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 20, 1976

The Hockey News February 20, 1976

f0016-01

IN THIS ISSUE

NHL SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

C0004-01

CUPOLO’S

<p class="dropcap"><b><span>N</span>HL: 1&mdash;Montreal. 2&mdash;Detroit. 3&mdash;Boston 4&mdash;NY 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;Voncouve 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;Edmonton 24&mdash;Houston 25&mdash;Indianapolis. 26&mdash;Minnesota 27&mdash;New England 28&mdash;Phoenix 29&mdash;Quebec 30&mdash;San Diego 31&mdash;Toronto. 32&mdash;Winnipeg Inter-League: 33&mdash;N.Y. Rangers (NHL) & St. Louis (NHL). 34&mdash;Montreal iNHL) & Atlanta (NHL) 36&mdash;Pittsburgh (NHL) & Buffalo (NHL) 37&mdash;New England (WHA) & Washington (NHL; 38&mdash;Detroit (NHL&rsquo; & Minnesota (NHL) 39&mdash;Atlanta (NHL) & Vancouver (NHL) 40&mdash;Phoenix, Houston & San Diego (WHA 41&mdash;Los Angeles (NHL) & N.Y Islanders (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;Ph.ladephia (NHL) & Washington (NHL). 50&mdash;Boston (NHL) San Diego (WHA). 51&mdash;Buffalo (NHL) & Toronto (WHA). 52&mdash;Montreal &#2404;NHL) & Toronto (WHA). 55&mdash;Buffalo (NHL) & Calgary (WHA) 56&mdash;Buffalo (NHL) & Cleveland (WHA). 57&mdash;N.Y Rangers (NHL) & St Louis (NHL) 58&mdash;Detroit (NHL) & Edmonton (WHA).</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Minor League Affiliations

<div class="byline">BY BILL HEUFELDER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01904/3628848-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="984" height="1175"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02772/3628841-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="981" height="1156"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03518/3628834-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="970" height="1170"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Exciting Pierre Larouche turns Pittsburgh fans on with his uncanny scoring touch. He&rsquo;s the most talked-about Penguin in the club&rsquo;s brief history.</b></figcaption></div><p>PITTSBURGH&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>is talent forever thrusting him beyond his peers, Pierre Larouche, who was 18 when he played his first National Hockey League game, is adjusting to his increasingly prominent role.</p><p>The dashing, dark-haired Pittsburgh Penguin center is leaving the toughest adjustment to the opposition. He is among the league&rsquo;s top 10 scorers and displaying moves that many veterans envy, but can&rsquo;t duplicate.</p><p>His large Pittsburgh following comprised mostly of idolizing teenagers. Larouche has emerged as the club&rsquo;s most exciting player as well as the leading scorer. Through a four-week stretch that started in early December, he accounted for 24 points, including 13 goals in 14 games.</p><p>Larouche. drafted away from the Sorel Black Hawks as an under-age junior, netted 31 goals, added 17 assists and wound up as THE HOCKEY NEWS rookie of the year last season. His improved production does not surprise him.</p><p>&ldquo;Last year, I was scared to carry the puck, scared to make a mistake,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now I know what&rsquo;s going on.&rdquo;</p><p>On a November Sunday shortly before the Quebec Remparts and Sorel Black Hawks were to play their Quebec Junior League game, Larouche, barely 17, learned he&rsquo;d been traded.</p><p>Conveniently, the Remparts dealt him to Sorel, allowing a confused Larouche to merely march from one dressing room to the other and switch uniforms.</p><p>&ldquo;Right before the warmup,&rdquo; Pierre recalled. &ldquo;My heart was goingboom boom.&rdquo;</p><p>The butterflies vanished quickly and on his only shift he sought out a former teammate, Real Cloutier. &ldquo;I cross-checked him in the head,&rdquo; Larouche confessed.</p><p>Celebrated Rempart rookies, Pierre claims Cloutier chided him about his role as a reserve. When the season ended, Larouche was named the league&rsquo;s rookie of the year, racking up 114 points.</p><p>And Cloutier? Well, he scored a hat trick that earned him the most valuable player award in this year&rsquo;s World Hockey Association All Star game.</p><p>If his 31 goals for the Penguins attest to his adjustment on the ice last season, they do not tell the full story. A French Canadian youngster struggling with his English and dumped into a strange city, he was not entirely comforted by a six-figure salary that allowed him to buy and sell fancy cars at a dizzy pace.</p><p>His teammates, he figures, reacted stiffly towards him. Larouche, in turn, retaliated with the same determination that he directed at Cloutier.</p><p>&ldquo;I took the attitude, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re not going to pick on me,&rdquo; Pierre says. &ldquo;Sometimes I should have kept quiet.&rdquo;</p><p>Looking upon the uneasy experience with an eye toward the distant future, he added, &ldquo;When I&rsquo;m 30 and a high draft choice comes in making big money, I&rsquo;ll be the same way as the guys were last year.</p><p>Larouche was relaxing in a hotel lobby, having put away his pregame meal on a recent road trip. Smiling broadly, goalie Michel Plasse began baiting him.</p><p>&ldquo;Hey sonny,&rdquo; Larouche shot back. &ldquo;I go to the All Star game. You don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be impressed,&rdquo; Plasse countered. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll be on the fourth line. Don&rsquo;t let it go to your head.&rdquo;</p><p>Plasse departed and Pierre, feeling more like one of the boys, cheerfully said, &ldquo;Things are good now.&rdquo;</p><p>His youth, talent and salary allow him, to remain irrepressible and to mature at his own pace. True to Plasse&rsquo;s words, Larouche was the fourth-line center in the All Star game, but contributed an assist, as well as moving in front of a shot by Carol Vadnais as the Campbell squad pressed for a goal in the closing seconds.</p><p>&ldquo;First time I block a shot this year,&rdquo; Larouche laughed in the happy winners&rsquo; dressing room.</p><p>In search of a compliment, he spotted his Prince of Wales coach, Buffalo&rsquo;s Floyd Smith, and yelled, &ldquo;Hey Smitty.&rdquo;</p><p>Responding on cue, Smith chirped, &ldquo;Way to go kid. I knew you wouldn&rsquo;t let them score.&rdquo;</p><p>Defensively, Larouche was not unlike many juniors who thrived on amazing point production in the juniors. He arrived from Sorel with staggering figures, including more than 200 points in his final season. The adjustment has been slow, but encouraging.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a little tough coming back for him,&rdquo; acknowledges linemate Rick Kehoe. &ldquo;Once you play another style for so long, it&rsquo;s tough to change.&rdquo;</p><p>But Larouche can turn an opposing rush into a Penguin goal in a wink because of his anticipation, flashing to intercept an enemy pass and putting the puck behind a stunned goaltender.</p><p>If such instances are infrequent now, his ability to glide through opponents while carrying the puck has become routine. &ldquo;He anticipates so well,&rdquo; Kehoe says. &ldquo;He knows when to break. He sort of knows what the other guy is going to do. You either have that instinct or you don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p><p>Kehoe, well on his way to a second straight 30-goal campaign with the Penguins and third in the NHL, is playing his first season alongside Larouche. Despite an absence of three weeks because of an ankle injury, Kehoe had adjusted nicely.</p><p>&ldquo;You have to trail him across the blueline because he likes to make the play,&rdquo; the 24-year-old right winger said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s like Stan Mikita in that he makes things happen.&rdquo;</p><p>Not surprisingly, Larouche looks upon Mikita, the peerless Chicago playmaker, as his idol. If Pierre is making strides in Mikita&rsquo;s direction this season, he credits an added 10 pounds, as well as beefed-up confidence for his success.</p><p>Pierre, with his boyish face and seemingly vulnerable physique that now carries 183 pounds, has withstood punishment well, except from Harvey Bennett. Teammates at the start of the season, Larouche suffered a separated shoulder that kept him out of the lineup for three games after he collided with the 215-pound Bennett during a practice session.</p><p>When it comes to his knack for winning faceoffs, Larouche does not try to explain his success, which is considerable. His ability to anticipate unquestionably is a factor, but Kehoe offers a reason.</p><p>&ldquo;He really concentrates on the draws,&rdquo; Kehoe said. &ldquo;He figures he has to prove himself. He wants to beat the best. It&rsquo;s on his mind that nobody is going to beat him.&rdquo;</p><p>After his outstanding performance in the WHA All Star game, Cloutier was quoted as expressing an interest in shifting to the NHL after his contract with the Quebec Nordiques expires.</p><p>&ldquo;This was a very important game for me because I am eligible for the NHL draft this year,&rdquo; he explained through an interpreter. &ldquo;Maybe there were some scouts here to see me, eh?&rdquo;</p><div class="sidebar"><p><b>&bull; Larouche Already Has The Finesse That Many Veterans Envy But Can&rsquo;t Duplicate.</b></p><p><b>&bull; Playing In NHL All Star game At Age 19 Was A Big Thrill For Pens&rsquo; Teenage Idol.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

