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

March 28, 1975

The Hockey News March 28, 1975

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-16" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1621/3563546-1-eng-US/f0023-162.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0023-16

IN THIS ISSUE

NHL Team Rosters

<div class="byline">BY JOHN ARNOLD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0829/3564717-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="799" height="1061"></div><h2>Solution In April 4 Issue</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1. One of the Chicago Cougars.6. Denotes scoreless tie.7. 17 across used to play for this team.11. Every forward likes these.12. Winter sport.14. Pronoun.15. Friend (fr).16. Estimate Time of Arrival. (Abbr.)17. A Los Angeles forward, (init.)18. 5 down has only played for this team in the NHL.19. Former Chicago, Detroit and Pittsburgh goaltender.22. 9th and 12 letters of the alphabet.23. First name of 19 across.25. Worsley answers to this.27. Former NHL forward Ingarfield. (init.)28. A North Star forward (init.)29. Ex-Boston forward Nicknamed &ldquo;Woody&rdquo;<h3>DOWN</h3>1. Pictured player.2. 1972-73 Stanley Cup Champs3. The last time this team finished in 1st place was in 1962-19634. One of the Flyers answers to this5. An NHL center.8. 1st and 15th letters of the alphabet9. Wears No 10 for Montreal (init.)10. One of the Leafs (init.)13. Bill Goldsworthy was born here.17. Former NHL forward.19. First name of one of the Capitals.20. Running in this during the offseason could get a player in shape.21. A U.S. State (init.)24. First Aid26. Initials of former NHL forward Ubriaco.<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1. HOWE.4. OCT.7. A.Y.8. SHOT10. RATELLE.13. PASSPORT.15. RON17. RAN19. YEARS20. T. P.22. ONT.25 AHS.28. T.E.29. AL.30. TAYLOR.31. PAT.32. LEON33. GRAY.<h3>DOWN</h3>1. HARPER2. WATSON3. EYES4. OSLO.5. CHERRY.6. T.O.9. T.H.11. A.A.12. L.P14. TORONTO.16. N.S.18 ART.21. P.A.23. TERRY.24. HALL.26. STAN27. HAT31. P.O. &#9632;

f0037-08

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="cover" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover10/3564817-1-eng-US/cover2.jpg"></div>BOBBY ORRRUSHING TO SET NEW NHL SCORING RECORDS&mdash;Page 3NEW TWIST FOR AHL&rsquo;S 1975 CUP PLAYOFFS&mdash;Page 31GOALERS MAY STEAL &lsquo;HART&rsquo; VACHON, PARENT SEEN PRIME MVP CANDIDATES&mdash;Page 8PENGUINS&rsquo; PIERRE LAROUCHELEADS NHL&rsquo;S ROOKIE STARS&mdash;Page 17BERNIE PARENT Still Backbone Of NHL ChampsMICHIGAN TECH CROWNED NCAA CHAMPS&mdash;Page 35 &#9632;

cover

NHL-WHA SIGNING WAR SMOLDERS AGAIN—Page 2

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02149/3564513-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">It was Sport Celebrity Night again for the Kennebgoasis Lions Club of Saint John, N.B., as they held their annual outing which attracted such celebrities as Gordie Drillon, left, former NHL scoring star, who is shown with publisher Ken McKenzie of THE HOCKEY NEWS, as the two assist dinner chairman Doug Clark, right, with a young Lion, Donna Britt, who is busily seeking autographs. Clark did an outstanding job of conducting the gala sports event.</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Michigan Tech had to settle for being No. 2 to Minnesota throughout the 1974-75 Western Collegiate Hockey Association race but when the marbles were on the line for the biggest college prize of all&mdash;the NCAA championship&mdash;the Huskies were there to take it all from the Gophers.Michigan Tech emerged as the 1975 NCAA titleholders by defeating Minnesota 6-1 dethroning the Gophers, who went all the way last season to bring the title back to the WCHA. The high-scoring Huskies, who led the league this season with 181 goals scored in a 32-game schedule in which they finished 22-10 as compared to 24-8 for Minnesota, merely carried their scheduleclosing momentum into the NCAA playdowns to topple Minnesota.In the season schedule finale, the Huskies romped over Minnesota twice 7-0 and 5-4 to give a pretty good indication they were going to be the team to beat in the NCAA tournament.It was an all WCHA final with neither Boston University nor Harvard getting a look for the collegiate championship game. Both teams were beaten by their WCHA rivals. Boston won the consolation final by walloping Harvard 10-5.Meanwhile, on the Canadian side of the border. University of Alberta Golden Bears breezed to the Canadian college hockey championship by beating Toronto University Blues twice, 5-0 and 5-2, in a best-of-three final series.The Blues had won the second game of the series 3-2 after Alberta grabbed the opener 5-2 to deadlock the series at 1-1. But Clare Drake&rsquo;s Alberta skaters were superior in the showdown game played before 3,000 fans in Edmonton. Star of the series for the Bears was goaler Dale Henwood, who was chosen MVP during the title series. &#9632;

f0035-02

Michigan Tech Captures NCAA Title From Gophers; Alberta Canadian Champs

NEW YORK&mdash;The fires of unrest are being rekindled between the National Hockey League and the rival World Hockey Association again and it all centers around that old bugaboo&mdash;signing of underage junior stars.The newest outburst came last week when NHL president Clarence Campbell in effect warned the WHA to keep hands off the prized under-20 prospects until they have graduated from junior hockey.Campbell said the NHL would not stand aside and allow the WHA to steal the 18-ycar-old ice phenoms from under their roses. He said the NHL would not honor their agreement with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association if the WHA continued to ignore such agreements.Toronto Toros&rsquo; owner John Bassett Jr., raised a giant-sized furor last month when he announced that he had signed 18-year-old Toronto Marlboros&rsquo; star Mark Napier to a three-year contract reportedly in the $200,000 range. The NHL bristled at the news.&ldquo;If that kind of situation cannot be halted and if there is not a suitable redress of that kind of situation, then there is no way in which the NHL will restrict its own activities,&rdquo; commented Campbell.The NHL chief executive also said his league had no intention of paying for players if the situation continues to be flagrantly ignored by all parties concerned. The NHL will simply abstain from making any agreements with anyone Campbell said.Meanwhile, the possibility of another junior player signing war between the rival leagues, tended to overshadow the announcement by the NHL that it had granted Denver a conditional franchise for next season.Campbell declared that the NHL did not make a similar offer to Seattle for 1975-76 but expressed the hope that the city would be ready to meet the requirements for the next league expansion in 1976-77.It appears that Denver will enter the Adams Division of the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and California Seals although there is a distinct possibility the new NHL team could replace the Seals, who are presently operating under league ownership.Should the Seals be sold to one of two groups bidding for the club, the Denver club would be stocked with players by a special expansion draft to be held June 17 at the summer meetings in Montreal. Denver interests have expressed a hope they could start with a viable team rather than an expansion lineup.A final decision on the Seals must be made by May 1. Campbell admitted that liquidation of the California franchise is a possibility. Presently, two groups, one headed by San Francisco realtor Mel Swig and the other by former New York Knickerbocker player Bud Palmer, are seeking the franchise from the NHL.The NHL also turned down a request by the Pittsburgh Penguins for increased financial assistance. The league informed club owner Tad Potter that the Penguins will be on their own from now on. Potter has been scurrying about the country trying to raise new investment money to keep the Penguins afloat in the league. &#9632;

Underage Signing War Smolders Again As NHL Warns WHA On New Agreement

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01883/3562436-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Red Berenson is one of nine new faces that have lifted St. Louis Blues back into the NHL&rsquo;s playoff picture. For details see page 11.</figcaption></div><h2>PLAYER BIDDING ON WANE</h2>NEW YORK&mdash;There will be a decline in the demand for players next season in major league hockey which will contribute to a minimization of the salary war between the NHL and WHA.That&rsquo;s the word from NHL president Clarence Campbell who said he expects to see a diminishing of inter-league deals while predicting that the demand for players will decrease thus eliminating competitive biddingand to allow a tapering off of the high salaries that are casting such a financial gloom over both the NHL and WHA.<h2>BOOMER GETS NEW JOB</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Bernie Geoffrion, has returned to the site of his playing days but instead of negotiating opposing defensemen he&rsquo;ll be dealing with players who are negotiating contracts.Geoffrion, who resigned as coach of the Atlanta Flames earlier in the season, is returning to Montreal where he&rsquo;s to become president of Pro-Am Sports consultats (1975) Ltd. The new firm, formed by player agents Dave Schatia, and Larry Sazant, handles roughly 200 athletes, including hockey stars as Richard Martin, Rene Robert, Jim Schoenfeld, Larry Robinson, Yvon Lambert and baseball&rsquo;s Ferguson Jenkins.<h2>TRADE BAN REJECTED</h2>BUFFALO&mdash;No lawsuit is going to keep Brian Spencer tied to the Buffalo Sabres. Spencer is being sued by Mr and Mrs. Patrick Booker of suburban East Aurora for $175,000 on charges that Spencer punched Booker and threw him across an automobile after their cars had collided last Nov. 1.The Bookers wanted a tradebanplaced placed on the scrappy Sabre contending that if he were traded to another club it would be difficult to collect any money awarded in the suit. Justice Joseph J. Ricotta of state supreme court had imposed a temporary ban against Spencer being traded but rejected the Bookers&rsquo;plea to keep the order in effect noting that the trade deadline had already passed.<h2>BOX OFFICE BATTLE</h2>ST. PAUL&mdash;The World Hockey Association&rsquo;s Minnesota Fighting Saints pin a large amount of their success at the box office on the nose dive of their Twin Cities rivals, the National Hockey League&rsquo;s North Stars.Fighting Saints&rsquo;president Ivan Belisle says his WHA franchise wouldn&rsquo;t have gotten off the ground had it not been for the poor showing of the North Stars over the past two seasons.Belisle claims that North Star fans were disgruntled with the type of play they were paying to see and decided to give the WHA a look-see and were surprised with the calibre of entertainment provided.North Stars&rsquo;president Walter Bush and Belisle both agree that whoever has the winning club is going to attract the Minnesota hockey fans. &#9632;

f0002-01

Deadline Stoppers

<div class="byline">BY JACK MCCARTHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01888/3562467-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY ORR&hellip;NHL&rsquo;s Best Rushing Defenseman Of All Time</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;The guy goes on and on. and then you look up one day and he is in his ninth season, and one night he whips one in from the blueline at Boston Garden against Atlanta and it&rsquo;s announced. &ldquo;Bobby Orr&rsquo;s goal was his 38th of the season, breaking his own record for most goals by an NHL defenseman for one season&hellip;&rdquo;Boston Garden goes bananas, and Orr stands at the bench and acknowledges the applause. When the game is over, he has the goal and three assists to go with it, and a career total of 852 points. No defenseman with the exception of Red Kelly has ever come close to that. Red in 20 NHL seasons, had 823 points, but he spent some time as a forward. He was. of course, the rushing defenseman of his day. and a super player.Orr had scored 37 goals in successive seasons in 1970-71 and 1971-72. This season, he matched his own mark with a 140-foot loft into an empty net against Atlanta on March 7. and set the record again against Atlanta, on March 9 with his slapshot from the blueline.At that point, he led teammate Phil Esposito by 118-115 points in the race for the scoring title and the Art Ross Trophy. He had led the NHL in scoring in 1969-70 with 33 goals and 87 assists for 120 points. This will be the sixth straight season in which he has scored over 100 points.In case, by this time, there are any Orr doubters left in the hockey world, a sit-down with the NHL press guide will open their eyes fast. Orr is splattered all over the record section, and one item is especially interesting. Going into this season, his assist percentage-number of assists per games played&mdash;is an astonishing. 965, or 522 in 541 games played at the beginning of this season.When he first came to Boston with his &ldquo;butch&rdquo; haircut and his fantastic reputation as a junior player, great things were expected from him. Now, nine years and several knee operations later, he is still the man that leads the Bruins and if he keeps going for any length of time, he will &ldquo;own&rdquo; the record book.Orr. at this writing, had 251 career goals, and 602 assists.With Orr pounding the puck as the playoffs draw near, coach Don Cherry is feeling a mite better, and he also is buoyed by the recent play of goaler Gilles Gilbert. &ldquo;Gillie&rsquo;&rsquo;, after a bad spell, came back strongly with a stretch of seven wins in nine games, and in the last six of those he only yielded 12 goals for a flat 2.00 goals-against average.&ldquo;Gilbert is giving us the goaltending and its coming at just the right time.&rdquo; said Cherry.Although there seemed very little hope for Boston in the race for first place in the Adams Division, the Bruins are interested in putting as many points as they can on the board. The Bruins were second to Los Angeles in to points and that could mean St. Loui Toronto in the first round of then fangled best-of-three first round of Stanley Cup playoffs.Said Cherry, &ldquo;That first round tricky. If you run into a hot goalie could be goodbye quick.&rdquo; Which course, is one reason he is pleased the good stretch of games by GilbeWhile the Bruins had picked up their play, going six games without defeat at one stretch, and Cherry giving people ice time in preparation the playoffs, the line of Andre Sava Terry O&rsquo;Reilly and Don Marcotter nited once again, was going on a tea its own.Broken up at various times due injuries, notably Wayne Cashma operation, the &ldquo;Hustle Line&rdquo; is bac action again, and is showing what di and desire can do.Says Cherry, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d hate to be play defense against that line. If one&rsquo;s no the puck, the other is. And. I would want to go into the corners with No either. (O&rsquo;Reilly)&rdquo;BRUINS NOTES: In the March 9 over Atlanta, the score was 5-2, w the last two Boston goals coming fr Gregg Sheppard, both into an empty in the last seconds. The Flames had out a sixth skater for goaler Dat Bouchard when Sheppard stole puck from Tom Lysiak and scored i the empty net. That was the game c cher but on a faceoff with Bryan H tall. Sheppard drew the puck back Orr. Bobby passed it back to Shep, w had been hit and was falling to the i He swept the puck up with a backh der and it sailed 140 feet into the em net a second before the buzzer so ded.Said Harry Sinden. Bruins&rsquo; C &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a new one for me in this leag&mdash;two shorthanded goals into an em net by the same player.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0003-01

REWRITING NHL RECORD BOOK AS GREATEST SCORING DEFENSEMAI WITH 251 GOALS, 602 ASSISTS…

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div>In Mike Nykoluk&rsquo;s first year as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers they reached the Stanley Cup semi-finals for the first time. A year later they won the cherished Cup.As his third season nears conclusion. Nykoluk, the first man hired byan NHL club exclusively as an assitant coach, has again been instrumental in the Flyers&rsquo; successful season. Head coach Fred Shero insists he and Nykoluk are &ldquo;co-coaches&rdquo;. Shero wouldn&rsquo;t accept his All Star game coaching honor unless Nykoluk could accompany him. (Nykoluk did. their team was trounced. 7-1, and he&rsquo;s still reminded he&rsquo;s the only assistant coach around with an 0-1 All Star coaching record.)The cigar-smoking Nykoluk receives major credit for polishing the offensive skills of such superb talents as Bill Barber, Rick MacLeish and Regie Leach. The long-time Hershey Bears&rsquo; center has also helped a player like Dave Schultz develop his limited skills.The puzzling questions then is, why hasn&rsquo;t Nykoluk been approched by another NHL club seeking a competent head coach? Nykoluk, 40, insists he has never been contacted by another team, not even Washington or Kansas City.Maybe prospective employers figure Nykoluk isn&rsquo;t interested in abandoning the security and playoff bonuses of Philadelphia for the headaches and increased responsability of a head coach&rsquo;s job. Still, you&rsquo;d expect some NHL owner would thin. &ldquo;Hmmm, this Nykoluk has been around Fred Shero for three years. Something had to rub off.&rdquo;Nykoluk admits his association with Shero has been beneficial.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve learned a lot from Fred, it&rsquo;s been a great experience. Maybe he&rsquo;s learned something from me. too.&rdquo;Nykoluk, whose only NHL playing experience was 32 games with Toronto in 1956-57, then makes it clear he isn&rsquo;t preparing resumes touting his coaching qualifications.&ldquo;Keith (Allen) has said he&rsquo;d never hold me back if something came along. If the right thing came along 1 would try it, but I&rsquo;ve told Keith if they want me to stay here I&rsquo;ll stay.&rdquo;The year Nykoluk retired as a player was the same time Shero received approval to hire an assistant. Shero&rsquo;s first choice was Jerry Desaulniers, who had appeared briefly with Montreal in the early Fifties and later played for Shero at Shawinigan.When Desaulniers was unable to join his former coach. Nykoluk was suggested to Shero. The Flyers&rsquo; coach respected Nykoluk&rsquo;s knowledge and he was hired.Their relationaship has been smooth. They are rarely together away from the ice. but Shero spends little time with anyone socially.&ldquo;Fred&rsquo;s aloner,&rdquo; observes Nykoluk. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m the type of personality who can go with anyone.&rdquo;Shero relies on Nykoluk&rsquo;s advice at practice and between periods of games. While seeing Nykoluk leave would disappoint Shero, he would offer this recommendation:&ldquo;Mike has to know more about coaching than someone who comes directly from the playing ranks. Mike&rsquo;s had time to think about the game.&rdquo;Presumably, other NHL clubs have had time to think about Nykoluk&rsquo;s coaching ability. Stay tuned.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01842/3562498-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="568" height="591"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE NYKOLUK&hellip;Never Been Approached</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0005-01

Nykoluk Might Answer If Dial-A-Coach Rings

The Tam O&rsquo;Shanter Hockey Coaches Symposium will open July 27 and not July 22 as published in THE HOCKEY NEW&rsquo;S last week.The one-week symposium will be held at Albert College in Belleville, Ont. from July 27 to Aug. 2 under the direction of the Tam O&rsquo;Shanter Hockey School. Further information on the school can be obtained by writing Tam O&rsquo;Shanter Hockey School, 107 Quebec Street, Suite 6, Guelph, Ont. or phone 519-821-4262. &#9632;

