelphia were more than offset by humiliating defeats to Boston (10-2), Montreal (7-1), Pittsburgh (7-2), Chicago (6-1) and Buffalo (7-2). Seemingly, Popein&rsquo;s team could only beat the weak sisters. On the road they had only won four games through Jan. 10.Under Francis they popped to and beat Vancouver 6-1 and California 6-2 January 12-13. This put them in better shape to hold off the challenges of Toronto and Buffalo for the last two playoff spots.&ldquo;They had better make the playoffs,&rdquo; said Francis, ominously.Realistically, in this, his third takeover of the coaching reigns, the Cat has nowhere to go but up. He has kept New York in the playoffs for seven straight years, a record not even Boston and Montreal can match. The only blot on the Francis escutcheon is the failure to win the Cup in the spring.Despite denials, the Rangers did become fat cats because of the money they were making. It is hard for someone making over $100,000 to be impressed with a coach making less than half of that.Another trouble was the injuries to Gilles Villemure and Eddie Giacomin which left them dependent upon Peter McDuffe in key games with Philadelphia and Boston. However. Montreal lost Ken Dryden to a law firm and has survived, so this only holds so much water.The Bulldog line of Walter Tkaczk, Billy Fairbairn and Steve Vickers has come under fire for failing to score as in the past. Realistically, Walter has always had some trouble with scoring goals, usually experiencing some dry spells. Fairbairn is not a natural goal scorer, but works so hard that he makes a certain amount of his chances pay off. Last year he got 30, this year he has five. &lsquo;Nuff said.Vickers, the Calder Trophy winner with 30 big ones last year, has now nailed down 13, including one against Vancouver and another gainst California. But he went 17 games without scoring and wasn&rsquo;t doing the job in other capacities either. Popein had benched him from time to time in favor of Bobby Rousseau (playing the off wing). Ron Harris (the defenseman) and even Gene Carr, recalled from Providence.&ldquo;In the Buffalo game the guys played only 40 minutes.&rdquo; noted Popein. who was calm under duress in a Toronto press conference called to announce the change.&ldquo;If the players can&rsquo;t do it for Emile, they can&rsquo;t do it for anyone,&rdquo; said Pope.This is probably true. Realistically, New York should hope for third place. Montreal and Boston both appear to be better at this point, although sports takes funny bounces. In the past many felt the Rangers, under tough disciplinarian Francis, were worn down by playoff time, and unable to win because they had little left. Having coasted for part of the season, this might work out in their favor this season.New York looked good against Vancouver, played fairly well for two periods in the California game in which the Seals had a 2-2 tie and the end of two, and blew it open in the final stanza. Car subbed for flu-stricken Jean Ratelle in that one and Eddie Giacomin was back in goal, starting Jan. 10 in Buffalo.Long range, some Blueshirt watchers feel Francis should bail the situation out this season but pick another man for next.Some felt Johnny Wilson, now with Indianapolis of the WHA would have done a good job with the Rangers this season. As good as Francis is, he cannot compete with Montreal trying to do the work which is handled in Montreal by Sam Pollock. Scotty Bowman and Floyd Curry. Dennis Ball helps, but the Rangers are still outnumbered. In Boston Harry Sinden is the equivalent of the GM. with a fancy title and Bep Guidolin is the coach with Tom Johnson assisting in one way or another.For this season, Francis had to make this move &mdash; and you never know he might win the cup. Funnier things have happened. &#9632;

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Return Of Francis Was Inevitable; Cat’ Still Cherishes Dream Of Cup

<div class="byline">&#x2014; By Bill Libby</div><h2>Hockey Pressure Mounts&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01927/3433217-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="279" height="359"></div>PASSING MID-SEASON, the pressure was passing the limits of endurance in hockey. It may be a game to those in the stands, but it is a business on the ice, on the bench, in the dressing room, in the front office, in the lonely hours of the night for the men who make their living in this sport. In New York, the Rangers, who were supposed to contend for the championship, were struggling to stay in a playoff position and general manager Emile Francis, who has replaced two previous coaches, Red Sullivan and Bernie Geoffrion, who said he absolutely would not replace a third, Larry Popein, replaced him. Of course, Emile does not make such moves alone. He has reasonable authority, but he also has bosses and is responsible to them for the success of his team. So the Cat is back behind the bench, bearing down on his troubled troops. And we are left with an image of little, tough Larry Popein after a loss standing in the shadows under the stands, his head hung, his eyes on the gound, his toes scuffing the cement, not wanting to talk to anyone. Coaching remains the cruellest profession. Miracles are expected of these men. They are hired and fired fast. They are blamed for the failures of their teams. The world spins past their grasp and they are left degraded and disappointed.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02828/3433210-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="320" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENNIS MURPHY</figcaption></div>In Minnesota, a former linemate of Popein&rsquo;s, Dean Prentice, had not been playing. Feeling that he has long last reached the end of the road at 41 after 22 years in the major leagues with five teams, not wanting to wait until he was kicked out, which he would have been, he turned in his resignation to his manager, Wren Blair, who crumbled it into a ball, hurled it into a wastebasket and raged that the player was a &ldquo;quitter,&rdquo; who was deserting a team which needed him. Prentice said he was leaving anyway. Blair said he was sorry. Blair is a good man with an explosive temperment. He has been trying to told his team together while trying to hold his insides together. He has sacrificed himself to his sport and he wants his players to sacrifice themselves for the good of the team. As Wren sees it, if Prentice no longer is good enough to be a regular, but there is no one better to replace him as a reserve, the veteran should ramain ready to help where needed. Prentice says, simply, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s time to go.&rdquo; Blair begs him to stay, buying time. The pressure wrenches men apart.In little Cherry Hill, New Jersey, one man, Marvin Milkes, is trying to hold a team together, while in Los Angeles, another, Dennis Murphy, is trying to hold a league together. In the World Hockey Association the name of the game at this point in their second season is survival, and it looks like they will make it, if not without headaches and heartaches. Well, who doesn&rsquo;t have headaches and heartaches? Baseball has been in business 100 years and they&rsquo;ve been trying to figure out for a year what to do with their franchise in San Diego. The National Hockey League has been in business more than 50 years and no one knows what to do with their franchise in Oakland.Beginning in business, the WHA felt it important to establish strongholds in the key cities on each coast, New York and Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the men with the most money who went into the league went into other cities and these teams have passed from hand to hand like orphaned children. Originally, Dennis Murphy, the man with the big ideas, operated the Los Angeles Sharks. But he did not have the money to make them go. Murphy brought in Arthur Rhoades from Kansas City to back the club, but he walked out at mid-season. Although it was denied untilhe was ready to leave, the dentist from San Diego, Leonard Bloom, took over as owner, but recently he has sought to sell out to Larry Daniels, a businessman from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Meawhile, when Murphy replaced departing Gary Davidson as WHA president, Sharks&rsquo; coach Terry Slater reluctantly surrendered his job to replace Dennis as general manager, while player Ted McCaskill became coach.The New York-New Jersey Raiders-Golden Blades-Knights have had even more problems. Dick Wood and Sy Seigel established the New York Raiders and brought in Marvin Miles as general manager, but not before they already had committed themselves to a suicidal lease with Madison Square Garden. They did not have or would not spend the money necessary to acquire players and promote their team to sufficient popularity to produce revenue to meet personnel payments, to say nothing of $20,000 a game in the Garden with weak dates and a strong rival in the Rangers. Milkes moved out and the league moved in. Ralf Brent and Lee Mattison took over ownership of the New York Golden Blades. But they couldn&rsquo;t make it either. The league took over again this season, Milkes was brought back, and the team moved to Cherry Hill, becoming the Jersey Knights. If the owners didn&rsquo;t always meet payments in the past, the league did, which is in its favor. Recently, the team was purchased by a man from Baltimore, Joe Schwartz, who has business interests in Los Angeles.Only in sports&rsquo; tangled turmoil would a Los Angeles businessman buy a Cherry Hill franchise while a Cherry Hill businessman bought a Los Angeles franchise within a week. Presumably, the Cherry Hill will wind up in Baltimore, though the new owner laughs, &ldquo;Goodness knows I might wind up in Oshkosh.&rdquo;Milkes is a highly regarded sports executive. He had a lot to do with putting the California Angeles baseball franchise together. When he, could see he wasn&rsquo;t going to succeed the retiring general manager, he took what looked like an outstanding opportunity as general manager of the new Seattle franchise. When it flopped, he went with it to Milwaukee, but missed the west coast and resigned to return home, sure he would be in demand here. This disappointment, he wasn&rsquo;t. So he went into hockey as general manager of the New York franchise, left it and now has returned to it in New Jersey. He has become a gypsy.He sighs and says, &ldquo;There is little room at the top. I don&rsquo;t want to wander back and forth across the country. It is no life. It cost me my wife and may marriage. But sports is my life. I have started a sports administration school, but I need the day-to-day challenges, too. Without sufficient financial backing and reasonable patience, no one can make any franchise succeed. We could have succeeded in Manhattan or Long Island. We could succeed in New Jersey with a suitable arena. We could succeed in a lot of places. But not without backing. I went back to the team because 1 missed being in the thick of things and because Dennis wanted me back and he is a persuasive fellow, but it is a tough task.&rdquo;Much of Murphy&rsquo;s time as president so far has been taken up with attempts to solve the New Jersey situation, to resolve obligations to the lease and to season ticket holders in New York, to decide whether to stay in New Jersey, return to New York or moveon. It was he whodreamed up the ABA and WHA, but he didn&rsquo;t have money so he had to bring in men with money and they moved him out. Now that he has started to make money, with his new World Tennis League among other things, he surprised everyone, even himself by accepting the presidency of the WHA. Described as &ldquo;a wandering minstrel man,&rdquo; it has been said he was a super-salesman, not management material. He said it himself. But now every day at the top he is proving otherwise. The league had been expected to name another president for next season, moving the league office elsewhere. Murph, the roly-poly Irishman, is more than a glad-hander with a gift of gab. He is hustling hard and doing a job. &ldquo;If they want me back and they&rsquo;ll leave the office in southern California, I&rsquo;ll stay,&rdquo; he says. &#9632;

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Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY RICK MONAGHAN</div>TWIN CITIES&mdash;Mention Johnny Rogers to a Canadian this day and age and he&rsquo;ll likely think you&rsquo;re talking about a slender halfback who emerged from the Omaha ghetto to achieve stardom in college and Canadian professional football with the Montreal Alouettes.But that&rsquo;s not the Johnny Rogers who has impressed one and all among the Minnesota North Stars in the past few weeks. This Johnny Rogers is relatively slight at 5-11 and 175 pounds. He. too, is a professional athlete. But that&rsquo;s where the resemblance halts. The North Stars&rsquo; Rogers rose from an entirely different background and life style and plays his game differently than his football counterpart.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03691/3433248-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="274" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body">Johnny Rogers</figcaption></div>Frenchman Butte, Sask., is far from Omaha in many, many ways. Johnny Rogers grew up there near where the three line ends in Northern Saskatchewan with an abiding desire to do two things &mdash; play hockey and ranch.The way the North Stars; No. 2 choice in the 1973 Amateur Draft has been performing on the ice since he was called up from New Haven may well earn him enough cash so that he will be able to spend his declining years with a handsome herd of cattle.The right winger was called up by the North Stars when NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended right sider result of an altercation with Los Angeles&rsquo; Bill Lesuk back on Dec. 22.Rogers took over Hextall and left winger Danny Grant, scored a goal in his very first game and added another in his third game.When Goldsworthy came back, Rogers may have expected to return to New Haven. But the youngster had impressed general manager Wren Blair and coach Parker MacDonald enough, so that he stayed with the North Stars.&ldquo;Johnny Rogers is the kind of player you recall when you look back to the old days in the NHL,&rdquo; said Blair. &ldquo;He plays it tough in both ends of the rink. He isn&rsquo;t worried about taking a check when in front of the net. He&rsquo;ll take one or two, get back up and stick his nose right back in there.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to give a lot of credit to our scouting staff. Rogers is performing exactly as they said he would. Obviously, we spent a lot of time looking at him before we made him our second choice and the time and effort by our scouts paid dividends.&rdquo;As far as Rogers is concerned he is happy to stay in Minnesota, not only because he enjoys playing on the major-league level, but also because he finds the Upper Middle West more compatible to life as he knows it.&ldquo;When it gets down to 25 or 30 below in the Twin Cities, it doesn&rsquo;t bother me a bit,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;As a matter of fact, I enjoy it. It reminds me of home in many ways. Frankly, I prefer the Middle West to the larger cities in the East.&rdquo;The trait runs in the family. Rogers&rsquo; older brother played hockey for the University of Minnesota-Duluth.Now that Goldsworthy, the NHL West&rsquo;s top goalscorer, is back in action following the suspension and a subsequent knee injury, Rogers sees duty with various lines.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s no problem for Johnny,&rdquo; said MacDonald. &ldquo;Werever I put him. he does a job. That&rsquo;s his nature and it&rsquo;s a darn good attitude for any hockey player, young or old.&rdquo;NORTH STORE NOTES: Goaltender Cesare Maniago was out longer than expected following the broken bone in his left hand. The cast was removed, the bone reset and another cast put on the hand. The Minnesota goalie may miss as much as a month of action overall&hellip; Gump Worsley was impressive in the Minnesota goal when he his start in six weeks against Detroit. Worsley was voted No. 1 star of the 2-2 tie. The 44-year-old, oldest player in the NHL, went back to wearing a mask against the Red Wings. He had worn one earlier, but discarded it after one game&hellip; Goalie Fern Rivard suffered a neck injury against Philadelphia and Lyle Carter was called up from New Haven to back up Worsley&hellip; Left winger Jerry Byers was recalled from New Haven in the wake of his third American League hat trick of the season&hellip; Maniago celebrated his 35th birthday in Jan. 13&hellip; The two-goal performances by center Fed Stanfield and right winger Tony Featherstone in Philadelphia were the first of the season for both players&hellip; The North Stars have increased the seating capacity of Met Center by adding 120 more permanent seats. The Met&rsquo;s capacity now is 15,184. &#9632;

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Stars’ Rookie Rogers Merits Longer NHL Stay After Impressive Trial

<div class="byline">BY JACK McCARTHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01897/3433286-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"></div>BOSTON&mdash;As the Bruins began the second half of the NHL season, they had the lead in the East by five points over Canadiens, which was no sure thing by any means. But they did have their two big men cooking on the front burners.In the 39th game of the season, which the Bruins won, 5-3, over Pittsburgh in the Pens&rsquo; rink, Phil Esposito picked up his 40th goal of the season.And, in an earlier game at home in New York against the Rangers, Bobby Orr passed the 200-goal milestone &mdash; this latter feat going almost unnoticed. As long as these two super athletes are alive and well and taking a regular turn, the Bruins will have to be the team to beat. You could not prove this. however, by the 7-3 dusting they took from Montreal in Boston Garden.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02797/3433279-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="283" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Esposito</figcaption></div>This one was gone almost from the beginning, and when coach Bep Guidolin was asked when he thought the game was lost, he replied, &ldquo;When they dropped the puck for the opening faceoff&hellip;&rdquo;Now, of course, it will come down, over the second half, to the oft-mentioned young legs of Boston. If you don&rsquo;t count Johnny Bucyk, and back-up goalkeepers Ross Brooks and Ken Broderick, the average age of the Bruins is 23. They have 10 players 25 or younger and another seven are 30 or younger. Orr, incidentally is 25. Espo is 30. Vital man Gilles Gilbert in goal is 24.Managing director Harry Sinden is in the process of either renegotiating or signing long-term, contracts with players after which he hopes to have the Boston team in good shape for many years to come.But Orr and Espo are the heart and soul of this team. They both have long-term contracts, incidentally, for the big money. And, once again, they are earning it.Orr put his name into the record book for the umpteenth time on Friday, Jan. 4, 1974, against the Rangers in New York when he scored the 199th and 200th goals of his career. No. 199 was on a power play shot from the right point. No. 200 was a 30-foot wrist job that whistled past Peter McDuffe.And, in a 2-2 tie with Chicago, Orr got his 20th goal of the season, marking the sixth time he has had 20 or better in the eight years he has been in the NHL.In modern times, at least, no defenseman has ever scored 200 goals or better. Certainly Red Kelly and Doug Mohns have done it, but both spent considerable parts of their careers as forwards. Eight years is very short for 200 goals, also.Bobby&rsquo;s feat got little fanfare, and the Bruins themselves did not realize its importance until Lefty Reid of the Hall of Fame requested the stick, which he got.Espo, meanwhile, picked up his 40th goal against the Penguins at exactly the halfway point in the season. In his record-breaking year of 1970-71, when he got 76 goals, Phil did not get No. 40 until his 42nd game. Of the other 40-goalers in modern times. Rocket Richard got his 40th in 37 games in 1944-45.Just so Esposito won&rsquo;t forget, however, we must again mention that the great Irishman, Joe Malone, got his 40th in 17 games.HERE TV THERE: Canadiens&rsquo; win on Jan. 13 in the Garden ended the Bruins&rsquo; home game unbeaten streak at 19 wins and two ties, 21 games&hellip; Espo beat brother Tony at 19:15 of the third period to get a 2-2 tie with the Hawks&hellip; On got the other goal, natch&hellip; At a banquet &ldquo;roast&rdquo; for charity, attended by all the Bruins, U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy quipped, &ldquo;Frankly I don&rsquo;t approve of someone like Phil getting as far as he has, just because he has a famous brother&hellip;&rdquo; Ranger goaler Eddie Giacomin, who was also at the affair, said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m delighted to see both Orr and Esposito, sitting on the bench at the same times. Esposito is responsible for me wearing a face mask. It wasn&rsquo;t his shot that did it. It was that lousy garlic on his breath&hellip; The Bruins are really appreciated in New York. After all, New Yorkers get their only chance to see wrestling and the Ice Follies at the same time when Boston comes to town. &#9632;

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How Can Bruins Miss Doing It All Again?

<div class="byline">BY CHRIS ZELKOVICH</div>MONTREAL&mdash;Scotty Bowman has this thing about Bobby Orr. He doesn&rsquo;t like to see the Boston defenseman with the puck.While the remaining 14 NHL coaches share those sentiments. Bowman is unique in that he is constantly devising new plans to contain Orr. Some are successful and some are not.You&rsquo;ll ail remember the 1969-70 Stanley Cup, finals when Bowman, then coach of the St. Louis Blues, assigned Jim Roberts to shadow Orr. You&rsquo;ll also remember that Boston won the series four straight and Orr won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. You win some, you lose some.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01918/3433324-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="287" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pete Mahovlich</figcaption></div>When the Habs travelled to Boston Jan. 12 for the third meeting between the two clubs this season Bowman was armed with his newest piece of strategy, devised after hours of studying video tape replays.You&rsquo;ll all certainly remember that the Habs snapped the Bruins&rsquo; 21 game home undefeated streak. You&rsquo;ll also remember that Orr was on the ice for five of the seven Montreal goals and was definitely in no position to accept any MVP awards. You lose some, you win some.Scott&rsquo;s strategy that day was to stop Orr by stopping center Phil Esposito on the faceoffs. Pete Mahovlich was the man assigned to carry out the plan and he executed them as well as the Canadiens executed the Bruins.&ldquo;Studying the video-tapes we found that Pete was always trying to draw the puck into the corner.&rdquo; Bowman explained. &ldquo;And Phil was always trying to draw it back to Orr at the point. We got Pete to abandon that tactic in Boston. Neutralize him. So, often the puck just lay at their feet between them. That&rsquo;s just what we wanted.&rdquo;In other words, the Habs prevented Espo from getting the puck back to the point (in particular, to Orr). The NBC-TV crew that televised the game calculated that Espo won 16 of 25 faceoffs, but a lot of those were shots directed ahead, away from Orr.And that&rsquo;s what Scotty&rsquo;s plan was; to keep Orr and the puck as far away from each other as possible. Orr&rsquo;s inept defensive play was possibly a product of frustration.The victory over the Bruins, the Habs&rsquo; first against Boston after losses of 2-1 and 4-2, capped a perfect week for the Canadiens and left them five points out of first place.The perfect week started with a 2-1 decision over Philadelphia before the largest crowd in Forum history. 19,040. Then the Habs ripped the New York Islanders 8-3.But the sweetest victory of them all was the one over the Bruins.&ldquo;They had it all today.&rdquo; Boston coach Bep Guidolin said after the game.&ldquo;They played a heck of a game.&rdquo;The significance of the victory was that it was a coming of age for the Habs this season. The Canadiens have borne little resemblance to the team that won the Stanley Cup last Spring and their ability to defeat the Bruins did a lot to re-establish the credibility of the Canadiens as first-place contenders.The Habs meet the Bruins three more times this season and Bowman is hoping his charges will not place too much importance on those three venues.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got three games left with them.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s too much attention on Boston and Montreal. You can&rsquo;t play only six games a year. You can&rsquo;t win a game and keep remembering it.&rdquo;That sums up Bowman&rsquo;s main problem this season (beside the absence of Ken Dryden) &mdash; lackadaisical play against the &ldquo;lesser&rdquo; teams.The Canadiens have had a bad habit of coming up flatter than day-old ginger ale against the poorer teams following games against the powers.Like Scott says, you can&rsquo;t play six games a year.HAB-BITS: Wayne Thomas, after a couple of clinkers, played a steady game against Philadelphia in outduelling Bernie Parent. It was Wayne&rsquo;s first start at home since being bombed 5-0 by Chicago&hellip; Michel Plasse turned in a strong effort in net against the Bruins&hellip; Rookie Bob Gainey is still having offensive troubles. Bob had a chance to raise his goal total to two against Boston, but missed an open net&hellip; Dave Gardner scored his first goal of the year against the Islanders&hellip; Serge Savard is ready to return to action but Henri Richard could miss a game or two with a chronic elbow problem. Henri had it operated on two years ago. Richard needs only Six more goals to hit the 350 mark for his career&hellip; Yvon Lambert is doing a great job at center and has impressed all with his work in the corners. Goals against the Islanders and Boston raised his season total to five&hellip; Jim Roberts is showing why his utility talents have kept him around so long. Roberts filled in admirably on defense with Savard out&hellip; Pete Mahovlich is leading the current segment of the Molson Cup awards.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02771/3433317-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="559" height="791"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHIL ESPOSITO</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Stop Espo And You Stop Orr — Scotty’s Strategy