f0003-01

BABY-FACED PENGUIN WITH THE GROWN-UP MOVES

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>hen they launched a house-cleaning on their roster last spring, the Toronto Maple Leaf&rsquo;s realized that reconstruction would mean inconsistency during the 1975-76 National Hockey League season.</p><p>&ldquo;Sure, we knew there would be times of frustration, times when we needed ex-perienced players,&rdquo; said Leaf general manager Jim Gregory. &ldquo;But we figured it was the only way to go and that we had to rebuild the team with the youngest possible roster.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02825/3628772-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="280" height="428"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Jim Gregory</b></figcaption></div><p>Inconsistency, indeed, has been the one consistent factor of the Leafs&rsquo; performance this season. At times, they&rsquo;ve been a handful for the league&rsquo;s elite teams; on other occasions, the Leafs have tripped over their own shadows.</p><p>The month of January supplied a good example of the Leaf scramble. In one stretch, they had four wins and a tie in six road games. They followed that with a six-game string in which they acquired only three points.</p><p>&ldquo;We simply have to sit tight and ride out the bad streaks,&rdquo; Gregory said. &ldquo;We made the commitment to the young players and the only way they can mature is to fight their way out of the losing periods. Sure, it&rsquo;s frustrating but what else can we do?</p><p>Gregory often is criticized, sometimes by Leaf owner Harold Ballard, for what appears to be his lack of daring on the trade market. But the fans&rsquo; view&mdash;and, some-times, Ballard&rsquo;s, too&mdash;is that all Gregory has to do to make a deal is to call another GM, offer him a pork chop and receive a whole pig in return.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked until I&rsquo;m blue in the face trying to make trades,&rdquo; Gregory said. &ldquo;I think every other general manager in the league does the same, especially those with teams outside of the top three or our.</p><p>&ldquo;We could make trades, dealing our ordinary players for other ordinary players. But making trades which will improve the team is another matter. Sure, there have been some deals this season involving other teams. But have those swaps really changed the picture for the teams involved.&rdquo;</p><p>The most frequent trade rumble surrounding the Leafs this season has involved Mickey Redmond, the flashy right winger who twice shot 50 goals in a season for the Detroit Red Wings.</p><p>Persistent rumbles have had the Leafs on the verge of securing Redmond from the Wings. Often the rumors were fanned by Redmond&rsquo;s attorney.</p><p>It doesn&rsquo;t take a genius to figure out that the Leafs&mdash;or any other NHL team, for that matter.&mdash;would be interested in a player of Redmond&rsquo;s calibre. But for the Leafs to acquire him would mean the sacrifice of one of their top four or five young players a move they aren&rsquo;t anxious to make.</p><p>&ldquo;What keeps you from going nuts in this business is the plus factors and we have many this season.&rdquo; Gregory added. &ldquo;We have several kids who are moving along very well towards the front ranks.&rdquo;</p><p>The plus side of the Leaf picture includes the development of wingers Lanny McDonald and Errol Thompson into solid big league shooters, the arrival of young Jack Valiquette in a mid-season call-up from the Central League and his awkward but promising work, Wayne Thomas&rsquo; strength in the Leaf net and the excellent leadership shown by new captain Darryl Sittler.</p><p><b>NOTES:</b> Winger Blaine Stoughton, the Leafs&rsquo; No. 1 disappointment this season, was demoted to Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central League. Stoughton shot 23 goals last season after the Leafs added him in a trade with Pittsburgh Penguins. This season, he&rsquo;s shown little snap or drive&hellip;Rookie center Don Ashby&rsquo;s goal in a 7-1 loss at Pittsburgh ended a 32-game scoreles drought for the young center&hellip;The Valiquette-Dave Williams-Pat Boutette line continued to perform strongly for Leafs.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-02

