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

February 13, 1976

The Hockey News February 13, 1976

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BILL MAKI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01919/3518227-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">&ldquo;&hellip;And Then One Day I Heard A Voice Saying, &lsquo;HOCKEY IS NOT FOR YOU&rsquo;&hellip;It Was My Coach&hellip;&rdquo;</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-01

IN THIS ISSUE

CARTOON CORNER

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01910/3518358-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2>He Wants Out Soon</h2>IT&rsquo;S VERY OBVIOUS THAT Clarence Campbell wants out of his job as president of the National Hockey League. Of course, the men who employ him, the governors of the 18 NHL teams, seem to figure that just because Campbell is 70 years of age, has held the job for 30 years a nd devoted just about every minute of his time and every calorie of energy to his post doesn&rsquo;t give him any reason towant retirement.But it seems that Campbell would like a new man appointed to the presidency, he could devote a year or so to showing the ropes to his replacement and then retire. Campbell would like to play some golf, curl a little and devote more time to his wife, who, is his words, &ldquo;has been shortchanged badly by the demands of this job.&rdquo;However, Campbell&rsquo;s retirement and the discovery of a successor is n&rsquo;t all that easy. The board of governors just can&rsquo;t seem to agree on any little things, yet alone the selection of a man to head their lead.All they need to do is find a distinguished attorney who was a Rhodes scholar with an extensive background in hockey as a referee and give him the job, then Clarence can tee &lsquo;er up. That&rsquo;s what they did back about 1945 when Campbell replaced Red Dutton in the president&rsquo;s chair.Unfortunately for the NHL&mdash;and Campbell&mdash;it isn&rsquo;t quite that simple. Men of his calibre, which often has been a lot higher than the men who employed him deserved, don&rsquo;t grow on trees.&ldquo;Heaven, yes, I&rsquo;ve been ready to retire for several years but they (the goys) never got around to finding a replacement, Campbell said. &ldquo;I really do wish they&rsquo;d get on with it. I want to spend some time helping the new man learn the ropes.&ldquo;When I took over from Red Dutton, he showed me the chair behind the desk and that&rsquo;s about all the help I got. I certainly don&rsquo;t want it to be that way for the new man.&rsquo;&rsquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02786/3518351-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="612" height="710"><figcaption class="caption-body">Clarence Campbell</figcaption></div><h2>It Didn&rsquo;t Happen</h2>THERE WAS CONSIDERABLE expectation that the new president would be annointed at the governors meeting during the All Star break at Philadelphia. But it didn&rsquo;t happen. Instead a five-member committee of governors was named to conduct a &ldquo;search&rdquo; for Campbell&rsquo;s successor.During the Philly conflab, assorted possibles were mentioned In fact, the No. 1 press room game was coming up with a new name. The top contenders, after the chaff was blown away, appear to be James Cullen, general counsel and secretary of St. Louis Blues, and Toronto attorney Robert Sedgewick, who&rsquo;s the Maple Leaf governor.The name of Alan Eagleson, executive-director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, often is kicked into the candidates&rsquo; ring but the Eagle strongly denies that he&rsquo;d even consider the job. Besides, the governors would view the appointment of Eagleson as their No. 1 boy in the same light as hiring Jack the Ripper to massage their necks.The dumbest suggestion of all was a story out of New York, which sounds like the product of a bad acid trip, that Emile (The Cat) Francis, who recently received the boot as general manager of the New York Rangers was a leading contender. The Cat almost split his little belly laughing at that one.&ldquo;Cripes, I&rsquo;ve had enough trouble with one owner without taking on 18 of them,&rdquo; Francis said, in reference to William Jennings, the Ranger boss.<h2>Small-League Thinking?</h2>CAMPBELL, AND ASSORTED OTHERS weren&rsquo;t very happy with some of the small thinking which went on in the governors&rsquo; meeting. Apparently, there are some teams which just love having the Washington Capitals, with their three wins and no future, in the NHL. They really enjoy reading the attendance figures for games involving the Caps and the lower&mdash;ranked teams.How else could you explain the refusal of some teams for the staging of an intra-league draft at the NHL&rsquo;s annual meeting in June?There was an expansion draft (Denver, Seattle) scheduled tor 1976 which meant abolition of the intra-league arrangement for one year. Well, the expansion fell through but the governors refused to restore the draft. Unanimous agreement was needed but four teams, undoubtedly the top four clubs with full house, vetoed it.Thus, one way to add some strength was done away with.No wonder they have trouble picking a new president. &#9632;

f0012-01

FRANK ORR SAYS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02814/3518258-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="534" height="633"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKEMURPHY&hellip;Four-Goal Effort</figcaption></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;When Marcel Dionne gets rolling, he&rsquo;s almost impossible to contain. Stealing the puck, skating swiftly, passing spectacularly, he set a Kings&rsquo; record with five assists in a 6-3 conquest of visiting Toronto on Jan. 22. He made an incredible backhanded, behind the back pass hit Juha Widing on the fly at the goal-mouth for one goal, then assisted on four by Mike Murphy.Murphy&rsquo;s total tied the team record set several seasons back by Serge Bernier, then matched by Butch Goring. Three came in the last period, two in the last two minutes.Dionne seemed happier than Murphy. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been playing good, honest hockey, but had bad luck. I was happy to help him,&rdquo; Marcel said. &#9632;

f0009-02

Murphy Ties Club Record

<h2>SOUTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Tue. Jan. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01177/3519392-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="575" height="179"></div><h2>ONTARIO PROVINCIAL JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Tue. Jan. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02142/3519385-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="580" height="330"></div><h2>WESTERN INTERNATIONAL</h2>(Standings on Tue. Jan. 20)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0397/3519378-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="570" height="159"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0473/3519371-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="574" height="307"></div><h2>OTTAWA DISTRICT SENIOR</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0566/3519364-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="568" height="199"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0651/3519357-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="571" height="359"></div><h2>BRITISH COLUMBIA JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Tue. Jan. 20)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0740/3519350-1-eng-US/f0029-072.jpg" title="f0029-07" width="571" height="230"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0834/3519343-1-eng-US/f0029-082.jpg" title="f0029-08" width="571" height="361"></div><h2>SOUTHWEST LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Jan.23)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0930/3519336-1-eng-US/f0029-092.jpg" title="f0029-09" width="566" height="181"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1026/3519329-1-eng-US/f0029-102.jpg" title="f0029-10" width="577" height="286"></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

HOW THEY STAND

<div class="byline">BY ALAN TRUEX</div>ATLANTA&mdash;Looking back on his trade from the Washington Capitals to the Atlanta Flames, Bill Clement says, &ldquo;For some reason I find the whole situation humorous.&rdquo;Last summer the Capitals dealt the National Hockey League&rsquo;s No. 1 draft choice to Philadelphia for Clement, a 6-1, 190 pound centerman rated one of the fastest skaters in the league.&ldquo;They made me captain,&rdquo; Clement said, &ldquo;which is quite an honor. And then, all of a sudden I walk in there and they say goodbye, just like that. It&rsquo;s kind of funny, really.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02803/3517765-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="258" height="434"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Clement</figcaption></div>Clement laughs now, but he had few happy moments in Washington, which broke a 25-game winless streak the day after he left.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what happens when they get rid of their excess baggage,&rdquo; Clement smiles.Of course, Clement was more than excess baggage with the Capitals. He played well enough in half a season to be the one Washington player chosen for the NHL All Star game.&ldquo;I think perhaps they thought I was someone to lead them out of the woods,&rdquo; Clement says. &ldquo;But I never was that person and I never could be. It will take a lot more than one player.&rdquo;In return for Clement, the Capitals got two players who should help their club, plus a first-round draft choice (Buffalo&rsquo;s for 1976). The Flames gave up center Gerry Meehan, defenseman Jean Lemieux and a draft pick acquired from Buffalo in the Jacques Richard-for-Larry Carriere deal.Clement said he was &ldquo;indifferent&rdquo; about the trade. He said his wife Cathie was disappointed, because they had just finished buying a house in Maryland.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not gonna buy another home,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I bought a home in New Jersey, and then I was traded from the Flyers to Washington. Then I buy a home in Maryland, and I&rsquo;m traded to Atlanta.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m happy to be with a contender again.&rdquo;He explained the difference between sitting on the bench between shifts in Washington and sitting in Atlanta. In his first game in The Omni as a Flame, Clement scored a goal, and Atlanta tied Buffalo 3-3.&ldquo;I found myself sitting there really thinking and believing that our club could beat Buffalo,&rdquo; Clement said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s different than in Washington, where I was sitting there and wondering when it was gonna happen.&ldquo;There you had a defeatist attitude, and eventually it became a non-attitude about hockey. The game was so unpleasant that if you thought about it you would get completely depressed. So you had to stop thinking about it.&ldquo;But then, when you&rsquo;re not thinging about hockey, when you don&rsquo;t have your mind on it, you&rsquo;re not going to win. You just get walked over.&rdquo;The Capitals&rsquo; situation was so desperate that Clement admits the thought of quitting it all used to traverse his mind. &ldquo;When you lose and lose and lose you start thinking of quitting,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;There were several of us who said we might consider quitting hockey, but we felt we&rsquo;d let so many people down. So we really never gave it serious consideration.&rdquo;FLAME NOTES: Defenseman Barry Gibbs missed two weeks with a knee injury, and forward Tim Ecclestone was expected to be out until mid-February with strained knee ligaments&hellip;As a replacement for Gibbs and the traded Lemieux, Flames recalled their first-round draft choice of 1975, Richard Mulhern&hellip;Rookie Ken Houston was seeing limited action at right wing.Goaltender Phil Myre hit a mild slump, and Dan Bouchard took over in late January as clearly the Flames&rsquo; No. 1 goalie. For the first time since he became Atlanta coach last February, Fred Creighton pulled a goaltender, Myre, during a game. That was in Philadelphia, Jan. 22. Bouchard appeared in four straight games. &#9632;

f0002-02

Clement Happy With Trade To Flames After Escaping Caps’ Non-Attitude

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01872/3517796-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Detroit Red Wings are still wondering what lies ahead for their former 50-goal scoring star Mickey Redmond, who has been plagued with back problems. For details see page 8.</figcaption></div><h2>CHEEVERS QUITS WHA</h2>CLEVELAND&mdash;Goaler Gerry Cheevers headed back to his old Boston stamping ground after securing his outright release from the Cleveland Crusaders of the WHA. Cheevers was expected to return to the Bruins, with whom he will take a substantial pay cut from his $200,000 Cleveland contract, to play in the NHL again.The veteran netminder, who bolted the Bruins as one of the WHA expansion originals four years ago, became disenchanted with the Cleveland hockey picture and decided to get out. Cheevers said he and Cleveland GM Jack Vivian had reached an impasse in their ability to work together. But sources said the failure of the Cleveland club to meet player payrolls drove the former Bruin goaler out of the WHA. Cheevers was reported to have financed some of the Cleveland players with personal loans while the club scrounged around for finances to meet back salaries. Cheevers was on the fourth year of a seven-year pact calling for $200,000 per annum.<h2>WORLD CUP HOCKEY</h2>LONDON&mdash;Deposed International Ice Hockey Federation president Bunny Ahearne is back in the news with a solution to what&rsquo;s ailing hockey the world over. Ahearne thinks that a World Hockey League&rsquo;s is the only salvation for hockey on both sides of the water.Ahearne feels that North American pros have run the gamut and the top European countries like Russia, Czechovlovakia and Sweden have no chance to develop playing each other. He thinks a world league with two teams from Russia, one each from Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Finland and five teams, to be chosen by the NHL, from North America, and hockey would be revived with new rivalries and expectations. Ahearne also insists NHL brass or the NHL Players Association, whichever, should stop making concessions to the Soviets. Ahearne maintains they don&rsquo;t need them and you have to rule the Russians with an iron hand.<h2>BOUCHA FILES SUIT</h2>DETROIT&mdash;Henry Boucha is on the warpath again and this time he has directed his attention at the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, the NHL and Bruin player Dave Forbes in a $3.5 million civil suit which he has filed in Detroit&rsquo;s Wayne County.Boucha, who was suspended by the Minnesota Saints of the WHA last week for walking off the team bench and not returning, charges that he was injured in a fight with Forbes on Jan. 4, 1975 when he was allegedly struck in the eye by a butt end from the stick of Forbes causing double vision and eye problems that have become permanent for him. The suit questions the NHL&rsquo;s ability and responsibility to control violence on the ice.<h2>BRUINS HOT TEAM</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Most of the NHL&rsquo;s leading clubs have been running hot and cold of late but the Boston Bruins have become the lone exception. In fact the Bruins are the league&rsquo;s hottest team at the present time having won their last six games in succession and having lost but once in their last 16 outings.While the Sabres, Canadiens and Flyers have been having their ups and downs, the Bruins have been pushing steadily ahead averaging three wins in each of the past two NHL weeks to vault into the No. 2 spot to challenge Montreal for the overall points lead. The Canadiens have 80, and in case no one noticed, the Bruins were No. 2 with 71. The Flyers were third with 70. And if you don&rsquo;t think the Bruins haven&rsquo;t been sizzling, then you haven&rsquo;t been paying attention to the marauding Boston skaters who have opened up a commanding nine-point Adams Division lead over Buffalo. &#9632;

f0002-01

Deadline Stoppers

<div class="byline">BY GEOFFREY FISHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01877/3517841-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="574" height="601"><figcaption class="caption-body">RALPH KLASSEN&hellip;One Of The New Breed</figcaption></div>OAKLAND&mdash;Forget any rumors you may have heard about the California Golden Seals being an endangered pecies. Never since they joined the National Hockey League in the league&rsquo;s first expansion in 1967 have these Seals flapped their flippers with greater authority.This is an exciting collection of rookies, braced with a scattering of solid veterans, who have combined in the first half of the season to give Bay Area audiences more heartthumping thrills than they have witnessed in years.Little more than half way through this campaign these Seals had won more games than all of last season. In nine games in January they had a smashing 7-1-1 record, including a big win over Toronto.As coach Jack Evans puts it: &ldquo;Some of these kids had never even seen an NHL game before we got them,&rdquo; youngsters as Dennis Maruk, Ralph Klassen, Wayne Merrick, Al MacAdam, Bob Girard, Rick Hampton, Bob Murdoch, George Pesut, and the list goes on. The Seals could very well become the NHL&rsquo;s Team of Destiny with their outgoing youth and the brash Maruk is one of the most formidable.Rookie Maruk, a pint-sized center, last season was named the most valuable player in the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior League. That honor came after a brilliant performance in which he scored 66 goals in 65 games.This season you can figure on him being an authentic candidate for NHL rookie of the year.If you have ever seen a ferret chase a rat you may get some idea of what Dennis looks like in pursuit of the puck.Maruk at 5&rsquo;8&rdquo;, 160 pounds is the smallest member of the Seals&rsquo; ig-loo but he has as little fear of the league&rsquo;s notorious headhunters as he has for a department store manikin.Seals&rsquo; general manager Billy McCreary, who had Maruk staked out when the kid was still a member of the Toronto Junior B Club, confirms that the sawed-off rookie won&rsquo;t be intimidated.&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t back off for anybody in the league and he&rsquo;ll stand toe-to-toe and throw his weight against the toughest players in the NHL. He&rsquo;ll let them know that he&rsquo;s here to stay,&rdquo; says McCreary.Quite an endorsement for the little fellow who admits that he never expected to make the Seals starting lineup when this campaign got underway last October.But McCreary and Evans were quick to detect that they had a genuine prize deceivingly concealed in a small package.That small package has proven to be a surface-to-surface missile on ice skates that has developed into one of the most exciting players ever to wear the Seals&rsquo; uniform.As of late January, Maruk was high on all scoring lists. By late January he was second to a brilliantly performing Wayne Merrick with 18 goals to Merrick&rsquo;s 21. He led the Seals in scoring the first goal of the game, and he had already set a new NHL rookie record for most shorthanded goals. When he fired his fourth shorthanded goal he busted the record of three held by Howie Meeker, one-time Toronto Maple Leaf star.Maruk is so spectacular on the breakaway that he could write a best-seller for escape-prone convicts. He is staring into the face mask of enemy goaltenders so often they must think he&rsquo;s wired to their goal post.Says McCreary: &ldquo;We would never have gotten a crack at him in the draft last summer if it had not been for his small size. Most of the clubs were turned off because they thought he couldn&rsquo;t skate with the big men in the NHL, but he is far better than even we expected. I think he&rsquo;s got greater potential than any of the best small men I have seen in the NHL. &ldquo;Maruk is well on the way to reaching that potential. That will be a major plus in the Seals&rsquo; comprehensive rebuilding program. Another is the flair as a crowd pleaser. That puts the customers in the house.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02746/3517834-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1198" height="1637"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03503/3517827-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="1200" height="1641"><figcaption class="caption-body">The California Seals are staking their NHL future on youth and two of their more prominent freshman stars are Dennis Maruk, left, and Wayne Merrick. Maruk is a rookie while Merrick is a late arrival from St. Louis with one NHL year under his belt. But both are slated to play big roles in the ultimate rise of the Seals.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0003-01

YOUNG SEALS TURNING CALIFORNIA FANS ON RALPH KLASSEN…One Of The New Breed

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01929/3517893-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="454" height="462"></div>&bull; KEN HOUSTON, Atlanta Flames&rsquo; rookie who fractured Dave Schultz&rsquo;s jaw with one punch, has quickly gained more recognition and respect around the NHL than most first-year players. He has also shattered the illusion that Schultz was the meanest and toughest cat on the block&hellip;Edward J. Piszek, owner of the Philadelphia Firebirds of the North American Hockey League, was so moved by the Flyers victory over the Soviets that he sent each player and staff member a copy of the expensive-looking Reader&rsquo;s Digest &lsquo;&lsquo;Story of America&rdquo;. Piszek, owner of Mrs. Paul&rsquo;s seafoods, is very active in promoting favorable attention on Polish-American deeds&hellip;According to a recent issue of Pravda, the Russian newspaper, the reason Cat Francis was fired from his job as general manager of the New York Rangers was because the inept Rangers were clobbered by the Central Army team. The same issue says if it wasn&rsquo;t for Clarence Campbell&rsquo;s personal apology in Philadelphia the Soviet Central Armyteam would not have returned to the ice after their 20-minute departure in the first period&hellip;Norm Ullman of the Edmonton Oilers has a son, Gord Ullman, who is a regular defenseman with Yale in U.S. college hockey&hellip;One of the first things John Ferguson did after taking over the New York Rangers was to clean out the dressing room before the start of a game. Fergy told Tim Burke of the Montreal Gazette that the room was too congested with priests, stickboys and doctors. &ldquo;I thought&rdquo;, said the new New York coach, &ldquo;that I had walked into Penn Station by mistake, the dressing room was so crowded.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02885/3517886-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="272" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Houston</figcaption></div>&bull; WREN BLAIR had to plead with Ken Schinkel to coach the Penguins as Schinkel was happy with his front-office role and was determined not to go back to coaching. &ldquo;I told him it was him or me and I wasn&rsquo;t going back behind the bench,&rdquo; said Blair, general manager and part-owner of Pittsburgh&hellip;Prior to this year&rsquo;s NHL All Star game, Floyd Smith who coached the winners, had never seen an All Star game in person&hellip;Ivan Temple, 72, originator of Minor Hockey Week in Canada, died in Victoria, B.C. recently&hellip;Conn Smythe, founder and major domo for years of the Toronto Maple Leafs, says that if all the hockeyplayers in the world were available and he had his choice of one, that it would be Ted (Teeder) Kennedy, former Leaf captain. Kennedy will be featured in the March issue of HOCKEY WORLD&hellip;Atlanta&rsquo;s Ken Houston the NHL&rsquo;S new tough guy, played most of this season with Nova Scotia of the American League&hellip;Canadiens&rsquo; Sam Pollock is anxious to manage Team Canada in next September&rsquo;s World Cup hockeytournament, so you can bet he&rsquo;ll get the coveted job and play a leading role in assembling the best players from the NHL and WHA to play for Canada against the best squads from the other leading hockey countries of the world&hellip;Wayne Mundey, a top WHA referee currently sidelined with a cracked ankle bone, handled five WHA overtime games in a row&hellip;It was nice to see Eddie Bush finally get a chance to coach in the NHL. Gabby-Eddie has spent his entire lifetime in the game and will probably do as well with the Kansas City Scouts as anyone around today. The 57-year-old Bush was a teammate of Sid Abel&rsquo;s on the Detroit Red Wings and his contract calls for him to finish the current season with the Scouts. Once he was reported to be in line to coach the Detroit Red Wings but his outspoken statements about some of the Red Wings&rsquo; brass didn&rsquo;t enhance his chances. &ldquo;How can you ever expect to have a winner in Detroit,&rdquo; Bush declared. &ldquo;They have 40 guys running the team. A lot of guys aren&rsquo;t steering Norris (owner Bruce Norris) right.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Clay Robins Jr., owner of the AHL Richmond Robins, appointed Bush coach of the Robins during their initial year in the American League. The Robins, incidentally, are enjoying one of their finest years since entering pro hockey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03780/3517879-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="269" height="463"><figcaption class="caption-body">Clay Robins Jr.</figcaption></div>&bull; DANNY GARE of Buffalo rates as one of the most underrated players in major league hockey. Another is Bill Barber of Philadelphia&hellip;Canadians&rsquo; Scotty Bowman had a winning percentage of. 651 after his 600th game as an NHL coach&hellip;Larry Sacharuk has been playing standout hockey for the Rangers since he was moved up to a forward position from defense&hellip;Gerry Cheevers will be back playing goal in the National Hockey League before the end of this season. If it&rsquo;s not with Boston it will be with Detroit Red Wings or New York Rangers&hellip;GM-Coach, Alex Devecchio of the Red Wings is annoyed at Mickey Redmond, who&rsquo;s missed a number of games because he stated he was not fit to play, when he discovered Redmond playing tennis. &ldquo;If he can&rsquo;t play hockey, how come he can play tennis9&rdquo; Delvecchio wanted to know&hellip;Tommy Ivan, Chicago general manager, turned 65 the other day&hellip;Calgary Spurs, winners of the 1976 Wrigley, were an All Star team selected from the top 80 midget players in the city. In winning the week-long tournament the Spurs will travel to Czechosldvakia in March to compete against the leading midget clubs in that country&hellip;Looks like the Flyers are starting to miss Bernie Parent in the nets.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04678/3517872-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="260" height="415"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Barber</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

Vol. 29 No. 18 FEBRUARY 13,1976OFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded October 1st, 1947Published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd., 1434 St. Catherine Street West, Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7. U.S. c/o W.C.C. Publishing, 150 E. 58th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022.Kenneth W. McKenzie President, Publisher and Advertising DirectorDon Wall Associate PublisherCharlie Halpin Editorial DirectorKeith Lawton Administration ManagerPat Beale Advertising Co-OrdinatorRalph Bridgland Asst. To EditorUnited States Advertising RepresentativesNEW YORK: Bill Hitzig, National Sports Publishing Corp., 150 East 58th Street New York. N.Y. 10022. Teleohone (212) 593-2100.CHICAGO Hooper Jones & Associates, 3322 W. Peterson Ave., Chicago. Ill 60659. Telephone (312) 478-554.ATLANTIC STATES (including New York. Boston. Buttalo & Philadelphia: Bob Bassinette. Bassinette/White, 50 East 42nd St. New York.N.Y. 10017. Telephone (212) 986-6210.YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $9.50 in Canada $10.50 in the U.5.A. and $14.00 in Foreign Countries. Sec and class postage paid at New York, N.Y., 10001 and at additional mailing offices SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO 1434 ST CATHERINE STREET WEST, SUITE 217, MONTREAL, CANADA H3G 1R7. Second Class mail Registration No. 1327. All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept, The Hockey News, 1434 St. Catherine St. W. Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7. Printed in Canada. &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05548/3517948-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2>Ranger Slide Is Ludicrous</h2>Remember the Rangers? If you do you may recall those days of yore when the Broadway Blues at least tried to do their best and even made the playoffs before choking (if I may use that despised word) and going home for the summer.In their attempts to buy a championship and keep certain players in red, white, and blue livery, Emile Francis and Bill Jennings dished out fat contracts in the summer of &lsquo;72 in order that all of those Ranger &ldquo;stars&rdquo; would not be lured into the WHA, and thereby bring Lord Stanley&rsquo;s hardware into Madison Square Garden for the first time since 1940.Instead what they and the long suffering fans got was a group that played as if the bodycheck and hustle had gone the way of the do-do bird. Mention &ldquo;check&rdquo; to one of the Ranger millionaires and he immediately conjures up a piece of paper with six figures on it and not the normal hockey definition of the word.The Ranger slide has now reached ludicrous proportions. The ultimate came in the 7-5 loss to the Washington Capitals. The Caps had gone 25 consecutive games without a taste of a win and looked to be good candidates for the Eastern Hockey League.But after the game it was the Rangers who should have been demoted to the EHL or even Junior A. More games like this and new GM-coach John Ferguson may wish he were back in Montreal handicapping the horses at the race track.The Ranger management has tried everything possible in this their 50th anniversary season. They&rsquo;ve traded, put the entire team on waivers, fired the GM and dashed the coach and still nothing works. The only thing remaining is to scrap the entire outfit and start over.But that would be foolhardy. There is talent on the Rangers, but it is buried beneath the excess poundage and the &ldquo;So what&rdquo; attitude. How to bring it out is the problem Ferguson must grapple with. Maybe some new surroundings will help some of these onetime standouts regain their competitive edge. Maybe not. At least it&rsquo;s worth a try. Speaking of trying, that in a nut shell is the answer, for the guys on the ice simply do not.ANTHONY J. KIELBASA, Mahanoy City, Pa.<h2>Hang In There Washington Fans</h2>As I was watching Washington Capitals lose 7-0 to Montreal on Jan. 3, I thought what can the Washington coach tell his players to keep them from completely giving up. Well, I would first of all strongly recommend he remind his team of the unbelievable job the expansion New York Islanders have done. The Caps have some young and potentially really good hockey players with the likes of Greg Joly, Yvon Labre, Hartland Monahan and Nelson Pyatt heading the list. Washington will again pick first in this year&rsquo;s junior draft and with a few good draft choices should see some respectable progress next year.Goaltender Ron Low will continue to be shell-shocked in the nets but this barrage of shots will soon pay off dividends as it has done in California, where Gilles Meloches has turned into a really fine goaler.So hang in there Capital fans as there are better things ahead.KEVIN MITCHELL, Vernon, B.C.<h2>Misconducts Aren&rsquo;t Violent</h2>The following is offered as an observation and not a criticism of any player mentioned or unmentioned:With all the discussion about violence in hockey during the past few seasons, writers wherever I&rsquo;ve been mention people with high PIM totals&mdash;Schultz, Gassoff, Durbano, Clackson, Horvath, et al&mdash;as violent players. Not once have I seen a writer go to the considerable trouble of sorting out &ldquo;violent&rdquo; penalties from misconducts, which are essentially penalties against the tongue. When Schultz racked up his 400-plus minutes last season, how many of thsoe minutes were misconducts? Were someone who has access to these records to delve into them, I for one should not be surprised if he found Clarke, Magnuson, Ted Lindsay Gordie Howe, John Ferguson and others of the like to be far more &ldquo;violent&rdquo; than our current so-called &ldquo;bad men&rdquo; with the spectacular PIM totals. As an amateur player with some experience, I know that receiving a placed butt end or crosscheck seems far more violent (and painful) than watching some fool argue and name-call pointlessly with a ref.WILLIAM F. ALLYN, Middletown, Del.<h2>Pens&rsquo; Problem Not Steelers</h2>I read with great interest the reason Ken McKenzie offered in his January 23 column for the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; inability to fill its Civic Arena, and especially for the Soviet Wings game. If he really believes the problems is &ldquo;direct competition&rdquo; from the football Steelers, I hope he&rsquo;ll consider the situation in Buffalo.The Sabres have played to a full house at home constantly for the last three years, half their home dates being on Sunday evenings in the city whose football attendance repeatedly leads the National Football League. In addition, the Sabres compete for the sports-directed dollar in Buffalo with, the resident professional basketball team (something Pittsburgh hasn&rsquo;t even got) a local NAHL team whose top seating price is still less than the Sabres&rsquo; bottom price, and five college basketball teams. I respectfully point out that the Penguins&rsquo; problem lies not in bucking the Steelers, but in residing in a city where no team but a world champion is tolerated.EDWARD J. ADAMCZYK, Buffalo, N.Y.<h2>Think More About All Stars</h2>This year&rsquo;s annual NHL All Star Game was one of the most boring hockey games I have ever witnessed in my years as a hockey fan. Isn&rsquo;t this supposed to be a game of entertainment for the fan? Well, many other fans agreed with me that they&rsquo;d rather watch Kansas City play Washington than the All Star game.The most obvious reason in my opinion why the game was a total bore was because there wasn&rsquo;t an Orr or Esposito out there getting the fans all excited. Sure, you have your Lafleur, Mahovlich, MacLeish but one must admit, whether they like them or not, Orr and Esposito are the crowd pleasers.Watching this year&rsquo;s game, I noticed there was a great abundance of first year All Stars and the others were just overrated players such as Steve Shutt or Larry Robinson who are not of All Star quality. How can the sportswriters not pick a great talent such as Esposito and take someone so overrated and unqualified such as Wavne Sten-henson who played rather poorly.For future All Star games I suggest that the sportswriters take a little more thinking before they decide to take guys like Shutt, Dupont, etc. to play on the All Star team. There would be a great change of selections if the fan was to vote for the All Star picks. They could pick STARS.CATHEE PAVILIN, Edmonton, Alberta. &#9632;