Tam Coaches Symposium Opens July 27

<div class="byline">BY JACK BERRY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01971/3562560-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="563" height="607"><figcaption class="caption-body">MILE BLOOM&hellip;Former No.1 Draft</figcaption></div>DETROIT&mdash;Alex Delvecchio isn&rsquo;t doing it with the flourish of Ned Harkness but the Detroit Red Wing general manager certainly is changing the roster.The Red Wings are getting bigger and younger and, hopefully, in the future they&rsquo;ll be better, too.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02758/3562553-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="286" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Lochead</figcaption></div>Delvecchio beat the trading deadline for his most recent move, acquiring a former No. I amateur draft choice of the Boston Bruins, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 205-pound left wing Mike Bloom from the Washington Capitals in exchange for center Blair Stewart.Bloom arrived not too long after 6&rsquo;3&rdquo; Walt McKechnie and McKechnie was acquired around the time 64&rdquo;. 220-pound right wing Mike Korney was called up.Earlier in the season Delvecchio obtained 6&rsquo;. I90-pound Larry Giroux, a defenseman. from Kansas City. Actually, Giroux, with his blown-out hairstyle. looks about as tall as Korney. Bloom and McKechnie.The new players, coupled with the continued excellence and excitement of captain Marcel Dionne and the goal scoring of Danny Grant, are giving the Red Wings more verve in the closing weeks of the club&rsquo;s season.And. call it the salary drive or whatever. the Wings are showing some improvement. There still is that marked defensive deficiency, however, and while Delvecchio has been an active trader, he hasn&rsquo;t improved the defense to a point where it can come up with the consistency necessary to make the team a winner.Delvecchio tried to deal for a defenseman up to the trading deadline but wasn&rsquo;t successful.In acquiring Bloom from Washington&mdash;the Bruins&rsquo; first choice in the 1972 draft&mdash;Delvecchio got a man he&rsquo;d been trying to get season-long.Delvecchio dealt before with Washington but instead of getting Bloom, he traded defenseman Jack Lynch for left wing Dave Kryskow.Some of Delvecchio&rsquo;s dealings have left the fans puzzling, however. Kryskow hasn&rsquo;t been used that much since being traded for Lynch, who was a regular. Brian McCutcheon, called up last month, has spent most of his time on the bench.And Bill Lochead, the club&rsquo;s first choice in the amateur draft last summer who got off to a fast scoring start, has been used sparingly.Delvecchio moved Lochead, a right hand shot, back to left wing which was his position as a high scoring junior but he isn&rsquo;t getting much ice time. The regular left wing lineup now is Grant, Bloom and Nick Libett.And there still is a good chance that Danny Gruen will jump back from the World Hockey Association this summer.While Delvecchio shuffles players, looking for a combination to build the team on. Dionne continues his rewrite of the Red Wing record book, a book that originally was written by Gordie Howe.Dionne broke Howe&rsquo;s single season assist record of 59 and broke Howe&rsquo;s season point total of IO3&hellip;with a dozen games left.Dionne also was one goal shy of tying the NHL record for shorthanded goals shared by Toronto&rsquo;s Dave Keon and Buffalo&rsquo;s Don Luce&mdash;eight.He could&rsquo;ve tied it easily in a game against the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum when Detroit was shorthanded, leading 4-3, and Long Island pulled goalie Billy Smith in the final minute.Dionne had the puck at the right boards at center ice and had a clear shot at the net but instead he passed over to Grant on the left boards.Ironically, Grant had trouble knocking down the pass and controlled it just in time to catch the empty net. &ldquo;I was going to pass it back to Beaver but I didn&rsquo;t have time,&rdquo; Grant said.The goal was Grant&rsquo;s 42nd of the season&hellip;and his first shorthanded goal.Dionne, with 39 goals, has an outside shot at 50, along with Grant, but it&rsquo;s a bittersweet feeling because the club isn&rsquo;t making the playoffs. It was the same with Howe&rsquo;s top point and assist year, 1968-69; the club didn&rsquo;t make it then, either.The only 50-goal scorer in Detroit history, Mickey Redmond, was expected to try his &ldquo;new&rdquo; back starting March 20 when the Wings returned from a five-game journey.Redmond underwent surgery for a ruptured disc in December and said he wants to get in some games before the season ends so that he doesn&rsquo;t spend all summer wondering about the back. &#9632;

f0006-01

Red Wings Getting Bigger, Younger; Dionne Breaks Howe’s Club Records

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>VANCOUVER&mdash;Gerry Meehan, forward, traded to Atlanta in exchange for Bob Murray, defenseman.N.Y. RANGERS&mdash;Marty Gateman, defenseman. recalled from Providence of AHL as emergency replacement for Ron Harris, defenseman. who returned to disabled list with charley horse. Joe Zanussi, defenseman. returned to Providence.KANSAS CITY&mdash;Bryan Lefley, defenseman. assigned to Providence of AHL.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Jim McCrimmon, defenseman. jumped Edmonton of WHA to sign NHL contract with Blues, who purchased his NHL rights from Los Angeles.<h2>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</h2>BALTIMORE&mdash;Arnie Brown, defenseman. sold outright to Vancouver of WHA. Billy Goldthorpe, forward, placed on suspended list by club. Fred Speck and Craig Reichmuth, forwards, assigned to Syracuse of NAHL. Jerry Zyrmiak, defenseman. sent to Greensboro of SHL.VANCOUVER&mdash;Peter Donnelly, goalkeeper, recalled from Tulsa of CHL for two games and later returned.TORONTO&mdash;Paul Henderson, forward, placed on disabled list for rest of season after undergoing knee surgery.CHICAGO&mdash;Rich Coutu, goalkeeper, recalled from Long Island of NAHL.QUEBEC&mdash;Fran&ccedil;ois Lacombe, defenseman. recalled from Mame of NAHL. Al Globensky, defenseman. returned to Maine after completing five-game pro trial.INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Ron Walters, forward, sent to Minnesota to complete earlier trade that brought Murray Heatley, forward, to the Racers.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>SEATTLE&mdash;Art Jones, forward, signed as free agent after completing five-game pro trial. Jim Wiley, forward, placed on disabled list for rest of season with torn knee ligaments.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>Providence&mdash;Bob Craig, defenseman. recalled from Port Huron of IHL. Larry O&rsquo;Connor, defenseman, placed on disabled list for four weeks with pulled ligaments in knee. Jerry Holland, forward, placed on disabled list indefinitely after undegoing surgery for fractured cheek.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>FORT WAYNE&mdash;Tom Thomson, defenseman, sent to Cape Codders of NAHL. Yves Bernier, forward, left team to return home.TOLEDO&mdash;Paul Tantardini, defenseman. placed on disabled list for rest of season with injury. Willie Trognitz, forward, left tea, after behing fined $50 by club. Pierre Leblanc, forward, secured from Kalamazoo of IHL.MUSKEGON&mdash;Gary Ford, forward, placed on disabled list for rest of season with knee injury.COLUMBUS&mdash;Elgin McCann, forward, sent to Ka-lamazoo. Marty Reynolds, forward, placed on disabled list indefinitely with injury.KALAMAZOO&mdash;Doug Boxer, forward, released to join U.S. National Team for forthcoming World Tournament. Charlie Labelle, Yvon Pouliot and Gene Motuzas, forwards, released. &#9632;

Movements of Players

<div class="byline">&#x2014;By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01960/3562636-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="299" height="362"></div>THE MOST VALUABLE PLAYER in any sport in any season has to have contributed an enormous amount to his team&rsquo;s success. There are fewer real candidates for the Hart Trophy in the National Hockey League this season than usual because of circumstances. Many top performers have been hurt. Some hot players have played on cold teams. Two seem to stand out. They are Rogatien Rosaire Vachon of the Los Angeles Kings and Bernard Marcel Parent of the Philadelphia Flyers. There are others, but these two seem to be the standouts.There are similarities. Both are chunky French-Canadians who were cast off by established teams to expansionists, but have long ago become an embarrassment to the clubs which let them go. Both are goaltenders. Goalers seldom win this award, which reflects poorly on it for they are the guts of this game. Some of our greatest goalies never won this award&mdash;Bill Durnan, Turk Broda, Frankie Brimsek, Terry Sawchuk, Glenn Hall. Only four have won it&mdash;Roy Worters, Chuck Rayner, Al Rollins and Jacques Plante. Only two have won it in the last 20 years. No goaler has gained the honor since Plante in 1962. But it is time now for one to win it.Vachon and Parent have been the most publicized players in the league this season. Vachon was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Parent on the front of Time Magazine. Which has been better? That is the hard decision demanded of the voters. Parent helped push Philly to the top last season, but Vachon has made a miracle in L.A. Currently, they are in close contention for goal-stopping honors, their teams in tight in the race for the Vezina Trophy. But the Vezina is a team trophy, so the winner will not automatically have been the better goaler or done more for his side. The voters may wish to consider which gets the most support&mdash;Parent with the Flyers or Vachon with the Kings.Complicating Parent&rsquo;s position is the fact that most people consider captain Bobby Clarke, the 1973 NHL MVP, the dominant performer on the Flyers, while there can be little argument about Vachon being the backbone of the Kings. Around him. coach Bob Pulford has built a well-balanced, close-checking club which has made the most of modest talent. It has such developing stars as Butch Goring and Bob Murdoch, but the players themselves say this team has only one super star. As one put it, &ldquo;The guy between the pipes is our big guy.&rsquo;&rsquo; Another says, &ldquo;Without him, we would be in the basement.&rdquo;With him, the Kings are contending for championships, the most surprising team in the sport. Chewing gum behind his mask, roaming restlessly around the four-by-six goal he guards, darting and diving, the incredibly-quick little guy has been worth at least a goal a game, without which the Kings would be fighting for a playoff position, not for first place. He has not done it alone. He has had help from his team&rsquo;s backchecking style. And he has had help from backup Gary Edwards, who, working in relief to rest Rogie, has put together one of the great records of the season. But Rogie has done more than anyone else.OFF THE ICE, a Cuban cigar projecting from beneath his bushy moustache, the long-haired, darkeyed competitor does not seem to suffer from the strain of playing the most demanding position in sports, a position that has bent the minds and broken the spirits of some. He is not only that rare athlete who will admit to giving up a bad goal or playing a bad game, he is able to take credit for making a good save or playing a good game without seeming immodest. He always is agreeable.&ldquo;I am playing at my peak,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I played well here when we were a bad team, but I am playing better now that we are a good team. I know a goaltender gets blamed for the bad ones, but he gets the credit for the good ones, too, no? I do the best I can and it has been pretty good lately, no? I think the big thing with me is 1 am mature now. 1 used to goof off and let a bad goal go by once in a while, but now I do not give up many bad goals. If I give up a goal and it&rsquo;s a good one. I can live with it. I eat good. I sleep good. I am not a worrier. If I was different, I would die. Playing goal can kill a guy.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02861/3562629-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="855" height="629"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jacques Plante was last goaler to win Hart Trophy back in 1962 season.</figcaption></div>His beautiful, tiny wife, Nicole, worries he relaxes too well away from the rink. &ldquo;Sometimes I think he does not take himself seriously enough,&rdquo; she has said. He watches TV, takes a nap and goes to games as if he was going to an office. On off-nights at home, they go to movies or eat in Mexican restaurants. He would spend most of his off-days at the race-track betting on horses if she did not lobby against it. &ldquo;Money has no meaning to him. but I am too cheap to let him throw it away,&rdquo; she says.Nevertheless, this season he did spend part of his $150,000 salary on an $18,000 Mercedes Benz. Still, he has not succumbed to the southern California sun. They live in a small apartment with rented furniture near the beach inseason, but return after the season to Montreal to live in the new 10-room suburban home they purchased last summer. He says, &ldquo;We live the good life, but we do not go too far with it.&rdquo;A lot of their life centers around their family. Nicole was Rogie&rsquo;s girl friend in Montreal. He missed her when he landed in Los Angeles, sent for her and married her. They have a two-year-old son, Nicholas, and are completing adoption proceedings for a four-month-old Vietnamese girl, Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, who has been transferred from an orphanage to a nursery in Saigon and is expected in the Vachon home this summer.&ldquo;So many good things have happened to us, it&rsquo;s time we did something good for someone else,&rdquo; Rogie says.The best thing that ever happened to him may have been when he was traded from Montreal. This is his 10th season as a professional and eighth in the majors. He played five years for the Canadiens, helped them win a Stanley Cup one year and shared a Vezina Trophy. But he was benched when Ken Dryden arrived. Ken was bigger and younger but not better. His regular-season stats have been about the same as Rogie&rsquo;s and although he got glamourous during a dramatic debut in the playoffs, his playoff figures are not as good as Rogie&rsquo;s. In fact, Vachon&rsquo;s playoff average is the best of any active goaler in hockey.EVEN MONTREAL makes mistakes and they made one on Vachon, who at 29 may have become the best in the business. At the mid-season All Star game in Montreal, the fans there cheered Vachon and booed Dryden. Rogie refused to make much of it. He knows how fans are. He has been cheered by fans in Los Angeles all season, but he has been in a bit of a slump lately and was booed for a bad game the other night. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll bounce back,&rdquo; he shrugged afterwards, a gutty little guy who has been as valuable to his team as any player in the game in recent seasons.Parent knows what it is to be booed, too. Two years ago, when he jumped the NHL for the WHA and then jumped back to the NHL, he was jeered in Philadelphia. But when he won the Vezina Trophy and helped the Flyers capture the Stanley Cup he was cheered as a hero. &ldquo;You go bad, you get booed. You go good, you get cheered.&rdquo; he shrugs. &ldquo;The only problem is the fans don&rsquo;t always know when you go good or bad or your team does. I&rsquo;ll take whatever comes. It comes with the job.&rdquo; He is a craftsman, a 30-year-old, ten-year pro who has done an awesome job for the Flyers for five seasons, on and off.Montreal got three players for Vachon, but none remain in the majors. Boston got nothing for Parent, who was exposed to the expansion draft. He had his problems in Philadelphia for awhile, but was stunned by a trade to Toronto and succumbed to a big money bid to make the move to the WHA. When he moved back in the middle of the playoffs he deservedly drew criticism, but he seems to have settled down now. He seems content back in Philly with his $150,000 salary, a $100,000 suburban home for his wife, Carol, and three children, and a big boat on the ocean. Unlike Vachon, Bernie prefers living in the U.S.At times, he can&rsquo;t seem to make up his mind about how to live his life, however he grows a moustache and shaves it off. He is more introverted than Vachon, but at times flashes a pixiesh sense of humor. He is a different sort of netminder, relying less on relfexes than on playing his position properly. He is less spectacular, but equally effective. Unlike Vachon, Parent says he feels fear out there sometimes. &ldquo;I pray to God I don&rsquo;t get killed at times,&rdquo; he confesses. He gets a lot of help from his hard-hitting teammates, who rough up foes in front of him. But. while it is a team game, it usually comes down to a shooter against a goaler. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s me against him, and I hate to lose,&rdquo; he says. He does not often lose.Bernie Parent and Rogie Vachon have both helped make winners out of losers, which is what the most valuable player prize is all about.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03721/3562622-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="1079" height="1603"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROGATIEN VACHON&hellip;Done More For The Kings</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04446/3562615-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="1070" height="1603"><figcaption class="caption-body">BERNIE PARENT&hellip;Backbone Of The Flyers</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY BILL MAKI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01930/3562698-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">&ldquo;I See You&rsquo;re Playing Your Regular Position&hellip;Horizontal!&rdquo;</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-01

CARTOON CORNER

<div class="byline">BY DEREK COOPER</div>OAKLAND&mdash;It was Saturday, March 8, While the rest of the hemisphere suffered through late winter snowstorms and last minute rains, the Bay Area was bathed in sunshine and the temperature stood at an ideal 65 degrees.Everyone, it seemed, was outdoors. It was a day dedicated to sun worshipping, girl watching, or elbow bending at one of the sunny outdoor cafes in Sausalito where you have a perfect view of the sailboats bobbing up and down in choppy San Francisco Bay.There was no practice for the California Golden Seals that day and many of the players made the most of their free time&mdash;heading for the golf and tennis courts, touring the wine country, or just going for a drive down through Monterey.What then, was Seals&rsquo; rookie center Larry Patey doing inside an airless, dimly lit gym, riding a stationary bicycle?It certainly wasn&rsquo;t an aversion to the California climate. A dedicated outdoorsman. Patey has his private pilot&rsquo;s license, loves to cruise down the coast in his Corvette, and is a common frequenter of the links. And it wasn&rsquo;t a case of crash dieting since there is absolutely no fat on his lanky 6-1, 180-pound frame.&ldquo;I was in a mental rut,&rdquo; says Patey in explanation of his self-imposed exercise session. &ldquo;I figured that a little work during a day off might snap me out of it, help me get my enthusiasm back.&rdquo;A lot of first year men in the NHL would love to be in Patey&rsquo;s &ldquo;rut&rdquo;. He had already hit for 16 goals and 19 assists and was among the top rookie scorers in the NHL. His all-around play was well known throughout the league. And yet there he was, the sweat pouring down his face, red hair hanging in his eyes.Twenty-four hours later Patey&rsquo;s face still dripped perspiration, but it was overshadowed by an ear-to-ear grin. He had just scored three goals, the Seals&rsquo; first hat trick of the season, in leading California to a 4-2 win over the red hot Islanders.&ldquo;Did I want that third goal? Did 1 ever!&rdquo; laughed Patey, answering his own question. &ldquo;This is the way I should be playing,&rdquo; he continued in a relieved voice. &ldquo;This is what I can do.&rdquo;And two nights later Patey did it again, scoring two more goals against Buffalo. His five goals in two games gave him 21 goals on the year and propelled him to the top of the Seals&rsquo; scoring parade with 40 points.After nearly a full season in the NHL, Larry Patey is sure of two things&mdash;that he can play in the league and that he can score goals. Recently, however, he hadn&rsquo;t been doing a great deal of either and it was upsetting him.It started when Patey sustained a mild concussion and was forced to sit out one game. At the time he was the Seals&rsquo; number two center and, along with linemates Al MacAdam and John Stewart, was scoring with increasing regularity.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02824/3562667-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="557" height="569"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARRY PATEY&hellip;Hottest On Club</figcaption></div>He came back after his one game absence and inexplicably found himself as the team&rsquo;s fourth line center and sometime penalty killer. The 22-year-old Patey found it particularly hard to accept the totally unexpected demotion and his game suffered because of it.&ldquo;I sulked for about two weeks,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;But then I realized that I was just hurting myself if I didn&rsquo;t try my hardest. For a while I had given up all hope of scoring 20 goals, but then at one point I just made up my mind to go out and do it.So despite his limited ice time and the fact that his linemates were two converted centers, Patey began to make his presence felt. The goals and assists started to come. The line was promoted to number three and took a regular shift.It got to the point where Patey&rsquo;s line actually became the most productive on the Seals, highlighted by the Islander and Buffalo games where it was responsible for 11 of the team&rsquo;s 16 points.And Larry Patey, once again playing and scoring, does not expect to miss any more of those beautiful California Saturdays.SEALS&rsquo; NOTES: Rookie left wing Dave Hrechkosy, with five game-winning goals, needs one more gamewinner to establish a new club record. Currenlty, Hrechkosy shares the club record with Mike Laughton, who hit for five game&mdash;winners in 1968-69. &ldquo;The Wrecker&rdquo; is still battling Atlanta&rsquo;s Eric Vail in the NHL rookie goal scoring race. &#9632;

f0009-02

Patey Snaps Out Of Rut To Again Pace Seals’ Offense

<div class="byline">BY HAL SIGURDSON</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Perhaps the reason why Garry Monahan&rsquo;s hockey skills so frequently go unappreciated is that we live in a society geared to workship statistics.The cost of living index, the gross national product, the unemployment rate are all factors that govern our daily lives. We learn to watch apprehensively to see if they go up or down. But Garry Monahan&rsquo;s worth can&rsquo;t be measured by statistics. No one keeps tables to demonstrate how seldom a player loses the puck in his own end. Numbers do not accurately reflect a player&rsquo;s versatility, his defensive skills, his penalty killing ability or his competitive fire.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01950/3562729-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="274" height="508"><figcaption class="caption-body">Garry Monahan</figcaption></div>If such figures existed. Monahan would rate high in them all.The Vancouver Canucks acquired the much-travelled forward&rsquo;s services Oct. 14, 1974 from Toronto. Since then they have gone on to enjoy their most productive National Hockey League season. The two are not entirely unrelated.If Monahan did nothing but kill penalties, Vancouver general manager-coach Phil Maloney would not regret making the trade that sent popular Dave Dunn to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Monahan and defenseman John Grisdale.The Canucks figure to complete this season by giving up fewer power-play goals than in any other in their history. Give Monahan a large slice of the credit.With Monahan and Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty up front and Tracy Pratt and Mike Robitaille on defense, the Canucks have one of the more efficient penalty-killing units in the league.As a result they figure to give up a dozen or so less power-play goals than the 70 they surrended last season.But Monahan&rsquo;s value extends far beyond penalty killing. He has spent most of the season at the left wing, but the native of Barrie, Ont., is equally at home at center or right wing. And while his scoring production may not be impressive, he can do a big checking job from all three.As a result. Maloney can assign him to shadow an opposing big gun no matter what position that big gun happens to play.&ldquo;You have to have players who can score.&rdquo; Maloney concedes, &ldquo;but you also have to have guys who can prevent goals and in that area &ldquo;Mondo&rdquo; is one of the best.&rdquo;Maloney had a lot of offers for the 6&rsquo;. 185-pound forward as the March 9 NHL trading deadline approached, but each bidder received the same answer&mdash;&ldquo;Monahan is not available.&rdquo;So perhaps, at long last, his moving days are over.Monahan came to Vancouver after four seasons in Toronto. Prior to that he had brief stopovers in Montreal, Detroit and Los Angeles. Houston and Cleveland. But it could be a long while before he changes uniforms again.However, that wasn&rsquo;t true for Monahan&rsquo;s former linemate, center Gerry Meehan. Minutes before the trading deadline expired, the Canucks dealt him to the Atlanta Flames in exchange for defenseman Bob Murray.With Dennis Kearns and rookie Harold Snepsts still in drydock with injuries. Maloney figured he needed insurance on defense for the stretch run and the playoffs and felt Murray was the best available.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t anxious to get rid of Meehan.&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;but he had come to me three weeks earlier and asked to be traded. He said he liked playing for the Canucks but that his wife didn&rsquo;t like living in Vancouver. They also have business interests in the east. Obviously, there was no sense figuring on him in our long range plans so the best thing for everyone was to make the move as soon as possible.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-01