Inconsistency Most Consistent Factor As Leafs Committed To Young Players

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01900/3628803-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>John Bucyk of the Boston Bruins has reached another career milestone as he became the second highest point scorer in NHL history last weekend. For details see page 17.</b></figcaption></div><h2>COACH COOLS IN JAIL</h2><p>MEDICINE HAT&mdash;</p><p>Mike Sauter, coach of the Lethbridge Broncos of the Western Canada Major Junior Hockey League, spent almost two hours in a Medicine Hat jail while his team was losing 6-5 to the Tigers.</p><p>A third period brawl, which resulted in 104 minutes in penalties, two game misconducts and a gross misconduct to Sauter, was started when Tiger defenseman John Hilworth attacked the Lethbridge bench.</p><p>Sauter and Lethbridge rearguard Darcy Reiger, who was not dressed for the game, were removed from the arena by police and taken to jail until their team bus was ready to leave. Police said charges would not be laid against the Broncos&rsquo; coach.</p><h2>SPEAR DRAWS SUSPENSION</h2><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p>Los Angeles defenseman Dave Hutchison has been dealt an eightgame suspension from NHL president Clarence Campbell as the result of a spearing incident in a game in L.A. against Montreal.</p><p>Hutchison was given a match penalty by referee John McCauley after the Kings&rsquo; reaguard had jabbed with his stick at the head of the Canadiens&rsquo; Doug Risebrough.</p><p>&ldquo;Spearing is the most despicable of all fouls among the players themselves and one of the most dangerous,&rdquo; said Campbell in handing down his verdict.</p><p>Hutchison, who also must pay the automatic $200 fine which goes along with a match penalty, said he felt he shouldn&rsquo;t be suspended because he didn&rsquo;t injure Risebrough.</p><h2>RUSSIANS DOMINATE OLYMPICS</h2><p>INNSBRUCK&mdash;</p><p>The Russian hockey team is making a mockery of the 1976 Winter Olympics and it appears the Soviets benefitted immensely from their whirlwind eight-game tour of NHL cities last month. In their first two starts they overpowered the United States 6-2 and stuck it to Poland 16-1 with star goaler Vladislav Tretiak watching the proceedings from the sidelines.</p><p>The Russians are obviously headed for a showdown with the Czechs for the Olympic gold medal and most everyone has predicted they will win without as much as losing a game in the six-country round-robin tourney. The Czechs weren&rsquo;t that impressive in beating Finland 2-1 and the U.S.A. 5-0. U.S. coach Bob Johnson from Wisconsin said the Americans went to Innsbruck for a medal and he said the young U.S. team will have to improve off their first two games in order to grab a bronze, third place, behind the Russians and Czechs. The Finns are third ranked meaning the Americans will have to beat them to make it.</p><h2>WHA STARS JUMP BACK</h2><p>KANSAS CITY&mdash;</p><p>The shrinking hockey dollar is driving some players back to the NHL these days. Last week Gerry Cheevers bolted the Clevela&rsquo;nd Crusaders in a dispute with team GM Jack Vivian but Cheevers said it was the WHA club&rsquo;s financial instability that prompted him to ask out of his $200,000 per year contract. The Crusaders obliged and Cheevers signed with Boston again.</p><p>Now controversial Henry Boucha of the Minnesota Fighting Saints has leaped back to the NHL with Kansas City Scouts. Boucha, who was suspended by the WHA club for leaving the team bench during a game, said the Saints did not fulfill their part of his contract. He jumped the club for the NHL Scouts.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-01

