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 14, 1975

The Hockey News February 14, 1975

(Including Sun. Feb. 2)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02206/3589068-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="619" height="829"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

WHA Leaders

<div class="byline">BY DEREK KNIGHT</div>Follow All The Action Every Week By Subscribing Today ToTHE HOCKEY NEWSSuperb Hockey Reading Each MonthHOCKEY WORLD & HOCKEY PICTORIALLEWISTON&mdash;A while ago people laughed when one mentioned the Maine Nordiques as probable playoff participants. A combination of reasons has made the laughter die down.The goaltending of Bernie Wolfe perked up the team and they started winning. Second, the league announced that seven of its eight members would qualify for the post-season playoffs. At press time, the Nordiques were closing the gap on seventh-place Johnstown Jets.Meanwhile, former WHA performer Paul Andrea became popular overnight in Cape Cod when his first goal as a Codder (I minute and 19 seconds into overtime) nipped Syracuse 4-3. Nick Foitu scored his first two goals of the season in 5-3 win over Maine. Largest crowd of the season. 4.174 saw that one. It was the second largest home crowd in the history of the Cape Cod franchise. Guy Dufour was closing in on 30 goals. Ted Ouimet was sparkling in the Codder nets. Ted came up with 46 saves in that overtime win against Syracuse boosting his won-lost-tied record to 13-6-4. John Cunniff tied Guy Dufour in power-play goals with seven. Forward John Harris was waived.SYRACUSE: Club has to lead the league in the highest number of top goaltenders to play for one team in a single season. The latest goaltender to be assigned to Syracuse is Russ Gillow. sent by San Diego. Gillow had plqyed with the big club since the season began. Bobby Jones&rsquo; 78 points was good for the league leadership. Alton White was nearing 30 goals. Hot Blazer scorer has been left winger John Raynak. Gary Sittler is over the 200 minute mark in penalties. Blazer road record was close to .500 with a mark of 10-11-2. At home they were 17-3. And a 3-1 triumph over Philadelphia gave Syracuse sole possession of first place on Jan. 29.JOHNSTOWN: Jim Adair placed on 14-day injury list. The talented left winger was beginning to find the scoring range with a hat trick that boosted his goals scored total to seven. Steve Carlson has broken into the top 10 NAHL scorers. Jerry Welsh has hit the 20 goal figure. Jets blasted Dusters 7-2 and came back from a two-goal deficit to down Long Island 5-2. Mike Chemoff. right winger, was chosen as the game&rsquo;s first star in that Binghamton game as the Jets came up with 58 shots on net. Unheralded Lou Levasseur had a goals against average below 3.00.LONG ISLAND: Rich Coutu strong in net with 2.92 goals-against average. Christ Grigg lent a helping hand with his second shutout of the year, a 4-0 whitewash of Syracuse, the first time Blazers had been shut out in a couple of years. Due to injuries and recalls, only 11 skaters and one goaltender dressed tor that Blazer game, quite the shorthanded effort. Newcomer Paul Sheard was fast becomine an Island favorite with his hustle. Two goals by Ken Ireland and Dave Walter spoiled a night in honor of Robin Roberts, firebirds co-owner. The Long Island Arena crowd gave Roberts a nice ovation as he received a plaque at center ice. compliments of Cougar management. Dave Walter remained as the Cougars&rsquo; goal scoring leader with 27 scores.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01181/3589862-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="583" height="646"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAUL ANDREA&hellip;Instant Hit</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA: Winger Pierre Henry was placed on injury list. The league office lowered the boom on Jack Chipchase and Lee Crozier. Crozier had to sit out one game for a match penalty while Chipchase sat one out tor pushing a linesman. Incidentally, veterans Jack Chipchase and captain Ted Hodgson have been on ice and off ice leaders for coach Gregg Pilling. Ray Schultz led club in penalty minutes with 125.MAINE: Club shut out Firebirds 5-0 behind acrobatics of Bernie Wolfe. Paul Larose led NAHL in goals scored with 35. Both he and teammate Bob Murphy ranked among the league&rsquo;s top five scorers. Denis Patry topped club in penalty minutes with 87. Jacques Btains six goals led team&rsquo;s active defensemen. Coach Jean Charles Gravel has really worked wonders with this team, since taking over in November. Crowd reached season high attendance figure of 2.500 in shutout win over Philadelphia. Excellent considering that the weather was stormy and six inches of snow covered the streets of Lewiston.MOHAWK VALLEY: Goaltender Steve Eckerson was released in order to make room for Michel Dion. Jeff Jacques managed to stay among the NAHL&rsquo;s top scorers despite a stint with the parent Toronto Toros. Ron Walters scored twice in a losing effort versus Syracuse. Crowds in Utica still going strong. Fans see no resemblance in this year&rsquo;s Comet team and last year&rsquo;s.BROOME: Rod Bloomfield cracked the 30 goal mark. Scott Hudson and Ken and Bill Gratton were approaching the 20 goal mark. Paul Brown&rsquo;s 144 penalty minutes was a club high. Ken Davidson hit the 25 goal mark. Gary Jacquith should have over 100 penalty minutes by the time you read this. Goaltender Peter Crosbie held a 2-1 record, despite a high 4.67 goals-against average. Rick Lemay still had a winning record at 14-12-0. Injured defenseman Dale McBain has returned, a good sign for the Dusters. Club trounced Mohawk Valiev 9-2. &#9632;

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Lowly Maine Still Aiming For Playoffs; Syracuse Blazes Way Back To Top Perch

OSHAWA &mdash;The reward provided to the winners was billed as &ldquo;a once in a lifetime opportunity&rdquo;. Thanks to the Barrie CoOp midgets it won&rsquo;t have to be rewritten to read &ldquo;a twice in a lifetime opportunity&rdquo;.By virtue of a 7-4 victory over the Verdun Maple Leafs, the Barrie club captured the 1975 Wrigley Canadian Midget Tournament and the trip to Russia which goes along with winning.Verdun was attempting to make it two in a row after having won the crown in 1974, the year &lsquo;The Wrigley&rsquo; was first brought into existence.Oshawa. Ontario has been the site for both years and the attendance increase for the 1975 event deserves a story all its own.A total of 26,608 spectators passed through the turnstiles for the week-long event compared to the total of 17.486 in 1974.Included in the 1975 total is the largest crowd ever to watch a hockey game at Oshawa&rsquo;s Civic Auditorium. 5.789, as the host club, Oshawa Parkway TV., fell 2-0 to the eventual tournament champs, Barrie. (The Auditorium only seats approximately 3.500.)Thirteen teams from all across Canada participated with Barrie, representing Ontario, and Verdun, carrying Quebec colors, advancing to the final, thanks to their undefeated records.Oshawa, with a record of five wins and a single setback, and the Fort Garry-Ft. Rouge Twins, 3-1-1, met in the consolation final with the host club gaining the bronze medal with a convincing 8-3 win.&ldquo;We were so close in the big one,&rdquo; said Oshawa coach Dave Luciuk referring to the close 2-0 defeat to Barrie.&ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t as polished as Barrie was. It was a matter of capitalizing on mistakes.&rdquo;The one costly mistake which coach Luciuk&rsquo;s crew made didn&rsquo;t come until 17:09 of the final frame when Barrie got their first goal and then added an insurance marker into the empty net with only 13 seconds remaining.&ldquo;The kids gave a good account of themselves.&rdquo; Luciuk summed up.The game for all the marbles was witnessed by a crowd ofjust over 4.000 and a national television audience.Partisan Verdun and Barrie fans, including an Ontarioite who performed his version of Chubby Checker to the beat set by an accompanying trumpet player, and impartial onlookers saw an exciting contest but it had to be termed an anti-climax to the previous day&rsquo;s Oshawa-Barrie confrontation.The Barrie midgets controlled the game from beginning to end. excepting spasmodic occasions when the Leafs applied pressure in the Ontario zone.Barrie never trailed in the contest, leading 2-1 after the first period and 4-3 after two before outscoring their opposition 3-1 in the final stanza.&ldquo;Oshawa was our toughest game,&rdquo; commented Barrie coach Lloyd Pearsall after capturing the championship.&ldquo;We had to fight the crowd (which was pro-Oshawa excepting three to four hundred fans who had made the trip from Barrie) and they had the momentum with them.&ldquo;I was concerned about whether we could skate with Verdun, then I found out we could. This was our seventh game in six days,&rdquo; Pearsall explained.&ldquo;I have a well disciplined bunch of kids. Our club has more kids who can do more things with the puck than anybody else in the tournament.&ldquo;This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I feel sorry for the other teams but I certainly am grateful that we won it,&rdquo; Pearsall said enthusiastically.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t play as well as we could.&rdquo; said a disconsolate Verdun coach Roland Dagenais.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t forecheck well enough and we could have used more experience.&rdquo; (Only five players were returneees from last year&rsquo;s championship club.)And so, after two years in Canada&rsquo;s MotorCity, &lsquo;The Wrigley&rsquo; bids farewell and moves on to Calgary Alberta, for the 1976 event.And a happy and talented group of young men from Barrie, Ontario, will undoubtedly have some sleepless nights between now and March, thinking of what awaits them in a country they would likely never have had an opportunity to visit had it not been for The Wrigley&rsquo;. &#9632;

Barrie Co-Ops Off To Russia Thanks To ‘The Wrigley’

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01717/3588095-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARRY UNGER&hellip; Second-Best Center</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;The St. Louis Blues were one of the poor cousins in the National Hockey League at the All Star game &mdash; they had only one player in the game.Last season the Blues had three players on the All Star team, Garry Unger, Barclay Plager and Don Awrey. This year Unger had the distinction of being the only St. Louis player in the All Star game.Unger was voted the second-best center in the Clarence Campbell conference behind Bobby Clarke. Unger thus went ahead of centers such as Stan Mikita, Jean Ratelle and Dennis Hextail.&ldquo;I was hoping I&rsquo;d make the team for the All Star game&rdquo; Unger said. &ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d be in the first group voted to the team by the writers. I thought maybe I had a chance to be added to the team.&rdquo;Unger was playing in his fourthstraight All Star game. He has made the team every year since he joined the Blues.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always a thrill and it makes me feel good about my accomplishments,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I never feel like I&rsquo;m that much better than the next guy, but I always hope to make the All Star game because of the prestige.&rdquo;In last year&rsquo;s game Unger was the most valuable player as coach Billy Reay experimented by putting Unger on left wing with Mikita at center. Unger had a goal and an assist in the Western Division&rsquo;s 6-4 victory and won a new car as most valuable player.&ldquo;I was flying,&rdquo; recalled Unger, who put on a spectacular performance in the game.The switching of Unger to left wing didn&rsquo;t prove to be responsible for the fine performance. When Loui Angotti, coach of the Blues earlier this season, tried a similar switch, the results were not favorable, and Unger was quickly moved back to center.In this year&rsquo;s All Star game coach Fred Shero had Unger at center between Steve Vickers of the New York Rangers and Jim Pappin of the Chicago Black Hawks. And Shero, who had Unger checking Boston&rsquo;s Phil Esposito, expressed the opinion that Unger, Clarke and Atlanta&rsquo;s Tom Lysiak were his three best players on the ice.Unger set up the only goal scored by the Clarence Campbell conference. He carried the puck across the blue line, faked a shot, then passed into the slot, where Dennis Potvin of the New York Islanders scored.While Unger was in Montreal for the All Star activities, the other St. Louis players were dividing their time between practice and rest at home. But neither activity had immediate good results. In the first game after the All Star game the rested and practiced Blues, playing at home, lost, 7-2, to the Philadelphia Flyers, who had five players tied up with the All Star game.At the time of the All Star break the Blues were three points behind the Black Hawks and six behind the Vancouver Canucks. The Blues January record before the All Star game was 3-5-1, far off their hot December pace, when they gathered a month&rsquo;s total of 18 points, third-highest point total for a single month in the team&rsquo;s history.After the big loss to Philadelphia the Blues lost more ground to second-place Chicago when they lost to the Hawks,4-1, at the St. Louis Arena. As has happened so many time before, Mikita was the man to bring about the Bluesloss. Mikita scored two goals and assisted on the other two by Cliff Koroll and Pit Martin for the victory. Unger didn&rsquo;t ruin Tony Esposito&rsquo;s shutout until there was one minute 23 seconds remaining in the game. &#9632;

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Unger Blues’ Only Player To Make All Star Game

<div class="byline">BY JACK MCCARTHY</div>BOSTON &mdash;Although the Bruins were hard-put to make up much ground against stubborn Buffalo, which was holding on to first place in Division Four of the NHL. coach Don Cherry savs, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nodoubt in my mind that we&rsquo;ll outfinish Buffalo for first place&hellip;&rdquo;Cherry, making his comments at the All Star break, didn&rsquo;t think that his team had done, as well as it could have, but said. &lsquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll get smoking. you can bet on it.&rdquo; While Chepry was concerned and exasperated that the once tumultuous Bruins were not playing hitting hockey, he noted that the key to the Boston club&rsquo;s position is goalkeeper Gilles Gilbert.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02818/3587367-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="295" height="466"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Cherry</figcaption></div>Says Cherry. &lsquo;&ldquo;He is the key to our success. He had a back injury and a broken thumb and a groin pull and that has hurt us. We must get him back in the form he was in last year. He&rsquo;s the key to the club and I think that was understood from the start.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to say my goalies haven&rsquo;t been playing well to make an excuse for the first half of the season. But I can&rsquo;t say that, and I wouldn&rsquo;t even if it were true.&ldquo;Ross Brooks and Ken Broderick have done a sensational job filling in. but we need a healthy and sharp Gilbert to win. Up front, we have no problems, and we&rsquo;ll be all set if Gilbert can shake off those injuries and play as he did in last season&rsquo;s Stanley Cup games.&rdquo;Although the Bruins had lost only seven times in the last 30games before the All Star break. Cherry wasn&rsquo;t impressed. Said he, &ldquo;We lost a lot of games we shouldn&rsquo;t have. I know this team can play better. We&rsquo;ve had some key injuries (Gilbert. Wayne Cashman, Bobby Schmautz), but I&rsquo;m not going to use that as an excuse either. I can&rsquo;t remember the last time we had our three lines together. but we should be able to overcome that.&ldquo;The loss of Cashman hurt probably as much as anything, because we miss him in the corners, and by just being on the ice, he helps keep the opposition honest. Ken Hodge has assumed a lot of his duties and Kenny&rsquo;s production has fallen off because of it&hellip;&rdquo;After Cherry had diagnosed the first half. Cashman came back ahead of schedule in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Boston Garden and helned the Bruins to a 2-2 tie. (Gilbert ingoal. He was asked if he could play after Hodge was felled by the flu. Cashman had a back operation for a splintered disc which was pressing on a nerve and missed 31 games.Cherry went with on his evaluation. &ldquo;The first half has been a bit frustrating for me as a coach, especially when I&rsquo;ve watched this team outshoot the opposition &mdash; and I don&rsquo;t mean routine shots &mdash; good ones, and not be able to win the game.&ldquo;I think another disappointment, as far as I&rsquo;m concerned, is the failure of the team to constantly play the body. We&rsquo;ve let teams skate all over the ice. and I&rsquo;ve been trying to tell this team that you can&rsquo;t do that and be a consistent winner.&lsquo;&rdquo;I look at a little guy like Gregg Sheppard, who has been playing a solid game, day in and day out, and ask these guys &mdash; if he can play the body, why can&rsquo;t you? &mdash; But for some reason, I can&rsquo;t get through to them.&rdquo;This indeed seems strange for an outfit that once was one of the roughest, toughest in hockey, but it has been the contention of this writer that, subconsciously or not, when the NHL stretched the schedule out to so many games and added thousands of miles of travel per season, you just can&rsquo;t get guys to belt people with gusto every night.Cherry has been upset by talk that the league is so weak that the real games won&rsquo;t really matter until playoff time. Said the coach. &ldquo;This really bugs me. Sure, we&rsquo;re going to make the playoffs, but the way some people are talking you&rsquo;d think we&rsquo;ll just be going through the motions until then.&ldquo;These guys are giving 100 percent. They realize you can&rsquo;t coast through a season and be ready for the playoffs. It just can&rsquo;t happen.&ldquo;While I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ve played as well as we can, we&rsquo;ll get smoking&hellip;&rdquo;Phil Esposito got goals Nos. 44and 45 against the Flyers Jan. 26 in Boston. This was his 47th game. He had three games in which to try and catch Rocket Richard&rsquo;s 50 goals in 50 games&hellip; The three games were against the KC Scouts, the California Seals and the Toronto Maple Leafs. &#9632;

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Boston Coach Cherry Predicts Bruins Will Finish Ahead Of Sabres in Race

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01889/3587398-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Players like goaler Gilles Meloche of California Seals may be playing their hockey elsewhere next season if the NHL decides to move into Seattle or Denver.</figcaption></div><h2>BOOMER QUITS ATLANTA</h2>ATLANTA&mdash;Citing personal reasons for his request to be replaced, Bernie &ldquo;Boom Boom&rdquo; Geoffrion stepped down as coach of the slumping Atlanta Flames.Geoffrion, who wil remain with the organization as an assistant to general manager Cliff Fletcher, will be succeeded by Fred Creighton, who moves up from the club&rsquo;s CHL farm club, the Omaha Knights, to take over the NHL coaching job.The Boomer, who is 44 years old, had been coach of the Flames since their inception in 1972. Fletcher said the club acted on Geoffrion&rsquo;s request after spending a whole day discussing the matter with top club officials.<h2>NHL TO MOVE SEALS</h2>NEW YORK&mdash;The NHL will extend a helping hand to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 1975-76 season but the same can&rsquo;t be said of the California Seals. The league-owned Seals could be on their way to either Seattle or Denver.The NHL*s board of governors concluded a meeting here in which they assured the troubled Penguins they would seek new investors for the club because they were satisfied the Penguins were &lsquo;making good progress&rsquo; toward solving their financial problems.The governors also reviewed the status of the Seals but no concrete action was taken on the team&rsquo;s future in California. The NHL paid off original owner Barry Van Gerbig in settling its $3 million lawsuit out of court leaving the door open for a possible shift of the franchise to either Seattle or Denver, both of which will be admitted to the NHL in 1976. The picture in Oakland is grim. The Seals are costing the NHL $10,000 a day and NHL president Clarence Campbell said the league could not afford to keep the Seals in Oakland while awaiting a new arena that someone might build in San Francisco.Campbell feels the solution would be to put the Seals in either of the nev cities, both of which are ready to go next season with new arenas.<h2>BALL JOINS BLUES</h2>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Dennis Ball, the man who has put some of the present big hockey names on Madison Square Garden ice for the Rangers over the past 20 years, has moved on to the St. Louis Blues.Ball leaves the Rangers&rsquo; organization for the post of vice-president in charge of hockey operations with the Blues. Ball, who has served as director of Rangers&rsquo; vast farm system for the past two decades, will also function as general manager under team president Sid Salomon III, who has been handling the GM&rsquo;s duties since last summer.<h2>STAGS SUING WHA</h2>DETROIT&mdash;The former owners of the defunct Michigan Stags &mdash; Detroiters chuck Nation and Pete Shagena &mdash; are not taking the shift of the Stags to Baltimore by the WHA lieing down. In fact they&rsquo;ve upped and sued the league for a cool $ 13 million, charging fraud and misrepresentation.It ssencs messers Notion and Shagena feel they weren&rsquo;t properly advised by the WHA when they bought into the league. The suit also asked that the WHA be ordered to pay the Stags&rsquo; bills of more than $1 million, including $191,000 owed by the club to the Internal Revenue Service. &#9632;

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Deadline Stoppers

<h2>NHL TEAMS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04430/3587457-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="526" height="790"></div><h2>WHA TEAMS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05305/3587450-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="529" height="613"></div><h2>OTHER LEAGUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06209/3587443-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="508" height="394"></div><h2>COLUMNISTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07126/3587436-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="523" height="142"></div><h2>OTHER FEATURES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-0868/3587429-1-eng-US/f0002-082.jpg" title="f0002-08" width="529" height="169"></div> &#9632;

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WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT ALL

(Including Sun. Feb. 2)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03629/3587488-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="619" height="673"></div> &#9632;

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NHL Leaders

<div class="byline">BY NORB ECKSL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02762/3587533-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg"></div>&bull; Sitting Ineffective Players Down Works Well For Hawks&rsquo; Billy Reay&bull; Canadiens&rsquo; Scotty Bowman Plays Game Of Lineup Shuffle With Success&bull; Pride, Desire Among His Players Usually Turns It Around For Francis&bull; Islanders&rsquo; Al Arbour Gets Results From Dwelling On Players&rsquo; FeelingsNEW YORK&mdash;The average job expectancy in National Hockey League coaching ranks is 2.6 seasons &mdash; and this includes such old standbys as Billy Reay. Scotty Bowman and Red Kelly. This despite various ploys designed to get the absolute maximum from the players.Reay. the Chicago Black Hawks coach since 1963-64 is a master at surviving which is the name of the game. &ldquo;The biggest chore I had was in converting the Hawks from an offensive team to a tight two way checking outfit.&rdquo; said Reay.This occured in 1970-71 when Bobby Hull held out the first fourteen games of the season. Reay switched the emphasis to defense and has never changed his coaching philosophy since then. With Tony Esposito in goal, the Hawks moved from last to first and won the Vezina Trophy.&ldquo;Coaching has changed in the last five years since the advent of expansion.&rdquo; notes Reay. &ldquo;Today&rsquo;s player has to be handled just so. but togetherness and team spirit are all important.&rdquo;Reay has found that sitting a player down when he seems to be less than enthusiastic or effective on a given night works very well.&ldquo;This way you find who wants to play and who wants to loaf.&rdquo; says Billy. &ldquo;If the nlaver doesn&rsquo;t care that he isn&rsquo;tplaying, he isn&rsquo;t worth having. It&rsquo;s a game of testing each individual.&rdquo;When the Hawks are doing poorly Billy likes to get things started by throwing on a catch line, made up of players who don&rsquo;t play regularly, but are fresh and full of pep.&ldquo;Lou Angotti did this for me for years. He was our fourth center and penalty killer. All I had to say was. &lsquo;Lou get it moving. He could stir more action in one shift than almost anyone I can think of. The other guys would see Louis do it and they would get excited. You can sense it run up and down the bench.&rdquo;Scotty Bowman, the Montreal Canadiens coach and former mentor of the St. Louis Blues when they went to the Cup finals three straight years, says. &ldquo;You have to work with the personnel you are given. With St. Louis we played a tight checking game. If we were ahead or tied in the last minute, and had the puck in the other end, I ordered my players to go for a skate with it in order to eat the clock. Passing was dangerous, so it was out. In Montreal, with the Canadiens&rsquo; emphasis on attack, too much of this would not be acceptable.&rdquo;Bowman plays the game of lineup shuffle to a tee. often matching as many as a dozen different line combinations with only four or so from the opposition.&ldquo;Although it may sound corny, appealing to the pride of our players does work.&rdquo; said Bowman. &ldquo;Montreal has a special tradition and the French players particularly want to excel. I guess some people think I have failed here, winning only one cup in three years &mdash; but our team is now younger and better and we hope to win again this year.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01894/3587526-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="561" height="689"><figcaption class="caption-body">SCOTTY BOWMAN &hellip; Appeals To Pride</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Pride and desire are most important to a hockey team.&rdquo; says Ranger coach Emile Francis, also the team&rsquo;s general manager. &ldquo;When we were down two games to one in the quarter finals against Toronto in 1970-71 I held a clubhouse meeting prior to the fourth game in Toronto. One more Leaf win and we would have our backs to the wall. Their centers were beating us to the puck. Jean Ratelle. Walt Tkaczuk and Peter Stemkowski were just not doing their job as well as Dave Keon. Norm Ullman and Jim Harrison. Finally I said. &lsquo;Its up to you three guys to get those faceoffs or everyone here has a long summer.&rdquo;It worked, as the Rangers swept the next three games. Another time a Francis ploy was successful was when New York and Montreal entered the final day of the 1969-70 campaign in a bitter race for the final playoff spot. The Rangers needed a win. plus a high scoring game to tie Montreal in points, and exceed them in goals, which would give them the coveted spot.&ldquo;I said absolutely nothing before the game. We had lost the day before in Detroit and everyone knew what had tobe done. Most of the fans and newspapers had written us off. something like the Mets. This made the fellows feel close. They went out there and it started right away. We scored quickly and the feeling swept the bench. We didn&rsquo;t know if we could get the nine goals we needed (they did. winning 9-5) but we knew we had a shot, which is all I wanted. By not harranging them, the fellows knew I was with them, and thought they could do it. After all. tis their money.&rdquo;Al Arbour, the New York Islanders coach, who formerly tutored the St. Louis Blues, feels coaching is feeling out your players.&ldquo;I learned a bit from everyone I played under and I coach a little bit like each of them, but realistically I coach like Al Arbour. Some players need to be kicked in the tail all the time, but others need a pat on the back at certain times. They get down if you knock them when things are going bad. You have to know when to do either, in order to get the most mileage. Veterans are handled differently than rookies, no matter the rules.&rdquo;No matter what ploys they use. coaches are hired to be fired, but while they are behind the bench they experience a feeling of control which is heady beyond belief.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03514/3587519-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="877" height="693"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILLY REAY&hellip; Emphasizes Defense</figcaption></div>&ldquo;There is nothing like coaching.&rdquo; says the Philadelphia Flyers Fred Shero.&ldquo;Losing is the dregs of emotion, but winning is everything. And winning a championship is what makes it all worthwhile.&rdquo;Shero tries to make practive sessions worthwhile by using tennis balls instead of pucks. This sharpens the reflexes. He also made good use of Mike Nykoluk. as assistant coach.&ldquo;Nykoluk made Rick MacLeish into a center.&rdquo; says Freddie. &ldquo;He is still better at faceoffs than every center on the team, and that includes Bobby Clarke.&rdquo;In the mold of the seventies. Shero accepts suggestions from &mdash; his players &mdash; and sometimes right in the middle of the game.&ldquo;Terry Crisp screamed at me in the final game against Boston last year. He made me put in Simon Nolet. a fast skater, to watch Ken Hodge. He helped me,&rdquo; admits Freddie.Shero, who journeyed to Russia in the off-season, thinks the NHL can learn from the Russians.&ldquo;Perhaps a combination of Canadian defensive zone tactics and Russian pattern passing on attack is best.&rdquo; says Freddie. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just trying to stay one iumn ahead of my competition.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0003-02

THEY ALL HAVE THEIR OWN WAY OF GETTING JOB DONE

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01945/3587585-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="457" height="457"></div>&bull; BARRY GIBBS of the Atlanta Flames has the reputation of being one of the toughest defensemen in the National Hockey League&hellip;Nova Scotia Voyageurs have at least five players on their team who will be regulars in the NHL next season&hellip; Rick Chartraw. the 210-pound rookie defenseman of the Voyageurs. is said to be one of the strongest men physically to play professional hockey&hellip; Fred Shero and Bernie Parent represented the Stanley Cup champion Flyers at the 71 st annual Philadelphia Sportswriters Association banquet attended by over 1,000 people the other night. I here s not a doubt in my mind that we&rsquo;ll defend the Stanley Cup successfully this year.&rdquo; Shero told the audience. Shero and Parent posed for photos with Muhammad Ali. the world heavyweight champion, who was honored as the professional athlete of the year&hellip; The World Hockey Association trustees voted overwhelmingly to hold the 1977-78 WHA All Star game in the new Hart ford Civic Center, home of the New England Whalers. The next two WHA All Star classics are slated for Cleveland and Vancouver&hellip; Los Angeles Kings are the best defensive club in the NHL and goalie Rogie Vachon is a prime candidate to win the Vezina Trophy.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02901/3587578-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="289" height="481"><figcaption class="caption-body">Barry Gibbs</figcaption></div>&bull; DAVE FORBES, who has pleaded innocent to a charge of aggravated assault in the injury of Henry Boucha. through his Boston attorney, has acquired the services of one of the best trial lawyers in Minneapolis&hellip; Los Angeles Kings attendance increased to 10,000 a game two years ago, to 11,000 last season and to 12,000 this season. Season ticket sales have not yet reached 5,000 but many who hold Laker tickets are talking of switching over now that the basketball team is going down while the hockey team is going up&hellip; Christen Abrahamsson. out of the New England Whalers lineup with an injury, guested on Minnesota Fighting Saints&rsquo;radio the other night and spoke for a few minutes in Swedish to all those of his tongue in that area&hellip; If Guy Lafleur scores 50 goals for the Canadiens this season, as he is expected to do now. he will become the third Montreal player to score 50 goals in a season. Others were Maurice Richard and Bernie Geoffrion&hellip; Mike Bvers celebrared his 200th WHA game by scoring the winner for the Whalers over the new Baltimore Blades&hellip; Scotty Bowman thinks Bobby Hull could have scored many more goals playing for Chicago Black Hawks if Billy Reay had switched him back and forth from center to left wing. &ldquo;Too many guys were able to key on him because he always stayed on the left side.&rdquo; said Bowman. That&rsquo;s why the Canadiens&rsquo; coach figures the best way to get the most out of Guy Lafleur is to keep moving him from right wing to center so that nobody can get a bead on him. In his first 24 games with the St. Louis Blues. Chuck Lefley had 14 goalsand 14 assists. The Blues have come to rely on Letley&rsquo;s scoring as a big part of the team&rsquo;s offense&hellip; Bob Kelton, president of the Ice Skating Institute of America and owner of the Rivedale Ice skating Center in the Bronx, is doing a splendid job combining hockey with figure and speed skating. There are collegiate doubleheaders at Riverdale on Mondays, junior games on Thursdays and minor hockey every Saturday and Sunday &hellip; Rick Ley is recognized as the best all-around defenseman in the WHA but will never receive the recognition he deserves&hellip; Dependable Frank St Marseille, veteran winger of the LA. Kings, scored the 350th point of his long-delayed NHL career. He is an excellent example of the dedicated athlete who sticks to his sport in the minors without giving up hope of making the majors. He was 28 before he moved out of the International League to the NHL, but now at 35 he is in his eighth season at the top.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03796/3587571-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="289" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank St. Marseille</figcaption></div>&bull; BOSTON BRUINS have won 23 games in which they scored the first goal. They have won only three out of 21 games in which the other team scored first&hellip; Frank Paice of the New York Rangers is the senior trainer in the NHL. He is completing his 29th season with the Rangers&hellip; Dennis Ball should prove a valuable addition to the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; organization. Dennis spent many years with the Rangers and was Emile Francis&rsquo; closest assistant at the time of his departure&hellip; Jim Morrison, coach ot&rsquo;the defunct Baltimore Clippers, has replaced Eddie Bush as coach ot the Kitchener Rangers of the OH A Major A league&hellip; On March 22 and 23 the second annual U.S. Open Table Hockey Tournament, sponsored by the World Table Hockey Association and Munro Games, will be held. The event will be staged in Chicago and people from all over Canada and the United States will participate&hellip; The Midwest Junior Hockey League received a major boost when the NCAA relaxed their rules somewhat in allowing players to participate in the loop while taking college courses. At one time the NCAA labeled the league professional, a designation which was later rescinded. It appears the Midwest Junior League will expand next season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04694/3587564-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="276" height="521"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Byers</figcaption></div>THE HOCKEY NEWSVol. 28 No. 19 FEBRUARY 14, 1975OFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded October 1st, 1947Published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd., 1434 St. Catherine Street West, Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7. U.S. c/o W.C.C. Publishing, 150 E. 58th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022.Kenneth W. McKenzie Charlie Halpin Hans HoenigPresident, Publisher and Advertising Director Editorial Director Administration ManagerUnited Stated Advertising Representatives: Boston Steve Ganak, Ad. Reps. 479 Statler Office Bldg. Boston, Mass 02116. telephone (617) 524-6913: Chicago: Hooper Jones & Associates. 3322 W. Peterson Ave. Chicago III 60659 telephone (312) 478-5544 New York Bill Hitzig, National Sports Publishing Corp.. 150 East 58th Street. New York. N.Y. 10022, Telephone (212) 593-2100.YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $9.50 in Canada $10.50 In the U.S.A. and $14.00 in Foreign Countries. Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y., 1001 and at additional mailing offices. SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO 1434 &lsquo;ST. CATHERINE STREET WEST, SUITE 217, MONTREAL, CANADA. H3G 1R7. Second Class mail Registration No. 1327. All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept., The Hockey News, 1434 St. Catherine St W. Montreal, Canada H3G 1R. Printed in Canada &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05563/3587616-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2>Boo-Birds Unjust To Maple Leafs</h2>I am sick and tired of people knocking Dave Keon, who, in my mind, is still skating miles for the Maple Leafs. If Allan Murray of Hayter, Alberta, wants to criticize the Leafs, I think he should knock management for making a dumb trade like giving up a fine penalty-killer like Garry Monahan and a defenseman like John Grisdale for a so-called left wingerdefenseman who isn&rsquo;t helping the Leafs a bit. I think that Keon is not the offensive player he used to be because his linemates are always changing.I&rsquo;ve been a Leaf fan for 25 years and when a team is rebuilding, I have patience with them. There are lots of other good teams in the NHL. I&rsquo;m tired of all those boo-birds, who are never satisfied unless their team is winning, no matter how hard the players are trying.BILL FARRELL, Surrey, B.C.<h2>All Star Contest Disenchants Fan</h2>After watching the NHL All Star game on TV, I can only say that I was very disenchanted with the announcer&rsquo;s references to the Wales&rdquo; and the &ldquo;Campbells &lsquo;. There could not be a more amateurish selection of names; even East-West would have been better.I also think that the sweaters were put together without much imagination. Why couldn&rsquo;t each player wear a sweater from the club he represented, whites&rdquo; for one team and &ldquo;darks&rdquo; for the other? The players should have been wearing their own numbers. Any true hockey fan can recognize a player by his crest and the number he usually wears.I have to commend all the teams that place the players&rsquo; names on the reverse of their sweaters above the number. Everyone can recognize the superstars and the regulars, but when a team like the Vancouver Canucks, for instance, are decimated by injuries, how can fans in other cities know who has been called up as reinforcements without constantly referring to to a program, if it&rsquo;s been updated in time for the game. I hope my own favorites, the Canucks, will take note and help the out-of-town fans who only get to see a few games a year.GORDON GODDARD, Vancouver, B.C.<h2>Awrey, Not Orr, Best Defensive Defenseman</h2>I disagree with Thomas Morrissey (Fan Forum, Jan. 24). Don Awrey, not Bobby Orr, is the best defensive defenseman in hockey. When he was with Boston, he wasn&rsquo;t recognized as an All Star defenseman because of Orr. Then he was traded to St. Louis. With the Blues, he was underrated because he was on a team which was rebuilding.Now with Montreal, he is showing what he&rsquo;s made of. Since he&rsquo;s joined the Canadiens, they&rsquo;ve had a 21-game winning streak and a stronger defense. Before, they were more offense-minded and were winning by one or two goal margins. This should be proof enough to Mr. Morrissey ofwho is the best defensive defenseman in the league.MARIO LEPORE, Montreal, Que.<h2>Gilbert Hard-Working Devoted Hockey Player</h2>In his letter which appeared in Fan Forum Jan. 31, Mr. George Nichols charged Rod Gilbert, among others, of being a loafer on the ice, Being a Ranger season-ticket holder for several years and having seen Gilbert in action, I cannot disagree more. Rod is a hard-working, devoted player who always gives 100 percent. He is a true superstar and not a loafer. Proof of his greatness is showing again this year. Just look at the league&rsquo;s top scorers and there&rsquo;s Gilbert, along with another completely devoted star, Jean Ratelie. Both are credits to the NHL.PETER SCIABARRA, Brooklyn, N.Y.<h2>Improving Seals Unjustly Criticized</h2>In an article which appeared in the Jan. 24 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, I feel that Frank Orr unjustly put down one of the up and coming teams of the NHL. I think that it was disgraceful for him to say that it would be an insult if the California Seals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs for a playoff spot in the Adams Division. How could it be an insult if the Seals play with more initiative than the Leafs? Mr. Orr finished by saying that the Seals are not a very good hockey team but if he looks closer, he&rsquo;ll see the Seals in hot pursuit of third place and the Leafs.LAWRENCE BOVENZI, Rochester, N.Y.<h2>Not First Transaction Between Rival Leagues</h2>In a recent issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, it was stated that when Butch Deadmarsh was sold to the Vancouver Blazers by the Kansas City Scouts that it was the first deal ever between the two leagues. That was an erroneous statement. The first transaction was between the Cleveland Crusaders and the St. Louis Blues. Goaltender Yves Belanger was sold to the Blues by the Crusaders in August 1974. Both players had already signed with their respective leagues for the 1975-76 season.KEN ROBERTS, Fairview Heights, III.<h2>Goaling Will Carry Canadiens To Cup</h2>It&rsquo;s no secret the Montreal Canadiens didn&rsquo;t to as well last season with Ken Dryden in drydock. Now that he&rsquo;s back and the Canadiens have Michel Larocque to work with him, Montreal can brag about the best one-two goaling team in the NHL.In fact I think the Canadiens can go all the way to the Stanley Cup on the strength of their goaling alone. With the explosive offense they have, and a fair-to-midling defense backed by Dryden and Larocque, I don&rsquo;t see how the Canadiens can miss the cup this year.WALTER SOYERS, Brockville, Ont. &#9632;