Monahan’s Defensive Play Making Trade Look Good For Canucks

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;The St. Louis Blues who are streaking upward in their division are not the same St. Louis Blues who started the 1974-75 season.The Blues this season have again been active in a series of trades and other manoeuvers that have resulted in a great turnover. In the final month of the season the Blues had nine players who were not with the team at the beginning of the season. As the result the Blues are back in the NHL playoff picture.Yves Belanger, who lost only once in his first seven games in the National Hockey League, was called to the team from the Denver farm club when John Davidson was demoted for two weeks. Belanger did so well that, when Davidson returned, Belanger didn&rsquo;t go back. The Blues have been playing with three goalies. Belanger. Davidson and Eddie Johnston.Bruce Affleck was acquired from Springfield in a trade that sent Frank Spring from Denver to Springfield. Affleck has had trouble getting enough time on the ice, but he has made the most of his opportunities.Red Berenson, the popular hero of the Blues&rsquo; early years, was reacquired from Detroit for Phil Roberto and a third-round draft choice. Berenson has started where he was interrupted with the Blues and is playing a lot of hockey at center and on the power play.Claude Larose was purchased from the Montreal Canadiens, to whom the Blues still owe something or someone for the deal. Larose plays two-way hockey and lends an experienced hand to the young Blues.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01919/3562767-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="562" height="649"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHUCK LEFLEY</figcaption></div>Bernie Lukowich was acquired from the Pittsburgh organization and gives some punch to the forward lines.Denis Dupere was swapped for Ace Bailey and Stan Gilbertson in a deal with the Washington Capitals. Dupere is a steady hand who would fit nicely into almost any team.Chuck Lefley was grabbed from the Montreal Canadiens. who needed a good defenseman and took Don Awrey. Lefley has thrilled St. Louis fans and has nailed down a secure job with the Blues.Craig Patrick was acquired with Gilbertson in a deal with the California Seals, who got Dave Gardner and Butch Williams. Patrick has not played every game but was tried on the Blues&rsquo; top line with Garry Unger.Jim McCrimmon was negotiated out of the World Hockey Association to help the defense.Those are the nine players who switched their mailing addresses to St. Louis since the season began in October. Turnover is sometimes regrettable, but the Blues have traded well this year.The Blues missed the playoffs last season for the first time in their existence. and some trades were expected. Gary Sabourin. Glen Sather and Greg Polis were dispatched in off-season deals that brought Johnston, Rick Wilson and Lawrence Sacharuk.But the Blues have not had a spectacular season, and the trading has continued without interruption. Grumblings could be heard as accompaniment with every deal, but the season&rsquo;s trading balance sheet shows an overall profit.The Lefley deal brought the biggest catch and also required the biggest bait. Awrey. Except for sacrificing Awrey, the only loss the Blues may regret is Bailey, a strong left wing who was shipped away because of a series of conflicts with coach Garry Young. But Dupere may blossom further to make that trade a big bargain.Except for Awrey and Bailey, the Blues didn&rsquo;t give up much in the market, unless Gardner finally achieves the stardom predicted for him since the days he skated on the top junior line with Billy Harris and Steve Shutt.In addition to Lefley, the Blues have added some solid players in Berenson, Larose, Dupere, Patrick and Lukowich.The only remaining question is whether the trading will continue when the post-trading deadline period expires. Observers of the team generally believe it has more talent now than at any other time in the history of the franchise. Perhaps the Blues will be less active in trading between now and this time next year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02813/3562760-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="521" height="578"><figcaption class="caption-body">RED BERENSON&hellip;Like Old Times</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

St. Louis Player Turnover Pays Off

<div class="byline">BY CHRIS ZELKOVICH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01921/3562798-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEN DRYDEN&hellip;Frustrating Opposing Shooters</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Ken Dryden isn&rsquo;t going to like this. You see, one of Dryden&rsquo;s pet peeves this season has been comparisons between the Dryden of today and the Dryden of two seasons ago. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m neither.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just Ken Dryden.&rdquo;But comparisons are almost unavoidable and even though Ken Dryden remains just Ken Dryden, there&rsquo;s no doubt he is the Dryden of old in at least one respect. Dryden &lsquo;75 is having just as much fun tending goal for the Montreal Canadiens as Dryden&rsquo;73 did, and in effect that means the Canadiens are just as happy with the work of Dryden as they were with him two seasons ago.Dryden has been having fun ever since the All Star break and in that period the Canadiens have received the kind of goaltending they expect from a netminder of Dryden&rsquo;s stature. In that period Dryden started 11 games, lost only one and turned in a goals-against average of 2.27. But more impressive than the statistics has been the manner in which Dryden has played. He&rsquo;s shown that lightning glovework and legwork that frustrates opposing shooters and there haven&rsquo;t been any of the bobbled pucks, flubbed long shots and unsteady puckhandling he displayed early in the season. And it&rsquo;s all come about because Dryden decided that he was going to make hockey fun again.The turning point was a 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings just prior to the All Star game. It was a game that Dryden played poorly.&ldquo;That really changed things around,&rdquo; Dryden says. &ldquo;Before that I&rsquo;d be very uncomfortable, worrying about bad shots beating me and things like that. After that game I just said to myself. &lsquo;Look, this is crazy. Stop worrying about them beating you. The onus should be on them to worry about you, not the other way around. Just go out, relax, enjoy the game, have fun?&ldquo;After that I started to approach games in a more relaxed frame of mind. For instance I went into the All Star game determined to have fun and enjoy myself and I think I played quite well.&ldquo;Before that playing was not a heck of a lot of fun. The game should be fun. It&rsquo;s just like any other job, when you enjoy the job you do it better and the better you do it the more you enjoy it.&rdquo;The first half of the season was far from fun for the 27-year-old goaltender. He was returning after a self-imposed year&rsquo;s exile from hockey that came about when the Canadiens refused to rewrite his contract. When he returned to the Canadiens, after negotiating with the WHA Toronto Toros, the eyes of the hockey world were trained on him. Everywhere he went he heard the same questions. Would the year off hurt? Would the fans get on him for abandoning them last year? Would he be the Dryden of old?The pressure affected his play and his confidence. Compounding the problem was the poor defensive play of the Canadiens in the early going that made tending goal for them one of the most hazardous jobs in the league.&ldquo;In a lot of ways this was more like my first year than my first year was.&rdquo; Dryden says. &ldquo;When I first came it was at the end of the season and in the playoffs, so there really wasn&rsquo;t any time for learning. And the next year wasn&rsquo;t really a rookie year because I&rsquo;d already been around the league.&rdquo;One of Dryden&rsquo;s trademarks has been his ability to play well when his team hasn&rsquo;t. That is something that has happened with more frequency since his revival in the All Star game.For example there was a 4-4 tie with St. Louis on Feb. 18 that saw the Blues outshoot the Canadiens 41-25. There was no way the Habs should have even come close to a tie. But Dryden&rsquo;s outstanding netminding kept them in the game.He did the same thing earlier in a 2-2 tie with Toronto, thwarting 43 of the Leafs&rsquo; 45 shots. Recently he turned aside 33 New York Rangers&rsquo; shots in a 5-3 victory that saw the Canadiens outshot 36-27.That&rsquo;s the kind of goaltending everyone expects from Dryden, especially when he&rsquo;s having fun.HAB-BITS: Guy Lafleur returned earlier than expected and showed no signs that his broken finger had slowed him down. In his first game back Lafleur scored two goals and collected two assists in an 8-4 win over Washington. The four points made Lafleur the first Canadien in history to reach 100 points in one season. Lafleur made it 102 with two assists against New York and was tied for the team leadership by Pete Mahovlich, who collected five points in that game.Looking for more emphasis on defense, coach Scotty Bowman is using four lines and only four defensemen. The fourth line is composed of Glen Sather, Jim Roberts and Murray Wilson while Pierre Bouchard has been dropped from the regular defensive rotation&hellip;Yvan Cournoyer has replaced Lafleur on the line with Mahovlich and Steve Shutt while Lafleur has taken Cournoyer&rsquo;s place with Jacques Lemaire and Bob Gainey. &#9632;

f0012-01

Goaltending ‘Fun’ Again For Canadiens’ Dryden

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div>TWIN CITIES&mdash;Snap. pop. Snap. pop.Snap. pop. Those sounds you hear off Interstate 494 in Minnesota are the North Stars, like rubber bands. Except when they fall behind, they seldom bounce back. But they&rsquo;ve been bounced around a lot by NHL foes.It has been, almost totality, a frustrating season for general manager Jack Gordon and his &ldquo;designated&rdquo; coach. Charlie Burns. The North Stars, with a month to go in the regular season, were eliminated for the second straight season.But Burns, who excelled with his grit as a North Star forward, will have a chance to guide the team from the start next September, not just half the season.Gordon started the year as the GM-coach, then turned the bench duties over to Burns before the mid-way point in the season. No public announcement was made at the time, but Gordon made if official recently by giving Burns the assurance that the job would be his again next year.&ldquo;Overall. Charlie has done a good job since taking over and has earned the opportunity to start from training camp&rdquo; stated Gordon. &lsquo;: &rsquo; Our hope is that all the youngsters we have playing now will show the benefit of that experience in a fresh start next season.&rdquo;Norm Gratton has been the biggest surprise of the youngsters since coming to the North Stars from the Buffalo Sabres in return for Fred Stanfield, who never quite felt at home in Minnesota. Gratton came to the North Stars with only three goals this season, and through a Sunday, March 16 game against Detroit, he had moved that total up to 16.That figure, then, means that the 24-year-old left winger in one season has eclipsed his career total of 15 goals in two full seasons at Buffalo and parts of two others with the Rangers and Atlanta Flames. The difference, obviously. is playing time.He went over his career total with two goals against Detroit, the second of the game handing the North Stars a 4-3 victory that snapped a five-game losing streak.Before that slump, the North Stars their rubber band routine. It went like this: Lose to Toronto 2-9. Beat California 3-1. Lose to Los Angeles 4-7. Beat Vancouver 6-4. Lost to Philadelphia 2-9.Burns has been alternating Fern Rivard and Pete Lopresti as the North Star goalies, with an occasional start by Cesare Maniago. It looks for certain that Cesare will retire at the end of the year, and that is why LoPresti, the rookie from Denver University via Eveleth, Minn., and Rivard a 10 year professional with not much major league experience, are getting the work. A knee injury probably will keep Cesare out for good this year.The rumor mills are grinding out reports that goalie Joe Daley, a member of this year&rsquo;s Winnipeg Jets in the WHA, already has signed with the North Stars for next season. Daley and Gordon have conferred of the matter, but an announcement is not likely until the end of the season.Another rumor never materialized to fact. There was word that Dennis Hex-tall. the team&rsquo;s leading scorer who has been criticized for his play this season, was headed to the Flyers. But the trading deadline passed with Hextail still in the green, white and gold. The Flyers reportedly offered Don Saleski and Bob Kelly.NORTH STAR NOTES: Injuries continue to hurt the team. Still out. possibly for the rest of year, are John Flesh (torn knee ligaments) and Blake Dunlop (torn hamstring). Dennis O&rsquo;Brien is back from a broken thumb. Henry Boucha is on and off since returning from his eye injury (which still hampers his play). Boucha did score goals in two straight games, Chicago and Detroit, to increase his season total to 15. The North Stars have a winning record against Detroit. Vancouver (a division leader), California, Kansas City and Washington. &#9632;

It’s Wait Till Next Year For Disappointing North Stars

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;The loss of Butch Goring for three or four weeks in the late stages of the regular season may have hammered the final nail in the Kings&rsquo; dying hopes of overhauling the Canadiens for first place in Division III of the National Hockey League and gaining a first-round bye in the post-season playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01904/3562860-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="275" height="475"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gene Carr</figcaption></div>What may be more important is whether Goring can get back in form for those playoffs.Although enthusiasts for such as Bobby Orr and Gil Perreault might justifiably feel insulted, Goring was beginning to be called by some &ldquo;the most exciting player in hockey&rdquo;. The explosive little skater jumps around the ice like popping com. He has been at his hottest, tallying four goals in one game and 10 goals in 10 games recently.Butch was bounced out of action in the team&rsquo;s 65th game of the season, midway in the 22nd week of the 26-week campaign. Slipping on bad ice in the suburban Forum, the skate of Denis Potvin of the New York Islanders flew up and the heel of the blade freakishly struck Goring around the right eye. He fell as though hit with a hammer.Rushed to the hospital. Goring was found to have suffered a fracture of the right orbit, beneath the eye (the bony compartment that contains the eye) and lacerations of the eyelid. Taken to a specialist for examination, the eyeball did not appear to be affected but he suffered severe swelling, bleeding and pain.It is the sort of accident which has cost many hockey players the sight in an eye and causes the premature end of their careers.Goring seems to have escaped serious injury, but injuries have plagued him. Shoulder separations have sidelined him for prolonged periods the last two seasons. He did not play the first seven games and did not start the first 14 games this season, but he got so hot when he got back that he was threatening his career highs with 26 goals and 57 points at the time of the accident.His linemates Bob Nevin and Danny Maloney were being helped to their best-ever seasons and the line had 50 goals in the last 35 games. Maloney had determinedly shot out of the penalty box to convert a pass from the brilliant Bob Murdoch into a 2-1 lead over the Islanders. After Goring departed, the Islanders tied the bitter battle with less than three minutes left.The next game, the Kings were foiled by old nemesis Tony Esposito while slumping Rogie Vachon was roughed up, 6-1, by the Blackhawks.The Kings won without Goring early, but may need the life he gives them in the late stages of this season. They are not, however, short on centers. Juha Widing is one of the best. Gene Carr can return to the position from a wing, with Frank St. Marseille moving over to fill in for Goring. Vic Venasky has been recalled from the minors as a spare.Widing may be back on the beam at the right time. The big Swede followed his first three-goal game with a 12-game scoreless slump, but bounced back with two goals in the 59th game and another three-goal game in the 64th tilt, a 7-4 conquest of the Scouts. Although hat tricks have been hard for him to come by, his history is that he gets a lot of goals in a few games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m streaky and I don&rsquo;t know why,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;I work the same all the time. If anything, I work harder when I&rsquo;m not scoring. But when I&rsquo;m in a slump I start to press and start to pass off instead of shooting.&ldquo;Normally, my game is skating and shooting. When I&rsquo;m going good, I not only score a fair amount of goals, but create a lot of opportunities for my wingers. I feel I&rsquo;m going good again now and it couldn&rsquo;t have come at a better time,&rdquo; he concluded.Widing does seem to skate in spurts, but his wingers have had their greatest years with him in-between them and their totals usually are similarly impressive by the end of each season.He refuses to complain, but the fact is he has had to adjust to different wingers throughout this season and his line has not had the ice-time of the hot line, the Goring line, lately.Bob Berry has been on his left side for a long time, but coach Bob Pulford has not been able to decide between Donnie Kozak and the old hand Mike Corrigan on the other side.Still, Widing has 24 goals, Berry 21 and Kozak and Corrigan 23 between them. Kozak has been slumping, Corrigan coming on. Corrigan can score and probably would have 20 to 25 if played full-time. Berry has been getting big goals.The importance of the team&rsquo;s former number one line now increases with Goring off of the hot line for awhile.KINGS THINGS: The same night Widing got his three goals, Terry Harper got his third goal of the season. The fans, feeling, that three goals in one season is a hat trick for Harper, again sailed hats on the ice, which amused Harp. He didn&rsquo;t get a goal last season and only four the last four seasons. However, Dave Hutchison makes him look like Bobby Hull. Hutch doesn&rsquo;t have a goal the last two seasons, WHA and NHL. On the other hand. Bob Murdoch tied a team record for defensemen with his 11th goal of the campaign&hellip;In tying the Islanders, 2-2, reserve Gary Edwards ran his season slate to 12-2-7. In being bombed by the Black Hawks, Rogie Vachon&rsquo;s record slipped to 24-11-10. Edwards has the hot hand and may play an increasing role for awhile&hellip;The Black Hawk game which attracted 16,005 fans, was the Kings&rsquo; sixth sellout of the season and 10th in their history.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02768/3562853-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="547" height="635"><figcaption class="caption-body">JUHA WIDING&hellip;Streak Scorer</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0014-01

Widing Readv To Take Up Slack For Goring

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01711/3562891-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

NHL Players’ Scoring & Penalty Statistics

BUFFALO&mdash;Danny Gare is a fresh-faced, bellicose right winger for the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Buffalo Sabres who appears young enough to belong to his own fan club.The youthful members of that club, &ldquo;Gare&rsquo;s Gang&rdquo;, have much to talk about in the play of their 20-year-old, first year hero from Nelson. B.C., who&rsquo;s not only the leading candidate for the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year, but also a keystone in the Sabres&rsquo; ascendancy to the top of the league.Gare has been near or at the top of the rookie scoring race all year, but it&rsquo;s his all-around contribution to the Sabres that has made Buffalo general manager and vice president Punch Imlach his staunchest supporter.&ldquo;Danny has certainly already proved he&rsquo;s got the makings of a top goal scorer, and his offensive play is outstanding for a rookie. But it&rsquo;s his checking ability which makes him an exceptional young hockey player,&rdquo; said Imlach.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s on a line (with Don Luce and Craig Ramsay) which is consistently assigned to check the opposition&rsquo;s top scorers, and all you have to do is look at his plus-minus figures to see what kind of a job Danny and his linemates have been doing. The three of them lead the club in this category.&ldquo;Danny&rsquo;s offense suffers sometimes, because Luce and Ramsay are the principal Buffalo penalty-killers and they&rsquo;re on the ice often in that role, which means Gare misses many shifts a game. You can&rsquo;t score when you&rsquo;re not on the ice. and you&rsquo;re also in danger of &lsquo;cooling off when you miss one or two shifts.&ldquo;But he&rsquo;s a very adaptable and patient player, and never seems to lose his fine edge even when he misses a couple of shifts in a row. I would say that Gare&rsquo;s play is as much a reason for our success this year as any other single factor. He&rsquo;s one of the men we needed, and he&rsquo;s filled that need and then some.&rdquo;Gare was drafted in last May&rsquo;s second round by the Sabres after a sensational junior career with the Calgary Centennials of the Western Canada Junior Hockey League. In his last junior season. Gare scored 68 goals and 59 assists, while adding 238 penalty minutes en route, and was termed &ldquo;one of the finest team leaders I&rsquo;ve ever coached&rdquo; by his coach, Scotty Munro.Gare is only 5&rsquo;9&rdquo; and 175 pounds but has never let his stature cause him to back off in the corners. &ldquo;Far from it.&rdquo; said Sabres Coach Floyd Smith. &ldquo;He just puts his nose in and comes out with the puck. 1 not only like his aggressiveness, but the finesse part of his forechecking.&rdquo;Smith praised Gare for not becoming too aggressive in his rookie season, as well.&ldquo;Danny is scrappy and doesn&rsquo;t back down from anyone,&rdquo; Smith said, &ldquo;but he does not run around taking unnecessary penalties. This means he isn&rsquo;t going to hurt himself or the club by spending too much time in the penalty box.&rdquo;In his first shift on the ice in a preseason game against Philadelphia at the Spectrum, Gare was run into the boards from behind by Dave Schultz directly in front of the Flyers&rsquo; bench. Gare&rsquo;s gloves were off and fists flying immediately and the Hammer hasn&rsquo;t bothered him since.Linemates Luce and Ramsay feel Gare has been instrumental in turning their play to better goal-scoring success. &ldquo;Danny is always talking out there. He wants the puck when he&rsquo;s in position, and he believes we can score goals. We found out he&rsquo;s right, and we just believe in our offense more the longer we play together. And of course, his style and his checking ability complement our style perfectly,&rdquo; said Ramsay.Luce said Gare &ldquo;is not afraid to shoot, and he is learning to get into better position each game to score goals.&rdquo; Gare had 22 goals and 28 assists in 63 games, missing two early games with a sore shoulder.Watching Luce. Gare and Ramsay in their helmets snarl up the opposition in their end of the ice some nights is much like watching an orchestrated performance. each moving as if on cue from exactly one perfect checking position to exactly the next perfect position.Gare&rsquo;s size and youthful appearance belie his strength on the ice. A compact skater, with one of the best wrist shots to come into the league in recent years, he&rsquo;s the son of the head of the physical education department at Notre Dame College in Nelson, and Danny&rsquo;s burly chest and shoulders show the strength exercises he&rsquo;s been working on for years.Still very much a bachelor and admittedly a rotten cook, Gare lives in suburban Buffalo and is one of the Sabres&rsquo; most active participants in community affairs, always willing to meet youngsters at sports nights, etc.He may have trouble convincing the police he&rsquo;s old enough to drive after dark to those sports nights, but Danny Gare has already convinced players and coaches around the NHL that he&rsquo;s one of the finest rookies to come out of the West in years.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04333/3562922-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="507" height="568"><figcaption class="caption-body">DANNY GARE&hellip;Exceptional Checker</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-04