Deadline Stoppers

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01956/3628900-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="445" height="457"></div><p><b>&bull; WHILE IT</b> is getting to be a habit for Guy Lafleur to lead the Montreal segment of the Molson Cup competition. Vancouver rookie Rick Blight and Lanny McDonald of the Toronto Leafs were the surprise winners in their respective races. Blight, making a late bid for NHL rookie of the year honors, edged past teammates Don Lever, Gary Smith and Chris Odd-leifson. while McDonald beat out Errol Thompson in the Toronto division and the $1,000 check from the sponsors of the Molson Cup. Rookie Doug Jarvis finished second to Lafleur in the Montreal voting and received $500 as runner-up. It was quite a feat for Jarvis. Molson&rsquo;s award the winner of the three sections. Montreal. Toronto and Vancouver $1,000 and an equal amount is given to the charity of the winner&rsquo;s choice&hellip;The telecast of the recent WHA All Star game played in Cleveland is being shown on a delayed basis in Japan&hellip;A sellout crowd of 16,005 saw the Kings score three goals in 57 seconds against the great Ken Dryden as they went on to defeat Montreal 7-3 in one of the most exciting games played at the Los Angeles Forum. Bedlam reigned throughout as Canadiens suffered their first defeat in NHL play on the Pacific Coast since Scotty Bowman took over as coach. Canadiens had a record of 39 undefeated games on the Coast until the Jan. 31 Kings&rsquo; onslaught&hellip;Al Arbour, THE HOCKEY NEWS Coach of the Year, is the only man in hockey today who was on three straight Stanley Cup winners with two different teams. He came from the 1961 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Black Hawks to the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; cup winners of 1962 and &lsquo;63.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02912/3628893-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="270" height="430"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Rick Blight</b></figcaption></div><p><b>&bull; GREG NEELD,</b> the one-eyed defenseman who came to the Toronto Toros in a flurry of publicity, is no longer with the team. He couldn&rsquo;t make it with the WHA club, and according to Jerry Rollins. one of Neeld&rsquo;s teammates during his brief stay with the Toros. Neeld&rsquo;s problem wasn&rsquo;t really visual. &ldquo;He had lost his confidence,&rdquo; Rollins stated. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s still a better player than most, but he has no confidence any more,&rdquo; added Rollins&hellip;Brian Conacher, general manager of the Mohawk Valley Comets of the North American Hockey League, is doing the color commentary on ABC-TV telecasts of the Olympic hockey games&hellip;Ralph Mellanby of Hockey Night in Canada fame is directing all of the hockey games for ABC-TV at the 1976 winter Olympics. More and more California hockey fans raving about the excellent play-by-play coverage of the Kings&rsquo; games by Bob Miller, the talented Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; broadcaster&hellip;Bruce Boudreau, former Toronto Marlie star. now with &bull;Johnstown-Jets of the NAHL, had four goals and five assists in weekend games against Maine recently&hellip;Jacques Caron played four games in five nights in two different leagues a couple of weeks ago. He played twice for Cleveland of the WHA and twice with Syracuse of the NAHL&hellip;Rumors persist that-Jack Vivian, general manager of the Cleveland Crusaders and longtime coach at Bowling Green College, is looking into college coaching opportunities for next season&hellip;Phil Esposito has 21 suits hanging in his clothes closet&hellip;Jack Valiquette is placing well for the Toronto Leafs. He is young, strong, has good hockey sense and is one of the Leafs&rsquo; more promising players of the future&hellip;Billy Harris, former coach of the Toronto Toros and the Swedish National team, was the guest of honor at the 8th annual historic hockey series in Kingston. Ont. Besides speaking on international hockey he took part in the historic hockey parade and faced off the puck to start the series of games on Kingston harbor ice. Bill Fitsell, Phil Quattrocchi and Bill Crews do an outstanding job on this event in the city where hockey was first played by British soldiers back in 1886. R.M.C.. winner of the Historic Hockey Trophy the past five years, played a round-robin series with Queen&rsquo;s University and No. 2 R.C.H.A. of Petawawa. Ont. The teams, seven players per side, wear uniforms similar to those worn in the first games played in 1886&hellip;Cincinnati Stingers are doing one of the finest promotional and public relations jobs in all of professional hockey. Cincinnati will turn out to be one of the best franchises in the World Hockey Association&hellip;There&rsquo;s speculation that Philadelphia Flyers might take Doug Favell back. The Leafs have been trying to peddle Favell for months. The Fivers might need Dougie for backup duties in the playoff stretch as it appears more apparent every day that Bernie Parent won&rsquo;t be back this season. Favell is reported to be playing brilliantly with Oklahoma City of the Central League these days.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03807/3628886-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="269" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Bob Miller</b></figcaption></div><p><b>&bull; BRYAN TROTTIER</b> of the Islanders, Dennis Maruk of the California Seals and Doug Jarvis of the Canadiens are three of the best rookies to come into the NHL in any single season. Any one of the three would be an ideal winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league&rsquo;s outstanding rookie&hellip;Indianapolis Racers are scouting Swedish players for next season&hellip;Rick MacLeish of the Flyers is a great fan of western movies&hellip;It looks like Canadiens&rsquo; Steve Shutt will score 40 goals this season. Last year he tallied 30 and he&rsquo;s already hit for 29 this season&hellip;If Bobby Clarke loses the scoring race to Guy Lafleur by one point he&rsquo;ll have done it himself. He was given an assist he didn&rsquo;t earn two weeks ago but pointed it out to the official scorer and Bill Barber was awarded the point instead.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04705/3628879-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="260" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Steve Shutt</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0004-01