f0004-05

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01977/3587671-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENIS POTVIN&hellip;Right Behind Orr In Voting</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;They started making the comparisons when a 14-year-old kid named Denis Potvin first laced on his skates to play in an OHA Jr. A&rdquo; game back in 1968. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the next Bobby Orr,&rdquo; was something that the Islanders&rsquo; star rearguard had to live with throughout his junior career, and his two seasons in the NHL.&ldquo;I just want to be known as the first Denis Potvin,&rdquo; insisted the then 19-year-old at his inaugural news conference with the New York press after his signing shortly after the 1972-73 campaign. &ldquo;No two players are the same; each is his own individual,&rdquo; he added articulately.Despite the big build-up, Denis didn&rsquo;t exactly set the NHL on fire during the first half of his rookie season. He was good &mdash; probably the best of the year&rsquo;s rookie blueliners &mdash; but somehow people expected more.But then he burned up the circuit over the second half, eclipsing the scoring mark for rookie defensemen set by Guy Lapointe. Although the balloting was close at the end of the season. Denis nosed out Atlanta&rsquo;s Tom Lysiak by 14 votes for the Calder Trophy as the NHls top freshman.Denis picked up where he left off when the new season began in October. He averaged better than a point a game as the Islanders roared to a great start which saw them in contention for top honors in the Patrick Division. By this time Denny had quieted the skeptics; he was a true star.Prior to the Islanders&rsquo; Jan. 4 game with the Rangers, a number of Gotham papers decided to build up the confrontation by comparing Potvin with the Rangers&rsquo; Brad Park &mdash; the man accepted by most to be the runner-up to Orr in all-around ability. Interestingly, the comparisons weren&rsquo;t projections of the future; they were for right now.&ldquo;Actually I was a little flattered by the comparisons, but it&rsquo;s the same thing as all those statements about Orr,&rdquo; said Potvin. &ldquo;Every player in this league tries to become the best. But each man plays his own game.&rdquo;Denny received perhaps his biggest honor to date when he received the second most votes fora defenseman in the ballotting for the All Star game. Orr. of course, was first, as Park slipped to third.Potvin was teamed with Park by coach Fred Shero in the All Star tilt, but the unit didn&rsquo;t particularly sparkle defensively (they were on the ice for four Wales goals). But Denis picked up his second goal in as many years.If the word &ldquo;super star&rdquo; in hockey means a player who can at any given time completely dominate a game, then Denis Potvin has developed into a true super star in the span of less than two seasons. Many times this season. Potvin has almost single-handedly kept the Islanders in games that they might have been destined to lose otherwise.Denny&rsquo;s greatest effort took place against the Los Angeles Kings on Jan, 25 at the Nassau Coliseum. In addition to registering his first NHL hat trick by the second period, Potvin also helpedset up Clark Gillies for the Isles&rsquo; goahead goal in the third period. But the Kings came back to tie with two minutes left.&ldquo;Goals are pretty hard to come by. especially for a defenseman,&rdquo; commented Potvin after the game. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take it, but after I scored the third goal, we started to play erratic hockey, and that cost us the game.&ldquo;It (losing the game) takes the joy out of the hat trick, but I can look at it another way. If I didn&rsquo;t score the three goals, we might not have even gotten the tie.&rdquo;Although Denis&rsquo; medical record in his two years with the Islanders looks like something out of &ldquo;Marcus Welby&rdquo;. the strong 6&rsquo;. 200-pounder has missed only one game due to an injury. Last year he played the last month of the season with a broken bone in his foot, and this year has performed with a badly injured hand, and a severe, bleeding charley horse which threatened to keep him out of the All Star game.At age 21, Denis has already earned enough personal awards to last a lifetime. But he wants to see his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup. To Denis, all those individual triumphs are merely second rate.ISLAND SOUNDS: With his four-point performance against the Kings. Denis Potvin has already broken the club scoring record he set last season&hellip;Islanders make only one more extended road swing &mdash; when they visit the West Coast in early March&hellip;Newcomer Jude Drouin has fit in nicely between Clark Gillies and Billy Harris. Drouin could be the veteran playmaker that Harris has been looking for three seasons&hellip;Although he missed only one game, Ed Westfall was seeing only spot duty because of a bone chip in his thumb. &#9632;

f0006-01

Tabbed Super Star From Start, Denis Potvin Living Up To Role

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>CHICAGO: Dale Tallon, forward, sent to Dallas of CHL for 14-day conditioning period after coming off injury list. Rob Palmer, forward, returned to Dallas. Randy Holt, defenseman, recalled from Dallas.BUFFALO: Norm Gratton, forward, traded to Minnesota in exchange for Fred Stanfield, forward. North Stars also get future considerations in deal.N.Y. RANGERS: Bob MacMillan and Hartland Monahan, forwards, recalled under emergency conditions. MacMillan later returned to Providence.LOS ANGELES: Vic Venasky, forward, recalled from Springfield of AHL.TORONTO: Eddie Shack and Pierre Hamel goalkeeper, forward, recalled from Oklahoma City of CHL.ST. LOUIS: John Davidson, goalkeeper, assigned to Denver of CHL. Yves Belanger, goalkeeper, recalled from Denver as replacement.WASHINGTON: Joe Lundrigan, defenseman, recalled from Richmond of AHL and reassigned to Hershey of AHL.BOSTON: Jack Rathwell, forward, recalled from Rochester under emergency conditions. Later returned to Rochester. Craig Sarner, forward, returned to Rochester.DETROIT: Barry Salovaara, defenseman, Denis Polonich and Doug Roberts, forwards, assigned to Virginia of AHL. Mike Korney, defenseman, recalled from Virginia.MONTREAL: Ron indruff, forward, returned to Nova Scotia of AHL.KANSAS CITY: Ken Murray, defenseman, recalled from Baltimore of AHL and reassigned to Springfield of AHL on loan. Gary Coalter, forward, recalled from Baltimore.MINNESOTA: Rod Norrish, forward, recalled from New Haven of AHL.PHILADELPHIA: Bobby Taylor, goalkeeper, sent to Richmond of AHL.PITTSBURGH: Dennis Owchar, defenseman, and Nelson Debenedet, forward, assigned to Hershey of AHL. Mario Faubert, defenseman, recalled from Hershey.CALIFORNIA: Rick Hampton, defenseman, set to Salt Lake of CHL but later recalled. Brent Meeke, defenseman, recalled from Salt Lake.VANCOUVER: Ron Sedlbauer, forward, returned to Seattle of CHL.WINNIPEG: Randy Andreachuk, forward, recalled from Roanoke of SHL. Ron Ashton, forward, sent to Roanoke as replacement. Duke Asmundson, defenseman, placed on disabled list for rest of season with broken leg.PHOENIX: Gary Lariviere, defenseman, recalled from Tulsa of CHL. Rick Newell, defenseman, returned from Tulsa to discus future status with club.MINNESOTA: Murray Heatley, forward, traded to Indianapolis for future considerations.CLEVELAND: John Stewart and Robbie Neale, forwards, recalled from Cape Codders of NAHL.HOUSTON: Bill Prentice, forward, recalled from Roanoke of SHL.BALTIMORE: Fred Speck, forward, recalled from Greens boro of SHL.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>BALTIMORE: Roger Lemelin, defenseman, returned to Kansas City. Doug Hrbul, forward, and Bryan Lefley, defenseman., sent to Providence of AHL. Morris Stefaniw, forward, sent to Syracuse of AHL. Kerry Ketter and Reg Bechtold, forwards, sent to Omaha of CHL. Larry Bignell, defenseman, sent to Hershey of AHL.HERSHEY: Bob Stumpf, defenseman, placed on suspended list for failing to report from Pittsburg after trade from St. Louis.SYRACUSE: Billy Goldthorpe, forward, returned to Minnesota of WHA for reassignment. Mike Corcoran, goalkeeper, recalled from Hampton of SHL.ROCHESTER: Bill Best, forward, recalled from Dayton of IHL, on five-game pro trial.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>DALLAS: Moe L&rsquo;Abbe and Dean Blais, forwards, placed on disabled list for rest of season after each underwent knee surgery.<h2>SOUTHERN LEAGUE</h2>CHARLOTTE &mdash; Frank Golembrosky, forward, signed to five-game pro trial.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>LANSING &mdash; John Gravel, defenseman, sent to Saginaw. Dave Haley, defenseman, and DaveStafen and Ivan Belisle, forwards sent to Fort Wayne. Gerry Egers, defenseman, and Don Hay, forward, sent to Columbus. Charlie Labelle, defenseman, Pierre Leblanc, Dave Lee and Terry Ryan, forwards, sent to Kalamazoo.MUSKEGON &mdash; Terry Ryan, forward, acquired from Kalamazoo. Bob Olein, forward, placed on retirement list for rest of season with recurring back injury.KALAMAZOO &mdash; Marcel Labelle, forward, secured from Lansing.DES MOINES &mdash; Alain Labrecque, forward, placed on disabled list after being strack in eye by puck. Frank DeMarco, forward, placed on disabled list for rest of season with strained knee ligaments.DAYTON &mdash; Brian Mason, forward, secured from Lansing. &#9632;

Movements of Players

<div class="byline">By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02866/3587709-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="325" height="373"></div><h2>Boucha Peaceful Man&hellip;</h2>THE FACTS ARE THAT in a game between Boston and Minnesota, the first week of January, Boston&rsquo;s Dave Forbes hit Minnesota&rsquo;s Henry Boucha with the butt end of his hockey stick, inflicting a cut around the right eye requiring 25 stitches to close and causing double vision which subsequent surgery has unsuccessfully so far sought to correct.Boucha and Forbes had fought, a typical hockey fight as far as it went. Sent to the penalty box. they shouted threats at each other. On emerging, they went right back at each other. Forbes says that in throwing a punch at his foe, he accidentally hit him with his stick. He says he did not realize Boucha was severely injured when he wrestled him down and pummeled him before being pulled off.Law officers in Minnesota, where the game was played, placed Forbes under a felony indictment on a charge of aggravated assault which required him to return for a hearing. Pleading innocent, he faces a trial which could result in a penal sentence. Meanwhile, after a seven-hour hearing. NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended Forbes for 10 games without pay and fined him.As is usual in such cases, many Minnesota representatives ripped Forbes for his actions, while Boston spokesmen defended him for having injured his foe unintentionally. I did not see it so I will not comment on it other than to say that obviously it is unfortunate, but just asobviously it is the sort of thing that is going to happen in It might be pointed out that neither Forbes nor Boucha has a history of violence. Forbes is a tough kid who once had almost 200 minutes in penalties in the minors, but he has averaged less than 30 minutes a season in the majors. Boucha has averaged just about 30 minutes a season in the majors. This is in an era when a Dave &ldquo;The Hammer&rsquo; Schultz has averaged more than 300 minutes a season for the last three seasons in the minors and majors and may make it to 500 minutes this season in a spectacular display of savagery.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01966/3587702-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="317" height="665"><figcaption class="caption-body">Henrv Boucha</figcaption></div>This is the fourth season in the majors for Forbes and Boucha and neither has succeeded as yet in attaining the sort of stardom some have seen for them, but Boucha may now not get further opportunity. Hopefully, he will have healed by the time this reaches print, but the possibility that his career could be curtailed does exist at this time. This is sad because he is a colorful and capable hockey kid. but he is the sort of cleancut and resourceful young man who can make it elsewhere in life.&ldquo;I love playing the game, but 1 love a lot of things in life and I want to do a lot with my life.&rdquo; he told this writer earlier this season.BOUCHA&rsquo;S GRANDFATHER changed the family name from Boucher, which happens to be a hockey name with a heavy history, because he felt &ldquo;Boucha&rdquo; fit the proper pronunciation of &ldquo;Boo-Shay&rdquo; better. Henry is an American and more than a quarter Indian. His father had a bit of Indian blood, while his mother was half-Chippewa. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m more French-Canadian than Indian.&rdquo; he smiles. His parents had five children, but their offspring have been pursued by tragedy. One son was killed in a gun accident, a daughter a year later in a fire. Now another son&rsquo;s eyesight has been threatened.Henry was born and reared in Warroad, Minnesota, a small town of 1.300 persons on Lake of the Woods at the Minnesota-Ontario border, cold country, but hot hockey territory. Henry&rsquo;s father has worked as a commercial fisherman and maker of hockey sticks at the Christian Brothers&rsquo; factory, averaging less than $3 an hour. &ldquo;We were not precisely poor, but we did not have a lot,&rdquo; Henry observes.He had good size and natural sporting talent. At Warroad High School, he starred in hockey, football, baseball and ran track. He was regarded as the outstanding all-around American Indian athlete since Jim Thorpe and some said he was the best high school hockey player ever developed in a state that has turned out many marvellous ones. Beginning as a goalie, he became a rushing defenseman. He spurred his small school to the state championship tournament game, but he was hurt in the title tilt and his side lost.BEN HATSKIN, who hustled Bobby Hull out of the NHL and into the WHA, hustled Boucha away from the University of Minnesota and onto his amateur team in Winnipeg. After an impressive season. Boucha was recruited to the USA national team. Drafted into the army, he was given two months basic training, then assigned back to the national team. By then he had been converted to, a forward position and he led the USA in scoring as it surprised with a second-place silver-medal finish behind the USSR in the 1972 Olympics at Sapporo, Japan.Detroit drafted him and moved him into the majors, but he hadn&rsquo;t developed sufficiently to do a job. Demoted to the minors, he started to progressat Tidewater, Virginia in the American League, and was brought back to the National League. He scored 14 goals his first full season, 19 last season, but scoring wasn&rsquo;t his strong suit. A 6&rsquo;, 185-pounder. he checked consistently and was starting to assert himself as an all-around performer of promise. Seeking a two-way forward and a home-state gate attraction, Minnesota traded high-scoring Danny Grant for him last summer.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy to be home, nearer friends and family,&rdquo; Henry said, his handsome face smiling. He was happy to be free of the front-office turmoil in Detroit. He didn&rsquo;t know a similar situation was moving into Minnesota. At 23, his life has had a lot of turmoil. He had an early marriage which broke up. He has been called &ldquo;Uncle Tomahawk&rdquo; by militant Indians who resented his refusal to participate in the uprising at Wounded Knee in South Dakota. He has been put down by Indians who feel he has made a mockery of his ancestory by wearing a gaudy headband on the ice. serenaded by an organist playing war chants whenever he went on the ice.&ldquo;I&rsquo;M PROUD of my Indian ancestory,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t do anything to hurt my people. I want to help them. 1 don&rsquo;t like to see people living on reservations. But 1 suppose I&rsquo;m a sort of free spirit. I do things my way. Possibly, some people take themselves too seriously.&rdquo;Henry grew up playing while wearing a helmet. He discarded it at Tidewater because it had begun to bother him. but by then he had long hair which fell mto his eyes. On an impulse, he started to wear a headband. No one stopped him, so he not only began regularly to wear gaudy bands, but formed a company to sell them and they became his trademark. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re just sweatbands. They&rsquo;ve made me famous.&rdquo; grinned the extravagant youngster, who at times has sported a Fu Manchu mustache.The sort of person who visits children&rsquo;s hospitals regularly, he became a &ldquo;Big Brother&rdquo; to a boy in Detroit whose dad had died of cancer. He joined the Advisory Board of American Indian Services, a group hoping to rehabilitate imprisoned Indians. Regretting his decision to skip college, he has started to take college courses and thinks he might like to become a psychiatrist or social worker. &ldquo;Money doesn&rsquo;t mean much to me.&rdquo; he said this season. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to work at helping people, all people, including Indians. First I&rsquo;d like to make the most of myself as a hockey player.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-02

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div>CHICAGO &mdash;Dale Tallon opened the box to discover within a figurine of a golfer. It was a gift well-intended, but Tallon couldn&rsquo;t resist a self-deprecating punchline.&ldquo;Maybe they&rsquo;re trying to give me ahint, said Tallon. a fine golfer with a heck of a good temperament.Whether Dale Tallon ever will become the kind of top hockey player he wants so much to be remains to be seen. He is a young man whose greatest asset remains his potential, a brilliant juniorgraduate who went directly from the amateur ranks to the Vancouver Canucks and three years of confusion.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03725/3587764-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="273" height="473"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dale Tallon</figcaption></div>From there, he went to the Chicago Black Hawks, where he has been of jinxed, oft-injured, oft-sidelined. His latest misfortune came Nov. 12, when he suffered a dislocated hip in a game at Vancouver.Ten weeks later, he tried to return and struggled during spot duty in a game at St. Louis. That night, he and coach Billy Reay talked on the flight back to Chicago and the boss had a suggestion.&ldquo;He said why not consider going to the minor leagues for a couple weeks to get back into condition.&rdquo; said Tallon. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a blow to the pride, of course, because I never played in the minor leagues. But this team is fighting for first place and I&rsquo;m not going to help it by sitting on the bench.&rdquo;So Dale Tallon on Jan. 27 was assigned to two weeks and seven games worth of comeback duty with the Dallas Black Hawks of the Central Hockey League. He was due back in the Windy City Feb. 10, when Reay and company would resume their great expectations for this young talent.&ldquo;When we traded for him two years ago. 1 felt were getting a super star of the future or at least a star,&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;1 still feel that way. He really hasn&rsquo;t had afair chance to show here. He&rsquo;s had tough luck with injuries. It&rsquo;s always been something ever since he got here.&ldquo;What he needs now is a chance to get back into shape and regain his confidence, and he won&rsquo;t get that playing three or four minutes a game up here. With Dallas, he&rsquo;ll play 30 minutes a game and he&rsquo;ll play defense. He&rsquo;ll be back, don&rsquo;t worry.&rdquo;There seems little question that Tallon has the raw ingredients to be a star. He wasn&rsquo;t ranked 1-2 or 2-1 with Gil Perreault as a junior because of press clippings.But the right combination of circumstances has never materialized to fully cultivate his abilities. He had a good rookie season in Vancouver, but then he started playing here, there and everywhere except goal while the Canucks&rsquo; front office situation was producing weekly insurrections. He wanted out.So he was dealt to the Black Hawks in exchange for goalie Gary Smith and defenseman Jerry Korab in May of 1973. Tallon&rsquo;s adviser, the eminent Alan Eagleson, as much as said that the onus was on Tallon to either produce or forever keep his peace because he had gotten what he wanted.But no sooner did Tallon appear at camp than he got sick and missed valuable preparation time. And then it was a broken wrist. And then it was the dislocated hip.Extra pressure was thrust his way, too. Black Hawk management unwisely stuffed Bobby Hull&rsquo;s legendary No. 9 jersey down Tallon&rsquo;s throat from Day One. Tallon thought about it, then showed consummate class by unloading it. He didn&rsquo;t need the extra weight on his shoulders and besides, there was and will be only one No. 9 in Chicago.Then Tallon was assigned to play center ice when he would have likely preferred defense, a position where he seems most comfortable. Tallon kept quiet, though, hoping to catch fire nevertheless.What must not be forgotten through all Tallon&rsquo;s frustrations is that he is young. Very young. Only 24. And talented. Very talented. AsoReay said, then, the future remains in his favor. &#9632;

f0008-03

Black Hawks Hoping Stint In Minor Loop Will Sharpen Tallon

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;One of the most amazing things about the Buffalo Sabres in this surprising season is that they went five straight games without losing after Gil Perreault was hurt.And that included a victory over the Canadiens in Montreal. The streak finally ended with an almost incredible defeat at the hands of the Atlanta Flames in Buffalo.This was a game in which the Sabresning period and had no more than a I tie. They had a 36-9 edge in shots after two periods and trailed. 3-1. They finally lost. 4-3. with a 46-20 shooting advantage.The Flames scored on their first shot on goal, at the 7:22 mark, and it took the Sabres 19 shots on Atlanta goalie Dan Bouchard to score. The Flames scored on their first shot of the second period, their fourth of the game, and again on their seventh shot, at which time the Sabres had peppered Bouchard with 31 shots.The nichl before, in Montreal, the Sabres scored four times in the final period to gain a 7-6 triumph.Jim Lorentz, who replaced Perreault between Rick Martin and Rene Robert, scored two goals in that game. Sp did Robert.In five games from the time he replaced Perreault until the loss to Atlanta. Lorentz scored six times and three times he got the game-winner. In those five games. Robert had two goals and three assists and Martin a goal and five assists. Martin scored a goal against Atlanta too. after Robert set him up.Peter McNab came back from an injury to replace Lorentz between Brian Spencer and Rick Dudley and that line did plenty of scoring. In the five games between McNab&rsquo;s return to center the line and the Atlanta loss, the threesome accounted for 11 goals and 14 assists.Dudley scored six goals in five games. His finest ever, since entering the National Hockey League last season, probably was the one he tallied against Montreal. It put the Sabres ahead to stay in the final period after they came from behind four times to tie.Dudley got the puck from Josh Guevremont at about center ice and eluded at least three defenders before lettinggo a hard, low shot to the far corner that beat goalie Bunny Larocque.&ldquo;I had tough luck for a long time.&rdquo; said Dudley, &ldquo;then the puck just started going in for me. It&rsquo;s strange. I never thought I&rsquo;d score 20 goals this season.&lsquo;The goal against Montreal was his 21st. He had 13 all last season.The lacrosse star who plays right wing in hockey said that coach Floyd Smith had told him to start shooting more, &ldquo;so I did. And I got me some new sticks. For the first time in two years I have a stick I like.&ldquo;The stick is light, with a wide blade and a good tie. 1 doctor it up the way I like it. You feel more confident with a good stick.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not the reason I&rsquo;m scoring goals, though. They (McNab and Spencer) are getting the puck to me.&rdquo; &#9632;

Sabres Pick Up Slack For Missing Perreault

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BILL MAKI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01936/3587795-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">&ldquo;Attention &hellip; Outdoor Rink Committee&hellip;!&rdquo;</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-01

CARTOON CORNER

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES &mdash;When Juha Widing, who usually leads the Kings in scoring, scored the first hat trick of his NHL career in an 8-0 rout of Toronto, he only tied Bob Nevin for the team lead in goals at 19. Nevin had turned the three-goal trick in the previous game, a 6-3 mauling of Montreal.A harsh schedule cooled off the Kings. They completed a seven-game road-trip with the win in Montreal on Sunday, flew cross-country for a Thursday-night hosting of Toronto, then flew right back across the country for Saturday and Sunday night games in New York.They came off a 1-4 deficit to tie. 5-5, in Long Island, but after taking a 2-0 lead the next night in Manhattan, tired and lost. 3-2. to the Rangers. Nevin scored again in the latter game, giving him seven goals in his last nine games and reclaiming the team lead at 20 goals after 48 games.Nevin will be 37 next month. He played 12 years for the Leafs and Rangers before the Rangers traded him to Minnesota. He played one season for the North Stars and sat on the bench most of the second season before he was left unprotected and drafted by the Kings in the summer of 1973. The assumption was he was slowed down past the point of top performance.Bob got off to a good start for the Kings last season, but then his performance fell off. He blames a broken big toe which handicapped him through thesecond half. He still wound up with 20 goals and 30 assists. He started fast this season again, slumped a bit. but is coming on again. Actually, it is his scoring which slumped and is coming on. His overall performance has been topflight throughout.Bob has scored more than 275 goals in more than 1.000 NHL games, but goals are gravy where Nevin&rsquo;s play is concerned. The meat and potatoes of his game are close checking, solid defense. digging and playmaking. It is the game his old Leaf teammate Bob Pulford has taught this team. &ldquo;Everybody here plays the game the way our coach used to,&rdquo; Nevin says. Nevin helps. Many of the young Kings point out they profit from the examples Nevin gives them.Since Butch Goring recovered from an early-season injury and has again started to center left-wing Dan Maloney and right-wing Nevin, this line again has been the most versatile on the team. It checks the opposition&rsquo;s best and on the smashing road swing scored half the team&rsquo;s goals as team scoring improved from three to five goals a game on the average.Nevin and Goring also have been uncommonly successful as the team&rsquo;s top penalty-killing pair, an additional load Nevin&rsquo;s old legs are carrying well. &ldquo;My legs feel fine. I feel fine, 1 don&rsquo;t feel old at all,&rdquo; the mustachioed veteran grins. He is always where he sould be. He practices an economy of motion rather than running around recklessly. &ldquo;A guy like me has had to learn to use his head to survive.&rdquo; he notes. He does. He is a smart player.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02829/3587826-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="565" height="1212"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB NEVIN&hellip;Goals Are Gravy</figcaption></div>Nevin, who wears contact lenses, is husky and strong, but not spectacularly talented and has worked to develop his style. He concedes that contributions by players such as he are seldom noticed on a loser as they are on a winner. He has helped make this team a winner. Seldom penalized, he is a deserving candidate for the Lady Bying Award as well as the Bill Masterton Trophy this season.KINGS THINGS: Recently we wrote wondering why Pully wasn&rsquo;t playing backup goaler Gary Edwards. Now we know the Kings were concealing the fact Gary had a broken big toe. fearful foes would shoot to the sore side if he had to be used. After an eight-game rest, he relumed in Long Island and promptly banked a goal into his own net off a teammate&rsquo;s skate&hellip; Bob Berry, who has a club-record-tying six gamewinning goals, knocked in the dramatic tying goal there&hellip; Rogie Vachon&rsquo;s shutout of Toronto was his fourth and a team-record seventh for this season.L.A. Herald-Examiner hockey writer Ed Kociela wed Forum employee Clarissa Lawhon before the Toronto game, then took heron the Kings&rsquo; New York tripfora honeymoon&hellip; South Bay Daily Breeze hockey writer Hugh Baker retired at 65 and Bob Cox took over&hellip; Veteran hockey broadcaster Stu Nahan returned to KABC-TV&hellip; Southern California&rsquo;s new image as a hot hockey town was hurt when the NHL All Star game was not televised locally. &#9632;