Gare Keystone In Sabres’ Ascendancy

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05265/3562953-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="496" height="557"></div> &#9632;

f0017-05

TEAM PENALTIES

(Including Sun. March. 16)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01610/3562984-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="601" height="694"></div> &#9632;

f0017-01

NHL Leaders

(Including, Sun. March 9)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02528/3563015-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="622" height="2431"></div> &#9632;

f0017-02

Looking At NHL Goalers

MONTREAL&mdash;With the NHL schedule winding down to its conclusion, Pittsburgh&rsquo;s brilliant rookie Pierre Larouche continues to head all freshman stars in scoring.Larouche enjoyed another productive week in the NHL rookie scoring race as he increased his season output to 58 points, five more than Buffalo&rsquo;s Danny Gare, who actually lost ground to Larouche this past week.Here are the top 15 NHL rookie scorers:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03432/3563046-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="593" height="459"></div> &#9632;

f0017-03

Larouche Still Leading NHL Rookie Scorer

<div class="byline">BY RUSS WHITE</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaWASHINGTON&mdash;The days are dwindling down to a cious few for goaltender Ron v of the Washington Capitals his thoughts are both on his he and on his future, hat future may in Washington y be elsewhere, w, 24, has someig to show for miseries in al for the ex-ision team. His 5 goals average 2,213 minutes enemy assault e established as a major; ue goaltender.other league&mdash;the World Hockey sociation&mdash;has cast its eyes in w&rsquo;s direction and the Cincinnati Stingers, a new club, have money.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01620/3563077-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="253" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Low</figcaption></div>Low is one of 12 Washington players whose contracts expire at the close of the current season. He can go to the WHA or stay. He likes his job here, would like to help the club mature. He also likes money.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not Tony Esposito or Bernie Parent.&rdquo; Low said. &ldquo;I am an NHL goaltender and expect to be paid like one. Three years ago when I signed a three year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. I acted hastily. I should have taken more time, signed for only two years.&rdquo;Washington general manager. Milt Schmidt refused to re-negotiate with Low prior to the start of this season and has asked Low to wait until the season closes to make a decision about next year. Low&rsquo;s attorney&rsquo;s have already begun talks, however. Schmidt said he feels there is no major problem.&ldquo;We feel we will be fair with Ron Low and pay him what he is worth.&rdquo; Schmidt said.Low said that he has considered Milt Schmidt more than fair in the club&rsquo;s first season, miserable an experience as it has been to all. &ldquo;The guys respect him. respect how he has tried to keep things afloat,&rdquo; Low said, &ldquo;The man is honest and quite fair&rdquo;.Low regards his current salary&mdash;the one that he agreed to three years ago at Toronto&mdash;as that of a minor leaguer. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting American Hockey League pay,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want NHL pay. I believe I deserve it.&rdquo;The average NHL salary has climbed to $70,000 and goaltenders are generally above the average. Bernie Parent, of the Philadelphia Flyers makes $300,000 a season, Montreal&rsquo;s Ken Dryden and Chicago&rsquo;s Tony Esposito make around $250,000 per year.Low&rsquo;s present salary is private business but Schimdt said that it would be no secret if Low decided to shove off. He&rsquo;d tell what the Capitals could not pay should some team in the WHA be willing to outbid Washington. Schmidt hopes this is not the case.What realy appeals to Low is an opportunity to play hockey tor a Canadian team, there are three in the NHL, five in the WHA. &ldquo;There are income tax advantages to being paid in Canada.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are annunity plans that are amazing&rdquo;.John Adams, also a goaltender, is among the other Capitals who must negotiate contracts.Captain Doug Mohns, 41, and the highest paid of the veteran Cans ($80,000) must make a decision on his future. Mohns said he would not comment on it until the season is over. &ldquo;I have this season to finish first&rdquo; he said.Other Capitals who could listen to WHA offers before singing again here are: Stan Gilbertson, Bill Lesuk, Bruce Cowick, Steve Atkinson, Jim Hrycuik, Bob Collyard, Joe Lundrigan, Randy Wyroysub, and Ron Anderson. &#9632;

f0018-01

ow’s Place Of Future Employment Uncertain

WASHINGTON&mdash;&lsquo;ashington Capitals&rsquo; scout Edgar &ldquo;Chirp&rsquo;&rsquo; Brenchley has died following a lengthy ess. He was 63 years of age.native of England. Brenchley&rsquo;s home in recent years has been Niagara Falls, ario. Prior to joining the Capitals. Brenchley played in the 1936 Olympics, also he World and European championships, coached for 15 years in the Eastern and ernational Leagues, and scouted for Pittsburgh. Funeral services were held in gara Falls. &#9632;

aps’ Scout Brenchley Dies

GILBERT PERREAULTBuffalo SabresThe Sabres&rsquo; French Connection line is connecting again, even without right winger Rene Robert. Gil Perreault has bounced back from his layoff earlier in the season and his four-goal week lifted his total to 35.He tallied once in 2-2 sawoff with Los Angeles and then enjoyed a six point evening, three goals and as many assists, as the Sabres humiliated their archrivals the Toronto Maple Leafs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02501/3563139-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="505" height="619"></div>PIERRE LAROUCHEPittsburgh PenguinsAnother couple of weeks like the last one and young Pierre Larouche is going to win the Calder Trophy hands down.His five goals brought his freshman season total to 25 and enabled him to stretch his rookie point lead to five over Buffalo&rsquo;s Danny Gare.Larouche was the hero in the Penguins&rsquo; 5-3 win over the Boston Bruins by recording a hat trick and then joined his teammates in drubbing the Washington Capitals 12-1 by contributing a pair of markers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03377/3563132-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="510" height="627"></div> &#9632;

f0018-02

NHL’s Stars of the week

<div class="byline">BY BILL HEUFELDER</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;For someone who, in his wildest dreams, did not envision a career in the National Hockey League. Bob Kelly is a man of modest objectives.&ldquo;I just, wanted to score 20 goals,&rdquo; said the sinewy, tough left winger of the Pittsburgh Penguins. His 20th goal behind him early this month, he has an excellent chance to finish with 25.All this from a wife. who. if she ever writes her memoirs, may entitle them, &ldquo;Hockey Is A Funny Game&rdquo; or &ldquo;I Didn&rsquo;t Know My Husband Could Skate&rdquo;.Elsie Kelly, mother of three, has remained loyal to the man known as Battleship. Approaching 29, Bob Kelly has crammed what too often has seemed like an eternity into the past eight years of his hockey career.He has put food on the table in the hockey outposts of Port Huron and Des Moines, and signed his first professional contract six years ago for less than the value of the sports car he now drives.When the World Hockey Association opened for business, Kelly expressed an interest until discovering that Bobby Hull had all the money.&ldquo;The offer was ridiculous.&rdquo; Kelly recalls.But the Battleship still had Elsie Kelly. &ldquo;If it wasn&rsquo;t for her. I don&rsquo;t know where I&rsquo;d be. She built my morale when things were down.&rdquo;For inspiring qualities. Elsie Kelly ranks right up there with Knute Rockne and Vince Lombardi. She is from Battleship&rsquo;s hometown of Thunder Bay. Ontario.When she and Bob were married, he was earning a living trimming finished paper at a local mill.Kelly had turned to honest labor after a dispute with his coach in junior hockey. &ldquo;Over a pair of skates, of all things,&rdquo; he says.When Kelly walked out all the team had left was his rights, which they did not relinquish for two and a half years, allowing him to join the Port Arthur (Ont.) Miners.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d been on skates once,&rdquo; Kelly said. &ldquo;We played maybe two regularseason games and went right into the playoffs.&rdquo; Port Arthur reached the Memorial Cup finals opposite the Toronto Marlboros, who were sponsored by the city&rsquo;s big-league club, the Maple Leafs.&lsquo;&lsquo;I beat the heck out of two or three of their players.&rdquo; Kelly said. Impressed, the Leafs drafted him first the next summer. Kelly, of course, knew why.&ldquo;Every day in training camp, they&rsquo;d ask me, &ldquo;When are you gonna fight?&rdquo; he said.The question asked too often without the desired results. Kelly wound up in Port Huron, the beginning of an odyssey that carried him through seven other cities before it stopped mid-way through last season in Pittsburgh.Along the way, there were too many managers and coaches who wanted him to wear boxing gloves. &ldquo;I wanted to play hockey.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t going to go out and bust heads. I don&rsquo;t want to be known as a hit&rsquo; man.&rdquo;There probably isn&rsquo;t a hockey player alive who punches with more authority than the Battleship, but he fights on his own terms.At the start of this season, he played the game with the restraint of a man of the cloth. &ldquo;The way things were going. I figured I&rsquo;d be better off on the ice than in the penalty box,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;so I controlled my temper.&rdquo;In short. Kelly had the hot hand, triggering 12 goals in 24 games before a torn rib cartilage sidelined him for nine games. Healthy again, he accomplished his mission of scoring 20 goals and outfought a handful Of opponents who expressed a willingness to slug it out with him.His trials and tribulations apparently behind him. Kelly has enjoyed his Pittsburgh surroundings since the Penguins acquired him from St. Louis during their major player shakeup midway through last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01441/3563170-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="563" height="495"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB KELLY&hellip;Former Paper Trimmer</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been super here.&rdquo; he says with obvious enthusiasm. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got nothing to complain about, other than the potholes. The bloody roads are ruining my Corvette.&rdquo;Jean Pronovost has become the first Penguin player to produce a pair of 40-goal seasons. &#9632;

f0020-01

Pens’ “Battleship” Kelly Man Of Modest Objectives

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;There may be shortages of other commodities these days as the Western World approaches Depression Two, but one thing there is a definite surplus of is professional hockey players.With 32 teams in the NHL and WHA, any pro skater worth his salt can find his way onto somebody&rsquo;s roster. And nowadays when you&rsquo;re a fringe player, you&rsquo;re just that, and it makes little difference who you&rsquo;re playing for.Every June, each NHL club must freeze its roster at 15 skaters and two goaltenders, with those left unprotected to go up for grabs in the annual intraleague draft. For the bargain price of $40,000, any NHL team can pick up what&rsquo;s left.Naturally one might assume that the pickings would be slim, and this is generally true. But Islander general manager Bill Torrey has hit the jackpot&mdash;not once, but twice.Two years ago, everyone figured he&rsquo;d pick up Bobby Rousseau, the high-scoring slap shot artist from the Rangers. Torrey drafted from the Blueshirts, all right, but instead he picked up Bert Marshall. All Marshall has done is help the Islanders become one of the best defensive outfits in hockey.Last spring Torrey looked down the roster of the Stanley Cup champion Flyers, and came up with the name of Dave Fortier&mdash;another defenseman&mdash;who had played a career total of 23 NHL games, all with Toronto in 197273.Actually Fortier wasn&rsquo;t around the Philadelphia scene long enough to ever try on an orange-and-white sweater. It was only a few weeks before he became an Islander that he was first dealt by the Maple Leafs.&ldquo;Toronto sent me to the Flyers along with Randy Osburn in the Bill Flett deal,&rdquo; says Fortier. &ldquo;But I was really wondering how much I would play with Philadelphia. I knew they had a number of good defensemen, and I didn&rsquo;t want to spend a year with Richmond or someplace like that.&rdquo;The 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 190 pound native of Sudbury, Ont. knew that making the Islanders would be no breeze, either. In addition to Denis and Jean Potvin, Bert Marshall, Dave Lewis, and Gerry Hart, the Isles pre-season blueline roster included veteran Bart Crashley, who had jumped back from the WHA.&ldquo;I thought I had a good chance of making the club,&rdquo; says Dave. &ldquo;I felt that I really didn&rsquo;t get much of an opportunity in Toronto; it seemed that they were always signing new defensemen. But I just wanted to play in the NHL, and I knew that I could.&rdquo;The Islanders ultimately dealt Crashley to Kansas City in exchange for the rights to rookie center Bob Bourne, and started the campaign with six defensemen. Technically, Dave was the sixth, but almost from the outset, coach Al Arbour installed a three unit system.Arbour bivouacked Fortier on the left side, with rookie-of-the-year Denis Potvin as his partner. The coach has made a couple of changes during the course of the schedule, but has always returned to his original pairings.&ldquo;Denny is really great,&rdquo; says the 23-year-old Fortier. Whenever I find myself in trouble. I just give him the puck and he gets it out of there. He&rsquo;s helped my confidence and helped make me believe that I can do a job up here.&rdquo;Fortier has a better than average shot, and by the first week of March, had five goals to his credit. Only the Potvin brothers had more among Islander rearguards.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it. I&rsquo;m not going to fool anybody out there with my moves,&rdquo; smiles Dave. &ldquo;I scored a few goals in the minors, but honestly, I was lucky. You can ask Glenn (Resch, who played against him in the Central League last year). Some of them were mighty flukey.&rdquo;Fortier is one of the lucky Islanders who was not around when the word &ldquo;hapless&rdquo; seemed to be a permanent part of the club&rsquo;s nick-name. &ldquo;1 don&rsquo;t know what it was like a couple of years ago. but we know that we have a pretty good hockey club, especially defensively,&rdquo; says the man with the big mustache. &ldquo;We have confidence in ourselves, and we&rsquo;re just going to go out and finish as high as we possibly can.&rdquo;The economy might be down, but there are more than a few bargains around, just ask Bill Torrey about it in June.ISLAND SOUNDS: Billy Harris broke out of his slump against Vancouver on March 8th, scoring two goals. That marked the first time he&rsquo;d seen the red light in 23 games&hellip;The Isles ran their latest unbeaten string to six games by beating the Canucks on the coast&hellip;Billy Smith was pleased with the club&rsquo;s 2-2 in Los Angeles two nights before. Billy didn&rsquo;t think he was given the fairest of chances when he was a King&hellip;Popular Bob Nystrom hit the 20-goal plateau for the second time in as many years against the Seals on March 1st&hellip;The Islanders picked up their first point ever in Buffalo with a tie on the 2nd.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01286/3563201-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="553" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE FORTIER</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

Islanders Hit Jackpot For Second Time

(Standings on Mon. March 17)<h2>NORRIS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2033/3563515-1-eng-US/f0022-202.jpg" title="f0022-20" width="588" height="206"></div><h2>ADAMS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2133/3563508-1-eng-US/f0022-212.jpg" title="f0022-21" width="587" height="171"></div><h2>PATRICK DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2330/3563501-1-eng-US/f0022-232.jpg" title="f0022-23" width="592" height="181"></div><h2>SMYTHE DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2425/3563494-1-eng-US/f0022-242.jpg" title="f0022-24" width="597" height="210"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Tue. March 11N.Y. Rangers 3 at Boston 6. Detroit 4 at NY Islanders 2; Atlanta 0 at St Louis 3; Buffalo 2 at Los Angeles 2: Kansas City 3 at Vancouver 3Wed. March 12N.Y. Islanders 3 at N.Y. Rangers 5; Minnesota 4 at Atlanta 9: Montreal 3 at Toronto 3; Boston 3 at Pittsburgh 5; St. Louis 4 at Chicago 3; Buffalo 7 at California 2.Thu. March 13Pittsburgh 0 at Philadelphia 6; Detroit 5 at Los Angeles 5.Fri. March 14N.Y Rangers 0 at Atlanta 1; Detroit 2 at California 4; Buffalo 1 at Vancouver 5; Kansas City 1 at St Louis 6.Sat. March 15Boston 1 at N.Y. Islanders 3; Philadelphia 4 at Toronto 4; Los Angeles 0 at Montreal 3; Washington 1 at Pittsburgh 12; Chicago 5 at Minnesota 2.Sun. March 16Los Angeles Oat Philadelphia 3; Kansas City 3 at Pittsburgh 6; Detroit 3 at Minnesota 4; Vancouver 4 at Chicago 3; St. Louis 2 at Boston 7; Buffalo 11 at Toronto 3.<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Mon. Mar. 17Atlanta at Montreal.Tue. Mar. 18Vancouver at N.Y. Islanders; Philadelphia at Washington; Pittsburgh at St. Louis; Los Angeles at Minnesota.Wed. Mar. 19Vancouver at N.Y. Rangers; N.Y. Islanders at Kansas City; Toronto at Atlanta; Boston at Montreal; Pittsburgh at California.Thu. Mar. 20N. Y. Rangers at Buffalo. Minnesota atWashington; Chicago at Detroit: St Louis at Los AngelesFri. Mar. 21Vancouver at Atlanta: St Louis at California.Sat. Mar. 22N.Y. Rangers at Detroit: Chigago at N. Y. Islanders. Minnesota at Philadelphia. Toronto at Montreal: Washington at Boston; Pittsburgh at Los Angeles Buffalo at Kansas CitySun. Mar. 23Boston at N.Y Rangers: N. Y. Islanders at Minnesota. Montreal at Philadelphia; Atlanta at Washington. Detroit at Chicago: &lsquo;St. Louis at Vancouver. California at Buffalo.Mon. Mar. 24California at TorontoTue. Mar. 25Montreal at N. Y. Islanders: Philadelphia at Vancouver. Kansas City at MinnesotaWed. Mar. 26Minnesota at N.Y Rangers. Philadelphia at California. Detroit at Atlanta. Montreal at Pittsburgh. Washington at Los Angeles: Buffalo at Chicago. Boston at St Louis. Toronto at Kansas CityFri. Mar. 28Buffalo at Atlanta; Washington at California: Los Angeles at Vancouver(*-NBC TV Game of the Week) &#9632;

f0022-20

LOOKING AT THE NHL SCOREBOARD

<h2>Tue. March 11 RANGERS 3, BOSTON 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01312/3563463-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="595" height="592"></div><h2>DETROIT 4, ISLANDERS 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02237/3563456-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="595" height="494"></div><h2>ATLANTA 0, ST. LOUIS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03208/3563449-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="609" height="451"></div><h2>BUFFALO 2. LOS ANGELES 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04164/3563442-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="595" height="413"></div><h2>KANSAS CITY 3. VANCOUVER 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05139/3563435-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="596" height="520"></div><h2>Wed. March 12 ISLANDERS 3, RANGERS 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06111/3563428-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="612" height="569"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 4, ATLANTA 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0798/3563421-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="601" height="756"></div><h2>MONTREAL 3, TORONTO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0888/3563414-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="571" height="60"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0980/3563407-1-eng-US/f0022-092.jpg" title="f0022-09" width="605" height="443"></div><h2>BOSTON 3, PITTSBURGH 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1070/3563400-1-eng-US/f0022-102.jpg" title="f0022-10" width="605" height="523"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 4, CHICAGO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1165/3563393-1-eng-US/f0022-112.jpg" title="f0022-11" width="592" height="449"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1261/3563386-1-eng-US/f0022-122.jpg" title="f0022-12" width="599" height="157"></div><h2>BUFFALO 7, CALIFORNIA 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1354/3563379-1-eng-US/f0022-132.jpg" title="f0022-13" width="602" height="560"></div><h2>Thu. March 13 PITTSBURGH 0, PHILADELPHIA 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1446/3563372-1-eng-US/f0022-142.jpg" title="f0022-14" width="601" height="581"></div><h2>DETROIT 5, LOS ANGELES 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1544/3563365-1-eng-US/f0022-152.jpg" title="f0022-15" width="599" height="613"></div><h2>Fri. March 14 RANGERS 0, ATLANTA 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1638/3563358-1-eng-US/f0022-162.jpg" title="f0022-16" width="589" height="410"></div><h2>DETROIT 2, CALIFORNIA 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1735/3563351-1-eng-US/f0022-172.jpg" title="f0022-17" width="601" height="587"></div><h2>BUFFALO 1, VANCOUVER 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1834/3563344-1-eng-US/f0022-182.jpg" title="f0022-18" width="607" height="527"></div><h2>KANSAS CITY 1, ST. LOUIS 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1934/3563337-1-eng-US/f0022-192.jpg" title="f0022-19" width="596" height="325"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01292/3563330-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="512" height="208"></div><h2>Sat. March 15 BOSTON 1, ISLANDERS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02230/3563323-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="513" height="463"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 4, TORONTO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03179/3563316-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="505" height="632"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES 0, MONTREAL 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04145/3563309-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="500" height="434"></div><h2>WASHINGTON 1, PITTSBURGH 12</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-05120/3563302-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="496" height="663"></div><h2>CHICAGO 5, MINNESOTA 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-06106/3563295-1-eng-US/f0023-062.jpg" title="f0023-06" width="488" height="492"></div><h2>Sun. March 16 ANGELES 0, PHILADELPHIA 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0792/3563288-1-eng-US/f0023-072.jpg" title="f0023-07" width="479" height="373"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0877/3563281-1-eng-US/f0023-082.jpg" title="f0023-08" width="583" height="92"></div><h2>KANSAS CITY 3. PITTSBURGH 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0963/3563274-1-eng-US/f0023-092.jpg" title="f0023-09" width="591" height="576"></div><h2>DETROIT 3, MINNESOTA 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1053/3563267-1-eng-US/f0023-102.jpg" title="f0023-10" width="587" height="203"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1140/3563260-1-eng-US/f0023-112.jpg" title="f0023-11" width="591" height="423"></div><h2>VANCOUVER 4. CHICAGO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1233/3563253-1-eng-US/f0023-122.jpg" title="f0023-12" width="589" height="477"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1328/3563246-1-eng-US/f0023-132.jpg" title="f0023-13" width="589" height="213"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 2, BOSTON 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1427/3563239-1-eng-US/f0023-142.jpg" title="f0023-14" width="593" height="685"></div><h2>BUFFALO 11, TORONTO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1523/3563232-1-eng-US/f0023-152.jpg" title="f0023-15" width="601" height="973"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