<div class="byline">BY HAL SIGURDSON</div>VANCOUVER &mdash;The axe that had been hanging over Bill McCreary&rsquo;s head for more than a month finally fell and Phil Maloney is now the coach of the Vancouver Canucks.McCreary, 39. who had narrowly avoided dismissal in early December and again on New Year&rsquo;s Eve, was finally relieved of his duties Jan. 14.He was told he was through by Hal Laycoe. the Canucks&rsquo; general manager, who said he had been instructed to fire his coach by interim president Coley Hall. Hall issued the order via long distance telephone call. He makes his winter home in Hawaii.McCreary says he believes Hall&rsquo;s decision to fire him was influenced by Bud Poile, a front office executive and the team&rsquo;s former general manager.&ldquo;When you see certain people smiling after a loss and wearing a long face after a win you begin to wonder what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; he added.However, it was the Canucks&rsquo; record in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s eastern division that left McCreary vulnerable and he takes full responsibility for that.McCreary, who has another full year to run on his contract, has been offered another position with the organization. It seems unlikely he will accept.Meanwhile, Maloney, 46 and a long-time Vancouver resident, now inherits the task of trying to bring the Canucks home with a respectable record.The playoffs, of course, are out of the question. Again. For the Canucks to make it they would have to win roughly 30 of their remaining 37 games. If they did they&rsquo;d be looking for a new coach next season anyway because Maloney would undoubtedly be bronzed and immediately installed in the Hall of Fame.All I can do try and in still a little pride into these guys.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not so naive as to think I don&rsquo;t have problems, but I don&rsquo;t think the situation is hopeless.&rdquo;As a player, Maloney was the victim of hockey&rsquo;s bad old days, a talented performer who wound up in the wrong system and got buried in the minors. He played briefly in Boston and Chicago. In today&rsquo;s expanded NHL he would be a star.He did star for many years in the minors, mostly with the Western Hockey League Canucks. He still ranks as the most popular player ever to wear a Vancouver hockey uniform.He retired as an active player at 41 during the 1969-70 season, the Canucks last in the WHL. to become a scout. He was one of the few members of the WHL organization to survive the ownership change &mdash; Medicor, a Minneapolis-based conglomerate, bought out the local owners &mdash; when the Canucks moved into the NHL. The only other survivor is publicity director Greg Douglas.Maloney remained as a scout with the NHL club and last season was named coach of the Seattle Totems. Vancouver&rsquo;s WHL farm team. Despite a fine closing charge the Totems missed the playoffs by a single point. When he left to take over the parent club, the Totems were only two points out of first place this season.As a coach, Maloney describes himself as a mixture of the old school and the new.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still old fashioned enough to think players like to be challenged by work and responsibility.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I still believe in discipline on the ice and looking after yourself off the ice. But I also believe in explaining things to the players. If a guy is going to sit on the bench for a game, he has the right to know why.&ldquo;As for hair, I don&rsquo;t care if they wear it down to their knees and paint it green as long as they perform on the ice.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01894/3433355-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="565" height="560"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHIL MALONEY&hellip;Pride Important</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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McCreary Latest NHL Coaching Fatality

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Two games before the NHL&rsquo;s halfway mark the Philadelphia Flyers were sureshots to win the midway Vezina award.Observers laughed and said. &ldquo;As long as they don&rsquo;t give up 14 goals in back-to-back games against Atlanta they&rsquo;ve got the Vezina.&rdquo;Some joke, Coach Fred Shero decided to rest Bernie Parent, the league&rsquo;s leading goaltender, for the first time in Atlanta. Bobby Taylor started and 60 minutes later his head was still spinning. The Flyers, won, 7-6, but what Taylor endured shouldn&rsquo;t happen to any goalie.The Flyers and Flames combined for a nine-goal second period. Six goals were scored against Taylor and Atlanta&rsquo;s Phil Myre within 3:43.&ldquo;It reminded me of a junior game &mdash; I&rsquo;ll bet the fans loved it.&rdquo; said Shero. &ldquo;I kind of enjoyed it, too.&rdquo;Taylor wasn&rsquo;t as enthusiastic.&ldquo;The second period seemed two hours long &mdash; I&rsquo;m really tired,&rdquo; the popular back-up goalie said.To the surprise of some, the six-goal barrage didn&rsquo;t prompt Shero to chain Taylor to the bench for another 38 games.&ldquo;We plan to use him a couple more times this month,&rdquo; Shero said after Parent had shut out the Flames, 1-0, to clinch the first-half Vezina. &ldquo;We had to use him in Atlanta &mdash; the time was right. Some people said why not wait for an easy game. Well, when you&rsquo;re first there are no easy games.&ldquo;Once Taylor stopped backing in and started challenging them he was all right. He deserved a start. He&rsquo;s kept himself sharp and he&rsquo;s been alert in the dressing room, trying to help us win. He hasn&rsquo;t been moody like some guys might be.&rdquo;Taylor, a good-natured sort who was bidding for the number one Flyers&rsquo; job early last season when he pulled a hamstring muscle, revealed that the Flames&rsquo; unexpected scoring outburst isn&rsquo;t what bothered him most.&ldquo;It was really weird,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I kept thinking Bernie will be really mad at me if we blow the Vezina.&rdquo;Two nights later, during Parent&rsquo;s eighth shutout, Taylor was a spectator again, but it didn&rsquo;t keep him from attracting referee Dave Newell&rsquo;s attention. Earlier this season, Taylor reminded people he was around by accepting the fighting invitation of Vancouver goalie Gary Smith.Newell told Shero he didn&rsquo;t appreciate Taylor&rsquo;s &ldquo;choke&rdquo; gestures.&ldquo;What choke gesture?&rdquo; Taylor asked &ldquo;I was just scratching my throat and coughing a little.&rdquo;Then Taylor smiled and said, &ldquo;Besides getting me a seat belt, pretty soon they&rsquo;ll have to gag me.&rdquo;Parent, meanwhile, was accepting congratulations for his first-half Vezina encore. During the Flyers, inaugural season Parent and Doug Favell, then both 22, combined for a league-leading 2.08 average. Parent and Taylor were a combined 1.92.As brilliant as Parent has been, the entire Philadelphia defense has tightened up. Compared to mid-season a year ago, the Flyers had trimmed their goals-against by an astounding 66.Despite playing in all but one game, Parent showed no signs of collapsing. Shero has told him to skip practice several times.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01889/3433400-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="995" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">You See A Little Of Everything At SpectrumWhen you walk through the doors of Philadelphia&rsquo;s spacious Spectrum, you can expect to see a variety of rabid hockey fans. They come in all types of attire and paraphanelia. Some wear goaler masks, left. Then there&rsquo;s Dave Schultz&rsquo;s helmeted admirers. You&rsquo;ll even see the eager and ready hockey fan who comes complete with a baseball glove &mdash; to catch flying pucks. They all add up some of the zaniest but most loyal hockey fandom around the NHL. (Hockey News Photos by Bernie Moser)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02764/3433393-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="995" height="902"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03599/3433386-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="995" height="907"></div> &#9632;

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Parent Locked Up Vezina Award Despite Taylor’s Atlanta Clinker

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;It was only a little past the midway point of the season when Joe Crozier, coach of the Buffalo Sabres, said, &ldquo;Time is getting short.&rdquo;The Crow shook his head and sighed, &ldquo;We have to put some kind of a winning streak together. Before you know it, we will be running out of time.&rdquo; What the intense Buffalo coach meant was that his inconsistent Sabres are going to have to quit playing like two different teams if they expect to make the Stanley Cup playoffs as they did a year ago in only their third National Hockey League season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01873/3433438-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="265" height="405"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tim Horton</figcaption></div>The Sabres can look like champions, as they did in drubbing the New York Rangers, 7-2. That was the game that finished off Larry Popein as coach of the Rangers. The next day he was fired.And they can look like also-rans.The day after the Ranger victory, the Sabres went to Pittsburgh and were soundly trounced by the troubled, Penguins, 5-2. That was the second loss to the Penguins in eight days.From the beginning of the new year until the day that Crozier was talking, the Sabres alternated wins and losses.They drubbed Pittsburgh, 6-1, then lost to the same Penguins, 5-2, next time out. They beat Vancouver. 6-3. Then couldn&rsquo;t even score in Atlanta, losing by 3-0. They beat the Rangers, 7-2, then lost in Pittsburgh again, 5-2. Then they beat St. Louis, 1-0.The wins were at home, the losses on the road. The French Connection, flying at home since the return of Gil Perreault, did little in away games.In the three home victories, Perreault and his wingers, Rick Martin and Rene Robert, picked up a total of 22 points, including 10 goals. In the three road up a total of 22 points, including 10 goals. In the three road defeats, the threesome got two goals and four assists. Martin&rsquo;s goal mark stood at 30, second highest in the NHL.The Sabres don&rsquo;t claim to be a rough team but at home they were showing some muscles. On the road, however, they were getting pushed around.Before the Ranger game someone sent a dozen sweetheart roses to the Sabre dressing room and the notation, &ldquo;Body checks are legal.&rdquo; The Sabres went out and knocked the Rangers around as they dominated most of the way.Afterward, the players said the flowers didn&rsquo;t make any difference in the outcome but some of them did admit they were &ldquo;teed off&rsquo; when they saw them. &ldquo;It sort of made you think,&rdquo; said Jim Lorentz, who scored two goals in the game, &ldquo;but the truth is. we&rsquo;re not geared to a physical game.&rdquo;The next home game, against St. Louis, two of the Sabres battled two of the toughest Blues and did all right as the fans cheered wildly. Jerry Korab got the Blues&rsquo; Steve Durbano down and Rick Dudley came out about even in a battle with the Blues&rsquo; Barclay Plager.ICE CHIPS: Rene Robert and Rick Martin scored goals 10 seconds apart at the start of the third period of the Ranger game Jan. 10 for a club record&hellip; Perreault&rsquo;s 100th NHL goal was the only score of the St. Louis game&hellip; Defenseman Tim Horton celebrated his 44th birthday the day the Sabres lost to Pittsburgh for the second time. The next night he received the first star for his play against the Blues&hellip; Goalie Roger Crozier, given a three-week leave of absence for physical reasons, received an extension of a week from general manager Punch Imlach on the recommendation of his physician.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02748/3433431-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="555" height="729"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK MARTIN&hellip;No. 2 In NHL</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Sabres In And Out Of Playoff Struggle

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;When a hockey coach is perturbed about a lack of hustle by a player, the coach accuses the player of &ldquo;just standing around.&rdquo;After John Wright was traded to the St. Louis Blues, he just stood around for two whole games, and coach Jean Guy Talbot wasn&rsquo;t pleased. But Wright had the best possible excuse &mdash; he didn&rsquo;t have any skates. And Talbot&rsquo;s displeasure was directed toward the airline that lost them.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01848/3433469-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="261" height="432"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Wright</figcaption></div>The Blues gave up left wing Mike Lampman to the Vancouver Canucks in a hurried trade because St. Louis had immediate need for another center. Wayne Merrick was out with a fractured ankle, and the Blues were relying on Garry Linger and Lou Angotti as centerman. They hoped that Wright, a center, would be able to help immediately.Wright packed his things and grabbed a plane for St. Louis. There was a flight change in Chicago. Wright went to St. Louis, and his skates went to Montreal.Without skates Wright watched at the St. Louis Arena as his new teammates beat Toronto Maple Leafs. Team captain Barclay Plager introduced Wright to the other St. Louis players, and some of them must have wondered whether the new man was able-bodied. The players, of course, then heard about the disappearing skates.The Blues went to Detroit, and Wright&rsquo;s skates went from Montreal to Toronto after being held up by customs. Wright watched the Blues lose to the Red Wings. Wright&rsquo;s skates finally arrived in St. Louis, but the Blues were in Buffalo.The joke of the missing skates was getting a little stale, and Wright took the ice against the Sabres for spot shifts. He wore a pair of skates used by Terry Crisp with the Blues in the 1971-72 season before Crisp was drafted by the New York Islanders. Wright, a smooth skater, said, &ldquo;There wasn&rsquo;t much of a blade left.&rdquo;Wright&rsquo;s skates caught up with him about three hours after he had shed Crisp&rsquo;s skates at the end of the Buffalo game. Wright was embarrassed by the prolonged mixup, but it certainly wasn&rsquo;t his fault. Wright had been welcomed to the team &mdash; with or without his skates.Wright found a couple of old junior teammates when he joined the Blues. Chris Evans and Steve Durbano played with Wright on a couple of the outstanding Toronto Marlboro teams. Evans and Wright were on the Toronto team that won the Memorial Cup at the end of the 1966-67 season.&ldquo;Steve wasn&rsquo;t on that particular team,&rdquo; Wright recalled. &ldquo;He had been up and down a couple of times and played with me on the Marlies the next year.&rdquo;Unger came close to being a Toronto teammate. A teen-aged Unger tried out for the Marlies but was cut from the team because there were too many other centers. One of the other centers was Wright.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they kept me because they thought I was better than Unger,&rdquo; Wright said. &ldquo;I had been Toronto&rsquo;s first draft choice, and they sort of had to keep me.&rdquo;Unger played for the London Nationals, and the two centers played against one another.Wright followed his outstanding junior career with an even more spectacular collegiate career at the University of Toronto, which at that time was winning four straight national championships under coach Tom Watt.While playing college hockey Wright came to St. Louis for the first time and played at the Arena.&ldquo;We came down to play St. Louis University, and, as I recall, we didn&rsquo;t do too well,&rdquo; Wright said. &ldquo;We lost one game to the Billikens and tied the other.&rdquo;The Canucks picked Wright after his sophomore year, but Wright postponed his pro career for two more years.&ldquo;I had confidence when I started last season in Vancouver, but I had trouble scoring and for a while I lost confidence,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We had our ups and downs in Vancouver last year. It was a young team with the more experienced players hurt. Orland Kurtenbach missed 40 games.&rdquo;&ldquo;There is great opportunity in St. Louis,&rdquo; Wright said. &ldquo;I certainly would like to have a lengthy career, and I would very much like to stay in St. Louis.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-01

Disappearing Skates No Laughing Matter For Blues’ Newcomer

PITTSBURGH&mdash;When Jack Button replaced Jack Riley as general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins, he brought with him a new broom and immediately began making sweeping changes.An omen of things to come occurred when Riley shipped the team&rsquo;s leading scorer. Al McDonough, to Atlanta for Chuck Arnason and Bob Paradise. Veteran center Bryan Hextall was waived through the league the next day and claimed by Atlanta.But that was nothing compared to the shuffle of players that has taken place since Button was moved up to GM.Within a week the Penguins sent four players and received four in return in two separate trades.In a move to shore up the Pens&rsquo; weak defense Button ticketed high-scoring left winger Greg Polis and hard-hitting defenseman Bryan Watson to the St. Louis Blues for left winger Bob &ldquo;Battleship&rdquo; Kelly and defensemen Ab DeMarco and Steve Durbano.The next day goaltender Jim Rutherford and minor league defenseman Jack Lynch were sent to Detroit in return for defenseman Ron Stackhouse.To fill gaps, goaltender Gary Inness and center Bob McManama were recalled from Hershey of the AHL.The biggest trade was the deal with St. Louis.Polis, 23, has scored 74 goals in his three seasons with the Penguins and was the MVP in last year&rsquo;s All Star game. He had scored 14 goals this year prior to the trade.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01580/3433573-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="554" height="583"><figcaption class="caption-body">RON STACKHOUSE&hellip;From Detroit</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02508/3433566-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="559" height="590"><figcaption class="caption-body">AB DEMARCO&hellip;From Blues</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03422/3433559-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="557" height="589"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE DURBANO&hellip;New Penguin</figcaption></div>Durbano and DeMarco are both promising young defenseman while Kelly and Watson have reputations as fighters.Kelly, 27, is a rookie while Durbano, 22, is in his second year in the NHL. DeMarco, 24, is in his third NHL season while Watson, 31, is a veteran of eight campaigns.The Rutherford trade saw the 24-year-old netminder return to the team he broke in with. The Penguins had drafted Rutherford from Detroit three years ago.Lynch, 21, had shown promise with the Penguins last season but was farmed out to Hershey because of poor defensive play.<h2>TOP NHL SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04327/3433552-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="1246" height="915"></div>(Scoring Key: GP-Games played; G-Goal; A-Assist; P-Points; PM-Penalties in minutes; PP-Power play goal; SH-Shorthanded goal; WG-Winning goal; TG-Tying goal.) &#9632;

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Penguin Shuffling Sees 10 Players Change Teams

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div>CHICAGO&mdash;There are ties and there are ties. Some wear well, others tend to strangle.It was the latter type of no-decision that was vexing fans of the Chicago Black Hawks as the current National Hockey League campaign reached its midpoint in early January.Through 39 games, the Chicago Six had tied exactly one-third or 13. That was well ahead of the record pace established by the 1969-70 Philadelphia Flyers, who played 24 no-decisions and &mdash; by the way &mdash; finished fifth.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01588/3433604-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="552" height="1585"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLIFF KOROLL &hellip; NHL Milestone</figcaption></div>What disturbed Hawk fans was not so much the knots, but how they were tied. Coach Billy Reay repeated, often and loudly, that those ties could have been losses so let us not complain.But the records bore out a different fact, the fact that in 10 of those 13 contests, the Chicagoans owned a lead. A lead late in the game. And had they been able to hold on to those 10 points, they would have been six points up on the West Division at halftime of the season rather than four down to the Philadelphia Flyers.Witness the following fall-from-ahead efforts by the Chicago Six:Oct. 21, at Chicago &mdash; Ralph Stewart of the Islanders notches an unassisted goal with eight minutes to go, bringing the New Yorkers a 3-3 standoff.Oct. 27, at St. Louis &mdash; The Blues score twice in the third period to turn a 4-2 Hawk lead into a 4-4 deadlock.Oct. 28, at Chicago &mdash; Mike Pelyk&rsquo;s third period tally lifts the Maple Leafs into a l-l final.Nov. 7, at Oakland &mdash; Morris Mott bags one with seven minutes to go and the Golden Seals salvage a 1-1 saw-off.Nov. 14, at New York &mdash; The Rangers collect two scores in the closing 15 minutes, including the game-tyer by Sheldon Kannegiesser at 17:13, and it winds up 4-4.Dec. 12, at Chicago &mdash; The Hawks take a 2-0 lead on Philadelphia, only to be caught and tied 2-2 by the Flyers in the second period.Dec. 19, at Chicago &mdash; The Buffalo Sabres, trailing with eight minutes remaining, score and finish 2-2.Dec. 2 at Chicago &mdash; Tom Williams scores a funny goal for the Los Angeles Kings with seven minutes remaining, and the Hawks settle for a 3-3 no-decision.Jan. 9 at Chicago &mdash; The Kings&rsquo; Bob Murdoch waits a little longer &mdash; until only 2:20 is remaining &mdash; before he evens the score 4-4.Jan. 10, at Boston &mdash; Phil Esposito waits even a little longer &mdash; until only 45 seconds are left &mdash; before he beatsBrother Tony to rescue a 2-2 standoff for the Bruins. Bobby Orr scored 10 minutes earlier to halve a 2-0 Chicago lead.Seen enough?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know about anyone else,&rdquo; decided Pit Martin, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m getting sick and tired of this tie business. On the road we seem to be playing well defensively, but that&rsquo;s not where our problem has been. It&rsquo;s at home, where we&rsquo;ve tied eight times, that we seem to let down a little bit. I don&rsquo;t know why though.&rdquo;They had better find out why soon.PARTING SHOTS: Cliff Koroll collected goal No. 100 against the Detroit Red Wings Jan. 13th&hellip; Dennis Hull, who almost never is injured, suffered a severely pulled left groin when he collided with Bobby Orr in that 2-2 game and was sidelined temporarily. &ldquo;I hurt my knee a few years ago, but that&rsquo;s about the only other injury I remember,&rdquo; said Hull&hellip; Black HawkStandbys fan club began its button-selling spree prior to Stan Mikita Night in Chicago Feb. 20. All proceeds will go to scholarship fund in Mikita&rsquo;s name at Elmhurst College, Elmhurst. Ill.<h2>WE CAN HELP YOU</h2>Organizations &mdash; Do you want to improve your officiating program? NHL officials available to assist you. Contact Clinic of Officiating Techniques, Box 94, Georgetown, Ontario, L7G 471, Canada, for details. Individuals please inquire regarding hockey school participation. &#9632;

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Will All Those Tie Games Strangle The Hawks?