f0004-05

FAN FROUM

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div>NEWYORK&mdash;&ldquo;The reason I went behind the bench to coach was to look things over before I made any moves,&rdquo; said John Ferguson.The Rangers had just lost to the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 to complete a run of six straight games without a win and make Fergy&rsquo;s record 25-1 since taking over from the tandem of Emile Francis and Ron Stewart.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01837/3517979-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="282" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Bednarski</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m in contact with all 17 rival clubs every day,&rdquo; said John. &ldquo;But most of them want to offer you a cookie for a ham sandwich. I won&rsquo;t make those kind of deals.&rdquo;Ferguson has many problems as he Jakes over the wreckage of the club left by his predecessors. His defense just doesn&rsquo;t clear the slot, despite the hitting reputations of such as Gilles Marotte and John Bednarski.One former Ranger said. &ldquo;Bednarski has a heart of gold, but he really doesn&rsquo;t have the ability to make it in the NHL.&rdquo;Marotte, another gutsy performer. seems to have fallen back into a habit of costly mistakes, despite his pairing with Carol Vadnais.The goal tender, right now, while John Davidson recuperates from a broken leg, is Dunc Wilson, previously found wanting by Philadelphia, Vancouver and Toronto. Wilson hasn&rsquo;t been making the big early save which can hold a team up. He also might have a reason to sue his teammates for non-support.Ferguson is trying to go with four lines including the new Esposito trio with Lawrence Sacharuk and Pat Hickey on the wings. This hasn&rsquo;t gotten the puck through to Espo enough, although he did get his 544th career goal in a gallant late game tie with the Chicago Black Hawks on Jan. 21. The score was 3-3 and the Rangers rallied from an early 3-1 deficit.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a valid point that Esposito isn&rsquo;t getting the puck enough. He had to get it more than that when he was sixty goal scorer.&rdquo; said Fergy. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t play left wing for Espo, so I don&rsquo;t know exactly what is the problem there.&rdquo;In the Rangers 7-5 loss to the Washington Capitals on Jan. 23. just about everything broke down. It might have been good for the NHL and the Caps to get off the losing schneid, but it showed the situation in New York.Ferguson didn&rsquo;t admit that he had given up on making the playoffs, emphasizing, &ldquo;We have three games left with Atlanta plus four games in hand. I know we are 14 points back, but I&rsquo;m not giving up. I won&rsquo;t start experimenting until 1 can&rsquo;t make the playoffs anymore.&rdquo;It is to be hoped that the fans in Madison Square Garden and the top level management realize just the situation that Ferguson inherited. His club is presently on the level of Minnesota. California, and Detroit, or just ahead of the Washington&mdash;Kansas City level. This is hard to believe with the talent of some of the individuals the Rangers possess, but it is a fact.&ldquo;The Rangers have good talent,&rdquo; said Bob Pulford, the Kings coach. &ldquo;I have faith in Ferguson&rsquo;s ability to straighten them out.&rdquo;Sheldon Kanneiggeisser, the former Ranger blueliner, now with Los Angeles, might have touched a nerve when he analyzed. &ldquo;The Rangers should stop feeling sorry for themselves and start playing it tough.&rdquo;BLUE CHIPS: Billy Fairbairn and Steve Vickers are the only two Rangers to have played in every game this year&hellip;Both Ron Harris and Doug Jarrett are still experiencing trouble with their chronic knee problems and are out of the lineup. Jarrett&rsquo;s loss hurts as he helped stabilize the team when New York put together that seven game unbeaten streak in December&hellip;Phil Esposito&rsquo;s 545th career goal in Washington put him ahead of Rocket Richard&rsquo;s 544 and into third place in the NHL career ratings, behind Gordie Howe with 786 and Bobby Hull 604&hellip;Dunc Wilson is 3-8-2, with John Davidson being 13-13-2. Doug Soetaert is 11-0&hellip;The Ranger power play has short circuited with only two goals in their last twenty attempts&hellip;Rocky Gilbert has been hot of late, getting 19 points in his last 14 games on seven goals and 12 assists&hellip;Pat Hickey was in a scoring drought, going 15 games without a goal. &#9632;

f0005-01

Six Game Non-Winning Streak Raises Many Questions

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>BUFFALO&mdash;Al Smith, goalkeeper, signed as free agent after leaving New England Whalers of WHA. Ken Breitenbach, defenseman, recalled from Hershey under emergency conditions.DETROIT&mdash;Doug Grant, goalkeeper, recalled from New Haven of AHL. Al Cameron, defenseman, recalled from Kalamazoo of IHL. Peter McDuffe, goalkeeper, and Jim Nahrgang, defenseman, sent to New Haven.MINNESOTA&mdash;Norm Gratton, forward, recalled from New Haven of AHL. John Flesch, forward, sent to New Haven as replacement.MONTREAL&mdash;Glenn Goldup, and Sean Shanahan, forwards, returned to Nova Scotia of AHL.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Mario Faubert, defenseman, recalled from Hershey of AHL.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Ed Staniowski, goalkeeper, returned to Providence of AHL. Rick Bourbonnais, forward, recalled from Providence.WASHINGTON&mdash;Pete Scamurra, defenseman, recalled from Richmond of AHL. Willie Brossart, defenseman, and Bob Gryp, forward, sent to Richmond.<h2>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</h2>CLEVELAND&mdash;Gerry Cheevers, goalkeeper, given outright release to return to NHL. Cam Newton, goalkeeper, signed as free agent from defunct Ottawa Civics. Jacques Caron, goalkeeper, recalled from Syracuse of NAHL.MINNESOTA&mdash;Lou Levasseur, goalkeeper, recalled from Johnstown of NAHL.INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Jim Park, goalkeeper, recalled from Mohawk Valley of NAHL.CALGARY&mdash;Rick Jodzio, defenseman, recalled from Springfield of AHL. Bill Reed, defenseman, recalled from Springfield and reassigned to Johnstown of NAHL.PHOENIX&mdash;Mike Hobin, forward. returned to Tucson of CHL.TORONTO&mdash;Mario Vien, goalkeeper, recalled from Buffalo of NAHL. Greg Neeld, defenseman, assigned to Buffalo.CINCINNATI&mdash;Bruce Abbey, forward, returned to Tucson of CHL. Terry Ball, defenseman, acquired from Cleveland for future considerations.EDMONTON&mdash;Mike Rogers, forward, traded to New England in exchange for Wayne Carleton, forward. Rick Morris, forward, signed as free agent from defunct Ottawa Civics.MINNESOTA&mdash;Gerry Odrowski, defenseman, traded to Winnipeg in exchange for Perry Miller, defenseman. Gerry Zrymiak, forward, recalled from Johnstown of NAHL. Bruce Boudreau, forward, returned to Johnstown.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>RICHMOND&mdash;Dean Boylan, defenseman, signed as free agent.<h2>CENTRALLEAGUE</h2>DALLAS&mdash;Dean Blais, forward, placed on voluntary retired list to return to college.FORT WORTH&mdash;Keith Kokkola, defenseman, signed as free agent from defunct Ottawa Civics. Mark Heaslip, forward, traded to Oklahoma City of CHL. Ken McPhail, defenseman, and Mike Kennedy, forward, returned to New York Islanders and reassigned to Erie of NAHL. Joe Leduc, defenseman, returned to Los Angeles and reassigned to Saginaw of IHL.OKLAHOMACITY&mdash;Alf Handrahan, forward, traded to Fort Worth.<h2>NO. AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>BEAUCE&mdash;Michel Garneau, forward, signed as free agent.BUFFALO&mdash;Bill Cheropita, goalkeeper, Fred Hunt and Randy Montgomery, forwards, all placed on waivers. &#9632;

Movements of Players

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div>TWIN CITIES&mdash;The Young (emphasize the Y) players on the Minnesota North Stars, so coach Ted Harris believes, will be making names for themselves in future NHL seasons.For now, these youngsters, Harris and the rest of the North Stars are paying the price of experience in the won-lost column. They perform competitively at home, raggedly on the road; and the North Starswill not finish better than fourth in the Smythe Division this season unless they can find the consistency home and away.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01960/3518034-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="267" height="469"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Hicks</figcaption></div>However, Harris sees encouraging signs.The most sensational newcomer is, of course, a Young. Tim Young, 20-year-old center who stands 6&rsquo;2&rdquo; and weighs 180 pounds. The youngster who scored 56 goals and 107 assists for Ottawa in juniors last season has become a major scoring threat for the North Stars since his November recall from the American League.Playing with Pierre Jarry and Dean Talafous, two others in their 20s, on what Harris appropriately calls his Young Line, Young has risen to sixth in team scoring in almost 20 fewer games than most of. those ahead of him. Talafous (22) ranks just ahead, Jarry (26) slightly behind.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bit too soon to say he will be a star,&rdquo; said Harris, &ldquo;but the leadership qualities are there and he knows how to find the net. Eventually he will be playing against the players he did so well against in junior.&rdquo;In other words, the potential is there. Young, now, is working on improving his defensive hockey to go with his offensive abilities, which already have made him a favorite of fans at Metropolitan Sports Center.Two other young players who have shown considerable improvement this season are defensemen Doug Hicks, another 20-year-old who has played in every North Star game the last two seasons, and Dwight Bialowas, 23-year-old blueliner who spent the first two months in the AHL.On the plus-minus ledger, the two youngsters are two of the few on the team with plus totals.Ernie Hicke, at 28, has found a home at left wing with the North Stars, headed to his best season ever since he scored 22 goals as a rookie in 1970-71. With 35 games left in the schedule, Hicke had posted 17 goals and 13 assists.&ldquo;The big thing is that I&rsquo;m getting the ice time that I never got with Atlanta or the New York Islanders,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Experience is a big factor, plus it helps to have a center like Blake Dunlop who gets the puck to you.&rdquo;Dunlop, 22, is going full speed again after recovering from a strained knee.Dave Cressman, a rookie center at age 26, has impressed Harris with his penalty killing abilities.&ldquo;It took Fred Shero a few seasons to build a championship team in Philadelphia,&rdquo; Harris has said. &ldquo;For a couple of seasons it was pretty rough going. We&rsquo;ve got several young players who can become name players in the league. It&rsquo;s not that the talent isn&rsquo;t there yet. It takes some time to put the name with the talent.&rdquo;That is how Harris is putting in his season as a rookie NHL coach, teaching these youngsters what it takes to make a name for themselves through teamwork.STAR DUST: The biggest lesson needing immediate attention is road play&mdash;at 2-17-3 on opposing ice, the&rdquo; club ranks No. 17 out of the 18 teams&hellip;The return of Bill Goldsworthy from a knee injury has been most beneficial to Dennis (nine points in four games) and Bryan Hextall, whose point totals are steadily moving upward&hellip; &#9632;

f0006-01

Youngsters Show Encouraging Signs As North Stars Seek Consistency

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;Said Don Cherry, after his Boston Bruins had finished beating the Buffalo Sabres, 5-3, in Boston Garden to move four points ahead in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Adams Division race:&ldquo;If the Sabres are not playing well right now and are only four points behind, well, they can&rsquo;t be a bad hockey club.&rdquo;The fans of Buffalo would agree but they also were wondering about this time, when their Sabres were going to start playing well again.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01877/3518065-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="274" height="477"><figcaption class="caption-body">Danny Gare</figcaption></div>Except for victories on successive days against the Soviet Wings and the Montreal Canadiens, the Sabres simply had not been skating the way they did last year in winning the Adams Division by 19 points and reaching the Stanley Cup finals.The slump began in late November and, although the club sometimes showed flashes of its past brilliance, there were no consistent performances. The Sabres won, yes, but against lower echelon clubs for the most part.First, it was the club&rsquo;s defensive play that fell off. Then, for some strange reason, the offense began to sputter.The team that was outshooting the opposition by such figures as 45-18, 47-22, 40-18, 45-11 and 4125 early in the campaign was being outshot.The Bruins outshot the Sabres by 35-15 in that 5-3 win. The Sabres managed only three shots during the second period. In losing to Pittsburgh, 3-2, two games before, they were outshot by 40-19.Rick Martin, who scored 14 goals in his first nine games after being shifted from left wing to the right side, then went six games without a goal. He got only one shot on the net against Boston.Coach Floyd Smith, who juggled his lines in the latter stage of the Boston game, appeared downhearted and perplexed afterward.&ldquo;Our guys just won&rsquo;t skate,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It looks as though they don&rsquo;t want to. Except for about five minutes, when they really went and scored two goals, they looked as though they wanted no part of the game.&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t check, the defensemen didn&rsquo;t move the puck out to the forwards. I don&rsquo;t know what has happened to them. Never before in a big game did we ever skate that bad. I just can&rsquo;t believe it.&rdquo;The Sabres had worked hard for this game. While Smitty was in Philadelphia to coach the Prince of Wales team in the All Star game, general manager Punch Im-lack donned the blades and ran workouts of two hours, an hour 45 minutes and an hour 40 minutes.It didn&rsquo;t seem to help. The Sabres didn&rsquo;t get a shot on goal until the 7:26 mark, when the Bruins had put ten on goalie Gerry Desjardins.The victory was Boston&rsquo;s third straight over the Sabres after a 4-0 loss in their first meeting Nov. 4.ICE CHIPS: The Sabres missed Jim Schonfeld. The big defenseman and team captain had been out since the end of December because of mononucleosis. His return was indefinite.Danny Gare&rsquo;s return to form after playing despite an infected elbow on his right arm was one heartening feature of the late January games. Danny played with an ailing elbow for about a month. It originally was out for 10 stitches, then it was reopened and required more stitches, then it was infected so that he had to wear a sling for a couple of days to keep it elevated. Danny scored twice against the Bruins to close in on Martin, the team&rsquo;s leading goal scorer.After the Boston game, Martin had 29 goals, Gare 28.Al Smith, who had been out of hockey since getting out of his World Hockey Association contract with the New England Whaler at the end of last season, joined the Sabres for a tryout. The Sabres own his NHL rights.When Gerry Desjardins tended goal against the Bruins, it marked his 20th time in the nets in the club&rsquo;s last 24 games. Roger Crozier still was bothered by stomach trouble and his return was questionable. Gary Bromley had played in only one Sabre game all season. So Smith was sure to get a good look.Craig Ramsay, one of Buffalo&rsquo;s representatives in the All Star game, picked up an assist against the Bruins to give him seven goals and eight assists in 12 games. &#9632;

f0007-01

Sabres’ Offense Sputters As Slump Continues

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03541/3518096-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="805" height="589"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02751/3518103-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="139" height="169"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>Tips for Goalies</h2>Here&rsquo;s a drill you can work on with your defencemen.It&rsquo;s always tough when you have only one defenceman in front of you and there are two attacking forwards coming in. That&rsquo;s trouble! You and your defenceman can at least cut down on the chances of a clear shot on goal. Here&rsquo;s how:Have the defenceman back in toward your goal until the attackers are about 15 feet out. At that distance, you shout &ldquo;move.&rdquo;Your defenceman then moves fast toward the puck carrier, making him either shoot or pass to the other attacker. You see, you&rsquo;ve taken the initiative away from them. The puck carrier will be forced to do something at a time you&rsquo;ve chosen; not when he&rsquo;s ready. You and your defenceman have upset the rythm of the attack. &#9632;

f0007-03

MINOR HOCKEY TIPS

<div class="byline">&#x2014;By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01949/3518141-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="289" height="348"></div><h2>Coach With Character&hellip;</h2>SCOTTY BOWMAN HAS been managing and coaching for 20 years since a head injury ended his playing career when he was still an amateur. He was bright and tough and moved up fast. He handled Montreal amateur teams and the Omaha minor leage team before moving to the majors with expansion. Under Bowman the St. Louis Blues became the best of the new National Hockey League teams until he left in his fourth season after arguing with management over who was manager. The Blues have not been the same since.He returned to Montreal and is in his fifth season as coach of the Canadiens. He has put together tremendous regular season records and will win his third pennant this season, but it is said that if for the third straight season he fails to win his second Stanley Cup, he will be in trouble. It is said that anyone who does not win in Montreal where they have always have had abundant talent and have wonmore than anyone else is in trouble.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02850/3518134-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="306" height="532"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scotty Bowman</figcaption></div>It is said, it is said, it is said&hellip;Why would anyone want to coach in Montreal? Why would anyone want to coach anywhere? Coaches are treated with contempt, especially in hockey. Six have fallen in this league this season already. What does William Scott Bowman, burly, dark-haired, soft-spoken have to say?&ldquo;I began to coach because I couldn&rsquo;t play. I love coaching and I love the game,&rdquo; Scotty says. &ldquo;It is a continuing challenge, trying to get the most out of 18 to 20 men and ploting strategy. I suppose it would be frustrating if you had inferior players and were outclassed by the competition. I felt that at times playing Montreal when my St. Louis team was just starting. But it is fascinating if you have top players and can compete with anyone.&ldquo;It is fascinating coaching the Montreal team. Everyone wants to get to the top in his profession and in this sport this is the peak. I don&rsquo;t know if we have the best talent, but we have to be close. I know the best talent doesn&rsquo;t always make the best team. The team has to pull together to win. I really don&rsquo;t think there is a lot of difference in talent or in teams among five or six teams in the league the last few years and I don&rsquo;t think of the ones who don&rsquo;t win the Stanley Cup in a given year as losers.&ldquo;I believe when you get down to the short series of a playoff or the last game for the Stanley Cup, breaks are going to play a big part and you have to be lucky to win. If you are the best you should win, but from one season to the next intangibles will enter into it and you will not always win. An injury here, a lucky shot there.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very tough to dominate today. I don&rsquo;t consider Philadelphia dominant. I don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;ve begun a dynasty. I think with the draft the distribution of talent works against dynasties such as we had years ago. I think any good team can win once. I think Philadelphia proved itself a great team by winning twice in succession. But I believe they can be beaten.&ldquo;THERE IS NO QUESTION there is pressure in Montreal. The fans know the sport and they can be critical, but I consider them fair. They have been accustomed to the sort of success in the past, in a different system of hockey when every French Canadian youngster could sign with Montreal, that I don&rsquo;t think will be duplicated in the future. But we can try. You always try, of course.&ldquo;There are five daily newspapers in Montreal&mdash;three English and two French. The competition is intense among them. Let&rsquo;s face it, when things are going well there&rsquo;s not much controversy. They may build the odd item to make a story. It could create trouble. When things are going bad there&rsquo;s a feeling they have to find someone to blame. But I think the press has been pretty fair. The writers are not vindictive. They don&rsquo;t act like they&rsquo;re out to get me. They know this sport and write it well.&ldquo;Management in Montreal has treated me well. It is a mature management which does not make snap judgements in anger or disappointment. They knew me. I was proven. I had established myself with them and in St. Louis. They respect me as I respect them. If they think they can do better with someone else they will replace me, but that is true in any town in the league, not just in Montreal. I am not one of those coaches who has been fired frequently and may feel nervous. I don&rsquo;t even think about being fired. I don&rsquo;t expect to be.&ldquo;They can&rsquo;t put any more pressure on methan I put on myself. I want very much to win every game. I suppose every coach does. I&rsquo;m disappointed by every defeat. There&rsquo;s no pressure that could make me try any harder. I try to maintain an even emotional level but I suffer inside.&ldquo;In some ways it is easier to coach in Montreal than in St. Louis. I expected to coach in St. Louis, not manage also. I wanted it after awhile because you want control of your team, but I found you get no rest and your ability to concentrate on coaching goes out the window. I was always negotiating contracts. I was always on the phone. I couldn&rsquo;t get away from the game. In Montreal I have a manager to do the difficult job of managing for me. I don&rsquo;t think anyone thinks anyone could do it better than Sam Pollock. I know some think he must be a tough boss, but he&rsquo;s really very fair. He consults with you, but he leaves you to run the club. Our rapport is excellent. He is the glue which holds this organization together. He takes the long look at things. He has built stability into the operation.&ldquo;The tradition that is supposed to make it tough to win here makes it easier. It inspires and motivates the players. They put out because no one will accept anything less in Montreal. And because there are good players pushing them from behind. I have not had any trouble with them. They do as they are asked to do. They think team. They understand you must sacrifice yourself for the team. They want to win, too.&rdquo;BOWMAN USED TO SAY he wouldn&rsquo;t marry while he was in hockey because the life is hard on a family, but the finally did get married and he has become a family man. He and his wife, Sue. have three children&mdash;Alicia, 5; David, 3, and Stanley, 2. David is hydrocephalic and confined to an institution. Scotty says, &ldquo;It is painful but it is something that has to be borne. My wife is a nurse and she has a lot of guts. She has helped me to be strong. We found out he had problems at six months. He is retarded and blind. There is no hope, but he is comfortable. We visit him the first Sunday of every month. I try to make up any visits I miss in season.&ldquo;The other children are fine. The family means more to me than anything else. Montreal is a grand city, but I grew up here and I think it is true that it is hardest to make it in your hometown where so many people know you personally. We do not get out a lot. We live quietly. We have bought 240 acres at Roxton Pond, east in the mountains by a small lake. It is not just a vacation place. I&rsquo;m a novice, but I work it as a farm and cattle ranch and eventually we will settle there.&rdquo;He concludes, &ldquo;Coaching is a lonely life. You do so much soul-searching. You can&rsquo;t get too close to the players. You have to have someone you can confide in. You miss your family 40 games on the road. It&rsquo;s not so bad now that Claude Ruel comes with me. He&rsquo;s coached here and knows what it is. We talk. 1 don&rsquo;t think my job depends on my winning this year. I expect to win, but I always expect towin. I have lived long enough to know you never know what life holds for you, and you have to make the best of what is dealt you.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;It was interesting how quickly Alex Delvecchio moved in ridding himself of an couple of players he said &ldquo;were not doing their share.&rdquo;The Detroit Red Wing general managercoach, angered by a lack of effort, said Phil Roberto. Mike Korney and Mickey Redmond were not carrying their weight in Detroit&rsquo;s bid to overtake Pittsburgh for third place in the Norris Division.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03711/3518172-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="275" height="426"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buster Harvey</figcaption></div>Less than a week after taking that verbal swipe, Delvecchio traded Roberto to Kansas City for Buster Harvey. The next day, Kornev was shipped to New Haven of the American Hockey League. That left only Redmond and there was considerable trade speculation concerning the two-time 50-goal scorer.After the Roberto-Harvey trade. Delvecchio said Roberto was &ldquo;trying hard, but there were no results. He just wasn&rsquo;t producing.&ldquo;Harvey proved he can score goals,&rdquo; Delvecchio said. &ldquo;Somewhere along the way, something happened and his performance dipped. If he can regain his scoring touch, he&rsquo;ll certainly help us.&rdquo;The Wings acquired Harvey strictly for his talents as a goal scorer while the Scouts wanted Roberto &ldquo;just for muscle,&rdquo; according to Kansas City GM Sid Abel. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a very meek hockey club and we need some help in that department,&rdquo; Abel said.Harvey is with his fourth team in three seasons and Delvecchio thinks that constant shuffling may have had something to do with his lack of production.&ldquo;I thought I had a pretty good year with Atlanta last season.&rdquo; Harvey said. &ldquo;I was their fourth leading scorer (behind Atlanta stars Tom Lysiak. Eric Vail and Curt Bennett) even though 1 slumped through the last 28 games.&ldquo;This season with Kansas. City (he was traded by Atlanta just before the season began) hadn&rsquo;t been very productive, though. The last 10 games before the trade were especially bad. When a club&rsquo;s having trouble, you realize there&rsquo;s always a possibility you&rsquo;ll be traded.&rdquo;Harvey had five goals and seven assists with the Scouts before the trade. Roberto had one goal and seven assists for Detroit.Added to all their other problems, the Wings were starting to suffer a string of injuries. First captain Danny Grant was lost for two months with a thigh rupture; center J.P. LeBlanc broke a finger; goalie Eddie Giacomin took a shot on his right hand in practice and it was broken; defenseman Terry-Harper missed a game with a bruised thigh.The injuries reduced the talent-thin Wings to a 13-man club with three sets of forwards carrying the entire weight along with four defensemen. The spare forwards seldom saw any game action and the fifth defenseman, Barry Salovaara, never got off the bench.At one point, the Wings dressed only 15 skaters and two goalies for a game. Walt McKechnie, Nick Libett, Dan Maloney, Bill Hogaboam and defensemen Rick Lapointe, Bryan Watson. Jean Hamel and Harper all were logging double and triple-time.MOTOR CITY SHORTS: The Wings recalled a pair from New Haven, forward Bill Lochead and defenseman Jim Nahrgang. They&rsquo;ve both been on the New Haven-to-Detroit shuttle before and are likely to be heading back soon&hellip;First-year pro Al Cameron, a top defensive prospect, was called up from Kalamazoo&hellip;Rookie Michel Bergeron is being largely overlooked but he&rsquo;s having a fine season. &#9632;

f0008-03

Wings Clean House As Trade Speculation Surrounds Redmond

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Maybe not as much has been made of it as should have been, but one reason the Kings are not doing as well as last year may be that they have had many more injuries than they did last year.Here is the list of major injuries suffered to this writing, late in January:Dave Hutchison: Severely sprained ankle, then a fractured jaw.Don Kozak: Tendinitis of the elbow.Tom Williams: Strained ankle, bad lower back.Gene Carr: Bad back.Shelly Kannegiesser: Wrenched thumb, sore shoulder.Plus many minor ailments.Hutchison was out for a prolonged period with his ankle, hurt his jaw shortly after returning, and has been playing with his jaw wired behind a mask.He missed 20 of the first 48 games, five on suspension. Kozak missed 16, Carr 11. Kannegiesser seven, and Williams five. And they were part-timers in many other games in which they played under par with their problems.The Kings are not so deep in talent they do not miss the contributions several regulars make. This was apparent when Kozak returned in time to help the club salvage three victories out of seven games on their recent road trip, longest of the season.Kozak is an aggressive rightwinger, often overaggressive. Sometimes he gets himself and his team in trouble, but sometimes he gives it a big lift. He forechecked ferociously on the trip and picked up the odd goal.&ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t forechecking until Kozie got us going.&rdquo; coach Bob Pulford commented. &ldquo;He was one of our best players on the trip. His line with Vic Venasky at center and Bob Berry on right wing was maybe our best line on the trip.&rdquo;The short, husky Kozak, who is turning 24. has average 17 goals in three previous NHL seasons, but could top his best season of 21 this season despite his long layoff. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve stored up a lot of energy,&rdquo; he smiles.&ldquo;The elbow was so sore 1 couldn&rsquo;t shoot, so I had to sit out. but it took a lot longer to get better than I expected.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It feels OK now. If we can get everyone to feeling OK by the playoffs we may surprise some people.&rdquo;He admits he gets carried away on the ice at times. &ldquo;I make mistakes. but not by not trying,&rdquo; he observes.Juha Widing has missed only three games so far, but has suffered two sieges of flu that have weakened him and reduced him to part-time duty at times. A center, he started to play left wing with Marcel Dionne&rsquo;s line on the trip and start ed to come around.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not healthy, you can&rsquo;t do the job,&rdquo; he observes &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy playing anywhere if I&rsquo;m healthy. I&rsquo;m not at home at left wing, but if that&rsquo;s where I fit in. I&rsquo;ll do mv best.&rdquo;Pully says, &ldquo;We have suffered bad health, but you have to expect that at times and you have to overcome it. We&rsquo;ve been inconsistent because we haven&rsquo;t sustained our intensity.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have a bad trip. It could have been better, but it could have been worse. We played only one bad game, in Boston. We played a good game, but Montreal played a better one in Montreal. We were unlucky to lose in Toronto. With any luck we could have had a tie in Philadelphia.&ldquo;We played a lot of good teams. We&rsquo;re beginning to get together more, as we were last year. If we can get everyone healthy, that should help. We have basically a home schedule the rest of the season and if we can keep up our intensity from game to game, we should do OK.&rdquo;KINGS THINGS: By the time Venasky returned home to see his new daughter, Carrie Ann, born Jan. 9, she was 10 days old. His teammates teased him that she would run to greet him, maybe introduce him to her finace&hellip;Overdue, Debbie Kannegiesser finally came through Jan. 20, presenting Shelly with a son, Britt, a nine pound defenseman of the future. &#9632;