NHL Summaries

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;In the short space of one week, the question changed in Gotham. No longer was it would New York catch the first place Philadelphia Flyers, but rather could they hold off the surging New York Islanders, their third year cousins from suburbia.The trading deadline came and went with goalies Eddie Giacomin, Dune Wilson and Gilles Villemure still wearing Ranger Blue. Wilson, the rehabilitation project Emile Francis obtained from Toronto, started two straight Ranger games, beating Kansas City 5-2 March 7 and losing a national TV contest to Montreal 5-3 March 9. Giacomin was in mufti during the March 9 game, while trade rumors swirled around him.Although the Rangers goaltending hasn&rsquo;t been good this year, the problem now is the defense, which has been decimated by the injuries to Dale Rolfe and Brad Park. Brad will be back for the playoffs, but how sharp can he be?In the meantime, New York paired Nick Beverley with Ron Greschner and Ron Harris with Gilles Marotte at the start of the Montreal game. Presto Harris suffered a severe Charley horse which puts him out for a week-plus, and Francis was scratching even deeper. With Dave Maloney having suffered a shoulder separation at Providence and Joe Zanussi a groin pull. New York called upon Marty Gateman as a fill in. The Rangers were literally right back where they were on December 19, when their injury riddled &ldquo;Providence&rdquo; Rangers lost to the Boston Bruins 11-3.Park, coming off a knee injury suffered against Toronto February 16, is desperately needed for his ability to get the puck out of the New York end. With him absent, the opposition is shooting the disc into the corners and daring the Ranger rearguards to move it up ice.&ldquo;I see no reason to make a two week trade,&rdquo; explained Francis, the New York general manager-coach. &ldquo;There is no one available that can help us.&rdquo;New York has four centers in Jean Ratelle. Turk Sanderson. Pete Stem-kowski and Walter Tkaczuk and three goalers, but the Islanders would have appeared to have blocked a possible trade with Buffalo when they dispatched the rights to goalie Gerry Desjardins, then in the WHA, to Buffalo for future considerations. It ended the Sabres&rsquo; ache for goalie insurance, caused by Roger Crozier&rsquo;s tummy pains.Although Ranger fans are unhappy with the team and want the Stanley Cup so bad they can taste it, this has been Francis&rsquo; best job of coaching. His team is not as good as the 1973-74 aggregation that finished third in the eight team Eastern Division. It has been retooled with youth in many spots and can look forward to more of same next year when Jerry Holland, the hot shooting left winger from Providence bids for a spot.Rick Middleton has returned to limited action and hopefully will be ready at playoff time to lend his puck expertise to the power play.&ldquo;I felt alright, but my skating needs work,&rdquo; admitted Rick.Middleton broke his left leg in Minnesota on January 15. Francis is going to four lines part of the time, using Bert Wilson more and more, and all four centers. Stemkowski went 16 games without a goal and then got two against Kansas City.The battle against the Islanders could go down to the wire as the teams play twice more, March 29 in Nassau and on the final night of the season, April 6, at the Garden.BLUE CHIPS: Only two Rangers. Billy Fairbairn and Steve Vickers have played in every game&hellip;New York has lost 221 man games through March 11, the most in the 49-year history of the team&hellip;Greg Polis has 13 goals in 13 games&hellip;Fairbairn has played in 300 straight games, third longest NHL streak behind Garry Unger and Danny Grant&hellip;New York has scored 71 powerplay goals, a new club record.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01298/3563577-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="481" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL FAIRBAIRN&hellip;300 Straight Game</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

Rangers Stand Pat For Stretch Run

TORONTO-At least it could have ended in a res pectable way.The Toronto Maple Leafs were riding a nine-game unbeaten streak and after having come off ties against two of the NHL&rsquo;s best. Philadelphia and Montreal. the Buffalo Sabres looked like they might be in for a little trouble.Little did the Leafs suspect that they were the ones who were going to be up to their necks in trouble and humiliation.The Sabres waltzed into Maple Leaf Gardens and thrashed the high-flying Leafs 11-3 to send the Torontonians back to the drawing board.The Leafs began the week with an impressive 3-3 standoff with the powerful Canadiens when Ron Ellis connected with only three seconds remaining in the contest.Darryl Sittler had a goal and two assists but it was the superb goaltending of Gord McRae which kept the Leafs within range. Two consecutive saves against Montreal break ways, by speedy Yvan Coumoyer and Jacques Lemaire, enabled the Leafs to come from behind.Next it was the Flyers who had to settle for a draw as Ellis again played the hero role by scoring two third period markers to keep the Leafs&rsquo; undefeated string alive.The Sabres then moved in and stung the Maple Leafs with five first-period markers and then salted the contest away with four more in the middle stanza.For the Leafs it has been an up and down season. Perhaps the last stretch is an indication that the downs are going to be just that much farther apart from now on. &#9632;

Leafs’ Streak Ends With Thud—But Not Before 9 Games

CHICAGO&mdash;The Chicago Black Hawks had the pursuing Vancouver Canucks on the ropes but couldn&rsquo;t deliver the knockout punch as the surprising Canucks continued to push towards a Smythe Division title in the National Hockey League&mdash;at the expense of the Balck Hawks.The Hawks obligingly lost 4-3 to the Canucks on Chicago ice in what amounted to a four-pointgame for the Windy City crew. Instead of being two points ahead in first place, the Hawks found themselves looking up to the Canucks, who led 75-73 in points as the NHL race continued to wind down to the finish line.Here&rsquo;s how the picture looked starting the week off:Chicago led by one point with Vancouver having a game in hand. The Canucks were hard-pressed to tie Kansas City 3-3 to put both division leaders deadlocked with 71 points each. Chicago blew a chance to go ahead when they lost 4-3 to St. Louis. Then the Canucks got their chance and won 5-1 over strong Buffalo to go two points up on the Hawks. Chicago came back to defeat Minnesota 5-2 and the teams were all square again at the top.The stage was set for the showdown on Chicago ice. The Hawks faltered and Vancouver won 4-3 to go ahead with still a game in hand. &#9632;

Hawks Lose Big Chance To Leave Canucks Behind

&ldquo;Many intelligent men and women are held back in their jobs and social lives because they use poor English or can&rsquo;t speak and write effectively,&rdquo; says Don Bolander, director of Career Institute.&ldquo;Adults who realize that their English is holding them back use our new home method to stop making embarrassing mistakes, to improve their writing, to increase their vocabularies, to speed up their reading. to acquire the techniques of fluent conversation. But the use of effective English pays off in unexpected ways,&rdquo; says Bolander, &ldquo;because language is a tool of thought.&ldquo;You use words whenever you think. The more you learn about words and how to use them to form and express your ideas, the better your thinking becomes. The improvement of your English-including your thinking-can lead to amazing personal achievements.&rdquo;For interested readers of this publication. Bolander has made available a free 32-page booklet that tells how you can gain a command of good English quickly and enjoyably at home. Just send your name, address and zip code on a postcard or letter to Don Bolander, Career Institute, Dept. 746-41, Sherman Turnpike. Danbury, Conn. 06816. The booklet will be mailed promptly with no obligation. &#9632;

Shamed by Your English?

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U. S. and CanadaEDMONTON&mdash;Some called it the seventh coming. What it really was, simply, was the return of the great white hope to behind the bench of the Edmonton Oilers. Bill Hunter had returned.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01250/3563694-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="559" height="591"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDERS HEDBERG&hellip;Scores 40th Goal</figcaption></div>The general manager of the Canadian Division World Hockey Association Club assumed the coaching duties as he has done so often with teams in that area, claiming that Brian Shaw was ailing and had asked to be relieved.But the rolling of Shaw&rsquo;s head had been predicted up to two weeks before it actually happened, and when it did, it came as no surprise to anyone, particularly Shaw.The affable Shaw, who had seen the same thing happen when he coached the Edmonton Oil King juniors in the Western Canada League before stepping into pro, had apparently lost weight since the club went into it&rsquo;s postChristmas skid.&ldquo;Brian has lost 30 pounds since we started losing, and he&rsquo;s asked for 30 days of,&rdquo; said Hunter in making the announcement at an Edmonton press conference.Hunter, &ldquo;the velvet tongue of the WHA&rdquo;, as he is often referred to by league president Dennis-Murphy, had many times replaced coaches mid-way through the season in his junior days and Shaw&rsquo;s departure was a logical extension of that development.The Oilers have a torturous road schedule down the stretch and are going to need all the miracles Hunter or anybody else can provide if they&rsquo;re going to make the playoffs. Oilers split a home-and-home series with the Vancouver Blazers during the week, winning 4-0 at home after dropping a 6-0 shown in Vancouver.TORONTO: While owner John Bassett. Jr. learned that the league board of trustees will make a ruling on whether his signing of underage junior Mark Napier will be allowed, the Toros were capitalizing on the easy part of their schedule.Toros scored consecutive laughter type victories over the Baltimore Blades on the weekend, which when combined with their win over Baltimore earlier in the week, made the season series six wins for the Toros on the season.As the Toros moved back to within eight points of first place Quebec, the top scorers on the club were again fattening their already potent scoring totals, the leader in that category being Vaclav Nedomansky.Big Ned scored three goals in the two weekend games to bring his total to 38 for the year, not a bad total for a rookie. Tom (Shotgun) Simpson bagged his 39th and 40th of the year, and Frank Mahovlich had three in the two games and brought his season total to 34. Toros leading man in the scoring race is still 20-year-old Wayne Dillon, who has 22 goals and 52 assists, the 74 points being good for 10th spot in league scoring.WINNIPEG: Skeptics say the Winnipeg Jets are just a one-line hockey club, and hence won&rsquo;t go anywhere. Maybe, but what a line.While the Jets were scoring a 6-5 overtime win in Minnesota on their third game in three nights, the most impressive showing came from the big trio in a losing cause in Phoenix. The Jets lost 7-4, but of the four goals scored, 12 points were awarded, and all went to Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson.Phoenix GM Bill MacFarland says they are &ldquo;undoubtedly the best line in the league&rdquo;, and one might venture to say maybe one of the best in hockey today. Hull, who notched his 60th goal in his 62nd game in the road win over Minnesota, leads the league in scoring, but his linemates are close on his heels.VANCOUVER: As rookie Pat Price and Jimmy Jones step aside with their ailments, the Blazers have brought in Arnie Brown as a free agent from the Baltimore Blades to shore up the defence left a little short by the broken thumb suffered by Paul Terbenche. Jones has a hernia, Price a severely sprained ankle.Whether Brown can help is a matter of conjecture, but the Blazers are going to need some if they are to make a wild card spot in the playoffs. Blazers, who won their two games at home and lost the one on the road during the week, will have to break the pattern of losing on the road if they&rsquo;re to make a run at things.QUEBEC: Marc Tardif came back in time to score his 41st goal. Rejean Houle has reached 30, Serge Bernier is still flying and, despite a shuddering loss to the San Diego Mariners in California, the Nordiques are still moving along.Bernier, whose 46 goals and 55 assists are good for thrid place in the scoring race, has been playing well as has been one of the club&rsquo;s other good centers, Michel Parizeau, who scored two goals in Nordiques&rsquo; 7-5 home win over Chicago Cougars to bring his total to 25.Nordiques seem almost certain of first place barring a major slump in the last part of the season.<h2>WHA Leaders</h2>(Including Sun. March 16)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02201/3563687-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="597" height="357"></div><h3>GOALERS&rsquo; RECORDS</h3>(Including Sun. March 2)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03165/3563680-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="602" height="1625"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

Hunter Relieves Shaw As Oilers’ Bench Boss

BOBBY HULLWinnipeg JetsFifty goals in as many games is one plateau that the Golden Jet reached earlier this season.The second mark he could possibly reach would be an unbelievable 78 goals in 78 games, a feat which might never be equalled.Hull&rsquo;s six-goal week lifted his total to 66 in the 66 contests the Jets have played.He had a hat trick and a single assist in 10-1 thumping of Edmonton, a pair of markers in 5-3 loss to Quebec and a goal and an assist in 4-3 edging of the Nordiques.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04126/3563732-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="511" height="605"></div>TOM SIMPSONToronto TorosLost among the big names of the Toros, Tom Simpson has improved his performance over last season by at least 50 percent goal-wise.A four-goal output over the past week lifted Simpson&rsquo;s total to 44, surpassing his last year&rsquo;s mark of 33 with eight games still remaining in the regular season.He had a single assist in 7-5 setback to New England, a pair of markers and an assist in 6-4 loss to San Diego and two goals in 7-4 win over Phoenix.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05102/3563725-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="511" height="574"></div> &#9632;

f0026-04

WHA’s Stars of the week

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div>BALTIMORE&mdash;The Blades won their third game in 17 tries since moving to Balimore, but it came on the road, as lid their first victory since moving from Detroit.Reg Thomas&rsquo; goal at 2:48 of overtime gave the Blades a 5-4 victory in Baltimore over the Racers, who had scored three third period goals to tie the game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01234/3563770-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="270" height="339"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin Morrison</figcaption></div>Defenseman Arnie Brown and Larry Johnston were released by the Blades and goaltender Gerry Desjardins jumped to the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. The Blades filed a formal notice of suspension of Desjardins and the Sabres had scheduled him to play a Sunday date but scratched him from the lineup. Given the go-ahead by National Hockey League president Clarence Campbell, Desjardins made his debut a few days later.Desjardins&rsquo; departure saw the callup of Jim McLeod from Greensboro as a replacement.Brown went to the Vancouver Blazers and Johnston back to the NHL.Gary Sittler was called up from Syracuse and responded with a goal in his first major league game, against Toronto.The Blades played the Toros three times in a week, losing all three to give Toronto a clean 6-0 sweep in their series.Bill Goldthorpe was suspended by the Blades &ldquo;for conduct not becoming an athlete in the WHA&rdquo;. Freddie Speck and Craig Reichmuth were sent to Syracuse and Jerry Zyrmiak to Greensboro.Steve West, sidelined with torn knee ligaments, is waiting for word from the doctor on whether surgery is necessary.MINNESOTA: The Fighting Saints had an opportunity to gain on second place Phoenix in the West Division but were ambushed by a Finnish import.Veli-Pekka Ketola scored with 10 seconds left in the game and the Winnipeg net empty for a sixth attacker, then scored again at 3:02 of overtime to give the Winnipeg Jets a 6-5 victory over the Saints.A crowd of 13,127 watched the Saints blow an early third period 5-2 lead, built on Mike Walton&rsquo;s 41st and 42nd goals and a goal and three assists by Don Tannahill.The Saints remain four points behind the Roadrunners but retain two games in hand.The Saints scored their ninth straight home-ice victory in three seasons over the New England Whalers, George Morrison providing the tie-breaker with one of his two goals in the game. Morrison added the clincher into an empty Whaler net with eight seconds remaining.HOUSTON: The Aeros weren&rsquo;t treated like defending champions last week and the runaway leaders of the Western Division were dumped 7-4 in San Diego as the Mariners continued their domination of the Aeros. San Diego has won five of the six meetings.Larry Pleau&rsquo;s goal at 16:32 of the third period gave the New England Whalers a 5-4 victory in Houston.SAN DIEGO: Andre Lacroix keeps nudging ahead of Winnipeg&rsquo;s Bobby Hull to take the WHA scoring lead but can&rsquo;t keep it from the Golden Jet.Lacroix, scoring in 28 straight games and 55 of the 62 the Mariners have played, has 31 goals and 78 assists for 109 points. Hull has 60 goals and 62 assists for 112 points as both have played 62 games.Lacroix is two assists short of his own league record and Hull one goal short of Danny Lawson&rsquo;s league record.Defenseman Kevin Morrison set a club record of five assists as the Mariners downed the Canadian Divisionleading Quebec Nordiques again. 8-2. Morrison had scored four assists against Vancouver, Jan. 23.The victory was the first in five games for the Mariners.Wayne Rivers connected for his 46th and 47th goals of the season in a 7-4 victory over the Houston Aeros.Lacroix&rsquo;s 28th straight point-scoring game was a 6-5 victory over Hull&rsquo;s Jets with assists on all three goals by his linemate, Rick Sentes. Norm Ferguson bagged the winner with 8:15 left to play, sending a San Diego sellout crowd of 13,039 home happy.The sellout was the first in the WHA team&rsquo;s three-year history, dating back to their days as the Jersey Knights, the New York Raiders and the New York Golden Blades.PHOENIX: Robbie Ftorek continued his torrid pace but the rest of the Roadrunners slacked off, their tour-game 4-3 defeat at Vancouver, where they winning streak coming to an end with a failed to win a point this season.Ftorek scored two of the Roadrunner goals and assisted on the other, by his right wing, John Gray.The little blond center from Needham, Mass., dubbed &ldquo;Superflea&rdquo;, has scored 21 points on seven goals and 14 assists in five games.One of the victories in the four-game home-ice streak was over Winnipeg with the second largest crowd of the season, 11,547, drawn to see Hull. The largest crowd of the season and the Phoenix hockey record, 12,621, came out to see Hull in December.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02185/3563763-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="561" height="840"><figcaption class="caption-body">ARNIE BROWN&hellip;Dropped By Blades</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

Blades’ Player Turnover Continues; Mariners Extend Domination Of Aeros

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1626/3563948-1-eng-US/f0028-162.jpg" title="f0028-16" width="599" height="541"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01222/3563955-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="159" height="206"></div><h2>Mon. March 10 EDMONTON 3, BALTIMORE 5</h2><h2>Tue. March 11 PHOENIX 4, TORONTO 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1721/3563941-1-eng-US/f0028-172.jpg" title="f0028-17" width="602" height="700"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 6, SAN DIEGO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1822/3563934-1-eng-US/f0028-182.jpg" title="f0028-18" width="592" height="495"></div><h2>EDMONTON 5, CHICAGO 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1922/3563927-1-eng-US/f0028-192.jpg" title="f0028-19" width="593" height="411"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 2, NEW ENGLAND 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2020/3563920-1-eng-US/f0028-202.jpg" title="f0028-20" width="594" height="524"></div><h2>Wed. March 12 WINNIPEG 3, QUEBEC 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2120/3563913-1-eng-US/f0028-212.jpg" title="f0028-21" width="592" height="494"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 2, VANCOUVER 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2219/3563906-1-eng-US/f0028-222.jpg" title="f0028-22" width="596" height="504"></div><h2>BALTIMORE 2. CLEVELAND 0</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2319/3563899-1-eng-US/f0028-232.jpg" title="f0028-23" width="593" height="405"></div><h2>Thu. March 13 TORONTO 4, INDIANAPOLIS 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2417/3563892-1-eng-US/f0028-242.jpg" title="f0028-24" width="596" height="583"></div><h2>PHOENIX 5. NEW ENGLAND 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2516/3563885-1-eng-US/f0028-252.jpg" title="f0028-25" width="202" height="29"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2613/3563878-1-eng-US/f0028-262.jpg" title="f0028-26" width="603" height="679"></div><h2>Fri. March 14 EDMONTON 0, CLEVELAND 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2713/3563871-1-eng-US/f0028-272.jpg" title="f0028-27" width="588" height="353"></div><h2>QUEBEC 3, WINNIPEG 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2813/3563864-1-eng-US/f0028-282.jpg" title="f0028-28" width="593" height="495"></div><h2>HOUSTON 5, CHICAGO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2913/3563857-1-eng-US/f0028-292.jpg" title="f0028-29" width="596" height="670"></div><h2>SAN DIEGO 6, TORONTO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-3013/3563850-1-eng-US/f0028-302.jpg" title="f0028-30" width="599" height="554"></div><h2>Sat. March 15 BALTIMORE 3. INDIANAPOLIS 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-3113/3563843-1-eng-US/f0028-312.jpg" title="f0028-31" width="589" height="319"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-3213/3563836-1-eng-US/f0028-322.jpg" title="f0028-32" width="601" height="353"></div><h2>QUEBEC 4, VANCOUVER 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-3313/3563829-1-eng-US/f0028-332.jpg" title="f0028-33" width="589" height="642"></div><h2>EDMONTON 2, NEW ENGLAND 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-3412/3563822-1-eng-US/f0028-342.jpg" title="f0028-34" width="589" height="582"></div><h2>Sun. March 16 TORONTO 5, NEW ENGLAND 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-3510/3563815-1-eng-US/f0028-352.jpg" title="f0028-35" width="591" height="632"></div><h2>HOUSTON 2, CLEVELAND 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-3610/3563808-1-eng-US/f0028-362.jpg" title="f0028-36" width="571" height="406"></div><h2>EDMONTON 1. WINNIPEG 10</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-379/3563801-1-eng-US/f0028-372.jpg" title="f0028-37" width="574" height="639"></div> &#9632;