f0019-01

National Hockey League SUMMARIES

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;&ldquo;All in all, it&rsquo;s been a pretty bad year,&rdquo; said Islander center Tom Miller late last February. &ldquo;1 haven&rsquo;t been playing as well as I can. and the whole team has been having problems.&rdquo;Only a few days after Miller uttered these words, things began to look up. An injury to Dave Hudson forced former coach Earl Ingarfield to put the 26-year-old Kitchener native on the top line with Billy Harris and Germain Gagnon. Then everything fell into place.The line caught fire and was largely responsible for the Islanders improved record over the final month. Harris went on a scoring streak to finish with 28 goals to earn him third place in the Calder voting. Miller himself scored half of his 13 goals in that span to become the team&rsquo;s most productive pivot man. With the &lsquo;72-&lsquo;73 campaign having ended on a sweet note Miller was anxiously looking forward to his second full NHL season. He reported to camp in top shape, and his hot hand continued during the early scrimmages.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01411/3433855-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="267" height="430"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Miller</figcaption></div>Then it happened. It was during the Islanders&rsquo; second exhibition game against Atlanta that Tom was involved in a mid-ice collision. The result was a severely broken right wrist that has sidelined him for the entire season.&ldquo;I was slanting up ice, and I heard the whistle,&rdquo; said Miller, who was in town recently to have his injured limb examined. &ldquo;Then after the play was over. I looked up and saw Lev Morrison about to bump into me. I brought my arm up, and jammed my wrist.&ldquo;I played a bit more after that, but then I couldn&rsquo;t hang on to the stick any more. The doctor in Peterboro looked at it. and he said that it looked like a strain. He told me to wait until morning, and then if it still bothered me. to go to the hospital to have it X-rayed.&ldquo;That night I couldn&rsquo;t sleep at all. The pain was just too much. The next morning the X-rays showed a fractured scaphoid bone. The only thing the doctor told me was that it would be a minimum of three months.&rdquo;A cast was put on, and Tom went back to his farm outside of Kitchener to mend and think about the season that might have been. It has now been four months since the injury, and Miller is still at least another couple of weeks away from seeing any action.&ldquo;The doctor saw me last on January 8th. and told me to avoid contact for another three weeks.&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;That brings us to the end of January at the very earliest.&rdquo;General manager Bill Torrey hasn&rsquo;t decided how he will use Miller once he is declared fit. but it must be assumed that he will spend some time in the minors getting back into shape. The Islanders need center ice help, but it is unlikely that they will risk bringing Tom along too quickly.Tom has been following the exploits of his teammates closely, although it torments him that he has been unable to be a part of the Islanders&rsquo; overall improvement. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re doing much better, but I don&rsquo;t really know many of the guys we have that well. After sitting out so long, the season just begins to dragon,&rdquo; he says.Although he&rsquo;s been skating a bit by refereeing midget games back home. Miller&rsquo;s occupied most of his time with off-the-ice activities.&ldquo;I like working with wood and repairing things, so I&rsquo;ve been busy around the house.&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;Also I built my own Christmas presents this year instead of buying them. I&rsquo;ve also had a lot of time to visit relatives, but that&rsquo;s about it.&ldquo;Now that the cast in off, I feel that I&rsquo;m finally getting close to playing. But I have to wait for the doctor&rsquo;s okay. I&rsquo;ve seen some players have their careers ended for good after trying to come back from an injury like this too early.&rdquo;ISLAND SOUNDS: The Islanders were snake-bitten in a game against the L.A. Kings at the Coliseum on Jan. 8th. Andre St. Laurent won a draw against Juha Widing so well that he batted the puck past a startled Gerry Desjardins into the net. The Kings scored three goals in 1:58 to defeat the Isles 3-1&hellip; The Islanders still have the worst offense in the NHL, and general manager Bill Torrey is looking for new faces. The only untouchables appear to be Billy Harris, Denis Potvin, and Dave Lewis. &#9632;

f0020-01

Anguish Describes Tom Miller’s NHL Season

<div class="byline">BY DAN PROUDFOOT</div>TORONTO &mdash;Norm Ullman&rsquo;s selection to the eastern All Star team, not by coach Scotty Bowman filling out his lineup, but by the voters of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, was a tipoff to one of the least-noticed improvements of the Maple Leafs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02189/3433893-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="258" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body">Norm Ullman</figcaption></div>Ullman was skating with all of his skills at their most obvious, twisting away from defenseman. showing mastery with the puck, crossing bluelines and making plays like a card-shark.He was 38 the day after Christmas, and he has had enough difficult days to have heard suggestions many times the past five years that he&rsquo;s slowing down.But at the halfway point of the season he was Leafs&rsquo; leading scorer, showing 16 goals and 26 assists for the 39 games. His high ranking among the league&rsquo;s top scorers attracted enough attention for him to get more votes than such centres as Jacques Lemaire and Jean Ratelie. and in the mid-season balloting he ended up with a count of 40. compared to No. 1 center Phil Esposito&rsquo;s 120.As this was written, Ullman had 18 goals for a career total of 477, 29 assists for a total of 695.In any scoring category, Ullman ranks high in NHL history. In goals, only Gordie Howe, 786, Bobby Hull, 604, Maurice Richard, 544, and Jean Beliveau, 507, stand ahead of his 477 (and counting). In total points he is the highest-ranking active player, behind Howe, Alex Delvecchio and Beliveau.Ullman remains, however, as quiet as he has been ever since he joined Detroit Red Wings in 1955, so he remains remarkably anonymous considering his lofty standing.Ullman, Darryl Sittier and David Keon combine to give Leafs a trio of centres matched perhaps only by New York Rangers&rsquo; Ratelie, Walter Tkaczuk and Peter Stemkowski.Yet the most publicity Ullman gets is when he appears to be struggling, and the conclusion is reached (for the 110th time) that retirement is near.Ullman is aiming for 500 goals, though, a figure he likely will reach early next season, and he admits that after 1974-75 he will consider the years time) that retirement is near as they come.The most common mistake in judging Ullman is in concluding that when things are going badly for him. his legs must have run out. With Ullman, it&rsquo;s more likely his hands, or his ankles.&ldquo;I do seem to get more than my share of the little injuries that bother you. but shouldn&rsquo;t keep you out of games,&rdquo; he says, reviewing a history of broken thumbs, bruised ankles and crunched knuckles.Ullman&rsquo;s injuries seldom keep him out of games, but they do ruin his foremost ability, that of playing tricks with the puck and wheeling away from checkers. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s a little because of his style.&rdquo; says Leaf coach Red Kelly, &ldquo;that he picks up so many of those injuries.&ldquo;Because he holds the puck longer than most, he ends up taking a lot of two-handers. He absorbs a lot of punishment.&rdquo;Last season, another in Ullman&rsquo;s series of so-called off-years supposedly heralding impending retirement, a knee injury early in the season negated the conditioning he gained with his usual summer running program. This time around, Ullman reported in peak condition and nothing happened to damage his momentum.The result, by the time of the All Star vote, was clear.NOTES: Ullman scored two goals in Vancouver, but he and linemates Ron Ellis and Paul Henderson drew criticism from coach Kelly for poor checking in their defensive zone&hellip; Owner Harold Ballard is talking about building a new, 21,000-seat Maple Leaf Gardens or adding a 5,000-seat balcony to the present building&hellip; Inge Hammarstrom has played well in recent weeks, finally adapting to NHL style play with linemales Sittier and Lanny McDonald and impressing with pinpoint passes and strong skating.<h2>NHL SCOREBOARD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03134/3433886-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="594" height="635"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 15Los Angeles 2 at Montreal 1Toronto 2 at Vancouver 4Atlanta 3 at N.Y. Islanders 4Minnesota 5 at St Louis 3Wed. Jan. 16Toronto 5 at California 5N.Y. Rangers 4 at Detroit 4Boston 5 at Chicago 5Los Angeles 2 at Pittsburgh 0Thu. Jan. 17Minnesota 1 at Montreal 6N.Y. Rangers 2 at St. Louis 3Buffalo 2 at Philadelphia 7Fri. Jan. 18Pittsburgh 6 at Vancouver 2California 2 at Atlanta 6Sat. Jan. 19Boston 8 at Montreal 0Toronto 3 at Minnesota 5N.Y. Rangers 3 at Chicago 2Buffalo 2 at N.Y. Islanders 2Detroit 5 at St. Louis 2Los Angeles 0 at Philadelphia 2Sun. Jan. 20Montreal 3 at Detroit 2Los Angeles 2 at Boston 5California 4 at Buffalo 6Vancouver 2 at Chicago 7Pittsburgh 5 at Philadelphia 3St. Louis 3 at Atlanta 1<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Jan. 22California at N.Y IslandersBoston at St. LouisPhiladelphia at VancouverWed. Jan. 23Toronto at MontrealAtlanta at N.Y. RangersCalifornia at DetroitSULou is at PittsburghMinnesota at Los AngelesThu. Jan. 24Montreal at BuffaloChicago at BostonPhiladelphia at Los AngelesFri. Jan. 25Detroit at AtlantaMinnesota at VancouverPhiladelphia at CaliforniaSat. Jan. 26Chicago at MontrealToronto at St. LouisBoston at N.Y. IslandersLos Angeles at PittsburghSun. Jan. 27Toronto at AtlantaLos Angeles at N.Y RangersN.Y. Islanders at ChicagoPhiladelphia at BostonPittsburgh at DetroitVancouver at BuffaloMinnesota at CaliforniaTue. Jan. 29All Star game at ChicagoWed. Jan. 30N.Y. Rangers at PittsburghVancouver at DetroitCalifornia at St. LouisThu. Jan. 31Minnesota at TorontoN.Y. Islanders at Los AngelesAtlanta at BostonBuffalo at PhiladelphiaCalifornia at ChicagoFri. Feb. 1Montreal at Atlanta &#9632;

f0021-02

Ullman’s Play ‘Comeback Of Year’

<div class="byline">BY TONY PETRELLA</div>ATLANTA&mdash;An acute shortage of scoring punch has been the biggest thing lacking in the Atlanta Flames&rsquo; repertoire ever since they came into being.Bobby Leiter led the team with 26 goals last season and Rey Comeau and Keith McCreary each hit the 20-mark. but there wasn&rsquo;t a real gunner in the bunch. So, acting in a cool moment of opportunity last week, the Flames snatched Al McDonough from the Pittsburgh Penguins for two players who hadn&rsquo;t been spending much time on the ice, right wing Chuck Arnason and defenseman Bob Paradise.&ldquo;Immensely pleased,&rdquo; was the way Flames&rsquo; ganeral manager Cliff Fletcher assessed his reaction to the trade. &ldquo;We had made an offer previously for McDonough, but the Penguins wanted Butch Deadmarsh and Bob Murray. When I refused that, they asked for Deadmarsh and Arnason.&rdquo;Five days after that fell through, the Penguins were still trying to shuffle around their lineup and pull out of the doldrums, so they agreed to the Arnason-Paradise combination.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01258/3433924-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="229" height="307"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al McDonough</figcaption></div>It was a deal that Fletcher says, &ldquo;Will give us the scoring punch we need down the stretch for a spot in the playoffs.&rdquo;McDonough, boyish-looking and whip thin at age 23, scored 35 goals last season to set a Pittsburgh team record. In the 37 games he played before coming to the Flames he had 14 goals and 22 assists, which automatically made him the Flames&rsquo; leading scorer. And, in his first game with Atlanta, he scored against the New York Rangers in a 5-2 loss.The Penguins chose to give up McDonough rather than lose him to the rival World Hockey Association because of a contract dispute.&ldquo;I led the team with 35 goals last year and I feel I&rsquo;m underpaid.&rdquo; McDonough said. &ldquo;They (the Penguins) didn&rsquo;t offer me anything near what I thought I should get, so 1 decided to play out my contract.&rdquo;McDonough reportedly was making about $30,000 last season, and was asking for a new contract in the $100,000 range.Fletcher said he doesn&rsquo;t forsee any problem coming to terms with McDonough. &ldquo;I think he falls into the category of any player we have whose contract expires at the end of this season,&rdquo; Fletcher said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not concerning myself with that at all.&rdquo;Only one thing distressed McDonough about the trade. In nine games stretching back to last season the Flames had been his personal patsies. He scored II goals against them, including a hat trick. &#9632;

f0021-01

McDonough Big Catch For Flames

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Having won eight games, lost seven and tied four in the second quarter of the current campaign, the Los Angeles Kings reached the midway mark of the season with 13 victories. 19 defeats and seven ties. Both are about average for their seven seasons of existence. They have done better and they have done worse. What may be significant is that their halfway record the first half of this season is identical to that the last half of last season when they fell from playoff contention.However, coach Bob Pulford was optimistic in that since Dec. 1 when they were completing a 10-game losing streak and completed a major trade they had an 8-5-4 record overall and a 6-1-1 mark at home. Also, while their 4-11-6 first half road record seems meager, it represents the best such road half in their history. When they came from behind to tie in Chicago for the second straight visit, he took it as a sign of increased toughness.Still, the Kings came from behind to winortie only six games in the first half, while losing leads to lose or tie games 16 times.And in their 40th game, their first start in the second half, they were shut out in Detroit, 6-0. leaving them winless in 17 straight games in that city and in nine games this season in the six cities that made up the NHL prior to expansion. In fact, their lifetime record on the road against the original clubs is a dreadful 11-80-16, and many of the 11 victories came in their First season. This, as much as anything, symbolizes their struggles. They are not yet sufficiently competitive to beat an established team in its back yard a reasonable number of times. And yet in their seventh season they cannot be classified any longer as an expansionist.New general manager Jake Milford and coach Bob Pulford have been making some moves to take care of emergencies. Barry Long and newcomer Sheldon Kannegiesser had beaten Larry Brown out on the fiveman defense and Brown was sent down to get some playing time, but immediately recalled when Kannegiesser was slowed by a knee injury. Stevb Rexe was recalled to replace Bob Vroman as the reserve goaler subbing for Gary Edwards, who has been sidelined by a broken finger. Vroman returned to the minors without having played. The Detroit game was the 11th straight for regular Rogie Vachon, who had a 10-12-6 record for the first half. Edwards was 3-7-1. A tightened defense limited foes to 30 shots or less the last 10 games of the half.At the midway mark, Juha Widing was surging with six goals in six games and had caught Bob Berry for the team leadership in goals with 12. Bob Nevin had 11, Butch Goring nine, Frank St. Marseille, Dan Maloney and newcomer Mike Murphy eight each, Randy Rota and Don Kozak seven each; newcomer Tom Williams, Vic Venasky, who was sent to the minors, and defenseman Bob Murdoch six each. Kannegiesser had three. Bill Lesuk, Barry Long and Phil Hoene had one each. Having impressed defensively, Hoene was struggling offensively. He did score 36 in the American League last season. Defensemen Brown, Neil Komadoski and Terry Harper had yet to score their first goal of the season.The most encouraging aspect of the first half of the season was the rise in attendance by 18,654 from a similar period last season to 195,935 for 18 dates in The Fabulous Forum. The average rose from 9,849 per game to 10.885. That is two persons per game more than last season, but attendance always rises sharply in hockey in L.A. after the first of the year when football is finished. With their recent improved play at home, the team could this season top 11.000 on the average for the first time in their history.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01282/3433962-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="566" height="552"><figcaption class="caption-body">JUHA WIDING&hellip;On Scoring Spree</figcaption></div>The victory in Long Island and tie in Chicago in which Widing scored two goalsand Murdoch tallied the tying goal raised hopes at the start of the sevengame road-trip that tilled mid-January. but the defeat in Detroit dropped them again. By the time this reaches the reader, this longest tour of the season will have been completed and whether the team survived it with reasonable success will be known. Returning home Jan. 23, the Kings had five games out of six at home.<h2>Team Penalties</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02209/3433955-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="601" height="459"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

Kings Kept In Check On The Road

<div class="byline">BY GEOFFREY FISHER</div>OAKLAND&mdash;As of mid-January. Charley O. Finley&rsquo;s abdication as owner of the California Golden Seals was still unofficial but the possibility was strong enough to have the ardent worshippers of ice hockey in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area dancing in the streets.So often before it had been prematurely reported that Finley had sold the hockey club. Shortly after the New Year commenced there was an announcement that Finley, who has been the victim of a severe heart attack, had been advised by his physicians to get out of sports and sell his baseball Oakland A&rsquo;s. his basketball Memphis Tams and his Oakland Seals.On Jan. 13. the day the story broke on Finley&rsquo;s agreement to sell the Seals, the New York Rangers were in town for a game.At the Oakland Coliseum it was like the Fourth of July in January. Fans snake-danced around the building, inside and out. brandishing the newspaper headline stating &ldquo;Finley Agrees To Sell Seals.For weeks there had been signs hung from the balconies reading &ldquo;Sell Finley. Sell&rdquo; and &ldquo;Sell Finley Or Else&rdquo; and &ldquo;Finley. Take Your Pucks And Go Home.&rdquo;Now, with the Rangers in the building, a new sign appeared New York. We&rsquo;ll Sell You Finley For $24.&rdquo;The news that a change of ownership was imminent for the suffering Seals franchise was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm since it was first announced back in 1966 that an NHL franchise was coming to the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Area.Inside the building, prior to the game with the Rangers, it was like Lincoln had freed the slaves, like it must have been the day Congress repealed the Volstead Act. Like New York&rsquo;s Times Square on New Years Eve.Fora time, through the first two periods of their match with the Rangers, it seemed that the prospect of getting a new owner had inspired the Seals themselves to miraculous mobility.Suddenly acting as though they had been injected with some magic elexir the Seals tore into the Rangers with such an unexpected tenacity that the customers had to check their programs to make sure they were attending the right game. At the end of the first period it was 1-1 and the end of the second had it at 2-2. Then the Broadway Blues, playing their second match under reactivated G.M Coach Emile (The Cat) Francis, discovered this was not going to be the cake walk they had anticipated and quickly buried the Seals under a five-goal third period avalanche.But the sale of the Seals by Finley is the thing that every member of the squad has been impatiently awaiting.If they could have voted to impeach Finley, they would have. Many of the Seals who had been courted by the World Hockey Association with fat offers, had waited for this to happen.Said Gilles Meloche. the Seals brilliant goaltender, who had turned down at least three rich offers from the WHA clubs last summer to sign a three-year contract with the Seals:&ldquo;I signed with the Seals because I wanted to stay in the NHL and I was under the impression that the club would get new ownership that would get about the business of building an NHL contender.&rdquo;Meloche has plenty of company among his teammates. Many of them signed new contracts with the club for the same reason as Meloche. hoping the day of the new ownership was near. Now that day may have dawned. &#9632;

Seals’ Players Hail News Club Will Have New Owner

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div>WASHINGTON&mdash;There are indications the long 18-month war between the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association may be over. Lawyers for both leagues met in the nation&rsquo;s capital and agreed to the following:1&mdash;At least 15 pre-season games will be staged between the WHA and NHL next September.2&mdash;The WHA will drop its anti-trust actions against the NHL and receive $1.9 million to cover its legal costs upto date.3&mdash;Each league will recognize the other&rsquo;s contracts and permit interleague trading of players who are waived out of their league.4&mdash;At some future time there will be some discussions on inter-league play.All of this marks a step forward for the fledgling WHA, whose members recognize that several franchises are on shaky grounds and may have to be moved.TORONTO: Wayne Carleton and friends keep up the chase of New England. They defeated the Whalers 3-2 on Jan. 8. with Toros coming back from a two-goal deficit. Brit Selby got the winner 49 seconds into the third period after Steve King had tied it up 22 seconds into the period. The other Toronto goal came from Bobby Leduc. Selby assisted on the tying goal.Two nights later Toronto got New England in Ottawa and blew a fat 5-0 lead which would have given them a share in the East Division lead. A crowd of 3,817 watched as the Toros jumped into a three-goal lead in 67 seconds in the first period and added two more in the second. Whalers got two in the second and four more by the midway mark of the third. Rick Sentes tied it up at 6-6 to gain the tie for Toronto. The Pat Hickey-Gavin Kirk-Tom Simpston line was flying for Toronto, with Hickey getting two. Defenseman Billy Orr, Wayne Dillon and Leduc got the other markers.On Jan. 12, the Toros were in another wild high-scoring wing ding, when they dropped an 8-6 decision to Minnesota. They bounced back with a 7-2 win over Jersey at Toronto the next day to hang tight in their race against the Whalers. Wayne Dillon scored twice.NEW ENGLAND: The Whalers and Toros are that close, each winning two and tying the fifth game in their battles. New England leads in goals 24-23. In the Jan. 10 game tied by Toronto 6-6, after the Whalers bounced back from a 5-0deficit, it was Hugh Harris with two, Jim Dorey, Mike Byers, Don Blackburn and Tom Webster that scored. New England now has two wins, two losses and a tie in overtime games.The Whalers trounced the Los Angeles Sharks 9-6 Jan. 13, with Blackburn getting two including the game winner five minutes and 25 seconds into the third period. Blackie had a four point night as he assisted on two goals by Tom Webster. The Whalers thus stayed two points ahead of Toros.QUEBEC: Nordiques split, winning big from Los Angeles 7-1 on Jan. 10 and losing on the road to Houston 5-1 Jan. 12. Rejean Houle scored three goals in the 7-1 L.A. affair. He also notched two assists. Guy Dufour also got two with Serge Bernier chipping in for one.Marc Tardif said. &ldquo;It was great playing in Quebec again, but I never expected this kind of welcome. Rejean was really flying.&rdquo;CLEVELAND: The Crusaders won both weekend games Jan. 12-13. defeating Los Angeles 5-4 and Minnesota 4-2. This put Bill Needham&rsquo;s club only one point behind Toronto and three behind New England. Goals by Russ Walker, back playing after an injury, and Paul Shmyr, broke the game open after the teams were scoreless in the first period. Gerry Cheevers and Bob Whidden have closed within one goal of Bruce Landon and Al Smith of New England in the East race and are 16 behind Houston. Gary Jarrett, with 18 goals, continues to lead the Clevelanders in scoring, with Jim Wiste, Skip Krake and Gerry Pinder all having passed center Ron Buchanan during his absence due to an injury.CHICAGO: Jacques Demers, 28, is the youngest &ldquo;coach&rdquo; in the major leagues today. Demers, the Cougars&rsquo; director of player personnel, opens and closes the door for Pat Stapleton.&ldquo;He actually runs the game and has a free hand with substitutions and line changes.&rdquo; noted Pat. &ldquo;I give him the lines ahead of time, but he mixes them up when he has to.&rdquo;&ldquo;I have had to more than once this year.&rdquo; said Demers, a young eager man. &ldquo;The veteran players took a little while to accept me but I have gained their confidence now. This is a great opportunity.&rdquo;Demers Cougars lost to Winnipeg Jan. 13. 3-1, to remain only one point ahead of the Jersey Knights in the battle to escape the cellar and get moving toward the fourth and last playoff spot. Ralph Backstrom has taken over the Cougars lead in scoring with 39 points in 37 games.JERSEY: Just when the Knights appeared to be ready to close in they lost twice in a week, the last one coming to Toronto Jan. 13 in the Queen City, 7-2. Kevin Morrison, one of the unsung heroes of the Knights tried to spark his team in the last period, getting into a brawl with Bob Leduc. Kevin, a former brawler with New Haven of the old EHL. has developed into a pretty fair player this season.Now that the Knights have an owner, Joseph Schwartz of Baltimore, they are legally allowed to trade once more. The Jersey team completed a transaction with the Los Angeles Sharks, acquiring goalie Russ Gillow and forward Earl Heiskala for goalie Jim McLeod. Heiskala hits and should help the Knights in the policeman role. He is a fan favorite in the Philadelphia area, being a former Philadelphia Flyer.<h2>WHA SCOREBOARD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02203/3434024-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="611" height="539"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 15Minnesota 1 at Edmonton 4Quebec 4 at Los Angeles 6Wed. Jan. 16Toronto 1 at Edmonton 4Jersey 2 at New England 4Thu. Jan. 17Vancouver 4 at Houston 7Chicago 5 at New England 2Fri. Jan. 18Jersey 4 at Edmonton 7Cleveland 3 at Winnipeg 7Toronto 1 at Los Angeles 4Sat. Jan. 19Jersey 5 at Vancouver 4Los Angeles 3 at Houston 2Minnesota 2 at New England 5Quebec 2 at Chicago 5Sun. Jan. 20Cleveland 2 at Edmonton 5Jersey 3 at Winnipeg 9Vancouver 3 at Los Angeles 0New England 4 at Toronto 8Minnesota 4 at Quebec 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Jan 22Jersey at EdmontonLos Angeles at HoustonNew England at ChicagoWed. Jan. 23Cleveland at VancouverJersey at MinnesotaThu. Jan. 24Quebec at HoustonCleveland at TorontoFri. Jan. 25Winnipeg at EdmontonChicago at MinnesotaQuebec at Los AngelesSat. Jan. 26Houston at VancouverCleveland at New EnglandSun. Jan. 27Houston at EdmontonWinnipeg at MinnesotaVancouver at TorontoCleveland at QuebecLos Angeles at JerseyMon. Jan. 28Vancouver at New EnglandTue. Jan. 29Los Angeles at QuebecToronto at JerseyWed. Jan. 30Chicago at VancouverHouston at Cleveland<h2>WHA Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01267/3434017-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="631" height="890"></div> &#9632;