f0009-02

Nevin’s Top-Flight Performance Sparking Kings

MONTREAL &mdash;They call it the Kid Line, which really isn&rsquo;t a very original or impressive name. But then, maybe that&rsquo;s the way it should be since the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; version of the Kid Line isn&rsquo;t very impressive on paper and its act is far from original. Effective, yes. Original, no.At a glance the line looks like something (hat belongs with one of the NHLs new expansion teams. The left wing scored all of six goals last season and skates like he left his skateguards on. the center is a 20-year-old rookie who missed the second half of last season with a serious knee injury and the right wing is an 18-year-old who wasn&rsquo;t sure he was playing professional hockey this season until last September.On the ice, though, these ugly ducklings of the Canadiens are transformed into the team&rsquo;s most rambunctious and possibly most effective line.The Kid Line. From left to right. Yvon Lambert. Doug Risebrough. Mario Tremblay. Average age: 21. Average NHL experience: one-third of a season. Average penalty accumulation: 80 minutes. Average goal production: 13. Average disposition: mean.As young as this line is. its forte is one of the oldest in hockey history &mdash; work, and hitting. A lot of both. The line has given this club a perfect balance between scoring power and checking and an aggressiveness that has been absent since John Ferguson decided horses were more compatible than hockey players.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01956/3587871-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="565" height="580"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG RISEBROUGH &hellip;Line&rsquo;s Leader</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s no coincidence that the recall of Risebrough and Tremblay from Nova Scotia in mid-November was followed by a stretch that saw the Canadiens lose only four of 32 games, including that amazing 21-game unbeaten streak. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re doing exactly what I want them to do,&rdquo; says coach Scotty Bowman. &ldquo;They hit, they check and they work hard in the corners.&rdquo;And that, Risebrough claims, is what the game of hockey entails. &ldquo;Our game is hard work&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what this game is all about. That&rsquo;s what life is all about. Work. A lot of things have been accomplished by hard work.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02794/3587864-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="562" height="568"><figcaption class="caption-body">YVON LAMBERT &hellip;Top Goal Getter</figcaption></div>Risebrough. the line&rsquo;s leader and spokesman, has been compared to Bobby Clarke, both for his hardworking nature and aggressive play, and he has done little to discourage such comparisons in his first NHL season. He does all the things that have made Clarke what he is today: forechecking tirelessly, hitting anything that moves, digging the puck out of the corners. If there&rsquo;s a fight, there&rsquo;s a good chance Risebrough will be involved.Risebrough is a tough, hard-working player, but his toughess and willingness to work are only slightly more noticeable than that of Lambert and Tremblay. Risebrough. even though he played in only 33 of the team&rsquo;s first 49 games, leads the Canadiens in penalty minutes with 113. Lambert is second with 62 and Tremblay third with 61.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03617/3587857-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="565" height="580"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARIO TREMBLAY &hellip;18 Years Old</figcaption></div>Offensively, the line has its weaknesses. Lambert is the goal-scoring leader with 23, but nine of those have come on power plays. The rest of the line has accounted for 17 goals.But no one seems too worried about the lack of offense on the line. Lambert has already shown what improvements can be made through confidence and experience and the Canadiens feel that once Risebrough and Tremblay gain alittle of both they&rsquo;ll be solid producers both on offense and defense.&ldquo;Our job really isn&rsquo;t any different than anyone else&rsquo;s on this team.&rdquo; says Risebrough. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re out there to score goals and keep the other team from scoring.&ldquo;Patience is the key right now. We&rsquo;re young and we have to learn through mistakes. We&rsquo;ve just got to remember that there-are going to be mistakes and we&rsquo;ll just have to use them to learn from.&rdquo;But mistakes have not been the line&rsquo;s most noticeable point. Considering that Lambert leads the troika in NHL experience. with one year, it has done a tremendous job despite its lack of experience.HAB-BITS: Larry Robinson scored the 10,000th goal for the Canadiens Jan. 23 in a 7-0 victory over Minnesota. No other team has scored that many goals in its history&hellip; Guy Lafleur continues to move closer to becoming only the third Canadien in history to score 50 goals in year. He raised his total to 38 with a four-goal outburst against Pittsburgh&hellip; The Habs suffered their fourth loss in as many games against Buffalo this year in a 7-6 defeat at the Forum&hellip; Since his standout performance in the All Star game. Ken Dryden has looked like the Dryden of two seasons ago&hellip; Ron Andruff was returned to Nova Scotia when Glen Sather&rsquo;s leg healed and Sather responded with two goals against Minnesota. &#9632;

f0010-01

Kid Line Canadiens’ Most Rambunctious TrioBY CHRIS ZELKOVICH

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div>TORONTO&mdash;When the National Hockey League took its All Star break in January, hope was still springing eternal in the breasts of the Toronto Maple Leafs.In the lOgames preceding the All Star contest, the Leafs had compiled their best record of a rather sorry 1974-75 season with six wins and a tie. They had achieved a high point by ending the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; undefeated streak at 21 games to stretch their own winning skein to three games, the first time this season the Leafs accomplished that feat.Despite this modest success, the Leafs remained in limbo in the Adams Division at the 45-game mark, too far behind the second-place Boston Bruins (17 points) to entertain much hope of moving up and too far ahead the California Seals (10 points) to worry much about missing the playoffs.The big Leaf aim was to rescue some self-respect from the shambles of failed promise. For coach Red Kelly, a strong second half to the season appears to be necessary to save his job.The Leafs can point to a long injury list as a contributing factor to their floundering instead of challenging Boston and Buffalo for first place. The Leaf players have missed 107 games through hurts this season; injuries to defensemen have accounted for 76 of those missed games.The loss of defensemen Borje Salming. Bob &lsquo;Waldo&rsquo; Neely and lan Turnbull and center Darryl Sittier for extended periods was the toughest blow. But Leafs headed into the second half with their healthiest lineup of the season. Neely suffered a cracked ankle bone and is out indefinitely.Turnbull remained on the sidelines to continue his long recuperation from knee surgery. He had the cast removed from his knee in early January and hoped to be skating again by midFebruary following extensive therapy. There&rsquo;s a chance, albeit it a slim one. that the young backliner could be back for the final three weeks of the schedule and the playoffs.Although injuries have hurt the Leafs, there&rsquo;s more to it than a few pains. A split between many players and Kelly, the early season blast of the team by owner Harold Ballard and infusion of seven new faces into the lineup haven&rsquo;t helped.&ldquo;An NHL team just can&rsquo;t make wholesale changes every year and hope to develop the cohesion and team spirit that&rsquo;s required,&rdquo; said one Leaf veteran. &ldquo;We figured the big rebuilding job was finished in 1973-74 with a big flock of rookies. Then the club allowed two players to go to the WHA (Paul Henderson, Mike Pelyk) and couldn&rsquo;t keep Rick Kehoe (traded to Pittsburgh) and we had to go through it again.Following considerable criticism of his approach early in the season, Kelly appeared to have closed the gap with his players, many of whom claimed communication with the coach was much easier.Of course, the so-called communications gap became a handy alibi for Leaf players. Things reached the point where they were almost saying &ldquo;1 missed the net because I can&rsquo;t communicate with Kelly&rdquo;.Kelly himself was enthused about the Leaf prospect for the duration of the season, listing (a) a healthy roster; (b) the excellent goaltending of Dune Wilson and Doug Favell; (c) the addition of winger Dave &ldquo;Tiger&rdquo; Williams and defenseman Claire Alexander from Leafs&rsquo; farm team at Oklahoma.&ldquo;Alexander has provided the quickness and rushing ability we lacked on the defense since Turnbull was hurt,&rdquo; Kelly said. &ldquo;Williams has given us much muscle on the wing and he&rsquo;s done a good job at two-way play, too. He&rsquo;s a tough kid who shakes up opponents.&ldquo;I feel we&rsquo;re ready foragood second half. We&rsquo;ve had a half season to jell together. We can be a good hockey team but only if we work hard at the game. We showed that when we beat the Canadiens in Montreal to end their unbeaten streak.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01924/3587902-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="553" height="705"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB NEELY &hellip;Latest Casualty</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

Leafs’ Aim To Rescue Self-Respect

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01927/3587940-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2>Clear The Track &mdash; Shack&rsquo;s Back</h2>EDDIE &ldquo;THE ENTERTAINER&rdquo; SHACK was off on the plains ot Oklahoma for the past two weeks, out among the oil fields in the Central Hockey League toiling on behalf of the Oklahoma City Blazers, the farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs.He&rsquo;s back now but the Leafs dispatched Shack to the minors for two weeks at The Entertainer&rsquo;s request. Shack claimed that he merely wanted to play hockey, something he wasn&rsquo;t doing a great deal of as a Maple Leaf bench-warmer.Because the Leafs probably will drop $400,000 on the Oklahoma operation this season, they were happy to have Eddie request demotion for a two-week period when the Blazers just happened to be playing seven games at home. The team was averaging about 2,900 spectators up to the time Shack arrived.Attendance did increase somewhat after he got there. But then Central League crowds always ao rise wnen the football season ends, especially in the football mania areas of Oklahoma and Texas.The fans who did see Shack play in Oklahoma soon joined his rooters&rsquo; club. However. Eddie is a big name in Toronto, where he&rsquo;s the most popular playerin Maple Leaf history, and other National Hockey League cities But in Oklahoma, the folks figure and Eddie Shack is the equivalent of Johnny-On-The-Spot or Jerry-On-The-Job.&ldquo;We tried to build up Eddie&rsquo;s arrival as much as possible to try and attract some fans,&rdquo; said Ray Miron, the manager-coach of the Blazers.&ldquo;I called one of the big television sriorts announcers in Oklahoma City and told him that Eddie Shack was coming. His reply was: &lsquo;Who&rsquo;s Shack? Eddie helped our attendance but he didn&rsquo;t exactly fill the rink.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02801/3587933-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="514" height="655"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eddie Shack</figcaption></div>Shack asked for the demotion because he wasn&rsquo;t having any fun playing hockey sporadically with the Leafs. To Shack, with all his energy, the game must be fun.&ldquo;I wanted to go where Icould play a lot, have some fun and get into top condition,&rdquo; Shack said. &ldquo;Then I hoped to get back to the Leafs and get somethingoin&rsquo;.&rdquo;<h2>Entertaining His Business</h2>UNDER THE NHL RULES, Leafs were forced to recall Shack from the minors when his 14 days were up in late January. To return him to Oklahoma. the Leafs had tb ask waivers on him.Thus, the Leafs were in a quandry about precisely what to do with Shack. General manager Jim Gregory claimed the team&rsquo;s administration had to do some &ldquo;heavy thinking&rdquo; on the matter before reaching the decision to bring him back to MLG.Leaf owner Harold Ballard likes Shack so much that he gave the 37-year old winger a $75,000 contract this season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m in the entertainment business and Eddie Shack is an entertainer.&rdquo; Ballard said. &ldquo;The fans at Maple Leaf Gardens love him in a way they&rsquo;ve loved no other players.&rdquo;Red Kelly, the Leaf coach, likes Shack, too. In fact. Kelly recommended that the Leafs buy Shack from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the summer of 1973. They had worked together in Pittsburgh where Shack produced a 25-goal season for Kelly&rsquo;s team.However. Kelly is the coach of a struggling team and is trying to produce a club that plays tight defensive hockey. As a poised positional player within a disciplined team framework, well. Fast Eddie leaves a little to be desired.Shack merely wants to play, preferably with the Leafs. He&rsquo;s stated that Toronto is the only city in which he&rsquo;ll play because he is almost 38, he has business interests (golf course) in Toronto, several lucrative television commercials and endorsements plus a 13-room home worth more than $200,000.There is another team in Toronto, the Toros of the World Hockey Association, who play in Ballard&rsquo;s Gardens at a fee of $18,500 per game. They&rsquo;ve been drawing well but not great. If Shack were released by the Leafs, undoubtedly the Toros would make a bid for a player with such immense popularity in Toronto.Because of Shack&rsquo;s popularity, the Leafs were in a ticklish position. Letters to the editors of the Toronto newspapers frequently state that if Leafs are going to lose anyway, they might just as well lose with Shack in the lineup because, at least, he&rsquo;s entertaining if not effective.<h2>The People&rsquo;s Choice</h2>SHACK AND THE GARDENS&rsquo; fans enjoy one of the strongest, warmest performer-audience relationships in sport, or the entire entertainment business. Shack can elicit a stronger reaction from the Gardens&rsquo; fans for scratching his nose than the team&rsquo;s top stars draw for a three-goal game.On the many nights when Shack didn&rsquo;t dress, the announcement of his deletion from the lineup produced groans and often vehement booing from the fans. In games when he&rsquo;s on the bench, the &ldquo;We Want Shack&rdquo; chants shake the building. On the few occasions when there&rsquo;s been a chance of his being named a star of the game, very few spectators leave because Shack executes a skating show manouevre when taking his bow while the other players take a poker-faced little skate to center ice.&ldquo;I dont know why the crowd reacts the way they do to me,&rdquo; Shack said. &ldquo;I just love to play hockey and maybe the crowd knows how much fun I have doing it.&ldquo;Yah know, when I watch myself on videotape, I laugh because I lookfunny and awkward. I look kinda funny when I skate, funnier when I shoot and really hilarious when I try to put a fancy move on some guy. Maybe the crowd thinks it&rsquo;s funny, too. I don&rsquo;t really know.&rdquo;What sometimes is forgotten is the fact that Shack, often regarded as theclass clown, has scored 239 NHL goals and been a member of four Stanley Cup teams during his previous tenure with the Leafs &#9632;

f0012-01

FRANK ORR SAYS:

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;Turk Sanderson went to the net and waited for Ron Greschner&rsquo;s pass out. Right on the button it came and Derek whacked it past Los Angeles Kings goaler Rogatien Vachon for the winning goal in a 32 Ranger comeback.Sanderson epitomizes the depth on the Rangers. Right now he is the fourth center, and when New York took the Kings of the road into camp on January 27. he was playing wing, in place ot the flustricken Rod Gilbert. Sanderson&rsquo;s goal, his fourteenth, came on a pass from behind the net by defenseman Ron Greschner. one of the bevy of youngsters in the running for the Calder Cup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03627/3587971-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="268" height="472"><figcaption class="caption-body">Derek Sanderson</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He led the rush and was right where he was supposed to be.&rdquo; said Turk. &ldquo;I went to the net and waited. All I had to do was backhand it.&rdquo;Los Angeles led 2-0 in the contest and the game was turned around by a Nick Beverley pass to Jerry Butler at center ice. Butler, out of the penalty box a few seconds, took it the rest of the way and beat Vachon for his first goal in 25 games. since November.&ldquo;Nick had the same opportunity just a few seconds before when I came out of the box. but he didn&rsquo;t see me. The second time 1 yelled and he got it to me. just hard enough to get through and soft enough to handle. He made the whole play possible.&rdquo; said Butler, the cherubic looking 23-year-old. 170-pound right wing from Sarnia. Ont. &ldquo;I put my shot between Vachon&rsquo;s skates and when it bounced off I could have jumped through the ceiling.&rdquo;Jerry did a &ldquo;Ted Irvine&rdquo;, meaning a goal dance and something that approximates an Indian sun dance.&ldquo;But &ldquo;Bugsy&rdquo; is not the Rangers regular right wing on the Pete Stem kowski - Ted Irvine line. He is Rick Middleton. recovering from an ankle fracture. Butler is a reserve, as was Beverley, who started to play only afterthe Rangers suffered numerous blueline injuries. Right now-NuXts keeping veteran Dale Rolfe on the bench as Dale conditions himself after a two-month bout with a broken foot.What made the Butler-Beverley heroics all the better was that the Rangers were shorthanded at the time. The Kings are a tough, hard nosed team who hardly every lose on the road, and had just beaten Canadiens in Montreal, whomped Toronto at home and come back from a 4-1 deficit to tie the tough Islanders. But Bugsy and Beverley turned the tide against Bob Nevin and company.Even the game-tying goal in the 3-2 win had the utility guys in the act. Sanderson set up Greschner at the blueline and Ron&rsquo;s shot was deflected to Jean Ratelle who guided it home. Greschner. once a shock trooper himself, is now a regular and will stay that way. So there is hope for the boys who come off the bench.&ldquo;Beating a club like Los Angeles after they had us by two goals is a sign we are maturing. No panic, we just came back and won it.&rdquo; said Sanderson. the new right wing.&ldquo;I like right wing better than left.&rdquo; admitted Turk. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s ice time.&rdquo;The Blueshirts are in the throes of a crucial two-game set with Philadelphia February 5 at MSG and a day later in the Spectrum. With Ed Giacomin working back into action against Pittsburgh (loss 5-2) and Gilles Villemure playing pretty close to the best hockey in his career, the goaltending department will have the depth Emile Francis is seeking.Hartland Monahan was called up for the January 26 games when Gilbert became sick. He is a tough checking Providence Reds (AHL) right wing, who is starting to score this year. With Irvine questionable because of a knee injury suffered against Pittsburgh January 25. Jerry Holland of the Reds, a hot shot left wing draft choice, was expected to make the three game road trip against Los Angeles, Buffalo and Chicago.I&rsquo;m not afraid to use any of these young men.&rdquo; said Francis. &ldquo;They are competent professionals.&rdquo;BLUE CHIPS: Ranger Fan Club gearing for 25th annual Dirwer-Dance at the Statler Hilton Hotel Feb. 28&hellip; Club is planning trips to Montreal Feb. 8 and Atlanta March 14&hellip; Bill Fairbairn is the only NHL player who has played every game for his club this year without drawing even a two minute penalty. He may be sneaking up on the Lady Byng Trophy. Billy played his 281st straight game January 26. leaving only Garry Ungerand Danny Grant as players with longer streaks. &#9632;

f0012-03

Rangers’ Depth Big Factor In Fight To Overtake Philly

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div>TWIN CITIES&mdash;Charlie Burns had served as coach for nine games when he laid down the challenge to the Minnesota North Stars.In those nine eames since Jack Gordon decided to devote full duties to the general managership.Burns had seen the North Stars lose eight games and tie one from behind the bench.In the process, the North Stars sank to a point where they held fourth place in the five-team Smythe Division by only four points over Kansas City. Yes, the expansionists were within shouting distance.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01900/3588002-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="289" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cesare Maniago</figcaption></div>Burns turned loose the psychological lever after the North Stars lost 7-0 to Montreal and faced the Jan. 25, Saturday night test from Kansas City in Minnesota.&ldquo;No one would have considered the idea.&rdquo; Burns answered when asked the prospect of the Scouts overtaking his slumping Stars. &ldquo;But a lot has happened. Now. we&rsquo;re nothing more than an expansion team ourselves.&rdquo;What Burns implied was that the North Stars were skating with eight rookies for the Kansas City game, and were without the services of their three right wingers who opened the season. Bill Goldsworthy. Henry Boucha and Lou Nanne.A ninth rookie would have seen action if Burns had chosen Pete LoPresti to tend goal, rather than Cesare Maniago.The reference to expansion apparently spurred the North Stars to a 4-1 victory. And it was the veterans still on the club, not the rookies, who played the key roles.Maniago was named the game&rsquo;s No. 1 star, and center Dennis Hextall contributed a goal and two assists. Murray Oliver and Fred Stanfield, two other &ldquo;oldtimers&rdquo;. added goals. Doug Rom-bough. recently acquired in the rebuilding shakeup of early January, counted the fourth goal.Stanfield has since been sent to Buffalo in exchange for Norm Gratton.The North Stars, however, are pinning their future on the young crop of players Gordon has brought to Minnesota. Burns announced that LoPresti will be playing two out of every three games in goal.The youth movement is on.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re rebuilding for the rest of the season and for next year and the job isn&rsquo;t an easy one,&rdquo; said Burns. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not an ideal situation. You&rsquo;d rather have rookies working with veterans so they can draw from the experience. But sometimes you have to make do with what you&rsquo;ve got.&rdquo;The North Stars, in the loss to Montreal, had six rookies on the ice at one time &mdash; a first for the team in its eight seasons in the NHL. The most productive line of newcomers has been the trio of John Flesch at left wing, Blake Dunlop at center and Dean Talafous on the right. It&rsquo;s the 21 Line, the age of each.NORTH STAR NOTES: There is still uncertainty whether Boucha will be able to play at all the rest of the season. Doctors are considering further surgery if he continues to suffer from double vision. Goldsworthy, who was the team&rsquo;s top scorerat the time of his severed tendon on the right index finger, suffered trying to break up a fight among teammates in a Pittsburgh hotel, is back. Although he was unable to play, the North Star captain was granted a request to suit up for the Kansas City game. He did not shoot during the warmups. Nanne, out indefinitely with a broken wrist, has taken to doing a radio show while he waits out the healing. Nanne and Goldy was still the goal leader (22) when he returned to action although Hextali is tops in points. &#9632;

f0013-01

Stars Nothing More Than Expansion Team Says Coach

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01910/3588033-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY DORNHOEFER&hellip;Notorious Nuisance To Goalers</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Mike Nykoluk&rsquo;s relationship with Philadelphia&rsquo;s irreveni hoekey writers is solid enough for the following exchange to frequently occur:Whenever the Flyers fail to score a power-play goal, which is more often than they&rsquo;d like, some writer will remark to Nykoluk, &ldquo;Get a new powerplay coach.&rdquo; The Flyers&rsquo; senior assis tant coach usually just smiles and says, &ldquo;Check the scoreboard.&rdquo;Nykoluk could also suggest the writers check the NHL Patrick Division standings where the defending Stanley Cup champions have been maintaining a comfortable lead over their pursuers. When a team wins as regularly as the Flyers do, pointing out its power-play deficiency is probably tantamount to whispering about a stray strand of hair on Catherine Deneuve&rsquo;s beautiful head.Nevertheless, the Flyers&rsquo; power play has been below standard all season. The club&rsquo;s front office will remind critics that the Flyershave had theNHL&rsquo;s fewest manpower advantages, but with their personnel people expect more production than a total nearly 30 goals behind the league leader.Just two seasons ago. when the Flyers reached the Stanley Cup semifinals, they led the NHL with 74 powerplay goals. That was the season Rick MacLeish hit the 50-goal milestone aided by 21 power-play goals. Last season the Flyers&rsquo; 60 goals ranked third in the league.This season the Flyers have been floating near the middle of the powerplay pack, but Nykoluk is optimistic.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen great improvement lately,&rdquo; said the long-time Hershey Bears center. &ldquo;Most power-play goals come on deflections or rebounds. What we&rsquo;ve got to do is get guys converging on the net.&rdquo;Bobby Clarke, who is among the Flyers&rsquo; extra-man scoring leaders, thinks a personnel change might help.&ldquo;Maybe we have too many scorers and not enough checkers out there.&rdquo; said Clarke. &ldquo;We seem to do a little better when (Gary) Dornhoefer is out there. When MacLeish, Leach and I are together we don&rsquo;t seem to be creating enough pressure.&rdquo;Dornhoefer is a notorious nuisance to goaltenders. As. Vancouver GM-coach Phil Maloney said. &ldquo;Dornhoefer has been standing in front of the net since he was 10 years old.&rdquo;Maybe Nykoluk and head coach Fred Shero will agree on personnel adjustments. One maneuver they won&rsquo;t try is allowing anyone to take a full two-minute shift as Boston&rsquo;s Phil Esposito does. Nykoluk and Shero think Esposito is over-staying his welcome by not sharing power-play ice time.&ldquo;He (Esposito) might have the stamina, but what about their young players?&rdquo; asked Nykoluk. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to get involved in what Boston does, but I can&rsquo;t understand why they don&rsquo;t give their young players a chance, especially in games that are out of hand.&rdquo;Shero is more emphatic in censuring Esposito.&ldquo;What is he contributing otherwise if he spends so much time on their power play? How do their other quality players feel when he gets all the goals? We think more of our players have the right to play.&rdquo;Andre (Moose) Dupont and Jim Watson are examples of the Flyers&rsquo; trying to spread the power-play benefits. Bill Barber and Tom Bladon are the regular point-men. but Dupont and Watson are used almost as much.&ldquo;We think Moose and Jimmy deserve their chance.&rdquo; said Nykoluk. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t feel the power-play jobs are automatic. Using several units keeps everybody sharp.&rdquo;If the Flyers start spreading around more goals the writers will have to find another area to second-guess.FLYER FACTS: An alleged practice fight between Dave Schultz and Bobby Taylor during the All Star break kept the Flyers&rsquo; &ldquo;rumor central&rdquo; busy. Everyone at the practice insists no punches were thrown. The two long-time teammates evidently have a lively argument once a year. &ldquo;We almost went at it on Christmas Eve in Richmond.&rdquo; Taylor recalled. &ldquo;Donny Saleski jumped in. so we turned on him.&rdquo;&hellip; Gary Dornhoefer was finally regaining his scoring touch, compiling 3-8-11 figures in a five-game stretch. &#9632;

f0014-01

Flyers’ Power Play Production Below Last Season

<div class="byline">By Jules Furth</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02774/3588064-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="217" height="307"></div><h2>Goal scored while delayed penalty called</h2>Dear Jules:would like to know what happens if a delayed penalty is called and the opposing team scores. Does the player involved get that penalty recorded and is the goal counted as a power-play or equal-strength goal?Randy Brandt, Kola, Man.Dear Randy:If a delayed penalty is called the following things usually happen:&bull;The referee raises his arm to indicate the call.&bull;The crowd screams.&bull;The goalie from the non-offending team skates rapidly to the bench to be replaced by an additional attacker.&bull;The crowd screams.&bull;The penalized player screams at the referee.&bull;The non-offending team scores.&bull;The crowd screams.&bull;The referee goes to the scorers bench to report the goal and the assists.If the penalty being called was a minor, the goal cancels it out. If the penalty was a major, it is recorded and served.Was it a power play or equal strength goal? Read on to the next letter for that answer.<h2>When is a goal a power-play goal?</h2>Dear Jules:Often an announcer will refer to a team&rsquo;s proficiency on the power play with statistics, such as four (goals) for 14 (attempts). This is usually self-explannatory. However, what determines an attempt? If a team gets a penalty at 10:00 mark of a period, the opposition has a manpower advantage. The, if the opposing team gets a penalty a at the 11:00 mark, the teams play even for one minute until the first team then has a shot power play. Do both shortened power plays go into the books as &ldquo;attempts&rdquo;? If so, isn&rsquo;t that misleading because a power play attempt could range anywhere from one second to the full two minutes. Also, if a team has a two-man advantage is it considered two power play attempts or just one?Another question involving power plays is. does a goal scored exactly as a man leaves the box count as a powerplay goal?An example of my final question would be a penalty called at 13:48 and a goal scored at 15:48. I really enjoy your column and I don&rsquo;t think you will ever run out of questions.Richard Wendelken, Montreal, Que.Dear Richard:Thank you for your very nice compliment. In answer to your question, an &ldquo;attempt&rdquo; is considered every time a team has manpower advantage. The time factor is not considered and can range anywhere from one second to many minutes. Yes, both shortened power plays you asked about were &ldquo;attempts&rdquo;. When the team was two men up&rsquo; it is still considered but one attempt. If they were to score and one man came back on the ice. they would get another &ldquo;attempt&rdquo;. As to the goal scored &ldquo;as the man came out of the box&rdquo;, in your example it is not a power-play goak, but recorded as after the penalty has been completed. The same holds true at the end of a period. You cannot score at the &ldquo;20 minute mark&rdquo;. It would have to go in at 19:59. Penalties can. however, be recorded at 20:00. Thank you for your intelligent question. Letters are the lifeblood of this column. I try to answer as many as I am able to personnally, even if they are not used for publication. Since there are duplications sometimes. I try to select the best example for illustration.Any reader having any questions regarding rule interpretations or game situations can write to HET REF, c/o THE EWS, 1434 St. Catherine Street West, Montreal, Canada H3G IR7. &#9632;

f0014-02

hey, ref!

<div class="byline">BY HAL SIGURDSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01615/3588126-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="561" height="1397"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON LEVER&hellip;Scores Game-Winner</figcaption></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;It wasn&rsquo;t much of a goal.Tracy Pratt had been forced to hurry the shot and it didn&rsquo;t have much velocity. It skidded along the ice through a maze of legs until it struck Don Lever&rsquo;s skates. From there it changed direction and crossed the Washington goal line with barely enough speed to reach the back ot the net.Less than 24 hours later Lever was to score a goal that teammate Gerry Meehan described as &ldquo;the prettiest I&rsquo;ve seen scored by any team this year&rdquo;, but in retrospect the one that dribbled in off his skates was even bigger.That was the goal that ended the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; nine-game losing streak.It was like somebody just taking an anvil off your back.&rdquo; Lever reported. &ldquo;At the start nobody was too worried. We had all those injuries and besides Chicago and St. Louis were losing too. But now, with Chicago right on our tails, we had to gel going again.&rdquo;The goal that deflected in off the fleet winger&rsquo;s skates did just that. It was the difference in Vancouver&rsquo;s 3-2 victory over the talent-poor, but ever-hustling Capitals and as it turned out it launched the Canucks on a continuing three-game winning streak.They responded to their first win of 1975 by defeating the Flames 4-1 in Atlanta and then, after a nine-hour trip home, outlasted the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-4 at home.&ldquo;The train is back on the track,&rdquo; general manager-coach Phil Maloney said contentedly.The game in Washington was significant for another reason. It marked the return to action of Dennis Ververgaert, out since Nov. 27 with a shoulder separation, and Chris Oddleifson. out of action since Dec. 15 with a broken jaw.Unfortunately Oddleifson&rsquo;s return was short-lived. Despite wearing a helmet with a protective bar. he re-injured his jaw in a collision with the Capitals&rsquo; Gord Brooks.At first it was feared the jaw had been re-broken, but x-rays proved negative. Nevertheless, the rangy center was forced to miss the team&rsquo;s next three games.I&rsquo;m afraid he came back loo soon.&rdquo; said Malonev even after learning the collision with Brooks had inflicted no further damage. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to make doubly sure he&rsquo;s ready before he plays again.&rdquo;But Ververgaert&rsquo;s return to the lineup came off without a hitch. In his first three games the big winger collected his 1 Ith goal of the season and his 15th assist, but more importantly he put the Canucks&rsquo; highest scoring line back in business.Lever, Andr&eacute; Boudrias and Ververgaert are all individually skilled, but those skills become more effective when they play together as a line.Another plus for the Canucks is that Paulin Bordeleau is also healthy again after shaking off a nagging ankle injury. The talented winger scored a goal against Atlanta and added a goal and an assist against Toronto.His goal against the Leafs was his fifth game-winner of the season.Now Maloney is hoping Vancouver&rsquo;s injury woes are a thing of the past. January ended with three players &mdash; defensemen John Grisdale and Bob Dailey and Oddleifson &mdash; out of the lineup, but all three should be ready to play again at the beginning of February to aid in the stretch run against the Hawks.When Dailey and Grisdale return. Maloney will find himself with an embarrassment of riches on the blueline. All the injuries on defense forced the recall ot Harold Snepsts from the Central League Seattle Totems. The big rookie has played so well Maloney is going to find it difficult, if not impossible, to send him back to Seattle.CANUCK CAPERS: Vancouver&rsquo;s Jan. 11 game at Minnesota that was snowed out has been rescheduled March 4&hellip; When the Canucks&rsquo; defeated Toronto Jan. 26. it was their 25th win of the season. That&rsquo;s one more than they&rsquo;ve achieved in any of their four previous NHL campaigns&hellip; Rookie Ron Sedlbauer scored his first NHLgoal against the Leafs&hellip; Vancouver&rsquo;s nine-game losing streak was also the longest in their history, but at the same time they&rsquo;ve set new records for wins both at home and on the road. &#9632;