f0028-16

World Hockey Association Summaries

(Standings on Mon. March 17)<h2>CANADIAN DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-389/3564098-1-eng-US/f0028-382.jpg" title="f0028-38" width="601" height="180"></div><h2>EAST DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-397/3564091-1-eng-US/f0028-392.jpg" title="f0028-39" width="597" height="150"></div><h2>WEST DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-405/3564084-1-eng-US/f0028-402.jpg" title="f0028-40" width="594" height="174"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Mon. March 10Edmonton 3 at Baltimore 5Tue. March 11Phoenix 4 at Toronto 7; Minnesota 6 at San Diego 4, Edmonton 5 at Chicago 1; Winnipeg 2 at New England 6.Wed. March 12Winnipeg 3 at Quebec 5; Minnesota 2 at Vancouver 4; Baltimore 2 at Cleveland 0.Thu. March 13Toronto 4 at Indianapolis 5; Phoenix 5 at New England 5.Fri. March 14Edmonton 0 at Cleveland 3; Qu&eacute;bec 3 at Winnipeg 4; Houston 5 at Chicago 4; San Diego 6 at Toronto 4.Sat. March 15Baltimore 3 at Indianapolis 7; Quebec 4 at Vancouver 7; Edmonton 2 at New England 6.Sun. March 16Toronto 5 at New England 7; Houston 2 at Cleveland 1; Edmonton 1 at Winnipeg 10; Quebec 2 at Vancouver 4; San Diego 2 at Chicago 4.<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Mon. Mar. 17Houston at Toronto.Tue. Mar. 18Quebec at Edmonton; Minnesota at Vancouver; Phoenix at Chicago.Wed. Mar. 19Indianapolis at Houston; Phoenix at Cleveland; Vancouver at Winnipeg; San Diego at New England.Thu. Mar. 20Edmonton at Indianapolis; Phoenix at Baltimore; Chicago at San Diego; Quebec at Houston.Fri. Mar. 21Winnipeg at New England.Sat. Mar. 22Vancouver at Phoenix; Houston at New England; Indianapolis at San Diego; Winnipeg at Chicago; Edmonton at Cleveland.Sun. Mar. 23Edmonton at Minnesota; Indianapolis at Phoenix; Chicago at Winnipeg; Vancouver at San DiegoTue. Mar. 25Winnipeg at Indianapolis; Baltimore at Minnesota; Vancouver at Toronto; San Diego at Chicago; Edmonton at New England.Wed. Mar. 26Houston at Phoenix; Chicago at Minnesota; Edmonton at Quebec; Vancouver at Cleveland; San Diego at Baltimore.Thu. Mar. 27San Diego at Indianapolis; Edmonton at Baltimore; Cleveland at New England; Winnipeg at Houston.Fri. Mar. 28Minnesota at Phoenix; Edmonton at Toronto.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02155/3564077-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="261" height="287"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03119/3564070-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="218" height="288"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0496/3564063-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="254" height="244"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0582/3564056-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="250" height="260"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0668/3564049-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="244" height="247"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0758/3564042-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="244" height="247"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0853/3564035-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="316" height="329"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0949/3564028-1-eng-US/f0028-092.jpg" title="f0028-09" width="310" height="247"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1048/3564021-1-eng-US/f0028-102.jpg" title="f0028-10" width="206" height="255"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1142/3564014-1-eng-US/f0028-112.jpg" title="f0028-11" width="333" height="241"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1239/3564007-1-eng-US/f0028-122.jpg" title="f0028-12" width="256" height="252"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1335/3564000-1-eng-US/f0028-132.jpg" title="f0028-13" width="260" height="253"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1429/3563993-1-eng-US/f0028-142.jpg" title="f0028-14" width="224" height="216"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1529/3563986-1-eng-US/f0028-152.jpg" title="f0028-15" width="281" height="203"></div> &#9632;

f0028-38

WHA Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;It was a night to remember in ne respects and a night to forget many others.A record crowd of 13,010 came the March 8 game at the Market uare Arena to: a good hockey me between eir Racers and e Cleveland Cruers. What they late in the cond period uld hardly quai as one.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01188/3564129-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="260" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Shmyr</figcaption></div>At exactly 03, bedlam broloose and the o clubs, when vas all over, set three World Hockey sociation penalty records, all set orinally in a Feb, 7 game at Phoenix inlying the Roadrunners and Minneta Fighting Saints. When the dust had eared, referee Wayne Mundey had shed out a record 228 minutes in peIties, 117 to the Crusaders, and own out four players, two coaches d one trainerThe two clubs compiled 192 of those nutes in the second period to snap the d mark of 164 and the 32 penalties histled by Mundey in the middle season snapped the old record by one. The busy official, who merely skated the scorer&rsquo;s bench to take names duig the 15-minute brawl that had erupd, called 19 minors, 10 majors, seven sconducts and seven game misconcts with Cleveland receiving 11 minors, five majors, four misconducts and three game misconduts.And when the tally sheet is added up, the WHA treasury will be over $1,000 richer with a suspension or two possibly thrown in.Cleveland coach and general manager Jack Vivian, ejected for fighting with Indianapolis coach Gerry Moore, said he was sorry so many youngsters had to witness the brawl. Around 4,000 junior hockey youngsters from the area were in attendance.At one point during the fight, Vivian grabbed the sweater of Indy&rsquo;s Murray Heatley near the Cleveland bench. Moore saw this and raced over, to protect his man.Moore, accompanied by trainer Bill Carroll, yanked at&mdash;and ripped&mdash;Vivian&rsquo;s jacket. The Cleveland hockey chief immediately started throwing punches. He declined to talk about his fight with Moore, but the Racers&rsquo; coach did briefly.&ldquo;I threw a lot of punches, but I didn&rsquo;t hit anybody&rdquo;, said Moore, who sported an abrasion on his chin after the scrap. Witnesses were divided as to the victor in this fight.Moore, Vivian, Carroll, Baxter, Leduc, Fitchner and Desjardins were excused for the evening by Mundey, who sent the clubs to the dressing room to cool off. He tacked the last four minutes and 57 seconds on to the third period.CHICAGO: Cougars&rsquo; player-coach-owner Whitey Stapleton is spending almost as much time these days worrying and talking about where the club will be next season as he is trying to get the club into the World Trophy playoffs this season.&ldquo;We have to sit down with some people in Chicago and discuss the situation there,&rdquo; said Stapleton, who owns the team with teammates Dave Dryden and Ralph Backstrom and their attorney, Jeff Rosen. &ldquo;We will evaluate the Chicago situation. We would like to stay there.&rdquo;Calgary, Miami and Ottawa have been mentioned as possible sites in case the Cougars do decide to move. Ottawa is the leading candidate, although the Canadian capital failed to support a team in the WHA&rsquo;s first year. That club now skates in Toronto as the Toros.NEW ENGLAND: You can&rsquo;t blame the Whalers if they wouldn&rsquo;t mind not playing the Minnesota Fighting Saints in the World Trophy playoffs. The Harpoonists, you see, have visited St. Paul nine times in the last three seasons and have returned home empty-handed.The Whalers did win a big one in Houston, overcoming a 3-0 deficit to beat the Aeros, 5-4. In that one, however, center Garry Swain was sidelined with two broken ribs, courtesy of Gordie Howe.Center Wayne Carleton has been on a mild hot streak with eight goals in his last 11 games and left winger Don Blackbum has scored at least one point in 10 of his last 11 outings&hellip;The Whalers are averaging 9,300 at the Hartford Civic Center in 14 games. &#9632;

f0029-01

Coaches Highlight Racers-Crusaders Fight Card

<div class="byline">BY HANS TANNER</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U. S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaHALIFAX&mdash;The Nova Scotia Voyageurs literally are muscling their way through this American Hockey League season.With three weeks left in the season, the Vees already had wiped out the league&rsquo;s record for penalty minutes and, in doing so, had surpassed the previous records for most major penalties and 10-minute misconducts.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01218/3564167-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="291" height="381"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Zanussi</figcaption></div>Richmond is challenging the Voyageurs for the dubious honor of being the most penalized team in the AHL history, but Nova Scotia should prevail, just as it should hold off Virginia for most majors.Until this season, only three teams in AHL history had collected more than 1,300 minutes. Cincinnati was the record-holder with 1,601 minutes in 1971-1972. Quebec had 1,353 in 19701971 and Tidewater 1,348 in 1971-1972.Four teams, led by Nova Scotia, had soared over 1,300 minutes with a month of the schedule remaining. The Vees swept past Cincinnati&rsquo;s record total Feb. 27 and were at 1,701 minutes through games of March 9.The old record for major penalties was 59 by Virginia last season. The Voyageurs had 63 and Virginia 51 through March 9 in 10 minute misconducts, Cincinnati had 29 in 1971-1972. but the Voyageurs were at 33 by March 10.Also expected to be eclipsed by the Vees is the mark for two-minute minors. It is 439, set by Quebec in 1970-71. Nova Scotia had 417 by March 10.Coach Al MacNeil&rsquo;s team is going to have to yield the game misconduct lead (and record) to Richmond however.What really makes it all seem strange is that the whole AHL had only 74 major penalties in 1965-1966.Nova Scotia could come close to doubling its penalty minutes of a year ago. The Vees were 10th in a 12-team league last season with 959 minutes.MacNeil denies last season&rsquo;s club wasn&rsquo;t aggressive.I think we&rsquo;ve always had a pretty aggressive type of club. We may have been a little mild last season&hellip;we never went out initiating any violence.&ldquo;But this year we have a hockey club that gets a lot of attention from the referees.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting into a gray area when I try to talk about the reason for us getting so many more penalties, but I do feel Gilles Lupien (tied with Richmond&rsquo;s Jack McIlhargey the league leader in penalties with 399 minutes by March 10) has been given some penalties he doesn&rsquo;t deserve,&rsquo;&rsquo; MacNeil says.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to cut down on our minutes. This is a record I&rsquo;m not particularly proud of. We&rsquo;ve got a bunch of young guys and they&rsquo;re not going out to take stupid penalties. But they do take a lot of bonehead penalties&mdash;some for yapping. We talk a little too much on the ice and maybe they&rsquo;re just a little too enthusiastic.&ldquo;I think hockey is a rough and tough game, but there&rsquo;s not as much violence as there was 10-15 years ago. There were more stick fights, bench clearing, brawls and so on. Maybe the reason for the increase in penalties is partially due to the more games we play now and tempers are quicker in today&rsquo;s players.&ldquo;Outside of isolated incidents that happen in any contact sport, for the number of games, we have a pretty entertaining spectacle.&rsquo;&rsquo; MacNeil was quick to applaud his penalty killers, who have seen a lot of duty this season Don Howes (who has set on AHL record for shorthanded goals with seven), Jim Cahoon, Mike Busniuk and Gary Geldart are the regulars up front, with Bill Nyrop, Rick Chartraw and John VanBoxmeer on defense.Nova Scotia and New Haven traded a pair of easy victories at home&mdash;the Nighthawks building a 5-0 lead on the way to a 6-4 decision and the Vees running up a 5-1 bulge on the way to an 8-4 triumph.Peter Sullivan had a big night in the victory here. He scored four goals and assisted on two others, giving him 14 goals and 11 assists in a dozen games against New Haven this season. He had plenty of time to score even more goals as his scores came at 9:43 and 18:51 of the first period and at 0:39 and 7:36 of the second.ROCHESTER: It wasn&rsquo;t so long ago that the Rochester Americans owned Springfield. Last season, the Amerks won six and tied two of eight meetings with the then Kings and for the last 18 games going into this season. Rochester was 13-1-4 with Springfield.But Springfield has turned it around this season. The Kings-Indians dropped only one of the first eight meetings&mdash;winning five and tying two.The 6-5 victory was a wild one anyway. The Amerks led 1-0, trailed 3-1 and led 5-3 before the Bears tied it 5-5, setting up Hynes disputed winner.Rochester had another odd night against New Haven. The Amerks spotted the Nighthawks the first goal, stormed back for a 4-1 lead before the first period was over and then had to settle for a 5-5 overtime tie.Barry Merrell scored his 99th and 100th AHL goals in that game.PROVIDENCE: Joe Zanussi returned from the parent New York Rangers, but the Providence Reds lost John Bednarski at the same time because Dale Rolfe suffered a broken ankle.Had Zanussi not missed nine games while with the Rangers this season, he might have had a good chance at the AHL record for points by a defenseman. Through March 10. Zanussi had 20 goals and 35 assists for 55 points. The AHL record is 12 set by Eddie Bush of Philadelphia way back in 1947-48 when he had 24 goals and 48 assists.Providence beat back its two challengers&mdash;Nova Scotia and Rochester&mdash;on successive nights to all but clinch the Northern Division title.Coach John Muckler&rsquo;s skaters won 6-3 in Nova Scotia as Bob MacMillan scored two goals in the first 10 minutes and Zanussi had a goal and two assists. Two goals in the first two and a half minutes helped the Reds turn back Rochester in Providence.SPRINGFIELD: The Indians figured they had plenty of time to get home from a March 2 game in Nova Scotia (which they lost 4-3 in overtime despite two unassisted goals by Tom Cassidy) before playing Rochester March 5. Springfield was supposed to leave Halifax at 8:35 a.m. Monday the 3rd. But a strike by members of the crew that keep the runways cleared combined with some snow voided that plan. The Indians couldn&rsquo;t take off at all Monday and there was no assurance they&rsquo;d be able to leave TuesdayCoach Ron Stewart and his team boarded a bus at 7 a.m. Tuesday, changed busses in New Brunswick, got on a plane in Bangor. Maine, flew to Boston and boarded another bus for the rest of the trio&mdash;finally arriving home at 11:30 p.m., some sixteen and a half hou after leaving Halifax.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02166/3564160-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="534" height="800"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETER SULLIVAN&hellip;Four-Goal Game</figcaption></div>But the Indians played a solid gar and whipped Rochester 3-1. Then th went to Virginia and won 4-1 as Dt Lewis scored twice and assisted on goal.NEW HAVEN: Dave Cresman w doing a better-than-average job of filli in for Rick Kessell, who went out of tl Nighthawk lineup with a shoulder i jury.After scoring just six goals up to tl point, he had one against Providence the game Kessell was injured in, two t following night in come-from-behi 5-5 tie in Rochester, the opening goal a 6-4 victory over Nova Scotia V nights later and another goal the fol wing night in an 8-4 loss in Halifax. &#9632;

f0030-01

Voyageurs Muscling Their Way Along; Indians Turning Tables On Americans

SPRINGFIELD&mdash;The fourth-place team in the Sourn Division playoffs could have a er record than the division cham-t. And a team could finish a point ad of another team in the Northern rision standings, yet finish behind other team.Those are the strange twists which part of the American Hockey Lea&lsquo;s revised playoff plan for this seasonThe league found itself in a very un-fortable position when Baltimore Idenly folded Jan. 23. The AHL already had agreed to guarantee a $260,000 pool for the playoffs, and the only way to bring in enough revenue is to have eight teams in the playoffs.President Jack Butterfield had no alternative but to try and work out something whereby eight of the nine teams would participate.But the strength this season is in the Northern Division, where the last-place club stands a chance of finishing with more points in the standings than the winner in the Southern Division. And Syracuse, although it has been playing better of late, would have been an automatic qualifier while a team with a better record than the champion would have been left out.So Butterfield and the board of governors worked out a plan.The first four teams in the Northern Division and the first three in the Southern Division will automatically qualify for the playoffs. If the fifth-place team in the North finishes with more points or a better percentage than the fourth-place club in the South, there&rsquo;ll be a one-game playoff in the home rink of the Northern Division team. The winner of that game goes into the Southern Division playoffs as the No. 4 team.The other quirk, whereby a team could finish ahead but finish behind another team, also is caused by Baltimore&rsquo;s failure to finish the season.The Southern Division and Nova Scotia and Springfield in the North play one less than the scheduled 38 road games, meaning they&rsquo;ll play 75 games for the season.To avoid penalizing a team just because it didn&rsquo;t have the opportunity to play as many games, the league has decided to use percentages if necessary.Should a club which played one less game finish tied or a point behind another club which played the full schedule, the percentage will be arrived at by dividing the number of points possible into the number attained.If the percentage, carried to three places, comes out even, the usual way of settling ties in the standings will be used. That&rsquo;s done first by comparing number of victories, then going to the season series if they&rsquo;re still tied, then to goals scored if they&rsquo;re still deadlocked.The AHL didn&rsquo;t have much choice this time, but obviously will have to do a lot of changing before next season. &#9632;

Strange Twists Part of Revised AHL Playoff Plan

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. March 18)<h3>NORTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01198/3564271-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="541" height="205"></div><h3>SOUTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02157/3564264-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="538" height="230"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 11Nova Scotia 2 at Richmond 3; Providence 3 at acuse 2.Wed. March 12Richmond 2 at Hershey 3; Rochester 6 at Providence 4; Nova Scotia 0 at Virginia 2.Thu. March 13Virgima 4 at Richmond 3.Fri. March 14Nova Scotia 3 at Syracuse 6Sat. March 15Nova Scotia 2 at Hershey 0; Richmond 3 at Virginia 2.Sun. March 16Springfield 2 at New Haven 5; Nova Scotia 1 at hester 4.<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Mar. 18Springfield at Nova Scotia: Hershey at VirginiaWed. Mar. 19Virginia at Hershey.Thu. Mar. 20Springfield at Nova ScotiaFri. Mar. 21Nova Scotia at New Haven; Hershey at Richmond Rochester at Syracuse: Providence at Virginia.Sat. Mar. 22Syracuse at Hershey: Providence at New Haven. Virginia at Richmond. Rochester at SpringfieldSun. Mar. 23Hershey at Nova Scotia; New Haven at Provice: Syracuse at Rochester; Richmond at Virginia<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. March 18)<h3>NORTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03131/3564257-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="533" height="197"></div><h3>SOUTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04106/3564250-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="533" height="177"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 11Lake 3 at Fort Worth 3.Wed. March 12Lake 3 at Dallas 5; Denver 2 at Omaha 2.Fri. March 14Oklahoma City 1 at Tulsa 1; Fort Worth 5 at OmahaSat. March 15Nova 3 at Dallas 3. Oklahoma City 4 at Omaha 3: Lake 4 at Seattle 5.Sun. March 16at 3 at Tulsa 4.<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Mar. 18Denver at Seattle.Wed. Mar. 19Oklahoma City at Fort Worth; Omaha at DenverThu. Mar. 20Maha at Lake; Dallas at Seattle.Fri. Mar. 21Fort Worth at Dallas; Salt Lake at DenverSat. Mar. 22Oklahoma City at Dallas; Tulsa at Fort Worth: Lake at Denver; Omaha at Seattle<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. March 17)<h3>NORTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0593/3564243-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="595" height="232"></div><h3>SOUTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0670/3564236-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="595" height="232"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 11Fort Wayne 1 at Columbus 4.Wed. March 12Flint 5 at Fort Wayne 1; Saginaw 2 at Dayton 4.Fri. March 14Columbus 2 at Muskegon 3: Dayton 4 at Toledo 2; Kalamazoo 2 at Port Huron 5.Sat. March 15Fort Wayne 2 at Muskegon 9; Kalamazoo 4 at Saginaw 7; Columbus 4 at Toledo 2; Flint 4 at Dayton 6; Des Moines 3 at Port Hurion 5.Sun. March 16Muskegon 7 at Fort Wayne 5; Dayton 0 at Columbus 5; Des Moines 5 at Saginaw 3; Port Huron 2 at Flint 7, Toledo 7 at Kalamazoo 4.<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. Mar. 17Des Moines at Columbus.Tue. Mar. 18Fort Wayne at Saginaw; Kalamazoo at DaytonWed. Mar. 19Des Moines at Fort Wayne; Flint at Toledo; Saginaw at Kalamazoo.Fri. Mar. 21Fort Wayne at Muskegon; Columbus at Des Moines; Kalamazoo at Flint; Saginaw at Port Huron; Dayton at Toledo.Sat. Mar. 22Dayton at Fort Wayne; Saginaw at Muskegon; Columbus at Des Moines; Toledo at Port Huron; Flint at Kalamazoo.Sun. Mar. 23Fort Wayne at Dayton; Port Huron at Flint: Columbus at Toledo: Muskegon at Kalamazoo.<h2>SOUTHERN LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0758/3564229-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="590" height="176"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 11Hampton 4 at Charlotte 8Wed. March 12Roanoke 4 at Greensboro 6Thu. March 13Hampton 4 at Roanoke 1Fri. March 14Winston-Salem 3 at Greensboro 1Sat. March 15Greensboro 2 at Roanoke 5; Charlotte 8 at Winston-Salem 7Sun. March 16Hampton 10 at Greensboro 3; Charlotte 6 at Roanoke 4<h3>PLAYOFF GAMES</h3>(Best-of-seven semi-final series)Tue. March 18Roanoke at Charlotte; Winston-Salem at HamptonWed. March 19Charlotte at RoanokeThu. March 20Hampton at Winston-SalemFri. March 21Roanoke at Charlotte; Winston-Salem at HamptonSat. March 22Charlotte at RoanokeSun. March 23Hampton at Winston-Salem.<h2>NORTH AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. March 17)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0851/3564222-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="584" height="295"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 11Syracuse 2 at Binghamton 3.Wed. March 12Mohawk Valley 1 at Johnstown 6; Cape Codders 0 at Syracuse 5; Maine 2 at Long Island 3.Thu. March 13Philadelphia 5 at Binghamton 2.Fri. March 14Mohawk Valley 6 at Cape Codders 3; Johnstown 4 at Long Island 3.Sat. March 15Syracuse 3 at Johnstown 5; Philadelphia 3 at Maine 9.Sun. March 16Mohawk Valley 5 at Long Island 4; Johnstown 1 at Syracuse 6; Philadelphia 4 at Cape Codders 5.<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. Mar. 17Philadelphia at Binghamton.Tue. Mar. 18Philadelphia at Long Island.Wed. Mar. 19Johnstown at Cape Codders; Long Island at Syracuse.Thu. Mar. 20Johnstown at Maine.Fri. Mar. 21Cape Codders at Long Island; Syracuse at Mohawk Valley.Sat. Mar. 22Mohawk Valley at Syracuse; Maine at Cape Codders.Sun. Mar. 23Johnstown at Mohawk Valley; Syracuse at Long Island; Binghamton at Maine; Philadelphia at Cape Codders. &#9632;

f0031-01

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-Vancouver. 22&mdash;Baltimore. 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 (NHL). 37&mdash;Minnesota (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). 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). 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;Baltimore (WHA). Quebec (WHA)&mdash;N. Y. Islanders (NHL). 58&mdash;Edmonton (WHA) & N.Y. Rangers (NHL). 59&mdash;Minnesota (WHA) & Pittsburgh (NHL). &#9632;