Kozak, Kings Fighting Injury Plague

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;The 1974-75 season will long be remembered by anyone who had suffered with the New York Islanders during their first two years which saw them set just about every record that teams could do without.But despite the club&rsquo;s fine showing, capped by their playoff glories, the year was nothing but a failure for center Ralph Stewart. Tabbed as a future All Star the previous season. Stewart suddenly found himself logging more time in the press box than on the ice.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01939/3518289-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="274" height="417"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ralph Stewart</figcaption></div>The summer proved to be a difficult time for him. and inwardly, the 27-year-old pivot man felt that he might be playing elsewhere this season, possibly not even in the NHL. As training camp opened. Ralph was clearly the fifth center behind Jude Drouin. Andre St. Laurent. Lorne Henning, and rookie sensation Bryan Trottier.The new season began, and Ralph rode the bench. Some nights would be spent in the stands, others on the bench next to the alternate goaltender. Through the first half of the season. Stewart had managed three goals and three assists with extremely limited ice time.But when the Islanders hit a brief snag in January, coach Arbour resurrected his one-time 23-goal scorer to center a line with Garry Howatt and Boh Nystrom. Andre St. Laurent, who had been having a tough time of it, sat it out.Stewart&rsquo;s chance came as the Islanders squared off against the Washington Capitals at Landover on January 21st. in a game that the Isles figured should be an easy two points. The first two periods were anything but that, though, as the Islanders were able to do nothing better than knot the count at two-all.Bob Nystrom got the Islanders ahead early in the third period, and then Stewart hit Garry Howatt with a perfect pass for the insurance goal as the New Yorkers went on to win. 5-2. Then the following night, Stewie started to ro as he did in 1973.The Isles thrashed Detroit 8 that evening, as Denis and Jea Potvin shared the spotlight b; scoring two and three goals respec tively. Back in 1947, the Bent levels&mdash;Doug and Max&mdash;account for seven goals against the Rangers, but they were forwards.Lost in the post-game congratulations was Stewart&rsquo;s two-goal effort, as he played by far his best game of the season. His first was a forty-foot slap with Bobby Nystrom serving as a decoy. He got some help from Red Wing Peter McDuffe on the second one as the goaltender carried his centering pass into the net.&ldquo;It felt great.&rdquo; said Stewart understandably after the game. &ldquo;I like to score, but I also like to play.&ldquo;The coach told me last night (against Washington) that I was going to center Garry and Bobby. But I didn&rsquo;t know if it was going to be for one or two shifts. It took a while, but we were doing pretty well by the end of the game.&rdquo;Stewie admitted that he was getting down on himself a bit as the season progressed, but he never felt like he didn&rsquo;t belong, not even when he was sent to Fort Worth for a short stint to get some playing time.&ldquo;(General manager) Bill Torrey was always talking to me.&rdquo; said Ralph. &ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t let me get depressed and he kept my confidence up.&rdquo;Billy Smith is another Islander whose confidence has mounted in recent weeks. Playing the back-to-back games against Washington and Detroit. Smith handled the puck well, keeping his rebounds to a minimum.Last year Bill appeared to have some trouble with long, unscreened shots from the blueline. Through the mid-point in the season. he had not let in a single one like that.Arbour has preached that his club is a team, not a group of individuals. And in order to succeed, a total effort is required of every man on the roster.Ralph Stewart is just happy to have the chance.ISLAND SOUNDS: Coupled with his pair of goals against Washington, Denis Potvin tallied four goals in two games. There had been some concern previously that he wasn&rsquo;t shooting enough&hellip;Brother Jean credits a new mouthpiece with having something to do with his hat trick. &ldquo;I was ready to tell the Doc to make me a new one every period,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Clark Gillies equalled an Islander record when he scored in his fifth consecutive game against Washington. He shares the mark with Eddie Westfall&hellip;Bryan Trottier has an excellent chance of breaking Marcel Dionne&rsquo;s record of 77 points by a rookie, set in 197172 He had 54 points after 44 games. &#9632;

f0010-01

Stewart Makes Most Of New Chance With Islanders

<div class="byline">BY BILL HEUFELDER</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;At about this time last season, Michel Plasse and Gary Inness found their roles reversed as the Pittsburgh Penguin goaltenders.Inness had labored long and hard in the Penguin net, almost singlehandedly beating back the opposition until help arrived. Finally, on Jan. 10, the Penguins traded for Michel Plasse and In-ness&rsquo; ulcer went away.The workhorse this season has been Plasse, who hardly fits the part. On the slender side at 6-0 and 175 pounds, he would seem too fragile to endure.Yet he appeared in 26 of the club&rsquo;s 28 games at one stretch and had started 13 games in a row.Until he backstopped the Penguins to a 3-2 win over Buffalo marking Ken Schinkel&rsquo;s return to coaching, he had been forced to withstand an overwhelming attack.Plasse, unlike the less experienced Inness, claims he never wearied from the burdensome position of trying to hold a troubled club together.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that bad,&rdquo; the 27-year-old netminder said of his ordeal that began immediately after a brief stay in Hershey during November. &ldquo;We get a few days off here and there.&rdquo;Inness, just back from a rehabilitation trip of his own to the minor-league club and greatly en-couraged by his steady performance in the Penguins&rsquo; 8-3 win over the New York Rangers, figures to give Plasse more rest in the remaining weeks.Schinkel has said he&rsquo;ll revert to last year&rsquo;s system when the two goaltenders rotated starting assignments after Plasse joined the team.Perhaps Plasse has been buoyed by his earlier days in the Montreal organization, his route to the big time.With Montreal&rsquo;s Nova Scotia farm club five years ago, he started almost 30 straight regular-season games and brought the American League team through all 15 playoff games to the Calder Cup title.The next fall he was one of 16 Nova Scotia farmhands in what probably is hockey&rsquo;s most talented organization to reach the National Hockey League. &ldquo;Not bad, eh?&rdquo; Plasse said, a cockiness leaping into his soft voice.He landed with the Canadiens, but didn&rsquo;t anticipate more than a choice seat for the games until Ken Dryden went out with a prolonged back injury.The Canadiens eventually settled on Plasse as a replacement, and he responded brilliantly, suffering only one defeat in 17 games. Again, his supporting cast wasn&rsquo;t bad.&ldquo;That year, Montreal only lost 10 games,&rdquo; he said, failing to mention the Canadiens also wrapped up their 17th Stanley Cup.In two seasons with them, Plasse failed to take part in the playoffs, leaving him eager to participate with the Penguins in their battle for the Cup last spring.The opportunity vanished in the final week of the season when he tore ligaments in an ankle while facing the Canadiens.&ldquo;I caught my skate in a rut in the ice,&rdquo; Plasse explained. &ldquo;I just heard something crack and knew that was it for me.&rdquo; Inness proved to be spectacular, posting a 2.67 average through nine playoff games.Playoff competition can draw Out the excitement from Plasse, whose manner is usually calm. &ldquo;The only time you get nervous,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;is in the playoffs when it&rsquo;s either you or the other guy.&rdquo;The way the Penguins have been responding since Schinkel became the coach, they seem anxious to oblige the goalie known as &ldquo;Big Mike.&rdquo;PENGUIN NOTES: Under Schinkel, the Penguins impressively came out of their listless play by stopping Buffalo and the Rangers in the same week-end&hellip;They also rallied strongly, but couldn&rsquo;t overcome Montreal&rsquo;s three-goal lead and the superb goaltending of Dryden who had 42 saves in a 4-3 Canadien triumph&hellip;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very encouraged,&rdquo; Schinkel noted after his first loss.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01911/3518320-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="579" height="1184"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICHEL PLASSE&hellip;Penguin Workhorse</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

Pens’ Piasse, Inness Find Goaling Roles Reversed

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Bobby Taylor had just finished winning his third game in three Fivers&rsquo; starts when a friend, imitating a boxing announcer, said. &ldquo;Here he is folks, unbeaten and untied, Bobby Taylor.&rdquo;Looking up. Taylor smiled and said, &ldquo;Unbeaten, untied and unreal.&rdquo;Taylor&rsquo;s good-natured response was typical, for the just turned 31-year-old goaltender is one of hockey&rsquo;s quality people. He&rsquo;s a bright, perceptive, mature man who has persevered despite frequent career knockdowns.Example: Early in the 1972-73 season, Taylor had risen ahead of Doug Favell to be the No. 1 Fivers&rsquo; goaltender. Then, in the opening minutes of a game at Pittsburgh, Taylor pulled a hamstring muscle. End of No. 1 status, beginning of backup duty.Last season, after starting just one game, he was dispatched to Richmond for a few weeks of conditioning. He appeared in just two Flyers&rsquo; games upon returning. At training camp this season he was given the upsetting news of assignment to Springfield (AHL). While Taylor was still being paid his Flyers&rsquo; wages, friends thought he deserved better treatment than a sentence aboard Eddie Shore&rsquo;s stern ship.GM Keith Allen insisted Taylor was merely at Springfield to regain his playing touch, but most observers suspected they&rsquo;d never again see Taylor in a Flyers&rsquo; uniform. This opinion seemed confirmed when the Flyers alternated rookies Rejean Lemelin and Jerome Mrazek as Wayne Stephenson&rsquo;s backups.Finally, Taylor was sprung from Springfield to accompany the Flyers on a December West Coast trip. When Bernie Parent suffered another setback in his agonizingly slow recuperation from neck surgery and Stephenson was hampered by a sprained ankle, suddenly Taylor was the starter&mdash;and winner&mdash;New Year&rsquo;s night in Kansas City.The &ldquo;Chief&rdquo; has become accustomed to road&mdash;only appearances He hasn&rsquo;t played at the Spectrum since Feb. 2, 1974 when he relieved Parent in the third period of a 12-2 victory over Detroit. And Taylor hasn&rsquo;t started a Spectrum game since a 2-2 tie with Chicago Feb. 3, 1973.The Chief has also learned to keep his optimism in check. Asked about returning to Springfield when (if?) Parent returns, he said, &ldquo;I guess I&rsquo;ll have to, but I&rsquo;d rather not. I want to play so it&rsquo;s either go back to death row or stay here and die as the third goalie.&rdquo;Taylor will be an important factor in Philadelphia&rsquo;s Stanley Cup defense should Parent be sidelined all season. Stephenson wil play the majority of games, but coach Fred Shero makes it clear that Taylor will make more than token appearances.Further opportunity to remind people, he is a capable NHL goaltender will be fine with Taylor.&lsquo;&lsquo;I&rsquo;ve never doubted my ability, but I&rsquo;ll admit there have been times over the last couple years when I&rsquo;ve questioned it,&rdquo; he said.As much as anyone, Taylor exemplifies the &ldquo;team&rdquo; spirit of the Fivers. Some people are convinced the first item on the Philadelphia scouts&rsquo; report isn&rsquo;t skating or shooting ability, but rather &ldquo;Will the player sacrifice for the team?&rdquo; Listen to Taylor talking with Philadelphia Daily News columnist Stan Hochman about Parent:&ldquo;What he (Parent) is bothered about is not being here with the guys. He&rsquo;s worried he&rsquo;s letting guys down. Lord, Bernie doesn&rsquo;t have to worry about being a passenger. There are no passengers on this team. We&rsquo;ve got 21 competitors. Guys willing to sacrifice, willing to dig down. We&rsquo;ve got 21 guvs like that. Most teams have two or three.&rdquo;Count Bobby Taylor among those21.FLYERS FACTS: Flyers&rsquo; management insists Bernie Parent may still play this season. After aggravating his neck nerve roots upon his return a from a week in Jamaica&rsquo;s sun, Parent was ordered off the ice for three weeks. Meanwhile, he is taking therapy&hellip;Orest Kindrachuk&rsquo;s four-assist game in the 7-2 win over Atlanta gave him a career-high 44 points. Kind-rachuk was filling in for Bobby Clarke on the Reg Leach-Bill Barber line&hellip;Barber&rsquo;s five-point night vs. Atlanta matched his career high, achieved for the first time against St. Louis Dec. 21.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03616/3518389-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="541" height="585"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB TAYLOR&hellip;Spectrum Spectator</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0012-03

Flyers’ Taylor Unruffled By Checkered Goaling Role

<div class="byline">BY JACK MCCARTHY</div>BOSTON&mdash;The Bruins took a game from Buffalo Sabres in Boston Garden on Jan. 22, and it was the four-pointer they had been looking for to take a four-point edge over the Sabres into the frigid middle of the NHL season. If they lose, they&rsquo;re dead even and who knows what it does psychologically? They win and it is another step up to the day that Bobby Orr returns (latest estimate late February&mdash;and if the Bruins have a good edge by then&mdash;early March.)In this 5-3 game, one got another glimpse of why this Boston club has being staying up there without Orr and Phil Esposito. They are getting the maximum effort out of everyone&mdash;for example Doug Gibson.Against Buffalo, Gibson, who has been a bench-rider with the gang the Bruins call &ldquo;The Yuckers&rdquo;, stepped in for the injured Gregg Sheppard and wound up with three assists, all vital. Shep, incidentally, had picked up a charleyhorse in the All Star game, of all places.Gibson played center between Johnny Bucyk, old Mr. Marvel himself, and Ken Hodge. He helped set up Hodge and Cashman twice (the last one for the wonner) and he showed why he had been named the MVP in the American Hockey League.Coach Don Cherry claimed it was no big deal using Gibson when Shep got hurt. &ldquo;I knew Doug was good,&rdquo; said Cherry. &ldquo;After all, he was the MVP in the AHL. I couldn&rsquo;t bench anybody so he could play, and he knew he had to wait.&rdquo;Cherry expanded a bit on the wav the Bruins had, been playing He said, &ldquo;I can point to two things that are typical of the way we&rsquo;re playing and indicative of the way we want to win. You can make it three things, really.&ldquo;First, Gibson. He&rsquo;s skating better now. He&rsquo;s getting that jump. Secondly, Wayne Cashman. He&rsquo;s a more effective player, a more efficient one than he was in the years he was scoring 30 or 40 goals.&ldquo;In those days, he did all that, but now he&rsquo;s backchecking and forechecking more, and he&rsquo;s more of an all-around player.&ldquo;And the third example is the way Dave Forbes went down and blocked that shot at the point by Jerry Korab. That&rsquo;s typical of the change in the team, typical of how we want towin&hellip;&rdquo;Gibson, a slick-passing center, said.&rdquo; After the coach told me I was going to start in place of Shep. I just told myself during the afternoon that I had to do the best I could.&ldquo;Then I knew it could work because the Buffalo guys didn&rsquo;t know me. They didn&rsquo;t know what to expect, so that was to my advantage. And things worked out fine.&rdquo;Speaking of his time on the bench, he said. &ldquo;You get discouraged. You can&rsquo;t help it. You watch the others play so well and you know you&rsquo;re not going to get the ice time, and if you do you&rsquo;ll he tight and make mistakes.&rdquo;Gibson was expected to get some more ice time, taking the odd shift for Jean Ratelie and Sheppard after they have been killing penalties.He says, &ldquo;I hope I get a chance. I think I can help when the guys get tired down the stretch&hellip;&rdquo;Gibson is typical of &ldquo;The Tuckers&rsquo;, who once were known on the Bruins as &ldquo;The Black Aces&rdquo;, led by Garnet &ldquo;Ace&rdquo; Bailey and because they wore black shirts in practice scrimmages.Goaler Dave Reece is chairman of the board, and their charter members are Reece, Al Sims Joe Zanussi. Hank Nowak, and the aforementioned Gibson.Said the dry-humor Reece. &ldquo;The important thing is to be in the game even though you&rsquo;re not playing&mdash;to be part of the team. Sure, you can be alive on the bench, yakking away, but there are other things you can do from there. You can talk to the players on the ice. telling them to get their heads up. warn them if someone is sneaking upon them, alert them if a teammate is breaking clear&hellip;&rdquo;Reece was asked about several other players, such as Ken Hodge, &ldquo;we consider him an honorary member.&rdquo;Darryl Edestrand and Gary Doak? &ldquo;They were original members, now they&rsquo;re alumni.&rdquo;Andre Savard and Terry O&rsquo;Reilly? &ldquo;We extend them guest privileges&hellip;&rdquo;Stay loose.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01885/3518420-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="571" height="860"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG GIBSON&hellip;Effective For Bruins</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

Bruins Getting Most Out Of Players—Like Newcomer Gibson

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01894/3518451-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB GAINEY&hellip;Excels In Penalty-Killing Role</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Bob Gainey isn&rsquo;t exactly what you would call a prolific scorer. As a matter of fact you might not call him a scorer at all.In 146 games prior to the start of the present campaign he had scored only 20 times and added 27 assists for 47 points with the Canadiens. Yet his value to the Habs can&rsquo;t be measured by offensive statistics.Last season the big left winger had a plus-23 rating. In equal manpower situations he was on the ice only 62 times when the Canadiens scored a goal which put him in 10th place in that category on the team. But on the other hand, in the all-important (at least to Gainey) goals-against statistic, he was seeing duty on only 39 occasions when the opposition tallied which placed him fourth on the team list.Therein lies the value of Bob Gainey to the Montreal Canadiens: He&rsquo;s not going to score a lot of goals but you can bet there&rsquo;s going to be very few scored against the Habs while he&rsquo;s on the ice.Gainey&rsquo;s defensive-oriented attitude isn&rsquo;t something that has been instilled in him by coach Scotty Bowman, it&rsquo;s the way he&rsquo;s played throughout, his playing days, even in junior.In his last season of junior competition, 1972-73, with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey Association, he amassed a grand total of 22 goals and 43 points. Yet he was the Canadiens&rsquo; first pick in the 1973 amateur draft, eighth overall. It was clear right from the outset that Gainey wasn&rsquo;t in Montreal to score goals.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way I was taught,&rdquo; says Gainey referring to his defensive style. &ldquo;My offensive abilities are not as good as my defensive.&rdquo;Gainey&rsquo;s line, consisting of rookie Doug Jarvis at center and utility man Jim Roberts on the right side, was put together as a defensive combination. Yet, they haven&rsquo;t exactly been impotent on the offensive boards. The threesome has triggered the red light a total of 22 times (Roberts 12, Gainey seven and Jarvis three).&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve hardly had any goals scored against us,&rdquo; Bob explains &ldquo;If we happen to put one in it&rsquo;s a real bonus. We&rsquo;re usually up against the other team&rsquo;s big line.&rdquo;While he has been concentrating on defense Gainey has improved his offensive talents.&ldquo;Offensively I&rsquo;ve improved my shot,&rdquo; he states. &ldquo;Claude Ruel (Director of Player Development) has worked on my offensive game. Last year I played with (Yvan) Cournoyer and (Jacques) Lemaire. You can&rsquo;t help but pick up something from those two.&rdquo;Despite being classified as a non-scorer, Gainey does have a target that he&rsquo;s shooting for on offense.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m aiming for 20 goals. I haven&rsquo;t scored any goals on the road. I don&rsquo;t know why, I think I&rsquo;ve played as well on the road.&ldquo;When I&rsquo;m playing my best I&rsquo;m getting my scoring chances and doing my job the other way, too. If I keep skating I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;ll get my chances.&ldquo;My ability around the net isn&rsquo;t as good as it could be. It&rsquo; a matter of being in the right place at the right time.&rdquo;At 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 185 pounds Gainey is one of the better skaters on the Canadiens, which is quite an accomplishment considering the club&rsquo;s personnel. He&rsquo;s also one of, if not the toughest hitter on the team. His jarring bodychecks keep the opposition consistently off-balance in their own end.&ldquo;I hit when I get the chance,&rdquo; says Gainey, who plays the game clean but hard. In his two seasons with the Habs he has spent only 83 minutes in the sin bin.Where Gainey really excels is killing time when one of this teammates is serving a sentence in the cooler. Along with Jarvis, he has to be considered one of the premier penalty killers in the league.If Jarvis and Gainey look as though they must have killed penalties together before, it&rsquo;s because they have. In the 1972-73 season Gainey was in his final year with Peterborough and Jarvis was in his freshman campaign.&ldquo;We have changed our style a little bit since then,&rdquo; explains Bob. &ldquo;Now we try to be on top of the puck more in their end and make them pass the puck.&rdquo;According to Gainey the biggest improvement he&rsquo;s shown since coming to the major leagues has been, &ldquo;the ability to do what I do best to help the team. By killing penalties I&rsquo;m helping the team.&rdquo;At 23 years of age Gainey will be helping the Canadiens for many years to come. And who knows, he just might reach that 20-goal plateau somewhere along the way.HAB-BITS: The Canadiens are the only team in the NHL which has not yet suffered a defeat at the hands of a rival team of its own division. Sor far the Habs have won 13 and tied one&hellip;Montreal has only been beaten once in its last 22 games. During that stretch the Habs have won 17 and tied four&hellip;Serge Savard celebrated his 30th birthday on January 22 while recuperating from a knee injury. &#9632;

f0014-01

Keeping Foes Off Board Gainey’s Forte With Habs

<div class="byline">BY HAL SIGURDSON</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Just as it looked as if all the wheels were going to fly off at once, the Vancouver Canucks came up with some goal scoring help from a most unexpected source&mdash;Garry Monahan.Now Monahan has been helping the Canucks in virturally every game he&rsquo;s played with them since moving to Vancouver from Toronto early last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01867/3518482-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="277" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body">Garry Monahan</figcaption></div>He&rsquo;s killed penalties, he&rsquo;s checked the opposition&rsquo;s biggest shooters and he&rsquo;s been their most reliable forward at getting the puck out of his own end. And he&rsquo;s done it while playing all three forward positions.Scoring goals, however, isn&rsquo;t normally one of the ex-Leafs strong suits, but it was a Monahan hat trick, the first of his 10-year NHL career, that helped Vancouver halt a three-game losing streak with an 8-3 victory over the Minnesota North Stars.Then he scored again less than 24 hours later to aid in a 5-5 tie with his former Toronto tea in-mates.His home ice hat trick against the North Stars came at a critical time as far as the Canucks were concerned. Just a week earlier they had been taking aim on the Chicago Black Hawks, the leaders of the NHL&rsquo;s Smythe Division. The key was a game at the Pacific Coliseum against the Hawks. Vancouver lost it, 2-1. Then they lost two more, 5-3 to California at home and 5-1 to the North Stars in Minnesota.Suddenly fourth place, not first, appeared the Canucks&rsquo; more likely fate.Their loss in Minnesota dropped them temporarily into third place behind the St. Louis Blues and the fourth-place Stars were only eight points back.The hard-fought loss to Chicago had shaken the Canucks&rsquo; poise. Monahan&rsquo;s hat trick may have helped bring it back.Actually Monahan, who scored onlyl4 goals in 78 games last season, had been starting to find the range even before his Minnesota outburst. Coming into that game he had scored five goals in his previous 11 games. That&rsquo;s hardly a total to make Guy Lafleur turn green with envy, but certainly solid numbers tor a man whose specialty is defense.There was time back in his junior days with the Peterborough Petes when Monahan was considered a highly skilled scorer. That&rsquo;s when he was centering a line featured by Mickey Redmond on rightwing.&ldquo;I still enjoy scoring goals&hellip;I guess everyone does,&rdquo; he says today, &ldquo;but I soon learned I wasn&rsquo;t going to be a big goal scorer in pro and decided if I wanted to play in the major league I&rsquo;d have to become good at something else.&rdquo;He has. In fact Phil Maloney, his coach and general manager, has been heard to say, &ldquo;Monahan can play for my team even if he never scores a goal.&rdquo;But while Monahan doesn&rsquo;t score often, he picks his spots well. The Canucks have made the NHL playoffs only once. They have won only one of the five games in which they&rsquo;ve participated, last year&rsquo;s quarter-final series against the Montreal Canadiens.Vancouver won the second game of that series 2-1 in Montreal. Garry Monahan scored the winning goal.CANUCKS CAPERS: Maloney is finally getting all his wounded warriors back in action. Defensemen Tracy Pratt and John Grisdale are playing again after prolonged absences. Pratt missed nearly eight weeks following wrist surgery. Grisdale missed more than a month with a severe charley horse. On the minus side, however, left winger Ron Sedlbauer went back on the injury list with a charley horse and utility forward Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty was slapped with a two-game suspension for getting carried away in a dispute with linesman Bob Luther during Vancouver&rsquo;s 5-1 loss to the North Stars in Minnesota. O&rsquo;Flaherty was in the faceoff circle with Minnesota&rsquo;s Blake Dunlop. The Vancouver forward was slow getting ready and while he was still looking over his shoulder Luther dropped the puck. Dunlop drew the puck back to Ernie Hicke who scored the goal that put Minnesota ahead 3-1 and locked up their victory. O&rsquo;Flaherty twice bumped Luther in the course of his protest so president Clarence Campbell gave him a two-game suspension to consider his deportment the next time he winds up in the faceoff circle. &#9632;

f0015-01

Canucks Get Scoring Help From Unexpected Source

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01700/3518513-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