f0017-01

Maloney Claims Canucks’ Train Back On Track Snap Nine-Game Losing Streak

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-11" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1189/3588409-1-eng-US/f0018-112.jpg"></div><h2>ATLANTA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01626/3588402-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="163" height="142"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02506/3588395-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="744" height="680"></div><h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>Bruins</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03379/3588388-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="172" height="175"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04282/3588381-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="746" height="616"></div><h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>Sabres</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05213/3588374-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="202" height="199"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06174/3588367-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="746" height="636"></div><h2>CALIFORNIA</h2><h3>Seals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07149/3588360-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="271" height="121"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-08124/3588353-1-eng-US/f0018-082.jpg" title="f0018-08" width="744" height="634"></div><h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>Black Hawks</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-09106/3588346-1-eng-US/f0018-092.jpg" title="f0018-09" width="205" height="193"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1093/3588339-1-eng-US/f0018-102.jpg" title="f0018-10" width="748" height="614"></div><h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>Red Wines</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1281/3588332-1-eng-US/f0018-122.jpg" title="f0018-12" width="259" height="136"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1369/3588325-1-eng-US/f0018-132.jpg" title="f0018-13" width="744" height="613"></div><h2>KANSAS CITY</h2><h3>Scouts</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1464/3588318-1-eng-US/f0018-142.jpg" title="f0018-14" width="211" height="196"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1562/3588311-1-eng-US/f0018-152.jpg" title="f0018-15" width="739" height="615"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>Kings</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1660/3588304-1-eng-US/f0018-162.jpg" title="f0018-16" width="205" height="223"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1749/3588297-1-eng-US/f0018-172.jpg" title="f0018-17" width="738" height="551"></div><h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>North Stars</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1845/3588290-1-eng-US/f0018-182.jpg" title="f0018-18" width="211" height="184"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1941/3588283-1-eng-US/f0018-192.jpg" title="f0018-19" width="738" height="637"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>Canadiens</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2042/3588276-1-eng-US/f0018-202.jpg" title="f0018-20" width="217" height="175"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2140/3588269-1-eng-US/f0018-212.jpg" title="f0018-21" width="743" height="584"></div><h2>NEW YORK</h2><h3>Islanders</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2237/3588262-1-eng-US/f0018-222.jpg" title="f0018-22" width="205" height="202"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2335/3588255-1-eng-US/f0018-232.jpg" title="f0018-23" width="739" height="582"></div><h2>NEW YORK</h2><h3>Rangers</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2434/3588248-1-eng-US/f0018-242.jpg" title="f0018-24" width="190" height="202"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2534/3588241-1-eng-US/f0018-252.jpg" title="f0018-25" width="739" height="664"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>Flyers</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2633/3588234-1-eng-US/f0018-262.jpg" title="f0018-26" width="229" height="169"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2732/3588227-1-eng-US/f0018-272.jpg" title="f0018-27" width="745" height="578"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>Penguins</h3><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2828/3588220-1-eng-US/f0018-282.jpg" title="f0018-28" width="130" height="127"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2923/3588213-1-eng-US/f0018-292.jpg" title="f0018-29" width="742" height="663"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>Blues</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3023/3588206-1-eng-US/f0018-302.jpg" title="f0018-30" width="169" height="148"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3122/3588199-1-eng-US/f0018-312.jpg" title="f0018-31" width="745" height="582"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>Maple Leafs</h3><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3221/3588192-1-eng-US/f0018-322.jpg" title="f0018-32" width="148" height="157"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3321/3588185-1-eng-US/f0018-332.jpg" title="f0018-33" width="746" height="720"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>Canucks</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3418/3588178-1-eng-US/f0018-342.jpg" title="f0018-34" width="223" height="157"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3518/3588171-1-eng-US/f0018-352.jpg" title="f0018-35" width="743" height="610"></div><h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>Capitals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3616/3588164-1-eng-US/f0018-362.jpg" title="f0018-36" width="274" height="154"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3714/3588157-1-eng-US/f0018-372.jpg" title="f0018-37" width="742" height="661"></div> &#9632;

f0018-11

NHL Players’ Sconngr Penalty Statistics

ATLANTA &mdash;Curt Bennett is soft-spoken almost to a whisper, and there isn&rsquo;t anger in his voice, but rather sarcastic puzzlement when he asks, &ldquo;How come I&rsquo;m not on the power play, when I&rsquo;ve got the most goals on the team?&rdquo;His position seems rather well taken. He has scored 20 goals this season and will almost surely surpass Jacques Richard&rsquo;s team record of 27.This year Bennett also should set a record for the most goals by an American in an NHL season. Tommy Williams set the record of 23 when he played for the Boston Bruins in 1962-63.&lsquo;The Flames&rsquo; All Star left winger is having an all-around marvelous season, but he just can&rsquo;t understand why coach Bernie Geoffrion continues to keep him off the power play.The question has been stirring in Bennett&rsquo;s Ivy League mind for some time now. and he finally spoke about it in detail after he scored Atlanta&rsquo;s only goal in a 4-1 loss to Vancouver.It was the Flames&rsquo;third straight three-goal loss, and while Geoffrion blamed the players, some of the players directed return blame to the coach.For example, in a game in Madison Square Garden, Geoffrion changed from his usual six-man defensive arrangement to a five-man defense.Fifty-seven shots later, some of the players were questioning the wisdom of the move. It was the most shots ever given up by the Flames, and the most taken by the Rangers this year. And Atlanta lost 5-2.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying everything,&rdquo; Geoffrion said, after going back to six defensemen for the Vancouver game.But one thing he hadn&rsquo;t tried was Bennett on the power play.&ldquo;There must be some mysterious reason,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t it seem strange?&rdquo;He can&rsquo;t figure how his line, which also consists of center Bryan Hextali and right wing Buster Harvey, has so consistently avoided power-play duty when it is the Flames&rsquo; highest-scoring combination.&ldquo;Maybe he doesn&rsquo;t think we can score, I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo; Bennett said. &rsquo;We&rsquo;ve talked about it plenty of times. I&rsquo;m sure he has his reasons.&rdquo;Bennett emphasized, &ldquo;Bernieisgood to me, and I don&rsquo;t wanna get into trouble about this. But yeah. I&rsquo;m unhappy about it. I&rsquo;m going nuts.&rdquo;Geoffrion, when asked about Bennett&rsquo;s absence from the power play, looked surprised, as if he hadn&rsquo;t given the idea much thought.&ldquo;Maybe you got something there. Maybe I should put him there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I gotta try something else.&rdquo;He was looking for some way to jolt his team out of its doldrums.FLAMES NOTES: After that 5-2 loss to the Rangers, Jan. 23, Geoffrion hid out in the restroom of the Flames&rsquo; dressing quarters, and he refused to meet with the New York press batallion. &ldquo;Whadda I need them for?&rdquo; he asked later.After being mauled by injuries earlier in the year, the Flames are in excellent shape physically. Eric Vail is playing with his left wrist in a cast, but the rookie left winger hasn&rsquo;t lost much effectiveness because of it. No one else on the team was injured, at press time.Tom Lysiak&rsquo;s reaction on playing in the All Star game, which is always rapped for its lack of physical play: &ldquo;I loved it. It was fun. I could freewheel and go anywhere I wanted, and I didn&rsquo;t have to worry about anybody hitting me. I didn&rsquo;t have to keep my head up. I could stand close to the net, and nobody would try to move me.&rdquo;Lysiak believes the game&rsquo;s style should not be changed. &ldquo;The fans complain that there&rsquo;s not enough hitting. but how would they feel if one of their All Star players got injured and missed the rest of the season? Even on a clean body check you can tear ligaments.&rdquo;&hellip;Lysiak has scored 12 goals, but most observers feel he should be scoring more. Frequently he passes up shots and seems to prefer to let Jacques Richard take them. &ldquo;Jacques&rsquo;is a better shooter than I am.&rdquo; Lysiak says, &ldquo;so if he&rsquo;s open I&rsquo;d rather let him shoot than me.&rdquo; &#9632;

Bennett Puzzled By Lack Of Use On Power PlayBY ALAN TRUEX

<div class="byline">BY RUSS WHITE</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in US and CanadaWASHINGTON&mdash;Some of the records that the Washington Capitals ice hockey team have facing it are tougher to take than stiff crosschecks or slams into the boards. The Capitals went 17 games without a victory, four shy of the National Hockey League record.Team captain Doug Mohns called a meeting before the next game against the Detroit Red Wings and said what such a record meant to him: &ldquo;I ve been in the league 22 years and I don&rsquo;t want a crumby record like that tagged to my name.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01447/3588464-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="283" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Kryskow</figcaption></div>Rocket Bill Lesuk&rsquo;s goal 24 seconds after the opening faceoff at Capital Centre offered fair warning Mohns&rsquo; message had sunk in to everyone. The Caps were on their way to a 6-3 victory, tying their best goal effort of the season, winning for the first time since December 15.Lesuk. the littlest skater yet maybe the most game, was still catching his breath 15 minutes after the victory. Maybe not the most talkative member of the club, he tried to put words to use.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t speak for all the guys.&rdquo; Lesuk said, &ldquo;just for myself. This season has been brutal. I haven&rsquo;t been able to take any of it in stride. I detest losing. I detest hearing about records the club might set. The only good thing that has come out of this season is the fact we got fans. Lord only knows that they deserve more for their money.&rdquo;The quick start for the Capitals was indeed rare. Usually it is the opposition that scores first. &ldquo;And we always crumble,&rdquo; Lesuk said. &ldquo;So many times this team has just gone to pieces because the other team puts in a quick goal.&ldquo;Even in this one Detroit had a shot before we did and it took a whale of a save by Ronnie Low to keep it from going in. I hate to think what would have happened if Detroit had beaten us to that first goal. No&hellip; Ijust won&rsquo;t think about it&hellip;&rdquo;&ldquo;The games come and go and we never seem to understand just what went wrong,&rdquo; Mohns said. &ldquo;A lot of the guys think too much about who they are playing, how tough it&rsquo;s going to be. It would he better to think more about themselves, about getting their game straight.&ldquo;Some of the younger guys &mdash; the kids like Mike Marson and Paul Nicholson &mdash; haven&rsquo;t reacted the way they should at times. But tonight they seemed to have instinct and moved in to break up plays or set up plays when we had the puck. The game is fast and you have to think as well as skate quickly to stay in it.&rdquo;The coach, Jimmy Anderson, could go home somewhat at ease. Games like this one promised him the only wish he asks &mdash; that he be given time to develop a team for Washington. &ldquo;I was hired with the understanding that I&rsquo;d have a couple of years.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;No matter what has happened I still know I can do the job.&rdquo;Anderson was giving his players a day off and a couple of them two days off before the team flew to Los Angeles to play the Kings.&ldquo;I only wish I could repay all of them for what they have done,&rdquo; Anderson said, &ldquo;rather than mope about what they haven&rsquo;t. &#9632;

f0020-01

Mohns’ Pep Talk Spurs Caps To Fourth Victory

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div>DETROIT&mdash;One line of agate type&hellip; that&rsquo;s the small stuff&hellip; in the Red Wing scoring statistics helps tell the tale of the club&rsquo;s offensive miseries this season.There&rsquo;s Mickey Redmond, four weeks into January, 46 games into an 80 game schedule, tied for fifth place in Red Wing scoring.And Mickey Redmond hasn&rsquo;t played a game in two months because of his back injury that required surgery. Two months and Redmond still was fifth among Detroit scorers. There is no quarrel with the top two. Marcel Dionne and Danny Grant. They&rsquo;ve played gangbusters this season in an almost nightly losing cause.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02335/3588495-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="283" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body">Danny Grant</figcaption></div>Dionne was fifth leading scorer in the league at the end of January with 65 points. His 27 goals were one more than Grant&rsquo;s 26.But after that, the only two active players with lO or more goals were Nick Libett with 15 and rookie Bill Lochead with 14. And most of Lochead&rsquo;s came early in the season.Redmond had 10 goals and eight assists in 20 games before heading for the hospital and no one has come anywhere near picking up the scoring slack.Thanks to Dionne and Grant. the Red Wing power play ranked a surprisingly high fifth, behind Montreal. Boston. Buffalo and the New York Rangers. The Wings had 47 power-play goals in 202 opportunities. Grant scored 13 ot them and Dionne 11.And. rather surprisingly, the Wings gave up only 41 goals during 198 power-play opportunities by their rivals.But put them both at full strength, and obviously, it&rsquo;s no contest.The Wings just about hit bottom at the end of January when, with manager-coach Alex Delvecchio still saying, outwardly at least, that the club had a chance to catch Pittsburgh but it must perform well in a four game stretch against Washington. St. Louis and the Penguins.Well, the Wings did manage to beat the Capitals. 5-2. at Olympia, to start the four games&hellip; the Caps 23rd straight on the road without a victory.But the next night in Washington, the Wings, a terrible road team for nearly two decades now (only one winning road season in those years), were whipped. 6-3. by the Capitals. And it was only the fourth victory of the season for Washington.That dropped the Wings 16 points behind Pittsburgh and at that rate, they&rsquo;re going to be closer to the expansion Caps than they are Io the Penguins.With no help showing on the farm. Delvecchio looked about for some deals and supposedly had one set with Washi for left wing Mike Bloom who was the Boston Bruins&rsquo; first choice in the 1972 amateur draft.Bloom would supply some of the toughness the Wings simply don&rsquo;t have but the deal didn&rsquo;t go through. &#9632;

f0020-02

Individual Scoring Statistics Tell Wings’ Offensive Woes

BOBBY ORR Boston BruinsA row boat is only as good as its oars.The good ship Bruin may be getting ready to enter a regatta at the pace their Orr has been going.Bobby Orr raised his season goal total to 31 with a hat trick in 6-0 shellacking of California and totally dominated the Bruins&rsquo; 5-1 win over Philadelphia by picking up one goal and four assistsLuckily Robert didn&rsquo;t hit the score sheet in the other two Boston games or the club could have found themselves off the edge of the world.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03276/3588533-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="514" height="628"></div>ROD GILBERTNew York RangersEmile Francis and the rest of the Ranger brass are pleased to see it doesn&rsquo;t take Rod Gilbert long to get back in stride. In fact, exactly one game.After missing four games, because of a severe bout with the flu, he returned and the Detroit Red Wings are wishing he could have waited one more game before reaching his peak again as he singlehandedly kept the New Yorkers close by scoring four goals in 5-5 sawoff with the Wings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04195/3588526-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="505" height="595"></div> &#9632;

f0020-03

NHL’s Stars of the week

<div class="byline">BY DEREK COOPER</div>OAKLAND&mdash;Floundering along in mid-November of last year, the California Golden Seals&rsquo; front office was humming a few bars of its favorite standard. &ldquo;There&rsquo;ll Be Some Changes Made.&rdquo;The men at the top needed people with new vitality. But since the other general managers and personnel directors around the National Hockey League never give away such talent, prospects for a quick California steal were slightly less than dim.However, on this occasion, the Seals stole &mdash; and stole big. Director of hockey. Bill McCreary, familiar with the operation of the St. Louis Blues through a previous stint as coach and executive, remembered center Dave Gardnerand right wing Butch Williams, a pair of the breed known as &ldquo;prospects.&rdquo;McCreary quietly dispatched veterans Craig Patrick and Stan Gilbertson to RiverCity forGardnerand Williams. And at the present time, the deal has been the best for the Seals since Joey Johnston and Walt McKechnie were picked up from the Minnesota North Stars in exchange for Dennis Hextall in May 1973.While Gardner initially had trouble fifing into the Seals&rsquo; lineup on a regular basis, the same can hardly be said of Williams, a 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 195-pounder from Duluth. Minnesota.Experimenting with Williams on a number of different lines, ex-coach Marshall Johnston put Butch with left wing Dave Hrechkosy and center Spike Huston. Voila, the line known as &ldquo;The Wrecking Crew,&rdquo; a combination which has the opportunity to become the best the Seals have ever had.Hrechkosy, alias &ldquo;The Wrecker,&rdquo; gets the goals, so far enough to make him a logical candidate for rookie of the year. Huston. a hard worker who spent some of 1973-74 with California, makes most of the plays. Williams, whose brother Tommy played with the Seals and is now skating for the Washington Capitals, is the guy who will move into the corner and get the puck for his linemates.And Williams&rsquo; role cannot be underestimated.&ldquo;Its easy playing with Wrecker and Spike.&rdquo; says Williams, who was toiling away with Denver of the Central League before McCreary and the Seals rescued him from the obscurity of the minor leagues. &ldquo;We play with a lot of confidence, and right now everything just seems to click.&rdquo;Game in and game out, in virtually every critical situation, &ldquo;The Wrecking Crew&rdquo; is out there protecting a lead, seeking to increase it. or searching for a tying goal. Williams and the two rookies have performed, at the very least, as well as California could have expected.How much better they might perform seems only to be a question of how they adjust to the rigors of the NHL. Williams is certain time will give them the experience.&ldquo;Every league you progress through is just that much better in every area of the game.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;To me. the NHL. is just physically demanding. Everybody here is so strong.&ldquo;The puck moves a lot quicker, and you can&rsquo;t anticipate what the other players will do quite as soon. But as you develop your own moves, you learn to play with control and anticipation.&rdquo;But in at least one area. Williams&rsquo; control has not been what the anticontact forces of the NHL would like to see. He has become the most penalized right wing in the history of the Seals, surpassing the record 75 minutes set by George Swarbrick six seasons ago.It&rsquo;s no big deal.&rdquo; shrugs Williams, whose personality does not annoy a management that has always sought more physical players. &ldquo;The only thing that bothers me is that the fight had so far in the league have been because I&rsquo;ve been retaliating. You just can&rsquo;t let a guy know you won&rsquo;t fight back if he hits you.I don&rsquo;t like to be pushed around. So far I&rsquo;ve had about five fights, with guys like (Andre) Dupont. (Phil) Russell and (Doug) Risebrough. They&rsquo;re just situations that come, up.&rdquo;And the only other situation he&rsquo;d like to see come up is the overall improvement of the Seals. Improving his own play would go a long way towards, that end. even though Bay Area fans have been happy enough with him.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too far-fetched to strive for perfection.&rdquo; Butch points out. &ldquo;but you have to do it. Right now I&rsquo;m not happy with the way I shoot the puck. Sometimes when I get a good shot. I&rsquo;ll end up putting it right on the goalie, and I have to change that.&ldquo;Also. I&rsquo;d like to start playing my wing in better position. You can pick up bad habits by moving into center ice too much, like you do it the minors. I just have to learn to stick with my man.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01291/3588564-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="573" height="749"><figcaption class="caption-body">BUTCH WILLIAMS &hellip;Most Penalize</figcaption></div>The St. Louis Blues would have done well to learn that lesson &mdash; of sticking with their man. Otherwise, they wouldn&rsquo;t have reason to regret the loss of Butch Williams &#9632;

f0021-01

‘Stolen’ Williams Hot Seals Property

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01317/3588609-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="525" height="497"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02242/3588602-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="549" height="477"></div>KANSAS CITY&mdash;If he wishes. Bep Guidolin may tie Denis Herron to the goal posts, line up five Mickey Redmonds and a couple of Dennis Hulls and give the orders to start blasting.After only two games of what is supposed to be the beginning of Herron&rsquo;s long career with the Scouts, the extent of his masochism appears limitless. &ldquo;1 want lots of shots,&rdquo; Denis says. &ldquo;Lots of work. I want lots of experience.&rdquo; In his first two outings the Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings fully obliged, throwing assorted bazookas, wristers. slappers, and bloopers at him, and when the two games were over, Denis had 75 saves, had given up 12 goals and had two losses. When each of the games ended, he sat in the locker room, looking like he had overslept in a sauna, exhausted, beaten, but still asking for more.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03212/3588595-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="289" height="473"><figcaption class="caption-body">Denis Herron</figcaption></div>On the basis of what he had shown, he&rsquo;ll get it. &ldquo;We had some great goal-tending on ourside,&rdquo; said Bep, after the 5-0 loss in Buffalo. &ldquo;I told him he&rsquo;s going ot see a lot of rubber and by the end of the season we&rsquo;ll have a goaltender. That&rsquo;s the best workout he&rsquo;s had.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an eager, aggressive kid, and he could turn out to be a heck of a goaltender for us&rsquo;.&rdquo;Baz Bastien, the Scouts assistant general manager and a former goaltender himself, was a little more succinct: &ldquo;The kid has guts,&rdquo; Baz said. Unfortunately discretion is not the better part of Herron&rsquo;s valor, and Denis obviously has a lot to learn. Naturally he will be compared to Michel Plasse. the goaltender the Scouts gave up in the trade which brought Herron and defenseman Jean-Guy Lagac from Pittsburgh. The Scouts needed defensive help and Lagac was the key. The goaltender had to be considered a throw-in.&ldquo;Just give the kid time,&rdquo; said Jack Button, the Penguin general manager. Yet obviously, with the Penguins jockeying for a play-off berth, he didn&rsquo;t feel he had the time to give.Herron spent time at Hershey, was used sparingly, and finally shipped off in favor of the more experienced Plasse.The trade put Peter McDuffe, who, like Plasse, had been in-an-out for the first half of the season on the spot, for if the first-year Scouts do not have good goal tending, they cannot expect to be in too many games. Yet Peter played well in his first three appearances since the trade, beating Chicago. 4-1, Washington, 5-3, and losing to Philadelphia, 6-4.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel any different,&rdquo; said Peter. &ldquo;Just because they traded Michel doesn&rsquo;t mean I&rsquo;m set here. We&rsquo;re all available if the right trade comes along.&rdquo;Yet there haven&rsquo;t been too many right deals for goaltenders, since good ones are at a premium. Ask Button, who tried for three months to get one before finally landing Plasse. Thus the Scouts are likely to be going with McDuffe and Herron for some time, with how much playing time Herron gets depending upon how he looks.For starters, it wasn&rsquo;t bad. His glove hand is just as good as Plasse&rsquo;s, indicating his reflexes are outstanding. His lean, boyish body is as supple as your basic limbo dancer.The faults are easily recognizable, even to Denis himself. He elaborates: &ldquo;I concentrate real well for maybe a period I&rsquo;ve got to for the whole game.&ldquo;I go out too far. I have to control my rebounds. When guys are so close, I have to try to keep the puck.&rdquo;If &ldquo;Know Thy self is step No. 1 to the Vezina Trophy, then he&rsquo;s ready for No. 2. Confidence is the biggest factor, and he&rsquo;s aware of that. too.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a different situation here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Guys have to learn than they can rely on me. I have to play and show the guys that when I do they have a chance to win.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s all anyone expects for a few years, anyway, just a chance, but from a fan&rsquo;s standpoint, Herron could even make losing fun. Even now, he&rsquo;s a very exciting goaltender to watch, a semiacrobat reminiscent of Roger Crozier.That may not be enough to prompt a single &ldquo;Michel Who?&rdquo; just yet, but for starters, it looks Very promising.LOOSE PUCKS: McDuffe had the Black Hawks blanked until only 2:10 to go. when an Alain Daigle pass from 35 feet out hit Brent Hughes&rsquo; skate and slid past McDuffe&hellip; Attendance is picking up gradually. The Scouts went over 10,000 on successive Saturday nights, but drew only a disappointing 8,057 for a Tuesday night game with Philadelphia. &#9632;

f0022-01

Herron Getting Masochistic Wish With Scouts

<div class="byline">BY BILL HEUFELDER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01297/3588640-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="581" height="589"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETE LAFRAMBOISE &hellip;Newest Penguin</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH &mdash;The way coach Marc Boileau sizes up his Pittsburgh Penguins, they&rsquo;re about a month behind schedule.And that&rsquo;s not all bad.&ldquo;I thought we&rsquo;d be at this point a little earlier,&rdquo; he admitted after the Penguins stretched their record unbeaten streak on home ice to 15 games and climbed two games above .500.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re about a month late, which means we should be playing well a month after the season ends. If that&rsquo;s the case, we&rsquo;re going to be in the playoffs for awhile.&rdquo;While injuries cut into their efficiency. new lines were making adjustments and the backup goaltending behind youthful Gary Inness allowed him little rest, the Penguins were unable to string together more than three games without a loss.But the pattern has changed. They have built a 9-0-6 record at home and were last beaten by a visiting team when Montreal stopped them. 3-2. Nov. 27.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty satisfied.&rdquo; said Boileau. whose arrival to the Penguins last February brought&rsquo;renewed enthusiasm. He had left the International League to take his first big-time coaching job and guided Pittsburgh to a 14-10-4 record.&ldquo;I knew we had a good scoring club this year.&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but we definitely were too loose. You can&rsquo;t expect to score six or seven goals a game.&rdquo;So what happened?In rising above the .500 mark, the Penguins outscored California. 7-5. before putting down the Rangers. Boileau could excuse such a lapse, being openly fearful that the Seals, playing their first game under new coach Bill McCreary, would be inspired.With the addition of Michel Plasse from Kansas City. Boileau has been confident in splitting the goaltending duties more evenly than in the past without risking damaging assaults from the opposition.The 26-year-old netminder backstopped the Penguins to a 6-3 victory over California in his Pittsburgh debut, a performance that Boileau says &ldquo;really impressed me.&rdquo; Plasse. who reached the NHL through the Montreal organization. followed with a 4-4 tie against Boston.The Penguins nave added another player. Pete Laframboise. from the Washington Caps, who obtained defenseman Ron Jones from Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Hershey farm club in return.&ldquo;Just trying to improve the club.&rdquo; Boileau explained. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big guy and a goal scorer, too.&rdquo;Laframboise. 6&rsquo;2&rdquo; and 185-pounds. was California&rsquo;s No. 2 pick and the 19th overall choice in the amateur draft five years ago. Boileau believes the 37goals he scored at Baltimore and the 16 he produced two years ago with the Seals are indicative of his potential.Last year, Laframboise delivered only seven goals at California, which made him available in the expansion draft. With the Caps, he had connected five times in 37 games.Defensively. Boileau has been encouraged by the work of his two rookies. Colin Campbell and Dennis Owchar. who have shed much of the uncertainty that gripped them earlier this season.&ldquo;Atfirst. they were a little cautious.&rdquo; Boileau observed, &ldquo;but they&rsquo;ve started to be more aggressive. And Bob Paradise is hitting more than he did last year.&rdquo;The Penguins, you might say, seem to be hitting on all cylinders.PENGUINS NOTES: Tad Potter, majority owner of the Penguins, is determined to raise outside capital that will keep the club in Pittsburgh and dispel the talk that the franchise will be shifted to Seattle, tying in with California&rsquo;s possible move to Denver&hellip; Overall attendance is less than a year ago. hurt most seriously by disappointing weeknight crowds.Jean Pronovost, unaffected by the All Star break, resumed his heavy goal production&hellip; He returned from his first All Star appearance to improve his streak to 16 goals in as many games.Boileau is confident that defenseman Steve Durbano, sidelined since the third game of the campaign with a badly broken wrist, will recover in time to &#9632;

f0023-01

Penguins Month Behind Schedule

(Standings on Tue. Feb. 4)<h2>NORRIS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2316/3588975-1-eng-US/f0024-232.jpg" title="f0024-23" width="536" height="182"></div><h2>ADAMS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2414/3588968-1-eng-US/f0024-242.jpg" title="f0024-24" width="544" height="144"></div><h2>PATRICK DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2510/3588961-1-eng-US/f0024-252.jpg" title="f0024-25" width="554" height="152"></div><h2>SMYTHE DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-266/3588954-1-eng-US/f0024-262.jpg" title="f0024-26" width="566" height="182"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Jan. 27Boston 3 at Kansas City 3.Tue. Jan. 28N.Y Rangers 2 at Los Angeles 5. Minnesota 2 at N.Y Islanders 6: Montreal 3 at Vancouver 1. Detroit 4 at St. Louis 4Wed. Jan. 29N.Y Islanders 4 at Minnesota 3: Atlanta 4 at Kansas City 4; Chicago 1 at Pittsburgh 6; California 2 at Toronto 4Thu. Jan. 30N.Y Rangers 3 at Buffalo 6: Toronto 1 at Philadelphia 3: Washington 4 at Los Angeles 6: Pittsburgh 2 at Detroit 5; California 0 at Boston 6Fri. Jan. 31St. Louis 4 at Atlanta 2.Sat. Feb. 1N.Y. Rangers 4 at Chicago 1; N.Y. Islanders 4 at Detroit 1. Buffalo 0 at Philadelphia 6; Montreal 5 at Los Angeles 3; Washington 2 at Vancouver 5; Pittsburgh 4 at St. Louis 4; Minnesota 3 at Kansas City 2: Boston 2 at Toronto 3.Sun. Feb. 2Detroit 5 at N.Y. Rangers 5; N.Y. Islanders 1 at Chicago 1; Philadelphia 1 at Boston 5. Atlanta 5 at Minnesota 3: Montreal 5 at California 1: Kansas City 1 at Buffalo 8.<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Feb. 4Pittsburgh at Vancouver. Buffalo at Detroit: Chicago at Kansas City; Toronto at St LouisWed Feb. 5Philadelphia at N.Y Rangers. Boston atAtlanta; Detroit at Montreal: Washington at California; Pittsburgh at Los Angeles; Chicago at Minnesota.Thu. Feb. 6N.Y. Rangers at Philadelphia: Buffalo at N.Y Islanders; Minnesota at Boston; Toronto at Kansas City.Fri. Feb. 7Los Angeles at Atlanta; Pittsburgh at California; Chicago at Vancouver; Kansas City at St. Louis.Sat. Feb. 8N.Y. Rangers at Montreal: Washington at N.Y. Islanders. Philadelphia at Minnesota; Boston at Detroit: St. Louis at Toronto.Sun. Feb. 9Washington at N.Y. Rangers. N.Y Islanders at Boston; Minnesota at Atlanta: Montreal at Buffalo. Los Angeles at Chicago Kansas City at California.Tue. Feb. 11N.Y. Rangers at Washington. Pittsburgh at N.Y. Islanders. Philadelphia at St. Louis; Kansas Oity at Vancouver.Wed. Feb. 12N.Y. Islanders at Minnesota. Atlanta at Los Angeles: Montreal at Toronto. Buffalo at Pittsburgh; Detroit at California. Boston at Chicago.Thu. Feb. 13Chicago at Philadelphia. Washington at Kansas City; Boston at BuffaloFri. Feb. 14Detroit at Vancouver(*&mdash;NBC TV Game of the Week) &#9632;

f0024-23

LOOKING AT THE NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01304/3588923-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"></div>WARNING: The Department of National Health and Welfare advises that danger to heath increases with amount smoked<h2>Sun. Jan. 26</h2>CALIFORNIA 2, CHICAGO 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02236/3588916-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="631" height="442"></div><h2>Mon. Jan. 27</h2>BOSTON 3, KANSAS CITY 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03164/3588909-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="601" height="511"></div><h2>Tue. Jan. 28</h2>RANGERS 2, LOS ANGELES 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04122/3588902-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="613" height="586"></div>MINNESOTA 2, ISLANDERS 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0594/3588895-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="616" height="529"></div>MONTREAL 3, VANCOUVER 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0681/3588888-1-eng-US/f0024-062.jpg" title="f0024-06" width="622" height="322"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0767/3588881-1-eng-US/f0024-072.jpg" title="f0024-07" width="616" height="163"></div>DETROIT 4, ST. LOUIS 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0862/3588874-1-eng-US/f0024-082.jpg" title="f0024-08" width="619" height="544"></div><h2>Wed. Jan. 29</h2>ISLANDERS 4, MINNESOTA 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0957/3588867-1-eng-US/f0024-092.jpg" title="f0024-09" width="607" height="526"></div>ATLANTA 4, KANSAS CITY 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1051/3588860-1-eng-US/f0024-102.jpg" title="f0024-10" width="583" height="94"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1149/3588853-1-eng-US/f0024-112.jpg" title="f0024-11" width="625" height="532"></div>CHICAGO 1. PITTSBURGH 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1243/3588846-1-eng-US/f0024-122.jpg" title="f0024-12" width="628" height="526"></div>CALIFORNIA 2, TORONTO 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1333/3588839-1-eng-US/f0024-132.jpg" title="f0024-13" width="607" height="367"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1427/3588832-1-eng-US/f0024-142.jpg" title="f0024-14" width="607" height="166"></div><h2>Thur. Jan. 30</h2>RANGERS 3. BUFFALO 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1523/3588825-1-eng-US/f0024-152.jpg" title="f0024-15" width="601" height="556"></div>TORONTO 1. PHILADELPHIA 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1621/3588818-1-eng-US/f0024-162.jpg" title="f0024-16" width="613" height="532"></div>WASHINGTON 4, LOS ANGELES 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1719/3588811-1-eng-US/f0024-172.jpg" title="f0024-17" width="583" height="106"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1818/3588804-1-eng-US/f0024-182.jpg" title="f0024-18" width="622" height="475"></div>PITTSBURGH 2, DETROIT 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1918/3588797-1-eng-US/f0024-192.jpg" title="f0024-19" width="592" height="541"></div>CALIFORNIA 0, BOSTON 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2017/3588790-1-eng-US/f0024-202.jpg" title="f0024-20" width="604" height="487"></div><h2>Fri. Jan. 31</h2>ST. LOUIS 4. ATLANTA 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2117/3588783-1-eng-US/f0024-212.jpg" title="f0024-21" width="610" height="478"></div><h2>Sat. Feb. 1</h2>RANGERS 4. CHICAGO 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2216/3588776-1-eng-US/f0024-222.jpg" title="f0024-22" width="616" height="493"></div>ISLANDERS 4, DETROIT 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01251/3588769-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="610" height="493"></div>BUFFALO 0, PHILADELPHIA 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02181/3588762-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="634" height="568"></div>MONTREAL 5, LOS ANGELES 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03123/3588755-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="625" height="649"></div>WASHINGTON 2, VANCOUVER 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0494/3588748-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="637" height="535"></div>PITTSBURGH 4, ST. LOUIS 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0579/3588741-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="637" height="646"></div>MINNESOTA 3, KANSAS CITY 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0663/3588734-1-eng-US/f0025-062.jpg" title="f0025-06" width="622" height="439"></div>BOSTON 2, TORONTO 3FIRST PERIODToronto. 1&mdash;Williams (Ellis) 1333. Boston<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0760/3588727-1-eng-US/f0025-072.jpg" title="f0025-07" width="604" height="436"></div><h2>Sun. Feb. 2</h2>DETROIT 5, RANGERS 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0852/3588720-1-eng-US/f0025-082.jpg" title="f0025-08" width="619" height="454"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0946/3588713-1-eng-US/f0025-092.jpg" title="f0025-09" width="610" height="91"></div>ISLANDERS 1, CHICAGO 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1033/3588706-1-eng-US/f0025-102.jpg" title="f0025-10" width="598" height="448"></div>PHILADELPHIA 1, BOSTON 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1127/3588699-1-eng-US/f0025-112.jpg" title="f0025-11" width="628" height="385"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1222/3588692-1-eng-US/f0025-122.jpg" title="f0025-12" width="616" height="196"></div>ATLANTA 5, MINNESOTA 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1318/3588685-1-eng-US/f0025-132.jpg" title="f0025-13" width="610" height="592"></div>MONTREAL 5, CALIFORNIA 1FIRST PERIOD<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1416/3588678-1-eng-US/f0025-142.jpg" title="f0025-14" width="601" height="421"></div>KANSAS CITY 1. BUFFALO 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1514/3588671-1-eng-US/f0025-152.jpg" title="f0025-15" width="604" height="490"></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

MarkTen That’s taste!