f0024-02

WHA Sees War With NHL Near End; Hot-Scoring Toros Chase Whalers

<div class="byline">BY ALEX HARDY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;&ldquo;This is very tough,&rdquo; admits Marc Tardif. The reference is to playing hockey for a living in Los Angeles.A French native, Tardif now finds himself in a place where the natives hardly speak French. And the climate is totally unlike Quebec, where he played on two Stanley Cup championship teams with Mont-! real Canadiens. The moody right winger has been somewhat of a disappointment for the Los Angeles Sharks. His failure to perform as a super star is a major reason the Sharks are presently out of the playoffs in the WHA West. Tardif has been hot of late passing the 20-goal mark.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01218/3434062-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="287" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Howe</figcaption></div>Tardif is homesick for Quebec. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t know many people here. I&rsquo;ve got troubles with my English, too,&rdquo; he says publicly. Privately, it is rumored he wants to return to Quebec at the first opportunity.Tardif was lured to Los Angeles by California gold. He got an $18,000 Mercedes Benz and a $75,000 contract per year for three years. It is double his salary with Canadiens.Lacking a big name, the Sharks billed Tardif as a superstar who would score at least 50 goals his first season. But while Los Angeles fans waited expectantly, Tardif didn&rsquo;t score a goal until his 10th game. He has improved his pace since then, however, and general manager Terry Slater feels he still has a chance at 50 goals.&ldquo;I just try to do my best,&rdquo; says Tardif. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m a super star. I&rsquo;m only one of 20 players. I&rsquo;ll do what I&rsquo;m able to do.&rdquo;Tardif, an excellent skater, has been foiled on more breakaways than probably any other WHA player. He has also hurt the Sharks with some lacklustre defensive play.Elsewhere with the Sharks, league bad man Steve Sutherland continues to enjoy fighting with the Winnipeg Jets. In five games between the clubs, Sutherland has fought three times. Two have been against Bobby Ash, Winnipeg&rsquo;s smallest defenseman. The other was with 20-year-old rookie Kelly Pratt.And veteran goalie Jimmy McLeod had been a welcome addition even though he reported late because of his wife&rsquo;s illness. Sharks had to give up Earl Heiskala and also tossed in goalie Russ Gillow.HOUSTON: Gordie Howe continued to set a hot pace as the Aeros scoring leader. Houston also has two of the three top WHA rookie scorers &mdash; Andre Hinse and Mark Howe. And Don McLeod was the league&rsquo;s hottest netminder, although there are six goalies bunched tightly in the battle for lowest GA.Mark Howe may be the league&rsquo;s youngest player (by three days over Toronto&rsquo;s Wayne Dillon) but he is no fuzzy-cheeked kid playing a man&rsquo;s game. Howe traded Minnesota&rsquo;s Gord Gallant punch for punch in a recent confrontation. and Gallant is Saints&rsquo; best fighter.Aeros are doing well against the Winnipeg Jets this season, in marked contrast to last year when the Jets won six of eight league games and four straight in the playoffs. This year the Aeros at one point scored 16 goals against Jets without a reply.WINNIPEG: The Jets have earned 71 percent of possible points at home and only 25 percent on the road. It&rsquo;s a considerable drop from pre-season objectives of 75 percent at home and 50 percent on the road. February is a busy month for the Jets with seven home and seven away games, but in March things cool off with only five road contests.Jets&rsquo; owner Ben Hatskin can apparently get the rental deal he wants on Winnipeg Arena if he signs a long-term lease to keep the team in Winnipeg. Jets claim they have paid between $2,500 and $5,000 rental per game this season. Hatskin says he doubts the Jets will ever play in a new arena in Winnipeg, but he at least wants another4.000 seats added to the existing building before he signs. A $2-3 million renovation scheme would enlarge the Arena to I4.000. It was done in Buffalo, where a modest amount of money was spent to raise the roof and insert a deck, thereby converting the stadium into a major league facility. And there are reports the Jets will stay in Winnipeg despite all the moving talk.EDMONTON: Forward Tom Gilmore and defenseman Doug Barrie have transformed the Oilers into one of the league&rsquo;s roughest clubs. They are both fighting it out with Vancouver&rsquo;s Colin Campbell for the penalty leadership. And they were two of the principals in a recent brawl in Houston which drew continent-wide attention.Barrie, whose face already looks like a road map. is the most combative Oiler. He has so many scores to settle around the league he admits to having trouble keeping track of all his upcoming rematches.And Bill Hunter doesn&rsquo;t sound much like a general manager in the midst of tough contract negotations with star center Jim Harrison. He describes Harrison as &ldquo;the best player in pro hockey outside of Phil Esposito.&rdquo; Meantime, it is reported the Oilers lost Winston Salem farm hands Ron Anderson and Brian Carlin in the recent WHA expansion draft.MINNESOTA: Mike Walton is being blamed for some of the problems of Fighting Saints, who at one point lost five straight games at home and saw attendance slump to less than 5,000 a game when the break-even point is more than 10.000; Walton, a former problem child at Toronto and Boston, plays and scores in streaks. Saints had to lay out a reported $150,000 a season for Walton, who wasn&rsquo;t wanted in the NHL because of his kooky reputation.Saints are feeling the money pinch. Their budget this season is $2.5 million, at least $500,000 more than most WHA teams.VANCOUVER: Blazers&rsquo; Danny Lawson continues to go great guns as a goal scorer. He leads the league and at one recent point scored in eight straight games Lawson, quiet and unassuming, scored a league-leading 61 goals last year. Asked what he&rsquo;s going to do for an encore, he answered simply, &ldquo;try to score 62.&rdquo; He has a good chance.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02156/3434055-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="559" height="625"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARC TARDIF&hellip;He&rsquo;s Home Sick</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-01

Tardif Likes L.A. ‘Gold’ But It’s Not Home

<h2>Tue. Jan. 15 MINNESOTA 1 at EDMONTON 4</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Edmonton, Wall (Harrison, Barrie) &hellip; 10:042&mdash;Edmonton, Lunde (Wall, Barrie) &hellip; 10:583&mdash;Minnesota. Arbour (MacMillan, McMahon) &hellip; 18:58Penalties: Barrie 4:41. Falkenberg, Smith 9:42.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>No scoring.Penalties: Rydman (minor, major, misconduct), Harrison (minor, major) 9:02.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Edmonton, Hamilton (Harrison) &hellip; 6:035&mdash;Edmonton, Gilmore (McDonald, Wall) &hellip; 16:50Penalty: Hamilton 8:31.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01223/3434184-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="619" height="120"></div><h2>QUEBEC 4 at LOS ANGELES 6</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Los Angeles, Tardif (Leclerc, Desjardins) &hellip; 0:512&mdash;Quebec, Guindon (Leclerc, Desjardins) &hellip; 1:483&mdash;Quebec, Lacombe (Leclerc, Gaudette) &hellip; 11:01Penalties: Guite (minor, major, misconduct, game misconduct) Desjardine (minor, misconduct). Beaule (minor, major, misconduct), Garwasiuk (double minor, major, misconduct, game misconduct), Sutherland (minor, misconduct) Niekamp (minor, major, misconduct, game misconduct) 7:23, Roy 18:04. Houle, Ward (minors, majors) 19.33.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Los Angeles, Walters &hellip; 6:355&mdash;Quebec, Gaudette &hellip; 17:106&mdash;Quebec, Bernier (Caron) &hellip; 17:22Penalties: Leclerc, Veneruzzo (minors, majors) 2:54; Roy. White 4:34; Lacombe 13:05; Roy. Ward (minors, majors) 14:44; Thomas 16:40.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>7&mdash;Los Angeles, Thomas (Veneruzzo, Walters) &hellip; 9:308&mdash;Los Angeles, Tardif (LeBlanc, White) &hellip; 11:539&mdash;Los Angeles, Walters (Veneruzzo, Ward) &hellip; 12:4610&mdash;Los Angeles, LeBlanc (Tardif) &hellip; 19:47Penalties: Roy, Ward 5:19: Beaule 17:59; Bernier, Odrowski 18:31.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02172/3434177-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="605" height="116"></div><h2>Wed. Jan. 16 TORONTO 1 at HOUSTON 4</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Houston, Mark Howe (G. Howe, Sherrit) &hellip; 7:402&mdash;Houston. G. Howe (Hughes, Hinse) &hellip; 13:18Penalties: Popiel 2:31. Hughes 5:04. Cunnigham 11:46, Lund 19:31.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>3&mdash;Houston, Labossiere (Kannegiesser) &hellip; 1:49Penalties: Mark Howe, Sentes 0:49; Kannegiesser2:50; Gibson, Labossiere 11:53; Sentes 12:24.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Houston, Sherrit (Marty Howe, G. Howe) &hellip; 0:205&mdash;Toronto, Martin (Sentes, Cunningham) &hellip; 4:17Penalties: None.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03138/3434170-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="600" height="114"></div><h2>JERSEY 2 at NEW ENGLAND 4</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;New England, Karlander (French, Green) &hellip; 13:39Penalties: Ley 6:30, Dorey 18:11.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>2&mdash;New England, Williams (Dorey) &hellip; 10:14Penalties: Reichmuth 4:45, Morenz 16:04.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>3&mdash;New England, French (Karlander, Sheehy) &hellip; 0:224&mdash;Jersey, Morenz &hellip; 5:165&mdash;New England, Harris (Williams, Byers) &hellip; 15:246&mdash;Jersey, Howell (Ferguson) &hellip; 18:24Penalties: Morrison 2:41; Speer 5:46: Reichmuth. Ley (majors, misconducts) 20:00.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04104/3434163-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="593" height="117"></div><h2>Thu. Jan. 17 VANCOUVER 4 at HOUSTON 7</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Houston, G. Howe (Sherrit, Popiel) &hellip; 5:462&mdash;Vancouver, Burgess (Hatoum) &hellip; 7:153&mdash;Vancouver, Hatoum &hellip; 8:154&mdash;Houston, Mark Howe (G. Howe) &hellip; 6:185 Vancouver, Campbell (Lawson, Burgess) &hellip; 19:29Penalties: Hughes 0:52; Grierson (major, Campbell (major) 4:08; Myers, Lund 10:54, Cardiff 14:47; Plumb 15:42.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>6&mdash;Houston, Lund (Hinse) &hellip; 9:247&mdash;Houston, Schella (Marty Howe, Lund) &hellip; 15:43Penalties: St. Sauveur 3:58; Lund 10:00.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>8&mdash;Houston, Hinse (Hale) &hellip; 9:429&mdash;Houston, Mark Howe (G. Howe) &hellip; 11:5110&mdash;Vancouver, Burgess (Beaudoin) &hellip; 17:5811&mdash;Houston, Sherrit (Mark. Howe) &hellip; 18:52Penalties: Hutchison, Popiel 9:57, Vancouver bench served by Adair 12:26; Schella 14:20; Schella, Hutchison 20:00.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0583/3434156-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="589" height="114"></div><h2>CHICAGO 5 at NEW ENGLAND 2</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Chicago, Stapleton (Maggs, Harris) &hellip; 13:152&mdash;New England, Sheehy (Dorey, French) &hellip; 16:493&mdash;Chicago. Morris (Sicinski, Popiel) &hellip; 18:43Penalties: Green 0:21, Paiement 1:55.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Chicago, Harris (Hardy, Stapleton) 12:475&mdash;Chicago, Backstrom (Paiement) &hellip; 13:536&mdash;Chicago, Backstrom (Stapleton, Liddington) &hellip; 19:24Penalties: Proceviat 8:18; Dorey 14:34; Selwood 19:10.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>7&mdash;New England, Webster (Hurley, Pleau) &hellip; 7:54Penalty: Mavety 8:20.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0663/3434149-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="597" height="120"></div><h2>Fri. Jan. 18 JERSEY 4 at EDMONTON 7</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Edmonton, Wall &hellip; 1:292&mdash;Edmonton, Fonteyne (Harrison) &hellip; 2:273&mdash;Edmonton, Climie (Wall, Harrison) &hellip; 5:044&mdash;Jersey, Block (Lacroix, Morenz) &hellip; 7:47Penalties: Falkenberg 0:28, Hamilton 7:22. Morentz 11:31.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>5&mdash;Edmonton, McKenzie (Harrison) &hellip; 0:446&mdash;Edmonton, Lunde (Wall, Gilmore) &hellip; 2:417&mdash;Jersey, Scharf (Morenz) &hellip; 3:318&mdash;Edmonton, Patenaude (Perkins, McAneeley) &hellip; 13:409&mdash;Edmonton, HarrisonWall, Climie) &hellip; 13:5710&mdash;Jersey, Peacosh (Morrison, Lacroix) &hellip; 18:58Penalties: Climie 7:53. Cote (minor, major) Scharf (major) 8:31.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>11&mdash;Jersey, Perry (Peters Block) &hellip; 7:07Penalties: Hamilton 13:14. Brown 1:38.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0752/3434142-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="603" height="105"></div><h2>CLEVELAND 3 at WINNIPEG 7</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Cleveland, Erickson (Heindl, Shmyr) &hellip; 5:462&mdash;Winnipeg, Snell (Hull, Woytowich) &hellip; 7:373&mdash;Winnipeg, Black (Hargreaves, Bordeleau) &hellip; 10:464&mdash;Cleveland, Jarrett (L. Hillman) &hellip; 11:33Penalties: Wiste 5:28, Pinder, McDonald 11:24<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>5&mdash;Cleveland, Krake (Jarrett) &hellip; 2:506&mdash;Winnipeg. Bordeleau (Hornung. Black) &hellip; 13:217&mdash;Winnipeg, Huck (Asmundson, Snell) &hellip; 14:458&mdash;Winnipeg, Hull (Snell, Huck) &hellip; 16:08Penalty: Shmyr 17:22.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>9&mdash;Winnipeg, Hull (Huck) &hellip; 10:4910&mdash;Winnipeg, Zanussi (Snell, Huck) &hellip; 11:26Penalty: Muloin 15:56.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0844/3434135-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="608" height="121"></div><h2>TORONTO 1 at LOS ANGELES 4</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Los Angeles. Sutherland (Serviss) &hellip; 1:022&mdash;Los Angeles, Tardif (Walters, Niekamp) &hellip; 7:593&mdash;Toronto, Kirk (Hickey. B. Gibbons) &hellip; 12:13Penalties: Sutherland 11:15, Amodeo 16:33.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Los Angeles, Tardif (Leblanc, Odrowski) &hellip; 10:30Penalties: Cuddie 8:42, Brewer 11:07.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>5&mdash;Los Angeles, Ward (Walters, Veneruzzo) &hellip; 17:48Penalty: Sutherland 0:26.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0938/3434128-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="597" height="114"></div><h2>Sat. Jan. 19 JERSEY 5 at VANCOUVER 4</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Vancouver, Myers (St. Sauveur, Beaudoin) &hellip; 11:521&mdash;Jersey. Laughton (Herriman, Block) &hellip; 12:52Penalties: Hutchison 3:25, Morrison 5:19, Cardiff 9:51. Reichmuth 10:53. Howell 13:31.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>3&mdash;Jersey, Lacroix (Herriman, Perry) &hellip; 1:054&mdash;Vancouver, Myers (MacSweyn) &hellip; 12:515&mdash;Jersey, Morrison (Lacroix, Reichmuth) &hellip; 16:25Penalties: St. Sauveur. Boylan (double minors) 3:18, Reichmuth 14:10.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>6&mdash;Jersey, Perry (Laughton, Herriman) &hellip; 7:407&mdash;Vancouver, Chernoff (McKenzie) &hellip; 17:008&mdash;Vancouver, Myers (Lawson, B. Campbell) &hellip; 19:36Penalties; None.<h3>OVERTIME PERIOD</h3>9&mdash;Jersey, Perry (Herriman, Morrison) &hellip; 2:36Penalty: Campbell 0:29.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1035/3434121-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="605" height="114"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES 3 at HOUSTON 2</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>No scoring.Penalties: Serviss 0:47. Marty Howe 5:53.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Los Angeles, Sutherland (Serviss) &hellip; 1:062&mdash;Houston, Hall (Labossiere, Mark Howe) &hellip; 3:103&mdash;Los Angeles, LeBlanc &hellip; 7:05Penalties: Veneruzzo 2:46, Hinse 5:44.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Houston, Hinse (Lund, G. Howe) &hellip; 7:245&mdash;Los Angeles, Sutherland (Thomas, Crashley) &hellip; 8:09Penalties: Watson 6:26, Neikamp 1.33, Popiel 12:47, Marty Howe, Walters 15:32.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1132/3434114-1-eng-US/f0026-112.jpg" title="f0026-11" width="594" height="124"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 2 at N. ENGLAND 5</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;New England, Karlander (Dorey) &hellip; 6:362&mdash;New England. French (Sheehy, Karlander) &hellip; 14:32Penalties: Ley 6:57. Ball 10:55<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>3&mdash;New England, Harris (Williams, Seiwood) &hellip; 18:20Penalty: McMahon 15:11.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Minnesota, Hampson &hellip; 3:455&mdash;Minnesota, Antoniovich (MacMillan, Smith) &hellip; 6:116&mdash;New England, Williams (Harris, Hurley) &hellip; 10:247&mdash;New England, Sheehy &hellip; 16:36Penalties: Seiwood 1:16, Ley (misconduct, game misconduct) 6:16, Christiansen 7:00.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1226/3434107-1-eng-US/f0026-122.jpg" title="f0026-12" width="598" height="113"></div><h2>QUEBEC 2 at CHICAGO 5</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Chicago, Rochon (Whitlock, Backstrom) &hellip; 9:222&mdash;Quebec, Houle &hellip; 15:29Penalties: Harris 5:03. Beaule (major) 8:38, Shmyr 10:50.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>3&mdash;Quebec, Parizeau (Bernier) &hellip; 1:384&mdash;Chicago, Coates (Whitlock, Rombaugh) &hellip; 9:31Penalty: Maggs 4:03.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>5&mdash;Chicago, Rombough (Mavety, Backstrom) &hellip; 5:026&mdash;Chicago. Backstrom (Stapleton, Rombough) &hellip; 7:167&mdash;Chicago, Backstrom (Stapleton, Whitlock) &hellip; 9:40Penalties: Parizeau 4:05, Houle 7:02, Lacombe 8:54, Morris 12:49, Mavety 14:19.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1326/3434100-1-eng-US/f0026-132.jpg" title="f0026-13" width="597" height="112"></div><h2>Sun. Jan. 20 MINNESOTA 4 at QUEBEC 5</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Minnesota. Klatt (Hampson, McMahon) &hellip; 1:332&mdash;Quebec. Caron (Houle) &hellip; 15:003&mdash;Quebec, Guite (Parizeau, Beaule) &hellip; 16:37Penalties: Beaule 5:34; Smith 10:27; Gallant 14:02; Minnesota double bench (served by Antonovich)Minnesota game misconduct &hellip; 17:04.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Quebec, Guite (Beaule) &hellip; 9:095&mdash;Quebec, Dufour (Beaule. Gilbert) &hellip; 13:036&mdash;Minnesota, M. Walton &hellip; 15:48Penalties: Beaule (double minor) Gallant 2:00; Gallant, Roy (majors) 14:27.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>7&mdash;Minnesota, Christiansen (Hampson) &hellip; 2:128&mdash;Minnesota, Klatt (Arbour, Hampson) &hellip; 8:26Penalties: MacMillan 5:56; Lacombe 15:35.<h3>OVERTIME PERIOD</h3>9&mdash;Quebec. Bernier (Caron, Hoganson) &hellip; 7:22Penalties: Arbour 1:21; Paradise 6:09.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1422/3434093-1-eng-US/f0026-142.jpg" title="f0026-14" width="604" height="122"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