NHL SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY RON WEBER</div>WASHINGTON&mdash;Just as the cloudy days make the sun seem brighter, so too does a victory after a monsoon of defeats seem double sweet in Washington.When the Capitals went down to defeat 17 straight times last year, eclipsing the record of the long-gone Philadelphia Quakers it seemed the bottom of the negative barrel had been reached. But incredibly the Capitals shifted into reverse with the same power in season two.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02520/3518551-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="276" height="452"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jean Lemieux</figcaption></div>For 58 days&mdash;that&rsquo;s more than eight weeks&mdash;they staggered around the continent looking for a victory. In vain. The Black Hawks and Rangers smiled when the winless game total soared (or is it dipped) past 21. They were coholders of the mark. Twenty-two, 23, 24 and 25 games&mdash;and no win. The bad teams of the past, the Islanders, Seals, Quakers, etc, were left far to the front as the calendar showed Jan. 23,Forget about being zero for January. The Capitals just wanted to be for something. The Rangers were to be the last home opponent for two and a half weeks. If it wasn&rsquo;t now or never, it at least looked like now or thirty.The New Yorkers had won their first two games under new boss John Ferguson, then came up short the next four. Their stockpile of healthy veteran goalies had dwindled to one less than one as they invaded the Capital Centre bent on erasing the stigma as the only NHL team without a win there.The Rangers were going without defensemen Doug Jarrett and Ron Harris and winger Billy Collins while goalie Dune Wilson was going without his appendix. Washington had a chance! Especially after newcomer Jean Lemieux scored on his first shot as a Capital. and Ron Lalonde made it 2-0 before the end of the first period.But Washington had been there before. (Two nights earlier they got the first two before succumbing to the Islanders 5-2). And sure &lsquo;nuff the Rangers surged back to lead 4-3 early in the third period.Then it happened. Bob Sirois caught Wilson standing straight up with a 45-footer to re-tie the game. Tony White scored off his own rebound and Ace Bailey tallied twice in the last four minutes, including the first Caps empty net goal at home for a 7-5 victory.The streaks had stopped at 11 losses for new coach Tom Vie, 12 straight reverses and 25 without a win. The latter mark seems safe, for a while, at least.The win came in Lemieux&rsquo;s first game because he reported forthwith after the Caps-Flames deal was announced. Bill Clement joined his new club immediately in the other direction. But Gerry Meehan. the second body to go Washington&rsquo;s way got a day off in transit and missed the rarity. The Caps played the game with 10 forwards, with Mike Lampman sidetracked by bruised knee ligaments. Blair Stewart and Bob Paradise had just returned from leg injuries.ICECAPS: Defenseman Willie Brossart was st ruck in the face by a deflected puck in the warmup before the win. He said afterward he&rsquo;d take a clout like that in exchange for a victory. The next night. Pierre Larouche hooked him below the eye, but it didn&rsquo;t help a bit. The Capitals lost 8-2 in Pittsburgh&hellip;The two goals for Bailey in the Ranger game put him over the 200-point mark for his career. 75 of them goals&hellip;Both of Rick Middleton&rsquo;s goals in that game came during a delayed penalty call against the Caps&hellip;With Clement&rsquo;s trade for Meehan, Lemieux and a first round pick that originially belonged to Buffalo, the Capitals needed a new captain. Yvon Labre, a popular choice, got the nod&hellip;Harvey Bennett tallied four times in three games, then was blanked in the win&hellip;McVie continued to work the team hard, and their cumulative weight dropped by about 100 pounds&hellip;The return of Greg Joly is anxiously awaited, with the expectation that he and Lemieux will form a top tandem at the points of power plays. Greg has a hairline ankle fracture with a return due in mid or late February&hellip;Capital general manager Max McNab agonized over whether to swap Clement, whose leadership qualities may he missed. After he and Atlanta GM Cliff Fletcher hammered it down to final form McNab slept on it or rather couldn&rsquo;t sleep on it&hellip;then said yes.<h2>Team Penalties</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04330/3518544-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="593" height="650"></div> &#9632;

f0017-02

Capitals Put Breaks On Winless Streak At 25

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01599/3518589-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="618" height="2095"></div><h2>NHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03427/3518582-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="595" height="953"></div> &#9632;

f0017-01

Looking At NHL Goalers

<div class="byline">BY STEVE MARANTZ</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HIKERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontano Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HIKERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontano Sold in U.S. and CanadaKANSAS CITY&mdash;Two weeks before he resigned. Jan. 22, Bep Guidolin tongue-lashed a Kemper Arena heckler whose words for Larry Johnston almost melted the ice.At the time, Bep thought little more of Johnston than the heckler. But, holding to a time-honored code of team loyalty, Bep defended his player.With the bond of the team no longer between them the night of the resignation, Bep expressed the bitter feelings he held toward Johnston, a defenseman he felt did not deserve National Hockey League status.At the same time Bep told of his resentment toward the Scouts for not supporting his wish to demote Johnston to Springfield. It was the refusal of Sid Abel, Scouts&rsquo; general manager, and Ed Thompson, Scouts&rsquo; president, to demote Johnston that caused the colorful Guidolin to resign.Abel took over temporary coaching duties of the Scouts but moved swiftly to hire a long-time associate, Eddie Bush, to succeed Guidolin. Bush, who has coached Richmond of the AHL and Kitchener Rangers of OHA Junior League in recent years, said he wasn&rsquo;t worried about a contract that was supposed to be only for the balance of the year. &ldquo;We&rdquo;ll just cross that bridge when we come to it,&rdquo; said Bush, who has a reputation as a rigid disciplinarian.Bush was emphatic about his new job. &ldquo;If everybody pulls their weight around here we should be okay. I&rsquo;m not used to being around losers and I don&rsquo;t want to get used to it,&rdquo; added Bush, who inherited a losing club from Guidolin. The Scouts were 11-34-4 when Bush went behind their bench.The Guidolin-Johnston affair flared up a week earlier when Johnston had been fined by Bep for missing a curfew in Detroit. The problems of the struggling Scouts came to a head back in Kansas City when Johnston&rsquo;s teammates supported him, asking Bep to fine everybody who vio-lated curfew. Bep responded with fines for seven more players, but his wrath toward Johnstpn boiled over.&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t need me, they wanted a scapegoat,&rdquo; said Bep the night of the resignation. &ldquo;I needed some support today to prove I&rsquo;m coach of the team. I didn&rsquo;t get it. I felt the player was more important than me because he has more support than me.&rdquo;Johnston would not comment on the situation. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to say anything,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I feel I&rsquo;m a better man for it.&rdquo;Guidolin left the Scouts with the general knowledge of having done a good job with the second-year expansion team. But in his last days as coach, with the Scouts saddled with the longest losing streak in their history, there were indications of a loss of team harmony. Bep was criticized for a lack of communication with the players and for disorganized juggling of personnel.&ldquo;What do they want?&rdquo; said Bep. &ldquo;I got things on my mind. I couldn&rsquo;t afford to get close to them. I might have to cut them sometime. Their job is to play hockey, not have a church social with me. I didn&rsquo;t talk to Bobby Orr in Boston, so who do they think they are.&ldquo;I had to experiment with the lines because we had made the trades. We were short at center ice. I told these guys just play your position. Don&rsquo;t pick the team apart about your position because you&rsquo;re lucky to have one.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a tough guy but maybe I should have been. It never works to go easy on these players. I may have been tough in practice but that was it. I was more nice to them than tough. How many times could I have caught those guys out late? You couldn&rsquo;t count that high.&rdquo;Bep was on the second year of a five-year contract with the Scouts. He had a one-year option to coach remaining followed by a two-year option for work in some other capacity. The Scouts did not offer to keep him on in a capacity other than coach.&ldquo;Something struck me as funnyin the hayloft,&rdquo; said Bep. &ldquo;They could have had me go go to Canada to scout or something. I couldn&rsquo;t understand why they didn&rsquo;t offer me another job. Then I remembered that I was never included in their closed-door meetings. Every trade that was made I was told about afterwards. Not that it mattered, because we never gave up anything.&rdquo;Bep said he felt the team gave an honest effort through most of the losing debacles. Only near the end did it begin to flag.&ldquo;They stopped working a few times,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I saw it. And I could understand it. They were listening to the trade rumors. We tried to shake them up and it backfired. Maybe we should have told them nothing. I&rsquo;d look at them when they got two goals down and it looked like they&rsquo;d lost their wife.&rdquo;Bep said he had made up his mind earlier in the week to resign if Johnston stayed and when the time came he said he didn&rsquo;t regret his decision.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a very-proud person,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I felt I was right in resigning in Boston and I feel I&rsquo;m right in doing it now. If it was wrong I wouldn&rsquo;t do it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not quitting on this team. If they had supported me I would have been here.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01609/3518627-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="562" height="746"><figcaption class="caption-body">BEP GUIDOLIN&hellip;Stood By Decision</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02494/3518620-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="527" height="663"><figcaption class="caption-body">EDDIE BUSH&hellip;A Disciplinarian</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

Lack Of Club Support Forced Guidolin To Quit

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01587/3518665-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="564" height="1526"><figcaption class="caption-body">INGE HAMMARSTROM&hellip;Knocked Flat</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;Anyone who takes advantage of the Maple Leafs&rsquo; starry pair ofSwedish imports, defenseman Borje Salming and winger Inge Hammarstrom in the future can expect a controntation with one of their teammates.That&rsquo;s the notice which the Leafs served on a couple of opponents in recent games after the foes had fouled the Swedes. Salming and Hammarstrom are two players of extraordinary skill but they&rsquo;re products of the European school of hockey. They learned the game on the big ice surfaces where pure skills&mdash;skating, passing and shooting&mdash;were stressed, not intimidation tactics.They&rsquo;ve accepted assorted cheap shots during their three seasons with the Leafs and seldom have retaliated. Salming does occasionally but when Hammarstrom is fouled, he gives the perpetrator of the deed a look which seems to say: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d retaliate but that would pull me down to your level.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good thing Hammarstron is in the league,&rdquo; said one NHL player. &ldquo;If he wasn&rsquo;t, there are a lot of NHL players who never would take a run at a single opponent during the 80-game schedule.&rdquo;The more belligerent Leafs demonstrated that they won&rsquo;t stand around and watch while opponents hammer the Swedes.In a game at Kansas City, Leaf defenseman Dave Dunn, Salming&rsquo;s partner, figured that Scouts rookie Don Cairns had taken unnecessary liberties in running Salming into the boards twice in rapid succession. Dunn crunched Cains to the ice with a crosscheck to the head which earned the Leaf a major penalty.In a game at Los Angeles, Kings&rsquo; Don Kozak slammed Hammarstrom into the glass with an elbow to the head. He immediately encoutered the fists of leaf captain Darry Sittler, who was booted out of the game as the third man in an altercation.The Leafs protested that a &ldquo;cheap shot&rdquo; elbow which rendered Hammarstrom prone on the ice hardly consititued an altercation but under the NHL&rsquo;s interpretation of the third man rule, Sittler was out.&ldquo;Kozak gave Hammarstrom a cheap shot, probably because he knows Inge isn&rsquo;t the type of player who retaliates,&rdquo; Sittler said. &ldquo;Well, if guys on other teams want to take runs at some of our players, they&rsquo;ll find out that they can&rsquo;t get away with it.&ldquo;We have enough big, strong, aggressive guys on this team that we won&rsquo;t stand for it.&ldquo;It makes me sick to see guys work Hammarstrom and Salming over but they won&rsquo;t go within a half mile of Tiger Williams, Brian Glennie or Dave Dunn.&rdquo;LEAF NOTES: The Leafs expect that center Stan Weir will be sidelined for another three weeks with an ankle injury and winger Jim McKenny (knee injury) probably won&rsquo;t play again until mid March&hellip;Goalie Gord McRae stretched his unbeaten streak to six games before losing to L.A. Kings&hellip;Scott Garland, the young winger Leafs promoted from their Central League farm team, Oklahoma Blazers, scored his first NHL goal against Detroit then cut his hand badly in an office accident. He&rsquo;ll beout for two weeks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02489/3518658-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="567" height="866"><figcaption class="caption-body">BORJE SALMING&hellip;Shows Skills</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-01

Leafs Always Ready To Retaliate

<h2>Tue. Jan. 27 MINNESOTA 3, ISLANDERS 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01301/3518906-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="587" height="430"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 4, ATLANTA 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02228/3518899-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="595" height="571"></div><h2>MONTREAL 2, VANCOUVER 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03199/3518892-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="584" height="374"></div><h2>DETROIT 3, ST. LOUIS 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04155/3518885-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="584" height="412"></div><h2>WASHINGTON 0, LOS ANGELES 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05130/3518878-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="589" height="372"></div><h2>Wed. Jan. 28 BUFFALO 3, RANGERS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06102/3518871-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="582" height="139"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0789/3518864-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="592" height="292"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 3, TORONTO 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0879/3518857-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="591" height="423"></div><h2>ATLANTA 3, CHICAGO 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0971/3518850-1-eng-US/f0022-092.jpg" title="f0022-09" width="583" height="361"></div><h2>WASHINGTON 4, CALIFORNIA 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1061/3518843-1-eng-US/f0022-102.jpg" title="f0022-10" width="589" height="318"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1156/3518836-1-eng-US/f0022-112.jpg" title="f0022-11" width="578" height="102"></div><h2>KANSAS CITY 3, MINNESOTA 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1252/3518829-1-eng-US/f0022-122.jpg" title="f0022-12" width="586" height="522"></div><h2>Thu. Jan. 29 RANGERS 6, ST. LOUIS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1345/3518822-1-eng-US/f0022-132.jpg" title="f0022-13" width="587" height="530"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 1, BUFFALO 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1437/3518815-1-eng-US/f0022-142.jpg" title="f0022-14" width="525" height="256"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1535/3518808-1-eng-US/f0022-152.jpg" title="f0022-15" width="529" height="151"></div><h2>KANSAS CITY 2, PITTSBURGH 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1629/3518801-1-eng-US/f0022-162.jpg" title="f0022-16" width="588" height="454"></div><h2>DETROIT 3, LOS ANGELES 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1726/3518794-1-eng-US/f0022-172.jpg" title="f0022-17" width="588" height="451"></div><h2>CHICAGO 3, BOSTON 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1825/3518787-1-eng-US/f0022-182.jpg" title="f0022-18" width="590" height="402"></div><h2>Fri. Jan. 30 BOSTON 4, ATLANTA 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1925/3518780-1-eng-US/f0022-192.jpg" title="f0022-19" width="589" height="416"></div><h2>MONTREAL 5, CALIFORNIA 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2024/3518773-1-eng-US/f0022-202.jpg" title="f0022-20" width="595" height="526"></div><h2>WASHINGTON 2, VANCOUVER 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2124/3518766-1-eng-US/f0022-212.jpg" title="f0022-21" width="586" height="393"></div><h2>Sat. Jan. 31 RANGERS 4, TORONTO 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2221/3518759-1-eng-US/f0022-222.jpg" title="f0022-22" width="586" height="536"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 2, ST. LOUIS 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2321/3518752-1-eng-US/f0022-232.jpg" title="f0022-23" width="577" height="332"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 3, MINNESOTA 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01281/3518745-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="593" height="460"></div><h2>MONTREAL 3, LOS ANGELES 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02221/3518738-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="589" height="506"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH 4, KANSAS CITY 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03170/3518731-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="585" height="433"></div><h2>CHICAGO 1, DETROIT 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04136/3518724-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="583" height="281"></div><h2>Sun. Feb. 1 MINNESOTA 2, RANGERS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-05111/3518717-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="584" height="393"></div><h2>ATLANTA 3, BOSTON 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0697/3518710-1-eng-US/f0023-062.jpg" title="f0023-06" width="583" height="365"></div><h2>TORONTO 1, PITTSBURGH 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0783/3518703-1-eng-US/f0023-072.jpg" title="f0023-07" width="589" height="423"></div><h2>VANCOUVER 3, CHICAGO 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0870/3518696-1-eng-US/f0023-082.jpg" title="f0023-08" width="589" height="321"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

National Hockey League Summaries

(Standings on Tue. Feb. 3)<h2>NORRIS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2418/3518958-1-eng-US/f0022-242.jpg" title="f0022-24" width="581" height="155"></div><h2>ADAMS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2513/3518951-1-eng-US/f0022-252.jpg" title="f0022-25" width="577" height="132"></div><h2>PATRICK DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-269/3518944-1-eng-US/f0022-262.jpg" title="f0022-26" width="577" height="132"></div><h2>SMYTHE DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-274/3518937-1-eng-US/f0022-272.jpg" title="f0022-27" width="580" height="166"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Tue. Jan. 27Minnesota 3 at N.Y. Islanders 4; Philadelphia 4 at Atlanta 8; Montreal 2 atVancouver 2; Detroit 3 at St. Louis 3, Washington 0 atLos Angeles 2.Wed. Jan. 28Buffolo 3 at N.Y. Rangers 3; N.Y Islanders 3 of Toronto 2; Atlanta 3 at Chicago 7; Washington 4 at California 2, Kansas City 3 atMinnesota 9.Thu. Jan. 29N.Y. Rangers 6 at St. Louis3; Philadelphia 1 at Buffalo 1; Kansas City 2 at Pittsburgh 6; Detroit 3 at Los Angeles 3; Chicago 3 at Boston 5.Fri. Jan. 30Boston 4 at Atlanta2; Montreal 5 at Californio 4, Washington 2atVancouver 4Sat. Jan. 31N.Y. Islanders 4 at Toronto 6; N.Y. Islanders 2 at St. Louis 2; Philadelphia 3 at Minnesota 3; Montreal 3 at Los Angeles 7; Pittsburgh 4 at Kansas City 4; Chicago 1 at Detroit 2.Sun. Feb. 1Minnesota 2 at N.Y Rangers 3; Atlanta 3 at Boston 5; Toronto 1 at Pittsburgh 7; Vancouver 3 at Chicago 2, Buffolo 9 at California 5.<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Tue. Feb. 3Atlanta at N.Y. Islanders; Buffalo at Vancouver Colifornio at St. LouisWed. Feb. 4N.Y. Islanders at N.Y Rangers; Californio at Atlanta; Chicago at Montreal; Washington at Toronto, Minnesota at Detroit, Buffalo at Los Angeles; St. Louis at KansasCity.Thu.Feb.5Vancouver at Philadelphia; Pittsburgh at BostonFri. Feb. 6Chicago at Atlanta, California at Montreal, Vancouver at St. LouisSat Feb.7N.Y Ranges. otDetroit. St. Louis at Philadelphia Washington at Kansas City; Pittsburgh at Los Angeles, Buffalo at Minnesota; Boston at TorontoSun.Feb 8Montreal at N.Y Rongers; N.Y. Islanders at Philadelphia. Washington at Chicago Pittsburgh at Vancouver, Detroit at Boston, Minnesota at Toronto; Coliforma at BuffaloTue. Feb. 10N.Y. Islanders at Vancouver. St. Louis at Montreal; Los Angeles at Washington.Wed Feb. 11Toronto at Atlanta, Pittsburgh of California, Detroit at Buffalo, Los Angeles at Chicago, Boston at Minnesota.Thu. Feb. 12N.Y. Rangers at Philadelphia, N.Y. Islanders at Kansas City Vancouver at MontrealFri.Feb.13Philadelphia at N.Y Rangers; Buffalo at Atlanta; St. louis at Washington. Boston at Californio. &#9632;

f0022-24

LOOKING AT THE NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;The St. Louis Blues, who have received permission from the National Hockey League to move to another city or sell to different owners, are more likely to stay in St. Louis under the present ownership with a refinancing of the operation.The unanimous permission from the NHL&rsquo;s Board of Governors is unprecedented. The league has tried very hard to keep its franchises in Pittsburgh and Oakland. But Sid Salomon III, president of the Blues, was successful in persuading the Board of Governors to break precedent and give him the option of moving elsewhere.The Blues, who have led the NHL in attendance the past five seasons, are having financial problems because the St. Louis Arena, the team&rsquo;s home rink, is losing nearly $2 million a year.Blues&rsquo; attorney Jim Cullen said, &ldquo;The hockey team itself is making a profit, but we&rsquo;re losing money on the building. And we&rsquo;re losing more on the building than we&rsquo;re making on the team.&rdquo;No other prospective owners or cities for the Blues have been identified, so the Blues&rsquo; management, already having secured permission to move, is trying to negotiate a better deal for the team in St. Louis.One concrete proposal which would help is a new, long-term, low-interest loan from St. Louis banks to refinance the Blues and the Arena. The Blues say the refinancing plan offered to. them is welcome but would not necessarily solve all of the financial problems.The proposed new loan would be expected to wipe out the Blues&rsquo; major financial obligation, a loan of about $5 million from the Cousins Corp, of Atlanta. The Blues also have several other loans, some for remodeling projects at the Arena, built in 1929.The Arena, which is not air-conditioned and is idle during the summer months, competes for events during the winter with city-owned Kiel Auditorium, which charges lower rents for games, rock concerts and other shows. The Blues&rsquo; management has suggested Kiel be closed and the city buy the Arena, but neither plan has received acceptance from city officials.The Blues also have sought tax relief, but none is likely. The team pays 4-1/2 percent in city and state sales taxes plus a five percent amusement taxon admissions.There is the possibility of a new arena, built with money from general-obligation and revenues bonds floated by a special taxing district. City officials, who have opposed subsidizing the team, say they would approve of public financing of the new arena, but the Blues have indicated they can&rsquo;t wait for long-term solution of their immediate problems.Clarence Campbell, president of the NHL, said, &ldquo;The fans have been magnificent in their support of the Blues. Ever since they started in 1967 the public support has been phenomenal. But there is no way the club can remain viable even with such support if it continues to lose money.&rdquo;Fans in St. Louis are divided in the opinions about the Blues&rsquo; financial plight. No one wants to see the team leave St. Louis, and some sympathize with the Blues&rsquo; management because of the financial problems. But not many are willing to see tax dollars go toward the team&rsquo;s support. Some have suggested the permission obtained from the NHL co move was a pressure tactic to force some concessions in St. Louis.Cullen said, &ldquo;We are not threatening anyone, but we have to have options available to us in case we can&rsquo;t solve our problems. We have not had negotiations with any other cities. We want to stay in St. Louis.&rdquo;No time limits have been set for straightening out the Blues&rsquo; financial affairs. The team&rsquo;s management has said the situation is critical, and presumably that evaluation would mean some solution would be needed before the end of this season. &#9632;

New Financial Deal Sought For NHL Club

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD I Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario I Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD I Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario I Sold in U.S. and CanadaINDIANAPOLIS&mdash;You definitely need a scorecard to tell who skates for the Indianapolis Racers these days. The turnover rate has been phenomenal.Nine new faces&mdash;and if you want to stretch a point, coach Jacques Demers makes it 10&mdash;have been added since the season began back in October. The transfusion has come slowly until recently.First, right winger Blair MacDonald was obtained from Edmonton. Then Brian McDonald was brought up from the Racers&rsquo; farm c|ub at Mohawk Valley. Left winger Hugh Harris arrived on the scene from Calgary just before right winger Rene Leclerc showed up from Quebec. Goal tender Michel Dion preceded Harris a. Leclerc and played the best hockey on the club. He was 2-8 in his first 10 games, but the Racers were averaging less than two goals a game on offense in his behalf.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01287/3519013-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="272" height="426"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darryl Maggs</figcaption></div>The big windfall for the Racers took place Jan. 15 when they announced they had acquired the contracts of defensemen Bryon Baltimore and Darryl Maggs, left winger Frankie Rochon and right winger Mark Lomenda from the dissolved Ottawa Civics.Demers, who took over for Gerry Moore six games into this season, does not believe the player shakeup will make the fans uneasy. &ldquo;What the fans want,&rdquo; said the coach, &ldquo;is a winning club.&rdquo;And that is something the Racers have not been doing with much regularity lately. Since a 12-12-1 mark on Dec. 11, the Indiana skaters are just 514-1. They have slipped to the basement of the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s East Division.The acquisitions of Harris, Leclerc, Lomenda and Rochon are expected to add punch to a puny offense that produced just 31 goals in a 19-game stretch.And in Maggs, Stapleton has his old partner back. The two played as a tandem with the old Chicago Cougars for a couple of seasons. In fact, the Indianapolis defense is comprised of four former Cougars&mdash;Stapleton, Maggs, Baltimore and Dick Proceviat.In the shakeup involving Ottawa players, the Racers shipped forwards Brian Coates, Ted Scharf and John Sheridan and defenseman Michel Dubois to Mohawk Valley. Veteran defenseman Bob Woytowich retired and became Demers&rsquo; assistant.CLEVELAND: The Crusaders also benefitted from the Ottawa demise. The C&rsquo;s bolstered an already-strong corps of center iceman by snatching young Gary MacGregor and added to the defense with young Barry Legge. Both are 21.The acquisition of Legge, no relation to steady Cleveland rearguard Randy, gave the Crusaders eight defensemen. Several days later, Terry Ball was shipped to the Cincinnati Stingers for future considerations.MacGregor was reluctant at first to report to the Crusader because he had played for two franchises&mdash;Chicago and Denver&mdash;Ottawa&mdash;that had folded and wanted to make sure it wouldn&rsquo;t hap happen a third time.Assured by his attorney, Norm Caplan of Montreal, and player agent Jeff Rosen in Chicago that Cleveland was solid financially, he reported&hellip;The C&rsquo;s left a seven-game unbeaten streak at home and departed on a six-game trip west&hellip;Center iceman Jim Harrison-scored 13 goals in a 13-game stretch and fellow pivot Richie Leduc had eight lamplighters in an eight-game span.NEW ENGLAND: The Whalers left on a six-game trip in first place and returned home in the same position, but their record certainly would not indicate that. In their first five games, the Harpoonists lost three, tied two and lost high-scoring right winger Tom Webster fora month with a bad back.Webster&rsquo;s consecutive game scoring streak was snapped at 20 when the Whalers were blanked, 8-0 in Winnipeg by Joe Daley. A few days after that, the Houston Aeros thrashed New England, 9-3.The Whalers and Edmonton Oilers exchanged center icemen with veteran Wayne Carleton going to the Oilers for second-year man Mike Rogers and New England picked up right winger Don Borgeson from Ottawa. Rogers picked up a pair of goals in his first three games for the Whalers, including one in a 2-2 tie in Cleveland.Carleton, who recently returned to the New England lineup after being sidelined several weeks with an appendectomy, was initially shocked by the deal then declared himself happy.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Nobody likes to leave a contending club and play for a team that&rsquo;s on the bottom, but I see it as a challenge for me. I&rsquo;d like to think I can help them out.&rdquo;CINCINNATI: The Stingers appear to have the number of the Cleveland Crusaders. Four times the two teams have met and four times the Stingers have emerged on the right end of the score.The fourth game was played in the Queen City and was a battle for second place in the East Division. It was a battle for 40 minutes with Cleveland failing. to capitalize on several power plays.The Stingers blew it open with three quickies in the first three minutes of the third period en route to an 8-2 romp. After the game, Cincinnati coach Terry Slater revealed he bawled out his men between the first and second periods. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t play that great a first period,&rdquo; Slater explained, although his club held a 3-2 lead.Slater, however, was more surprised by the performance of Cleveland goalie Gerry Cheevers. &ldquo;Cheevers let in what I. consider bad goals,&rdquo; the Stingers&rsquo; coach said. &ldquo;He certainly did not seem like the guy I know.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-01

Racers’ New Faces Almost Outnumber Old

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div>PHOENIX&mdash;The Roadrunners posted a 5-1-1 record their last home stand, but failed to move up up in the standings, although they are just one point back of Minnesota and two behind San Diego in the tight race for the runner up spot in the World Hockey Association West.The Roadrunners pulled their defensive game back together to shut the Mariners out in the third period while Michel Cormier iced an insurance goal in a 7-5 victory which saw a second period total of 35 shots, a Coliseum record for a single period, and the Roadrunners tie a team record with 19 of them.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01236/3519051-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="295" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Grahame</figcaption></div>The game was one Mr. and Mrs. Glen Hall of Bancroft, Ontario, will remember for a long time.Before their arrival to visit son, Del, the Roadrunner left wing had scored a pair a goals in each of his three previous games, but went scoreless in the first four games his folks were in the stands.Del broke out of his slump for his 25th of the season and it proved to be the winner over San Diego in the last game before the senior Halls returned home.The Halls had visited their son once before in the west. That was in 1972-73 at Salt Lake City, the time he ran into a goal post and missed the next nine games with a badly bruised hip.Rookie Barry Dean broke out of a 10-game World Hockey Association scoreless slump with the winning goal in a 64 victory, the Roadrunners&rsquo; first ever on Phoenix ice against the Toronto Toros.Toronto claimed two ties and a victory last season and a victory and a tie in their trips into the sunshine country this season.Pekka Rautakallio, the Finnish import on the Roadrunner defense, has scored a point in 10 of his last 11 games and now has seven goals and 24 assists for the season.Roadrunner PR director Dave Weiser points our that Robbie Ftorek, the Boston-born center of the Roadrunners&rsquo; &ldquo;Lightning Line&rdquo;, could be the first player in major league hockey to top both 100 points and 100 penalty minutes in a season.Ftorek has 22 goals and 43 assists for 65 points in 44 games. He also has 77 penalty minutes, twice as many as any other player among the top 10 scorers except Quebec&rsquo;s Marc Tardif, who has 40.HOUSTON: Toronto&rsquo;s Frank Mahovlich scored a goal and three assists as the Houston Aeros&rsquo; blew a 3-0 lead into a rare home loss. 7-5.The Aeros are still no pushovers at home, though, as they added home-ice victories over the New England Whalers by 9-3, and the Calgary Cowboys, 2-0 and 5-3 before the week was out, for 20 victories in 24 home-ice appearances.Gord Labossiere scored his third WHA career hat trick in the waltz over the Whalers and counted his 11th goal of the season, the only one Ron Grahame needed in recording his third shutout of the season. Grahame made 33 saves for his eighth WHA career whitewash.Don Larway counted his 20th of the season in the shutout of the Cowboys, a game which no penalties called for the second time in a WHA game this season.&ldquo;They (the Cowboys) played it tight with their checking,&rdquo; said Aeros&rsquo; coach Bill Dineen. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s their style and they stayed with it all night. The object of their game is to frustrate teams, but we didn&rsquo;t get frustrated. We kept right with them.&rdquo;The Aeros own one of the WHA&rsquo;s most devastating power plays and struck three times with the man advantage to defeat the Cowboys for the second time in three days.MINNESOTA: The Minnesota Fighting Saints bombarded rookie goaltender Dave Tataryn with 36 shots and five different players scored goals to back John Garrett for his 20th win, a 5-2 victory over the Toronto Toros.The victory kept the Saints a point ahead of the Phoenix Roadrunners in the tight Western Division race and one behind the second place San Diego Mariners.The Saints had a opportunity to take second from the Mariners, winning 6-5 in overtime on Dave Keon&rsquo;s second goal of the night, over San Diego, but coming apart badly in a 7-1 loss two nights later to the same Mariners.Perry Miller, a 23-year-old defenseman-forward, was obtained from the Winnipeg Jets for 37-year-old defenseman Gerry Odrowski.SAN DIEGO: The San Diego Mariners like their new plexiglass, which replaced the wire screening above the dasher boards. Dec. 18, in the International Sports Arena.When they defeated the Toronto Toros 6-4 before 9,084 they ran their record to 7-0 with the new glass barriers and eight wins against two losses in their last 10 Sports Arena appearances.The Mariners are 15-6-3 at home but are far from the same team on the road where they owna7-15-l mark.Three of the Mariners&rsquo; four games in a five-day span were on the road. They won one but could have taken all three.They blew a 4-2 lead into a 6-5 overtime loss at St. Paul and dropped a 7-5 shootout at Phoenix. In between, they got a hat trick from Kevin Devine and a two-goal performance from John French in blasting the Fighting Saints 7-1 at St. Paul as Ernie Wakely kicked out 34 of 35 shots for his 21st victory. Devine&rsquo;s 12th goal of the season was the winner against Toronto and Lacroix iced the victory with his 17th, into an empty net.Gene Peacosh leads the Mariner goal-getters with 23. Norm Ferguson has 22 and Joe Noris 20. Ferguson&rsquo;s. 21st was the 100th of his WHA career.Lacroix, the WHA&rsquo;s all time scoring leader, has scored points in eight of his last nine games, moving up in the scoring race with 63 points. Noris has points in six of his last seven games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02171/3519044-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="560" height="1949"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEVIN DEVINE&hellip;Fired Hat Trick</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-01