C&mdash;CaptainA&mdash;Alternate*&mdash;Rookie<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Dave Reece*Gilles Gilbert<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Gary DoakDarryl EdestrandBobby Orr ADallas Smith ACarol VadnaisRod Graham *<h3>CENTER</h3>Phil Esposito AWalt McKechnieAndre SavardGregg Sheppard<h3>R. WING</h3>Terry O&rsquo;ReillvBobby SchmautzKen Hodge<h3>L. WING</h3>Dave ForbesDon MarcotteWayne CashmanJohn Bucy* c<h3>INJURED</h3>Ross BrooksAl Sims<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gary Bromley *Rocky Farr*Roger Crozier<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Larry CarriereLee Fogolin*Bill Hajt*Jerry KorabJ. GuevremontJ. Schoenfeld C<h3>CENTER</h3>Don Luce AJim LorentzPeter McNab*Fred Stanfield<h3>R. WING</h3>Larry MickeyRene RobertDanny Gare *Rick Dudley<h3>L. WING</h3>Craig RamsayBrian SpencerMorris Titanic *Richard Martin<h3>INJURED</h3>Gil Perreault A<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Jim RutherfordBill McKenzie *<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Larry Giroux*Jean HamelJack LynchBryan WatsonBart CrashleyMike Kornev*Gary Bergman A<h3>CENTER</h3>Bill HogaboamMarcel Dionne CPierre Jarry<h3>R. WING</h3>Earl Anderson*Ted SnellBill Lochead*<h3>L. WING</h3>Nick Libett AHank Nowak*Danny GrantPhil Roberto<h3>INJURED</h3>Blair Stewart*Mickey Redmond A<h2>ISLANDERS</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Glen Resch *Billy Smith<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Dave Fortier*Gerry HartDave LewisBert Marshall AJean PotvinDenis Potvin<h3>CENTER</h3>Lorne HenningBob Bourne*Ralph Stewart AEddie Westfall C<h3>R. WING</h3>Jude DrouinBilly Harris ABob NystromAndre St. Laurent<h3>L. WING</h3>Clark Gillies*Walt Ledingham*Jean-Paul PariseBilly MacMillan<h3>INJURED</h3>Garry Howatt<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Ken DrydenMichel LarocqueWayne Thomas<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Pierre BouchardGuy LapointeLarry RobinsonSerge Savard ADon AwreyJim Roberts<h3>CENTER</h3>Jacques LemairePete MahovlichDoug Risebrough *Glen Sather<h3>R. WING</h3>Yvan Cournoyer AMario Tremblay *Guy Lafleur<h3>L. WING</h3>Bob GaineySteve ShuttMurray WilsonYvon Lambert<h3>INJURED</h3>J. LaperriereHenri Richard C<h2>RANGERS</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gilles VillemureEd Giacomin<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Nick BeverleyGilles MarotteBrad Park CJohn Bednarski*Ron Greschner*Dale Rolfe<h3>CENTER</h3>Jean RatelleDerek SandersonPete Stemkowski AWalt Tkaczuk A<h3>R. WING</h3>Bill FairbairnRod Gilbert AJerry Holland*Jerry Butler<h3>L. WING</h3>Ted IrvineSteve VickersGreg PolisBert Wilson<h3>INJURED</h3>Ron HarrisBobby RousseauRick Middleton<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Doug FavellDune WilsonPierre Hamel*<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Brian GlennieBorje SalmingDave DunnRod SeilingClaire Alexander*<h3>CENTER</h3>Dave Keon CDarryl SittierNorm Ullman A<h3>R. WING</h3>Ron Ellis ABlaine StoughtonLanny McDonaldGary Sabourin<h3>L. WING</h3>Inge HammarstromDave Williams*Errol ThompsonBill FlettEddie Shack<h3>INJURED</h3>George FergusonIan TurnbullBob NeelyJim McKenny<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gary SmithKen Lockett*<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Bob DaileyDennis KearnsTracy PrattAb DeMarcoJohn GrisdaleHarold Snepsts *Mike Robitaille A<h3>CENTER</h3>Andre Boudrias ABobby LalondeGerry MeehanPaulin BordeleauChris Oddleifson A<h3>R. WING</h3>Gregg BoddyLeon RochefortJerry O&rsquo;FlahertyDennis Ververgaert<h3>L. WING</h3>John GouldDon LeverGarry Monahan<h3>INJURED</h3>None.<h2>KANSAS CITY</h2>OALDenis HerronPeter McDuffe*<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Brent Hughes AJim McElmury*Claude Houde*Jean-Guy LagaceDenis Patterson*<h3>CENTER</h3>Eddie Gilbert*Richard LemieuxLynn PowisGuy CharronDave Hudson<h3>R. WING</h3>Simon Nolet CWilf Paiement*Randy Rota A<h3>L. WING</h3>Robin Burns*Gary CroteauNorm Dube*<h3>INJURED</h3>Mike Baumgartner<h2>ATLANTA</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Dan BouchardPhil Myre<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Barry GibbsJean LemieuxEd Kea*Pat Quinn ANoel Price ABob Murray*Randy Manery<h3>CENTER</h3>Curt BennettRey ComeauBryan HextaliTom LysiakBob Leiter A<h3>R. WING</h3>Hilliard GravesBuster HarveyTim Ecclestone<h3>L. WING</h3>Jacques RichardKeith McCrearv CLarry RomanchychEric Vail<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>CALIFORNIA</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gilles MelocheGary Simmons*<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Len Frig ARick Hampton*Jim NeilsonBob StewartGeorge Pesut*Brent Meeke<h3>CENTER</h3>Larry Patey*Stan WeirDave GardnerRon Huston&rsquo;<h3>R. WING</h3>Al MacAdam*Morris MottWarren WilliamsFrank Spring *Gary Coalter*<h3>L. WING</h3>Joey Johnston CJohn StewartDave Hrechkosy*Brian Lavender<h3>INJURED</h3>Mike Christie*Wayne King<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Tony EspositoMike Veisor*<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Doug Jarrett ADick RedmondPhil RussellRandy Holt*<h3>CENTER</h3>Ivan BoldirevStan Mikita APit Martin<h3>R. WING</h3>Jim PappinAlain Daigle*Cliff KorollGrant Mulvey*J.P. Bordeleau<h3>L. WING</h3>Dennis HullDarcy RotaJohn MarksGermain Gagnon<h3>INJURED</h3>Bill White AKeith Magnuson<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Rogatien VachonGary Edwards<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Larry BrownTerry Harper CDave Hutchison*S. KannegeisserNeil KomadoskiBob Murdoch<h3>CENTER</h3>Gene CarrButch GoringJuha Widing AVic Venasky<h3>R. WING</h3>Mike CorriganDon KozakMike MurphyBob NevinFrank St. Marseille<h3>L. WING</h3>Bob BerryDan Maloney ATom Williams<h3>INJURED</h3>None.<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Cesare ManiagoPeter LoPresti *<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Dwight Bialowas*Doug Hicks *Dennis O&rsquo;BrienTom ReidChris Ahrens*Fred Barrett<h3>CENTER</h3>Blake Dunlop*Dennis Hextail AMurrav Oliver<h3>R. WING</h3>Dean Talafous *Doug RomboughRod Norrish*Bill Goldsworthy C<h3>L. WING</h3>Don Martineau*Craig CameronErnie HickeNorm GrattonJohn Flesch*<h3>INJURED</h3>Henry BouchaFern RivardLou Nanne<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Wayne StephensonBernie Parent<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Andre DupontTed HarrisEd Van ImpeTom BladonJimmy WatsonJoe Watson<h3>CENTER</h3>Rick MacLeishBill ClementTerry Crisp AOrest KindrachukBobby Clarke C<h3>R. WING</h3>Gary Dornhoefer AReg LeachDon Saleski<h3>L. WING</h3>Bill BarberDave SchultzBob KellyRoss Lonsberry<h3>INJURED</h3>None.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gary Inness*Michel Plasse<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Dave Burrows AColin Campbell*Bob ParadiseMario Faubert*Ron StackhouseBarry Wilkins<h3>CENTER</h3>Syl Apps ARon Schock CPierre Larouche*Bob McManama*<h3>R. WING</h3>Chuck ArnasonRick KehoeLew MorrisonJean PronovostPete Laframboise<h3>L. WING</h3>Vic HadfieldLowell MacDonaldBob Kelly<h3>INJURED</h3>Steve Durbano<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Yves Belanqer*Eddie Johnston<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Bob Gassoff*Bob Hess*Barclay Plager CBob Plager ALarry Sacharuk*Bruce Affleck *<h3>CENTER</h3>Chuck LefleyGarry Unger ADoug Palazzari*Ken Richardson *Red Berenson<h3>R. WING</h3>Bill Collins APierre PlanteClaude Larose<h3>L. WING</h3>Ace BaileyFloyd ThomsonWayne MerrickCraig Patrick<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Michel BelhiimrirRon Low<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Yvon LabreBill Mikkelson ADoug Mohns CMurray AndersonRon JonesMike Bloom*<h3>CENTER</h3>Tommy Williams ADave KryskowRon Lalonde<h3>R. WING</h3>Steve AtkinsonGordie BrooksMike Marson*<h3>L. WING</h3>Bruce Cowick*Denis DuperePaul NicholsonBill Lesuk<h3>INJURED</h3>Jack Egers AGreg Joly*Willie BrossartJim Hrycuik* &#9632;

NHL Team Rosters

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01256/3589037-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="573" height="633"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY MacGREGOR</figcaption></div>LOUISVILLE SIBGSERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SIUGSERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaCHICAGO&mdash;When the conversation turns to the top rookies in the Worl Hockey Association this season, you&rsquo;re bound to name such first-year standouts as Vaclav Nedo mansky of the Toronto Toros. Ron Grahame of the Houston Aeros, Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg and Lars-Erik Sjoberg of the Winnipeg Jets, and Mike Cormier and Murray Keogan of the Phoenix Roadrunners.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03169/3589030-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="283" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gerry Cheevers</figcaption></div>Chances are one of the aforementioned will win top rookie honors, but there&rsquo;s one name that hasn&rsquo;t been prominently mentioned. In fact, it hasn&rsquo;t been mentioned at all. It belongs to a young native of Kingston. Ont., by the name of Gary MacGregor. And he has more qualifications to &ldquo;take the top honor more than any of the others with the exception of Grahame.MacGregor, you see, is a legitimate rookie. Nedomansky. Nilsson. Hedberg and Sjoberg have had extensive careers as amateurs and Keogan and Cormier have spent at least a few campaigns in the minor professional leagues.There&rsquo;s do doubt in his coachs mind that the Chicago Cougars&rsquo; freshman center iceman Is the WHA&rsquo;s top rookie.&ldquo;Gary is every bit as good as Stan Mikita at a similar age,&rdquo; said Chicago player-coach-owner Whitey Stapleton, who played with Mikita and the Chicago Black Hawks for eight seasons.&ldquo;Stan is a better passer.&rdquo; Stapleton continued, &ldquo;but MacGregor is beginning to handle the puck better lately. He knows where the net is all the time. When he gets within the 25 to 30-foot range, he really snaps the puck.&rdquo;MacGregor, who opted for the Cougars over the National Hockey League Montreal Canadiens, has scored over 20 goals this season despite a slow start. With a good surge, he could wind up with twice that amount of lamplighters.Scoring comes easy to MacGregor, who played his Junior A hockey with the Cornwall Royals of the Quebec League. After scoring 84 goals in 114 games in his first two Junior seasons &mdash; including the winning goal for the 1972 Memorial Cup against Peterborough &mdash; he pumped home 100 more last season in 66 games.He swept most of the honors in the QJHL. leading the league in goals and capturing the most valuable player award. He scored 11 game-winners and rang up eight hat tricks.By comparison, Mikita, a graduate ot the St. Catharines Black Hawks of the Ontario Hockey Association, scored just eight goals in his first pro season and 19 the next.Whether MacGregor can be favorably compared to Mikita is something only time will determine. Mikita is one of the all-time greats.It has been kids like MacGregor. Frankie Rochon and Mark Lomenda who have been sparking the Cougars, still trying to catch the Cleveland Crusaders for occupancy of second place in the East Division.Up to now. the youngsters have been carrying the club. Now. Stapleton figures. it&rsquo;s up to the veterans to. pull their share of the load. If not, it will be a long, long summer.CLEVELAND: All Star goaltender Gerry Cheevers has been appointed an assistant coach by Crusaders&rsquo; coach and general manager Jack Vivian. It is believed this is the first time a goalie has Coached in any capacity while still an active player.Cheevers&rsquo; main contribution will be strategy. &ldquo;We have a fellow who has the best book on players in all of hockey.&rdquo; Vivian explained. Cheevers will help Vivian formulate game plans on the basis of this vast knowledge.&ldquo;I want it to be a big responsibility on my shoulders.&rdquo; said Cheevers. in his third year of a seven-year contract at $200,000 per. He will not be paid extra for his coaching. Cheevers revealed.Cheevers and Vivian believe the first-place New England Whalers can be caught, but the C&rsquo;s will have to improve their performance.NEW ENGLAND: The Whalers&rsquo; seemingly comfortable lead over Cleveland and Chicago had dwindled to the point where it could be a race down tc the wire in the East.Club officials point to an exhausting road schedule&mdash;28 of the first 45 games were played on foreign ice &mdash; and the numerous injuries &mdash; eight players mis sed five or more games in the first half the campaign &mdash; as the major reasons from the Edmonton Oilers, giving up defenseman Murray Kennett and a player to be named later for the thin center.And Buchanan immediately paid dividends. The ex-Cleveland pivot, who went to the Oilers in the deal that sent Jim Harrison to the Crusaders scored the winning goal in a 4-2 victory over Chicago, Cleveland&rsquo;s chief rival. &#9632;

f0026-01

Cougars’ MacGregor “Legitimate” Rookie

ANDERS HEDBERG Winnipeg JetsWhile the Winnipeg Jets remained in the Canadian Division cellar, Anders Hedberg went on a scoring binge to the tune of six goals and a single assist.He registered a hat trick in wild 9-7 win over San Diego, tallied twice in 5-3 win over Phoenix and counted a goal and an assist in 5-4 I&rsquo; overtime loss to Minnesota.The six-goal outburst lifted his season total to 25.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04129/3589106-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="520" height="532"></div>AL McDonough Cleveland CrusadersAfter scoring 24 goals last season. in action divided between Pittsburgh and Atlanta of the NHL, Al McDonough appears headed for the most successful season of his career.McDonough&rsquo;s four markers during the past week raised his total to 21 in his first WHA season.He scored twice in 6-2 win over Phoenix, once in 4-3 setback to Quebec and the first goal, and eventual winner, in 2-0 shutting out of Edmonton.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05104/3589099-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="514" height="643"></div> &#9632;

f0026-04

WHA’s Stars of the week

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div>BALTIMORE&mdash;The World Hockey Association folded up the Michigan Stags, who had moved cross-country from Los Angeles last surfimer, and announces it will operate a new franchise, the Baltimore Blades, the rest of this season.The league had taken over the financially troubled Stags a couple of weeks ago and the Baltimore team is stocked by Stags&rsquo; players. &ldquo;We are hopeful of presenting a local ownership group by the end of the season,&rdquo; said WHA president Dennis Murphy.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01228/3589144-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="277" height="472"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Kurt</figcaption></div>Mayor William Donald Schaefer, whose administration worked for more than a year to bring a WHA franchise to the city, said the move &ldquo;puts Baltimore in the company of other major league cities in North American hockey.&ldquo;The shifting of the new team here has happened somewhat suddenly but we could not afford to pass up the opportunity which had presented itself&hellip; if we did not accept this team, we would have had to wait and hope that some team in the future would want to move or apply for an expansion franchise as Washington. D.C., has done.&rdquo;The team, said Murphy, will be operated by a group known as Baltimore Hockey, Inc.William Boucher, executive-director of the Greater Baltimore Commitee, is the president of the corporation. Boucher represented the city last year inunsuccessful efforts to bring the Chicago Cougars of the WHA to Baltimore.The Blazers replace the Baltimore Clippers of the American Hockey League. Zanvyl Krieger, Clippers&rsquo; president, announced the team had been dissolved and its remaining 30 games had been cancelled.Paving the way for the move of the WHA team to Baltimore, the city agreed to wipe out $80,000 back rent owed by the Clippers for the use of the Civic Center. In return, the Clippers gave up exclusive rights to the municipally owned arena.Kriener noted that since the WHA came into being three years ago, &ldquo;We have been faced with very hard times financially and have taken substantial losses&rdquo;.The Clippers drew crowds averaging under 4,000 fans for home games at the 10,000-plus seat Civic Center.The rental, asked by the city, won&rsquo;t break any team in a hurry. The Blades are to pay $500 for each home date and will receive half of the city&rsquo;s 40 percent of the gross of the concession sales.A group headed by retired businessman William Hirshfeld had made a bid for the team earlier and it was not known if his group was still in the running.Murphy said the WHA had only had one bid for ownership of the team. Baltimore land developer Joseph Schwartz, who owns the San Diego Mariners, was appointed interim trustee representing the Blades for the WHA.In another move Henry (Skip) Feldman left his post as executive vicepresident of the San Diego team to a take similar position with the new Baltimore team.Terry Reardon, who was vicepresident of the Clippers, is a vice-president of the Baltimore WHA team.PHOENIX: Gary Kurt recorded his second shutout of the season and the Roadrunners&rsquo; second, a 6-0 whipping of their sister expansion team, the Indianapolis Racers.Kurt&rsquo;s earlier whitewash job, 3-0. was also over the Racers. In addition, he holds a 2-1 verdict over Indianapolis as the Runners have swept all three games with Racers, thus far.The 6&rsquo;3&rdquo; netminder reduced his goals-against average to 2.93, and has won 18 games.The victory over Indianapolis was the Roadrunners&rsquo; fourth straight and they cut the Houston Aeros&rsquo; lead in the WHA West to six points, remaining five ahead of third place San Diego and six up on Minnesota, but have played four more games than all three.The line of Jim Boyd, Michel Cormier and Don Borgeson has scored 75 points in the 20 games since it was put together. Borgeson has 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points in the hot streak, Cormier has 14 goals and 14 assists, 28 points, and Boyd seven goals and 14 assists, 21 points.Cormier is the club&rsquo;s scoring leader both in goals, with 25. and points with 45. Murray Keogan is second in both, with 23 goals and 41 points.Boyd&rsquo;s goal against Indianapolis came while he was skating off a teammate&rsquo;s penalty. It was the Runners&rsquo; sixth shorthanded goal in four games after scoring just two in their first 43 games.The Roadrunners struck for a WHA record-tying three shorthanded goals in an 8-5 victory over Chicago and came within one second of a fourth. Mike Stevens&rsquo; penalty was over by one second when Cormier hit the net.Cormier also scored four assists against Chicago to equal a league record by left wingers.SAN DIEGO: Defenseman Kevin Morrison assisted on four goals in the San Diego Mariners&rsquo; 6-1 win over the Vancouver Blazers while Norm Ferguson scored two goals and an assist.Wayne Rivers, the Mariners&rsquo; leading goal scorer, fired his 28 th of the season and Ferguson his 20th in a 6-2 victory over the New England Whalers which ran the Mariners&rsquo; victory string to five.Andre Lacroix collected a pair of assists against New England to run his point-scoring streak to nine games, longest current streak.Lacroix is fourth in the WHA in scoring with 20 goals and 43 assists for 63 points.MINNESOTA: The Minnesota Fighting Saints have won 13 of their last 18 games to bring their record to 23-20-0 and although they are fourth in the World Hockey Association West, one point behind third place San Diego and six behind second place Phoenix, they have four games in hand on Phoenix.The five losses in their recent stretch have all been by close scores: 5-3 and 3-2 to Chicago, 3-2 to Edmonton; 2-1 to San Diego and 2-1 to the Vancouver Blazers. In the 13 victories, they have outscored the opposition 61-22.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02161/3589137-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="577" height="955"><figcaption class="caption-body">NORM FERGUSON &hellip; Notches 20th Goal</figcaption></div>HOUSTON: The Houston Aeros continued their mastery of the Winnipeg Jets, scoring their fourth victory over Bobby Hull & Co., in four games this season.Two-thirds of the Howe family, Gordie and Marty, got Houston started toward a 3-1 victory with unanswered second period goals.The Aeros&rsquo; lead in the World Hockey Association West was trimmed to six points by the Phoenix Roadrunners, but Houston holds four games in hand on Phoenix. &#9632;

f0028-01

Staggering Stags Move To Baltimore; Phoenix Gaining On First Place Aeros

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>EDMONTON &mdash;Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; coach Brian Shaw has been saying for the past two years that he feels he has more depth at goaltending than just about any club in the World Hockey Association.Whether he had Jack Norris and Chris Worthy as i he did last year, or Jacques Plante, Worthy and Ken Brown as he has this year, Shaw&rsquo;s goaltending has always been some of the best in the league, as he is quick to point out.Shaw&rsquo;s trio of goalers may have just proved him right all along following the outstanding performance of Brown against the Houston Aeros in the Oilers&rsquo; 7-5 win over the Western Division leaders.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01193/3589182-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="285" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Christian Bordeleau</figcaption></div>Brown was superb in stopping 47 shots behind the ailing Edmonton defense. so much so that he drew raves from the number one man, Plante.&ldquo;Nobody could play better than that,&rdquo; said Plante after Brown had stopped 35 of 36 shots in the first two periods.Plante credits Brown&rsquo;s improvement and ability to hard work, as he has learned a great deal from being around the 46-year-old grandfather.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s always asking, always trying to learn,&rdquo; said PI ante.&rdquo; He&rsquo;s got a great attitude and I don&rsquo;t know why. but he always plays well against Houston. &ldquo;Brown, who hasn&rsquo;t had a goals against average under 3.00 since he played for the Estevan Bruins back in 1965-66 in the Saskatchewan junior league. is approaching that mark with the Oilers.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fortunate to have the three people we do,&rdquo; says Shaw about his goaltenders. &ldquo;&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t mind not playing as much as they would ordinarily because they consider Jacques the old master and they&rsquo;re content to learn from him.&rdquo;Brown&rsquo;s efforts have the Oilers in third place, four points behind the Toros with five games in hand over Toronto.Blair MacDonald had a great week for the Oilers, scoring three goals in a win over the Winnipeg Jets and two more against the Oilers. MacDonald couldn&rsquo;t continue his great spurt however as the Toros walked into Edmonton and protected their lead with a 7-5 win over Plante and the Oilers.Barry Long had a goal and four assists on the Edmonton defense in the Toro game and he became the fourth Oiler in the week to have five points in a game. Mike Rogers and Rusty Patenaude were the others.VANCOUVER: Bryan Campbell has maintained all year that the Blazers were going to get moving, and they did move into a solid fourth place behind Edmonton with their fourth win in five games, a 5-3 road win in Chicago over the Cougars.Campbell, who centers a line with Danny Lawson on the right wing and rookie Larry Israelson on the left, had two goals and two assists, the last goal being his 20th of the year.Earlier, it was Johnny McKenzie who played the starring role for Vancouver, as he scored the first goal in the win over the Cougars and set up the winning goal in overtime in the 4-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.Blazers, who have lost only once in their last 14 home games, have been getting clutch goaltending from Don McLeod as well as some good work by the forwards, and it has the club playing it&rsquo;s best hockey of the year. But most of coach and general manager Joe Crozier&rsquo;s confidence lies with his younger players like Ron Chipperfield. Pat Price. Jimmy Jones. Rick Jodzio and Israelson.&ldquo;I know we&rsquo;re going to get better because our kids are bound to get better.&rdquo; said Crozier. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s these guys who are going to do it for us.&rdquo;Meanwhile. Blazers sent Peter Donnelly down to Tulsa to play himself into shape in the Central League after the goalie recovered from tom tendons in his ankle. Blazers are looking for some relief for McLeod down the home stretch.WINNIPEG: The news was all bad out of Winnipeg as the Jets plunged into the cellar, losing their fourth straight &mdash; a 3-1 loss to the Aeros.Bobby Hull, as playing coach, is finding himself so busy that he can&rsquo;t either play as effectively or coach as effectively as when he had help behind the bench.Jets, now six points behind the fourth place Vancouver Blazers with only one game in hand, are fast sinking out of the playoff picture in the division, as both San Diego and Minnesota in the West are accumulating high point totals for wild card spots.Hull, with his two goals against Edmonton in the loss to the Oilers, brought his goal total to 41 in 41 games, but Serge Bernier is within two points in the scoring race.And to top everything else off, defenseman Duke Asmundson broke his leg in the game against Edmonton and will probably be out for the rest of the season. Only the fine play of goaltenders Curt Larsson and Joe Daley supplies any consolation to Winnipeg fans.QUEBEC: Les Nordiques finally had their winning streak broken at nine games, but they picked things up again in a 6-4 win over Chicago to extend their first place lead to eight points over the Toros.Christian Bordeleau, who has found new life since moving from the Jets to Quebec in a deal that involved Alain Beaule, scored after only five seconds and the Nordiques gave notice that they intend to stay ahead in the division.Marc Tardif had his 27th and 28th goals of the year in the win, Serge Bernier scored his 35th to move within two points of league scoring leader Bobby Hull and Rejean Houle counted his 20th of the campaign.TORONTO: Toros seem to like the score 7-5 as they had two of their games end that way in the week which saw them score and be scored upon while on the road. The 7-5 loss to Minnesota was matched by a similar win over Edmonton and the only people not getting headaches on the Toros are the prolific goal scorers up front.Frank Mahovlich. Pat Hickey, Tom Simpson, Wayne Dillon and rookie Jeff Jacques are all pouring in the goals as the Toros have now scored 193 times, second only to the 201 of Houston.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02157/3589175-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="573" height="661"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEN BROWN &hellip;Trying To Learn</figcaption></div>The biggest problem with the Toros is that they have given up 171, 25 more than anyone else in the Canadian Division and fewer than only Indianapolis and the Baltimore Blades. &#9632;

f0029-01

Brown Superb Behind Ailing Oilers; Blazers Move Into Solid Fourth Spot

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div>DETROIT&mdash;Why. in a town that still gives amazingly good support to a team that hasn&rsquo;t made the National Hockey League playoffs in seven of the last eight years and is destined to miss again this year, did the World Hockey Association fail in Detroit?Simple. The team was underfinanced and oversalaried, so much so that there wasn&rsquo;t any money left for promotion.Detroiters Chuck Nolton and Pete Shagena. the principal partners in the Michigan Stags operation, brought the Los Angeles Sharks to Detroit with the thought that Detroiters, like Red Wing season ticket-holders Nolton and Shagena. were fed up with the mild, and losing, play of the Wings.They thought the disenchanted fans would head down to the city-owned Cobo Arena on the Detroit River riverfront.But they didn&rsquo;t. Attendance averaged just under 3.000 per game and most nights, those weren&rsquo;t fully paid or. in some cases, paid at all.It was unfortunate because, by and large, the Stags played more entertainingly than the Red Wings and they certainly played far more aggressively.The Stags didn&rsquo;t promote, however.During the summer they were dormant, ostensibly because of all the other sports activity and the owners said at one point that the WHA advised them most season tickets were sold in September.They ignored the advice of the public relations firm they hired (which later had to go to court to get paid) and which told them to hire a full-time promotions man and a full-time public relations man and get busy on group sales and the like.They never did hire a promotion man and didn&rsquo;t hire a PR man until one week before training camp started.Ultimately the reason came out &mdash; they spent so much on salaries&hellip; the payroll for 31 players under contract was believed to be $1.5 million&hellip; that there wasn&rsquo;t enough money to sell the product.The sinking Detroit economy, pinned to the automobile, hurt a great deal and publicity-wise, the fold-up of the Detroit Wheels of the World Football League hurt.The WHA scheduling hurt, too&hellip; and the WHA schedule makes the old National Basketball Association horror stories look like posh Cook&rsquo;s Tours.The Stags played their first five games on the road (would have been six but Edmonton&rsquo;s rink wasn&rsquo;t ready) and came home 1-4.Gordie Howe and the Houston Aeros. the obvious &ldquo;natural&rdquo; for Detroit, weren&rsquo;t booked in for a regular season game until, get this, Feb. 2.Bobby Hull and the Winnipeg Jets didn&rsquo;t play their first Detroit game until December.The great irony in the Stags moving to Baltimore is that the Blades&rsquo; first home game will be Feb. 2&hellip; against Gordie Howe and Houston.Meanwhile, many unpaid bills remain in Detroit where the Stags&rsquo; attorney, Fred Keywell, fired a hard one into the WHA court after the WHA took over the team on Jan. 6 when the Stags missed two payrolls.He fired off a wire saying, O.K., you wanted it, you&rsquo;ve got it&hellip; lock, stock and all liabilities, past, present and future.That hung up the sale to anyone else, especially with an Internal Revenue Service lien (now up to $191,000) for failure to deposit the tax it withheld from the October. November. December payroll.An IRS spokesman said the lien is against Metro Sports Associates and its two principals, Nolton and Shagena. however.Nevertheless, it was a very sticky situation all around with no sign of relief in sight when the league yanked the team out of town.The Red Wings may not offer much but they are solvent, thanks to the Norris family&rsquo;s fortune, and they&rsquo;re old and established, playing in the old. established league and to many Detroiters, the WHA didn&rsquo;t quite appeal to them. &#9632;