World Hockey Association Summaries

<div class="byline">BY JOHN TRAVERS</div>HERSHEY&mdash;Balance is the name of the game with the Hershey Bears attack which has netted I68 goals in their first 40 games for a 4.2 per game average.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got three good lines going for us,&rdquo; said coach Chuck Hamilton. &ldquo;When one line is not clicking, then another one comes through.&rdquo; For instance. In the club&rsquo;s last 18 games, the line of Jim Hrycuik and wingers Robin Burns and Steve Andrascik have hammered home 27 goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02161/3434229-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="264" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body">George Hulme</figcaption></div>Then in a 13-game stretch, Hugh Harvey&rsquo;s line of Don Seilingand Blaine Stoughton delivered 21 goals, while another line of Bob McManama and wingmen Jim Pearson and Hank Nowak popped in 24 goals in 14 games.McManama, the rookie center out of Harvard, was on one of the longest consecutive game scoring streaks in American Hockey League history as of Jan. 10.The Belmont, Mass, product had notched a goal or an assist through 17 straight games, dating back to Dec. 4. In that span he garnered nine goals and 15 assists for 24 points.The league record for consecutive game scoring was set in the late 1940&rsquo;s by Tommy Burlington, of Cleveland, who ran off a 24-game string.Hershey sits on top of the Southern Division. However, Hamilton hasn&rsquo;t exactly been turning hand springs over the club&rsquo;s home ice play.The Bears after 19 games at the Sports Arena were 10-5-4 and showed only one win in three games in early January.&ldquo;January is the month we&rsquo;ve got to make a big move and get the points,&rdquo; said Hamilton, whose club has seven more home games before taking off on a road trip in early February.On the road Hershey has been the league&rsquo;s second strongest team &mdash; New Haven is tops &mdash; with 11 wins, six losses and four ties for 26 points of a possible 42.In two player movements, the NHL Penguins sent defenseman Larry Bignell back to the Bears and Guido Tenesi, a forward on loan to Albuquerque of the CHL, was recalled by Pittsburgh and dispatched to Hershey as well.BALTIMORE: Goalie Denis Dejordy was sidelined for a spell with broken blood vessels in his glove hand and Ken Lockett, who has played well this season, moved in to take over the nets. Jim Morrison&rsquo;s Clippers, however, came through with a brilliant effort in December, with 10 wins, a tie and only two defeats. But ahead was a tough stretch. The Clippers were faced with eight games in the first 12 days of January six of the matches on the road.&ldquo;I would say by the end of this month, we should have a pretty good idea of where we&rsquo;re going to finish,&rdquo; said the Clippers&rsquo; coach.VIRGINIA: Despite the Red Wings being camped in fifth place in Southern Division, they have had good success against two of the league&rsquo;s strongest teams, Hershey and Providence. Against the Bears, Virginia was 1-1-1 while with the Reds the Wings held a 3-1 win margin. Ken Murray was recalled by Detroit under emergency conditions and returned. Goalie George Hulme, who has a pair of shutouts, shows a win and a tie against the offensive-minded Hershey club. Dan Gruen continues to lead the club&rsquo;s scorers with 15 goals, while Herb Boxer and Len Fontaine have 10 each.RICHMOND: After 39 games the Robins had yet to hit double figures in the win column with only nine victories to their credit. The club has been unable to muster any sustained offensive wallop with just 96 goals for while the defense has been shredded for 168 at the 39-game mark. Injuries riddled the club from the season&rsquo;s outset and it has yet to recover from what coach Larry Wilson says &ldquo;is the most injuries I&rsquo;ve ever seen one club suffer.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03123/3434222-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="1184" height="978"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hershey defenseman JACK LYNCH, right, tangles with BERT WILSON (10) of Providence for puck in recent AHL action.</figcaption></div><h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01206/3434215-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="613" height="545"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 15Richmond 3 at Baltimore 6Springfield 6 at Boston 4Rochester 4 at Nova Scotia 6Cincinnati 4 at Virginia 1Wed. Jan. 16Nova Scotia 2 at Hershey 3Rochester 5 at Providence 3Boston 2 at Richmond 3Fri. Jan. 18Cincinnati 1 at Baltimore 3Richmond 2 at Jacksonville 2Nova Scotia 2 at Providence 1New Haven 3 at Rochester 7Boston 3 at Springfield 3Hershey 4 at Virginia 4Sat. Jan. 19Rochester 3 at Boston 3Baltimore 6 at Hershey 3Providence 2 at Springfield 3Sun. Jan. 20Richmond 7 at Jacksonville 3Baltimore 2 at New Haven 5Cincinnati 3 at Nova Scotia 0Boston 4 at Providence 11Hershey 3 at Rochester 4Springfield 2 at Virginia 4<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Jan. 22Jacksonville at BostonSpringfield at RichmondWed. Jan. 23Baltimore at CincinnatiSpringfield at HersheyRichmond at VirginiaThu. Jan. 24Jacksonville at Nova ScotiaFri. Jan. 25Hershey at BaltimoreNew Haven at CincinnatiNova Scotia at ProvidenceVirginia at RichmondBoston at RochesterJacksonville at SpringfieldSat. Jan. 26Virginia at BaltimoreRochester at BostonRichmond at HersheyProvidence at SpringfieldSun. Jan. 27Hershey at CincinnatiRichmond at New HavenBoston at Nova ScotiaJacksonville at ProvidenceVirginia at RochesterTue. Jan. 29Rochester at BaltimoreRichmond at BostonWed. Jan. 30Providence at CincinnatiVirginia at HersheyJacksonville at New HavenThu. Jan. 31Richmond at Nova ScotiaBaltimore at VirginiaFri. Feb. 1Cincinnati at New HavenJacksonville at RochesterNova Scotia at Springfield &#9632;

f0027-02

Balanced Offense Keeps Hershey No. 1 In Race

<div class="byline">&#x2014;TANNER</div>JACKSONVILLE &mdash;Ted Johnson, the Jacksonville businessman who. as part owner of the Jacksonville Barons, said recently he was disappointed but not discouraged with the fan turnout here, must have changed his mind.He notified Nick Mileti. the majority owner who also has the Cleveland Crusaders of the World Hockey Association, on Jan. 4 that he was pullingout of the club as president.Plenty of scurrying followed, and Jack Vivian, general manager of the Crusaders, spent a week here trying to get things on an even keel.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re staying in Jacksonville this season. Vivian says. As for next year, well, that depends on what sort of acceptance we have the rest of this season.&ldquo;We were at fault for not supervising the operation closely enough. 1 was the general manager strictly from the player end here, but now I&rsquo;m running two full operations here and in Cleveland.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve named John Hanna the assistant general manager here as well as coach. He&rsquo;ll be supervising the entire operation here now.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re coming out with a new type of approach&mdash;discount tickets, second halt season tickets and other promotions. But probably the most important thing we&rsquo;re doing is to have a more permanent roster of players.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m tired of conditioning players for other teams. That wasn&rsquo;t the intention of this thing, and it has bothered the fans &mdash; all this constant changing of players.&ldquo;New England has cooperated tremendously with us. some of our other partners have not. Both John and 1 spent too many nights on the phone trying to find a quick replacement for somebody who had just been recalled without warning.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to the best for Jacksonville. Naturally, we want to have a strong representative team, and this move toward a permanent roster should help.&rdquo;One big addition to the squad is center Ed Hoekstra, sent in by Houston. Hoekstra led the American League in assists two years ago when he had 69 for Springfield. It&rsquo;ll take him a few games to regain his timing after a lot of bench sitting with the Aeros, but he should help the Barons.Jacksonville took agiant stride toward a playoff spot with back-to-back wins over Virginia Jan. 6th and 7th. Goalie Yves Belanger limited the Wings to one goal in each of the games as his team won 2-1 and 5-1. Virginia is the club the Barons are going to have to beat out for fourth place. &#9632;

Jacksonville President Quits AHL Club

<h2>Sat. Dec. 22 NOVA SCOTIA 3 at BALTIMORE 5</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Nova Scotia, Belisle (Fullan, Lemieux) &hellip; 16:382&mdash;Baltimore, Dufour (Houde, Pulkkinen) &hellip; 17:15Penalties: Delparte, Foley 2:13, Geldart 8:27.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>3&mdash;Nova Scotia, Chiasson &hellip; 11:454&mdash;Baltimore, Gilmour (Cook, Sokoll) &hellip; 17:37Penalties: Geldart 5:44, Mikkelson 9:36.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>5&mdash;Baltimore, Douglas (Murphy) &hellip; 0:476&mdash;Baltimore, Rolando (Dufour) &hellip; 16:227&mdash;Nova Scotia, Lemieux (Fullan) &hellip; 19:158&mdash;Baltimore, Dufour (Rivard, Foley) 19:45Penalties: Geldart 8:19, Foley 8:19, Oja (major), Murphy (minor, major) 11:10, Delparte (major, game misconduct). Menard (major) 14:49Saves: Shaw (Nova Scotia) 27. Lockett (Baltimore) 28.<h2>Thu. Jan. 3 PROVIDENCE 2 at NOVA SCOTIA 2</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Nova Scotia, Fullan (Goldup) &hellip; 12:542&mdash;Providence, Middleton (Carr. Horbul) &hellip; 13:37Penalties: Butler 11:37, Peloffy 15:22.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>3&mdash;Nova Scotia, Fullan (Van Boxmeer) &hellip; 15:504&mdash;Providence, Hunt (Lagantere, Dennis) &hellip; 17:34Penalties: Goldup 13:53, Cahoon 16:07.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>No Scoring.Penalties: Dennis 2:47, Lagamere 11:57.Saves: Ridley (Providence) 36. Shaw (Nova Scotia) 20.Attendance: 2,340.<h2>Sun. Jan. 6 BALTIMORE 5 at PROVIDENCE 3</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Baltimore, Gilmour (Murphy) &hellip; 14:15Penalties Mikkelson 1:01, Carr (minor, misconduct) 2:42<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>2&mdash;Providence, Hunt (Dennis, Butler) 1:333&mdash;Baltimore, Foley (Rivard) &hellip; 2:444&mdash;Providence, Bednarski (Carr. Laganiere) &hellip; 8:22Penalties: Murphy 6:15, Horbul 10:27, Foley 15:57, Wilson 15:57, Hunt 18:43.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>5&mdash;Providence, Polano (Carr) &hellip; 2:056&mdash;Providence, Horbul (Borgeson, Bednarski) &hellip; 3:317&mdash;Baltimore, Menard (Dufour, Douglas) &hellip; 6:478&mdash;Providence, Laganiere (Peloffy, Bednarski) &hellip; 14:03Penalties: Murphy 2:22, Bednarski 6:23.Saves: Lockett (Baltimore) 28. Ridley (Providence) 29.Attendance: 4,572.<h2>SPRINGFIELD 5 at NOVA SCOTIA 12</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Nova Scotia. Delparte (Wilson) &hellip; 0:322&mdash;Nova Scotia. Belisle (Gilbert, Van Boxmeer) &hellip; 2:183&mdash;Nova Scotia, Delparte (Shanahan, Cahon) &hellip; 4:414&mdash;Springfield, Chernecki (Healey) &hellip; 10:175&mdash;Nova Scotia, Delparte (Shanahan, Cahoon) &hellip; 13:426&mdash;Nova Scotia, Cahoon (Van Boxmeer, Shanahan) &hellip; 14:247&mdash;Nova Scotia, Belisle (Andruff, Goldup) &hellip; 14:57Penalties: Kimble 5:29, Hubick 8:16, Gilbert 10:09, Healey 11:22, Kimble. Van Horlick (major) Goldup (minor, major) 18:43.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>8&mdash;Nova Scotia, Cahoon (Wilson) &hellip; 3:189&mdash;Nova Scotia, Fullan (Gilbert) &hellip; 3:4810&mdash;Nova Scotia, Chaisson (Delparte, Fullan) &hellip; 9.0011&mdash;Springfield, Heaslip (MacGuigan, Kinch) &hellip; 10:1412&mdash;Nova Scotia, Oja (Gilbert, Van Boxmeer) &hellip; 12:1513&mdash;Nova Scotia, Shanahan (Howse, Delparte) &hellip; 16:1814&mdash;Nova Scotia, Cahoon (Howse, Delparte) &hellip; 16:53Penalties: Andruff 0:23, Baltimore 7:15, Andruff 7:53, Lachance 14:54, Dube 16:18, Goldup 18:59.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>15&mdash;Springfield, Venasky &hellip; 8:0316&mdash;Springfield, Lachance &hellip; 13:5717&mdash;Springfield, Chernecki (Healey, Van Horlick) &hellip; 14:58Penalties: Healey 1:58, Van Horlick 7:07Saves: Kimble-Germain (Springfield) 31, Shaw (Nova Scotia) 33.Attendance: 2,017.<h2>CINCINNATI 0 at ROCHESTER 2</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Rochester, Bredin (Knibbs, Pagnutti) &hellip; 13:26Penalties: Busniuk 6:35.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>No Scoring.Penalties: Haji 2:32, Ferguson 12:49. Nichols (major). Dussiaume (major) 20:00.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>2&mdash;Rochester, Butler (Dussiaume, Stratton) &hellip; 6:33Penalties: Smulders 1:28, Inglis (game misconduct) 6:33.Saves Bromley (Cincinnati) 38, Sneddon (Rochester) 25.Attendance: 7,003.<h2>BOSTON 2 at NEW HAVEN 4</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;New Haven, Nornsh &hellip; 16:312&mdash;Boston, Boehm (Sterling, Cockery) &hellip; 17:03Penalties, New Haven bench &hellip; 3:13.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>3&mdash;New Haven, Hobrook (Patterson, Nornsh) 10:50Penalties: Clairmont 6:00, Westrum 9:29, Burns 9:29, Jacquith 15:48, Langlais 16:40, Westrum 18:49. Burns (double minor) 18:49.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;New Haven, Byers. (Patterson, Dunlop) &hellip; 0:395&mdash;Boston, Leduc (Jacquith, Anderson) &hellip; 5:076&mdash;New Haven, Dunlop (Langlais, Patterson) &hellip; 9:04Penalties: Byers (minor, misconduct) 5:36. Cockery 8:34, Chinnick 11:50.Saves: Reece (Boston) 30, Carter (New Haven) 35.Attendance: 4,558. &#9632;

American Hockey League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div>HALIFAX &mdash;Anybody checking Larry Fullan&rsquo;s scoring figures a year ago in his rookie season of professional hockey certainly would not expect him to be among the American League leaders in goals and points this season.But there he is, headed for what should be a 35-40 goal campaign and probably a spot among the top 10-15 scorers in the league.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01162/3434308-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="266" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Fullan</figcaption></div>With the Nova Scotia Voyageurs last season. Fullan was in uniform for 50 games, scored just four goals and added 10 assists for 14 points.Returning to the Voyageurs this season, the 5-11, 185-pound forward surpassed his 1972-73 goal output by the time the schedule was nine games old and bettered his point total in his 16th game.Why the sudden emergence?&ldquo;Sure 1 dressed for 50 games, but I don&rsquo;t think I played regularly in more than 15,&rdquo; Fullan says. &ldquo;There were just too many guys ahead of me. But I think 1 learned a lot sitting and watching, although I don&rsquo;t think anybody feels they learn enough if they&rsquo;re not playing.&ldquo;I was pretty discouraged. There were times I thought maybe I just wasn&rsquo;t good enough for pro hockey. But Al (Nova Scotia coach AJ MacNeil) used me a lot more in the playoffs and that really encouraged me. He told me at the end of the year that I&rsquo;d be a vital part of this year&rsquo;s team, and that helped, too.&ldquo;I came to camp with a good attitude as the result.&rdquo;Fullan indeed has been vital for the Voyageurs. With January not half over, the former Cornell University All-American already had 23 goals and 22 assists for 45 points in 43 games. Only three players in the league had more goals at that point.But despite his new-found success, Larry isn&rsquo;t kidding himself about a future with the parent Montreal Canadiens.&ldquo;I think the possibilities of making the Canadiens are pretty slim,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;My contract will be up at the end of this season, and I&rsquo;ll let things fall into place over the summer. With expansion coming again and all. this is a good time to have a good year.&rdquo;MacNeil is happy with Fullan&rsquo;s play, of course.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a tremendously smart hockey player.&rdquo; the Vees coach says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got one of the good shots in the league and is one of the best puck carriers we have, when he wants to go with it.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got one bad habit that we&rsquo;re trying to correct. Larry tends to sit back and watch a little when he could make things happen by driving all the time. It probably is a carry over from college, but if he&rsquo;d keep working, he&rsquo;d be one of the best in the league.&rdquo;Fullan scored his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season before the third period of the Jan. 12th game in Springfield was a half minute old. He hit at the 12 second mark and again at 0:26 to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead. But Springfield scored the tying goal with five seconds remaining in the game.CINCINNATI: It wasn&rsquo;t much fun visiting the Swords in Cincinnati last season. The Swords set a league record with 32 victories on home ice, while tying one and losing only five.It&rsquo;s a different story this season, though. When the Swords lost 3-1 to Rochester Jan. 8, it was their fifth defeat of the year on home ice against 12 wins and a tie, and the schedule wasn&rsquo;t half over.Before heading out on a long road trip, Cincinnati had struggled through seven games at home with only two victories and a tie against four defeats before beating Richmond 4-2 on the 9th.The Swords lost 3-1 to Baltimore Dec. 16, 8-2 to Hershey Dec. 21, beat Virginia 3-2 Dec. 23, tied Rochester2-2 Dec. 29, beat Baltimore 5-2 Jan. 2 and then lost 7-0 to New Haven Jan. 4 and 3-1 to Rochester Jan. 8.When coach Floyd Smith&rsquo;s injury riddled forces beat Richmond, it ended a four-game losing streak in which the Swords mustered only a total of three goals.Latest casualty was Jack Surbey, who suffered a fractured jaw when checked by Rochester&rsquo;s Francois Ouimet.And to complete the picture of gloom for the Swords, a three-inch snowfall hit the night of a stick night promotion which normally attracts a large crowd. Only 1,776 showed up.ROCHESTER: Jan. 11 was a night to remember with mixed emotions for the Rochester Americans and their fans.The lights at the north end of the War Memorial failed after only 2:14 of the first period of the game with Nova Scotia for third place in the Northern Division.Referee John McCauley waited for 45 minutes, then after a quick check with building manager Joe Lusardi, notified both teams he was calling off the game. A couple of minutes after the fans were told of the cancellation by a bull horn announcement from center ice by Amerk publicity chief John Den Hamer, the lights suddenly flashed back on.McCauley confered quickly with both coaches (Don Cherry of Rochester and Al MacNeil of Nova Scotia) and it was decided to resume play at 9:15.Many of the fans who left heard about the late switch on their car radios and swarmed back in. They were treated to one of the finest hockey games in recent years and saw the Amerks score twice in the space of 22 seconds with less than seven minutes remaining to snatch victory from defeat in a 3-2 triumph in a game that didn&rsquo;t end until 12 minutes to midnight.But there was an unhappy note to all of it. Veteran center Billy Knibbs suffered a broken right tibia when his skate caught a rut in the ice and sent him crashing into the boards. Doctors are optimistic he&rsquo;ll be able to play next season. but he&rsquo;s finished for this year.The Amerks continued their fantastic surge with a 5-3 victory over Boston on the 13th as they poured 63 shots on goalie Dave Reece.That win gave Rochester a 17-4-4 record since Nov. 15, a 6-1-2 mark for the last nine games and was the 13th victory in the last 14 games at home.Murray Kuntz, the left wing acquired from Buffalo in June&rsquo;s reverse draft, took over the league lead in goals with 26 when he scored against Boston.Defenseman Rick Pagnutti, a second team All Star last season, set a club record with 13 shots on goal during the Boston game. &#9632;

f0029-01

Voyageurs’ Fullan Thrives On Added Work Load

<div class="byline">BY JOHN ARNOLD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02130/3434339-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="883" height="1175"></div>SOLUTION IN FEBRUARY 8 ISSUE<h2>ACROSS</h2>1&mdash;Pictured player.8&mdash;Former St. Louis forward.9&mdash;Minnesota defenseman in WHA.12&mdash;One of the Blues (init.)13&mdash;Initials of an NHL city.14&mdash;4th and 9th letters of the alphabet.16&mdash;Girl&rsquo;s name.17&mdash;Verb.19&mdash;Initials of Caron of Quebec.20&mdash;Former NHL forward Gardner answers to this.21&mdash;Mickey and Dick. (Abbr.)22&mdash;AU.S. State (abbr.)23&mdash;Former Chicago defenseman.26&mdash;Initials of ex-Bruin Panagabko.27&mdash;Fanale sheep.29&mdash;A former Montreal defenseman.31&mdash;Initials of one of the Cougars.32&mdash;Morning.<h2>DOWN</h2>1&mdash;Former Pittsburgh defenseman.2&mdash;15th and 19th letters of the alphabet.3&mdash;A Ranger defenseman. (init)4&mdash;Former NHL foward.5&mdash;First name of former NHL forward Ingarfield.6&mdash;Former NHL linesman.7&mdash;Ex-NHL forward.10&mdash;Initials of Ash of Winnipeg.11&mdash;One of the NHL&rsquo;s Supervisor of Officials.15&mdash;1963-64 Hart Trophy winner.18&mdash;One of the Boston Braves (init)21&mdash;An NHL defenseman.24&mdash;4 down was born in this month (abbr.)25&mdash;1966-67 Conn Smythe trophy winner.28&mdash;An NHL general manager answers tothis.30&mdash;A Boston defenseman (init)<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2>ACROSS1&mdash;LAUGHTON.6&mdash;ICE7&mdash;RAGLAN.10&mdash;IX.12&mdash;OREE.13&mdash;L.M.14&mdash;USA.15&mdash;E.S.17&mdash;LOS.18&mdash;ED.20&mdash;L.N.21&mdash;ALE.23&mdash;BATHGATE.27&mdash;HY.28&mdash;RAIN.29&mdash;HULL.31&mdash;ELLETT.DOWN1&mdash;LAROSE.2&mdash;UNGER.3&mdash;TINY.4&mdash;O.C.5&mdash;NEILSON.8&mdash;A.R.9&mdash;LE.11&mdash;XMAS.14&mdash;ULLMAN.16&mdash;SELBY.19&mdash;DEA.22&mdash;TED.24&mdash;TRUE.25&mdash;HALL.26&mdash;GILL.27&mdash;HAY.30&mdash;J.T. &#9632;

f0029-02

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNELL</div>SEATTLE &mdash;When Rudy Filion was named to re place Phil Maloney as coach of the Seat tie Totems, both were going to work in their hometowns.Filion, a scout for the Vancouver Canucks, continued to live in Seattle where he was a Western Hockey League star from 1950-63.Maloney, known as the Silver Fox during his playing days, maintained his residence in Vancouver with his wife and family where he last played in the WHL. During the hockey season, he rented an apartment in Seattle.Filion takes overa team which is just two points out of the league lead.Maloney signed as coach of the Totems. May 4, 1972. Last season, Seattle finished fifth, missing the playoffs by a point on the final night.In 115 games under Maloney, the Totems compiled a 47-50-18 record. This season they were 21-18-4.Filion. who played in 887 WHL games, is eighth in the all-time points list, just recently passed by Gerry Goyer of the San Diego Gulls. He scored 316 goals and 553 assists for 869 points.He played in Tacoma for two seasons before moving to the Seattle Bombers in 1950 and playing in Seattle under various labels, the Bronmen. the Americans and the Totems.He shares a WHL record for most assists in a game, six. with several others, including Maloney.He was a second team All Star center once. 1950-51, but playing with Guyle Fielder and against such centermen as Bronco Horvath, Earl Reibel. Sid Finney. Eddie Dorohoy and Maloney.There was no most gentlemanly player award in the WHL until 1961. but if there had been Filion would undoubtedly have won it several times. The most penalty minutes he had in any one season was 23.He was the most popular player ever to have laced on the blades in Seattle. When he retired in 1963, the fans gave him a &ldquo;night&rdquo; and presented him with a long list of gifts, including an automobile and a TV set.He has worked in the past for the Totems, when they were privately owned, as a scout and a sales representative.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01191/3434370-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="564" height="884"><figcaption class="caption-body">HOWIE YOUNG&hellip;Still Fastest</figcaption></div>Since the Canucks took over the Totems as a farm club in 1972, he has been on their scouting staff and has a reputation for evaluating talent.Filion was on a scouting trip to Toronto when the Canucks fired Bill McCreary and elevated Maloney. Rudy was offered the Seattle post by telephone by Canuck general manager Hal Laycoe and quickly accepted.It is his first coaching assignment.Meanwhile, the Totems&rsquo; top scoring line of Steve Stone, Dan Gloor and Larry Gould was called up intact for two games with the Canucks. The line joined the Totems this year, intact, from Des Moines of the International Hockey League.Defenseman Jim Mair missed three games after being struck on the ankle by a shot in the Totems&rsquo; surprise 8-4 victory over the Russian Nationals.Defenseman Larry Bolonchuk was recalled from Des Moines. &#9632;