Roadrunners Fail Advance Despite Home Stand: Plexiglass Brings Good Fortune To Mariners

<h2>Tue. Jan. 27 CINCINNATI 1, QUEBEC 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01240/3519222-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="582" height="509"></div><h2>EDMONTON 4, TORONTO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02190/3519215-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="586" height="508"></div><h2>PHOENIX 4, SAN DIEGO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03154/3519208-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="580" height="477"></div><h2>Wed. Jan. 28 CLEVELAND 6, CINCINNATI 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04118/3519201-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="578" height="457"></div><h2>CALGARY0, PHOENIX 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0595/3519194-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="579" height="304"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0674/3519187-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="578" height="80"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 2, MINNESOTA 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0763/3519180-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="583" height="434"></div><h2>HOUSTON 6, EDMONTON 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0854/3519173-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="585" height="457"></div><h2>INDIANAPOLIS 4, NEW ENGLAND 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0948/3519166-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="581" height="359"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1045/3519159-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="581" height="236"></div><h2>Thu. Jan. 29 MINNESOTA 6, INDIANAPOLIS 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1142/3519152-1-eng-US/f0026-112.jpg" title="f0026-11" width="580" height="574"></div><h2>CALGARY 0, SAN DIEGO 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1236/3519145-1-eng-US/f0026-122.jpg" title="f0026-12" width="585" height="338"></div><h2>Fri. Jan. 30 HOUSTON 1, INDIANAPOLIS 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1336/3519138-1-eng-US/f0026-132.jpg" title="f0026-13" width="476" height="78"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1432/3519131-1-eng-US/f0026-142.jpg" title="f0026-14" width="583" height="285"></div><h2>CLEVELAND 4, PHOENIX 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1529/3519124-1-eng-US/f0026-152.jpg" title="f0026-15" width="584" height="595"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 6, NEW ENGLAND 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1623/3519117-1-eng-US/f0026-162.jpg" title="f0026-16" width="598" height="518"></div><h2>QUEBEC 3, TORONTO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1719/3519110-1-eng-US/f0026-172.jpg" title="f0026-17" width="588" height="367"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1818/3519103-1-eng-US/f0026-182.jpg" title="f0026-18" width="586" height="162"></div><h2>Sat. Jan. 31 WINNIPEG 5, CINCINNATI 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1918/3519096-1-eng-US/f0026-192.jpg" title="f0026-19" width="587" height="487"></div><h2>TORONTO 4, QUEBEC 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2016/3519089-1-eng-US/f0026-202.jpg" title="f0026-20" width="587" height="577"></div><h2>HOUSTON 1, MINNESOTA4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2115/3519082-1-eng-US/f0026-212.jpg" title="f0026-21" width="589" height="430"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

World Hockey Association Summaries

(Standings on Tue. Feb.3)<h2>CANADIAN DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2214/3519267-1-eng-US/f0026-222.jpg" title="f0026-22" width="576" height="159"></div><h2>EASTERN DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2312/3519260-1-eng-US/f0026-232.jpg" title="f0026-23" width="576" height="142"></div><h2>WESTERN DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2410/3519253-1-eng-US/f0026-242.jpg" title="f0026-24" width="579" height="141"></div><h2>GAMESCOMPETED</h2>Tue. Jan. 27Chicinnati 1 at Quebec 9; Edmonton 4 at Toronto 4; Phoenix 4 at San Diego 3.Wed. Jan. 28Cleveland 6 at Cincinnati 4; Calgary 0 at Phoenix 5; Winnipeg 2 at Minnesota 6; Houston 6 at Edmonton 5; Indianapolis 4 at New England 6.Thu. Jan. 29Minnesota 6 at Indianapolis 5; Calgary 0 at San Diego 1.Fri. Jan. 30Houston 1 at Indianapolis 2; Cleveland 4 at Phoenix 4; Winnipeg 6 at New England 3; Quebec 3 at Toronto 3.Sat. Jan. 31Winnipeg 5 at Cincinnati 2; Phoenix 1 at San Diego 6; Houston 1 atMinnesota 4; Toronto 4 atQuebec 8.Sun. Feb. 1Winnipeg 2 at Indianapolis 1; Cincinnati 2 at Edmonton New England 7 at Toronto 5; Cleveland 6 atMinnesota 5.<h2>GAMESTO COME</h2>Tue. Feb. 3Cincinnati at Calgary; Winnipeg at Quebec, New England atEdmonton; Minnesota atHouston.Wed. Feb. 4Clevelandat Phoenix; Minnesota at San DiegoThu. Feb. 5New England at Calgary; Quebec atIndianapolis; Edmonton at Phoenix; Cleveland atSan Diego.Fri. Feb. 6Winnipeg at Toronto; Edmonton at Cincinnati; Indianapolis at Houston.Sat. Feb. 7Quebec at Calgary; Winnipeg at Cleveland; Toronto at New England; Cincinnati at Indianapolis; Minnesota at Phoenix.Sun. Feb. 8Calgary at Winnipeg; Quebec at Edmonton; Cleveland at New England, San Diego at Houston; Minnesota atPhoenix.Tue. Feb. 10Toronto at Calgary; San Diego at Minnesota.Wed. Feb. 11Quebec at Winnipeg; Cincinnati at Cleveland.Thu. Feb. 12Quebec at Minnesota, Houston at PhoenixFri. Feb. 13Calgary at Indianapolis, Toronto at Edmonton; Cincinnatiat New England. &#9632;

f0026-22

WHA SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01211/3519298-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; high-flying scorer is Ulf Nilsson, the smooth Swedish National star who is No. 1 on the club in points with 75. Nilsson leads linemate Bobby Hull by a single point and sports a high 25 percent scoring average on his 99 shots for 25 goals.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

WHA SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY SCOTT HERRON</div>EAST LANSING&mdash;History has a way of repeating itself. And it is no different in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.Michigan Tech and Minnesota, who have made a habit in recent years of deciding which one wins the league crown, are starting to put distance (and points) between themselves and the other teams in the WCHA, gearing toward another one-two finish.For the past two years Tech and Minnesota have finished first or second in the league, the Huskies winning in 1974 and the Gophers taking the crown last year. In both instances, the WCHA runner-up went on to win the NCAA title.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1123/3519451-1-eng-US/f0029-112.jpg" title="f0029-11" width="261" height="331"><figcaption class="caption-body">George Lyle</figcaption></div>Tech made a strong bid to claim this year&rsquo;s championship by opening the second half of the season in East Lansing Jan. 16-17, with a series sweep of Michigan State. The Huskies, who are in first place with a 13-5record and 26 points, stunned the Spartans 8-7 and 9-6. State has lost eight straight games, counting two non-league losses to Harvard, after leading the WCHA and the national ratings for the first half of the season.The Huskies simply-overwhelmed MSU with its awesome firepower, which has produced 102 goals. George Lyle, third in league scoring with 21 goals and 20 assists, had five goals and three assists for the series, while Stu Ostlund and a goal and eight assists, Mike Zuke four goals and three assists and Jim Mayer three goals and two assists.That much scoring was even too much for the Spartans&rsquo; Tom Ross and Steve Colp, the WCHA&rsquo;s top two scorers, to overcome. Ross did manage three goals and seven assists, however, and Colp three goals and six assists. Ross has 27 goals and 27 assists for the season, while power play mate Colp has 17 and 26.Minnesota is only one point behind Tech in the standings with a 12-5-1 record, and it demonstrated it is ready to play in 1976 with a remarkable come-from-behind effort in its second game with Denver to record a series sweep.After winning the series opener in Minneapolis 3-1, the Gophers fell behind 4-0 early in the middle period of the second game. It appeared as though the Pioneers were going to handle Minnesota the way they did State the week before in scoring a series sweep.But the Gophers demonstrated their explosiveness late in the period by scoring four goals within three minutes and 43 seconds to tie the game. Scoring for Minnesota were Joe Micheletti, Warren Miller, Don Madson and Ken Yackel. That did in Denver and Tom Vannelli clinched the game with a pair of goals in the third period.Although Tech and Minnesota are in high gear, they still have a long way to go, most of it on back roads. Minnesota has 10 of its 14 remaining games on the road, while the Huskies play eight away from home.And there are at least a few teams who seem willing to make the Huskies and Gophers&rsquo; road trips difficult ones. Minnesota has four games left with Michigan, currently tied with State for third place with 20 points, and Tech must play the Wolverines twice. In a previous series between the two clubs, Michigan won the opener 4-0 and Tech the second game 6-3.The same weekend Michigan plays at Tech (February 6-7), Michigan State journeys to Minnesota. If the Spartans have reversed themselves by then, that could be a crucial series.WCHA NOTES: North Dakota, which hasn&rsquo;t made the post season playoffs in recent years, is making a strong bid to finish among the top eight teams this season. The Sioux, who a are in eighth place, have won four straight games, sweeping Wisconsin 65, 5-2, and Colorado College 4-2, 3-2 their last two times out&hellip;North Dakota will have to win the rest of the way without star defenseman Daryl Drader, however. He recently underwent surgery for a separated shoulder, injured in the game January 10 against the Badgers, and will be out 7-8 weeks&hellip;Michigan can certainly sympathize with the Sioux. The Wolverines&rsquo; leading scorer, big Angie Moretto, is sidelined for 5-6 weeks. He accidently cut a tendon on the ring finger of his left hand&hellip;The Badgers&rsquo; Dave Lundeen joins the injured list with stretched ligaments in his right knee, but he is expected only to be out of action 2-3 weeks. Minnesota-Duluth&rsquo;s Dave (Moose) Langevin has set two school records for goals by a defenseman. He has scored seven goals in UMD&rsquo;s last five games to run his season total to 13 and break the former mark of 10. His 29 career goals surpasses the old record of 25.<h2>College Races</h2><h3>WCHA CONFERENCE</h3>(Standings on Sun. Jan. 18)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1314/3519444-1-eng-US/f0029-132.jpg" title="f0029-13" width="571" height="275"></div><h3>GAMESCOMPLETED</h3>Denver 11, Air Force 6Minnesota-Duluth 8, Bowdoin 7North Dakota 4, Colorado College 2Minnesota 3, Denver 1Notre Dome 4, Michigan 3Michigan Tech 8, Michigan State 7Wisconsin 10, Minnesota-Duluth 4North Dakota 3, Colorado College 2Minnesota 6, Denver 4Michigan 10, Notre Dame 3Michigan Tech 9, Michigan State 6Minnesotr-Duluth 3, Wisconsin 2<h3>ECAC CONFERENCE</h3>(Standings on Tue. Jan. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1413/3519437-1-eng-US/f0029-142.jpg" title="f0029-14" width="575" height="451"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>St. Louis 6, Colgate 2Harvard 7, BC 4BU 6. UNH 3Clarkson 5. St. Lawrence 4Cornell 6. RPIONortheastern 10. Bowdoin 4Providence 9, Penn 2Vermont 6, Norwich 5Providence 6, Olympics 3Olympics 8. Yale 2BC 6. Vermont5BU 7. Merrimack 2Princeton 5, Colgate 3Cornell 8. Yale 0Penn 3. Dartmouth 2UNH 6, St. Lawrence 3Vermont4, Northeastern 3Clarkson 11. York 5<h2>CCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Jan. 23)<h3>OVER ALL GAMES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-159/3519430-1-eng-US/f0029-152.jpg" title="f0029-15" width="575" height="150"></div><h3>LEAGUE PLAY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-167/3519423-1-eng-US/f0029-162.jpg" title="f0029-16" width="578" height="148"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Ohio State 3, Bowling Green 14OhioState 1. Bowling Green 6Western Michigan 2, Lake Superior 4Western Michigan 3, Lake Superior 4Colgate 3, St. Louis 11Colgate 2, St. louis 6 &#9632;

f0029-11

Gophers, Huskies Start To Pull Away Turning WCHA Into Two-Team Battle

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BOSTON&mdash;As the month of February dawned, Boston University&rsquo;s Peter Marzo could reasonably look forward to at least ten more games, but more probably fourteen, in a Terrier uniform.The big center from Acton, Ontario has been in the eye of a legal storm ever since the day he and Bill Buckton took BU, the ECAC, and NCAA to court two years ago in search of the right to play college hockey. Marzo has since that time been playing pursuant to a preliminary injunction handed down by U.S. District Judge Joseph L. Tauro. Unlike Buckton, whose case was slightly different, Marzo has never been forgiven by the NCAA and made formally eligible. But the injunction remains in effect, and though the case is still technically suspended, Marzo is reasonably safe from disqualification.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1219/3519482-1-eng-US/f0029-122.jpg" title="f0029-12" width="258" height="386"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Marzo</figcaption></div>When asked his opinion of the experiences of these past three hockey seasons, the pivot man just smiled.&ldquo;Until you brought it up, I&rsquo;d forgotten all about it.&rdquo;It is unlikely that the NCAA or the courts will soon forget the case of Marzo and Buckton. The NCAA has revised its standards of eligibility since the decision, expunging certain unconstitutional provisions dealing with &ldquo;foreign&rdquo;, (i.e. Canadian) participants and requiring American and Canadian student athletes to be judged under the same affidavit system. The NCAA also rescinded the outright ban on mere participation in Major Junior A hockey in Canada.Three U.S. District Courts have taken their cue from Buckton vs. ECAC in decisions since that time. These courts&rsquo; have held that the NCAA must be accountable to principles of the United States Constitution. Not always were the plaintiffs in cases against the NCAA victorious, but constitutional standards were applied: this had never happened before the two Terriers sued.After the decision the NCAA took a hard look at its standard and found that some 100 or so players in college hockey were technically ineligible by their revised rules. The body decided to decided to grant a one time amnesty to nearly all of these players, most of whom had received room and board expenses from their junior teams while attending school in Canada. A handful of players received five game suspensions on top of those exclusions for having taken small sums of money as performance bonuses.While Buckton fell into the absolved category, Marzo had received some bonus money. But since he was playing under Tauro&rsquo;s injunction the NCAA could not suspend him. Lawyers for the NCAA asked Tauro to lift the injunction last fall on the grounds that they reformed their discriminatory regulations. Tauro refused.Perhaps the legacy of the Marzo case is yet to be realized, since one NCAA provision still sticks in the craw of college coaches who recruit players in Canada. They call it the &ldquo;Room and Board Rule&rdquo;.This provision hits at educational expenses received from amateur sports teams, which is common through Canada. The NCAA Manual now states that &ldquo;Pay&rdquo; is, in part,&rdquo;&hellip;expenses received from an outside amateur sports team or organization in excess of actual and necessary travel and meal expenses for practice and game competition&hellip;&rdquo; Since &ldquo;Pay&rdquo; is still taboo, this definition makes certain Canadians ineligible and gripes coaches no end.&ldquo;We are discriminating against the kid from Canada who has to go away from his hornet won to play decent amateur hockey,&rdquo; explains Dan Farrell of Michigan. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not fair because a kid in America can get a scholarship to prep school and then attend Harvard or someplace. The benefits he&rsquo;d get from his team for educational expenses would come to about one fifth of the cost of that scholarship.&rdquo;BU coach Jack Parker agrees. &ldquo;You have a situation where one Canadian boy getting $20 a week meal money is okay and another getting $20 a week board is ineligible. It&rsquo;s still $20 a week.&rdquo;The one-time amnesty granted by the NCAA in November of 1974 waived sanctions for such payments. Had the NCAA stuck with the standards they applied at that time, they would have a good chance of seeing them stand up in a court of law, according to Marzo&rsquo;s attorney, Gordon Martin. But they went back to forbidding the room and board cases, and it may take another suit to get them to alter the rule one more time.Whence said suit will come is a question mark. Coaches, particularly in the East, are more communicative among themselves about a prospective player&rsquo;s background before said player matriculates at a school. No one wants to bring in an ineligible player and have him sue, since they all recall what happened to Leon Abbott at BU two seasons ago. Abbott was fired in midseason, even though his two players were eventually vindicated.Scotty Whitelaw, Commissioner of the ECAC, has shown a good deal of flexibility on the issue of player eligibility since the Marzo case broke. He is aware of the enormous legal costs of such an eligibility suit, and he doubts that any university will take the initiative in litigating against the NCAA. If a suit does take place, it will probably be pressed by a a student who has the time and money to see it through to a probable successful conclusion.The question, then, is a philosophical one about the nature and the sources of educational expenses. It is still quite possible that the NCAA will soften its stance permanently, since they already granted one exception to an ECAC player who was a &ldquo;room and borad&rdquo; case. That couldn&rsquo;t come soon enough for many coaches, who feel that the NCAA would move a lot faster on the resolution of the matter if the sport in question were a multi-million dollar one like football or basket ball.The next move is up to the folks in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Maybe by now they are fed up with trying to fathom the cultural differences between the States and the Dominion. This writer feels that perhaps the recent tour of the Russian &ldquo;Amateur teams through the NHL might have a secondary impact in changing prevailing attitudes. This highly publicized junket once again has shown how ludicrous is the Avery Brundage definition of &ldquo;amateurism&rdquo;. It is an unenforceable standard, and Peter Marzo just may have brought closer the day when it is gone for good. &#9632;

f0029-12

BU’s Marzo May Have Weakened Unenforceable Standard “Amateurism”

<div class="byline">BY AL FISCHER</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HIILERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HIILERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaROCHESTER&mdash;Injuries continue to mount, leading scorers remain sidelined, the defensive corps has been depleted, but somehow, some way, the Amerks continue to play winning hockey and remain close on the heels of Nova Scotia in the battle for the Northern Division title.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have any one individual star,&rdquo; commented coach Dick Mattuissi, after a thrilling overtime victory against Baltimore. &ldquo;Every game it&rsquo;s been a different player that sparks the club. Just like tonight, we&rsquo;re down 3-1 in the final period and Barry Smith and Gordie Clark bring us back to 3-3. Steve Langdon puts us ahead and then after Baltimore ties it, Smith takes charg and gets the winner in overtime.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01207/3519527-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="263" height="419"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ross Brooks</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Oh, sure, we have some high scorers like Dave Hynes and Paul O&rsquo;Neill, but they&rsquo;ve been hurt and its just seems that everybody is putting out a little extra,&rdquo; Mattiussi noted.Asked if he though his Amerks could beat out Nova Scotia for the title, the Amerk coach smiled and commented, &ldquo;stranger things have happened. I mean, if we can still win with some of our top players on the sideline, think what we might do if everybody were healthy.&ldquo;I realize that Nova Scotia is a tough team, but we&rsquo;re right up there with them and our guys expect to be there all the way. I wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised if this thing went down to the final week of the season.&rdquo;Some excellent goaltending by Ross Brooks and Ken Broderick, plus the improved defensive play of youngsters Doug Halward. Ray Maluta and Mike Milbury, have been key factors in Rochester&rsquo;s winning style.With Hynes and O&rsquo;Neill sidelined, and Doug Gibson apparently set to stay in Boston the rest of the season, the offensive burden has fallen on the shoulders of Clark, Smith and veterans Rene Drolet, Ron Garwasiuk, team captain Barry Merrell and the ever-husting Brian Murphy, himself out for a while with a leg injury.The response from the veterans has been admirable, and Drolet recently became the 20th highest scorer in league history, while Clark reached the 100-point milestone in his 99th AHL contest.Brooks finally went under the 3.00 mark in goals allowed, dipping to 2.98, before allowing four goals against Baltimore to go over the mark again. Only Nova Scotia&rsquo;s Dave Elenbaas, at 2.44 had a better record.The Amerks are well on their way to convincing skeptics that theirs is not a one-man or two-man team, as everyone thought when Gibson was recalled and O&rsquo;Neill and Hynes fell victim to injury.NOVA SCOTIA: The Voyageurs, plagued by recalls from both Montreal and Atlanta, found their lead challenged once again. After a week opening victory against Providence at home, the Voyageurs had to settle for a 3-3 deadlock in Providence and then were collared by lowly Springfield, 5-4.The Voyageurs lost both of their top defensemen when Rick Chartraw was summoned by Montreal and Noel Price, veteran assistant coach, was asked to return to Atlanta on emergency conditions.In addition, tough left winger Ken Houston was also on Atlanta&rsquo;s recall list, thus diminishing the Voyageur offense more than a little.The tragedy of recalls was softened a bit with the return of Ron Andruff, the club&rsquo;s leading goal scorer and one of the league&rsquo;s top penalty kilters.Fortunately, Pierre Mondou and Guy Chouinard, both in a semi-scoring slump, found the right time to snap out of it and the Voyageurs still appear to be the class of the league, especially in goal, where Elenbaas and Ed Walsh easily lead in the race for the Harry Holmes Memorial Trophy.The Voyageur netminders shared the award last year, while Elenbaas was seeking a third straight title, having shared the trophy with teammate Jim Shaw in 1973-74.The Voyageurs have had a lock on the Holmes Trophy for three straight seasons prior to the current campaign, with Michel Larocque and Mike Deguise winning the 1972-73 honors.PROVIDENCE: The Reds missed a golden opportunity to close in on Nova Scotia and to keep pace with Rochester last week. A two-game home-and-home series against the Voyageurs produced just one point in a 3-3 deadlock in the Providence Civic Centre.As the week concluded, the Reds were 10 points behind the front-running Vees and nine back of runner-up Rochester in what appeared to be developing into a two-team race for division honors.Team captain Lynn Powis and linemate Greg Holst continue to run 1-2 in league scoring and the return of Eddie Johnston from the Rangers gave coach John Muckier optimism that his Reds would still be in the race to defend their division title.Johnstone was the Reds leading scorer before he was recalled Dec. 10 by the Rangers. He left with a leagueleading figure of five game-winning goals and that is still a league best, although he now shares the lead with Hershey&rsquo;s Derek Smith.Holst remains the team leader in goals scored with 26, and that is also a league-leading figure, as is the team&rsquo;s 54 power-play scores and seven hat tricks and eight short handed goals.The Reds hold on the league&rsquo;s mark as the top scoring team was broken last week as both Nova Scotia and Rochester passed the Reds in that category.Rookie Bob Sauve, Buffalo&rsquo;s No. 1 draft pick, is getting the bulk of the goaltending chores for the Reds and shows a respectable 3.25 average.He is the third No. 1 choice to play in the Reds&rsquo; goal this season, with Ed Sta-niowski (St. Louis) and Doug Soetaert (Rangers) having seen previous action before recalled by the parent clubs.SPRINGFIELD: The improving Indians, bolstered by the addition of three players measured Richmond and Nova Scotia last week, ending a Voyageur eight-game unbeaten streak.With Ken Murray and Claude Houde moving into defensive posts and Germain Gagnon helping out up front, the Indians are a much more respected club.Both victories were one-goal decisions, always the mark of a winner. The twin triumphs were the fourth in five games for the Indians, who still were a distant 14 points removed from a playoffspot.There were rumors of dissension in the Massachusetts city, and coach Jimmy Anderson was taking some heat for being &ldquo;a mere puppet&rdquo; for owner Eddie Shore.The victories over Richmond and Nova Scotia dispell those rumors for the moment, although several players did voice dissidence.Norm Dube and Terry Richardson returned to the lineup to add to the recent surge and the Indians, although entrenched in the division basement, may well be the big spoilers for the rest of the would-be title aspirants.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03117/3519520-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="570" height="873"><figcaption class="caption-body">EDDIE JOHNSTONE&hellip;Back From Rangers</figcaption></div><h2>AHL Leaders</h2><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02155/3519513-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="583" height="561"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

Amerks On Vees’ Heels Despite Adversity; Bolstered Indians Gain Respect As Spoilers

<div class="byline">BY AL FISCHER</div>HERSHEY&mdash;&ldquo;Goaltending, that&rsquo;s the name of the game,&rdquo; commented Hershey general manager Frank Mathers, following a short scouting trip to Baltimore.That&rsquo;s exactly what the Bears have received, and in abundanc this season, as they make an effort to runaway with the Southern Division race. It hasn&rsquo;t mattered one bit that the parent Pittsburgh Peng uins have played the &ldquo;exchange&rdquo; game with the Bears, switching back and forth goalies. Gordon Laxton, Gary Inness and Michel Plasse, all have performed admirably for the Bears during their tenures here.Laxton is the current Penguin addition to the Bears, replacing Inness on Jan. 17.Through it all, Don Edwards has been the bulwark in the Bear nets. He has yet to see the bigtime, despite a 14-5-1 record and three shutouts.&ldquo;Don is just one of those players who wants to play,&rdquo; one scout reported. &ldquo;Even though he&rsquo;s going good and probably should get a look see by a National League club, he never complains, just goes out and does his job.&rdquo;A 3-3 deadlock with New Haven and a 2-0 blanking of the same club plus an early week victory over Rochester, enabled the Bears to establish a 12-point margin over second place Richmond.It has been a complete team effort that has enabled the Bears to remain the division&rsquo;s best team. that, and the ability to beat intra division foes. In 21 games against their own division rivals, the Bears boast a 13-7-1 record.RICHMOND: It was another frustrating week for the Robins, who continue to slip further behind the league-leading Hershey club.Only a victory over inept Baltimore provided a ray of light in an-otherwise winless week in which the Robins lost three outings. They lost to Rochester and Springfield and then concluded the week by suffering a 3-0 blanking in New Haven.The loss of Gord Smith, Jim McIlhargey, Pete Scamurra and Don McLean, all defensemen. by recall, plus injuries to Terry Murray and Jim Hyrciuk, played havoc for coach Larry Wilson and his beleagured club, who now find their second place status menaced somewhat.The game against Baltimore did provide Wilson with a good look at rookie defensemen Blair Mackasey, who was cut by Baltimore in training camp. Considered a potential NHL player, Mackasey scored a goal against the Clippers and played well on defense.Larry Fullan, whose 38 assists are a league high, remains the only Robin on the list of the league&rsquo;s top 20 scorers, while Steve Short continues as the league&rsquo;s &ldquo;bad boy&rdquo; with 186 penalty minutes.NEW HAVEN: The Nighthawks picked up a little ground and trailed Baltimore by just a point in their battle for third place.A 3-0 blanking of Richmond followed on the heels of a 2-0 loss to Hershey, with Brian Holderness gaining credit for the whitewash of the Robins.Rich Chinnick and Rick McCann are also beginning to pick up the slack, giving team scoring leader Tim Colley some assistance in the point-production department.BALTIMORE: The Clippers continue to lose the close ones, blowing leads in the third period, especially at home.The week opened auspiciously enough with a 3-1 decision over New Haven, but the roof fell in over the weekend, as Rochester came from behind a 3-1 deficit to take a 54 overtime decision and Richmond, trailing 2-0, rallied for a 4-3 verdict.It wasn&rsquo;t close in Nova Scotia in a 5-2 loss, although the Clippers did take a 1-0 early lead. &#9632;