Oversalaried, Unerfinanced Major Factors In Demise Of Stags

<h2>CLEVELAND</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gerry CheeversBob Whidden<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Ray ClearwaterTom EdurLarry HillmanWayne MuloinWayne Hillman<h3>CENTER</h3>Jim HarrisonRich LeducRon WardJohn Stewart*Robbie Neale*<h3>R. WING</h3>Terry Holbrook *Skip KrakeAl McDonoughRuss Walker<h3>L. WING</h3>Steve CardwellGrant EricksonGarry JarrettGerry Pinder<h3>INJURED</h3>Paul Shmyr<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Dave DrydenCam Newton<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Bryon BaltimoreDarryl MaggsLarry MavetyPat StapletonDune MacCallum<h3>CENTER</h3>Rap KBackstromPete Mara*Gary MacGregor*Rod ZaineLou Angotti<h3>R. WING</h3>Mark Lomenda *Duke HarrisRosaire PaiementDon Gordon<h3>L. WING</h3>Bob LiddingtonRick MorrisJan Pogjgl<h3>INJURED</h3>Frankie Rochon<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Ken BrownChris WorthyJacques Plante<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Doug BarrieRay McKayMurray Kennett *Barry LongJim McCrimmonSteve Carlyle<h3>CENTER</h3>Eddie JoyalRoss PerkinsMike RogersBobby Sheehan<h3>R. WING</h3>Blair MacDonaldBruce MacGregorRusty PatenaudeBilly Laing*<h3>L. WING</h3>Ron ClimieTom GilmoreDon HerrimanKen Baird<h3>INJURED</h3>Al Hamilton<h2>HOUSTON</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Wayne RutledgeRon Grahame<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Larry HaleMarty HoweGlen Irwin*Poul PopielJohn Schella<h3>CENTER</h3>Gord LabossiereLarry LundTerry Ruskowski *Jim Sherrit<h3>R. WING</h3>Murray HallGordie HoweFrank HughesDon LarwayBill Prentice<h3>L. WING</h3>Andre HinseMark HoweTed TaylorRich Preston*<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>INDIANAPOLIS</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Andy BrownEd Dyck<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Dick ProceviatRoger CoteBob WoytowichKen BlockKen DesjardineBob AshBilly Horton<h3>CENTER</h3>Bob FitchnerBob SicinskiBob Whitlock.Jacques LocasJohn Sheridan*Ron Buchanan<h3>R. WING</h3>Rich PumpleNick HarbarukBrian McDonald<h3>L. WING</h3>Jim WisteKerry BondJoe HardvJim JohnsonMurray Heatley<h3>INJURED</h3>None.<h2>BALTIMORE</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gerry DesjardinsPaul HogansonJim McLeod<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Paul CurtisLarry JohnstonJohn MiszukArnie BrownRandy Legge*Jerry Zrymiak<h3>CENTER</h3>J.P. LeblancSteve WestReg ThomasFred Speck<h3>R. WING</h3>Tom ServissGary Bredin*Steve AndrascikAlain Caron<h3>L. WING</h3>Steve Richardson*Gary VeneruzzoCraig ReichmuthBilly Evo *<h3>INJURED</h3>Pierre GuiteDanny Gruen*<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Mike CurranJohn GarrettJack McCartan<h3>DEFENSE</h3>John ArbourTerry BallRon BusniukPat Westrum *Rick SmithMike McMahon<h3>CENTER</h3>Ted HampsonDanny O&rsquo;SheaFran HuckMike AntonovichGary Gambucci<h3>R. WING</h3>Mike WaltonWayne ConnellyKevin O&rsquo;SheaJoe Robertson<h3>L. WING</h3>George MorrisonDon TannahillGord Gallant<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>NEW ENGLAND</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Al SmithBill Berglund*NEW ENGLAN<h3>DEFENSE</h3>T. AbrahamssonPaul HurleyBrad SeiwoodTed GreenAlan Hangsleben*Rick Ley<h3>CENTER</h3>Larry PleauGary SwainBob CharleboisTerry Caffery<h3>R. WING</h3>Mike ByersFred O&rsquo;DonnellTim SheehyTom EarlTom Webster<h3>L. WING</h3>Wayne CarletonDon BlackburnJohn FrenchNick Fotiu<h3>INJURED</h3>Al KarlanderC. Abrahamsson<h2>PHOENIX</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Garry KurtJack Norris<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Al MacLeodWendell BennettGerry OdrowskiMike StevensJim NiekamJohn HughesGary Lariviere*<h3>CENTER</h3>Jim BoydMurray KeoganDennis SobchukRobbie Ftorek*<h3>R. WING</h3>Cam ConnorJohn Gray *Bob Mowat<h3>L. WING</h3>Michel CormierDon BorgesonJohn MigneaultPete McNameeBob Barlow<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Serge AubryRichard Brodeur<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Dale HogansonRic JordanPierre RoyJ.C. TremblayFrancois LacombeJean Bernier *<h3>CENTER</h3>Serge BernierAndre GaudetteJeannot GilbertMichel ParizeauChris Bordeleau<h3>R. WING</h3>Rene LeclercReal CloutierRejean HouleJean Garneau *<h3>L. WING</h3>Bobby GuindonMarc TardifSteve Sutherland<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>SAN DIEGO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Ernie WakelySAN DIEGO<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Ron PlumbJim HargreavesHarry HowellBob FalkenbergKevin Morrison<h3>CENTER</h3>Andre LacroixRay AdduonoBrian MorenzMike LaughtonMike Rouleau<h3>R. WING</h3>Rick SentesWayne RiversTed ScharfNorm Ferguson<h3>L. WING</h3>Brian BradleyGene PeacoshTom Trevelyan *<h3>INJURED</h3>Bob Wall<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gilles GrattonLes BinkleyJim Shaw -<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Mike AmodeoRick CunninghamSteve CuddieJim Turkiewicz.George KuzmiczBrian GibbonsJim Dorey<h3>CENTER</h3>Richard FardaGavin KirkVaclav NedomanskyWayne Dillon<h3>R. WING</h3>Tony FeatherstoneTom MartinTom Simpson<h3>L. WING</h3>Paul HendersonFrank MahovlichPat HickeyGordie Titcomb*<h3>INJURED</h3>Brit SelbyBob Leduc<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Don McLeodWayne Wood*<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Jim CardiffMike PelykPat PriceDuane RuppPaul Terbenche<h3>CENTER</h3>Bryan CampbellRon ChipperfieldClaude St. SauveurRob Walton<h3>R. WING</h3>Danny LawsonJohn McKenzieJimmy Jones *Murray Myers*Rick Jodzio*<h3>L. WING</h3>Larry Israelson*Butch DeadmarshJohn ShmyrHugh Harris<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Joe DaleyCurt Larsson *<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Larry HornungHeikki Riihiranta *Lars-Erik SjobergThommie BergmaiPerry MillerAlain Beaule<h3>CENTER</h3>Danny SpringVeli KetolaUlf NilssonRandy Andreachuk*<h3>R. WING</h3>Norm BeaudinMilt BlackJean-Guy GrattonRon SnellAnders HedbergHowie Young<h3>L. WING</h3>Mike FordDanny JohnsonBobby Hull<h3>INJURED</h3>Duke Asmundso &#9632;

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01224/3589289-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="622" height="571"></div><h2>Sun. Feb. 2</h2>QUEBEC 4, CLEVELAND 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02170/3589282-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="628" height="514"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03126/3589275-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="592" height="73"></div>HOUSTON 5, BALTIMORE 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0497/3589268-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="619" height="589"></div>TORONTO 2, VANCOUVER 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0569/3589261-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="619" height="559"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

WHA Summaries

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaROCHESTER&mdash;Some Rochester Americans hockey fans had trouble digesting this order of events Jan. 19 and 20.Veteran center Billy Knibbs was admitted to a Rochester hospital on the 19th after it was determined he&rsquo;d need an operation on his in facted right elbow, which had-failed to respond to treatments.At best, he would miss a month of the American Hockey League season. As it turned out, doctors discovered the infection had gone into the bone, making it much more serious, and meaning his target date to return to the lineup was pushed back until late March.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01204/3589327-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="289" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Billy Knibbs</figcaption></div>On the morning of the 20th. rookie winger Peter Sturgeon cut between two Amerk defenseman during a workout and his right knee popped. Diagnosis was torn ligaments and he probably is gone for the rest of the season.With Craig Samer and Rod Graham already up with the injury-hit Boston Bruins, Sturgeon&rsquo;s injury left the Amerks with only nine forwards and five defensemen as well as two goaltenders.That&rsquo;s why the move made the afternoon of the 20th raised a few eyebrows.The Amerks sold Art Stratton, the AHL&rsquo;s most valuable player last season. to Philadelphia for assignment to Richmond. The price was a mere $2,500.Stratton had been fired as Syracuse coach a week earlier, and it seemed likely we would return to Rochester, which owned his playing rights, especially with the sidelining of Knibbs.Why would the Amerks sell Stratton, who had a team record 71 assists for them last season, when they&rsquo;re in the thick of the Northern Division fight and short players?&ldquo;I gave Art his choice and he chose Richmond.&rdquo; said Amerk coach Dick Mattiussi, who than went on to explain why Stratton should have a choice.&ldquo;We had agreed on a price and everything with Larry Wilson in Richmond a week ago and he was waiting for the okay from his two major league teams &mdash; Philadelphia and Washington. Wilson called me the morning of the 20th. before Sturgeon got hurt, and said the deal was set.&ldquo;I got hold of Art and 1 gave it to him straight. 1 told him Richmond confirmed it wanted him and I told him our situation had changed because of injuries. I had told him the week before that there was no room on our club.&ldquo;We never talked about money or anything. I asked him to make his decision where he wanted to play, and he told me it probably would be better if he went there. There&rsquo;s no way I want to force somebody to play here who doesn&rsquo;t want to. That wouldn&rsquo;t help anybody,&rdquo; Mattiussi said.Stratton said there really wasn&rsquo;t any decision to make.&ldquo;When I was out of work and after I found out Rochester had a full squad. I talked to Larry Wilson and gave him my word that if a deal could be arranged. I&rsquo;d go to Richmond. There&rsquo;s no way I could go back on my word to Larry.&ldquo;The timing of all this was unfortunate for Rochester.&rdquo; Stratton said. &ldquo;I hope the fans understand and don&rsquo;t get on the club. The Amerks have been just super to me. If the fans want to blame somebody, they better blame me for getting fired in Syracuse.&rdquo;Stratton was right about the timing being bad. Had the Robins been able to complete the deal when it was first discussed. Stratton already would have been playing for them when the seriousness of Knibbs&rsquo; elbow injury became known and Sturgeon&rsquo;s knee was banged up.PROVIDENCE: With 30 goals safely tucked away before the end of January, Jerry Holland is virtually assured of wiping out at least one American Hockey League record this seasori.The 20-year-old rookie left wing of the Providence Reds is scoring goals at a rate that would give him 50 for the season. The AHL record for goals by a rookie is 42. It was set by Wally Hergesheimer of Cleveland in 1950-51 and matched by Doug Volmar of Springfield in 1970-71.Also within easy range for the sharp shooting Holland is the record for most game-winning goals in a season. Ten of his first 30 goals were game-deciding scores. The record is 13 set by Dune Fisher of Hershey in 1953-54.Syracuse has been his favorite opponent. Of his first 30 goals, six came in four games against Syracuse. He also had six against Nova Scotia, but in seven games. Against other foss. he had five goals in four games against Virginia. four goals in five games against Springfield, three in six games against New Haven, two in five games against Hershey and six games against Richmond and one in four games against Baltimore and five games against Rochester.Holland&rsquo;s ability to score goals showed early.For Kamloops. B.C. (a Tier Two Junior team), he scored 33 goals as a 16-year-old, then had 41 goals in half a season (32 games) for the same team the following season before moving up to Tier One with Calgary of the Western Canada Junior League.&ldquo;Scotty Munro, who runs the Calgary team, came out to see me play a couple of times before. 1 knew he was coming and I always seemed to bungle it up.&rdquo; Holland says. &ldquo;But he showed up one night when I didn&rsquo;t know he was there and I scored four goals. He told me I was going to Calgary and he stayed for two more games. I scored three goals the next game and one in the next one for eight in three games.&rdquo;Holland had 17 goals in 33 games for Calgary in the second half, then had seasons of 51 and 55 goals. He was picked by the New York Rangers on the third round in June&rsquo;s amateur draft.The 30 AHL goals aren&rsquo;t the only ones he has scored this season. He scored once for the Rangers in his National Hockey League debut Dec. 19 when he went up for one game, and he tallied twice against the Soviet Wings&rsquo; in an exhibition game.What&rsquo;s the secret of his scoring touch?If a lot of would-be goal scorers figure his secret will be the key for their success, they may be disappointed by his hint.&ldquo;A lot of it is luck&rdquo;, he says. &ldquo;You can be a great shooter and you can be a great skater, but if you&rsquo;re not lucky, the goals won&rsquo;t go in.&rdquo;NOVA SCOTIA: Okay, how-can you explain the week the Nova Scotia Voyageurs had?It started with a home game against Rochester and a chance to pull away to a four-point lead in the struggle for second place. So the Amerks skated off with a 5-2 victory.Two nights later, the Vees were in Providence against the league-leading Reds. Don Howse scored three goals in the first 13 minutes &mdash; one shorthanded, one on a power play and one at even strength &mdash; as the Voyageurs ran away with a 6-2 triumph.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03136/3589320-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="573" height="613"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON HOWSE &hellip;Unusual Hat Trick</figcaption></div>Nova Scotia was in Springfield the following night and although outshot 37-25. goalie Ed Walsh held his mates in and they won a 4-2 game.Back home in Halifax the night after that, the Vess lost to Springfield. 4-2.The Voyageurs smashed the AHL single-season record for major penalties in the Providence game. Chuck Lucksa battled Billy MacMillan at 13:21 of the first period and was handed the Vees&rsquo; 60th major of the season. The former record of 59 was set last year by Virginia.Ron Andruff continued.to score well for the Vees and had both goals &mdash; his 25th and 26th &mdash; in the home-ice loss to Springfield. &#9632;

f0031-01

Amerks’ Sale Of Veteran Stratton Raises Evebrows

<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02162/3589358-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="629" height="785"></div> &#9632;

f0031-02

AHL Leaders

SPRINGFIELD&mdash;The Kings came up with one of their strongest performances of the season to whip Rochester, 6-1. Highlight was a stretch of six minutes and 33 seconds during the second period&rsquo; when the Amerks had a manpower advantage because of Springfield penalties. They had a two-man edge for 2:27.But with defenseman Tim Jacobs and Jim Witherspoon and forward Jimmy Peters leading the way. the Kings not only escaped without a goal being scored. they stopped Rochester with a single shot on goal for the entire time.And Springfield got a bonus when Dale Lewis scooped up a bouncing puck at center ice and rushed in alone for a shorthanded goal. Jacobs and Witherspoon especially did a fine job since Springfield had only four defenseman and the other two were in the penalty box.Coach Ron Stewart got more good news after the game when he learned defenseman Ken Murray would be joining his club on loan from Kansas City. Murray was loaned to Baltimore, but the Clippers folded the previous day.The news wasn&rsquo;t so good the next day, however. With only their third 3.000-plus crowd of the season on hand. the Kings lost to Nova Scotia. 4-2. Oddly, Springfield has lost all three before its largest home turnouts &mdash; dropping a 3-2 decision to Nova Scotia before 3.166 Nov. 27 and losing a 4-3 overtime game to PrOvidendb in front of 3.580 Dec. 28. The crowd forthe Jan. 25game was 3,105.NEW HAVEN: Goalie Fern Rivard, injured while with Minnesota early in the season, and Alain Langlais were sent down by the North Stars.Langlais didn&rsquo;t waste any time getting back into the thick of scoring points for the Nighthawks. He assisted on the fisrt goal and scored the second one as New Haven rolled to a 7-2 victory in Baltimore, the Clippers&rsquo; final game in the AHL.Langlais was a hero the following night in Richmond. Trailing3-0afterthe first 24 minutes, coach Dean Prentice&rsquo;s team bounced back to earn a 3-3 overtime tie. Langlais tied the score with only 28 seconds to play. Rivard was in goal for the first time and blanked the Robins for the final 36 minutes of regulation and the five-minute overtime.Despite outshooting Virginia 44-35. New Haven dropped a 4-2 game in Norfolk, then was scheduled to return home to play Baltimore, with the Clippers no more. Virginia played in New Haven instead, but after scoring the first goal of the game, they gave up six straight goals on the way to a 7-4 defeat. &#9632;

Penalty-Killing Highlights Kings’ Strongest Performance

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 5)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01203/3589441-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="628" height="448"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 28Rochester 3 at Syracuse 2Wed. Jan. 29Rochester 5 at Hershey 7: Providence 4 at New Haven 1; Richmond 8 at Virginia 4Fri. Jan. 31Providence 3 at Nova Scotia 3; Richmond 5 at Rochester 9: New Haven 3 at Springfield 2: Virginia 4 at Syracuse 4Sat. Feb. 2Richmond 3 at Hershey 5; Rochester 5 at New Haven 6; Virginia 1 at Springfield 2.Sun. Feb. 2Virginia 4 at New Haven 4; Providence 2 at Nova Scotia 3: Springfield 5 at Rochester 2; Richmond 5 at Syracuse 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Feb. 5New Haven at Richmond; Springfield at Providence.Thu. Feb. 6Hershey at Nova Scotia.Fri. Feb. 7Nova Scotia at Providence; New Haven at Rochester; Hershey at SpringfieldSat. Feb. 8Virginia at Hershey. Providence at Springfield; New Haven at Syracuse.Sun. Feb. 9Syracuse at Nova Scotia; New Haven at Providence; Virginia at Richmond. Springfield at Rochester<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 4)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02148/3589434-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="625" height="349"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Jan. 27Dallas 5 at Salt Lake 5Tue. Jan. 28Forth Worth 3 at Oklahoma City 6.Wed. Jan. 29Fort Worth 2 at Denver 4.Fri. Jan. 31Seattle 2 at Dallas 5. Oklahoma City 1 at Denver 3; Tulsa 1 at Omaha 2; Fort Worth 2 at Salt Lake 5Sat. Feb. 1Fort Worth 2 at Dallas 1; Tulsa 4 at Oklahoma City 1. Seattle 6 at Denver 7; Salt Lake 3 at Omaha 1Sun. Feb. 2Salt Lake 3 at Oklahoma City 3.<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Feb. 4Salt Lake at Denver. Fort Worth at Seattle.Wed. Feb. 5Oklahoma City at Dallas; Tulsa at Denver.Thu. Feb. 6Omaha at Salt Lake; Fort Worth at Seattle.Fri. Feb. 7Dallas at Fort Worth; Denver at Oklahoma City; Salt Lake at Tulsa.Sat. Feb. 8Tulsa at Fort Worth; Dallas at Oklahoma City: Seattle at Denver; Salt Lake at Omaha.Sun. Feb. 9Omaha at Dallas: Seattle at Tulsa.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 5)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0395/3589427-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="625" height="466"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Jan. 29Kalamazoo 4 at Fort Wayne 4. Port Huron 3 at Columbus 7. Muskegon 0 at Saginaw 3FRi. Jan. 31Fort Wayne 2 at Des Moines 5: Dayton 4 at Muskegon 6: Flint 3 at Kalamazoo 5.Sat. Feb. 1Fort Wayne 1 at Des Moines 5. Port Huron 5 at Muskegon 8: Flint 4 at Dayton 2; Toledo 5 at Columbus 4: Kalamazoo 2 at Saginaw 5Sun. Feb. 2Muskegon 4 at Flint 2 Port Huron 1 at Kalamazoo 2. Dayton 2atColumbus 5: Saginaw 4at Toledo 7.<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Feb. 5Columbus at Fort Wayne: Flint at Toledo. Muskegon at Dayton. Kalamazoo at SaginawFri. Feb. 7Fort Wayne at Toledo: Muskegon at Des Moines; Dayton at Flint. Columbus at Port Huron; Kalamazoo at SaginawSat. Feb. 8Saginaw at Fort Wayne; Flint at Port Huron. Muskegon at Des Moines; Kalamazoo at DaytonSun. Feb. 9Port Huron at Fort Wayne: Dayton at Toledo. Des Moines at Kalamazoo; Columbus at Saginaw<h2>NORTH AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 4)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0462/3589420-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="619" height="274"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 28Johnstown 5 at Maine 4.Wed. Jan. 29Johnstown 4 at Cape Codders 3: Maine 1 at Broome 5. Philadelphia 1 at Syracuse 3Thus. Jan. 30Philadelphia 4 at Mohawk Valley 8Fri. Jan. 31Long Island 4 at Cape Codders 5; Philadelphia 0 at Broome 3.Sat. Feb.Cape Codders 1 at Mohawks Valley 4; Long Island 3 at Syracuse 4; Broome 4 at Johnstown 8.Sun. Feb. 2Mohawk Valley 6 at Cape Codders 3: Johnstown 3 at Broome 6: Maine 7 at Long Island 6.<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Feb. 4Mohawk Valley at Maine: Cape Codders at Broome.Wed. Feb. 5Johnstown at Syracuse.Thu. Feb. 6Philadelphia at Mohawk Valley.Fri. Feb. 7Cape Codders at Syracuse; Johnstown at Long Island: Broome at Philadelphia.Sat. Feb. 8Syracuse at Cape Codders; Broome at Mohawk Valley. Johnstown at Maine; Long Island at Philadelphia.Sun. Feb. 9Johnstown at Cape Codders. Broome at Long Island; Mohawk Valley at Syracuse.Tue. Feb. 11Philadelphia at Maine.Wed. Feb. 12Syracuse at Mohawk Valley; Maine at Broome. Philadelphia at Cape Codders.Fri. Feb. 14Long Island at Syracuse; Johnstown at Philadelphia.Sat. Feb. 15Mohawk Valley at Johnstown: Broome at Maine: Long Island at hiladelphia.Sun. Feb. 16Maine at Cape Codders. Syracuse at Broome; Philadelphia at Long Island.<h2>SOUTHERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 4)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0538/3589413-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="631" height="175"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 28Greensboro 5 at Charlotte 4.Wed. Jan. 29Roanoke 2 at Hampton 6.Thu. Jan. 30Hampton 8 at Roanoke 0; Greensboro 4 at Winston-Salem 5.Fri. Jan. 31Hampton 1 at Charlotte 2: Winston-Salem 2 at Greensboro 7.Sat. Feb. 1Winston-Salem 1 at Roanoke 3.Sun. Feb. 2Charlotte 5 at Greensboro 6: Winston-Salem 1 at Hampton 2.<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Feb. 4Winston-Salem at Charlotte; Greensboro at HamptonWed. Feb. 5Charlotte at HamptonThu. Feb. 6Greensboro at Winston-Salem.Fri. Feb. 7Greensboro at Roanoke; Charlotte at HamptonSat. Feb. 8Winston-Salem at RoanokeSun. Feb. 9Roanoke at Winston-Salem: Greensboro at HamptonMon. Feb. 10Greensboro at HamptonTue. Feb. 11Roanoke at CharlotteWed. Feb. 12Winston-Salem at Hampton. &#9632;

f0032-01

LOOKING AT THE MINOR LEAGUE SCOREBOARD

NHL: 1&mdash;Montreal 2&mdash;Detroit. 3&mdash;Boston. 4&mdash;N.Y Rangers 5&mdash;Chicago. 6&mdash;Toronto 7&mdash;Los Angeles. 8&mdash;Pittsburgh 9&mdash;California 10&mdash;Philadelphia. 11&mdash;Minnesota. 12&mdash;St. Louis 13&mdash;Vancouver. 14&mdash;Buffalo 15&mdash;N.Y. Islanders 16&mdash;Atlanta 17&mdash;Kansas City. 18&mdash;Washington.WHA 19&mdash;Cleveland 20&mdash;San Diego 21&mdash;Vancouver. 22&mdash;Michigan 23&mdash;Toronto 24&mdash;Quebec. 25&mdash;Edmonton. 26&mdash;Houston. 27&mdash;Chicago. 28&mdash;Winnipeg. 29&mdash;Minnesota. 30&mdash;New England 31&mdash;Indianapolis. 32&mdash;Phoenix 33&mdash;Cincinnati Inter-League. 34&mdash;Phoenix (WHA) & Vancouver (WHA). 35&mdash;Philadelphia (NHL) & Washington (NHL). 36&mdash;Los Angeles (NHL) & California (NHL). 37&mdash;Minnesota (NHL) & N.Y Islanders (NHL). 38&mdash;Kansas City (NHL) & N.Y. Islanders (NHL). 39&mdash;St. Louis (NHL). Montreal (NHL) & N.Y. Rangers (NHL). 40&mdash;Pittsburgh (NHL) & Buffalo (NHL). 41&mdash;Boston (NHL) & Washington (NHL). 42&mdash;New England (WHA) & Cleveland (WHA). 43&mdash;Buffalo (NHL), California (NHL) & Vancouver (WHA)44&mdash;Winnipeg. (WHA). Houston (WHA). Clevelana (WHA) Indianapolis (WHA). Phoenix (WHA). 45&mdash;Michigan (WHA). N.Y. Islanders (NHL) & Quebec (WHA). 46&mdash;Edmonton (WHA) & N.Y. Rangers NHL). 47&mdash;Boston (NHL) &mdash; Washington (NHL). 48&mdash;N.Y Rangers (NHL) &mdash; Kansas City (NHL).49&mdash;Chicago (NHL) &mdash; Edmonton (WHA)50&mdash;Vancouver (NHL), Philadelphia (NHL) &mdash; Atlanta (NHL) 51&mdash;Indianapolis (WHA) &mdash; St. Louis (NHL). 52&mdash;Michigan (WHA) &mdash; San Diego (WHA). 53&mdash;New England (WHA) &mdash; Cleveland (WHA). 54&mdash;Indianapolis (WHA) &mdash; Toronto (WHA). 55&mdash;Buffalo (NHL). California (NHL) &mdash; Vancouver (WHA). 56&mdash;Winnipeg (WHA). Houston (WHA). Cleveland (WHA), Indianapolis (WHA) &mdash; Phoenix (WHA). 57&mdash;Michigan (WHA). Quebec (WHA) &mdash; N.Y. Islanders (NHL). 58&mdash;Edmonton (WHA) & N.Y Rangers (NHL). 59&mdash;Minnesota (WHA) & Pittsburgh (NHL) 60&mdash;San Diego (WHA). Michigan (WHA) & Philadelphia (NHL). *&mdash;Independent. &#9632;

Minor League Affiliations

<div class="byline">BY JERRY LINDQUIST</div>BALTIMORE&mdash;So much for the Baltimore Clippers, shipwrecked in a sea of red ink. Gone but not forgotten, at least not by the American Hockey League&rsquo;s Board of Governors which, for reasons known only to othem, refused to acknowledge the team&rsquo;s demise.The governors know the Clippers are no more, and they immediately &ldquo;adopted a revised schedule for the balance of the season. Still, no action was taken on the players owned outright by Baltimore. In place of positive steps to disperse the talent, pay it off or whatever you do in such times of crisis, the governors dodged certain responsibilties, putting them off at a specially convened session in Springfield. Mass., until a later date. That, explained Gordon An-ziano. league vice-president, secretary and in this case official spokesman, would be &ldquo;sometime in February.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01183/3589496-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="269" height="437"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lyle Carter</figcaption></div>The beginning of the end for the Clippers came by way of management&rsquo;s decision to give up exlusive right to the Civic Center in exchange for certain conseslions from the city, among them a rent-free operation for the balance of the season as well as ignoring $21.(MX) due in back rent.Within days rumors swept the Land of Pleasant Living. The financially troubled Michigan Stags of the World Hockey Association would be transferred to Baltimore, replacing the Clippers who would be disbanded.On Thursday. Jan. 23. the rumors came true. Zanvyl Krieger. Clippers&rsquo; principal owner, told his office staff, players and coach the Clippers, then armed with a 14-22-10 record and standing third in the Southern Division, would cease to exist, effective immediately.The reasons were clear. Lack of attendance for one, increasing expenses for another. They had received a reported $650,000 in territorial indemnification payment from the National Hockey League&rsquo;s new Washington Capitals, and they didn&rsquo;t want to blow that, too.That afternoon the Stags announced their intentions. Henceforth they would be known as the Baltimore Blades, and the city of Baltimore had promises every possible means of support. For example, rental fee per game ($500); 20 percent of the gross revenue from concessions; as well as assistance from a civic committee scheduled to launch a ticket-selling drive.In their 13 years, the Clippers never had it so good but then the city fathers considered this a step from minorleague to major-league hockey. So what if the Stags left behind them debts said to be upwards of $250,000. So what if a man close to the scene said. &ldquo;Baltimore will be lucky if it doesn&rsquo;t lose half a million dollars the rest of the year.&rdquo;He estimated a per-game gross of $60,000 would be necessary to break even. Attendance must average 8.0(X. The Clippers attracted roughly a fourth of that this year.Meanwhile, back in the AHL. The question persisted &mdash; what about the players who went down with the franchise?Nine belonged to the Kansas City Scouts who went about dispersing them. Roger Lemelin and Gary Coalter were recalled by the parent club. Doug Horbul and Bryan Lefley went to Providence, Ken Murray to Springfield. Morris Stefaniw was said to be Syracuse-bound. Reg Bechtold and Kerry Ketter were dispatched to the Central League. Hugh Harvey&rsquo;s status remained undetermined.Pittsburgh-owned Larry Bignell was placed in Hershey. There was no immediate word as to the futures of goaltenders Lynn Zimmerman and Ron Marlow, owned by Rochester and the New York Islanders, respectively.RICHMOND: Washington Capitals switched Joe Lundrigan from Richmond to Hershey in conjunction with deal that sent Pete Laframboise to Pittsburgh for Ron Jones&hellip;In addition, Caps sent Gordie Smith, last year&rsquo;s AHL most outstanding defenseman with Springfield, to Robins&hellip;Shot by Hershey&rsquo;s Michel Deziel caught goaltender Graham Parsons flush on mask and he had to be helped from ice on stretcher&hellip;John Adams finished up as Robins won. 5-2at Hershey park Arena. Back home. Robins blew three-goal lead, had to settle for 3-3 standoff with New Haven&hellip; Ex-Syracuse coach Art Stratton made Richmond debut as player, and Robins romped. 7-0. over Providence before season&rsquo;s largest crowd (7.261), Adams turned in shutout, club&rsquo;s fifth in history &mdash; all at home &mdash; and first in regular season since Nov. 22. 1972 when Roger Kosar blanked Boston (2-0).VIRGINIA: Red Wings continued to set division pace despite numerous injuries and recalls by Detroit&hellip;Dennis Polonich, Larry Giroux went up. Polonich came back, accompanied by defenseman Barry Salovaara. Giroux remained&hellip; Veteran Doug Roberts, recovering from knee injury, cleared waivers and agreed to report to work himself back into shape&hellip;Brian McCutcheon ready to return after missing since Dec. 21 with knee injury&hellip;Mike Jakubo still sidelined with similar problem.HERSHEY: Coach Chuck Hamilton went more than month with only four defensemen. Suddenly he had six, with another on the way&hellip;Bob Stumpf, backliner acquired in one-for-one deal that sent Bernie Lukowich to St. Louis&rsquo; farm in Denver, didn&rsquo;t reportas scheduled&hellip; Knee injuries hampered Terry Ewasiuk, Bryan McSheffrey&hellip;Twenty four hours after 4-4 tie in Syracuse, Bears returned ome to blitz Eagles, 9-4. It was Hershey&rsquo;s biggest output of season.SYRACUSE: Eagles won two. tied three of first nine games under playercoach Cal Swenson. Only three on home ice&hellip; Bill Golthorpe returned to Minnesota Fighting Saints for reassignment&hellip; Newcomer Murray Kuntz had four assists in standoff with Hershey&hellip;Bears&rsquo; goaltender Bob Johnson stopped Kuntz on penalty shot in same game&hellip;Mike Corcoran recalled from Southern League after goal tender Lyle Carter struck on head by puck in Richmond, wound requiring seven stitches. &#9632;

f0033-01

Attendance, Increasing Expenses Killed Clippers Big Factors In Withdrawl; Wings Continue To Set Pace

<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01198/3589565-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="594" height="350"></div><h2>GOALERS RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02146/3589558-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="580" height="524"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