PASSINC THE PUCK

<p><b>Vol. 29 No. 19 FEBRUARY 20,1976</b></p><p>Founded October 1st, 1947</p><p>Published 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.</p><p><b>Kenneth W. McKenzie</b><br>President, Publisher and Advertising Director</p><p><b>Don Wall</b><br>Associate Publisher</p><p><b>Charlie Halpin</b><br>Editorial Director</p><p><b>Keith Lawton</b><br>Administration Manager</p><p><b>Pat Beale</b><br>Advertising Co-Ordinator</p><p><b>Ralph Bridgland</b><br>Asst. To Editor</p><p><b>United States Advertising Representatives</b></p><p><b>NEW YORK:</b> Bill Hitzig, National Sports Publishing Corp., 150 East 58th Street New York. N.Y. 10022. Telephone (212) 593-2100.</p><p><b>CHICAGO: Hooper Jones & Associates, 3322 W. Peterson Ave., Chicago, III 60659. Telephone (312) 478-5544.</b></p><p><b>ATLANTIC STATES:</b> (including New York, Boston. Buffalo & Philadelphia: Bob Bassinette, Basel nette/White, 50 East 42nd St., New York. N.Y. 10017. Telephone (212) 986-6210.</p><p><b>YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES:</b> $9.50 in Canada $10.50 in the U.S.A. and $14.00 in Foreign Countries. Sec ond 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.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The Hockey News OFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05573/3628955-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2><b>Keep Vezina In Proper Place</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>n recent months I have noticed that more and more people are writing in to say that the Vezina Trophy should be awarded to the goalie who stops the most shots but doesn&rsquo;t necessarily have the best goals-against average.</p><p>To me these ideas are outrageous. The Vezina is not a trophy like the Hart or Norris which are awarded for great individual performance. The Vezina Trophy is a team trophy, awarded to the goaltenders of the unit which best exemplifies prowess on defense by allowing the least goals.</p><p>How could you give a league award to a goalie with a 4.00 goals-against average?</p><p><b>JIM PROSKURNICK</b><br><b>North Vancouver, B.C.</b></p><h2><b>Change Of Principle Led To Dismissal</b></h2><p>The recent firing of Penguin coach Marc Boileau was directly traceable to his abandonment of two guiding principles that transformed last year&rsquo;s Pens into a winning, exciting, contented team and gained for Boileau the respect of his players and popularity with the fans.</p><p>Last year, the Pens acquired a competent backup goaltender. Michel Plasse, to alternate with previously-overworked Gary Inness. Boileau expressed his belief in the alternating goaltender system as the only way to go. As a result, Plasse played superbly, going undefeated at home, and Inness displayed great ability and even greater promise, especially in the playoffs when he won five in a row.</p><p>This year, Boileau inexplicably benched Inness, first playing rookie Gordon Laxton and then starting Plasse for nearly 20 games in a row. Laxton proved unready, and Plasse, while playing well, felt the strain and couldn&rsquo;t win the &ldquo;big&rdquo; games. Meanwhile, Inness mostly sat and was then farmed out to regain his lost confidence.</p><p>Last year, it was also Boileau&rsquo;s policy to play everyone, and his belief that the one way to develop young players quickly was to show the confidence to play them in pressure situations. This policy resulted in the rapid maturation of such young Pen stars as Pierre Larouche, Colin Campbell, and Inness. This year, mistakes by young and old players alike have led to benchings, spot duty, line shifts, and trades. It has also led to incidents, outbursts, and breakdowns of communication between players and coach of which the Durbano case was only the most publicized.</p><p>Boileau&rsquo;s change of character reduced the Pens to a losing, disgruntled, disappointing team.</p><p><b>KENN KORNICK</b><br><b>Pittsburgh, Pa.</b></p><h2><b>Bucyk, Esposito Bonafide Stars</b></h2><p>Reading Fan Forum (Jan 30/76) I can&rsquo;t help but think, that the letter from Marc Balzamo, (Lafleur exception to expansion stars) has to be one of the most biased letters yet published in THE HOCKEY NEWS. So much for being a loyal Hab fan.</p><p>John Bucyk may not resemble Toller Cranston, but to say that he waits at the crease while his teammates do all the work is absolutely ridiculous. Marc you must mean Sam Bucyk (whoever that is) because the Bucyk I have seen is the first guy in the corner digging, especially on the power play, and he is a good scorer, with that no-hesitation shot of his.</p><p>And I wouldn&rsquo;t credit expansion with the scoring prowess of Phil Esposito. If you were around at the time Phil played for Chicago, you would know that Bobby Hull credited Phil with his first 50-goal year (pre-expansion). Possibly Esposito could have had big years with Chicago in the scoring department, but his job was to set up the big man (Hull) and rightly so, as he was as yet an unknown quantity.</p><p>Try watching what the opposition is doing next time, you might even see some talent. But on the other side Guy-Lafleur is one of the finest players in this or any other year, having placed in the NHL.</p><p><b>JIM BRAWLEY,</b><br><b>Sault Ste. Marie. Ont.</b></p><h2><b>Hometown Team Not Necessarily Favorite</b></h2><p>In reference to Mr. Cole&rsquo;s letter in the 1/23/76 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, he shouldn&rsquo;t criticize the fan who lives in Jamestown, N.Y. and was unhappy at not being able to hear the Pittsburgh Penguins anymore because of the weaker radio station that now broadcasts Pens games. Just because he lives in New York he must be an automatic Sabres fan? Maybe he lived in Pittsburgh for a long time and is staying loyal to his old team. Or maybe for some reason he just prefers the Pens over the Sabres. Buffalo&rsquo;s better record notwithstanding.</p><p>It&rsquo;s darn silly to be told you should root for the team nearest your home: after all, few pro teams in any sport contain even one athlete who is actually playing in his own hometown. Sports is a matter of preference as well as excellence.</p><p>Inasmuch as I live in a Cleveland suburb. I follow and support the WHA Crusaders because they are the nearest team to actually go and see play in person, but I don&rsquo;t feel I am guilty of high treason because I also am an extremely vocal booster of the world champion Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL. I have only been in Philly three weeks in my life, attending a service school while in the Coast Guard in 1966, a year before the Fivers were even formed. I know-nothing about the city, only know one person who grew up there, but it doesn&rsquo;t seem to matter.</p><p>I am sure anyone who is a serious fan of a champion team understands. They don&rsquo;t have to be your home team. They just have to be the best in your own mind.</p><p><b>WILLIAM T. McCRODEN</b><br><b>Rocky River, Oh.</b></p><h2><b>Flyers&rsquo; Iron Curtain Upset Russians</b></h2><p>As an eyewitness. I would say that the game between the Fivers and the Russians was the best game so far of the 1975-76 season. The Flyers outplayed the Russians and proved that they are the true World Champions. The only thing that kept the Russians in the game was the playing of their goalie Vladislav Tretiak who ranks with the top goalies of the NHL.</p><p>The Flyers defense put an &ldquo;iron curtain&rdquo; on the blueline and thus kept the Russians penned up in their own end. This was very obvious since the shot totals were 49 to 13.</p><p>Finally the incident of walking off the ice by the Russians turned out to be a waste of time. They tried a trick that the Fivers are the best at&mdash;one-upmanship. At the conclusion of the game the teams had the traditional handshaking ceremony and as they exchanged their greetings, above them on the Spectrum scoreboard were 3 little words&mdash;BRING ON MARS!</p><p><b>GREGG MINGES</b><br><b>Hatboro, Pa.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0004-05