Edwards Bulwark Between Pipes For Bears

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 3)<h3>NORTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01187/3519645-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="597" height="132"></div><h3>SOUTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02147/3519638-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="579" height="125"></div><h3>GAMESCOMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jon. 27Richmond 4 at Baltimore 5.Wed. Jan. 28Providence 2 atHershey 3; Rochester 2 atNova Scotia 4.Thu.Jan.29Providence 2 atRichmond 3.Fri. Jan. 30Providence 1 at Baltimore 4; Nova Scotia 3 at New Haven 5; Richmond 4 at Rochester 3, Hershey 2 at Springfield 5.Sat. Jan. 31Baltimore 5 at Hershey 6; Rochester 2 at Springfield 2.Sun. Feb. 1Baltimore 2 at New Haven 4; Springfield 4 at Nova Scotia 7; Hershey 5 at Richmond 2; Providence 1 at Rochester 3.<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Feb. 3New Haven atBaltimore; Springfield atNova Scotia.Wed. Feb. 4Nova Scotia atHershey; Richmond atRochester.Fri. Feb. 6Nova Scotia at Baltimore; Hershey at Providence; New Haven at Rochester; Richmond at Springfield.Sat. Feb. 7Rochester at HersheySun. Feb. 8Baltimore at Nova Scotia; Richmond at Providence; Hershey at Rochester, New Haven at Springfield.Wed. Feb. 11Baltimore at New Haven; Springfield at RochesterThu. Feb. 12Providence at Baltimore; Rochester at Richmond.Fri. Feb. 13Providence at New Haven; Nova Scotia at Springfield.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wod. Feb. 4)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03122/3519631-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="587" height="181"></div><h3>GAMESCOMPLETED</h3>Mon. Jan. 26Tulsa 8 at Salt Lake 2.Wed. Jan. 28Oklahoma City 1 at Dallas 6; Tulsa 2 at Salt Lake 4.Thu. Jan. 29Fort Worth at Tucson (postponed).Fri. Jan. 30Salt Lake 3 at Oklahoma City4; Dallas 2 at Tulsa 2.Sat. Jan. 31Salt Lake 2 at Dallas 7; Fort Worth 6 at Tucson 6; Oklahoma City 3 at Tulsa 6.Sun. Fab. 1Salt Lake 3 at Dallas 2; Tucson 4 at Oklahoma City 3.<h3>GAMESTO COME</h3>Wed.eb.4Fort Worth at Son Lake, Tucson at TulsaFri. Feb. 6Tucson at Dallas, Tulsa at Oklahoma City; Fort Worth at Salt LakeSat. Feb. 7Fort Worth at Dallas; Oklahoma City at TulsaSun. Feb. 8Tucson at Oklahoma CityTue. Feb. 10Tucson at TulsaWed. Feb. 11Tucson at DallasFri.Feb.13Oklahoma City at Fort Worth; Salt lake at Tucson, Dallas at Tulsa<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 4)<h3>NORTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0497/3519624-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="580" height="146"></div><h3>SOUTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0584/3519617-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="581" height="116"></div><h3>GAMESCOMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 27North All Stars 4, South AllStars 4.Wed. Jan. 28Muskegon 4 at Fort Wayne 4; Toledo 2 at Cdlumbus 5; Port Huron 2atKalamazoo 6.Thu. Jan. 29Kalamazoo 3 at Dayton 9.Fri. Jan. 30Flint 2 at Saginaw 4; Fort Wayne 3 at Columbus 5; Dayton 5 at Toledo 3.Sat. Jan. 31Port Huron 3 at Muskegon 3; Columbus 9 at Fort Wayne 7; Saginaw 2 at Kalamazoo 5; Flint 4 at Toledo 3.Sun. Feb. 1Toledo 3 s-t Dayton 6; Port Huron 2 at Flint4; Muskegon 1 at Saginaw 6; Kalamazoo 7atColumbus 4.<h3>GAMESTO COME</h3>Wed. Feb. 4Hint at Fort Wayne, Port Huron at Dayton; Muskegon at Toledo.Fri. Feb. 6Muskegon at Flint; Columbus at Saginaw, Fort Wayne at Toledo; Port Huronbt Kalcmqzoo.Sat. Feb. 7Hint at Dayton; Toledo at Columbus, Saginaw at Port Huron, Fort Wayne at Kalamazoo.Sun. Feb. 8Kalamazoo at Flint; Toledo at Saginaw, Dayton at Columbus, Fort Wayne at Port Huron.Wed. Feb. 11Hint at Columbus, Kalamazoo at Toledo, Saginaw at Dayton, Port Huron at Muskegon.Fri.Feb.13Fort Wayne at Muskegon; Saginaw at Columbus, Port at Toledo, Dayton at Kalamazoo.<h2>NORTHAMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 2)<h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0661/3519610-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="580" height="162"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0749/3519603-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="582" height="160"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 27Syracuse 2 at Binghamton 6.Wed. Jan. 28Philadelphia 6 at Cape Codders 3; Buffalo 6 at Erie 5; Binghamton 2 at Maine 13.Thu. Jan. 29Erie 1 at Syracuse 6, Philadelphia 7 at Beauce 8 (game awarded to Philadelphia when Beauce used ineligible player).Fri. Jan. 30Cape Codders 5 at Buffalo 1; Maine 1 at Johnston 10; Binghamton 6 at Mohawk Valley 5.Sat. Jan. 31Cape Codders at Beauce (postponW); Maine 4 at Johnstown5.Sun.Feb.1Buffalo 1 at Mohawk Valley 7; Cape Codders 2 at Syracuse 4.<h3>GAMESTO COME</h3>Mon. Feb. 2Philadelphia at BinghamtonTue.Feb.3Mohawk Valley at BeauceWed. Feb. 4Mohawk Valley at Cape Codders; Buffalo at Erie, Maine at Syracuse; Binghamton at Johnstown.Thu.Feb. 5Syracuse at Philadelphia, Beauce at Mohawk VolleyFri.Feb.6Beauce at Syracuse, Philudelphia at Buffalo; Binghamton at Cape CoddersSat. Feb. 7Syracuse at Mohawk Volley, Beauce at Maine, Erie at JohnstownSun.Feb. 8Cape Codders at Philadelphia, Mohawk Valley at Syracuse; Buffalo at Binghamton, Johnstown at ErieMon. Feb. 9Maine at BeauceWed. Feb. 11Beauce at Cape Codders; Johnstown at Philadelphia, Erieat Buffalo.Thu. Feb. 12Beauce at Syracuse, Cape Codders at Maine, Erie at Mohawk Volley, Philadelphia at BinghamtonFri. Feb. 13Mohawk Valley at Buffalo, Maine at Johnstown<h2>SOUTHERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 3)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0843/3519596-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="584" height="178"></div><h3>GAMESCOMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 27Greensboro 3 at Charlotte6.Wed. Jan. 28Winston-Salem 4 at Hompton 2: Roanoke 2 at Tidewater 5.Thu. Jan. 29Charlotte 2 at Winston-Salem 5; Hompton 1 at Roanoke 3.Fri. Jan. 30Greensboro 5 at Hampton 16; Roanoke 0 at Charlotte 3; Tidewater 1 at Winston-Salem 2.Sat. Jan. 31Tidewater 4 at Greensboro 3.Sun. Feb. 1Roanoke 1 at Winston-Salem 6; Tidewater 5 at Hampton<h3>GAMESTO COME</h3>Tue. Feb. 3Winston-Salem at Greensboro.Wed. Feb. 4Tidewater at Charlotte; Roanoke at Hampton.Thu. Feb. 5Tidewater at Roanoke.Fri. Feb. 6Winston-Salem at Hampton, Charlotte at Greensboro.Sat. Feb. 7Greensboro at Hampton, Charlotteat Roanoke.Sun.Feb. 8Roanoke at Charlotte; Tidewater at Winston-Salem.Tue. Feb. 10Hampton at Tidewater; Winston-Salem at Charlotte.Wed. Feb. 11Tidewater at Hampton.Thu. Feb. 12Charlotte at Winston-Salem; Greensboro at Roanoke.Fri.Feb.13Greensboro at Hampton, Winston-Salem at Tidewater, Roanoke at Charlotte.<h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Thu. Jan. 29)<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0932/3519589-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg" title="f0031-09" width="577" height="99"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1026/3519582-1-eng-US/f0031-102.jpg" title="f0031-10" width="577" height="129"></div><h3>GAMESCOMPLETED</h3>Thu. Jan. 22Traverse City 5 at Marquette 6; Central Wisconsin 5 at Milwaukee 2.Fri. Jan. 23Milwaukee 7 at Sioux City 8; Central Wisconsin 3 at Waterloo 6.Sat. Jan. 24Marquette 3 at Green Boy 12; Sioux City 4 at Waterloo 6; Traverse City at Central Wisconsin (postponed).Sun. Jan. 25Central Wisconsin 2 at Green Bay 6; Traverse City 3 at Milwauke. 6; Waterloo 1 at Sioux City 8 &#9632;

f0031-01

LOOKING AT THE MINOR LEAGUE SCOREBOARD

NHL 1&mdash;Montreal.2&mdash;Detrot. 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;Calgary. 20&mdash;Cincinnati. 21&mdash;Cleveland. 22&mdash;Denver 23&mdash;Ednonton 24&mdash;Houston 25&mdash;Indianapolis. 26&mdash;Minnesota 27&mdash;New England 28&mdash;Phoenix 29&mdash;Quebec 30&mdash;San D*go 31&mdash;&rsquo;oronto 32&mdash;Winnipeg Inter-League: 33&mdash;NY Rangers (NHL) & St. Lou&rsquo;S (NHL). 34&mdash;Montreal NHL & Atlanta NHL 36 Petsburgh (NHL) & Buffalo&rsquo;NHL). 37&mdash;New England (WHA) & Washington (NHL) 38&mdash;Detroit&rsquo;NHl & Mm resoto &lsquo;NHL 39&mdash;Atlanta&rsquo;NHL) & Vancouver (NHL) 40&mdash;Phoenix, Houston & Son Diego (WHA). 41&mdash;Los Angeles NHL & N.Y Islanders&rsquo;(NHL) 43&mdash;Kansas City NHL) & N.Y Rangers (NHL). 44&mdash;Boston (NHL) & Washington NHL 45&mdash;Minnesota NHL & Vancouver NHL 46&mdash;Calgary (WHA), Kansas City (NHL) & Minnesota (WHA). 47&mdash;Philode phto NHL & Washington &lsquo;NHLj. 50&mdash;Boston &lsquo;NHL; San Diego (WHA). 51&mdash;Buffalo (NHL) & Toronto (WHA). 52&mdash;Montreal NHL 4 Toronto WHA, 55&mdash;Buf&rsquo;olo/NHL) A Calgary (WHA) 56&mdash;Buffalo (NHL) & Cleveland (WHA). 57&mdash;NY Rangers NHl & S* Lours NHL 58&mdash;Detrort(NHl) A Edmonton (WHA). &#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 U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaDALLAS&mdash;Black Hawk coach Gordon Fashoway began alternating his goalies, after giving experienced Mike Veisor the call for every game since, the second game of the season.A coach couldn&rsquo;t ask for better results than Fashoway got from his rotation plan, Jan. 16-17&mdash;back-to-back shutouts which propelled the surging Hawks into first place! The 23-year-old Vensor, a fourth-year pro who has spent most of the last two seasons with the parent Chicago Black Hawks in the National League, moved Dallas into a first-place tie with a 3-0 blanking of the Oilers at home. Then the 21-year-old Volpe, who played last season with the Flint Generals in the International League, came up with a 2-0 victory in Fort Worth.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01189/3519714-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="275" height="374"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brad Gassoff</figcaption></div>That gave the Hawks first place by a point over Tulsa, with a five-point margin over Oklahoma City, six over Salt Lake, 11 over Fort Worth, and 29 over Tucson.Before the weekend shutouts, the Hawks had edged the Tucson Mave ricks 4-3, in Tucson. When the goalie tandern had wound up 120 minutes of perfect play, Fashoway&rsquo;s men had played six straight games without losing&mdash;a far cry from their span ahead of that, which included only one victory inninegames, Dec. 17-Jan. 7.Volpe, who came out of the junior ranks at Sudbury, Ont., had started the season-opener, Oct. 10, while Veisor was settling contract difficulties. He lost that game, 6-3, in Fort Worth, then sat on the bench while Veisor started the next 36 games. Volpe got in four periods of relief work, usually when the game was lost beyond recall.Fashoway didn&rsquo;t give the rookie another starting assignment until Jan. 10, but Volpe looked impressive in a 51 home triumph over Tucson, and the coach announced he would alternate his two netminders.The 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 185-pound youngster got his next chance, Jan. 14, in the second of two games at Tucson. The clubs had battled to a 1-1 tie Sunday night. In the Wednesday rematch Gary Donaldson scored twice for the Hawks, but they trailed twice in the game, before Dan Hinton put across the winning goal at 8:21 of the third period. The first was scoreless. Donaldson gained a 1-1 tie in the second, and put Dallas in front briefly in the third, but the Mavs got two goals before Michel Archambault and Hinton score for the Hawks in a 45-second span.With Veisor in the nets in the Friday night home game with Tulsa, the first period was again scoreless. Dave Elliott and Jim Koleff counted for the Hawks in the second. Moe L&rsquo;Abbe in the third, as the Hawks outshot the helpless Oilers, 34-16. It was Veisor&rsquo;s fourth shutout of the season, matching his league-leading performance as a Dallas rookie in 1972-73, and his second whitewashing of the Oilers.Volpe had to work harder for his shutout the next night in Fort Worth. He had to make 34 saves, as the Texans outshot the Hawks, 17-5 in the scoreless final period. Duane Wylie had scored for Dallas midway of the first period, and Reggie Giroux early in the second.The Hawks were shorthanded on defense, as Dave Logan&rsquo;s groin pull failed to respond to treatment, and Rob Palmer had to move back to the blue-line. Defenseman Randy Holt&rsquo;s father died in Moosonee, Ont., and Randy hurried home, missing a two-game trip into Salt Lake.Left wing Dean Blais, whose knee injury failed to mend properly, announced his retirement from hockey, Jan. 17, then headed home to International Falls. Minn., planning to resume his education. Forwards Terry Smith and Greg Vaydik were still sidelined by injuries.L&rsquo;Abbe, the club scoring leader, had a goal and an assist for the week, falling to a l0th-place tie in the league race on 38 points. Donaldson had 22 goals to challenge CHL leader Frank Spring of Salt Lake, who had 23. Veisor lowered his goals-against average to 2.95, second only to the 2.69 mark of Tulsa&rsquo;s Curt Ridley.OKLAHOMA CITY: Goalie Doug Favell&rsquo;s visit to the Blazers was cut short by an undiagnosed illness, and the veteran headed back to Toronto Jan. 14, with a temperature of 103 degrees. Favell had made two starts for the Blazers, both winning ones, but had been expected to be in OC another week.Without him, the Blazers didn&rsquo;t suffer. Mike Palmateer worked a 4-2 victory in Fort Worth, then Pierre Hamel was sensational in a home 2-2 tie against Tulsa. That ran the Blazers unbeaten streak to four games.With forwards Jack Valiquette, Scott Garland and Don Ashby all with the parent Maple Leafs, the Blazers called up right wing Terry Casey from Albuquerque of the Southwest League for a 10-game trial. He spent last season with Columbus in the IHL. Defenseman Kevin Kemp returned to duty after missing six weeks with a shoulder break and dislocation. The youngster, up from Columbus had three games remaining on his 10-game pro trial.Blueliner Mike Ruest scored twice in the win at Fort Worth, with Bob Warner and Les Burgess also red-lighting. Claire Alexander and Paul Evans scored for OC in the first period against Tulsa, but then the burden was strictly on Hamel, as the Oicers peppered him with 45 shots in the game, 34 in the last two periods.Tom Cassidy dropped out of the league scoring leadership, trailing Salt Lake&rsquo;s red-hot Denis Meloche by a point, 51-52. Alexander was third with 47, while the absent Garland, with 42, dropped to a tie for seventh place. Hamel had a creditable 2.98 average in the nets.TULSA: A bench-emptying team brawl against the Salt Lake Eagles in Tulsa&rsquo;s Assembly Center may have relieved some of the frustration, but couldn&rsquo;t alter the fact the Oilers had come up with their worst performance of the season in a 10-5 loss that saw the Eagles score six times on power plays.A 3-0 shutout loss in Dallas two nights later didn&rsquo;t help the Oiler situation. Coach Orland Kurtenbach was more cheerful after his club dominated the last two periods to salvage a 2-2 tie in Oklahoma City. But the Oilers fell out of first place, Jan. 17 for the first time since Dec. 19.Early leads provided by goals from Bill Plett and Brad Gassoff in the Jan. 14 battle with Salt Lake were wiped out as the Eagles scored four goals in the first period. Rick Bowness and Cam Botting kept the Oilers close (4-6) in the middle period, but the Eagles counted four more in the third, while Tulsa got a late power goal from Richard Mulhern.With a little more than six minutes to go Kurtenbach and Gassoff were ejected for protesting the calls by referee Murray Harding, and bench penalties kept the Oilers shorthanded for the last two Eagle goals. There was 2:28 left when a battle between Oiler John Grisdale and Eagle Butch Williams erupted into a gang fight, with the CHL&rsquo;s most-penalized player. Eagle forward Paul Tantardini, leading the charge off the bench.Harding wound up giving a total of 70 penalty-minutes 43 against the Eagles, for that brawl&mdash;three minor penalties, six majors and three game misconducts.Harding worked the Oiler-Hawk game in Dallas two nights later, but wasn&rsquo;t kept quite so active, with only 11 minor penalties, seven on the Oilers.Gassoff sat out that game under a one-game suspension by National League executive director Brian O&rsquo;Neill, who is meting out discipline in the CHL since president Max McNab resigned.After falling behind with a poor start, it took goals by Leon Rochefort in the second period and Gassoff at 15:54 of the third to gain the Oilers&rsquo; deadlock in Oklahoma City. Although happy to snap their three-game losing streak, the Oilers still had played four without winning, matching their longest slump of the season, back in late October.Grisdale, who had expected to stay longer to regain his form after an injury layoff, was summoned back to the parent Vancouver Canucks, Jan. 20.Curt Ridley, who relieved Dan Brady for the last two periods of the Jan. 14 debacle, staved in the nets for the next two games He was still the CHL&rsquo;s stingiest goalie, with a 2.69 average. Club scoring leader Jim Wiley notched his 35th assist (second best in the league), and had 46 points to rank fourth in the league race.Ridley was traded to the Canucks by the Atlanta Flames in a deal by Tulsa&rsquo;s two parent clubs. For the moment, apparently, it made no difference in Ridley&rsquo;s position at Tulsa.SALT LAKE: The Golden Eagles didn&rsquo;t have enough player to qualify for a group rate on their airplane flights, but they had played at an 8-4-1 clip since mid-December. and finally were in the jockeying for playoff positions.Coach Marv Edwards was getting amazing mileage out of his power plays, as the Eagles scored 11 in three outings. Both goals in an 8-2 loss at Okalhoma City. Jan. 10, came with a man advantage, as did all three Salt Lake tallies in a 3-3 tie at Fort Worth three nights later. Then an amazing six power play goals went into the nets in a 10-5 romp at Tulsa the following night. That ended a six-game road trip (2-31) and the Eagles came home to split a pair with Tucson, losing a 4-3 game before winning a 7-4 decision.The Friday-Saturday back-to-back games drew a total of 14.15 fans to the Salt Palace (a season record of 8,092 saw the Saturday victory). And the Eagle brass had worried about a gate falloff with such a schedule!Butch Williams got two power goals, Frank Spring the other, in the tie at Fort Worth. Butch&rsquo;s second came with 3:43 left in the middle period, and ended the game&rsquo;s scoring.Ten different Eagles collected goals in the cakewalk at Tulsa, which ended with a pier six brawl. The scoring was by Lyle Bradley, Tom Price, Paul Tantardini and Spring in the first, Williams and Charlie Simmer in the second, Denis Meloche. Brent Meeke, Rick Kessell and Ken Desjardine in the third.Tantardini drew a one-game suspension for this actions that night. He watched. Jan. 16 as the Eagles yielded three straight goals to Tucson&rsquo;s Dave Walter. Spring got his 23rd goal, tops in the CHL. Simmer and Desjardine also scored, but the Eagles couldn&rsquo;t catch up.Tantardini was running away with the penalty statistics. A 39-minute total for the week, on the heels of his 50 minutes the previous week, boosted him to 234 minutes, some 76 ahead of his nearest challenger, Tulsa&rsquo;s Brad Gassoff. Paul had broken the Eagles&rsquo; franchise record of 202 by Ron Serafini last year. Tantardini had gathered 22 major penalties, smashing the old club mark of 15 by Gary Holt in 1973-74.FORT WORTH: Coach Terry Gray ordered two-a-day workouts for his Texans, as they ran their dismal record to eight games without a victory since Jan. 1. They hadn&rsquo;t won in their last six tries at their own Will Rogers Coliseum, had lost five straight on the road, and hadn&rsquo;t won on their last seven starts away from home.Latest scars in the slump were a 3-3 tie with Salt Lake, a 4-2 loss to Oklahoma City and a 2-0 shutout by Dallas rookie goalie Bob Yolpe. All three games were at home. Commenting on the fortunate scheduling. Gray had previously said,&rsquo;&rsquo;We&rsquo;ve got to win all three.&rdquo; But someone wasn&rsquo;t listening.Gray and general manager Ed Chadwick, representing the parent New York Islanders, were scouting around for a trade that would muster some muscle for the Texans&rsquo; porous defense. But other clubs weren&rsquo;t parting with big blueliners. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to start playing a more physical game,&rdquo; Gray said.TUCSON: Hat tricks by Dave Walter and Grant Erickson highlighted a week that saw the Mavericks split with Salt Lake and lose to Dallas. Both men scored three goals in succession, which, according to some purists, is the real definition of a hat trick.Erickson started the week with a go-ahead goal against Dallas, after Mike Sleep and Norm Cournoyer had scored, but the Hawks came back to win a 4-3 decision in Tucson&rsquo;s Community Center Arena. Ray Martyniuk took the loss in the nets.Roger Swanson performed brilliantly in goal in the Jan. 16 game at Salt Lake. Walter had tied the score at 1-1 in the first period, then got a quick pair in the second, but Cournoyer&rsquo;s unassisted tally proved the winner.Martyniuk was shelled for four goals in little more than 11 minutes the next night against the Eagles, the last two tallies coming 31 seconds apart. Bruce Aberhart. who had been the &ldquo;bullpen ace&rdquo;, came on in relief, and was stung three times in 1:35. as the Eagles mounted a 7-0 lead.Gordie Titcomb scored on a Maverick power play late in the second, then Erickson came in with three goals in the third.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0384/3519707-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="513" height="601"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE VEISOR&hellip;Fourth Shutout</figcaption></div><h2>CHL Leaders</h2><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02134/3519700-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="586" height="464"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

Dallas Rolls With Rotating Coaters; Blazers Extend Streak Without Favell

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div>HAMILTON&mdash;One of the worst brawls of the 197576 Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A season erupted in Hamilton between the Fincups and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and when the smoke of battle had cleared nine players and both coaches were suspended.To compound the problem Hamilton police are investigating the incident.Staff Insp. Thomas O&rsquo;Connell of the Hamilton-Wentworth regional police said it would not be known for some time whether or not charges would be laid.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01168/3519745-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="268" height="391"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Anderson</figcaption></div>&ldquo;That will have to be sorted out when all the reports are submitted&rdquo;, he said, adding the final decision would have to come from the Ontario attor-ney-general&rsquo;s office in Toronto.Fifteen extra police were called to the ancient Hamilton Forum when the players from both team benches swarmed to the ice after a Hamilton goal in the second period.However the four police assigned to the game had brought the hostilities under control before the reinforcements arrived.Referee Blair Graham assessed 167 minutes in penalties in the game won 8-5 by Hamilton.The penalties included 139 minutes for the half-hour brawl.Greyhounds picked up five game misconducts, three fighting majors and 11 minors. Hamilton had four game misconducts, four majors for fighting and 10 minors.The nearriot erupted during a fight between Joe Contini of Hamilton and Dave Mancuso of the Greyhounds after Contini had tied the score at 11:01 of the second period.Fincup coach Bert Templeton and Sault general manager Angelo Bum-bacco, filling in for regular coach Muzz MacPherson who was serving a previous suspension, were both set down three games for failing to control their players&mdash;and were also said to have been actively engaged in the fight.Heaviest sentence went to Sault defenseman Tony Horvath, a former Fincup, who was suspended four games by league commissioner Tubby Schmalz who explained that Horvath had been suspended on three other occasions and was one of the first to leave his team bench.Other Greyhounds suspended were Tim Rose three games, Tim Coulis, Dave Mancuso and Romano Carlucci two each.Joe Kowal of the Fincups will sit out three games, Joe Contini, Alan Secord and Ron Roscoe two apiece.HAMILTON: The fight must have taken something out of the Fincups as they lost their next two games 5-4 at home to Sudbury and 5-2 on the road in Ottawa&hellip;The game with Sudbury was a battle of the division leaders and brought out one of the largest crowds of the season in Hamilton but the Fincups dropped it despite two goals by defenseman Ted Long&hellip;The two losses during the week didn&rsquo;t seriously jeo-pardize Hamilton&rsquo;s hold on the top spot in the Emms Division as they still had a 14-point edge over second place London Knights.LONDON: Knights earned three of a possible four points with 5-5 tie in Kingston and decisive 7-1 victory at home with St. Catharines but, as mentioned above, they are still far below Hamilton&hellip;On the other hand they seem certain of finishing no worse than second which is a triumph for coach Bill Long and his club as no London club has ever ended that high in Major Junior A&hellip;Vern Stenhlund, a steady performer all year for Knights had a goal and three assists against Kingston and three assists in game with Black Hawks&hellip;Goalie Mike Kasmetis lost shutout in game with St. Catharines when shot by Kevin Osmars hit him in posterior and rolled into net.KITCHENER: Rangers are still clinging to third place, more by default than anything else as their closest rivals below them, Toronto and St. Catharines aren&rsquo;t winning consistently&hellip;Kitchener did pick up one victory in the week 6-4 over Peterborough as Dwight Foster scored a pair but were thumped the next night 8-4 by Sudbury in front of their own fans and must win more regularly if they hope to remain ahead of the Marlboros in particular who have shown some improvement recently.SUDBURY: Wolves had another perfect week&mdash;three games and three wins&mdash;to pull farther ahead of the pack in Leyden Division&hellip;Their 5-4 win in Hamilton in which Duguay scored twice was especially satisfying but they also picked up points in St. Catharines (7-5) and Kitchener (84)&hellip;Rod Schutt having super season for Sudbury, scoring three times in St. Catharines and approaching the 50-goal mark&hellip;He remains distinct threat to Rick Martin&rsquo;s record 71 goals while playing with Montreal Junior Canadiens in Ontario league&hellip;With 20 point margin there&rsquo;s no way any team can catch Wolves for top position which is a credit to freshman coach Jerry Toppazani and his players.SAULT: First place (Sudbury) and last (Peterborough) seem to be settled in Leyden section but it&rsquo;s a tossup for second, third, fourth and fifth with only a point or so separating the Sault, Kingston, Ottawa and Oshawa&hellip;One win can boost a team from fifth to second quite often&hellip;Greyhounds didn&rsquo;t get a point in the week, losing the battle-filled game in Hamilton by 8-5 then suffering a 7-2 setback in Ottawa&hellip;However they have the talent to remain as runner-up especially since Mike Kaszycki has become such a find after the Hounds obtained him from Marlboros&hellip;Once suspensions are over they should do better.KINGSTON: Canadians had a tie (5-5 with London) and win (8-3 over Oshawa) to remain in thick of battle for a high position&hellip;Ken Linesman salvaged the draw, scoring with less than two minutes left and also had one earlier in match&hellip;They were his 37th and 38th of season&hellip;At home Canadians opened a 4-0 first period lead and coasted the rest of the way&hellip;Linesman added two more&mdash;numbers 39 and 40 which isn&rsquo;t too bad for a 17-year-old&hellip;Club experienced slump but is back on track and a championship contender.TORONTO: Marlies are gradually putting daylight between themselves and fifth place St. Catharines and were helped by 4-4 tie in Oshawa and 5-2 victory in Windsor&hellip;John Anderson rounding into Memorial Cup form and scored two in Windsor game&hellip;At meeting of league owners some concern was shown over poor attendance at Marlboro home games which have been moved from Maple Leaf Gardens to Markham&hellip;However the problem, which was first brought up by Bud Burke, Sudbury Wolves&rsquo; owner, was apparently settled as reporters were told no steps would be taken to force Marlies to have a single home ice sheet rather than splitting their games&hellip;League definitely needs Toronto to maintain &ldquo;big league&rdquo; image.ST. CATHARINES: Hawks lost third straight, 7-1 in London, as their play continues to be streaky&mdash;several wins and ties, or nothing but losses&hellip;Hawks seemed to have home game with Sudbury wrapped up when they led 4-1 but faded in stretch and Wolves beat them 7-5 including open net goal by Duguay&hellip;Rumors persist team will be sold by Emms family but remain in St. Catharines&hellip;Nothing concrete yet but attendance still dropping and now averaging about 950&hellip;Greg Craig playing better and reached 30-goal mark.WINDSOR: Spitfires are last but continue winning the odd game to preserve their slim playoff hopes&hellip;Their 7-4 win at home over Peterborough helped their cause but they&rsquo;re still about nine back of St. Catharines for the final playoff spot&hellip;Rolly Hedges, Tom Friesen and Gary Purdon broke 44 tie with three unanswered third period goals for decision over Petes but Marlies beat then 5-2 48 hours later.OTTAWA: The 67s, something of a disappointment in the over-all picture, picked up three consecutive wins and bounced back as a definite challenge to succeed Toronto as Ontario champions&hellip;They blitzed Kitchener 9-4, Sault Ste. Marie 7-2 and Hamilton 52&hellip;However all games were at home and they must still prove themselves on road&hellip;Peter Lee boosted his season goal production to 53 in game against Hamilton before just under 4,000 fans, the largest of the season at the Canadian capital city&hellip;Could be the disenchantment with the World Hockey Association and its brief stay (two games) in Ottawa has turned the fans back to junior.OSHAWA: Gus Bodnar keeps Generals hanging in their for second despite lineup which doesn&rsquo;t have nearly as many outstanding players as the Sault, Kingston or Ottawa&hellip;Gens had a 4-4 tie with the Marlies then lost 8-3 in Kingston hut just when everyone counts them out they come alive again&hellip;Oshawa had to score twice in third period, by Ken Morden and Larry McIntyre, to earn draw with Marlboros&hellip;This was somewhat of a reversal as Generals have lost many games in final 20 minutes.PETERBOROUGH: Petes are out of playoff picture in Leyden Division but. oddly enough, if they were in Emms Division they would be nip and tuck with St. Catharines and Toronto and well ahead of Windsor&hellip;Their 6-4 home loss to Kitchener was a blow as Rangers are one team they must get points from to even stay reasonably close&hellip;Brad Pirie and Tony Cassolato had two goals each for Petes who. despite good coaching by Roger Neilson, just haven&rsquo;t the guns this year.<div class="sidebar">OHA MAJOR HOCKEY LEAGUE &#9632;</div>