f0030-01

Filion Returns Home As Totems’ Coach After Maloney Goes To Parent Canucks

DENVER &mdash;Vic Stasiuk, formerly assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League, has been appointed coach and general manager of the Denver Spurs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02139/3434401-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="508" height="592"><figcaption class="caption-body">VIC STASIUK</figcaption></div>Stasiuk replaces Bob McCord who coached the team since the beginning of the season. McCord will remain as a player and assistant&rsquo; coach.Stasiuk was coach of the Philadelphia Flyers from 1969 to 1971 and coach of the California Seals in 1972 and coach of the Vancouver Canucks last year.McCord had piloted the Spurs to last place in the WHL this year. &#9632;

f0030-02

Stasiuk Replaces McCord As GM-Coach With Denver

PHOENIX &mdash;The Phoenix Roadrunners have lost two of their top scorers, Bob Barlow and Wayne Hicks, but Howie Young, playing his best hockey in years and possibly of his storied career, has taken up some of the slack.Mike Hyndman, a right wing who joined the Roadrunners jointly from the Los Angeles Sharks of the World Hockey Association and the Atlanta Flames of the National Hockey League, gives early indications he can take up the rest.Barlow, the 38-year-old center who was second on the club in points production. is out for six weeks or more with a shoulder separation. He had surgery to have a pin placed in the injured shoulder.Hicks&rsquo; absence is indefinite. The 36-year-old right wing has calcium deposits between the sixth and seventh vertebrae pinching off a nerve.Young, at 36 still the fastest skater in a league populated by strong, young legs, moved up from defense and most recently triggered a hat trick to lead the Roadrunners to their first victory of the season on San Diego ice, 6-5.The win moved the Roadrunners into a tie for the WHL lead with the Gulls.Young&rsquo;s hat trick was the third of the former National Hockey League badman&rsquo;s career. His first two came last season when he played mostly defense, served on the power play but moved up front occasionally to shake up the opposition.He&rsquo;s one of the few Roadrunner forwards who play the body and besides his incredible burst of speed, he owns one of the league&rsquo;s hardest shot.One of his three goals against the Gulls was a drive from one stride inside the blue line that many said was the hardest shot they&rsquo;d ever seen.Another goal was on a breakaway on which he pulled away from the opposition like a greyhound racing a dachsund.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no one in the WHL who can cut loose like he can.&rdquo; says Roadrunner coach Sandy Hucul.One of the Russian skaters, in their 3-1 exhibition victory two power play goals in the last 1:40 in Phoenix, Dec. 26, had a three stride jump on Young just outside the red line and the &ldquo;Cowboy&rdquo; had ridden him down two strides over the blueline.He did the same a couple of nights later to Salt Lake&rsquo;s Roger Bellerive, long renowned as one of the WHL&rsquo;s top skaters.&ldquo;Howie came off the ice the other night complaining his legs were tired,&rdquo; recounted Hucul. &ldquo;The rest of the guys on the bench were saying. &lsquo;Howie, can I have one?&rdquo;&lsquo;Young was voted by the Phoenix media covering the Roadrunners as player-of-the-month for December. He has been named the first game star twice, been second twice and third twice in Phoenix.Several times (once in San Diego, at least once in Denver, etc.) he has been named the first star, which belies his reputation as a &ldquo;homer,&rdquo; a &ldquo;hot dog&rdquo; for the home town fans.A member of Alcholics Anonymous for almost nine years. Young has also reformed on the ice.He&rsquo;s only been whistled for 60 minutes in penalties in 37 games.&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he explains with his tongue in his cheek. &ldquo;You know us big scorers have to stay on the ice. We can&rsquo;t be scoring when we&rsquo;re in the penalty box.&rdquo;Young has 16 goals and his 34 points leave him just a couple out of the WHL&rsquo; stop 10. At his current pace, he&rsquo;ll make that up in a week or two.Hyndman, who holds the varsity assists and points records at Boston University, came to the Roadrunners with the recommendation from former Roadrunner captain Ted McCaskill, now the coach of the Sharks.&ldquo;He knows where the net is,&rsquo; said McCaskill.It took Hyndman, who had only made eight appearances with the Sharks this season, two games to remember and he triggered a pair of goals in his third game.Phoenix is just over an hour from Los Angeles by air and about eight hours by car but it took Hyndman over a month to make the trip.The Roadrunners couldn&rsquo;t accept him as he was on the defected list of the Flames and the Roadrunners, as members of the WHL, are party to the joint affiliation agreement with the NHL.Finally, the Flames removed him from the defected list, placed him on the active list and loaned him to Phoenix.<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03106/3434432-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="586" height="301"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Jan. 16Seattle 3 at Phoenix 2Thu. Jan. 17Seattle 1 at San Diego 3Denver 4 at Salt Lake 2Fri. Jan. 18Denver 2 at Phoenix 7Sat. Jan. 19Seattle 4 at San Diego 7Phoenix 3 at Salt Lake 9Sun. Jan. 20Denver 3 at San Diego 4<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Jan. 23Seattle at PortlandThu. Jan. 24Portland at PhoenixDenver at Salt LakeSat. Jan. 26San Diego at PhoenixSeattle at Salt LakePortland at DenverSun. Jan. 27Salt Lake at PortlandPhoenix at San DiegoSeattle at DenverWed. Jan. 30San Diego at PortlandSeattle at PhoenixSalt Lake at DenverFri. Feb. 1Portland at PhoenixSeattle at Salt LakeSan Diego at Denver &#9632;

f0030-03

Loss Of Hicks, Barlow Eased As Young, Hyndman Fill Gaps

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McDONNELL</div>SAN DIEGO &mdash;The Phoenix Roadrunners dropped winger Kerry Bond early in the season and it is his &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll show &lsquo;em&rdquo; attitude that Roadrunner president and general manager Jim Wells says has turned the rugged 28-year-old into the player the San Diego Gulls are touring for the Western Hockey League&rsquo;s most valuable player award.The subject of the &ldquo;We Kare For Kerry&rdquo; banners in the San Diego International Sports Arena has scored 24 points 14 on goals, in his last 13 games.He had a 10 points week, including five goals and his second hat trick of the season, to earn WHL player-of-the-week honors.Kerry has 39 points in 39 games to move into a tie for 10th in the WHL points race.&ldquo;Our record since we got him has been phenomenal,&rdquo; said Gull general manager Max McNab.When Bond joined the Gulls, they were in last place with a 5-8 record, have been 17-8-3 since and share first place in the tightest WHL race in years.He had dressed for nine games for the Roadrunners and played in six, scoring three goals and four assists, including a game winning goal and a first goal of the game.Now, the sight of a Roadrunner uniform brings out the best in the 6-0, 190-pound West Phoenix homeowner.He has scored five goals and an assist in his last two games against Phoenix.Although Bond is an MVP candidate, his chances of making the All Star team are slim.He doesn&rsquo;t have a regular position. He kills penalties, plays on the power play where he has fired nine of his I9 goals, fills in on defense, skates on a fourth line and jumps in where needed, often to give a sagging line a lift. Most recently he has been filling in for injured right wing Bob Courcy on the Gulls&rsquo; top scoring line with Gerry Goyer and Tom Trevelyan.&ldquo;He seems to work best when we spot him,&rdquo; said McNab. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t played as well playing a regular position.&rdquo;Not until he joined Goyer and Trevelyan.The native of Sudbury, Ont., has never had a season like this one, but has never been intent on playing hockey as this year.Always what is charitably refered to as a &ldquo;free spirit,&rdquo; Bond has turned a new leaf and says he hasn&rsquo;t been a drinking man since May.Bond has had a reputation as a player who could erupt with a big game every once in a while but seemed to suffer for the next half dozen or more from celebrating the big night.His most productive seasons in the past were 20-goal seasons for Dallas in the Central League in 1969-70, for Phoenix in 1971-72, and 19-goal seasons for the Denver Spurs in the WHL in 1970-71 and the New Haven Night Hawks in the American League last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01172/3434463-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="560" height="610"><figcaption class="caption-body">KERRY BOND&hellip;MVP Candidate</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0031-01

Gulls Collect Dividends On Investment In Bond

<h2>Sun., Jan. 6 OMAHA 2 at TULSA 4</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Omaha, Flesch (Mercredi, Swarbrick) &hellip; 4:59No penalties.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>2&mdash;Omaha, Flesch (Mercredi, Baumgartner) &hellip; 0:243&mdash;Tulsa, Handrahan (Orban Grisdale) &hellip; 15:464&mdash;Tulsa, Benchtold (Vipond, Simon) &hellip; 17:11Penalties: Grisdale 7:59, Flesch 12:28.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Tulsa, Peppier (Handrahan, Ruest) &hellip; 7:426&mdash;Tulsa, Orban (Handrahan, Peppier) &hellip; 16:17Penalty Baumgartner &hellip; 4:20Saves: Voss-Muio (Omaha) 27, Low (Tulsa) 21.Attendance: 2,104.<h2>OKE CITY 2 at DALLAS 1</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Oklahoma City, Dolloff (Clarke) &hellip; 18:47Penalties: Garland (major). Ness (major) 17:24.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>2&mdash;Oklahoma City, Dolloff &hellip; 12:033&mdash;Dallas, Wylie (L&rsquo;Abbe, Ledingham) &hellip; 13:45Penalties: Boutette 1:12, Gibbons 5:14. Lundrigan 12:03.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>No scoring.Penalties: McKegney 3:55, Fortier 14:06Saves. McRae (Oklahoma City) 25, Dumas (Dallas) 26.Attendance: 2,443.<h2>FT. WORTH 2 at ALBUQUERQUE 4</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Albuquerque, Langdon (Yutsyk, Molvik) &hellip; 19:40Penalties: Davidson 6:32, Dempster 8:05. Irwin 16:14<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>2&mdash;Fort Worth, Kuntz (Irwin. Andersen) &hellip; 15:233&mdash;Fort Worth, Teal (Nicholson, Smith) &hellip; 17:27Penalties: LePage 13:49, Molvik 16:43.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Albuquerque, Homenuke (Hayes, Stefaniw) &hellip; 9:075&mdash;Albuquerque, Yutsyk (Lepage, Davidson) &hellip; 12:236&mdash;Albuquerque, Boughner (O&rsquo;Connor. Ireland) &hellip; 13:12Penalties: M. Kennedy 11:03, Ireland 16:35.Saves. Marlow (Fort Worth) 22. Reeson (Albuquerque) 26.Attendance: 3,214.<h2>Thu., Jan. 10 OKE CITY 5 at FORT WORTH 6</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Oklahoma City, Boyd (Moffat, Garland) &hellip; 12:322&mdash;Fort Worth, Teal (T. Gray) &hellip; 17:46Penalties: Lundrigan 6:39. Dempster 7:47, Butters 13:24, Dempster 17:22.<h2>SECOND PERIOD</h2>3&mdash;Fort Worth, Kuntz (Grenier, Nicholson) &hellip; 5:234&mdash;Fort Worth, Kuntz (Grenier) &hellip; 5:455&mdash;Fort Worth, T. Gray (M. Kennedy, Teal) &hellip; 8:046&mdash;Oklahoma City, Moffat (Alexander, Boyd) &hellip; 9:467&mdash;Fort Worth, Grenier (Kuntz, Marchinko) &hellip; 17:378&mdash;Fort Worth, R. Kennedy (McPhail, Grenier) &hellip; 19:57Penalty: Lefley 14:26.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>9&mdash;Oklahoma City, Moffat (Garland, Boyd) &hellip; 2:2810&mdash;Oklahoma City, Moffat (Boyd, Garland) &hellip; 11:1711&mdash;Oklahoma City, Osburn (Ferguson, Clarke) &hellip; 18:19Penalties: Moffat 5:48. Boutette 7:23, T. Gray 11:01, McPhail 12:27, Boutette 18:41, Oklahoma City bench (double minor) 19:29Saves: McRae (Oklahoma.City) 25. Resch (Fort Worth) 26.Attendance: 2,850.<h2>Fri. Jan. 11 FORT WORTH 1 AT DALLAS 4</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Dalls, T. Smith (Holt) &hellip; 8:562&mdash;Dallas, Ogilvie (Hinton, McKegney) &hellip; 12:333&mdash;Dallas, Ogilvie &hellip; 14:174&mdash;Dallas, L. Abbe (Christie, Ness) &hellip; 16:05Penalties: McPhail 6:21, Ogilvie 9:52. Nicholson 11:55.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>5&mdash;Fort Worth, Gray (Andersen, Teal) 2:85Penalties: Wilson 6:14. Gray 6:49. Grenier 13:16. Fort Worth bench 15:03.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>No scoring.Penalties: M. Kennedy. Wilson 4:27. Lefley 8:53, Holt 10 26, Ogilvie 11:45, R. Kennedy 17:28.Saves Resch (Fort Worth) 25. Dumas (Dallas) 18.Attendance: 4,149.<h2>OMAHA 3 at OKE CITY 2</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Oklahoma City, Sykes (Garland, Butters) &hellip; 13:57Penalties: Houston 3:53, Grenier, Moffat 4:50. Boutette 6:09, Burgess 9:39. Houston 16:15.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>2&mdash;Oklahoma City, Sykes (Fortier, Butters) &hellip; 10:06Penalties: Conroy 0:50, Dolloff 14:00.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>3&mdash;Omaha, Vail (Bialowas, Sutherland) &hellip; 6:034&mdash;Omaha, Vail (Bialowas, Mercredi) &hellip; 7:365&mdash;Omaha, Mercredi (Flesch, Swarbrick) &hellip; 12:04Penalties: Flegel 1:51. Clarke 4:54, Ferguson 6:52.Saves, Muio (Omaha) 32. Cole (Oklahoma City) 20.Attendance: 3,535.<h2>TULSA 4 at ALBUQUERQUE 3</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Tulsa, Currier (Bechtold, Smedsmo) &hellip; 5:092&mdash;Tulsa, Bechtold &hellip; 10:483&mdash;Tulsa, Ruest (Orban, Handrahan) &hellip; 15:12Penalties: Ireland 2:05, Grisdale 6:17. Young 16:51.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>4&mdash;Albuquerque, LePage (Kogler, Boughner) &hellip; 1:065&mdash;Albuquerque, Stefaniw &hellip; 7:13Penalties: Levasseur 6:41, Handrahan 13:39.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>6&mdash;Tulsa, Vipond (Young, Duncan) 6:227&mdash;Albuquerque, Davidson (Yutsyk, Levasseur) 15:58Penalties: Ireland 2:15, Marsh 11:12.Saves: Low (Tulsa) 22, Reeson (Albuquerque) 17.Attendance: 2,472.<h2>Sat., Jan. 12 OKE CITY 5 at OMAHA 5</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Omaha, Swarbrick (Flesch, Mercredi) &hellip; 1:252&mdash;Omaha, Sutherland (Schaab, Losier) &hellip; 3:003&mdash;Oklahoma City, Sykes (Alexander, Boyd) &hellip; 8:094&mdash;Omaha, Sutherland (Bialowas) &hellip; 10:165&mdash;Oklahoma City, Osburn (Lundrigan) &hellip; 10:386&mdash;Oklahoma City, Garland (Moffat, Clarke) &hellip; 19:13Penalties: Butters 5:27, Flegel 7:50, Butters, Hubert (misconduct) 9:00. Houston 19:52.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>7&mdash;Omaha, Grenier (Wells, Houston) &hellip; 10:46Penalties: Boutette 7:20, Swarbrick 12:15 Butters, Huber 10:35.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>8&mdash;Omaha, Schaab (Losier, Sutherland) &hellip; 12:139&mdash;Oklahoma City, Clarke (Osburn) &hellip; 14:4310&mdash;Oklahoma City, Clarke (Ferguson) &hellip; 16:52Penalties: Flegel 14:08, Moffat, Wells 19:58.Saves: McRae (Oklahpma City) 24, Muio-Voss (Omaha) 23.Attendance: 4,316.<h2>DALLAS 1 at FORT WORTH 1</h2><h3>FIRST PERIOD</h3>No scoring.Penalty: Lelley &hellip; 15:37.<h3>SECOND PERIOD</h3>1&mdash;Fort Worth, Gray (Teal) &hellip; 15:002&mdash;Dallas, Hinton &hellip; 18:59Penalties Elliott 6:17, Holt W. 28, Kuntz 13:30. Andersen 15:29. Wylie 16:27. Irwin 19:21.<h3>THIRD PERIOD</h3>No scoring.Penalties: Wilson, McPhail4:22, Dempster8:44, Wylie 11:34, Lefley 12:19, Wilson 17:48.Saves: Dumas (Dallas) 17, Resch (Fort Worth) 30.Attendance: 6,474. &#9632;