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01852/3628986-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="578" height="888"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RENE ROBERT&hellip;New Linemates</b></figcaption></div><p>BUFFALO&mdash;</p><p>Ever since he joined the Sabres March 4, 1972, Rene Robert has been Gil Perreault&rsquo;s right winger.</p><p>That is, until Rene&rsquo;s knee was hurt against the Bruins in Boston late in January. He sat out a game, then came back to find himself playing right wing on a line with the Sabres&rsquo; renowned checkers, Don Luce and Craig Ramsay.</p><p>This was quite a change for Rene but it seemed to work out, at least at first. He didn&rsquo;t score in his first game on the new line but he did put eight shots on goal. And Danny Gare, who left the Luce line to take over as Gil Perreault&rsquo;s right wing, scored twice in a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.</p><p>Next time out, Robert scored the tying goal in a come-from-behind tie, 3-3, with the New York Rangers. He assisted on one of the other two Buffalo goals.</p><p>And, when the Sabres tied the Philadelphia Flyers, 1-1, in the following game, Robert set up his team&rsquo;s only score. It was, however, on the power play and the pass he sent from the point to in front of the goal was to his former linemate, Rick Martin.</p><p>Perreault, Martin and Robert played together through most of the last three seasons as th&egrave; French Connection, probably&rsquo;the most publicized forward line in the National Hockey League.</p><p>When the Connection would be disconnected temporarily, it was Martin who would shift to another line. Perreault and Robert stayed together.</p><p>But in Coach Floyd Smith&rsquo;s latest juggling act, all three members of the Connection were on different lines. Martin moved from left wing to right, teamed with Pete McNab and Brian Spencer.</p><p>Perreault had Fred Stanfield and Gare as his wings and Robert was with Luce and Ramsay. A fourth line had Jim Lorentz between Jacques Richard and Gary McAdam. Mostly, the members of this line filled in on other lines after power plays, Buffalo penalties or injuries.</p><p>&ldquo;This gives our lines very good balance,&rdquo; Robert pointed out. &ldquo;Now they (the opposition) can&rsquo;t concentrate their checking on any one line.&rdquo;</p><p>Each line had a big shooter&mdash;Robert on his line, Martin on his and both Perreault and Gare on theirs. At the All-Star Game break all except Robert were nearing 30 goals and Rene had missed nine games because of injuries.</p><p>Each line had good checking, too, and diggers in the corners.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take me a while to get used to playing on this line,&rdquo; Robert admitted. &ldquo;They use a complete opposite style from the one I had with Gil. They shoot the puck in and chase it, where Gil, of course, worked it in.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s another feeling for me; a change in the routine. But I enjoy it. Just have to keep working. Don and Rammer both dig. do they ever dig.</p><p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;re good hockey players and I like playing with them. When you&rsquo;re a pro it shouldn&rsquo;t matter who you play with. The big thing is for the team to win. &ldquo;</p><p><b>ICE CHIPS</b>&mdash;Martin became the first Sabre to hit the 30-goal mark and Gare followed shortly thereafter. Danny scored twice with members of his family looking on in the 4-2 win over St. Louis. It was the third time Gare&rsquo;s family had traveled east from British Columbia to visit him and in all four games they saw, he scored.</p><p>After losing in Boston with what Smith called their &ldquo;worst effort in a big game ever&rdquo;, the Sabres began to play better hockey but they could do no more than tie three of their next four games.</p><p>The New York Rangers&rsquo; Dunc Wilson and the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; Wayne Stephenson both came up with outstanding goaltending performances against Smitty&rsquo;s club. The Sabres outshot the Rangers, 39-26, and the Flyers, 30-17.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-01