CHL Leaders

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaTotems Winnina Streak BrokenDALLAS&mdash;Michel Dumas notched his third shutout of the season, but after that Dallas Black Hawks coach Bobby Kromm was fit to be tied &mdash; in fact, he was tied for three straight games, but that was enough to give Dallas a narrow one-point lead over the Oklahoma City Blazers in the tight Southern Division race of the Central League.Dumas was superb in a 2-0 victory over the road-weary Denver Spurs. It was the 11 th CHL shutout for the 25-year-old netminder from Thetford-Mines Que. in his fourth campaign with the Hawks. He got all the scoring support he needed from Chuck Ness on a first-period power play. Gary Donaldson&rsquo;s shorthanded goal 31 seconds into the middle period was frosting on the cake. Gary stole a pass from the attacking Spurs and skated in for an unassisted tally. Previous whitewashes by Dumas this season had been in Omaha (7-0). Nov. 15, and at home against Tulsa (5-0), Nov. 27.The Hawks&rsquo; streak of ties began in Tulsa. Pit Archambault and Duane Wylie had rallied for a Dallas lead after an early deficit, only to see Oiler Jim Benzelock tie it up with his own rebound with 1:32 left in the middle period. The last 20 minutes saw a scoreless duel of brilliant goaltending between Dumas and Tulsa&rsquo;s Peter Donnelly.Kromm was happy to escape with that tie. as the Hawks were outshot, 44-29. But the Dallas coach wasn&rsquo;t quite so happy at home the next night, when an apparent Hawk victory vanished on Wynne Dempster&rsquo;s desperation shot for Fort Worth, as the scoreboard clock showed 0:00 remaining. The stopwatch at the official scorer&rsquo;s table had one&mdash;third of a second left.&ldquo;I say the clock had run out,&rdquo;Kromm commented later. &ldquo;The referee (Denis Morel) said it hadn&rsquo;t. That&rsquo;s just the way things go.&rdquo; Needless to say. he wasn&rsquo;t that philosophical about it at the time.Donaldson had missed on a penalty shot against Fort Worth goalie Bill Hughes at 15:48 of the first period, after the Hawk right wing was hooked from behind by Skeeter Teal on an apparent breakaway while penalty-killing.Dallas trailed, 2-0, at that point after two early goals by Dempster. But Terry Smith and Dan Hinton tied the game with goals seven seconds apart in the second period. With 3:18 left in the game, Dave Elliott fired in a go-ahead goal for the Hawks, and they thought they had a victory in the bag until Dempster clinched this hat trick in the last second. The Hawks lead their turnpike series, 3-2-2.Two nights later at Salt Lake, it was Dallas which had to come from behind. Rob Palmer&rsquo;s power-play goal with 2:25 left earned a 5-5 tie in the Salt Palace.Palmer&rsquo;s return from the parent Chicago Black Hawks, just in time for the game in Tulsa, was a surprise to Dallas officials. But his return was sorely needed, as forwards Moe L&rsquo;Abbe and Dean Blais were lost for the season after knee surgery.Hawk defenseman Randy Holt, who leads the CHL in penalty-minutes with 325 (adding 22 in the Tulsa game), was called up to the parent club, while Chicago sent down fifth-year pro Dale Tal-lon to skate himself into shape after an injury layoff.Thanks to the draws, the Hawks were unbeaten at home in three starts, but hadn&rsquo;t won on the road in three. Forward Rejean Giroux was out with a pulled groin muscle. He was the club&rsquo;s top goal scorer with 15.TULSA: Dennis Olmstead, rookie center from the University of Wisconsin. had scored only one goal in 42 previous starts for the Oilers. But he came up with the hat trick, including two goals on power plays, as the Oilers trounced their archrival Oklahoma City Blazers. 7-3.The victory, which also featured standout goaltending by newcomer Peter Donnelly, snapped a five-game winless string for the Oilers, whose lineup has changed from week to week all season. A 5-3 setback in Salt Lake had run the latest losing streak to four games, before the Oilers rallied to tie Dallas at home, 2-2.Donnelly, 26-year-old third-year pro. who formerly played for the University of Detroit and the U.S. National team, was sent down from the Vancouver Blazers of the WHA when Oiler Ed Humphreys had to have minor surgery Jan. 20. But Ed was recovered enough to dress as backup goalie four nights later.Defenseman Don McCulloch also joined the Oilers from Vancouver, and leading scorer left wing Gene Sobchuk came back from Phoenix. But the biggest Oiler addition was big defenseman Serge Beaudoin, who returned after early-December knee surgery. Winger Don O&rsquo;Donoghue also returned from the injury list. Defenseman Garry Lariviere was called up to Phoenix for a brief look, and defenseman-forward Rick Newell went on his own to Phoenix to discuss his hockey future with the Roadrunners&rsquo; brass.Jim Benzelock and Newell had set a club record by scoring six seconds apart in a futile rally at Salt Lake, after the Eagles scored three quick ones to take charge early in the second period. Dave Gorman had tied the score for Tulsa midway in the first.Benzelock put his own rebound behind Dallas goalie Michel Dumas late in the second period to tie that game. Peter Driscoll had given Tulsa a lead in the first minute, but it didn&rsquo;t stand up.Four power-play goals turned the tide in the big victory over the Blazers. Olmstead and O&rsquo;Donoghue broke open a tight game with goals two minutes apart early in the third period. Dave Gorman. Don Burgess and Larivierre joined inthe scoring parade.Oiler coach Adam Keller had to work his forwards overtime. He was down to seven of them, when Driscoll drew a game misconduct at the start, and Newell and Benzelock were given 10minute misconducts late in the second period. All three were penalized for ill-advised language to the officials.OKLAHOMA CITY: Veteran left wing Eddie Shack went back to the parent Toronto Maple Leafs after three weeks with the Blazers, but not before putting on a skating exhibition for the OC fans in his final appearance.The Blazers blitzed the Fort Worth Texans, 6-2. and the Omaha Knights, 6-1. in their own Myriad, with Pierre Hamel turning in sensational goaltending. In between, however, coach Ray Miron was far from satisfied with Gor die McRae&rsquo;s work in the 7-3 loss a Tulsa. &ldquo;The last four Tulsa goals weri bad ones,&rdquo; Ray said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03110/3589527-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="534" height="696"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICHEL DUMAS &hellip;Third Shutout</figcaption></div>Alf Handrahan collected his secom hat trick of the season in the romp ove Omaha. Scott Garland. Denis Deslauers and Bob Sykes also tallied, arland scored twice against the Terns, with Pat Boutette, Brian Bowles, ike Ruest and rookie Per-Arne Ale-mdersson also scoring.Center Alexandersson. who had seen ily limited previous duty, scored 30 conds into the game in Tulsa, and the teran Shack made it 2-0 three minutes ter. before Tulsa woke up. Steve Dol-ff gained a tie just before the first pe-od ended, but that ended the Blazer oring. The club had won four straight ome games, but hadn&rsquo;t won in four ies on the road.FORT WORTH: &ldquo;1 heard the crowd Hinting down the closing seconds, hey had yelled &lsquo;Four&rsquo; when I fired the uck.&rdquo; That was left wing Wynne empster. telling of his disputed last-cond tally in Dallas that clinched a hat ick. and earned the Texans a 3-3 tie.It was the second straight night that ne Texan had collected all the team&rsquo;s oals. Right wing Ron Kennedy got oth Fort Worth tallies in a 6-2 loss at Oklahoma City, and Dempstergot them 11 in a 3-3 deadlock at Dallas. They&rsquo;re nemates, and it&rsquo;s little wonder their enter. Jim Webster, leads the league in ssists. with 40. He climbed to third in te CHL scoring with 51 points.One of Kennedy&rsquo;s goals at OC came apower play, padding his league lead that department. It was his 11th po-ver goal. In Dallas, the Texans pulled oalie Bill Hughes with 35 seconds left, ut the six-man attack wasn&rsquo;t getting nywhere. Dallas&rsquo; Roger Wilson tried clear the puck, but it bounced off the oards into a tangle of players. Fort Vorth&rsquo;s Glen Johnson and Neil Nichol-on touched it briefly before Dempster ifted a short, high shot into the net. his hird goal of the game and 12th of the eason.The loss and tie left the Texans win-ess in five starts. They were unbeaten three games at home, but winless in our on the road.SALT LAKE: The high-flying Golden iagles had won six straight, and pad-led their Northern Division lead to nine mints over Denver, but the streak was napped when the Spurs showed up. kfter a 4-4 Saturday night tie before a ecord crowd in the Salt Palace, the dubs switched to Denver&rsquo;s Coliseum, ind the Spurs took a 4-2 verdict. A tie igainst Dallas the next night boosted Salt Lake&rsquo;s marein to eight points.Extending their win string, the Eagles had downed Tulsa, 5-3, and Seattle. 4-2, before the Spurs skated in. The 10.417 who turned out for that confrontation made up the largest paid crowd in Salt Lake hockey history &mdash; and there were no promotions to swell the attendance.Either side could have won that game, as both clubs missed scoring chances when the nets were left open. Dennis Meloche picked up his 25th goal to tie Bob Murdoch for the club and league leadership. Charlie Simmer and Gary Holt also scored, and Terry Murray put across the tying tally at 13:29 of the third.OMAHA: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re winning, but we&rsquo;re not playing that well. I&rsquo;m a little concerned.&rdquo; Omaha coach Fred Creighton had said while his Knights rolled up five straight victories, capped by a 6-1 rout of the Seattle Totems.That string was snapped a night later when the Totems came back to Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum, and the Knights had to rally twice for a 3-3 draw. The next night the Nebraskans traveled to Oklahoma City, where the Blazers scored five times in the second period to convincingly erase an early Omaha lead, and went on to a 6-1 triumph.Defensive help arrived in the form of Kerry Ketter. on loan from the new Kansas City NHL Scouts. He had been with Baltimore in the American League, until that club was wiped out. Knight blueliner Pat Ribble came back from a flu layoff.Rookie center Guy Chouinard from the Quebec Remparts, completed a hat trick in less than nine minutes in the Friday rout of Seattle. Two of his goals came 10 seconds apart, at 2:15 and 2:25 of the first period, and he scored again at 8:53. That gave him 16 goals for the season. Wayne Schaab got two goals, running his total to 20. Goalie John Voss had a shutout until 8:23 of the final period.SEATTLE: The long road grind continued for the Totems, as Omaha kept rallying to deprive Seattle of a long-awaited triumph. Coach Orland Kurtenbach&rsquo;s squad stood 1-5-2 for the suitcase marathon, and faced two more road games before getting home in early February.A 4-2 setback in Seattle, and a 6-1 drubbing in Omaha ran the Totes&rsquo; latest losing streak to four games. The 3-3 tie in the second game at Omaha was better than a loss, but it still left the Totems without a victory in six starts, since they won in Dallas. 5-3, on Jan. 15, the second game of the long road trip.Dave Westner spoiled the shutout hopes of Omaha&rsquo;s John Voss after more than 48 minutes of the Friday game. It was small consolation, since the Knights already had a seven-goal lead on three by rookie Guy Chouinard in the first period, two by Wayne Schaab in the second, and one by Bill Klatt in the third.The Totems started strong in the same Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum the next night. The power play, which had been Seattle&rsquo;s nemesis, started paying off. Barry Wilcox and Dan Seguin mounted a 2-0 lead with power goals in the first period. But that was matched by John Van Horlick and John Huber for the Knights in the second.Dan Gloor gave the Totes a brief lead in the third period, but it lasted only 1:21 before Omaha&rsquo;s Ken Houston tied it up with a 20-foot shot at 10:44.The Totems were anxious to get back into their own Seattle Center Coliseum, where they had won seven straight from Dec. 15-Jan. 9.Kurtenbach was unhappy about the rescheduling of the Jan. 11 home game, postponed by an Omaha blizzard. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had four bad weekend trips, when we play at home, fly out to play the next night, then return home to play on the third night. That&rsquo;s what the Knights were facing for a change, and they got out of it. Now. by playing Denver at home on Monday. Feb. 17, we wind up back on the short end. We play Denver at home on Saturday, fly to Omaha on Sunday, and find Denver waiting for us at home Monday. It&rsquo;s going to be rough.&rdquo;To enable the Totes to reschedule Omaha for a Mar. 18 game, they had to move the Denvergame from that date to Feb. 17. Other dates weren&rsquo;t available at the busy Center Coliseum. &#9632;

f0034-03

Hawks ‘Tie’ Into South Division Lead; Benzelock, Newell Set New Oiler Record

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01187/3589603-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="493" height="565"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAN GILBERTSON &hellip;Scores Three</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02153/3589596-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="502" height="556"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHRIS EVANS &hellip; Steady On Defense</figcaption></div>DENVER&mdash;The Denver Spurs breathed a collective sigh of relief, after a win and a tie in the big doubleheader against Salt Lake. The win was a Sunday afternoon home game that ended a disastrous 10-game road trip (1-8-1. with seven losses in a row. capped by consecutive shutouts at the hands of John Voss in Omaha and Michel Dumas in Dallas).The rest of the schedule had a home advantage for the Spurs, and they showed they were glad to be back in their Coliseum. The afternoon game drew 4,300, with reduced prices for Pepsi, beer and hot dogs.Coach Jean-Guy Talbot could also be grateful to the parent St. Louis Blues for sending down the trio of defenseman Chris Evans and forwards Stan Gilbertson and Bernie Lukowich. They scored all the Denver goals in the 4-4 tie at Salt Lake (two by Gilbertson, one each by the other two), and Gilbertson added a power goal in the 4-2 victory at home. Gary Winch ster, Mitch Babin and Dave Roberts also scored in that game. It was the S, ts fifth straight victory at home, although their last one was 28 days earlier.Babin and Howard Heggedal finished the week in a tie for the CHL scoring leadership with 55 points each. Babin had two assists to go with his goal, while Heggedal was held to a lone assist for the week. &#9632;

f0035-01

Ex-Blues Spearhead End To Denver Slump

<div class="byline">BY LEN HOYES</div>For the finest in Hockey Magazines subscribe today to the Hockey Twins:HOCKEY WORLD & HOCKEY PICTORIALFor the same price as a ticket to ONE GAME you can read over 1600 PAGES of outstanding news about Hockey by subscribing today toTHE HOCKEY NEWSPORT HURON &mdash; What&rsquo;s with Bill Watt?His best season in the International Hockey League, that&rsquo;s Watt, the handyman right winger of the Port Huron Flags.Once a quicktempered player who seemed to hold his position by fighting, the 26-year-old Watt has emerged as a durable point contributer for the Flags who have been searching for goals all season. After almost two-thirds of the season had been completed, the former Michigan State University star had 18 goals, 25 assists and 43 points in 46 games and was battling teammates Ray Germain and Tom Peluso for the team lead in points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01167/3589641-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="270" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Watt</figcaption></div>Germain and Peluso probably would be well ahead except for injury and illness to Germain and a brief suspension for Peluso. But that can&rsquo;t diminish Watt&rsquo;s contribution.He&rsquo;s almost certain to eclipse his best previous record at Port Huron. 23 goals and 21 assists for 44 points last season. In I972-73 he produced IO goals and 26 points in 36 games.In the previous two seasons he was sidelined twice by knee injuries and once by a shoulder separation. This year he&rsquo;s one of three men to play in all 46 games.Durability isn&rsquo;t his only strong point. In one 14-game stretch he collected 10. goals and produced agoal or assist in I3 of I4 games. Normally a right winger, he even switched to center when Germain went out with an injury.The chief reason for Watt&rsquo;s improvement is consistency.Coach Bobby McCommon said, &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s beginning to understand the game. Last year he would have a good game, then would go a couple where you wouldn&rsquo;t notice him.&ldquo;This year he&rsquo;s always doing something. If he&rsquo;s not scoring goals, he&rsquo;s hitting people.&rdquo;Learning to curb his temper also has helped. After collecting 98 penalty minutes in only 36 games his first year at Port Huron, he dipped to 89 PIM in 61 games last year and had 40 in 46 games this year.SAGINAW: Gears&rsquo; 3-5-1 record for nine games and back-to-back losses against Flint cost North Division lead&hellip; Last season&rsquo;s top scorer, Marcel Comeau, broke 10-game goal drought but couldn&rsquo;t prevent 5-4 setback at Dayton&hellip; Dennis Desrosiers hiked goal total to 28 with back-to-back two-goal games, giving him 12 in I4games during January&hellip; Gord Malineski scored goal on breakaway against Flint&hellip; Defenseman Steve Trachsel assigned to Des Moines, suspended when he failed to report&hellip; Captain Borden Smith scored 25th goal, only three less than last season&rsquo;s entire total.DAYTON: Steve Self ranked No. 2 in league after scoring 38th goal, tallied two in 4-2 victory over Kalamazoo and second goal of game producing 5-4 victory over Saginaw&hellip; Bill Best recalled by Rochester(American)&hellip; Gems drew 2,323 for midweek puck night game&hellip; Rick Bragnale assisted on nine goals in four games, boosted league-leading total to 55&hellip; Gems&rsquo; 32-15-3 record retained over-all point lead thanks to 14-10-1 road record, best in league.MUSKEGON: Garv Ford remained No. 1 in point derby despite missing four games because of back injury&hellip; Ernie Moser shifted to center, replacing Ford&hellip; Mohawks&rsquo; bid to get second place hampered by 14-13-1 record since Dec. I&hellip; Bob Fowler&rsquo;s 10 goals included three game-winners, one tying goal&hellip; goalie Dave Hainsworth appeared in 20th straight game, played in 42 of team&rsquo;s first 46&hellip; Three-game unbeaten string ended in 4-1 loss at Toledo&hellip; Defensemen Lynn Margarit, Bill Kestell already beyond last season&rsquo;s final point totals with 5-35-40. and 4-17-21 combinations.FORT WAYNE: Komets escaped South cellar for first time since Nov. 27 with 6-1 victory over Muskegon, one night after dropping 8-1 decision in latter&rsquo;s arena&hellip; John Dobie. Len Cunning dropped&hellip; Newly-acquired Ivan Belisle scored three goals in first three games&hellip; Brian Walker idled three games because of flu&hellip; Rich Uhrich penalized for illegal stick, infraction leading to tying goal by Saginaw which went on to 3-2 victory&hellip; Winger Fred Hunt. Jr., released&hellip; Robbie Irons made 23 stops in 2-0 victory over Des Moines, second shutout of year.TOLEDO: Goaldiggers extended grip on third place to five points despite 3-6-2 record in three-week period&hellip; Pro defenseman Mark Davis returned to Baltimore (American)&hellip; Diggers killed five penalties successfully in 4-1 victory over Muskegon&hellip; Defensemen&rsquo;s total of 28 goals highest in IHL&hellip; Darwin Mott&rsquo;s goal was game-winner against Muskegon, sparking three-goal third period&hellip; Bill Trognitz zeroing in on Paul Tantardini&rsquo;s team penalty leadership.FLINT: Ken Tarnow equalled team record with four goals in second appearance after arrival from Fort Wayne, sparked 7-4 victory over Saginaw to return Generals to North lead&hellip; Kevin Treacy&rsquo;s 20th goal was winner in 3-2 decision over Des Moines&hellip; Generals scored first goal in seven victories during 7-1-1 record for nine-game period&hellip; Kirk Bowman&rsquo;s 48 assists within sight of Wayne Zuk&rsquo;s team record 61&hellip; Frank Beaton scored winning goal in 2-1 victory over Saginaw&hellip; Generals assured best January record in team&rsquo;s six-season history&hellip; Dwane Byers second General to reach 100 PIM.COLUMBUS: Marty Reynolds, Mike Powers 3-4 in league scoring race&hellip; Newly-arrived Don Hay scored first goal to help 7-6 overtime victory over Toledo&hellip; Owls widened grip on second place in South to 11 points by sweeping weekend series at Des Moines&hellip; Team&rsquo;s 16-6edge over North rivals best of inter-division competition&hellip; Owls about to run into heavy schedule of road games, hampering dreams of overtaking South leader Dayton.DES MOINES: Al Labrecque pronounced in good condition following serious eye injury but still hospitalized in Ann Arbor. Mich&hellip; Duane Bray drew four-game suspension via spearing incident&hellip; Len ircandia took league penalty leadership from Toledo&rsquo;s Paul Tantardini&hellip; Pat Russell iNed on defense in manpower emergency&hellip; Defenseman Brian Anderson obtained from defunct Lansing club&hellip; General manager Ken Wilson blasted team i print, captain Pete Slater replied being critical of Wilson&hellip; Coach Da Belisle desperate for help on defense<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0459/3589634-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="521" height="741"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE SELF &hellip; No. 2 Scorer</figcaption></div>KALAMAZOO: Wings all but mathematically doomed to cellar after fa ling 19 points from fourth-place Po Huron with 3-9-1 record for 13 games. Greg Steel scored second goal of season&hellip; Wings managed one goal amor 81 shots in two games, suffered fift shutout of year by 6-0 margin at Musk gon&hellip; Newly-acquired Dave Lee idle by knee surgery. Glen Ing feared lo for month with ankle injury&hellip; Captai Al Genovy had cast removed from injt red wrist, early return anticipated. Dan Makey recalled by Detroit organ zation&hellip; Pierre LeBlanc ruined shutoi for Port Huron&rsquo;s Mike Ralph as Wins lost. 2-1. &#9632;

f0036-01

Watt Showing New Talent As Flags’ Scorer; Saginaw Slump Costs Gears Division Lead

<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02122/3589679-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="586" height="433"></div><h2>GOALERS RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0390/3589672-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="589" height="694"></div> &#9632;

f0036-02

IHL Leaders

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01153/3589717-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="550" height="874"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEN PETTIT&hellip;Scores Hat Trick</figcaption></div>BOSTON &mdash;In case you haven&rsquo;t heard. Uncle Ned is back.Ned Harkness, late of the Detroit Red Wings, has signed up to establish a varsitv hockev program at Union College in Schenectady. N.Y.. some 15 miles from the scene of his initial apotheosis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.Harkness&rsquo; reentry into the college hockey stream, where he certainly knows the location of all the boulders after being unable to walk on National Hockey League waters, provoked a sigh of relief from every college coach who&rsquo;s been having a poor 1974-75 season. It also foreshadowed inevitable changes a few years down the road, since a Boston paper carried almost simultaneously a rumor that Jack Kelley, formerly of Boston University and currently with the New England Whalers of the WHA. would also be moving back to college hockey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0386/3589710-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="274" height="457"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ned Harkness</figcaption></div>Kelley, said the as yet unsubstantiated tidbit, would be relocating at the University of Maine at Orono, not far from where he was first a head coach at Colby College of Waterville.Now, just suppose that all this is true and these two gentlemen build up competitive ECAC Division One teams within five years or so. That would make 19 sextets in the division, which unlike the WCH A is open to any school in the 210-member ECAC who cares to upgrade its program and declare itself in.A split in the Division, East-West. New England-New York, North-South or whatever, seems inevitable. Perhaps within five years or so. the Ivy League will soften up a bit on scheduling structures and allow its members enough leeway to participate in a round robin within a geographical ECAC division. The Ivies can already schedule two more games for next year, bringing their season total to 26. Also, freshmen will most likely be eligible to play varsity hockey in the Ivy League next year, a further sign that the times are a-changin!Maybe by that time all the stillevident petty dislikes and obfuscatory excuses for certain teams not scheduling others will give way to a rule of reason, with all the requirements for post-season playoff qualification neatly set down on paper. Proposals for this sort of set up have been overruled in the past, but hopefully a couple more competitive Division One teams will force its adoption.Back in the present, some of the trailers began to pick up momentum in the third week of January. Darmouth and RPI each won two games, St. Lawrence improved its performance without gaining ground, and Pennsylvania slipped into eighth spot in the standings.Dartmouth coach Grant Standbrook juggled some lines after losing captain Peter Quinn with a broken wrist suffered in a 5-4 win over Penn the previous Saturday. The new first line of Ken Pettit. Gordie Miles, and Brian McCloskey combined for five goals in Dartmouth&rsquo;s 8-6 win at Boston College, with Pettit notching a hat trick. Jeff Sollows held BC at bay with 21 of his 35 saves in the third period.Against Yale, Dartmouth blew a 4-1 lead and had to win in overtime on Danny Tomlak&rsquo;s deflecting of a Greg Cronin drive at 8:06 of the extra period. The Elis, who finally won a non-league game 9-2 against Army, can&rsquo;t seem to string three good periods together: a week prior they&rsquo;d led 3-1 at RPI only to have the roof cave in and lose 8-3.RPI finally took two in a row. with a 7-1 win over Colgate following up on the Yale victory. Jimmy Salfi&rsquo;s crew have been plagued with spotty defense and anemic power play, but the installation of forwards Daryl Meyer and Ron Inch on the points has helped. Goalie Andy Schell yielded only one goal in five periods played in the two games. But the euphoria was short-lived as Vermont pummelled the Engineers 9-3 in Burlington.St. Lawrence lost a 6-4 squeaker at home to Clarkson. then traveled to Boston and won at Boston College for the first time in 14 years. 5-1. Goalie Tom O&rsquo;Connor effectively shut off the Eagles, especially in the third period when they pulled to within one goal and pressed the Saints for ten minutes before Scott Graham, followed by Denny Allen and Pete Blair, wrapped it up. The next night, the Larries led powerful Boston University 4-3 until a three-goal burst within 1:39 late in the second period put the Terriers up for good, enroute to a 7-6 decision.Penn won a couple of overtime games. with the important one a 3-2 triumph over Cornell in Philadelphia, the first Penn win over the Big Red since 1959. Cornell had pulled ahead 2-1 with 1:44 to go. but with the Penn goalie out of his net, Mark Irwin scored with 0:26 to go. Ed Parkinson then potted the winner at 0:33 for Bob Crocker&rsquo;s crew, who evened their slate at 6-6-1 with a good home schedule remaining. The other OT win by Penn was earlier in the week. 4-3 over Merrimack. &#9632;

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Hiring Of Harkness By Union College Mav Triaaer Return Of Other Pros

EAST LANSING &mdash;Michigan State continues to lead the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. after splitting a two-game series with the spunky UMD Bulldogs at East I ansinv. The Snartans. who are 16-5-1. captured the opener 6-3 but were turned back the following night 8-5. It was sufficient. however, to maintain a one-point advantage over Minnesota (16-6) which swapped 5-2 verdicts at Michigan (11-11).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02117/3589748-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="265" height="421"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Phippen</figcaption></div>Michigan Tech moved into a tie for third with Colorado College, both 14-8. by sweeping Denver 11-5. 7-0. while CC split with Wisconsin. winning 6-4 and losing 5-3. Meantime. North Dakota edged Notre Dame 2-1. then lost 5-2. Minnesota-Duluth kept Michigan State from fattening its WCHA lead by stopping the Spartans 8-5 after losing the opener 6-3. Dave Kelly, filling in for injured Steve Colp, the nation&rsquo;s No. I scorer last year and second in the WCHA until he got hurt, snared State&rsquo;s first two goals of the series. Robbie Harris&rsquo; goal at 13:42 of the second period proved to be the game-winner. In the second game UMD gained its first win over the Spartans in their last 10 meetings. With the score deadlocked 4-4 at the end of two. Duluth scored four straight goals by Monty Jones. Kirk Mclvor and Joe Nelson. Jones scored twice.In their exchange of 5-2 decisions. Michigan and Minnesota each jumped to 3-0 leads. Dave DeBol scored the clincher for Michigan at 4:46 of the second period Friday. In this tilt Angie Moretto had two goals and an assist. Pat Phippen&rsquo;s hat trick sparked the Gophers Saturday. Pat scoring at: 25 of the first period. 4:46 of the second and 19:59 of the third into an open net. Top series scorers: Michigan: Angie Moretto scored twice. Minnesota: Tom Vannelli. Pat Phippen and. Tom Youghans. Phippen had three goals.Michigan tech posted the only series sweep. hammering&rsquo;Denver 11-5 in the opener and blanking the Pioneers 7-0. Tech goalie Jim Warden, stopping 32 shots, collected his second shutout of the season, tops in the WCHA. In Friday&rsquo;s game both Mike Zuke and Bob D&rsquo;Alvise connected for hat tricks, with Zuke and Peter Roberts each getting shorthanded goals in the first period. Tech&rsquo;s George Lyle had two counters each night. &#9632;

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UMD Bulldogs Foil State’s Progress; Michigan Tech Moves Up After Sweep

BOWLING GREEN&mdash;The Bowling Green Falcons have become one of the hottest hockey teams of late.The seventh-ranked Falcons have streaked to an 18-4-1 record to date, including victories in their last seven games. They are unbeaten in their last nine. After dropping the season-opening series at Notre Dame, coach Ron Mason&rsquo;s club went on an 8-0 tear, the last two of the skein impressive wins over Boston University. 3-2, and Michigan State 7-4.&#82220;Bowling Green has the kind of team we had two years ago (26-12 and 266 goals), noted St. Louis coach Bill Selman. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re explosive &mdash; they&rsquo;re averaging six and a half goals a game &mdash; and they can skate. They probably deserve a higher ranking.&rdquo; The Falcons are currently eighth in the coaches&rsquo; poll and seventh in the writers&rsquo;.Leading the Falcons&rsquo; offense are two veteransand a pair of freshman. Bob Dobek. a senior center, has 60 points thus far. including 44 assists. His right wing is another senior, Doug Ross, who has popped in 26 goals in 23 games and has scored 49 points. Next in the statistics are highly regarded pair of frosh centers, Mike Hartman (26. 19-45) and Dave Easton (12. 19-31).In fact, what has turned the Bowling Green program into a national contender, in Selman&rsquo;s view, are the fine recruits Mason landed last spring. &ldquo;Easton. Hartman, (winger Steve) Murphy and (defenseman John) Mavity are excellent hockey players&rdquo; Selman said. &ldquo;They fit right in with the Falcons&rsquo; ten returning lettermen and gave Mason some real offensive punch.&rdquo;Veteran defenseman Roger Archer has anchored a young blueline corps which includes three frosh &mdash; Mavity (4. 10-14), Wayne Sander (2,9-11) and Tom Thomas (1, 10-11). And Bowling Green goaltender, sophomore Al Sarachman, sports a sparkling 2.31 goals-against average for 11 games.The impending clash between the Falcons and St. Louis will be the first CCHA competition for either club since mid-November. Bowling Green took two from Lake Superior State on Falcon ice (5-2 and 7-1) and are on top in the league with a 2-0 mark. The Bills are 1-1 after a split at Lake Superior. &#9632;

Bowling Green Riding High With 9-Game Unbeaten Streak

<h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Jan. 31)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0470/3589831-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="585" height="316"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>WCHA CONFERENCEWisconsin 5. Colorado College 3Colorado College 6, Wisconsin 4Michigan Tech 11, Denver 5Michigan Tech 7. Denver 0Michigan 5, Minnesota 2Minnesota 5. Michigan 2Michigan State 6, Minn-Duluth 3Minn-Duluth 8. Michigan State 5North Dakota 2. Notre Dame 1Notre Dame 5, North Dakota 2NON-CONFERENCE GAMESDenver 7, Air Force 4<h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Sun. Jan. 26)<h3>DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0554/3589824-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="598" height="530"></div><h3>DIVISION II</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0644/3589817-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="606" height="730"></div><h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2><h3>DIVISION I GAMES</h3>Dartmouth 8. Boston College 6Boston University 6. New Hampshire 4Clarkson 6. St. Lawrence 4Colgate 1. RPI 7St. Lawrence 5. Boston College 1Boston University 9, Princeton 2Boston University 7, St. Lawrence 6New Hampshire 5, Clarkson 3Pennsylvania 3, Cornell 2Dartmouth 8. Yale 7Princeton 7, Northeastern 6Vermont 9. RPI 3<h3>NON-DIVISION AL GAMES</h3>Providence 11. Merrimack 3Vermont 10, Norwich 3Yale 9, Army 2Penn 4, Merrimack 3Northeastern 7. Umass 1<h2>MINNESOTA COLLEGES</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 20)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0734/3589810-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="594" height="296"></div><h3>CONFERENCE GAMES</h3>St. Olaf 4. Hamline 1Gustavus 5, St. Thomas 4Augsburg 20. Macalester 0St. Thomas 9, St. Olaf 1Concordia 10. Hamline 1St. Thomas 15. Macalester 0Concordia 12, Hamline 2Augsburg 5, Gustavus 3<h2>NEW YORK COLLEGES</h2>(Standings on Tue. Jan. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0830/3589803-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="590" height="234"></div> &#9632;

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College Races

ALBANY&mdash;The second-year North American Hockey League has announced plans for the upcoming playoff teason. due to begin sometime in March.&ldquo;Based on the way our regular teason has gone. I look forward to most exciting and competitive layoff season.&rdquo; enthused NAHL commissioner Bob Dextraze. who innounced the league&rsquo;s course of action from his executive offices in Albany.Here&rsquo;s how the NAHL playoffs will work:Seven teams will qualify for the playoffs. Here is the breakdown.Quarter finals: best-of-five series.Team #2 in regular season standings meets team #7: #3 versus #6 and #4 versus #5.The first place team will draw a bye in the quarter final series. The quarter finals are due to begin on March 25 and end on or around March 30.In all of the series, the team with the best record during the regular season will have the home ice advantage.The semi-finals will be a best-of-seven affair.Team #1 will play the winner of #4 versus #5; winner of #2 versus #7 plays winner of #6. Semi-finals are slated to begin on April I and end no later than April 10.In the final series, the semi-final round winners will play a best-of-seven championship series for the Lockhart Cup. symbolic of NAHL supremacy. The finals are due to begin on April 12 and end no later than April 23. &#9632;

NAHL Plans Post-Season Plavdowns

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02134/3589917-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="580" height="439"></div> &#9632;