Central Hockey League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>DALLAS&mdash;How many times have you seen a team get scored on after pulling the goalie for a delayed penalty call? It&rsquo;s a hockey rarity, and a lot of coaches have never seen it happen, since the whistle is going to blow as soon as a player on the offending team touches the puck.But Dallas Black Hawk coach Bobby Kromm has seen it happen twice in the 1973-74 season, both times in games against the Oklahoma City Blazers, and both times the puck went into the empty Dallas net without being touched by a Blazer.The first time it happened, in Oklahoma City, Nov. 28, Kromm could afford to shrug it off. Blazer Bob Sykes hit the stick of Hawk Roger Wilson, and Wilson put the puck into the vacated net late in the second period. But the Hawks had built a 3-1 lead before that and they went on to win, 5-2.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01174/3434532-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="561" height="548"><figcaption class="caption-body">DUANE WYLIE&hellip;First To Hit 20</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02121/3434525-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="560" height="578"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB PEPPLER&hellip;Four Game Winners</figcaption></div>It was a far different story when the two teams met in Dallas State Fair Coliseum, Jan. 6. Oklahoma City had a 1-0 lead on Steve Dolloffs first-period tally, but the Hawks were attacking fiercely midway through the second.Blazer Joe Lundrigan was detected holding and referee Peter Moffitt raised his arm to signal the delayed penalty. Dallas goalie Michel Dumas left his net and the Hawks had six skaters on the attack. In the attacking zone, winger Chuck Ness banked a pass of the boards intended for Mike Christie on the point.But Christie was being checked and the puck slid down the ice toward the empty Hawk net. Christie chased after it but too far behind to catch the puck. However, the puck hit a goalpost and died in the crease. Then Christie slipped as he arrived on the scene, and he carried the puck with him into the net. Dolloff was the nearest Blazer, so he was credited with his second tally of the night.When the penalty was finally called, Hawk Duane Wylie scored on the power play to become the first Central League player to reach the 20-goal plateau this season. But the freak goal stood up as decisive in a 2-1 Blazer triumph. That snapped a six-game unbeaten streak for the Hawks.But not all the luck is going to go against you, Kromm had to admit. Jan. 12, when Dan Hinton&rsquo;s freak goal in the second period gave the Hawks a 1-1 tie in Fort Worth. Hinton, trying to center the puck, hit Fort Worth goalie Glenn Resch on the back of his pads, and Resch was moving just enough to deflect the puck into the net.Dallas&rsquo; victory and tie squared the turnpike series at 3-3-2. The Hawks owned an unbeaten streak of four road games, and had lost only once in nine starts overall. They were staying close to the teams above them in the standings, but had only a four-point advantage over the charging fifth-place Tulsa Oilers.L&rsquo;Abbe was the Hawks scoring leader with 36 points, tied for fifth on the CHL chart. Wylie was tied for eighth at 34.Right wing Doug Kerslake. still mending from a shoulder injury, pleaded not guilty on Jan. 9 to a charge of &ldquo;simple assault on a police officer&rdquo; growing out of a disturbance at the Jan. 5 game in Tulsa. He requested a jury trial which was scheduled for Feb. 18.OMAHA: The Omaha Knights saw their eight-game unbeaten string snapped by a 4-2 loss in Tulsa, Jan. 6. But they went into Oklahoma City and gave the league-leaders a 3-2 setback, Jan. 11. then came home and played a 5-5 tie the next night against the same Blazers.&ldquo;Our defense wasn&rsquo;t too sound,&rdquo; coach Fred Creighton admitted after the tie. &ldquo;The team has been playing very well on defense, but they just didn&rsquo;t get it together Saturday night.&rdquo; Twice the Knights had two-goal leads, but couldn&rsquo;t keep them.Defenseman Mike Baugmartner missed the two games against OC after being hit on the ankle by a shot in Tulsa. But he was expected back the following week.John Flesch counted both Omaha goals in the loss at Tulsa, Eric Vail had two in the victory at OC and Allie Sutherland chalked up two in the home tie. Center Wayne Schaab had a goal and an assist for the week, and his 44 points were good for a two-point margin in the CHL scoring race. Jean Losier was tied for eighth with 34.The draw at home ran the Knights&rsquo; home unbeaten string to eight games at Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum since a Dec. 8 loss to For Worth.OKLAHOMA CITY: Although winning only twice in their last nine starts, the OC Blazers stayed in first place by a narrow one-point margin, as the challengers were having troubles, too.The Blazers won in Dallas. Jan. 6,2-1 on Steve Dolloffs two goals, one of them carried into an empty net by Hawk defenseman Mike Christie. At home, the Blazers fell to Fort Worth, 6-5, and to Omaha, 3-2, but they twice rallied from two-goal deficits to tie in Omaha the next night, 5-5.Lyle Moffat had the hat trick in the loss to Fort Worth. Ron Clarke scored twice in a span of 2:09 in the last period to gain the tie in Omaha. Clarke, Moffat. Scott Garland and Jim Boyd each collected five points in the four games.Moffat, with 42 points, held second place in the league scoring, two back of Omaha&rsquo;s Wayne Schaab. Boyd was fourth with 37, and right wing John Gray, still sidelined with a knee injury, was seventh with 35.Left wing Dave Shardlow crashed into a goalpost at Fort Worth and-missed two games with an ankle injury. The Blazers welcomed back center George Ferguson, who had been out since Dec. 2 with a shoulder injury, and right wing Mike Sauter, who sat out a five-game suspension for assaulting Albuquerque goalie Ray Reeson.FORT WORTH: The 6-5 triumph at home over Oklahoma City highlighted an otherwise dismal week for the Wings. They started with a 4-2 loss in Albuquerque. Jan. 6, lost a 4-1 game in Dallas, Jan. 11, and were tied one a fluke goal by Dallas at home the next night. The tie left the Wings unbeaten in nine straight games at home.Derek Kuntz scored twice to pace the lone victory, but the big guns for the Wings were Skeeter Teal (two goals, three assists) and Terry Gray (three goals, one assist). Teal held to third in the CHL scoring race with 40 points.The Jan. 6 game in Albuquerque started two hours late after the Wings were stranded in Denver on their flight from Omaha. Wing damage had forced Frontier Airlines to cancel a scheduled flight, and the Fort Worth club had to charter four small planes to get to the game.Kuntz and Teal rallied the Wings to a 2-1 lead in the middle period, but they succumbed to a three-goal barrage by the Guns in the third.Teal had a shorthanded goal in the triumph over OC, Kuntz scored twice, and Gray. Richard Grenier and Ron Kennedy gave the Wings enough cushion to withstand a late Blazer rally.Gray scored a shorthanded goal in the tie with Dallas, and also had the only Fort Worth tally in the 4-1 loss at the other end of the turnpike. The Saturday night tie drew a sellout crowd of 6,474 to Will Rogers Coliseum, the Wings&rsquo; first sellout of the season and only their second in three years.TUSLA: With some of their injuries memded, the surging Oilers suddenly found their modest streak of three victories (four games without defeat) was the best in the league. They topped Albuquerque twice, 4-3 in the Duke City and 2-I at home, Jan. 11-12, after snapping Omaha&rsquo;s unbeaten string, 4-2, at home, Jan. 6.Center Al Genovy returned, Jan. 12, after missing three games with a groin injury. But center Paul Daigle was still out with an eye injury, suffered in practice. Jan. 3. Defenseman Mike Ruest had a severely bruised ankle after stopping a shot in the Jan. 12 home game.General manager-coach Ray Miron was enthusiastic about the club&rsquo;s improved defense. especially the penalty-killing. The Jan. 12 game was the Oilers&rsquo; 10th straight without allowing a power play&rsquo; goal, and they had given up only three in 15 starts. This was a remarkable record for a team leading the league in penalty-minutes.The Oilers raillied from an 2-0 disadvantage to beat Omaha, with Alf Handrahan and Reg Bechtold scoring in the second period. Bob Peppier and Bill Orban in the third. At Albuquerque Bob Currier. Bechtold and Ruest gave the Oilers a 3-0 lead and Pete Vipond clinched the victory with a third-period score. Bob LePage and Morris Stefaniw had scored for the Six-Guns in the middle session. Stefaniw while shorthanded, and Ken Davidson tallied late in the game.Peppier again had the winning goal (his fourth of the season) against the Guns at home the next night. Bechtold had scored in the first period, but Barry Boughner had ruined Glen Seperich&rsquo;s shutout bid with a short tap in the second.Alf Handrahan, who had five fights in three nights. Dec. 27-29. had played five fightless games. His late December spree gave him 18 majors one short of Steve Durbano&rsquo;s record for Omaha in 1971-72.ALBUQUERQUE: &ldquo;It makes your hair stand on end,&rdquo; said Six-Guns coach Johnny Choyce, after his club lost a 2-1 game in Tulsa. Jan. 12. &ldquo;The boys played very well, but they just couldn&rsquo;t put the puck in the net. We hit two goalposts on power plays in the third period.&rdquo;That loss left the unhappy Six-Guns with six straight reversals on the road and 18 games without a victory away from home since they won their road opener in Tulsa. Oct. 26.Ron Homenuke. Dale Yutsyk and Barry Boughner scored in the final period to claim a 4-2 victory over Fort Worth at home, Jan. 6, after the Guns had lost the lead provided by Steve Langdon&rsquo;s early goal. Morris Stefaniw&rsquo;s shorthanded goal paced the rally that was too little and too late in a 4-3 home loss to Tulsa, Jan. 11. Bob LePage and Ken Davidson also tallied. Boughner&rsquo;s second period goal was all the Guns could manage in Tulsa.<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01153/3434518-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="592" height="279"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Jan. 16Tulsa 2 at Dallas 2Albuquerque 4 at Oklahoma City 8Thu. Jan. 17Albuquerque 5 at Fort Worth 5Frl. Jan. 18Dallas 4 at Albuquerque 4Tulsa 4 at Oklahoma City 6Sat. Jan. 19Omaha 1 at Dallas 3Oklahoma City 3 at Tulsa 4Sun. Jan. 20Fort Worth 5 at Oklahoma City 2Omaha 4 at Tulsa 2<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Jan. 23Oklahoma City at AlbuquerqueThu. Jan. 24Tulsa at Fort WorthAlbuquerque at OmahaFrl. Jan. 25Tulsa at DallasSat. Jan. 26Dallas at Fort WorthAlbuquerque at OmahaSun. Jan. 27Fort Worth at AlbuquerqueDallas at OmahaWed. Jan. 30Dallas at AlbuquerqueFri. Feb. 1Oklahoma City at DallasTulsa at Omaha &#9632;

f0032-01

Hawks Twice Score Goals—In Their Own Empty Net

<div class="byline">BY LEN HOYES</div>FLINT &mdash;There weren&rsquo;t too many All Star selections from the Flint Generals on the International Hockey League&rsquo;s North Division team and whether it reflected in the club coaching or not the Generals have a temporary new man behind the bench.He&rsquo;s veteran minor league defenseman Doug Carpenter, who has been hired as an interim coach replacing Jerry Serviss. who just couldn&rsquo;t get the Generals moving. Carpenter. 31. has the job on a day-to-day basis explained General Manager Frank Gallagher. &ldquo;When we acquire a full-time coach, he&rsquo;ll go back to being a player.&rdquo; added Gallagher.Meanwhile. I HL rivals are apparently convinced that the Des Moines Capitols and Muskegon Mohawks will be Turner Cup finalists next April.At least that&rsquo;s the way they voted for the 40-man team, that participated in the annual All Star game at Columbus.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01166/3434594-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="260" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Carpenter</figcaption></div>Muskegon dominated the North Division team with eight selections. Other North teams had three apiece. That reflected the Mohawks&rsquo; season-long domination of the race and the league&rsquo;s best record &mdash; 23-11-4 &mdash; at the halfway point in the schedule.Goalie Bill Hughes and left winger Bob Tombari were voted No. I at their positions and defenseman Bob McMahon, center Louis Frigon and right winger Bert Scott were voted No. 2 at their respective spots.Other Mohawks chosen were defensemen Dan Sharpe and Lynn Margarit and right winger Bob Olein. Des Moines earned seven berths on the South Division team against six for the Columbus Owls. Four Fort Wayne and three Dayton men were picked. Center Pete Mara, headed for the individual scoring title, and left wing Frank DeMarco, the league&rsquo;s top goal scorer, were Caps named No. I at their positions. Fort Wayne goalie Robbie Irons and defenseman Dave Simpson and right winger, both of Dayton. were tabbed No. I at their respective positions.INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUEThe complete teams:North &mdash; Goal: Bill Hughes, Muskegon and Glenn Ramsay. Toledo. Defense: John Gravel. Toledo, Bob McMahon, Dan Sharpe and Lynn Margarit. all of Muskegon and Mike Ford, Port Huron. Center: Wayne Zuk, Flint, Louis Frigon. Muskegon, Ray Germain and Reg Malinoski. both of Port Huron and Mike Hornby, Saginaw. Left wing: Bob Tombari, Muskegon, Dave Gorman and Doug Manchak, both of Flint and John Vanderburg. Toledo. Right wing: Marcel Comeau and Jean-Marie Nicol, both of Saginaw, and Bert Scott and Bob Olein, both of Muskegon.South &mdash; Goal: Robbie Irons, Fort Wayne and Ray Martynuik, Columbus. Defense: Dave Simpson and Lome Weighill. both of Dayton, Steve Lyon, Columbus and Yvon Bilodeau, Des Moines. Center: Pete Mara and Harvey Bennett, both of Des Moines, Ed Kenty and Marty Reynolds, both of Columbus and Wayne Ego, Fort Wayne. Left wing: Frank DeMarco and Ian MacKinnon. both of Des Moines. Jeff Ablett, Fort Wayne and Ross Smith, Columbus. Right wing: Pete Gaw, Dayton, Pat Russell and Steve Coates, both of Des Moines and Norm Cherrey, Columbus.DES MOINES: Caps fattened South Division lead to five points with 3-2 victory at Dayton, squaring road record at 11-11-1 &hellip; Six Caps among top 20 scorers with Pete Mara headed toward team record with 64 points through 41 games&hellip; All-night bus ride produced 6-1 victory at Columbus where Mara scored team&rsquo;s 12th shorthanded goal of year&hellip; Larry Bolonchuk aided with 60-foot goal&hellip; Steve Coates, Bob Bilodeau earned Coach Dan Belisle&rsquo;s praise for good work&hellip; Bob Law out with back injury.DAYTON: Bill Flynn helped set up eight goals in a six-game span&hellip; Steve Self scored twice to help 6-5 victory over Saginaw&hellip; Gems&rsquo; suffered season record fifth shutout in 4-0 blanking at Muskegon&hellip; Newcomer Michel Latrielle scored assist in first game&hellip; Capt. Dave Simpson scored 11 th goal, personal high for six-year career.COLUMBUS: Goalie Ray Martynuik welcomed back from injury list, became fourth IHL netminder to pick up assist this season&hellip; Four shorthanded goals helped 9-4 romp over Fort Wayne&hellip; 7-5 victory over Dayton viewed by 5,043, largest crowd since hockey returned three seasons ago&hellip; Mike Legge, and John Heffern returned from matrimonial leaves&hellip; Neil Higgins bagged vital 3-l victory at Des Moines in only eighth start in goal, making 43 saves&hellip; Ed Kenty dueling Marty Reynolds for team scoring honors and sharing No. 2 spot in league.FORT WAYNE: Fred Comrie, urged to shoot more, responded with two goals in 4-3 victory over Des Moines and four in four-game span&hellip; Road record of 5-14 hurting chances to move up, equaled road losses for entire last season&hellip; Dale Power an improved scorer, bagged I6th goal&hellip; Coach Marc Boileau talked trade with Flint and Des Moines&hellip; Komets beat Flint for sixth time in seven meetings for I6-4 advantage over last two seasons&hellip; Renaud Duguay and Doug Elliott released.MUSKEGON: Five losses in sixgame span dropped Mohawks into tie with Des Moines for over-all point championship&hellip; Angus Beck scored goal to aid 4-0 victory over Dayton in first game after arrival from Sun Coast&hellip; Former IHL scoring champ Darrell Knibbs also added from defunct Sun Coast club&hellip; Scoring leader Bob Olein suffered knee injury which required surgery&hellip; Goalie Bill Hughes had I6-2 record on home ice&hellip; George Klasons and Tom Pincter dropped from roster&hellip; GM-Coach Moose Lallojuggling lines trying to end scoring slump&hellip; Lynn Margarit took league PIM lead with 226.TOLEDO: Bob Dillabough scored first hat trick since junior days to aid 7-5 victory over Saginaw&hellip; Hornet penalty killers kept rivals scoreless through 41 advantages&hellip; Juri Kudrasovs scored game-winner in 4-2 victory over Fort Wayne while switched from center to left wing&hellip; Dave Haley&rsquo;s first goal of year aided 6-3 triumph at Flint&hellip; Hornets took slim hold on No. 2 spot, best since Oct. 21&hellip; Scoring leader John Vanderburg sidelined with back ailment, joining Ken Sutyla and Jim Paterson on injury list&hellip; Don Borgeson key figure in defensive improvement&hellip; Hornets suffered second shutout at Port Huron, responded with 3-1 victory in next visit.SAGINAW: Ankle injury put top scorer Pierre LeBlanc on shelf for possibly two months&hellip; Jim Johnston&rsquo;s hat trick couldn&rsquo;t hold off 6-5 setback at Dayton&hellip; Doug Marit scored goal and seven assists in six-game span&hellip; Gears&rsquo; 178 goals sharing league lead with Columbus but in two less games&hellip; Bad man Gordon Malinoski went 17 periods without penalty and picked up only two minors in seven games before drawing three-game suspension for altercation with referee.FLINT: Generals suffered 11th onegoal setback by 2-1 margin at Muskegon&hellip; Center Brian Dickie released&hellip; Winger Bill Pettinger announced retirement after being suspended for jumping club&hellip; Wayne Zuk reclaimed club goal-scoring record with 23rd in losing cause against Toledo&hellip; Overtime victory at Columbus helped three-game winning streak, equaling season high&hellip; Winger Dave Gorman averaging one goal per four shots as club&rsquo;s No. 2 sniper&hellip; Defenseman Brian McBratney returned from threegame suspension.PORT HURON: Gord Redden&rsquo;s first goal of season came while shorthanded in 5-3 setback at Saginaw&hellip; Chance to escape cellar hurt by 11 one-goal losses among first 23 setbacks&hellip; Goalie Brian Cousineau stopped 26 shots while blanking Toledo, 4-0, for second shutout&hellip; Bill Ciraulo reactivated, doing good job as penalty killer&hellip; Defenseman Mike Korney joined club after playing with London Lions.<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0466/3434587-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="611" height="452"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Jan. 16Muskegon 2 at Des Moines 2Saginaw 5 at Columbus 3Toledo 3 at Fort Wayne 6Flint 2 at Dayton 7Fri. Jan. 18Flint 6 at Muskegon 3Fort Wayne 1 at Port Huron 6Des Moines 2 at Toledo 5Dayton 4 at Columbus 3Sat. Jan. 19Des Moines 3 at Fort Wayne 4Saginaw 4 at Muskegon 5Dayton 2 at Port Huron 5Toledo 1 at Columbus 4Sun. Jan. 20Port Huron 3 at Toledo 4Columbus 1 at Dayton 8Muskegon 1at Flint 3Fort Wayne 3 at Saginaw 0<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Tue. Jan. 22All Star game at ColumbusWed. Jan. 23Dayton at SaginawFort Wayne at Des MoinesMuskegon at ColumbusFri. Jan. 25Flint at Des MoinesDayton at MuskegonFort Wayne at ToledoPort Huron at ColumbusSat. Jan. 26Flint at Des MoinesColumbus at MuskegonDayton at ToledoSun. Jan. 27Muskegon at Fort WayneDes Moines at ColumbusToledo at DaytonPort Huron at Saginaw &#9632;

f0034-01

IHL All Star Squads Dominated By Muskegon, Des Moines Players

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0388/3434625-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="706" height="1032"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02117/3434632-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="209" height="371"></div><h2>The Backhand Shot</h2>Backhand shots are usually opportunity moves; quick shots front a teammate&rsquo;s pass or a loose puck picked up from a broken play.The illustration shows the correct position of your body. legs and the puck on the stick. Your weight should shift to the front leg. the stick well back of the front leg to let you put body weight into the shot. And the puck should be on the heel of the blade so you get the weight of the stick and your arms into the drive.Note that the front skate is square to the play so you won&rsquo;t slide with the weight shift from back leg to front. &#9632;

f0034-03

HOCKEY … For Minors

<div class="byline">BY DAVID LAMM</div>CHARLOTTE &mdash;Skaters in the Southern Hockey League are learning the hard way that it&rsquo;s unwise to ever take your eyes off Charlotte defenseman Gary Wood.In a period of two weeks, the solid 185-pound veteran sent three players to the sideline &mdash; two for the rest of the season &mdash; with injury-causing checks.On New Years Eve. Wood&rsquo;s check against Roanoke Valley forward Sam Gellard resulted in a knee injury which required immediate surgery. On Jan. 6. Wood checked Greensboro&rsquo;s Bob Wright and Wright also had to undergo surgery. On Jan. 11. Wood&rsquo;s hip check sent Greensboro defenseman Hal Willis to the sidelines, where he was expected to remain for at least 10 days.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01155/3434684-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="267" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body">Camille Lapierre</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Wood has knocked quite a few guys out of action before.&rdquo; said coach Pat Kelly of the Checkers. &ldquo;They haven&rsquo;t been dirty checks either. He just hits that hard. His check on Wright was the hardest I think I&rsquo;ve ever seen. Wright was carrying the puck down Gary&rsquo;s side and he dropped his head for a moment. Wood hit him and turned him upside down.&rdquo;SOUTHERN HOCKEY LEAGUEIn addition to his hitting. Wood has started scoring, too. After going 42 games without a goal, he notched his first of the season Jan. 6 as the Checkers fell to Greensboro. Five nights later he scored two goals as Charlotte bombed the Generals 9-3.In other news in the second-place Checkers&rsquo; camp, no one was happier about the acquistion of goalie Danny Sullivan from Roanoke Valley than goalie Gaye Colley, the busiest netminder in the SHL. &ldquo;Danny makes us stronger, especially now.&rdquo; said Cooley.&rdquo; I&rsquo;m so tired I can&rsquo;t believe it. If we get on a steady rotation there&rsquo;s no doubt in my mind Danny and I will be sharp.&rdquo; Sullivan, who hasn&rsquo;t played in over a month because of an eye injury, leads the SHL with a 2.78 goals-allowed average and three shutouts. Cooley is second in both departments with a 3.14 average and two shutouts.Buffalo recalled forwards Fred Hunt Jr. and Frank Richardson, sending them to the Sabres&rsquo; Cincinnati club. In return. Yvon Dupuis was sent back to the Checkers. Kelly also signed Dale McLeish, obtained as a free agent. In a four-game tryout with the Checkers. MacLeish tallied eight points, scoring two goals and earning six assists. &ldquo;His ability to score is what we need at this time.&rdquo; said Kelly.After going on a 12-3-1 tear and moving into second place, the Generals ran into manpower problems and dropped three straight games, two of them coming at home against Winston-Salem in overtime. Winger Bob Wright is out for the season because of a knee injury and on Jan. 11 defenseman Hal Willis and versatile Ron Hindson joined the list of ailing. Hindson had only been back for five days when he reinjured his knee, which earlier sidelined him for 20games. Both skaters were expected to be out for about two weeks. On Jan. 12. goalie Mike Ralph suffered an arm injury and was forced to retire after two periods of play against Winston-Salem. Since Paul Hoganson had been recalled to the Los Angeles Sharks the day before, the Gens were without a goalie. Coach Ted Lanyon prevented a forfeit when ex-Gen trainer and backup goalie Bob Smith, now employed by an ice rink in Greensboro, was summoned from the stands. Smith played well, holding W-S to one third period goal before the Polar Twins took the victory in the first minute of theovertime&hellip; Atone pointduring the disasterous weekend Lanyon only had 11 healthy skaters on his bench. That situation was helped when center Kirk Bowman and defenseman Jerry Zrymiak returned from LA after brief trials with the WHA club&hellip; Bowman is having a super year. In just 3I games, he has tallied 50 points to rank ninth in the league in scoring. His 39 assists earn him a share of the league lead in that department with Charlotte&rsquo;s Garry Swain&hellip; Howie Heggedal remains the league leader in goals with 40 through 44 games.MACON: The Whoopees snapped a six-game losing streak Jan. 9 when they edged the visiting Roanoke Valley Rebels. runaway leaders of the league. 5-4&hellip; Apparently center Norm Cournoyer and defenseman Jim McMasters are lost to the Whoopees for the remainder of the season. The WHA Cleveland Crusaders reassigned them to Jacksonville of the AHL. McMasters remained with Macon one game longer than he had to. helping them beat the Rebels. The muscular young rearguard was not happy about leaving the Georgia team. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going because I have to.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I like Macon and I like playing here.&rdquo; Replied player-coach Keke Mortson. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t have to play for us (in that last game). The fact that he did shows he&rsquo;s a classy guy. You known, he&rsquo;s a throwback to the players of the old days. Players like Jim make coaching worthwhile.&rdquo;&hellip; Speaking of players. Mortson has been red hot since a slow start, when he was spending most of his time adjusting to the role of being a coach, player and general manager. He&rsquo;s now seventh in the league in scoring with 51 points and ranks near the top in assists with 31. He had a hat trick in the big win over Roanoke valley. Defenseman Steve Johnson, slowed most of the season with a knee injury, asked for and received his release.ROANOKE: Hot Camille Lapierre enjoyed an eight-point week and zoomed into a five-point lead in the league scoring race. He had 67 points, five ahead of Greensboro&rsquo;s Howie Heggedal. Lapierre also leads in hat tricks with five. He shares the league lead in game-winning goals with five and short-handed goals with four. His 35 goals are second only to Heggedal&rsquo;s total&hellip; Center Claude Piche, who has led the league in scoring most of the season, has fallen to fourth because of a knee injury which sidelined him for a couple of games and limited his playing time in several others. He had 59 points&hellip; After dropping three straight games when injuries mounted, the Rebels when out and won five of their next six to push their record to 36-10 and build their lead to 23 points over second-place Charlotte&hellip; Coach Gregg Pilling has been using Richard Campeau and Mike Keenan as wingers although both started the season as defensemen. The Rebels are loaded on defense with Jack Chipchase. Wayne Mosdell. Pete McNamee and Serge Beaudoin on hand.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0478/3434677-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="564" height="588"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY WOOD&hellip;Lays On Muscle</figcaption></div>WINSTON-SALEM: Coach Don Carter is waiting to see how long a suspension he would receive for shoving referee Pierre Belanger between periods of the recent game at Greensboro&hellip; Forward Billy Morris was reported to have retired, but he returned to the Polar Twins lineup after missing only three games&hellip; Tom Stachniak scored on a penalty shot Jan. 5 against Charlotte. marking the Twins first success in three penalty shot tries this season&hellip; Defenseman Jim Edgeworth, waived by the Polar Twins and claimed by Charlotte. is bitter about being released by Winston-Salem. &ldquo;I thought I was playing well with the Twins.&rdquo; said the Dartmouth College graduate.<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02128/3434670-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="609" height="312"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 15Winston-Salem 1 at Charlotte 9Wed. Jan. 16Macon 5 at Greensboro 7Charlotte 6 at Winston-Salem 4Thu. Jan. 17Greensboro 2 at Roanoke 14Charlotte 1 at Macon 0 (forfeit)Fri. Jan. 18Winston-Salem 3 at Charlotte 8Greensboro 4 at Roanoke 3Sat. Jan. 19Roanoke 4 at Greensboro 6Winston-Salem 2 at Macon 7Sun. Jan. 20Greensboro 4 at Winston-Salem 7<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Jan. 22Macon at CharlotteRoanoke at GreensboroWed. Jan. 23Macon at Winston-SalemThu. Jan. 24Macon at RoanokeGreensboro at Winston-SalemFri. Jan. 25Roanoke at CharlotteWinston-Salem 3 at Charlotte 8Sat. Jan. 26Macon at RoanokeCharlotte at GreensboroSun. Jan. 27Roanoke at GreensboroWinston-Salem at CharlotteTue. Jan. 29Greensboro at Winston-SalemWed. Jan. 30Roanoke at MaconThu. Jan. 31Winston-Salem at GreensboroRoanoke at MaconFri. Feb. 1Macon at GreensboroCharlotte at Winston-Salem<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0395/3434663-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="616" height="649"></div> &#9632;

f0035-01

Charlotte Coach Lauds Wood’s ‘Knocks’