f0033-01

Police On Ice To Quell Hamilton Brawl

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALIMEIER</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 CanadaPORT HURON&mdash;As the International Hockey League paused for its annual All Star break followers of the Port Huron Flags were dreaming about a possible championship for the young team which has failed to impress North Division rivals individually but as a team has cut Saginaw&rsquo;s lead to a single point.The Flags placed only one player&mdash;veteran Len Fontaine&mdash;on the North All Star unit (picked on a vote of the players) but Bobby McCammon has the team playing like an entire team of All Stars.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01182/3519783-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="269" height="377"><figcaption class="caption-body">Denis Desrosiers</figcaption></div>Since suffering an 11-3 shellacking in Saginaw back on Jan. 7, the Flags have lost just once over the last nine games. They have won six and tied two. Included in the victory surge are a pair of wins over the Gears, the most recent a 4-3 win at Saginaw despite the fact the Flags were delayed by a snow storm and were an hour late arriving at the battle scene.Fontaine continues as the Flag catalyst. He leads in goals with 25, seven of which have been winning goals. Port Huron took a three-game winning streak into the All Star break with only a 3-3 tie against fast-improving Fort Wayne spoiling a longer streak.Maybe the snub by All Star voters is a good omen. Four years ago Fort Wayne failed to land one player on the All Star squad&mdash;but the Komets won both the league and playoff titles. McCammon might be looking a little past that Fort Wayne accomplishment. The following season, Marc Boileau was hauled out of Fort Wayne to take over as coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, at the time the Komets&rsquo; National League affiliate.SAGINAW: The Gears, who have been losing ground steadily if not spectacularly to the charging Port Huron Flags, suffered a servere blow to their pennant chances with an injury to high-scoring Dennis Desrosiers. Desrosiers, who leads the Gears in goals with 26, suffered a severe muscle pull as the Gears were losing a critical battle to the Flags, 4-3, on home ice.Desrosiers was injured in a collision with the Flags&rsquo; Dan Newman. He will be out for from two to three weeks.The injury to Desrosiers forced coach Don Perry to juggle his lines and while Stu Irving did a creditable job in Desrosiers&rsquo; right wing slot, the line &ldquo;Just didn&rsquo;t work well,&rdquo; said Perry. The Gear coach expressed disappointment in the recent performance of center Jim Johnston. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not happy with the way Johnston has played the last couple of games. He&rsquo;s not working hard. He&rsquo;s not carrying his weight ou there.&rdquo;The loss to Port Huron was the fifth in seven games with the Flags.MUSKEGON: Inconsistency continues to plague Moose Lallo and his Mohawks. A winning streak of even modest means would put Muskegon right in the thick of the North Division pennant fight but that hasn&rsquo;t come. Muskegon reached the All Star break a solid third but that&rsquo;s where they&rsquo;ve been most of the season.The inconsistency is relfected in the Mohawks&rsquo; most recent outings. Following a big victory at Dayton, the Mohawks returned home to drop a 5-3 decision to Fort Wayne. The Fort Wayne victory was the first for the Komets in Muskegon in 10 games.The Mohawks bounced back with a convincing, 7-2 romp of North Division rival Flint but then came a 7-2 loss at Kalamazoo. Playing. 500 hockey won&rsquo;t improve your place in the standings. And improvement is what Lallo wants.FLINT: Despite strong warnings of player movement from general manager Ken Wilson, the Generals are still stumbling along in fourth place&mdash;and steadily slipping farther behind. The Generals dropped below. 500 with just a tie in their last three starts and are now five points behind third-place Muskegon.After salvaging a 6-6 tie with Columbus in an old-fashioned shootout at home, the Generals took a 7-2 bombing at Muskegon and returned home to drop a 4-3 decision to front-skating Saginaw. Some help could come from the most recent acquisition, Bruce Greig whose physical qualities&mdash;6-3 and 215 pounds could prove invaluable.KALAMAZOO: The return from Detroit of Mike Wong has given the K-Wings&rsquo; hopes of making the IHL playoffs quite a boost. In his first appearance following a short stay with the Wings&rsquo; parent club, Wong pumped in the winning goal in the Wings&rsquo; impressive victory over Toledo. Wong also was credited with a pair of assists.On his return, coach Bob Lemieux put Wong on left wing which didn&rsquo;t bother the 21-year-old youngster. &ldquo;I played left wing last year and I really don&rsquo;t care where I play as long as I play,&rdquo; Wong commented.The Wings also bombed Muskegon at home for their third victory in the last four games and pulled to within two points of Columbus, the team Kalamzoo must catch if it is to qualify for the IHL post-season party.Speaking of his club&rsquo;s recent surge, Lemieux said: &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got confidence now.&rdquo;DAYTON: Ivan (The Terrible) Pre diger, one of the most penalized players in the history of the International Hockey League, was given the responsibility of keeping the Gems on the South Division title path.Prediger, whose playing career spanned 13 years, including nine in the IHL, was named coach of the Gems following the resignation of player-coach Steve Self. Self took over when Tommy McVie was elevated to the coaching job of the Washington Caps of the National Hockey League.A member of the 1963 Turner Cup champion Fort Wayne Komets, Prediger spent most of his IHL career in Des Moines. He was a rough and tough defenseman who made wingers look over their shoulders in the corners.Commenting on his new position, Ivan said: &ldquo;Dayton has always been championship city and I intend to bring the Turner Cup back to the Gem City.&rdquo;Ivan&rsquo;s debut was a smashing success as the Gems bombed Toledo, 8-0. Ivan had one sobering thought about taking over a first place club. The only place he can go is down.TOLEDO: A disasterous road trip sovs will be lost to the Goaldiggers for the rest of the season. Kudrasovs suffered a broken pelvis in an auto accident and at first it was believed he would be was compounded by the revelation high-scoring captain Juri Kudra-out for only six to eight weeks.Injuries and suspensions have cut manager-coach Ted Garvin&rsquo;s roster to 11 bodies&mdash;not counting goalies. The manpower shortage is reflected in four straight road losses which has cut the Diggers&rsquo; lead over third-place. Fort Wayne to a single point. Over the last 12 road games, the Diggers are 0-10-2.FORT WAYNE: The return from an eye injury of outstanding rookie Sid Veysey and the sudden emergence offensively of the &ldquo;third line&rdquo; has spawned a Komet winning streak which has put the Komets right on Toledo&rsquo;s skates in the battle for third place.Veysey, who missed about a week of action, scored a pair of goals as the Komets ended a 10-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory at Muskegon. The Komets also got two goals from the third line&mdash;led by Brian Shmyr at center and Terry Bucyk and Dave Norris at the wings. Shmyr and Bucyk scored in the Muskegon victory while Norris got the winner in a subsequent 6-3 romp over Dayton which boosted the Komets&rsquo; undefeated string to four.COLUMBUS: Former defenseman Steve Lyon sparked a solid offensive performance in gaining the Owls a 6-6 tie at Flint which launched a weekend in Michigan for Moe Bartoli&rsquo;s vastly improved club. Lyon scored a hat trick in the 6-6 standoff.Goalie Billy Yeo had a busy night in the nets, kicking out no less than 52 shots as the Generals tried desperately to pull out a victory. Jerry DeMarco&rsquo;s goal with 18:24 gone in the final period salvaged the tie.The Owls dropped a 6-4 decision at Port Huron but maintained a two-point lead over Kalamazoo in the fight for the final playoff position.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02132/3519776-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="556" height="788"><figcaption class="caption-body">LEN FONTAINE&hellip;At Top Of Flag Pole</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

Vet Fontaine Leading Flags’ Charge; Desrosiers’ Injury Blow To Gears

TOLEDO&mdash;Apparently the pending court battle between the International Hockey League and three players on the Toledo hockey team has been avoided. Un-confirmed reports reveal the matter has been settled out of court. And it would appear Toledo came out a winner&mdash;certainly better than the IHL wanted.Major points of the settlement: The three Toledo players&mdash;Gerry Methe, Rick Fraser and Brian McKenzie&mdash;have been declared eligible to play in the IHL for the balance of the season. 2&mdash;Toledo will forfeit three points in the standings.Toledo originally had been ordered to forfeit seven points from three victories and a tie by IHL Commissioner Bill Beagan. His decision was supported by the IHL Board of Governors, by an 8-1 vote, at the league&rsquo;s semiannual meeting in Boca Raton, Fla.Later, the players were granted a temporary injunction which allowed the players to continue in action and forbade the league to altar the standings. In the reported settlement, the Goaldiggers will forfeit one point to Saginaw, Fort Wayne and Columbus. Toledo had registered victories over those teams on Jan. 2, Jan. 9, and Jan. 11. In effect, the Toledo victories have become ties.An official announcement concerning the Toledo situation was expected shortly. &#9632;

Toledo Wins In Settlement

<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03102/3519838-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="586" height="433"></div> &#9632;

f0034-03

IHL Leaders

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div>BRANDON&mdash;To put things into proper perspective, it is a fact that Brandon Wheat Kings need only play. 500 hockey the rest of the 1975-76 Western Canada Hockey League season to break a team record for points accumulated in one campaign.Fifty-fifty hockey the rest of the wav would leave rookie coach Dune McCallum&rsquo;s Wheat Kings one game on the plus side of. 500, meaning 73 points, or three better than their previous best, back in 1971-72.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01170/3519911-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="276" height="391"><figcaption class="caption-body">Morris Lukowich</figcaption></div>It has not been a great season for the second-place Wheat Kings by most teams&rsquo; standards, but if has been rewarding in that the Wheaties, under McCallum&rsquo;s system, are at least competitive every time out. Only twice have losses been somewhat embarrassing&mdash;five goal defeats in Kamloops early in the season and at home in January to Eastern Division-leading Saskatoon Blades.Whereas Wheat King teams of old usually scored six goals a game, they were also renowned for having the leakiest defense in the West.It is in that respect that McCallum has changed things around. A former professional defenseman (15 years), the Brandon-raised McCallum has concentrated his thoughts on reducing the team&rsquo;s goals-against performance.So far, things are working well. All Star goalie Glen Hanlon has a leagueleading three shutouts and as a team, there are only four clubs with better defensive records than Brandon.&ldquo;All my exercises in practice deal with handling the puck,&rdquo; said McCallum in explaining how he took what was earlier regarded as a poor defense and turned it into better than average. &ldquo;I like them fooling with the puck, so they get to know the feel of it. We spend an awful lot of time just on that.&ldquo;The system of getting the puck out of our own end is getting better, but the season&rsquo;s going so fast&hellip;I wish we had more time to practise. With the way our defenseman are moving the puck, and the way the forwards are helping out by coming back, it&rsquo;s a lot easier on everybody.&rdquo;McCallum says the biggest job of a defenseman in his own end is to &ldquo;clear people away from the net&rdquo;.&ldquo;Glen Hanlon will make the stops, and if the defense picks up the loose men, he only has to worry about making one stop. We get in trouble&hellip;every team gets in trouble, when defensemen play the puck instead of the man.&rdquo;Eighteen-year-old Wayne Ramsey has been the surprise of the blueline, blooming as a junior star after lingering on the fringe for three seasons. Veterans Gary Soetaert and Terry Hochstetter, both coming to Brandon via trades, rookie Brian Granfield and over age veteran Dale Anderson are the five defenseman McCallum usually relies upon. There are no All Stars in that group, but no slouches, either.Up front, instead of a Ron Chipperfield or a Rick Blight scoring 90 goals during a losing season, McCallum preaches balance. Over-age Dale McMullin has spoiled that theory somewhat, by earning a spot in the league&rsquo;s top 10, and vets Danny Bonar and Mike Bradbury, and rookie Billy Derlago, 17, all have 25 goals or more and are capable of providing a big goal at any timeThe Wheat Kings have been a roaring success at home, playing. 750 hockey, but it&rsquo;s the road where they&rsquo;ve had troubles. Yet, during a recent six-game swing to Alberta and Saskatchewan, they came back with two wins, two losses and two ties, the. 500 road record McCallum says a team needs to be a success in junior hockey.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m enjoying coaching now,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting better. There was a time earlier in the season that I wasn&rsquo;t sure.&rdquo;WINNIPEG: Going into Saskatoon, Clubs&rsquo; coach Gerry Brisson said he had a new way for his team to play the Blades. &ldquo;Hound their defense and force them into mistakes,&rdquo; said Brisson. Alas, it didn&rsquo;t work, as Clubs lost 7-2. But healthy once again (star center Gord Blumenschein and goalie Lorne Molleken back from leg injuries). Clubs won in their first start in Flin Flon, 3-1, as Blumenschein got two assists.FLIN FLON: Bombers lost four in a row, scoring just four goals and allowing 20 and being shut out twice. The Western Division&rsquo;s last-place team, Calgary, gave Bombers their worst loss of the week, 7-0 in Cowtown. Their closest match was in Regina, where Pats scored an empty-net goal for a 5-3 win.SASKATOON: Rookie 18-year-old goalie Dave Parro lowered his already league-leading goals-against average by blanking Flin Flon 5-0 for his first shutout of the season. Otherwise, Blades split, beating Clubs 7-2 and losing 6-5 in Edmonton. Bernie Federko opened a 14-point bulge over linemate Blair Chapman in the individual scoring race.REGINA: Pats won an important game with Flin Flon, the team they&rsquo;re battling for fifth place in the East, 5-3, but then lost to Brandon, 5-1. Gerry Minor led the way over Flin Flon with two goals. Regina picked up goalie Kerry Nisbett from New Westminster to fill a big gap. So far, Pats have used six goalies this season.LETHBRIDGE: Broncos went undefeated their first two games under new coach Mike Sauter, who replaced Earl Ingarfield at the helm. To start Sauter&rsquo;s WCHL career, Mike Fynn scored twice as Lethbridge hammered Brandon 7-3. Three nights later, Broncos blew a two-goal third-period lead and settled for a 3-3 tie with the Wheat Kings.MEDICINE HAT: Tigers also won and tied against Brandon taking an 8-4 triumph three days after tying 4-4. Tigers big four&mdash;Don Murdoch, Greg Carroll, Morris Lukowich and Tom Bast&mdash;led the way in each game. Murdoch and Lukowich each had hat tricks in the victory, while Bast got two goals in the tie game.Carroll kept picking up points with a goal and three assists in the two contests.CALGARY: Centennials were without a regular coach in beating Flin Flon 7-0 as Jerry Bancks scored three goals and added three assists. The win came one day after coach Dave Amadio was fired. Bert Olmstead, the former NHL great, was hired just as Calgary left on a western swing. Olmstead&rsquo;s debut was inauspicious, as Cents were drubbed 11-4 in Kamloops.EDMONTON: The &ldquo;for&rdquo; column was alright for Oil Kings as they got six goals in Kamloops against the Chiefs. But Kamlops got 15 (six, four, five by periods) for the most one-sided victory of the year. Still on the road, Edmonton lost 7-1 in New Westminster and 73 in Victoria. But it wasn&rsquo;t all bad; Oil Kings beat Victoria 5-4 earlier in the week, capitalizing on four power-play goals. Going home. Kings stunned Sas-katoon 6-5, as Doug Lecuyer broke out of a slump with two goals.KAMLOOPS: Losing 5-1 to New Westminster must have got Harvey Roy&rsquo;s Chiefs upset. They went home to hammer Edmonton 15-6 as over-age Darryl Ferner got four goals and an assist and Jamie Gallimore doubled his seasonal goals and assists outputs with two and three respectively. Two nights later, Kamloops scored an 11-4 win over Calgary, as Ferner again picked up five points to give him 76 on the year. Rob Flockhart had four goals in the win over Calgary to boost him over the 30-goal mark.NEW WESTMINSTER: The Bruins lead everywhere: most wins, least losses, most goals scored, least goals against. Another undefeated week&hellip;ho hum&hellip;5-1 over Kamloops and 7-1 over Edmonton as Rich Shinske had four goals and two assists in the double victory. Mark Lofthouse and Fred Berry followed in the point parade with five each. Blaine Peterson, acquired from Brandon in December, seems to have taken over as No. 1 goalie on the team, although net costar Carey Walker is no slouch, either. Just a mid-season All Star, that&rsquo;s all.<h2>H0W THEY STAND</h2><h3>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE</h3>(Standings on Fri. Jan. 30)<h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02142/3519904-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="581" height="175"></div><h3>LEYDEN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03106/3519897-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="578" height="177"></div><h3>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</h3>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 2)<h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0486/3519890-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="574" height="148"></div><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0569/3519883-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="580" height="156"></div><h2>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Sat. Jan. 24)<h3>Eastern Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0657/3519876-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="580" height="174"></div><h3>Western Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0749/3519869-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="578" height="176"></div><div class="sidebar">Western Canada Hockey League &#9632;</div>

f0035-01

McCallum Changes Brandon’s Fortunes; Cents’ Olmstead Makes Inauspicious Debut

<div class="byline">BY GARY CLARK</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 CanadaBEAUCE -The Beauce Jaros show absolutely no signs of letting up in their onslaught of the North American Hockey League. They are in the process of completely rewriting the record book of the three-year-old league. Several team and individual records have already fallen to the offensive powerhouse from Quebec; with over 30 games remaining in the regular season schedule, many others are in danger.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01150/3519949-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="269" height="413"><figcaption class="caption-body">Skeeter Teal</figcaption></div>Leading the way, of course, is the superlative Joe Hardy. Hardy has already eclipsed Bobby Jones&rsquo; one season mark for assists. His current total is 82 and climbing. He will probably break the all-time league scoring record sometime during late January when the Jaros play back-to-back games in Johnstown. He has already broken the record for most assists in a single game with six in a 9-6 Beauce victory at Buffalo.It might take a year&rsquo;s research at NAHL headquarters in Buffalo to sort out all of the records set in the Jaros 160 win over Maine on Jan. 18. The most obvious is that of most goals in a single game by one team (the old mark was 13). Along the same lines, another record almost certain to fall eventually is that of most goals scored by a team in a single season. The Jaros had 273 games; the season record is 398. Could the Jaros reach 500?They won&rsquo;t be hurt by Alain Caron&rsquo;s record setting pace. At age 37 Caron is proving that he can still &ldquo;boom&rdquo;. His current total of 48 gives him a very real shot at his own all time pro mark (held jointly with a fellow named Hull) of 77.Most importantly the records have translated quickly into victories. Since Thanksgiving night the Jaros have won 22 and lost 3. They are strong in pursuit of the Lockhart Cup in their very first year. That, of course, would be the most important record of all.BINGHAMTON: Dusters have began their playoff move. They have won three straight games for the first time all season and stand just ten points behind the faltering Buffalo Norsemen.The Dusters had burrowed deeply into last place by winning only twice in eighteen games before their spurt. At its worst their record stood at 11-30-2. Yet all indications were that owner-GM Jim Matthews would go to any lenghts to put together a winning combination. For Example:Fired coach Wayne Clairmont was brought back as a player. Bill Gold-thorpe was &ldquo;acquired&rdquo; in dealings that cost Binghamton $1,000 in fines. Araid of the Southern League turned up former All Star defenseman Billy Orr. Only six Opening Night Dusters remain with the current squad. Orr became the thirty-ninth Duster and fourteenth defenseman used this season.Will all the maneuverings pay off in that coveted playoff spot?BUFFALO: The Norsemen rebounded neatly from an 11-3 drubbing by Mohawk Valley, their eighth loss in a row, with a 7-3 win over Philadelphia. The Norsemen duplicated that score later in the same week in beating Binghamton. It was their most important victory of the year; had the result been reversed Buffalo would only be six points ahead of the Dusters for the final Western Division playoff spot.One bright light throughout the slump has been Bob D&rsquo;Alvise. The former Michigan Tech scoring leader has eleven points in six games since returnin form Toronto Toros. D&rsquo;Alvise has replaced Steve Atkinson on Buffalo&rsquo;s top line; he centers for Larry Gould and Bryan McSheffrey.But the Norsemen have yet to recover from the loss of captain Atkinson and top defenseman Dave Syvret. Both were purchased by the Toros.CAPE COD: The Codders have had anything but good fortune since their survival crisis. They have lost seven games since returning to the ice. Only once was the margin by more than two goals. Two losses came in overtime and two others were by just a single tally.The Codders still have the solid nucleus of the team that was 17-12-3 before Christmas. But they have yet to adequately replace the players lost during their premature &ldquo;death&rdquo;. Robbie Neale and John Cunniff have been able to maintain their scoring pace but the losses of Ron Snell and Bob Charlebois have been sorely felt.Nevertheless assistant coach Reg Krezanski complimented the players, &ldquo;John (Cunniff) and I are very pleased with their efforts, under the circumstances they have all played very, very well.&rdquo;JOHNSTOWN: The Jets have suffered a number of key injuries. Steve Carlson has been lost with a broken bone in his right hand. The youngest of the Carlson brothers will be out of the lineup for at least five weeks. Wynne Dempster has gone to the disabled list with leg surgery. The Jets fear that Francois Ouimet faces the same prospect. He was injured in a collision with Binghamton&rsquo;s Rod Bloomfield.Defenseman Guido Tenesi has been very hot of late; he is now the Jets second leading scorer with 45 points. He has already surpassed his 1974-75 point total of 42.Bruce Boudreau has been returned by Fighting Saints for his second NAHL tour of duty of the season. Calgary Cowboys helped out by assigning defenseman Bill Reed, a. member of Syracuse Blazers 1974-75 regular season champions.ERIE: Erie solved a potentially major problem by signing Keith Kokkola, Denis Deslauriers, Mal Zinger, and Nick Sanza to NAHL contracts after the Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics disbanded. Larry Mavety and Bill Gold-thorpe were lost when Civics sold their contracts to Binghamton shortly before the WHA team folded. But in turn the Blades reaped a bonus in the return of Lynn Zimmerman. Zimmy had been on loan to Ottawa and was reportedly playing well in his WHA tryout. He now ranks fourth among NAHL goaltenders in goals-against average and despite his three week absence is second only to Lou Levasseur in wins.The Blades played well but fared poorly on a three game Eastern road trip. Successive overtime losses to Cape Cod and Maine were followed by a 7-4 loss to Beauce.Perhaps the return of George Swarbrick and Skeeter Teal will steady the slightly sagging Blades. Teal missed over two weeks with a wrist ailment but recently returned to action. Swarbrick has missed all but nine early season games with a knee injury. He recently resumed skating and could be ready to play shortly.MAINE: The Nordiques brightened their dwindling playoff hopes with an encouraging four game winning streak. But they also lost twice in two weeks on home ice to the team that had been directly ahead of them in the standings, Mohawk Valley. The Quebec Nordiques tried to help, sending down Allan Globensky and Jim Benzelock before the first confrontation with the Comets, and providing Ric Jordan for the second.Right wing Bob Richardson has been a strong performer of late. Richardson scored the winner in overtime against Erie and set up an overtime win against Beauce with a game tying penalty shot goal late in the third period. It was the first successful penalty shot in the NAHL this season. Richardson&rsquo;s victim was Bruce Bullock.MOHAWK VALLEY: Despite all the frustrations experienced by the Comets during the first half of the season, the Mohawk Valley team has bounced back. The Comets celebrated the New Year with an eight of nine winning streak. In the space of three weeks they won six games on the road (they had only one previous road victory all year). They even won twice in overtime, bringing their season record in extra stanzas to2-6-3.Epitomizing the hot streak was a stirring come-from-behind home victory against Syracuse. Behind 4-0 early in the last period, the Comets scored seven goals in the space of 4:54 to steal a 7-4 win. The only comparable record that could be found was set by the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 19, 1938 when they scored eight goals in 4:52 against the New York Americans.Kerry Bond has replaced the injured Rich Pumple on the Bobby JonesFrank Hamill line. Other current combonations: Peter Dunbar-Bobby Whit-lock-Bob Murray and Ross Smith-John Cook-Murray Heatley.PHILADELPHIA: The Firebirds are inching slowly up the NA HL West standings. While they have not been able to win more than two games in a row in over two months, they have been able to avoid losing streaks as well. Their consistancy coupled with the slumps of Erie and Buffalo has moved the Firebirds into third place, just one point behind second place Erie.The Birds 12-2 rout of Erie on January 9 established or tied several NAHL records. Philly&rsquo;s nine goal second period tied the one period record set by Johnstown exactly two weeks before. The Firebirds tied the existing standard for a single game with 67 shots on goal. The two team total of 117 shots shattered the old mark of 109 (set in an overtime game).The Firebirds will make their Spectrum (home of the Flyers) debut on February 7. The game originally scheduled for January 11 against Buffalo was moved to that date where it will be part of a day-long Flyers Clinic expected to draw over 15,000 fans.SYRACUSE: The Blazers season thus far can best be summarized in these statistics: They are ten games over. 500 yet their goals-for total is just two greater than their goals-against. They have won ten of eleven one goal decisions (seven of eight on the road). The Blazers are the least penalized team in the NAHL with the exception of Cape Cod, an odd twist considering the reputation for mayhem that the B&rsquo;s championship string was founded on.Jacques Caron posted his second shutout of the year in a tense 1-0 victory at Binghamton. Pat Russell netted the game winner with less than three minutes left in regulation time. Caron ranked second among NAHL goaltenders through the games of January 20 with an average of 2.83.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02108/3519942-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="562" height="883"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN CUNNIFF&hellip;Pleased With Effort</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0036-01