Robert Shifted To Give Sabres Balance

<p><b>Following are the latest player movements in hockey:</b></p><h2><b>NATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p>ATLANTA&mdash;<b>Richard Mulhern,</b> defenseman, returned to Tulsa of CHL. Guy Chouinard, forward, recalled from Nova Scotia of AHL.</p><p>BOSTON&mdash;<b>Gerry Cheevers,</b> goalkeeper, signed to NHL contract after jumping back from Cleveland of WHA.</p><p>DETROIT&mdash;<b>Terry Richardson,</b> goalkeeper, recalled from Springfield of AHL.</p><p>CALIFORNIA&mdash;<b>Tom Price,</b> forward, recalled from Salt Lake of CHL. <b>Dave Hrechkosy,</b> forward, and <b>George Pesut,</b> defenseman, sent to Salt Lake.</p><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;<b>Jerome Mrazek,</b> goalkeeper, recalled from Richmond of AHL. <b>Bob Taylor,</b> goalkeeper, &lsquo;sent to Richmond as replacement.</p><p>KANSAS CITY&mdash;<b>Henry Boucha,</b> forward, signed to NHL contract after jumping back from Minnesota of WHA.</p><p>TORONTO&mdash;<b>Claire Alexander,</b> defenseman, and <b>Doug Favell,</b> goalkeeper, recalled from Oklahoma City of CHL. <b>Blaine Stoughton,</b> forward, sent to Oklahoma City.</p><p>N.Y. ISLANDERS&mdash;<b>Pat Price,</b> defenseman. recalled from Fort Worth of CHL.</p><p>WASHINGTON&mdash;<b>Brian Kinsella,</b> forward, recalled from Dayton of IHL.</p><h2>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</h2><p>NEW ENGLAND&mdash;<b>Paul Hurley,</b> defenseman, traded to Edmonton along with amateur rights to Clarke Jantze, forward, Univ. Alberta, for Steve Carlyle and Kerry Ketter, defensemen.</p><p>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;<b>Ted Scharf,</b> forward, recalled from Mohawk Valley of NAHL.</p><p>TORONTO&mdash;<b>John Van Horlick,</b> defenseman, recalled from Buffalo of NAHL.</p><p>HOUSTON&mdash;<b>Bob Liddington</b>, forward, signed as free agent from defunct Ottawa Civics and assigned to Tucson of CHL.</p><p>PHOENIX&mdash;<b>Grant Erickson,</b> defenseman, and Mike Sleep, forward, recalled from Tucson of CHL.</p><p>CLEVELAND&mdash;<b>Bob Johnson,</b> goalkeeper, signed as free agent from defunct Ottawa Civics. John Voss, goalkeeper, recalled from Greensboro of SHL.</p><p>MINNESOTA&mdash;<b>Mike Curran,</b> goalkeeper, sent to Johnstown of NAHL. Lou Levasseur, goalkeeper, recalled from Johnstown as replacement.</p><h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2><p>HERSHEY&mdash;<b>Ken Breitenbach</b>, defenseman, returned by Buffalo. <b>Larry Bignell</b>, defenseman, signed as free agent from disbanded Ottawa Civics.</p><p>PROVIDENCE&mdash;<b>Greg Hickey,</b> forward, returned to N.Y. Rangers and reassigned to Port Huron of IHL.</p><p>RICHMOND&mdash;<b>Blair Mackasey,</b> defenseman, returned to Washington and reassigned to Dayton of IHL</p><p>ROCHESTER&mdash;<b>Steve Stirling,</b> forward, returned to Bing-hamton of NAHL.</p><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2><p>OKLAHOMA CITY&mdash;<b>Terry Casey,</b> forward, returned to Al-buquerque of SWHL.</p><p>SALT LAKE&mdash;<b>Jim Weaver,</b> goalkeeper, <b>Tom Sundberg</b> and <b>Bobby Geoffrion,</b> forwards, sent to Toledo of IHL. <b>Larry Hendrick,</b> goalkeeper, recalled from Toledo.</p><h2>SOUTHERN LEAGUE</h2><p>GREENSBORO&mdash;<b>Michel Labelle,</b> goalkeeper, signed as free agent.</p><p>ROANOKE&mdash;<b>Joe Junkin,</b> goalkeeper, sent to Tidewater of SHL. <b>Ron Marlow,</b> goalkeeper, secured from Fort Worth of CHL.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Movements of Players

<div class="byline">BY JACK McCARTHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01988/3629041-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>TERRY O&rsquo;REILLY&hellip;Already Equalled Career Best</b></figcaption></div><p>BOSTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>n a game in late January, Terry O&rsquo;Reilly beat Tony Esposito for a goal during a Boston win over the Black Hawks that stretched the Bruins&rsquo; lead over the Sabres to six points, which was good to enter the month of February. The point, however, is that it was Terrance O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s 16th goal of the 1975-76 season.</p><p>No. 16 was the highest total for Terry in his fifth year as a Bruin (he played one game in 1971-72). O&rsquo;Reilly, skating with Andre Savard and Dave Forbes, has become quite a hockey player for the Bruins.</p><p>When the subject of the Irishman from Oshawa, Ont. comes up, this agent always flashes back to the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal the year O&rsquo;Reilly was drafted from the Oshawa Generals.</p><p>Milt Schmidt was G.M. of the Bruins and he was asked about O&rsquo;Reilly, and he replied. &ldquo;I have not seen that much of him, but I get the word from the scouts that he will go through the end of the building for you, and we will take all that kind we can get&hellip;&rdquo;</p><p>He was awkward, and he wasn&rsquo;t the greatest skater in the world, but he would, indeed, go through the end of the building if need be, and he came to the Bruins and stuck.</p><p>O&rsquo;Reilly worked to become a hockey player, and that is the correct word&mdash;worked. He stayed out after practice day after day, skating. He skated in the summer whenever he could on time off from his studies&mdash;he has been a student part-time ever since he came into the NHL.</p><p>Little by little, he became a good skater, and now, although he still has that coltish, helter-skelter swing, he can move. His primary movement, of course, is into the corners, and the devil take the hindmost.</p><p>As befits a man with the monicker of Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, he was favorite in Boston from the word go, even before he stepped on the ice. And when the fans saw that Irish kisser and the pugnacity that went with it, O&rsquo;Reilly was home.</p><p>Two years in a row he was voted the Eddie Shore Trophy, a tribute from the elite of Boston fandom&mdash;&ldquo;The Gallery Gods&rdquo;&mdash;that raucous crew that likes people who go through the end of the building.</p><p>He also, last season, won the Seventh Player Award voted by the viewers of TV Channel 38, which telecasts the Bruins&rsquo; games.</p><p>The Boston coach, Don Cherry, says, &ldquo;The thing I like about him is that he works in practice on things he can&rsquo;t do well. Some players always try the things they do best. Not Terry. He&rsquo;s working all the time&hellip;&rdquo;</p><p>While Terry is not strictly an enforcer, he will do until one comes along, and in what may be described as a kev game in late January in Boston Garden, he took on Dave Schultz, a battle which seems to occur every time the two teams meet.</p><p>You know that somewhere along the line someone is going to have to challenge Schultz, and everyone was waiting to see how long it took Terry and Dave to tangle. They did.</p><p>The upshot of that one was that O&rsquo;Reilly got Schultz out of the game when the Flyer had to resort to butting to hold his own. And Dave subsequently was suspended for two games for the offense.</p><p>But Schultz and O&rsquo;Reilly is not the story&mdash;it is O&rsquo;Reilly&mdash;the guy who made himself a hockey player, a skater, so he could stay up in the big league.</p><p>That&rsquo;s determination and desire. The fight was always in him.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-01