<div class="byline">BY DEREK KNIGHT</div>LEWISTON&mdash;At the beginning of the season most people figured that Luc Simard would again dominate the goal scoring race in the NAHL. Well, they weren&rsquo;t wrong, but they weren&rsquo;t right either. Simard is rolling along with more than 40 goals but a fellow by the name of Rejean Giroux has already scored 47. Giroux. a right winger (like Simard) played last season with the Quebec Nordiques. Now as the NAHL enters the stage where every game becomes important. Giroux is the talk of the league.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0371/3434729-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="257" height="461"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rejean Giroux</figcaption></div>Attendance should be on the way up in Lewiston with Giroux and the Nordiques playing exciting hockey&hellip; The Jan. 19 game with Syracuse was sold out in advance&hellip; Michel Harvey is certainly earning his pay in Lewiston. The player-coach has even had to play defense for his club when they have been be set by injuries. It was Harvey&rsquo;s overtime goal that defeated the Cougars in an important game in Lewiston. The Nordiques had trailed the Cougars 8-5 with just over three minutes remaining. It had to rank as the comeback of the year for any NAHL club&hellip; Young Serge Martel has now topped the 30-goal mark as has veteran Paul LaRose&hellip; In the power play department Giroux leads the club with 12 power play goals followed by Mike Rouleau&rsquo;s 11. In shorthanded goals Rouleau leads with three. Giroux, the new rage of the league has scored 47 goals including eight game winning goals&hellip; Jacques Lemelin and Roch Martin continue to alternate in goal with Richard Brodeur still up with the big club in Quebec.BROOME: Dusters&rsquo; high powered offense is in full gear largely due to the play of Rod Bloomfield. Frank Hamill, and Bob Channell. After 49 regular season games, Bloomfield had 30 goals and 53 assists for 83 points to lead the club in scoring.Hamill was next with 21 goals and 37 assists for 58 points while Channell notched the same 58 points but on 17 goals and 41 assists&hellip; Dusters are now going basically with only four regular defenseman. Dale McBain, John Donnelly. Norm Martel, and Paul Brown with defenseman Max Hansen being utilized as a left winger&hellip; Incredible as it may seem. Binghamton residents are still buying season tickets despite the fact that less than 15 games remain on the Dusters&rsquo; home schedule&hellip; Dusters rallied from a third period 2-1 deficit to defeat the Cougars 4-2 in Binghamton. Roger Kosar was in goal for the Dusters.CAPE COD: Cubs&rsquo; Simard has gone over the 40 goal mark with five goals coming on the power play&hellip; John Raynak. the left winger secured from Sun Coast in the early part of the season. has been a pleasant surprise for the Cubs. In 42 games played, Raynak has totaled 26 goals&hellip; Mike DeMarco, now the Cubs&rsquo; player-coach is third on the club in scoring&hellip; Right winger Rick Molinaro is on his way to a 30-plus season as a goal scorer. At this writing Molinaro has 24 goals&hellip; Cubs&rsquo; season ticket drive for 1974-75 is in the planning stages&hellip; Business manager Joe Sherman assumed the role of general manager.SYRACUSE: Blazers may not need help in the nets but they&rsquo;ll be getting some anyway, in the form of Russ Gillow. Gillow posted a 2.89 goals against average with the WHA Sharks last year, second best in the entire WHA&hellip; Blazers continue to be the NAHL&rsquo;s best drawing card on the road&hellip; Mike Morton has seven game winning goals to pace the Blazers in that department. Herman Karp trails Morton with six&hellip; Lee Inglis leads Blazers in tying goals with seven&hellip; Blazers are 6-1 versus Mohawk Valley, outscoring the Comets 39-11&hellip; Blazers sport a 2-0 record in overtime competition with Herman Karp playing the hero in one game and Terry Marshall in the other&hellip; In 16 games played Claude Chartre has 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points. One wonders how many points Claude would have had if he played a full season in good health.LONG ISLAND: Paul Menard returned to regular duty with the Cougars recently. Paul backstopped the club to a 7-2 home ice victory over Broome in his first start of the year&hellip; The young netminder had missed more than half of the season with a broken collarbone&hellip; Cougars ran into a bit of a road slump losing three straight to Mohawk Valley, Broome, and Maine respectively. Of Long Island&rsquo;s remaining home games, only two of them are with Syracuse and Maine. The rest of the opponents rank below the Cougars in the standings&hellip; Lorne Rombough continues to lead the Cougars in goals scored and total points. After 45 games the left winger had notched 34 goals and 24 assists for 38 points&hellip; Cougar defenseman Dan Justin has returned to action. Justin had been on the club&rsquo;s 14 day list since his hand was accidentally stepped on by a NAHL linesman.JOHNSTOWN: Jets are in the midst of an uninterrupted 13 day home stay&hellip; Jets played back to back games with the Maine Nordiques, winning one and tying the other. In the two games, the Jets went 78 minutes and 14 seconds without incurring a penalty. Vern Campigotto. Jet leader in penalty minutes with 127, broke the streak at 6:24 of the third period when he was whistled off two minutes for tripping&hellip; Winger Davy Johnson was fast approaching 30 goals.MOHAWK VALLEY: After 46 games Jim Lebar and Bob Murphy continue to set the pace in scoring. Lebar had 25 goals and 29 assists for 54 points while Murphy&rsquo;s figures are 22 goals and 32 assists for 54 points. Richard Dupras if off the injured list and back in action&hellip; Comets, meanwhile have placed Larry Edwards on the 14 day list&hellip; Comets almost look like a new hockey team with newcomers Chris Meloff, Gordie Titcomb, Murray Worley, and Jerry Welsh in the lineup. Welsh, a right winger scored two goals and one assist in his first four games, one of the goals was a game winner&hellip; With 28 games to play in the regular season, Comets have 14 at home and 14 away&hellip; Forward John Cook had 19 goals in his first 46 games and could be on his way to a 30 goal season.<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01135/3434722-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="609" height="308"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 15Long Island 8 at Maine 9Wed. Jan. 16Syracuse 5 at Broome 1Mohawk Valley 2 at Johnstown 6Fri. Jan. 18Cape Cod 3 at Long Island 7Syracuse 3 at Mohawk Valley 2Sat. Jan. 19Long Island 4 at Cape Cod 5Broome 2 at Johnstown 6Syracuse 6 at Maine 5Sun. Jan. 20Cape Cod 6 at Broome 9Maine 4 at Long Island 6<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Jan. 22Mohawk Valley at Cape CodLong Island at MaineWed. Jan. 23Mohawk Valley at BroomeSyracuse at JohnstownFri. Jan. 25Johnstown at Long IslandBroome at SyracuseCape Cod at Mohawk ValleySat. Jan. 26Maine at Cape CodLong Island at JohnstownBingh at Mohawk ValleySun. Jan. 27Mohawk Valley at Long islandCod at MaineJohnstown at SyracuseMon. Jan. 28Syracuse at BroomeTue. Jan. 29Johnstown at Cape CodMohawk Valley at MaineWed. Jan. 30Long Island at BroomeJohnstown at MaineMohawk Valley at SyracuseThu. Jan. 31Broome at MaineFri. Feb. 1Broome at Long IslandCape Cod at SyracuseJohnstown at Mohawk Valley<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0294/3434715-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="622" height="589"></div> &#9632;

f0036-03

Nordique Ace Giroux New Rage, Takes Limelight From Simard

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>COLLEGE HOCKEY SCENEBOSTON &mdash;Instead of high-tailing off to Canada for the University of New Hampshire&rsquo;s two wet examination break in mid-January, Charlie Holt should have visited a couple of good medical schools in search of prospective recruits.UNH could use a few more general practitioners around the locker room, although the layoff before the February stretch run can also do nothing but good for the Wildcats. After losing a pair of ECAC Division One games to Brown and Pennsylvania, UNH rebounded with three straight wins over RPI, Clarkson, and Colgate before the semester ended. This they did without goalie Cap Raeder, out with an injured knee and two regular left wings, Dave Bertollo and Warren Brown, both involved in the tragic auto accident which cost Brown his life on Dec. 22. Another left wing, Mark Noonan, hasn&rsquo;t played all year due to abdominal ailments. Defenseman Jim Harvie was also in the accident with Brown and Bertollo and Barry Edgar stopped an errant stick blade with his eye at RPI and missed the next two contests. And finally. Cliff Cox and Dave Lumley missed the latter part of the final game against Colgate when UNH held on to win 8-7 in overtime.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01125/3434767-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="262" height="397"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Fleming</figcaption></div>After the Red Raiders, the best team ever to sport a 2-8-1 ECAC record, had surged from behind 6-3 to tie the game 7-5, Holt put together a line of Gordie Clark, Jamie Hislop, and Ed Freni for the overtime session. In just 45 seconds. Clark wheeled around the Colgate net and stuffed the puck by Chris Grigg. Up to the time of his foot injury, Luipley had alternated as right wing every other shift with Clark, the team leader and a good bet to repeat as All-American.Junior Bill Buppert backstopped the Colgate game, as well as the 7-5 win over RPI at Troy and the 7-2 whomping of Clarkson at Durham. Reader had injured his knee ligaments against Toronto at home, and tried to play against Brown and Penn, both of which ended up as losses for UNH.Up the road, Dartmouth kept in pursuit of UNH with wins of 10-1 over Princeton and 4-3 over Penn. The sophomoreladen Big Green ran their record to 5-2 in the East with the sweep. Transcendental Meditator Chuck Walker continued to surprise with a 2.50 goals-against average. Chuck needed double-runners his freshman season, but practiced assiduously in the shadow of Peter Proulx for two years and refused to relinquish the starter&rsquo;s post to Dan Ringsred in pre-season. He made 30 saves against Penn to pave the way for Bob Hayes&rsquo; unassisted game winner on a power play midway through the third period.Four different players tallied for Dartmouth against Penn, and just Tom Fleming and Dave Ferguson scored twice in the Princeton pummeling. In all. Dartmouth skates nine sophomores. The top three lines for the Big Green have scored 30 goals among them, with each trio netting ten. Top individual scorer Pete Quinn has a total of 11 points.Cornell found itself a goalie in Steve Kelleher and vaulted back over the .500 mark with wins of 9-3 over Colgate and 6-3 over Boston College, both at home. Kelleher foiled BC 14 times in the third period when the Big Red scored three unanswered goals to break open a tight contest.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0296/3434760-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="557" height="576"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICH HART&hellip;Hits For BC</figcaption></div>A pair of power play goals by junior center Dave Peace were the tying and winning markers. Newly inserted between seniors Bob Murray and Doug Marrett. Peace helped power Cornell from an unaccustomed 2-2-1 slate to a 4-2-1 mark and third place behind New Hampshire and Dartmouth. At 8:36 of the second frame. Dave stepped around a defender from his middle point position and flipped a soft end-over-end shot that eluded BC goalie Bill Wilkens. Then at 1:18 of the third frame. Peace reached through BC&rsquo;s Rich Hart to golf home a rebound of a Bill Murray drive from the point. &#9632;

f0037-01

Riddled UNH Wildcats Cling To Top; Pursuing Dartmouth Pulls Off Sweep

<div class="byline">BY STEVE KLEIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0368/3434798-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="266" height="318"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Usitalo</figcaption></div>SOUTH BEND &mdash;The fractured puzzle called &ldquo;college hockey in the West&rdquo; that stretches from Michigan&rsquo;s Upper Peninsula to Missouri and the Rocky Mountains to Ohio is finally starting to present a picture &mdash; and it should be a familiar one.Michigan Tech and Denver, two teams that have represented the West 17 times in the 26 NCAA championships and won 10 of 21 Western Collegiate Hockey Association championships are dominating the West again. Denver has been to the NCAA championships five of the last six years and finished either first or second in the WCHA the last seven years. Denver&rsquo;s Western partner these four years has been Wisconsin &mdash; the Badgers have participated in three of the last four NCAA tournaments and finished no lower than fourth since entering the WCHA in 1969.But the Huskies are back, Denver is right where it seems the Pioneers always have been, the Badgers are struggling and the West&rsquo;s promising new challenger, St. Louis, is definitely floundering.Here&rsquo;s how the pieces of the puzzle are shaping up:Michigan Tech, with a 15-3-2. the best in college hockey, is definitely establishing itself as the class of the West. After uncharacteristic fifth and seventh place finishes the first two years in the new Student Ice Arena, Tech Coach John MacInnes boldly proclaimed his forwards &ldquo;the best in our history.&rdquo;MacInnes has had some fine forwards in his 17 seasons and 345 victories (only Boston College&rsquo;s retired Snooks Kelley with 500. Denver&rsquo;s Murray Armstrong with 405 and former RPI and Cornell coach Ned Harkness with 350 have won more on the college level) like Jerry Sullivan, Paul Coppo, Jack McManus, Lou Angotti and Al Karlander. But MacInnes has probably never had as fine a group that includes seniors Graham Wise, Elie Vorlicek, Lorne Stamler and Mike Usitalo and underclassmen Bob D&rsquo;Alvise. Mike Zuke, Bill Steele, Scott Jessee, Steve Jensen and the injured George Lyle.The Huskies have been most successful in the past when they&rsquo;ve forechecked, but when Tech moved from tiny Dee Stadium to their new, standard 200-by-85 rink, MacInnes often complained that his Huskies just weren&rsquo;t forechecking like they used to. Unfortunately for the rest of the WCHA. it&rsquo;s just like old times again for the Huskies.Tech&rsquo;s latest success came at the hands of the slumping Badgers in. of all places. Winsonsin&rsquo;s own Dane County Coliseum. Wisconsin does two things in the Coliseum &mdash; consistently fill it to its 8,431 capacity every game, and win. The Coliseum was filled to capacity as usual for the January 11-12 weekend series against Michigan Tech, but the Badgers didn&rsquo;t win. Tech did. 4-1 and 6-4.Denver has slipped only once in holding the WCHA lead so far (24 points to Tech&rsquo;s 22, although the Huskies have played four less games), losing a rare series at Minnesota-Duluth just after Christmas. &#9632;

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Denver, Michigan Tech Again Dominating Early WCHA Race

<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01148/3434867-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="629" height="3378"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02102/3434860-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="615" height="515"></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

OHA MAJOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY BOB STRUMM</div>SASKATOON &mdash;Last season the Western Canada Hockey League&rsquo;s All Star game in Medicine Hat outdid itself. On display were seven youngsters who eventually made the jump directly from junior hockey to the National Hockey League.Darcy Rota packed his bags in Edmonton and ended up in Chicago. Rota&rsquo;s teammate John Rogers has made it in Minnesota, Flin Flon graduate Wayne Bianchin has earn ed a spot in Pitts burgh. Medicine Hat product Tom bysiak is standing them on their ears in Atlanta, Lysiak&rsquo;s former linemate Lanny McDonald cracked the lineup of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgarytrained John Davidson is stingily tending net for the St. Louis Blues, and Saskatoon Blade grab Dave Lewis has been a surprise standout on the blueline of the New York Islanders.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01131/3434898-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="273" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Greschner</figcaption></div>With credentials like this, it&rsquo;s no wonder this year&rsquo;s 10th annual WCHL All Star classic in Edmonton scheduled for Jan. 29 is expected to be a magnet for every scout in the country. The WCHL has arrived, my friends.The dream classic will be no less a show case this time around. When league president Ed Chynoweth released the voting of the 12 coaches in their respective divisions, there were few surprises wearing the All Star tag.The Eastern Division&rsquo;s first team includes Regina goaltender Ed Staniowski, Saskatoon defenseman Pat Price and Regina blueliner Greg Joly. Regina rightwinger Mike Wanchuk. Brandon centerman Ron Chipperfield, and Flin Flon leftwinger Rob Watt. Staniowski. Price and Chipperfield were unanimous choices to their positions.Chipperfield is currently setting a record-breaking scoring pace and at voting time had 55 goals. 50 assists and 105 points after just 38 Brandon contests. Price is the top scoring defenceman in the Eastern Division with 16 goals and 38 points in 39 games, while Staniowski leads the eastern goaltenders with a 3.15 average.Joly is next to Price in points with48, and both are considered strong defensively as well. Wanchuk has 32 goals to his credit at the break while Watt has 39.Following are the Eastern Division&rsquo;s second team players:Second team, goaltender Roger Swanson. Flin Flon: defensemen Doug Hicks and Ray Maluta, Flin Flon; centres Dennis Sobchuk of Regina and Terry Ruskowski of Swift Current (tied in voting): rightwinger Rick Blight. Brandon: leftwinger Clark Gillies. Regina.In the Western Division, four players were unanimous selections to the first team. New Westminster defenseman Ron Greschner broke a Calgary monopoly in this category, while Centennials&rsquo; Mike Rogers. Danny Gare and Jerry Holland were unanimously chosen to the first team forward line.Calgary&rsquo;s Garth Malarchuk and Edmonton&rsquo;s Larry Hendrick tied for the first-team net-minding honors, and Bob Hess of New Westminster nailed down the other defence spot.Greschner leads all defenseman in the WCHL in scoring with 57 points including 21 goals. Hess is not considered a great offensive blueliner just yet. but is one of the league&rsquo;s top 18-years-olds.Rogers has 38 goals, Gare 36 and Holland 28 as the Calgary club continues to dominate the western standings. Malarchuk is the WCHL&rsquo;s leadinggoaltender with a 2.77 average, while Hendrick&rsquo;s 4.6) average belies his outstanding play for the Oil Kings.Following are the Western Division&rsquo;s second-team players:Second team: defenseman Dave Inkpen, Edmonton: defenseman Rick Hodgson. Calgary: centre KenGassoff. Medicine Hat; rightwinger Ed Johnstone. Medicine Hat; left winger Brad Anderson. Victoria: (no goaltender because of tie on first team).CALGARY: The Cents ended a four-game winless treak with a 6-3 win in Winnipeg&hellip; Mike Rogers and Jerry Holland each tallied twice to get the club back on the winning track&hellip; They had lost back-to-back games for the first time this season by 2-0 in Medicine Hat and 6-3 in Swift Current.NEW WESTMINSTER: The Bruins played only once during the past week and won 6-3 over Kamloops&hellip; Syd Prysunka enjoyed his third two-goal game of the season in leading the way&hellip; He now has 17 goals.MEDICINE HAT: The Tigers enjoyed their most satisfying win of the year by beating Calgary 2-0&hellip; Ryan Wecker scored both goals, his 15th and 16th of the season, and Jerry Thomas recorded his first WCHL shutout ever&hellip; Tigers had their four-game winning streak snapped though, by losing 5-1 in Saskatoon&hellip; Greg Vaydik scored his 20th goal of the season against Saskatoon.EDMONTON: The Oil Kings&rsquo; winless streak stretched to 11 games during ahorrendous road trip into the Eastern Division&hellip; The Oil Kings have not won since Dec. 9 when they defeated the Winnipeg Clubs 6-2 in Edmonton.VICTORIA: The hungry Cougars closed to within five points of fourthplace Edmonton with a 3-3 tie in Calgary and a 7-2 victory over Kamloops before4.28l fans in Victoria&hellip; The size of the crowd was just as satisfying as the triumph for Cougars&rsquo; new general manager and coach Patty Ginnell.KAMLOOPS: The Chiefs earlier thumped the Cougars 12-6 in Kamloops&hellip; In the process. Gord Stewart and Chris McMasters of the Chiefs tied a WCHL record by earning six assists apiece. a record also held by eight other players.REGINA: The Pats are back in first place in the East thanks to an amazing comeback victory in Saskatoon&hellip; They scored three goals in the final four minutes to upend the Blades 3-2&hellip; Mike Wanchuk was the hero scoring Pats&rsquo; first goal at 16:00 of the third period, and then potting the winner with less than a minute to go after Rob Laird had evened the count.BRANDON: The Wheat Kings defeated Edmonton 12-2 and lost 5-3 to Winnipeg&hellip; Ron Chipperfield passed the 100-point mark against Edmonton with five points, including his seventh hat trick of the season&hellip; Dale McMullin has earned 25 points in eight games since returning from an injury which forced him to miss 12 games.SASKATOON: The Blades won two in a row at home to end a six-game winless streak and move to within three points of fourth spot in the East&hellip; Rookie Neil Hawryliw scored twice in a 5-1 win over Medicine Hat and once in a 3-1 victorvover Edmonton.WINNIPEG: Ihe Clubs have won seven of their last 10 matches as they press to vacate the cellar&hellip; Even during a 6-3 loss to Calgary, the Clubs outshot their opponents 53-25 but Garth Malarchuk was sensational in the Cent net&hellip; &#9632;

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February 1, 1974

National Hockey League Scoring By Teams

Neeld Returns Hoping To Play Again; Touring Petes Given Rough ‘Welcome’

Absence Of Aggressive Defenders Plague Wings

Western Hockey League Summaries