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NAHL LEADERS

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01164/3589955-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="562" height="916"><figcaption class="caption-body">EDDIE BUSH &hellip;Dean Of Junior Coaches</figcaption></div>KITCHENER &mdash;Under normal conditions it can be expected that three or four Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A coaches will be fired sometime during the schedule.However this season it appeared as if all 11 might survive the season and thus establish some sort of a record. Those thoughts were destroyed when Eddie Bush, the dean of all Canadian Junior A coaches, was fired by Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; manager Ted Maki after two and a half seasons in that position. Bush&rsquo;s connection with Ontario Junior A go back to the early 1950s when he piloted Guelph Biltmores, then later took over the Hamilton Red Wings with a brief stop in St. Catharines as a playoff replacement for Rudy Pilous when the latter was suspended.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0648/3589948-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="274" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tim Young</figcaption></div>At a press conference in Kitchener, club president Gerry O&rsquo;Donoghue and Maki announced jointly that &ldquo;the Rangers by mutual agreement have agreed to buy up the remaining portion of Eddie Bush&rsquo;s one-year contract. With the performance of the hockey club todate, the executive felt it was in the best interest of the Rangers to make a change at this time&rdquo;.Kitchener was deep in the league basement when the colorful Bush got the pink slip &mdash; with 26 points in 42 games &mdash; and with 15 points to make up to catch the last playoff berth, their situation appears to be hopeless.Don McKee, coach of the Ranger Junior B club, will replace Bush until a successor is found.Bush attended the press conference and commented that &ldquo;being a coach is like having open heart surgery &mdash; you neverknow what the outcome will be&rdquo;.&ldquo;I feel badly,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wish I could have done something that would have prevented this. But I&rsquo;ve made hockey my life and my mother always told me there would be days like this.&rdquo;He will continue living in Kitchener and hopes to catch another hockey job before next season.Certainly on his record he shouldn&rsquo;t be unemployed too long.And all admit the league, as a unit, will miss him.He is one of the few extroverts among the 11 coaches and is almost a throwback to a previous era when men such as Hap Emms and Rudy Pilous livened things up with their antics.It could be that the failure of the Rangers to win the Ontario championship last season was the reason behind the firing &mdash; more than their immediate problems.Kitchener won the pennant by seven points over St. Catharines and Bush was quoted, before the Peterborough semi-finals, that &ldquo;only a miracle would enable to Petes to defeat the Rangers&rdquo;.Peterborough coach Roger Neilson posted the comment on his dressing room wall and this was undoubtedly one incentive which provided a major upset when &ldquo;the miracle&rdquo; happened and the Petes eliminated the Rangers on three wins, one loss and two ties.Kitchener had reportedly already purchased team jackets for the trip to Calgary for the Memorial Cup round robin playoffs &mdash; but it was St. Catharines Black Hawks who won the provincial title and took the jaunt.The change of coaches did little to help the Rangers immediately as they dropped their first game under McKee 7-1 to Hamilton Fincups before 3,071 Kitchener fans.Joe Fortunato had the only Kitchener goal in the second period.TORONTO: Aftergoing I8games(14 wins, four ties) without a defeat first place Toronto Marlboros were socked 8-4 in St. Catharines and at one stage were down 8-2&hellip; Marlies appeared to be headed for a fall when they were held to back-to-back ties by Oshawa Generals (4-4 and 2-2) and their defense and goaltending let them down in St. Catharines&hellip; Loss ended their hopes of surpassing league record of 25 undefeated games established by 1972-73 Marlboro Memorial cup team&hellip; Despite the loss coach George Armstrong has his club well out in front and they are in little danger of giving up the pennant.PETERBOROUGH: Petes lost two of three games during the week but are still fairly solid in second place&hellip; They were nudged 4-3 in St. Catharines when Dave Salvian scored his second goal of the game in the third period&hellip; Mike Fryia had a pair for the Petes, who rebounded to take the Hawks 7-2 on home ice before being upset 4-2 by the slumping Kingston Canadians&hellip; Red Laurence scored twice against the Hawks, Brad Pirie and Tony Cassolato had the only goals at Kingston, both in second period.HAMILTON: Fincups appear to have got over mid-season slump with two straight victories &mdash; 9-3 over London and 7-1 in Kitchener&hellip; Priorto that they had found wins hard to come by even though they held third place&hellip; Their brilliant rookie center Danny Shearer had three goals in game with Kinghts and his total was matched by Ric Seiling&hellip; Mike Keating, anotherfreshman, counted three in Kitchener.OTTAWA: 67s&rsquo; brilliant center Tim Young, points leader in the Ontario Junior A Leauge. had superb night against St. Catharines, scoring six goals and assisting on two others in 12-3 humiliation of Black Hawks&hellip; Young wrapped his goals into neat packages of two in each period and is rated by many scouts as best pro prospect in league&hellip; Tom McDonell added three to the total of one-dozen goals as 4,065 watched happily&hellip; The winjust capped a thoroughly high-scoring week for Brian Kilrea&rsquo;s 67s, who trounced Kitchener 7-3 and Kingston 8-6&hellip; the Young line (Peter Lee and Dan Blair on the wings) accounted for four goals in Kitchener while Blair had two and Rick Bourbonnais. recently acquired from Kitchener, scored another pair while beating Canadians&hellip; Young was first player to go over the 100-point mark and is threatening Brian Cullen&rsquo;s single-season record of 161 set while playing with St. Catharines Teepees in 1953-54.OSHAWA: Despite unbelievable injury total (nine regulars were out for several games) Oshawa continues to hang in there for fifth place and probable playoff position&hellip; Coach Gus Bodnar&rsquo;s charges stunned Marlboros by holding them to a pair of ties thanks mainly to superlative goaltending by Paul Harrison who played despite injured ankle tendons&hellip; Harrison was spectacular especially in 2-2 game as Marlboros outshot Oshawa 24-1 in second period but the Generals clung to a 2-1 lead&hellip; John Smrke finally tied it for Marlies late in third perioid but Bodnar and Marlboro coach Armstrong agreed it was one of the best goaltendingjobs they had seen in recent years.ST. CATHARINES: Black Hawks turned in by far their best game of season while halting the Marlboros 8-4 after beating second place Peterborough 5-4 48 hours earlier&hellip; Hawks could do little wrong in bringing end to Marlies&rsquo; 18-game undefeated string, scoring three unanswered goals in second period after picking up a trio in the first, then adding two more in the third. Gary Carr did not play well in the Marlboro nets but the Hawks deserved the win and coach Paul Emms had a happy smile&hellip; Gary McAdam scored twice and all others were singles&hellip; However their road trip later in the week was a disaster as they were bombed 7-2 in Peterborough and 12-3 in Ottawa&hellip; Loss of Doug Caines, who suffered five broken ribs when knocked off-balance into the boards by Marlboro defenseman Mike Kitchen, hurt club at center ice and he probably won&rsquo;t be back for a month.SUDBURY: Wolves earned three of possible four points, playing to 5-5 draw in Kingston, then trouncing their archrivals, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. 9-1&hellip; The Wolves like nothing better than to beat the &lsquo;Hounds&rsquo; as they are the only two teams in Northern Ontario&hellip; Sudbury had to make dramatic comeback to salvage tie in Kingston, scoring three times in last one minute and 41 seconds&hellip; Randy Carlyle, Ron Duguay, Alex McKendry, Dave Farrish and Rod Schutt were their marksmen.KINGSTON: Canadians have fallen on hard times recently after splendid beginning, dropping from first place into the lower ranks and their playoff hopes have definitely diminished&hellip; However they helped the cause with 4-2 win over second place Peterborough, establishing a 4-0 lead including a pair of goals by Larry Murphy and singles from Alex Forsyth and Dave Hynek&hellip; They had given up 5-2 lead and settled for 5-5 tie earlier in the week as mentioned previously and lost 8-6&rsquo;to Ottawa&hellip; Brad Rhiness and Mike Crombeen supplied two goals apiece against Sudbury and Rhiness also scored twice in Ottawa game&hellip; When club is back at full strength coach Jack Bownass, coach of the year in 1973-74, hopes to get a winning streak going and clinch a playoff berth for the first time.SAULT STE. MARIE: Just like Oshawa, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Kingston, and London, Sault Ste. Marie is scrambling to get into the playoffs&hellip; However it&rsquo;s more important to them than most teams as they haven&rsquo;t made the grade the first two years they operated&hellip; They failed to add a point as they were overcome 7-5 in London and 9-1 in Sudbury where Tony Cuomo spoiled Jim Bedard&rsquo;s shutout bid with less than five minutes left in the third period&hellip; Cary Farelli contributed his 40th and 41st goals for Greyhounds but it wasn&rsquo;t enough in London and &lsquo;Hounds&rsquo; must start winning or tying to stay in the race.LONDON: Knights, written off as a playoff threat a few weeks ago. are now well within range even though they won only one of three games&hellip; The reason is that none of the other lower teams are winning regularly either&hellip; Knights lone victory was the home ice 7-5 decision against the Sault as Ron Zanussi scored twice but they promptly dropped another pair, 9-3 in Hamilton and 7-5 at home to the surprising Generals. &#9632;

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Bush Sacked By Last Place Rangers; Hawks End Marlies’ Unbeaten Streak

<h2>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standinas on Sun. Feb. 2)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02118/3590007-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="594" height="352"></div><h2>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0391/3590000-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="604" height="470"></div><h2>QUEBEC JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Thu. Jan. 30)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0474/3589993-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="592" height="418"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. Jan. 23Trois-Rivieres 2 at Cornwall 5.Fri. Jan. 24Laval 5 at Shawinigan 6; Sorel 5 at Chicoutimi 5; Hull 5 at Sherbrooke 9: Trois-Rivieres 5 at Quebec 4. Cornwall 3 at Montreal 9.Sun. Jan. 26Chicoutimi 2 at Montreal 4; Laval 4 at Hull 10, Cornwall 1 at Sorel 5; Shawinigan 4 at Quebec 6Mon. Jan. 27Quebec 2 at Laval 5; Sherbrooke 6 at Shawinigan 0.Tue. Jan. 28Montreal 9 at Trois-Rivieres 3. Sorel 3 at Hull 7.Wed. Jan. 29Montreal 5 at Sorel 5: Sherbrooke at Chicoutimi (postponed).<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0558/3589986-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="590" height="326"></div> &#9632;

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HOW THEY STAND

<div class="byline">BY BILL BRILL</div>THE HOCKEY NEWSEVERY WEEK for the price of a ticket to a SINGLE GAME!Superb Hockey Reading Each MonthHOCKEY WORLD & HOCKEY PICTORIALROANOKE&mdash;Can Camille Lapierre and Claude Piche revive the rapidly sinking Roanoke Valley Rebels?The two high scoring centers are exoected back soon and it couldn&rsquo;t come at a better time for the defending Southern League champions. Since Lapierre was hurt in early December, the Rebels have posted a 5-17-2 and have fallen into third place, just ahead of Winston-Salem.Without Lapierre and Piche, the Rebels have had no firepower. They have gotten poor center play and it has affected the whole team. The Rebels hit bottom when they were mauled at Charlotte. 10-1, in a game in which coach Bill Needham retreated to the stands after the second period.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01130/3590045-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="257" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body">Claude Piche</figcaption></div>It was obvious that Lapierre and Piche. who each had knee operations on Dec. 3. would have to help the staggering Rebels, who got used to championship teams in the last two years.Piche was hobbled right from the start, having reinjured a chronic bad knee on the first day of practice. He played in only seven games and was used only on the point of the power play, scoring one goal. Last year, Piche was the most valuable player in the SHL. He was second in the league in scoring with 94 points and third in goals with 43.Lapierre had gotten off to a sensational start when he was hurt in a 1-0loss at Charlotte. In just 19 games, he had 20 goals and 26 assists. Even after missing two months of play. Lapierre still ranked 11th in the SHL in scoring. Lapierre was the SHL&rsquo;s No. 2 goal scorer last year with 48 and he was third in points with 91.Needham plans to reunite Lapierre with linemates BobbyGuindon and Jerry Butler. Guindon had 19 goals before Lapierre was hurt and has gotten just nine since. &ldquo;Having Cammy back will really help Guindon.&rdquo; said Needham, who has been frustrated with his team&rsquo;s woeful play. &ldquo;The otherteams concentrate on Cammy. and that leaves Guindon open in front of the net.&rdquo;Piche will probably work on a line with Ron Ashton, who has joined the Rebels from Winnipeg. The Rebels also welcomed back rookie Randy Andreachuk. Winnipeg&rsquo;s top draft choice, who was sent back to Roanoke after a brief stay with the Jets. Andreachuk had 13 goals in 25 games before being recalled.Needham planned additional shakeups as soon as he got his stars back. Defenseman Marc Davis was sent back to Baltimore the day before the Clippers folded. The Rebels picked up centerdefenseman Pete Dunbar, waived by Greensboro, in search of additional muscle.&ldquo;I think it will pick up the whole team just to get Cammy and Claude back.&rdquo; cnul Needham &ldquo;You can see it in practice. I hey are working hard.&rdquo;Needham has accused his team ot waiting for Lapierre to return. Now that it is about to happen, the coach hopes he&rsquo;s been right. The slump for the Rebels is the team&rsquo;s deepest in six years. In the past five years. Roanoke Valley has finished first twice, second once and third twice. The fans have gotten hostile over the poor play, although they have still turned out in goodly numbers.GREENSBORO: The Generals established a new SHL scoring record in a 15-5 victory over Winston-Salem. The old record of 14 was set by Roanoke last year, also against the Polar Twins. The Generals, who have had the most impotent offense in the league, got hat tricks from veterans Wally Sprange and Rick Loe.Three Greensboro players. Wayne Zuk. Ed Johnstone and Barry Legge, hope that the shift of the Michigan Stags to Baltimore will help them. Zuk said that none of the trio had received any money from the Stags since November. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t Greensboro&rsquo;s fault.&rdquo; said Zuk. the leading Greensboro scorer. &ldquo;I know they made 15 or 20 calls to Michigan trying to get us some money, but there wasn&rsquo;t any. But we have never considered not playing.&rdquo;WINSTON-SALEM: In an &ldquo;economy&rdquo; move, the Twins gave administrative director Pat Shetler the ax. General manager Ed Timmermann. who also said that the team would raise ticket prices, said he hated to make the move. &ldquo;We are just trying to watch our expenses more closely.&rdquo; said Timmermann.&ldquo;This does not come from anything bad that Shetler has done for the club. We all appreciate the work and effort he has put in &mdash; the management, the fans and everybody.&rdquo; Shetler, a former NHL referee. took the decision calmly. &ldquo;We have the best and most vocal fans in the league.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just wish we had twice as many of them. I don&rsquo;t know what 1&rsquo;11 do. but I do know I&rsquo;ll be a Polar Twin fan.&rdquo;CHARLOTTE:Although the Checkers continue to hold a commanding lead, coach Pat Kelly has been unhappy with his team&rsquo;s recent play. In a 10-1 victory over Roanoke Valley, Kelly benched the SHL&rsquo;s leading scorer. Andre Deschamps. His linemate. Steve Hull, got four assists in that game and took over the scoring lead from Deschamps. 69-67. Deschamps has not been effective since the recall ot center Mike Hobin. Kelly moved defenseman Don Brennan into Deschamps&rsquo; left wing spot, and was instantly rewarded when Brennan scored a hat trick.HAMPTON: The first year Gulls continue to roll along, running their road win streak to five. Veteran Andre Gill became the league&rsquo;s leading goaltender with a 2.90 average and winger l.orne Rombough was challenging Deschamps for the goal scoring lead. Rombough. who delights in playing against Greensboro, has 37 goals, just two behind Deschamps. Rombough has 12&rsquo; goals in 12 games against the Generals and Hampton holds a 9-2-1 edge over Greensboro.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0283/3590038-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="547" height="823"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE HULL&hellip;Grabs Scoring Lead</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0040-01

Rebels’ Hopes Lie With Lapierre, Piche; Generals Set New SHL Scoring Record

<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0355/3590076-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="595" height="493"></div> &#9632;

f0040-03

SHL Leaders

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div>MONTREAL&mdash;Without the line of Richard Jarry. Jean Trottier and Michel Bossy heaven knows where the Laval Nationals would be.Not that they can go any lower in the West Division standings of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (they are currently in the basement) but at least there is a chance that they may catch the final playoff spot. The Nationals have I triggered the red lieht 243 times so far this season and over one-quarter of those goals have come off the stick of 18-year-old right winger Michel Bossy. Bossy&rsquo;s 63 goals lead the league and his point total of 108 is also tops in the QMJHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01116/3590107-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="286" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michel Bossy</figcaption></div>Being a prime candidate in the 1975 amateur draft as an underage junior. Bossy has already made up his mind as to whether he will pass up his remaining two years of junior eligibility.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll turn pro next year.&rdquo; says Bossy enthusiastically. &ldquo;I can gain more experience there because it&rsquo;s a better form of hockey.&ldquo;Money isn&rsquo;t the big part. It has been my dream to play professional hockey and if I&rsquo;m ready, why not.&rdquo;Bossy, who also plays the right point on the Nationals&rsquo; power play, says he would like to play &ldquo;in a place where I&rsquo;d get a regular shift and get good ideas from veterans who can teach.&ldquo;My goal at the beginning of this season was to score 100 goals but after missing several games due to injury I&rsquo;ve lowered it to 80 or 85.&rdquo;Jarry, the left winger of the high scoring trio, joined the club 15 games into the season and Trottier, the center, is only four points in back of Bossy for the scoring lead.&ldquo;Things are going really well.&rdquo; said Bossy in discussing his line&rsquo;s performance. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re my success.&rdquo;The Nationals are only six points back of fourth place Hull after last week&rsquo;s action which saw them win once in three outings. They defeated East Division leading Quebec 5-2 but dropped a 6-5 decision to Shawinigan and lost 10-4 to Hull.Bossy led win over Remparts with a hat trick, tallied twice in loss to the Festivals and once in a Shawinigan setback.It is beginning to look more and more that as goes Michel Bossy, so go the Laval Nationals.If he continues the torrid pace he is currently setting, his revised goal of 80-85 tallies may have to be returned to the original 100. or maybe even higher.SHERBROOKE: Beavers continue to ride high atop the West Division, seven points ahead of runner-up Cornwall with four games in hand.Two victories. 9-5 over Hull and 6-0 oagainst Shawinigan. left club with best defensive record in QMJHL. having allowed 152 goals in 44 games.CORNWALL: Following week which saw Royals win only once in three outings, club has slipped back of first place Sherbrooke and now must keep an eye on the pursuing Montreal team.Lone win was 5-2 decision over Trois-Rivieres while setbacks were in Montreal (9-3) and Sorel (5-1).MONTREAL: Juniors pulling away from fourth place Hull and making strong bid to overtake Cornwall for second spot following three wins and a tie in four games.Lopsided wins over Cornwall and Trois-Rivieres by identical scores of 9-3 along with 4-2 edging of Chicoutimi and 5-5 tie in Sorel set club on right foot for five-game road trip which could tell tale of their eventual success.HULL: Festivals, trying to keep pace with Montreal, picked up four of a possible six points. Victories were 7-3 over Sorel and 10-4 thumping of Laval while only defeat came in Sherbrooke. 9-5.QUEBEC: Remparts still struggling to retain top spot in Eastern Division with Trois-Rivieres making determined bid to overtake them.Club won only once in three starts, at home to Shawinigan (6-4). Losses were to Laval 5-2 and 5-4 to Trois-Rivieres.TROIS-RIVIERES: Although barely playing .500 hockey. Draveurs trail leading Quebec by mere three points.Dropped decisions to Cornwall (5-2) and Montreal (9-3) but came up with big effort to drop Remparts 5-4 in Quebec.CHICOUTIMI: Sagueneens retain solid hold on third spot following a tie, a win and a postponement.Sawoff came at home to Sorel (5-5), loss in Montreal 4-2 and postponement of home game scheduled for Jan. 29 with Sherbrooke.SOREL: Black Hawks still only three points in front of cellar-dwelling Shawinigan despite dropping just one decision. 7-3 in Hull, in four outings. Defeated Cornwall 5-1 and registered ties with Montreal and Chicoutimi by identical scores of 5-5.SHAWINIGAN: Dynamos edged Laval 6-5 but went on to drop two straight, 6-0 to Sherbrooke and 6-4 in Quebec.Jean Thibodeau counted hat trick in win over Nationals. &#9632;

f0041-01

Bossy Supplying Nationals’ Firepower

<div class="byline">BY BOB STRUMM</div>SASKATOON &mdash;When the Western Canada Hockey League voiced its intention to break from the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in mid-January. WCHL president Ed Chynoweth made a statement which came back to haunt him.We realize there is strength in unity.&rdquo; said Chynoweth at that time, in hopes that the Ontari Hockey Association Junior A League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League would follow the WCHL&rsquo;s footsteps away from the CAHA.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01116/3590138-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="280" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patty Ginnell</figcaption></div>Now Chynoweth has found himself with a one-man mutiny on his own ship, and it concerns Victoria coach-general manager-owner Patty Ginnell. The Victoria boss has taken exception to Chynoweth&rsquo;s harsh measures of levying fines and suspensions, and said so quite vociferously in public, with one or two threats attached.Chynoweth put his foot down heavily on a week of violence in the WCHL after brawls erupted in Winnipeg and Brandon on consecutive nights with both games involving the Cougars. After considering the game reports, Chynoweth took action.Two coaches, Murray MacPherson of Winnipeg Clubs and Ginnell, were suspended for three games each. But Ginnell was also fined $ 1,000 in what Chynoweth described as one of the stiffest fines ever handed out in the league.Chynoweth said Ginnell showed little or no control over his players in the back-to-back incidents, and also threatened to cancel a Cougar home game against Kamloops if the fine was not paid within a 72-hour period.Chynoweth also suspended Kim Clackson of Victoria for the next six games, three games for starting a fight in Winnipeg and a further three games for what Chynoweth called an unprovoked attack on a Brandon player at the faceoff circle immediately following a Brandon goal.Jerry Rollins of Winnipeg was suspended for three games for his part in the Winnipeg fight. Eric Sanderson of Victoria was suspended indefinitely for a match penalty in the Brandon game.Darryl Sutton of Winnipeg and Lorry Gloeckner of Victoria were suspended for one game because they left the bench to take part in a fight.The backlash was immediate. Ginnell said he would definitely not pay the fine. The game against Kamloops would go ahead as scheduled, orChynoweth would find himself &ldquo;slapped with a legal injunction&rdquo;.But Chynoweth stood firm. More important, he had the backing of the other 11 league governors who appeared concerned with Ginnell&rsquo;s apparent lack of respect for the league office.Eventually, Ginnell consented to pay the fine as well as sit out the suspension. But the fiery islander was not through in his verbal rebuttal to Chynoweth.&ldquo;What did Winnipeg and Brandon get in fines? Nothing. 1 guess our team must have been fighting with itself.&rdquo; said Ginnell.&ldquo;This is not a National League and a $ 1,000 fine is utterly ridiculous,&rdquo; added Ginnell.MacPherson took a more philosophical approach when consulted,&rdquo; I thought the dealings were a little stiff but then I don&rsquo;t have to do Chyno weth&rsquo;s job. I wouldn&rsquo;t take that job for all the money in the world because he has to deal with guys like me and Patty and Punch McLean.&ldquo;Ed obviously felt he had to clamp down and we were the bruntof it.&rdquo; added MacPherson. &ldquo;Personally. 1 think Ed does a helluva job. He keeps this league together.&rdquo;Chynoweth&rsquo;s line through it all was &ldquo;no comment&rdquo;. But between the lines, one gets the feeling &ldquo;you ain&rsquo;t seen nothin&rsquo; yet.&rdquo;SASKATOON: Blade captain Ralph Kalssen broke a Saskatoon career record for points when he notched his 264th in a 5-4 win over Lethbridge&hellip; The old record was 263 points held by Orest Kindrachuk. now with Philadelphia of the NHL&hellip; Kindrachuk managed his output in 164 games with the Blades while Klassen has played 291 games.LETHBRIDGE: Broncos were fortunate to land a young man named Jerry Bancks from Calgary&rsquo;s minor hockey system&hellip;Since joining Lethbridge a month into the season, Bancks has collected 23 goals and 44 points.REGINA: Dave Faulkner has been the most consistent Pat offensively this season while the output of others has tailed off considerably during the past month&hellip;Faulkner scored both goals, for instance, in a 2-1 win over Brandon&hellip; By contrast, Jim Minor has provided only one goal in his last seven games.BRANDON: Wheaties are still playing like two different teams, home and away&hellip;They have won only three times on the road in 24 tries&hellip;Goaltender Glen Hanlon made 44 saves but lost a 2-1 heartbreaker in Regina&hellip;Rookie Dan Bonar has put together a sevengame scoring string&hellip;He scored both goals in a 2-1 win over New Westminster.FLIN FLON: Bombers lifted their home record over .500 for the first time this year with a 7-3 win over Lethbridge&hellip;Little Rich Gosselin had two goals and three assists to raise his total to 31 goals and 43 assists&hellip;Coach Mel Pearson finally appears to have the club to make a run at a playoff spot but it might be too late.WINNIPEG: Clubs have now lost seven in a row and appear to be sinking from contention for the fourth and final playoff spot&hellip;Clubs have used 46 players this season, and their lineup is a constant guessing game.ICTORIA: The story off the island the past week was 16-year-old sensation Danny Lucas, who scored eight goals in three games including his first four-goal effort in the WCHL&hellip;Lucas lifted his totals to 41 goals, 41 assists and 82 points, fourth best in the WCHL.MEDICINE HAT: Tigers have won eight in a row&hellip;Experienced shooters Barry Dean and Greg Vaydik continue to hit their stride&hellip;Dean has 18 points in Tigers&rsquo; last four games while Vaydik has 20 points in the same span.KAMLOOPS: Defenseman Terry McDonald has gone on a scoring spree with five goals in Chiefs&rsquo; last two games &hellip; He scored three times in a 4-0 win over Calgary and twice in a 5-4 victory in Victoria, a big win for the Chiefs.NEW WESTMINSTER: Rookie defenseman Brad Maxwell has generally been overlooked in the Bruins lineup this season&hellip;But nobody could miss his two goals and three assists in a 6-3 win over Calgary.EDMONTON: Rocky Maze is enjoying a seven-game scoring streak for the Oil Kings after a slow start&hellip; He had two goals in a 7-7 tie with Lethbridge and a goal aniTan assist in a 5-4 win over Winnipeg.CALGARY: Cents have lost five in a row this time&hellip;Don Eastcott contributed his first two-goal game for Calgary but it wasn&rsquo;t enough as Cents lost 9-5 on the island. &#9632;

f0042-01

Chynoweth Slaps $1,000 Fine On Ginnell Following Week Of Violence In WCHL

<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0279/3590169-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="580" height="638"></div> &#9632;

f0042-02

WCHL Leaders

<div class="byline">BY JOHN ARNOLD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0352/3590200-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="773" height="1044"></div>SOLUTION IN FEBRUARY 21 ISSUE<h2>ACROSS</h2>1. Montreal rookie.6. Number worn by 29 across. (Rom. Numb.)7. An Atlanta forward, (inlt)9. Initials of a Chicago veteran.10. 1966-67 Conn Smythe trophy winner.13. Toronto coach answers to this.15. Number worn by Tom Bladon. (Rom. Numb)16.16th and 15th letters of the alphabet.17. Native province of Danny Grant, (abbr.)19. A Ranger right winger answers to this.22. Pittsburgh captain, (init)23. Doug Jarrett was born in this month, (abbr.)25. A New England forward.28. A Cleveland defenseman answers to this.29. One of the Leafs.30. Conjunction.31. One of the Kings, (init)32. A Washington forward, (init)33. Former Montreal coach.<h2>DOWN</h2>1. Coaches only Ontario team in QMJHL.2. Former defenseman Vasko, (init)3. First name of one of the Capitals.4. A Vancouver forward answers to this.5. One of the Habs. (init)8. Nickname of one of the Blues.11. 5th and 13th letters of the alphabet.12. Some players have one before a game.13. Colour man on NBC hockey telecasts.14. Stackhouse of Pittsburgh answers to this.18. Pictured Kansas City forward.20. Former Vancouver captain, (first name)21. One of the Toros answers to this.24. Plays defense for Vancouver in WHA.25. A Ranger defenseman.26. One of the Bruins answers to this.27. Initials of one of the Flames.31. An Injured Ranger, (init)<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1. UNGER.4. RON.7. LE.8. PETE.9. LIBETT.11. M.L.12. SASK.15. A.S.16. ERA.18. NOV.20. NON.21. N.A.23. EVE.24. SMITH.27. MARTY.29. J.P.30. S.O.31. BRENNEMAN.<h3>DOWN</h3>1. ULLMAN.2. NEILSON.3. EYES.4. R.E.5. OTT.6. N.E.8. PTS.10. T.A.13. KENNEDY.14. SANDERSON.17. R.O.19. VAN IMPE.22. ASH.25. T.A.26. H.R.28. TEE.29. J.R.30. S.A. &#9632;

f0042-03

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

St. Paul Ousts Fargo Kings From Second place in the Midwest Hockey League as the result of last week&rsquo;s action while the Minnesota Junior Stars lengthened their first place lead. This is the way it went last week in the MJ HL:ST. PAUL: Three big wins last week boosted he Vulcans back into second place in the MJHL. a position St. Paul relinquished to Fargo-Moorhead December 9. Right wing Hank Taylor of Berkeley. Calif., sparked the Vulcan offense to pick up goals and assists in three contests: he recorded his fifth hat trick of the season in the 5-3 victory over Austin. St. Paul&rsquo;s only disappointment was a 4-0 shutout by Minnesota. at Met Center. Mike Mielke burst onto the 20-goal plateau in the Vulcans last game with Austin. Mike&rsquo;s 20 goals and 18 assists put him in third place behind Taylor and Rick Pracht.MINNESOTA: Junior Stars&rsquo; goalie Chuck Holman of Edina West set a league record by shutting out the opposition for seven-plus consecutive periods, 141 minutes and 57 seconds, while recording back-to-back shutouts over St. Paul (4-0) and Fargo-Moorhead (9-0). In three games last week. Holman stopped 108 shots. Leading scorers for Minnesota were Mike Coffman of Richfield. who added seven points, and Jim Gliniany of Edison. Ken Shepherd of Breck and Greg Wymer of Chicago, with six points apiece.FARGO-MOORHEAID: Two 7-4 defeats by the St. Paul Vulcans and a 9-0 shutout by Minnesota cost the Sugar Kings second place. That&rsquo;s the bad news. The good news is that Fargo Moorhead has seven games in hand over St. Paul. Coach Bob Gernander sees the club&rsquo;s sparse schedule (only fourgames played between Dec. 15 and Jan. 20 and two games snowed-out) as a major factor in the Sugar Kings&rsquo; inability to catch fire after the World Tournament break. &ldquo;We re rusty and we need more work.&rdquo; Gernander said.ST. CLOUD: Like Fargo-Moorhead the Blues have enough games in hand, with only 29 contests played, to set up a good run at third place in the MJHL. Bernie Klemm of Chicago and Mike Hoberg of Fridley led Blues&rsquo; scoring in a trio of contests last week &mdash; a 5-2 victory over Austin and 5-3 defeats at the hands of Minnesota and St. Paul. Scott Owens of Madison. Wise., continues to turn in outstanding performances in the&rsquo;net for the Blues. Owens stopped 48 Austin shots, 30 St. Paul shots and 33 Minnesota shots.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0360/3590231-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="553" height="577"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE MIELKE&hellip; 20-Goal Mark</figcaption></div>AUSTIN: Just three points out of fourth place in the MJHL. Austin was set back by a pair of losses last week &mdash; a 5-2 defeat by St. Cloud and a 5-3 loss to St. Paul. Although the Mavericks outshot the Blues 50-35, Scott Owens&rsquo; hot goaltending subdued the Austin herd. &#9632;

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February 14, 1975

WHA Leaders

Lowly Maine Still Aiming For Playoffs; Syracuse Blazes Way Back To Top Perch

Barrie Co-Ops Off To Russia Thanks To ‘The Wrigley’

Unger Blues’ Only Player To Make All Star Game