Beauce Rolls Into NAHL Record Book; Nordiques Brighten Dim Playoff Hopes

The Maine Nordiques have had a very difficult season and no one has felt the brunt of their problems more than their goaltenders. Rare has been the game when the Nordique net minder has faced fewer than forty shots.Peter Donnelly has survived the barrage admirably. The infrequent success that Maine has enjoyed is in large part due to Donnelly&rsquo;s excellence. The Detroit native has been in goal for the last eight Nordiques wins dating back to Dec. 5. Last week he commandeered his team, which had won only eight times in forty five games, to four consecutive triumphs.Along the way he aced the Dusters in Binghamton 4-1 by turning back fifty shots. He earned a first star award for his effort. He also won pressure packed back-to-back overtime games against Erie and Beauce.His plus five goals-against average notwithstanding, Peter Donnelly is a quality performer. After all he is the only NAHL goalie ever traded for Bernie Parent. He is also the North American Hockey League&rsquo;s player of the week for January 12 thru January 19.<h2>NAHL Leaders</h2><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0382/3519980-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="587" height="655"></div> &#9632;

f0036-03

Peter Donnelly Maine

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;After 14 games of the present Quebec Major Junior Hockey League schedule the Quebec Remparts looked as though they would be lucky to make the playoffs let alone challenge for the East Division title.At that time coach Ron Racette probably wished he had stayed in the North American Hockey League where he had been coaching in 1974-75. The Remparts had a solid grip on last place in their division and two wins and three ties in 14 outings showed little promise for the future.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01140/3520011-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="282" height="400"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maurice Barrette</figcaption></div>Yet, 37 games later, the Remparts are still solidly entrenched in the East but this time at the top of the section.Following the poor start, the Remparts won 10 of their next 11 and have been improving steadily ever since to the point where they are now legiti-mate contenders for the QMJHL crown.According to Racette, &ldquo;The first turning point was the game we lost here (Montreal Forum) 8-3 (on Oct. 12). After that game we had a team meeting in Quebec. I told the guys that if they didn&rsquo;t want to work they could leave. The next morning two guys quit.&ldquo;At the beginning of the season we had a losing attitude,&rdquo; continued Racette. &ldquo;We had to make changes. There are now only five players left from last year&rsquo;s team. Everybody is working to get her as a unit. In order to win hockey games you have to work as a unit. This is a real team effort. We don&rsquo;t have just three or four stars.&rdquo;According to the mid-season East Division All Star teams the Remparts have only two stars on the ice, goaler Maurice Barrette and defenseman Jean Gagnon, and one behind the bench in Racette, all of whom were named to the first team.The fact the Remparts have opened up a 10-point lead over second place Trois-Rivieres is a tribute to Racette, who has his club playing efficient twoway hockey.One of the big reasons for the sizeable lead Quebec holds over the Draveurs is their total domination of Trois-Rivieres of late. In a recent home-and-home confrontation between the two clubs the Remparts came out on top both times by 6-4 and 8-3 counts.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a tougher team than they do.&rdquo; explained Racette. &ldquo;We have good team spirit. We hit hard and clean but I don&rsquo;t want any stupid stuff.&rdquo;Racette isn&rsquo;t even thinking about a possible championship at this point in time.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just going on a game-to-game basis. I don&rsquo;t believe in winning a championship with 23 games to go. I&rsquo;m not thinking of the playoffs yet.&rdquo;And the Remparts&rsquo; bench boss doesn&rsquo;t believe his club has reached its full potential yet.&ldquo;We can work harder,&rdquo; he stated. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m never satisfied. The guys are doing well. We won tonight, but we re going to have to work harder to win tomorrow night.&rdquo;The Remparts have come a long way defensively as was demonstrated in the past week&rsquo;s action. They racked up three straight victories and allowed the opposition a mere two goals as Barette recorded two shutouts.Remparts blanked Cornwall 3-0 at Colisee and then recorded back-to-back road wins in Montroal, 6-2. and Hull, 4-0.Eddy Godin led the way offensively with three goals in the trio of wins while Denis Turcotte, Michel Frechette and Yvan Hamelin had two a piece.Turcotte leads the Remparts&rsquo; points parade with 79 made up of 36 goals and 43 assists followed by Godin with 70 including 27 goals.The Quebec Rem parts have come a long way in a short time and if they continue to improve could give the favored Sherbrook Beavers quite a run for their money before it&rsquo;s all over.TROIS-RIVIERES: Dravers fell 10 points behind Quebec after losing 65 in Chicoutimi and 4-0 in Cornwall. Coach Michel Bergeron&rsquo;s crew have fallen on hard times as they have lost five of their last six games. Draveurs must now keep watch on Chicoutimi which now trails by only six points and have a game in hand. Richard Dalpe continues to be bright spot as his 92 points (45 goals, 47 assists) leave him in third spot in QMJHL.CHICOUTIMI: After apparently being out of race for second spot the Sagueneens have put on a charge that has moved them within striking distance of Trois-Rivieres. Latest conquests were 6-5 over Draveurs and surprising 7-3 romp over Sherbrooke. Sags outshot Beavers 37-27 and broke open close contest with three unanswered markers in first 10 minutes of final period. Sylvain Locas continues to lead league points race with 99(46-53).SOREL: Slipped four points back of Chicoutimi after suffering two consecutive setbacks. Black Hawks own second worst offensive mark in the league. Dropped 4-1 decision in Montreal and then 3-2 to Hull. Serge Menard got Hawks off to 1-0 lead in Montreal after only 1:44 of first period but that was it for the night. Much the same story against Hull as Yvon Blais and Benoit Gosselin gave Hawks 2-0 opening period lead that disappeared as game wore on.SHA WINIGAN: A. 500 week for the Dynamos is an unheralded success and the managed their ninth win of the season in downing Hull 8-5. Jean-Marc Bonamie counted the hat trick and Robert Constantin added a pair of markers to pace the Dynamos attack. Normand Lahaie scored twice in Laval but it wasn&rsquo;t enough as the Nationals fired five unanswered goals in the middle period en route to an 8-5 win.SHERBROOKE: Picked up only three points of a possible six but still retained solid hold on first place in the West Division, 16 points ahead of runnerup Cornwall. Peter Marsh score his second goal of the game in Cornwall to give the Beavers a 5-4 lead but the Royals tied it up with just over three minutes to go in the game. Jere Gillis recorded a hat trick in 10-2 thump ing of Laval. Loss was 7-3 in Chicoutimi as the Beavers were outshot 37-27 by the Sagueneens. Marsh holds second place in the QMJHL points race with 95 including 47 goals.CORNWALL: Royals played four games in five days and emerged with three points out of the possible eight which leaves them two points ahead of Montreal. Cam MacGregor had three goals in 5-5 draw with Sherbrooke as Jamie Conroy knotted the score with just over three minutes left in the game. Then dropped 3-0 decision in Quebec and were dumped 4-2 in Laval. Sandwiched between the losses was 4-0 whitewashing of Trois-Rivieres. Pierre Brassard moved into sixth place in league points race on 46 goals and 44 assists for 90 points.MONTREAL: Juniors won one and lost one on home ice before departing on four-game road trip. Kevin Reeves, Frank Donnelly, Christian Drolet and Normand Dupont tallied single markers in 4-1 win over Sorel. They were then dropped by the highflying Remparts who opened up a 2-0 lead by 1:11 of the first period and never looked back. Dupont tops club in points with 45 goals and 39 assists for 84 points. Juniors trail Cornwall by only two points and have four games in hand on the Royals.HULL: Festivals were victorious once in three outings. Lone win was in Sorel 32, as Scott Hunter&rsquo;s third period tally proved to be the winner. Setbacks were in Shawinigan, 8-6, and 4-0 at home against Quebec. Glen Sharpley tied for third spot in league points derby with 92 comprised of 36 goals and a league-leading 56 assists. Festivals solidly entrenched in fourth position six points in back of Montreal and nine ahead of Laval.LAVAL: Two wins in three tries brought Nationals to within four points of fourth place team in East, Sorel, the club they must outpoint to make the playoffs. Only setback was 10-2 pasting in Sherbrooke. Glen Currie, Graziano Orsini and Phil Bellemare scored two goals each to lead Laval to 8-5 win over Shawinigan. Nationals then dumped Cornwall 4-2 on markers by Gilles Denis, Sylvain Bouchard, Yves Preston and John Saunders. Michel Bossy club leader with 92 points including league-leading 50 goals.<div class="sidebar">Quebec Major Hockey League &#9632;</div>

f0037-01

Remparts Recuperated From Dismal Start

<div class="byline">BY STEVE WAID</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILIERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILIERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaWINSTON-SALEM&mdash;Don&rsquo;t tell Danny Sullivan that he&rsquo;s not needed. That&rsquo;s one thing the young goaltender refuses to believe. And his refusal to believe in his non-value has prompted him to make something good out of what could&rsquo;ve been a useless hockey season for him.Over a month ago, Sullivan was an unhappy player in the North American Hockey League with the Philadelphia Firebirds. Apparently, his bosses were unhappy, also, and they unloaded him to the Southern League and the Winston-Salem Polar Twins. The move couldn&rsquo;t have been a better one for all parties concerned.&ldquo;I was part of an overall bad situation in Philadelphia,&rdquo; said Sullivan. &ldquo;At thebeginning of the year, the team wasn&rsquo;t winning and not everyone was playing well. I guess I wasn&rsquo;t playing well either and it got to the point, I think, where the Philadelphia people thought I was expendable.&rdquo;Sullivan was first offered to Beauce of the NAHL, but he had some personal difficulties involving the transportation of his car and the like that kept him from going to the Canadian team. Coach-general manager Gregg Pilling then lent him to Winston-Salem, a team badly in need of another goaltender to spell veteran Bob Champoux.Sullivan ran into several difficulties with Firebirds&rsquo; management during his inactivity and consequent exit to Winston-Salem. Suffice it to say that not all of it sat well with him. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t done with a lot of class,&rdquo; he said.But he&rsquo;s quick to add that he thought he was treated fairly by Pilling and is more than glad to be in Winston-Salem&mdash;where, incidentally, he&rsquo;s been much more than just another goaltender.Winston-Salem couldn&rsquo;t afford to give overworked Champoux a break. He was backed by Bob Smith, a trainer-goaltender. for the first half of the season and while no one was quick to call Smith a poor goaltender, it&rsquo;s certain that he hadn&rsquo;t played enough to be sharp.So Forbes Kennedy, the Winston-Salem coach, went looking and was more than pleased to land Sullivan.Sullivan, you see, was once an All Star goalie in the SHL. That was in 1973-74, when Sullivan was with the Roanoke Valley Rebels and the Charlotte Checkers. That year, Sullivan posted a 2.78 goals-against average and recorded a league-leading five shutouts. In fact, until he joined Philadelphia last year, Sullivan was a member of the Roanoke Valley Rebels throughout his pro career, except for brief sojourns with the Philadelphia Blazers of the WHA and the Cincinnati Swords of the AHL and his subsequent trade to Charlotte.Kennedy was hoping that Sullivan would return to All Star form. Suffice it to say that he&rsquo;s well on his way to it, having posted a 2.83 average in 17 games with the Polar Twins. He&rsquo;s been a big reason why Winston-Salem is currently enjoying a hot winning reak.Twins&rsquo; scoring has improved considerably with John Campbell and Ken Gassoff leading the way. Brian Molvik, a steady defenseman, is red-hot in goals scored. He has 17, with seven of those coming on the power play.The key, though, to the Twins&rsquo; success is teamwork. &ldquo;The guys don&rsquo;t give up.&rdquo; said Kennedy, understandably pleased these days. &ldquo;We were down by to two goals in Tidewater and we tied the game at 2-2. Then we were down by two at Roanoke and we won 4-2. That&rsquo;s what I like to see.&rdquo;Twins intend to improve their lot considerably with addition of Denis Daigle, who scored 62 goals last year in junior with Montreal.No doubt, though, a lot of the current Twins&rsquo; success can be attributed to Sullivan&mdash;without whom certainly it would&rsquo;ve been a rougher season so far for Winston-Salem.TIDEWATER: Once-lowly Sharks are right on the heels of the Twins for playoff spot, just one point behind during week of Jan. 20. Sharks went 1-0-2 during the week, with perhaps most pleasing game being a 7-2 shellacking of archrival Hampton Jan. 25. Over two-week period, Sharks were unbeaten&mdash;a tribute mainly to improved play and improved players, as Sharks made roster changes as quick as possible, adding center Jean Troitter from USHL, goalie Joe Junkin from Roanoke and sending Bob Wright to Greensboro.GREENSBORO: Generals&rsquo; slumping not helped by the loss of John Voss to Cleveland of the WHA. Voss was called up when Gerry Cheevers announced retirement, leaving Generals with one goalie. Kevin Neville. Backup Mike Corcoran still recovering from head injury.Generals went 1-3 during week of Jan. 20, which helped them fall to SHL cellar, two points in back of Winston-Salem in scramble for SHL playoff spot. Team picked up Bob Wright from Tidewater to help in injury situations, which have plagued team all year. Talent is there, though.CHARLOTTE: Checkers remain atop the SHL after holding off a few threats. The team lost only one game during week of Jan. 20, that coming against Roanoke when Checkers looked listless, to say the least. Yvon Dupuis has moved in to a tie with Wally Sprange for SHL scoring lead. Dupuis has 39 goals and 23 assists on the year.HAMPTON: The Gulls stayed close to the Checkers, as they tied 4-4 in only matchup of week of Jan. 20. John Brophy&rsquo;s crew playing good all-around hockey, with veteran Art Stratton padding his scoring statistics, young goalie Norm Lapointe proving he&rsquo;s worthy of first-round pick by Cincinnati and return of Pat Donnelly proving a help.ROANOKE: Rebels in the midst of slump that has seen them go 3-8-4 in last 15 games. However, team still in race for second in SHL. Player defections mounting because of once-shaky financial problems, which team has cured. Goalie Joe Junkin, seeking financial security, wanted gurantees of salary and bonuses, but Roanoke couldn&rsquo;t grant them, so he was sold to Tidewater. &#9632;

Sullivan Proves Timely Goaling Catch For Twins

<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01164/3520066-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="586" height="583"></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

SHL Scoring

<div class="byline">BY JOHN ARNOLD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02118/3520097-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="937" height="1253"></div>SOLUTION IN FEBRUARY 20 ISSUE<h2>ACROSS</h2>1. Pictured player.2. An Atlanta forward answers to this.8. Former Indianapolis defenseman.9. Ex-NHL forward Ingarfield.12. Twin vowels.13. First name of one of the Rangers.14. To make mistakes.16; Recently retired Washington forward, (init)13. Distress signal.18. An NHL centre, (init).19. 20th and 14th letters of the alphabet.20. Former Vancouver captain, (init.)21. Former Ranger Heller answers to this.23. 9th and 8th letters of the alphabet.25. Philly assistant coach.28. Number worn by Bernie Parent.29. A Flame forward, (init).31. Beverage.34. A St. Louis forward.<h2>DOWN</h2>1. One of the Flames.2. A Fort Worth forward.3. Former Western League player.4. 19thand9th letters of the alphabet.5. Skating requisite.6. One of the Minnesota Saints.10. Former Referee Skov answers to this.11. 12th and 4th letters of the alphabet.15. Ex-Ranger center.22. Boxing term.24. A Houston defenseman.26. Number of times Perreault has won Byng Trophy.27. Rochefort answers to this.29. Number worn by Mel Bridgman.30. Initials of a former Leaf right winger.32. One of the Sabres, (init.)33. A New England Whaler, (init).<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1. DOUGLAS7. REIBEL.9. L.A.10. A.O.11. S.O.12. LYNN.13. P.A.14. ERA.16. RON.17. CEC.18. U.S.19. PIT.20. H.G.22. P.T.23. IRVINE.26. O.K.28. O.E.29. EVANS.32. B.O.33. NINETEEN.<h3>DOWN</h3>1. DELVECCHIO.2. GRAY.3. LEON.4. A.I.5. S.B.6. SLOAN.8. ESPOSITO.12. LACH.15. R.E.16. RUPP.21. GREEN.24. IVAN.25. EAST.27. KEON.30. VI.31.N.E.32. B.E. &#9632;

f0038-02

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">BY HOWIE STALWICK</div>It was just your average week in the Western International League. No more hectic than the sinking of another Titanic.Indeed, save for Jim Stanfield&rsquo;s six consecutive goals one night for Spokane, last-place Kimberley knocking off the league-leading Cranbrook Royals, and Trail moving to within two points of first place with back-to-back wins over the Royals complete with a pair of bench-clearing brawls and losing coach Gerry Goyer&rsquo;s resignation, other than that, it was really pretty calm out West.Stanfield&rsquo;s unprecedented outburst in the Flyers&rsquo; 9-3 home triumph over Kimberley Jan. 17 was one that sent record-keepers scurrying about not only for league record books, but those for all organized hockey.But the professional veteran timed his heroics at the worst possible time for all but his streaking Spokane club, as Trail&rsquo;s Smoke Eaters snuffed out the fading Royals for the fourth and fifth time in the two clubs&rsquo; last six meetings to make one of the WIHL&rsquo;s most interesting recent pennant chases all the merrier.The league coffers are going to be all the merrier as a result of the two Trail victories, after both contests erupted into general free-for-alls resulting in a concussion to Smoke Eaters&rsquo; player-general manager Eric Nesterenko, the ejection of goaltending teammate Ty Langton from the second match for jostling referee Bill Fraser, and a variety of other little goodies too numerous to mention.Spicy little 5&rsquo;8&rdquo;, 160 pound winger Hugh Christiaens of Cranbrook was the reported instigator of both brawls, first engaging the 42-year-old Nesterenko in a fight in Trail, then following up the next night before the home fans with a flagrant elbow 30 seconds into the game which sent the longtime major leaguer&rsquo;s head straight into a metal pole above the boards.Christiaens apparent attempt to ignite his slumping club obviously did not pay off, as the team went down to defeat in new coach Colin Patterson&rsquo;s first two games.A legend of sorts in local junior hockey circles, the 33-year-old Patterson took over for player-coach Goyer just one week after the latter had resumed the player-coach role he performed so well last winter. Goyer will remain with the Royals as a player.TRAIL: The spirit of the hustling Smokies has shown through again, after they rebounded from a pair of costly losses to the Flyers to win their next three games.The team&rsquo;s true mettle should really become evident now, however, as the seriousness of Nesterenko&rsquo;s concussion was not immediately known, and the team will have no one of any ability to back up Glenn Bueckert if (i.e. when) Langton is suspended.CRANBROOK: One of the key reasons the classy Goyer stepped down from the coaching seat reportedly was that bethought his piloting might have had something to do with the team&rsquo;s spiraling spin downwards.Rookie Chris Becker remains slightly ahead of Brian Dickie and Jim Miller in the race for team scoring honors with 15-24-39 figures.KIMBERLEY: The Dynamiters&rsquo; 5-3 upset over Cranbrook was a real shocker, the first time in four tries at home that they&rsquo;ve been able to down their nearby rivals. Not surprisingly, the team was very disappointed when a road slide then cancelled Nelson&rsquo;s scheduled visit three days later, a game in which Kimberley could have tied the Leafs for the fourth and final playoff spot. &#9632;

The WIHL Scene

BLOOMINGTON&mdash;Pressure on the Austin Mavericks was stepped up last week as everybody but Austin turned in a win. Only 12 points now separate first-place Austin and fourth place Hennepin.HENNEPIN: Mike Hoberg slipped his third goal into the open net with seconds remaining in the game to lead the Nordiques to a 7-5 victory over Austin. It was the sixth straight win for the charged up Hennepin club, but like all good things, it had to end. The Kos-tka seniors did the damage, taking a 40 lead in the second period and holding on for a 4-2 end result. Goalie Keith Johnson pulled a muscle and left the game after 18 saves and 27 minutes in the net&hellip;Extracurricular win for the Nordiques was an 8-3_engagement with the Menomonie. Wis. seniors, who play in the same league as Kostka and Weber.AUSTIN: The Mavericks, who have been experimenting with new offensive patterns, found nothing but disappointment around the circuit last week&hellip;They outshot St. Paul 48-33, but fell 7-5 on home ice. It was the same 7-5 situation the next night at Hennepin, and a third defeat awaited them at Richfield Arena, when the Junior Stars came out on top of an 8-6 outcome.ST. PAUL: The Vulcans dumped Austin 7-5 to move up within three points&rsquo; striking distance of the leagueleading Mavericks. Mark Mazzoleni in goal made 43 saves against Austin and seven players contributed to the victory. The game&rsquo;s 100 penalty minutes was a season MJHL high&hellip;Vulcans split a two-game series with the Sioux City Muskateers of the USHL. Paul Klasinski got the hat trick in the 4-2 win; second game was an 8-4 decision for Sioux City. More than 4.000 fans saw the contests, St. Paul&rsquo;s Ron Woodey reports.BLOOMINGTON: Up and down more often than a yo-yo of late. Bloomington was devastated 9-6 by the Weber Insurance seniors in a TV game, then bounced back to upset Austin 8-6 thenext night&hellip;Rick Burgess got three goals in the win. two in the final minute of the game. Effective penalty killing was the key for the Junior Stars, who were penalized 11 times to Austin&rsquo;s three, but held the Mavs to two power play goals. At the same time. Bloomington took advantage of two of the three power play situations against the Mavericks. &#9632;

Mavericks Feel Pressure As MJHL Teams Bunch Up

<h2>MANITOBA EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 19)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01147/3520260-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="585" height="131"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02106/3520253-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="590" height="290"></div><h2>NEW ENGLAND JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0380/3520246-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="593" height="213"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0464/3520239-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="593" height="325"></div><h2>GREAT LAKES JUNIORA</h2>(Standings on Sun. Jan. 25)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0548/3520232-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="600" height="184"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1412/3520225-1-eng-US/f0039-142.jpg" title="f0039-14" width="588" height="56"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0638/3520218-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="601" height="325"></div><h2>GREAT LAKES JUNIOR B</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0734/3520211-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="592" height="159"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0830/3520204-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="586" height="261"></div><h2>MIDWEST JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 19)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0925/3520197-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="578" height="123"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1022/3520190-1-eng-US/f0039-102.jpg" title="f0039-10" width="591" height="522"></div><h2>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Jan. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1120/3520183-1-eng-US/f0039-112.jpg" title="f0039-11" width="584" height="210"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1218/3520176-1-eng-US/f0039-122.jpg" title="f0039-12" width="585" height="440"></div> &#9632;

f0039-01

Amateur Races

<div class="byline">BY BILL HILTS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1314/3520291-1-eng-US/f0039-132.jpg" title="f0039-13" width="333" height="419"></div><h2>Great Lakes &lsquo;A&rsquo; League</h2>Tom Michalek, Dave Ross, Dean Turner, and Don Waddell scored two goals apiece as Little Ceasars skated past the Oakland Chiefs 9-1. Michalek and Turner each added an assist to go with their two tallies, while Tom Manning, Tom Becker and Tim McGraw each set up two goals. Pat Evo was the only Chief to outsmart Caesars&rsquo; goalie Jim Nista.Darryl Dipace scored two goals and three assists to spark the league leading Detroit Junior Wings to an 8-4 win over the Paddock Pools Saints. Bryan Cammet contributed a goal and three assists, while Dave Humphreys scored one goal and set up two others in the Wings&rsquo;victory. Cammett&rsquo;s 12th goal of the season at 7:52 of the third period was the game-winner. Tom Nicholson assisted on three of the Saints&rsquo; four goals.<h2>Great Lakes &lsquo;B&rsquo; League</h2>Wayne net minder Brad Mitseff held Flint to only one goal and his teammates backed him with six goals, as the front-running Americans downed the Icelanders 6-1. Dean D&rsquo;Annunzio led the Wayne attack with a pair of goals, while Mitseff lowered his league leading GA average to 2.94. Steve Falcone recorded the first shutout ever in the Great Lakes Junior Hockey League, stopping all 23 shots he faced, as the Americans blanked the Waterford Lakers 6-0. Lindsay Watts led the Wayne scoring with a hat trick and Ed Ross added a goal and three assists for the winners.George Mimikos&rsquo; 26th goal of the season in the final period proved to be the game winner in Berkley&rsquo;s 5-3 verdict over Flint. Mike Brown netted two goals and Andrew Gamalski set up three others in the Bruins victory. Mimikos also assisted twice, giving him 48 points for the season, second in the league behind Fraser&rsquo;s Matt Kesler.The Waterford Lakers trouced the Fraser Highlanders 9-4. Brad Strohm had a hat trick plus two assists and Tony Bastarache scored twice and assisted three times to pace the Lakers. Jeff Toombs added two goals and an assist and Jim Hogan was credited with three assists in the Waterford win.Steve Zook&rsquo;s hat trick lifted the Lakers to an 8-6 win over Fraser in a game played the following evening. Strohm added two goals and two assists for the Lakers, while Jeff Kemezis set up three tallies. Strohm, with two markers, moved into a tie with Berkley&rsquo;s George Mimikos for league leadership in goals with 26. Matt Kesler was Fraser&rsquo;s top point producer with two goals and three assists, with Bob Voakes and Dan Byrge each adding four points.<h2>New York Metro League</h2>Wins over the Essex Rockets and New York Westsiders pushed the Suffolk Royals back into first place in the tight Metropolitan Junior Hockey Association race.Goaltender Bob Harvey kicked out 24 shots as the Royals blanked Essex 2-0, and the Royals then bounced the Westsiders 4-2 the next night, as the Suffolk juniors took a three point lead over the New York Americans.The Americans won their only two starts, beating Bergen Rockland 10-7. and blasting LIAC 9-3. Amerk captain Steve Bussardo, this week&rsquo;s player of the week, had a 4-4total for two games, including the hat trick against BR.LIAC broke a nine-game losing streak by downing Oyster Bay 7-1. as Ron Knaust tallied the hat trick and Bob Mancini set up five goals. Mancini had the hat trick earlier in the week against Essex, but the Rockets&rsquo; Joe Hannabach had one of his own. including the game winner late in the third period, as the Rockets took a 9-8 thriller.<h2>New England League</h2>The Springfield Olympics forged a four-point lead with a win and a tie in New England Junior Hockey League action over the weekend, while Berlin Maroons won twice to run their winning streak to eight games and pull into a second-place deadlock with the Fitchburg Wallopers.In a game which could have created a tie for first. Springfield wiped out a 3-0 deficit with four third-period goals to trim Fitchburg4-3. Dan Ferioli&rsquo;s short handed goal with 2:35 remaining was the game winner for the Olympics as Bill Derosia came up with 33 saves. Don Leger made 40 saves for the Wallopers. Springfield however, was surprised by the Tri-Valley Squires with a 4-4 tie. Ed Malone scored two goals for the Olympics while Squires&rsquo; net minder Mark Hansen checked Springfield with 30 saves.<h2>New York-Penn League</h2>The red-hot Amherst Knights continue to beat all comers and have opened up a commanding 12 point bulge over their closest rival, second-place Rochester Monarchs.The Southtown Cougars hav dropped to third spot, followed by the Niagara Falls Mangs Sharks. The Knights have moved to a new home and are now called the Cheektowaga-Amherst Knights and will play all their home games in the recently opened Cheektowaga Town Hall Park Rink in suburban Buffalo. N.Y. A dispute with Amherst town officials over playoff dates, forced the leagueleaders to move from their familiar Audubon ice rink.The Knights clipped the Sharks 7-2 with Jeff Brown schidle collecting a pair of goals for the winners. Leo Lynctt chipped in with a goal and an assist as did Greg Jantzi and Malcolm Sheedy Gary Tirohn and Bob Barton added a single goals. The lone Shark scores came off the sticks of Rich Connetteand Mike Brigante.Amherst also downed the Cougars 7-3 with Derek Embody leading the way with 2 goals while Lynett contributed to the win with a goal and 3 assists.The Sharks notched a pair of wins over the Syracuse Stars and Buffalo Blades. They beat the Stars in Syracuse 4-1 and a few nights later dumped the Blades 9-3. In the Buffalo game Sam Crogan scored a &ldquo;natural&rsquo; hat trick getting the first three Shark goals of the game. Captain Dave Ra ham chipped in with a goal and an assist: Vic Talarico had one goal and three assists; Mike Andrejack had one goal and one assist; John Donaldson and Rich Connette each fired singletons. Mike Brigante contributed three assists forthe Blades while Rod Muranyi had a pair of goals and Ray Nuchereno a single tally. &#9632;

f0039-13

JUNIOR JOTTINGS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="c0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01113/3520322-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

February 13, 1976

CARTOON CORNER

FRANK ORR SAYS

Murphy Ties Club Record

HOW THEY STAND