Minor League Affiliations

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in US and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U. S. and CanadaTULSA&mdash;Owner-general manager Bobby Gilbert was so disgusted with two listless home performances of the Tulsa Oilers he didn&rsquo;t even go to Oklahoma City for the week&rsquo;s third disappointment. The Oilers had played a 2-2 tie with the crippled Seattle Totems, then lost 4-1 to the challenging Fort Worth Texans, before taking the road and suffering a 5-2 humiliation at the hands of the archrival OC Blazers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01200/3564333-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="263" height="327"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Koleff</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m embarrassed by their obvious lack of hustle and desire,&rdquo; Gilbert said. &ldquo;You can quote me as being sorry we can&rsquo;t refund the fans&rsquo; money for those two home games. Whatever happened to pride in professionals? It&rsquo;s evident the playoff money doesn&rsquo;t mean much to them, and it&rsquo;s also evident they don&rsquo;t care about finishing out of the cellar.&rdquo;The Oilers had been in third place in the CHL&rsquo;s Southern Division since Nov. 24, and had led fourth-place Fort Worth by 10 points on Feb. 16. In the next three weeks, however, the Tulsans compiled a miserable 2-7-2 record, while the Texans were going 5-5 (and winning two out of three from Tulsa).As a result, the once-comfortable bulge had dwindled to four points, and the Texans had four games in hand on the Oilers, going into the last three weeks of the schedule.Most of the Oilers&rsquo; woes could be blamed on horrible puckhandling, especially in their own end, and poor protection for their netminders. However, goalie Ed Humphreys found a new way to beat himself when he gave up the tying goal to Seattle. On an Oiler power play, Seattle cleared the puck and Totem Ron Sedlbauer was in hot pursuit, well ahead of the Oiler defenders.Humphreys came out almost to the blueline to retrieve the puck, but instead fell down and barely touched it with his stick. Sedlbauer easily skated around him for an &lsquo;empty-net&rsquo; goal in the middle of the second period that ended the scoring at 2-2.Fort Worth&rsquo;s rookie goalie Bill Hughes, making his first start since Feb. 19, had a shutout for more than 52 minutes in Tulsa. March 7. Defenseman Garry Lariviere scored on an Oiler power play at 12:19 of the third, but it had no bearing on the outcome, as the Texans had jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first period, and added another tally in the second.In Oklahoma City the next night the Blazers scored three times in less than four minutes midway of the third period to turn a close game into a rout. Another rookie goalie, Blazer Mike Palmateer, blanked the Tulsans until Don O&rsquo;Donoghue scored late in the second period. Don Liesemer added a late Oiler power-play goal to make the final margin 5-2 in a game that wasn&rsquo;t that close.Much of the season the Oiler woes could be blamed on frequent callups by Vancouver and Phoenix of the World Hockey Association, but the two parent clubs had left the Tulsa lineup fairly stable in recent weeks.Goalie Peter Donnelly missed two games on a callup to Vancouver, and the Oilers had only Humphreys in the Fort Worth and Oke City games. With no substitute available, Ed couldn&rsquo;t even go to his bench to get a strap repaired on his mask.Defenseman Serge Beaudoin had his reinjured knee in a cast, and was expected to miss at least two more weeks. Left wing Gene Sobchuk, with 33 goals, was one of four 30-goal scorers in the league, and the only one not wearing a Salt Lake uniform. For the Eagles Denis Meloche had 35, Bob Murdoch 31, and Bob McAneeley 30.DALLAS&mdash;It was a break-even week for Bobby Kromm&rsquo;s Hawks, and it kept them five points ahead of Oklahoma City in the Southern Division race. They scored three goals in the final period for a big 6-3 victory in OC, but came back home to suffer a 5-2 loss to the Omaha Knights.Jim Koleff scored twice in Oklahoma City, with Rejean Giroux getting the go-ahead goal with 51 seconds left in the middle period, after the Blazers had rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to tie the score. Most of Kromm&rsquo;s &ldquo;walking wounded&rdquo; returned to duty, but defenseman Roger Wilson was still out indefinitely with a broken foot, along with forwards Moe L&rsquo;Abbe and Dean Blais, who had knee surgery in January.FORT WORTH&mdash;Ed Chadwick kept reminding his Texans they weren&rsquo;t out of the playoff picture, and the club began to believe him. They reeled off back-to-back victories in Tulsa (4-1) and Omaha (4-2) to pull within four-points of third place, with four games in hand on the Oilers.Left wing Wynne Dempster, who was Fort Worth&rsquo;s leading scorer against Tulsa as a rookie last season, regained that position by breaking his personal drought. Wynne counted the opening goal in the Mar. 7 victory in Tulsa, for his 20th of the season and eighth against the Oilers. He had the hat trick against them in Fort Worth, Mar. 1, and scored in a loss at Tulsa the next night. Before that, he had been goal-less since a hat trick in Dallas, Jan. 25.Goalie Bill Hughes, who had given way to Ron Marlow for four games, was back in the nets for both triumphs. The Texans were unbeaten in seven straight games at home, so their new-found ability to win on the road had Chadwick happy.OKLAHOMA CITY: Without one defenseman who started the season for him and with only two who have played that position for any length of time, Blazer coach Ray Miron was pleased with the performance of converted forwards Scott Garland and Bill Hassard on the blueline. Defenseman Ian Turnbull had been promised by the parent Toronto Maple Leafs, but his injured knee swelled up, and the assignment was delayed.In spite of the injury problem, the Blazers won two out of three. Jack Valiquette scored with 57 seconds left for a 3-2 nod over Seattle, and after a 6-3 loss to Dallas, the Oke Citians humbled their state rivals from Tulsa, 5-2.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02145/3564326-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="523" height="600"><figcaption class="caption-body">GENE SOBCHUK&hellip;Passes 30 Goals</figcaption></div>Pat Boutette scored on a penalty sh against Dallas&rsquo; Mike Veisor, and t Blazers gained a 2-2 tie in the mid period before succumbing. They g three goals in a span of 3:38 in the la period to trounce Tulsa, with Ste Dolloff, Alf Handrahan and Bob Syk sharing in the barrage. Mike Palmate was in the nets for all three games.All three were at home, but the C crew then took to the road for fight straight games, and wouldn&rsquo;t be back their Myriad until Mar. 28.OMAHA: Goals came in quick pa for the Knights. Jerry Byers and Al Young tallied 31 seconds apart in t second period to earn a 3-3 tie at hor vantage stand up, however, as the Texans pulled out a 4-2 decision. The line of Chouinard. Billy Klatt and Byers tallied five of the Knights&rsquo; 10 goals for the week, with Byers scoring twice against Denver, one shorthanded. The line of Schaab, Sutherland and Young was on the ice for the other five, with Sutherland scoring twice against Dallas.DENVER: Brian Ogilvie scored twice in Omaha, including a shorthanded goal, but the struggling Spurs couldn&rsquo;t make a two-goal lead stand up. as the Knights rallied for a 3-3 tie. Following a 7-0 Monday shutout in Salt Lake, the against Denver. Wayne Schaab and Allie Sutherland scored 22 seconds apart in Dallas, and the Knights roared on to a 5-2 victory.There were no such quickies at home against Fort Worth the next night. In fact, play continued for three minutes before the Knights got credit for their first goal, by Guy Chouinard at 11:31 of the first period. Even though the red Light went on, referee Steve Dowling allowed play to continue for three minutes before conferring with the goal judge and allowing the goal.The Knights couldn&rsquo;t make that add Spurs stretched their winless string to three games.Howard Heggedal was blanked for the week, but held to his CHL individual scoring lead by one point, with 72 to 71 for Omaha&rsquo;s Wayne Schaab and Seattle&rsquo;s Dan Seguin. Seguin was also blanked, while Schaab registered a goal and two assists. Mitch Babin, the former league leader who had been out with a back injury since Feb. 14, slipped to a fifth-piace tie at 67. Forward Ken Richardson was lost with a rib injury suffered in Salt Lake.SALT LAKE: Morris Mott celebrated his return to Salt Lake by scoring two goals, and veteran Lyle Bradley did the same, as the Golden Eagles routed Seattle. 8-3. Mott came down along with center Larry Wright from the parent California Golden Seals, who were out of National League playoff contention.A crowd of 10,136 at the Salt Palace saw the Eagles extend their Northern Division lead to 12 points, and the second-place Denver Spurs had only nine games remaining. &#9632;

f0032-01

Tulsa GM Disgusted As Oilers Lose Ground To Texans

SEATTLE&mdash;The already-thin Seattle Totems lost defenseman Jim Mair and forward Ron Sedlbauer to the parent Vancouver Canucks. Part of the hole was plugged whtn 40-year-old Art Jones, a veteran of 17 Western League seasons, signed a contract after a five-game trial as an &ldquo;amateur&rdquo;.Ron Homenuke went back to blueline duty for the umpteenth time this season. Forwards Dave Wisener and Paul O&rsquo;Neill rejoined the club after injury layoffs, and the Totes were hoping to get back defenseman Dennis McCord and winger Barry Wilcox soon. But center Jim Wiley was lost for the season with torn knee ligaments. A 1-1-1 week left the Totems seven points out of third place, with only 10 games left.Dave Westner counted goals in the loss at Oklahoma City and the tie in Tulsa. Jones scored one in his &ldquo;first pro game&rdquo;, as the Totems fell in Salt Lake. 8-3.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0932/3564364-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="549" height="687"><figcaption class="caption-body">ART JONES&hellip;Out Of Mothballs</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0033-09

Jones Returns To Pro Ranks As Totems Feel Player Pinch

(Including Sun. March 9)<h2>DENVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01178/3564444-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="588" height="645"></div><h2>OKLAHOMA CITY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02135/3564437-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="589" height="590"></div><h2>OMAHA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03101/3564430-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="585" height="618"></div><h2>SEATTLE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0483/3564423-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="584" height="610"></div><h2>SALT LAKE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0568/3564416-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="589" height="586"></div><h2>TULSA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0654/3564409-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="592" height="647"></div><h2>DALLAS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0746/3564402-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="592" height="588"></div><h2>FORT WORTH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0840/3564395-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="590" height="575"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

CHL TEAM SCORING

<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 to THE HOCKEY NEWSTOLEDO&mdash;Bill Beagan, commisioner of the International Hockey League, has taken stern steps to cut down on late-season brawling and also has acted to curb his most consistent critic, general manager-coach Ted Garvin of the Toledo Goaldiggers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01193/3564482-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="273" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ted Garvin</figcaption></div>Beagan decreed that he&rsquo;ll hand out two-game suspensions for any player drawing a game misconduct penalty as the result of being the first player to leave the team bench to engage in an altercation. The IHL already had a $50 fine for such actions but Beagan apparently decided that it wasn&rsquo;t enough of a deterrent.His decision apparently stemmed from watching a brawl between Dayton and Fort Wayne in the latter&rsquo;s arena. Dayton coach Tommy McVie and Fort Wayne coach Ralph Keller were suspended for two games as a result.Later Kalamazoo general managercoach Bob Lemieux drew a suspension after a two-team scrap at Des Moines.Beagan&rsquo;s action may get its stiffest test during the first round of the Turner Cup playoffs, especially if there are Toledo-Columbus and Muskegon-Port Huron matchups.Toledo and Columbus are two of the most-penalized teams in the league this season and are longtime antagonists. The presence of Garvin and Columbus&rsquo; Moe Bartoli behind the benches could fuel the fires.Port Huron is known to be anticipating its first-round match with Muskegon, provided the Mohawks can outlast Saginaw and Flint. Port Huron has a history of being a fired-up playoff aggregation and has eliminated several good Muskegon clubs in the first round.Beagan took two steps to curb Garvin&rsquo;s criticism: 1) Ordering the colorful Toledo coach to post a $1,000 &lsquo;peace&rsquo; bond to prevent further criticism in print and 2) ordering a $2,500 fine for past comments.The last straw apparently stemmed from Garvin&rsquo;s statements after Beagan had turned down a Toledo protest of a game at Kalamazoo where Beagan admitted referee Fred Maindonald had erred on administering a penalty.After Beagan said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe in protests,&rdquo; Garvin called Beagan a weak commissioner and termed him unfit for the job.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just those statements. There have been derogatory statements coming from Garvin all season. The club has given him a free hand to say whatever he wants.&rdquo;&ldquo;I have to stop Garvin. The fine is the only deterrent I have. I&rsquo;m the engineer and he&rsquo;s the brakeman on this railroad and it&rsquo;s as simple as that.&rdquo;Garvin was subdued, offering no further comment beyond, &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ll have something more definite on the hockey club&rsquo;s feelings in a few days.&rdquo;Some were predicting Garvin&rsquo;s resignation. Others were hoping that the colorful veteran wouldn&rsquo;t take that drastic action, especially after he had moved Toledo from a franchise which no one wanted to the No. 1 team in attendance in less than one season.FLINT: Doug Manchak boosted his league-leading goal output to 54 with a four-goal outburst in 9-4 victory over Columbus&hellip;Wayne Zuk scored three goals and three assists in first three games after return from Greensboro (SHL)&hellip;Kirk Bowman tops in IHL with 68 assists. Bob Volpe remained No. 1 netminder with 2.75 GAA&hellip;Jim Bannatyne produced overtime clincher in important 6-5 victory over Muskegon, keeping Generals&rsquo; pennant hope alive&hellip;Generals won season series from Muskegon, 5-4-2, but lost to Saginaw, 5-6-1.FORT WAYNE: Coach Ralph Keller drew two-game suspension as aftermath of brawl-filled game against Dayton&hellip;Defenseman Tom Thomson sent to Cape Cod (NAHL)&hellip;Bobby Rivard totalled six goals in first 12 games&hellip;Yves Bernier left for home&hellip;Goalie Bruce Aberhart bagged first victory in 5-1 win over Dayton, handing Gems sixth straight road defeat&hellip;Komets banking on three games in hand to overtake Des Moines for final playoff berth in South Division.SAGINAW: NHL veteran Reggie Fleming signed as last-minute replacement for injured Paul Evans&hellip;Dennis Desrosiers, 39-goal scorer, sidelined by muscle spasms and arthritic back&hellip;Mario Lessard backstopped important 3-1 victory over Flint, keeping Gears in second place and threatening for first&hellip;Coach Don Perry termed Brian Glenwright&rsquo;s shot as hard as any in IHL.TOLEDO: Paul Tantardini&rsquo;s chance to break league PIM record halted when he was placed on injured list for remainder of season&hellip;Capt. Juri Kudra-sov&rsquo;s 32-43-75 point combination best in three-season IHL career and Moe Brunel reached four-season peak with 37th goal&hellip;Jim McCabe&rsquo;s two goals sparked 7-2 victory over Fort Wayne&hellip;Willie Trognitz, irked by $50 fine, picked up skates and departed&hellip;Craig Stamp ended 38-game goal drought as Goaldiggers lost to Kalama-zoo, 7-6, despite 41-16 shooting edge&hellip;Winger Pierre LeBlanc secured from Kalamazoo.MUSKEGON: Mohawks&rsquo; bid for seventh Huber Trophy for overall points hurt by knee injury which put Gary Ford on shelf for remainder of regular season&hellip;Pat DeMarchi scored goals 10 seconds apart to beat Toledo. 4-2&hellip;Ford scored 513th career assist in 3-0 victory over Des Moines, reaching No. 7 on IHL&rsquo;s all-time list&hellip;Ernie Moser&rsquo;s 30th goal gave Mohawks four men with 30 or more&hellip;Goalie Dave Hainsworth ranked second in league with 3.00 GAA.COLUMBUS: Owls&rsquo; chances for South title ruined by 3-6-1 record against Dayton&hellip;Coach Bartoli working wonders with club packed with eight rookies, most in IHL&hellip;Owls&rsquo; 20-8 record against North best in interdivision battling&hellip;Elgin McCann sent to Kalamazoo, Marty Reynolds placed on injured list at final cutdown&hellip;Mike Powers&rsquo; 43 goals ranked fourth in league&hellip;Al Hillier&rsquo;s 72 points from unusual 13-59 combination of goals and assists.PORT HURON: Flags down to 11 skaters after Mike Boland suffered knee injury, with Bob Craig at Providence for two-week stay and Doug Acomb en route from Austria&hellip;Larry Klewchuk&rsquo;s shorthanded goal helped 4-1 victory over Dayton but seven-game winning streak ended by 3-1 score in rematch the following night&hellip;Len Fontaine totaled 12 goals, 51 assists in first 11 games&hellip;Goalie Mike Ralph returned after two-week hospital stay with stomach ailment.DES MOINES: Caps&rsquo; chances for final South playoff spot dimmed by 1619-1 home-ice record, only losing mark among playoff hopefuls&hellip;Len Ircandia&rsquo;s 373 PIM within two of equalling league record&hellip;Dale Cook scored two goals in first two games after arrival from Kalamazoo&hellip;Steve Stone scored two goals in 6-2 triumph at Fort Wayne&hellip;Caps one of two teams without 30-goal scorer heading into final two weeks of season.KALAMAZOO: Wings won 7-6 at Toledo, 4-2 at Des Moines for first back-to-back road victories&hellip;McCann, Mike Wanchuk aided Toledo triumph with two goals, Nick Holmes scoring clincher&hellip;Al Genovy&rsquo;s second shor-thanded goal in two games aided Des Moines victory&hellip;Coach Lemieux suspended for three games after brawl at Des Moines&hellip;Herb Boxer released to join U.S. Nationals&hellip;Jack Patterson, Brian Kinsella obtained from Dayton&hellip;Charlie LaBelle, Yvon Pouliot, Gene Motuzas released&hellip;Ray Tessier back after six-game absence, Glen Ing returned after 15-game absence.DAYTON: Steve Self third in Gems&rsquo; 11-season history to score 50 goals&hellip;Coach McVie and defenseman Gord Lane suspended for two games after brawl at Fort Wayne&hellip;Ken Evans of Fairborn saluted as 100,000th fan of season&hellip;Lorne Weighill&rsquo;s second goal of season aided 8-3 victory over Columbus&hellip;Bill Riley&rsquo;s 239 PIM within three of club record for forward&hellip;Guy Trottier&rsquo;s 20th career hat trick for Gem: aided 10-6 victory over For Way ne&hellip;Rick Bragnalo boosted clul record for points by rookie to 99&hellip;Land to miss 10 days with ruptured blood vessel in thigh.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02143/3564475-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="559" height="1006"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY FORD&hellip;Out For Season</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

Beagan Decrees Fines To Deter Brawling; Playoff Matchups Could Provide Fireworks

<h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01181/3564544-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="595" height="400"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Wisconsin 3. Notre Dame 3Wisconsin 9, Notre Dame 2Michigan Tech 7, Minnesota 0Michigan Tech 5. Minnesota 4Michigan 11, Michigan State 8Michigan 7. Michigan State 5Denver 5, Colorado College 4Colorado College 8, Denver 4Minn-Duluth 6, North Dakota 6Minn-Duluth 7. North Dakota 5 &#9632;

f0035-01

College Races

<div class="byline">BY DEREK KNIGHT</div>Follow All The Action Every Week By Subscribing Today To THE HOCKEY NEWSSuperb Hockey Reading Each Month HOCKEY WORLD & HOCKEY PICTORIALPHILADELPHIA&mdash;It&rsquo;s been a dramatic season in Philadelphia this year as far as the North American Hockey League is concerned. From low crowds of under 1,000 customers early in the year, the expansion (in name only) Firebirds began to pick up and crowds at the Civic Center began to climb. Three thousand, four, five, and then onto a league record that will be most difficult to beat.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01161/3564589-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="278" height="427"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gerry Methe</figcaption></div>On Friday. March 7. a crowd of 9,184 (over 1,000 fans standing) cheered the Firebirds to a 5-0 white wash over the Cape Codders. It was the third shutout of the year for hot netminder Rejean Lemelin, who also notched win number 20 with that victory. Lemelin was 6-1 in an eight-game stretch. Balance is a key here with seven Firebirds scoring 20 or more goals and another fast approaching that figure. Bob Collyard tops the club with 40 goals and his seven power-play goals was also a club high. On the other side of the ledger, right winger Tom Young led in shorthanded tallies with four. Owners Ed Piszek and Robin Roberts are happy with the team&rsquo;s progress.MAINE: Captain Paul Larose was approaching a 50-goal season at press time. Bob Murphy was nursing a hip injury. Ric Jordan, the ex-Boston University star, was in Maine on assignment from the parent Quebec Nordiques. Often-injured Richard Dupras was back on the club&rsquo;s active list. Richard Guay was called upon to do a bulk of the Nordiques netminding chores while Bernie Wolfe was up with the Richmond Robins (AHL). Al Globensky and Larry Kellett had been up front rather than at their normal positions on defense. Tom Pinder was approaching a 20-goal season doing some fine all-around work for coach Jean Charles Gravel.LONG ISLAND: Paul Laplante and Doug Towler continue to improve on Cougar backline. Club was working with a full roster, a luxury in these days when the club (through injuries and recalls) was skating shorthanded most of the year. Right winger George Swarbrick is nearing a 30-goal season. Captain Jim Pritchard is tied for the league lead in goals scored among defensemen and ranks third on the club in points scored. Dave Walter and Ai MacKenzie are tied with four first goals of the game each. Injuries have been hampering defenseman Norm Schmitz. Right winger Paul Sheard enjoys working on the powerplay. Of Sheard&rsquo;s 13 goals, six were scored while his team held the man advantage. Most of Cougars&rsquo; remaining games are on home ice.JOHNSTOWN: Goaltending looms as a Jet strength with netminders Lou Levasseurand Ron Docken, standing at 3.22 and 3.38 respectively in the goals-against average department. After a slow start (injuries) Galen Head was nearing a 20-goal season. Guido Tenisi and Dave Hanson have contributed 10 goals apiece from their defense positions. Reg Bechtold tallied 19 points in his first 17 games as a Jet. At this writing. Jets had a shot at third place. Wherever they finish on the ice and off. the Jets have made an unbelievable improvement over a one year period. Due credit should go to the owners, staff, and players who have combined for a great season.SYRACUSE: The powerful shot of Doug Volmar was in full force in an 8-7 win at Long Island. The big right winger scored the hat trick. For Volmar, it&rsquo;s been quite a year. How about these statistics&mdash;35 goals. 28 assists. 63 points&mdash;in 39 games.Captain Bob Jones connected for his 100th point. John Raynak enjoying a second straight banner offensive year with 32 goals and 66 points. Veteran Fred Speck had 26 points in 10 games. Bob Blanchet holding the fort defensively with a 3.04 goals-against average. Brian Perry is enjoying a fine year in Syracuse. With 29 goals at press time. Perry will more than likely hit 30. Terry West is fast approaching a 20-goal season. Forward Tom Trevelyan is nearing the 30-goal mark.CAPE COD: Codders&rsquo; 4-i triumph at Long Island was a big road victory. Bill Berglund was solid in the nets but plenty of help was furnished by his defensemen. who blocked numerous shots, and the forwards who came back. Yvan Bouillon made an early contribution with five goals in nine games. John Cunniff sports a powerful record when his club holds a man advantage. &ldquo;Gunny&rdquo; has 12 power-play goals. Denis Lemieux, one of the league&rsquo;s most underrated players, is up to 25 goals and is enjoying another fine season. All Star Gerry Methe is tied with Long Island&rsquo;s Jim Pritchard for most goals by a defenseman. Both have scored 15 goals.MOHAWK VALLEY: Right winger Bob Murray hit the 30-goal mark. Michel Dion is getting back into playing shape after an earlier injury. Dion&rsquo;s return gives&rsquo; iron man Jim Park a chance to catch his breath. Park had earned the load in Dion&rsquo;s absence. Brian McKenzie was up to 26 goals, providing some fine support for the Comet offense. Comets could end up the season with four 30-goal scorers. Jack Gibson connected for 13 goals in 15 games. Chris Meloff&rsquo;s 107 minutes in penalties was a club high. Guy Provost&rsquo;s 40 points topped club defensemen.BINGHAMTON: Rod Bloomfield has hit the 50-goal mark and number 50 was a big one. It was the game winner in a 3-2 win over Syracuse. Dusters are in the process of season ticket renewals. To date, they are averaging 400 renewals a day. Ken Davidson is up to 29 goals. Coach Wayne Clairmont became player-coach. Wayne Clairmont when neck and back ailments knocked Ken Gratton out of the Duster lineup. Clairmont picked up an assist in his second game, a 5-3 win over Johnstown. Rick Lemay&rsquo;s goals-against average stands at 3.62 but his won-lost-tied record is 21-15-0.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02117/3564582-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="545" height="608"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB COLLYARD&hellip;Tops Firebirds</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0387/3564575-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="541" height="641"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG VOLMAR&hellip;Quite A Year</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0036-01

Record Crowd Watches Firebirds’ Romp Jets’ One-Year Improvement Unbelievable

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01149/3564620-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="435" height="559"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACK BOWNASS Coach Last Season</figcaption></div>KINGSTON&mdash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m absolutely shocked.&rdquo; That was the reaction of Jack (Red) Bownass when he was informed by Kingston Canadians&rsquo; general manager Lloyd (Punch) Scherer he had been relieved of his coaching duties with only four games left in the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A schedule.Bownass had reason to be upset.Just 12 months ago he had been named coach of the year in Ontario Junior A hockey when the new Kingston franchise finished in 10th position and accumulated 47 points. 10 above the old Hamilton Red Wings who were in the cellar.It was the most points earned by any new Ontario Junior A team in recent years.Bownass, a former player with Canada&rsquo;s national hockey team, refused further comment than being &ldquo;schocked&rdquo;, stating he would take a few days to think things over.However Scherer, who was dismissed himself two years ago as Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; manager, said it was the most difficult decision of his life.The Canadians had just lost 8-2 to Peterborough and Scherer said he spent the entire night pacing his apartment before coming to the conclusion he would take over as coach for the final 10 days of the schedule.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a ploy just to give the players a boost and possibly a playoff position,&rdquo; said Scherer. &ldquo;I just felt they needed more motivation than they had been getting.&rdquo;For a time early in the season the Canadians were flirting with first place but ran into injury problems when Tony McKegney, captain Mike O&rsquo;Connell and Richie Dunn were all injured in the same game at Hamilton and sidelined two months.Kingston dropped rapidly but at the time Bownass got his walking papers they had 57 points and were tied for the last (eighth) playoff position with London and Sault Ste-Marie.However the fans have stuck with them and their total attendance of over 100.000 is one of the highest in the league.Last season they topped the list in fully-paid tickets with 115,000.Meanwhile the eligibility of Toronto Marlboros&rsquo; 18-year-old forward Mark Napier continues to be questioned even though Major Junior A Commissioner and OHA President Cliffe Phillips ruled he could play until the end of the season despite signing a professional contract with Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association.The question of him playing junior seemed to have died down until it was revealed he had purchased a spanking new car.Some felt this proved he had accepted money from the Toros and thus was a professional but his agent. Gus Badali, insisted the car had been purchased through a bank loan which would be repaid when he received his first money next fall.TORONTO: Since clinching the pennant the Marlboros have slackened off somewhat although few would call it a genuine slump&mdash;their most one-sided defeat of the season occurred in Hamilton where they were beaten 11-2 much to the delight of the 3,931 Fincup fans.HAMILTON: The Fincups received a big boost in their attempt to clinch second place with their spectacular 11-2 win over the Marlboros in front of the largest home crowd in years&hellip;The chief thorn in the side of the Marlies was Dale McCourt, a nephew of the Toronto coach who had his third three-goal game of the season against the Marlboros and also added a pair of assists&hellip;It was the first sellout at the Forum in at least a decade.PETERBOROUGH: The Petes are hanging in there for second place and helped their cause with a 5-3 win at home against Kingston&hellip;It stretched their undefeated streak to six games&hellip;Doug Jarvis, team captain, scored one of the Peterborough goals to break team scoring record of 120 points set by Andre Lacroix during 48 games in 19651966.OTTAWA: The 67s are stil experiencing difficulty shaking off Sudbury in the two-team battle for fourth place&hellip;They held a slim margin thanks to an 8-2 win over Kingston Tim Young and Peter Lee scored two each in the victory against Kingston as Lee closed in on Richard Martin&rsquo;s 71-goal record set in 1970-1971.SUDBURY: Wolves disappointed their fans by losing 5-4 at home to Kitchener, now coached by former National Hockey Leaguer Jim Morrison who replaced veteran Eddie Bush&hellip;Previsoulv Rangers seldom made anything resembling a fine performance on the road but Joe Fortunato&rsquo;s second goal of the night with 30 seconds left gave Kitchener the winning margin.ST. CATHARINES: Black Hawks still not certain of playoffs with five games left&hellip;They were crushed 6-2 in London after defeating Oshawa 5-3 at home but need at least two wins in games remaining to be sure of advancing into playoffs&hellip;Bill Cheropita still playing great goal and Greg Craig leading team in goals.OSHAWA: Generals getting brilliant goaltending from Rick St-Croix and Paul Harrison in bid to retain their playoff spot&hellip;However they were beaten 5-3 in St. Catharines in their only game of the week and future is precarious.SAULT STE. MARIE: Manager Angelo Bumbacco replaced Jim Farrelli as coach a month ago but team still uncertain of playoff berth as they scramble with St. Catharines, Oshawa, London and Kingston.LONDON: Dennis Maruk established career goal scoring record in Major Junior A with 155th goal during 6-2 win over St. Catharines&hellip;Previous mark was 154 goals scored by Marcel Dionne during three seasons with St. Catharines Black Hawks.<div class="sidebar">OHA MAJOR HOCKEY LEAGUE &#9632;</div>

f0037-01

Canadians’ Coach Bownass Gets Axe; aruk Establishes Career Goal Mark

<h2>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</h2>(Indings on Wed. March 12)<h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02114/3564686-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="454" height="208"></div><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0384/3564679-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="459" height="235"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. March 6Montreal 4; Sherbrooke 4 at CornwallFri. March 7It Sherbrooke 10; Montreal 8 at Quebec timi 8 at Shawinigan 5.Sun. March 9mi 3 at Sorel 3; Shawinigan 5 at Monaval 3 at Quebec 9; Trois-Rivieres 5 at rnwall 4 at Sherbrooke 8.Mon. March 10I 4 at Laval 6; Quebec 6 at ShawiniganTue. March 11oke 2 at Chicoutimi 2; Cornwall 0 at eres 3.<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0468/3564672-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="464" height="122"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0552/3564665-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="592" height="237"></div><h2>ONTARIO MAJOR JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Sun. March 16)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0642/3564658-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="592" height="514"></div><h2>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. March 14)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0733/3564651-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="585" height="376"></div> &#9632;

f0037-02

Looking At The Races

<div class="byline">BY BILL BRILL</div>THE HOCKEY NEWS EVERY WEEK for the price of a ticket to a SINGLE GAME!Superb Hockey Reading Each Mon HOCKEY WORLD & HOCKEY PICTORIAROANOKE&mdash;Regular season champion Charlotte and runnerup Hampton garnered most of the honors for the Southern League All Star team for &lsquo;74-75.Sharing most valuable player honors are Hampton defenseman Wally Olds and Charlotte left winger Andre Deschamps. They each received six votes from the 24 ballots cast by the media representatives. players and coaches. Deschamps. a 21-year-old from Valleyfield. Quebec, has broken the SHL goal scoring record and entered the final week of the regular campaign with 55 tallies. The old record of 51 was set last year by Howie Heggedal of Greensboro.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01175/3564755-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="275" height="421"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Zuk</figcaption></div>Olds, 25, is one of the few American-born players in the SHL. The 205-pounder is a native of Woo-road. Minn. Olds just established a new league record when he accounted for six assists (and a goal) in a 9-3 record over Greensboro. Olds has 78 points on the year, also a new mark for SHL defensemen.Other voting for MVP included three votes each for Wayne Mosdell of Roanoke Valley and Wayne Zuk of Greensboro. two each for Claude Chartre of Hampton and Steve Hull of Charlotte and one apiece for Mike Hobin and Gaye Cooley of Charlotte.Charlotte&rsquo; Pat Kelly and Hampton&rsquo;s John Brophy also tied for coach of the year. They each received nine votes. Winston-Salem&rsquo;s Forbes Kennedy got five votes and the final vote went to Greensboro&rsquo;s Garry MacMillan.The All Star team, announced by league president Gene Hawthorne, was headed by Charlotte right winger Hull, who got 41 out of a possible 48 points. Hull has shattered the SHL record of 98 points, held by Heggedal. The Checkers star had 103 points going into the final week of play.Joining Hull on the first honor team were Deschamps and Cooley from Charlotte. Mosdell from Roanoke Valley, Olds and Chartre from Hampton and Zuk from Greensboro.Zuk and Chartre tied for the center position, each getting 26 points. Thus there was no center named to the second team. Camille LaPierre, the Roanoke Valley star who missed half of the season with a knee operation, was third in the center balloting.Deschamps was accorded 35 points to 24 for Hampton&rsquo;s Lorne Rombough at left wing. Rombough is also a 50-goal scorer playing on the line with Chartre.Chartre was second in league scoring with 101 points and had a chance to catch Hull. Zuk was leading Greensboro in scoring when he jumped to Flint of the International League. After the departure, whick Zuk said was because of money, the slick Greensboro star was suspended. &ldquo;We have contacted the International League about the situation,&rdquo; Hawthrone said.Zuk had money problems while still property of the Michigan Stags, when the team switched to Baltimore, Zuk was released and re-signed with Greensboro. Generals officials say Zuk has been fully paid by their club.There was no question about the two defensemen on the All Star team. Mosdell. the only holdover from last year&rsquo;s team, had 35 points and Olds got 39. Both have broken the record for goals by a defenseman. Mosdell tallied his 20th in a 6-5 overtime win over Charlotte and Olds has 18.Hull had no contention for right wing honors. The second team choice was Jamie Kennedy of Winston-Salem, younger brother of the Twins coach. Forbes Kennedy.Jim Murray of Winston-Salem, who &bull;stabilized the Twins&rsquo; defense when he joined then in mid-year, and Barry Burnett of Charlotte were picked on the second team. Murray had 26 points and Burnett 13 in the voting.Cooley, who missed part of the year with a bad knee, moved up from last year&rsquo;s second team. He had a 20-8 record in the nets for the Checkers and a 3.18 goals-against average. He is the only unmasked goalie in the league.The voting for goaltender was the closest in the balloting. The second team position went to 33-year-old Andre Gill of Hampton, who answered Brophy&rsquo;s prayers when he joined the Gulls in the middle of the season. Gill&rsquo;s record was only 11-9, but he had the best goals-against average in the league. a sparkling 2.80.Charlotte&rsquo;s Hobin made such an impression in his half-season with the Checkers that he was named rookie of the year. At the time the 21-year-old Hobin was called up to Tulsa, he was leading the SHL in scoring and assists.&ldquo;If he had stayed, I think he would have swept all the honors,&rdquo; said Kelly. At the time. Hobin was odds-on favorite to win MVP, scoring and rookie honors.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02129/3564748-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="454" height="466"><figcaption class="caption-body">WAYNE MOSDELL</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

Checkers, Gulls Lead All Star Voting; Olds, Deschamps Share MVP Honor

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div>Quebec Major Hockey LeagueHULL&mdash;When the so-called experts sit down and make their choices for Quebec Major Junior League champion, it is very doubtful that much consideration will be given to the fourth place club in the West Division which is struggling to reach the. 500 mark.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01158/3564786-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="272" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body">Normand Dupont</figcaption></div>Hull Festivals aren&rsquo;t going anywhere in the standings and will face the seemingly impossible task of knocking over the West Division title holding Sherbrooke Peavers in the first round of the playoffs. To make things even dimmer for the Festivals, the Beavers own the best point record in the QMJHL, rank second in goals scored and a stingy first in goals against.Yet Hull coach Lally Lalonde is still playing the role of optimist.&ldquo;Pride plays a big part in the playoffs,&rdquo; Lalonde explained. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of under-rated talent on our club. If we can tighten up our defense we could be a threat.&ldquo;The playoff situation penalizes the best team in the league since Sherbrooke has to play us and we by no means have to worst record in the league. It also penalizes us in the sense that our record is better than three clubs but must play the top club of the league.Any bench boss in Lalonde&rsquo;s position is looking for any encouraging signs he can find. If only all other hopefuls had the kind of encouragement supplied by owning the league&rsquo;s highest-scoring line. Ted Bulley, Jim Montgomery and Denis Pomerleau have all surpassed 100 points apiece with Montgomery leading the way with 132 on 51 goals and 81 assists.&ldquo;The kids are coming through and we&rsquo;re putting forward, a team effort,&rdquo; enthused Lalonde. &ldquo;Our road games have been better in the past month in that we haven&rsquo;t been losing big. Our defense has settled down and the goaltending has pleased me.The Festivals went to opposite ends of the pole during the past week, trouncing Montreal 10-4 right in the Forum and then returning home to suffer 5-0 shutting-out against Trois-Rivieres.SHERBROOKE: Beavers wrapped up West Division title by splitting a pair of decisions with Cornwall, trouncing Sorel and drawing with Chicoutimi.Michel Brisebois tallied twice as Beavers dropped their 14th contest in 65 encounters, a 5-4 setback in Cornwall. Marc Tessier. Peter Marsh and Brisebois had two counters apiece as the Beavers pleased a home crowd of over 5,000 by bouncing back to double the count on the Royals 8-4. Claude Larose and Tessier scored two goals as the Beavers humiliated Black Hawks 10-1 and Larose and Marsh had singles in 2-2 sawoff with Sagueneens.MONTREAL: Juniors continue their trend of going flat one night and then bouncing back the next evening.After 10-4 thumping at the hands of Hull, club dumped Shawinigan 11-5 and the Remparts 8-2 right in Quebec.Club now boasts most potent offense in QMJHL with 406 goals, led by league point leader Dupont (75-64-139) and Jean-Luc Phaneuf (42-90-132).LAVAL: Nationals could be dark horse candidate in post-season get-together as their offense ranks fourth in the league. However defense leaves some to be desired with eighth-place ranking.Split week&rsquo;s two encounters, losing 9-3 in Quebec and then dumping Cornwall 6-4.CORNWALL: One win in three starts wasn&rsquo;t enough to maintain margin on threatening Montreal.Yvon Disotell, Rick Patterson, Pierre Brassard, Bill Smith and Dan Geoffrion scored in 5-4 edging of Division winner Sherbrooke.TROIS-RIVIERES: Normand Lapointe is making a name for himself as the &lsquo;Mr. Zero&rsquo; of the QMJHL.Lapointe kept his opponents off the score board in both Draveurs&rsquo; outings in the past week. He blocked 37 shots in 5-0 win over Hull and then followed with a 3-0 blanking of Cornwall.East Division title looking more secure for Draveurs as the margin over second-place Quebec stands at five points and both clubs have participated in the same number of games.QUEBEC: Wins over Shawinigan (6-4) and Laval (9-3) kept title hopes alive although slim.Gaetan Boucher had hat trick in thumping of Nationals while Daniel Desjardins tallied twice in win over Dynamos.Bid for unblemished week was stopped when Montreal visited Coliseum and skated away with 8-2 victory. Richard Lafontaine and Jean Gagnon were the Remparts&rsquo; only marksmen.CHICOUTIMI: Sagueneens holding upper hand in fight for final playoff berth in East.Two ties (against Sherbrooke 2-2 and Sorel 3-3) and a victory (8-5 over Shawinigan) moved club three points in front of fourth-place Sorel with two games in hand on the Black Hawks.<div class="sidebar">Quebec Major Hockey League &#9632;</div>

Search for your favorite player or team

March 28, 1975

NHL Team Rosters

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

NHL-WHA SIGNING WAR SMOLDERS AGAIN—Page 2

Michigan Tech Captures NCAA Title From Gophers; Alberta Canadian Champs