It Took Hard Work To Make The Grade But O’Reilly Tops In Boston Garden

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01893/3629072-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>TONY ESPOSITO&hellip;Passes Credit On To Teammates</b></figcaption></div><p>CHICAGO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>ony Esposito, who has put price and pride together, is easy not to talk about because he never talks about himself. His next quotable quote will be his first in seven years as a Black Hawk.</p><p>But there&rsquo;ll be no trouble finding words for his epitaph: &ldquo;The Puck Stopped Here&hellip;And So Did the Buck.&rdquo; Esposito&rsquo;s next excuse, you see, will also be his first in seven years as a Black Hawk.</p><p>&ldquo;Who am I to judge other people?&rdquo; he was saying the other day, those Italian eyes and hands characteristically punctuating each sentence. &ldquo;If one of my teammats makes a mistake that results in a goal what good does it do to say anything? When I let in a bad one, they don&rsquo;t criticize me, do they?</p><p>&ldquo;I think that Jacques Plante used to name names when things went wrong, but that&rsquo;s not my style. It doesn&rsquo;t help the team, does it? A goal is a goal, and believe me, I&rsquo;ve blown a few.&rdquo;</p><p>Very few this season, which is turning out to be one of Esposito&rsquo;s best.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know about anybody else, but I think the guy is getting better with years,&rdquo; said John Marks.</p><p>Admittedly, the club in front of Esposito is much, much better this season than last. People are becoming very defensive about things.</p><p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t forget that,&rdquo; Esposito says. &ldquo;Everybody is playing well in front of me. I haven&rsquo;t had to face that many rebounds, it seems, and the shots the other teams are getting haven&rsquo;t been that good. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate.&rdquo;</p><p>Not quite as fortunate as general manager Tommy Ivan was in the summer of &lsquo;69 when Esposito was drafted from the Montreal Canadiens for petty cash.</p><p>&ldquo;He lifted us from last place to first the next year, and he&rsquo;s been terrifically consistent ever since,&rdquo; said coach Billy Reay, who for reasons known only unto himself chose to chastize Esposito last season when the Hawks finished third in the Rip Van Winkle Division.</p><p>That was an unusual aberration for Reay. He almost never raps his players in print. Secondly, Esposito always bleeds for his club and with last year&rsquo;s Chicago crew, that would have made him an exception rather than the rule.</p><p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean what I said as criticism,&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;I said that he was getting beat on goals that he didn&rsquo;t used to. But I realize he wasn&rsquo;t getting the support he should have gotten. Believe me, ever since he&rsquo;s come here, he&rsquo;s been the ideal person to coach.</p><p>&ldquo;Especially for a goalkeeper. That&rsquo;s the toughest position in this sport. Some goalies glare at their defense when they let a goal in. Others complain about this and that. Tony never does. He&rsquo;s a real man.&rdquo;</p><p>A working man, at that. No other player in the National Hockey League can match his timecard. Esposito has yet to bail out because of headache, neurtis, or neuralgia. Ever remember him being injured? And what about the common head cold? Is his head immune?</p><p>&ldquo;They pay me good money here, sol have to play,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like playing. I don&rsquo;t enjoy it. I enjoy the success you feel after the team wins, but I can&rsquo;t wait until the game is over. On game day, I eat at noon, relax, then drive to the Stadium. I don&rsquo;t say anything to anybody. It&rsquo;shall hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>In the summer, it&rsquo;s a little more hockey. He, brother Phil and Boston Bruin Ken Hodge operate a school in Las Vegas starting July 12. Tony changes then, though. He&rsquo;s more outgoing (&ldquo;a completely different person,&rdquo; says Marilyn, his stunning wife). He won&rsquo;t be dropping his head when one gets by him, or be facing the wall when the press enters the room, or rocking back and forth on his skates during the National Anthem in that tapdance of nerves.</p><p>Esposito&rsquo;s only concession to change might be an extension of his facemask to cover the top of his head, &ldquo;But even that I&rsquo;m not so sure about.&rdquo;</p><p>Other than that, the style remains the same&hellip;up, down, and all around in pursuit of the puck.</p><p>&ldquo;Tony is playing great, the best he ever has, I think,&rdquo; said defenseman Keith Magnuson. &ldquo;They used to say he was unorthodox. I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s moving around as much as he once did, but I don&rsquo;t think it makes much of a difference, either. He&rsquo;s stopping the puck.&rdquo;</p><p>So often that Tony Esposito might someday even make the Clarence Campbell Conference All Starteam.</p><p><b>PARTING SHOTS:</b> Cliff Ko roll led the Hawks in plus-minus figures with a plus-16 at the season&rsquo;s midpoint. Magnuson had plus-15 and Dale Tallon plus-14&hellip;Koroll was nearing the 150-goal plateau and Stan Mikita, who won&rsquo;t make 500 until next season, bagged his 475th in late January&hellip;Ivan Boldirev became the first Hawk to score 20 goals, then Pit Martin followed. Martin&rsquo;s output was more than his entire 1974-75 production.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0007-01

Esposito Playing His Best Goal Ever

<div class="byline">&#x2014;By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01977/3629110-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="285" height="350"></div><h2><b><i>Hockey&rsquo;s Toughest Jobs&hellip;</i></b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>ERE THEY ARE:</b> The Happiness Boys? Trouble&rsquo;s Twins? Destiny&rsquo;s Darlings? Max McNab and Tommy McVie, walking in where angels should have feared to tread. The Macs have taken over the Caps as manager and coach of the worst team in the history of hockey&rsquo;s major leagues.</p><p>In its first season last season, the Washington team set long-schedule standards for the National Hockey League by winning only eight games, losing 67, and doing a dozen other things worse than anyone else ever. As for the bad news, Washington has been worse this season. A little past mid-season they had won only three games, lost 40, and ran a winless streak to 25 games before they won one, surpassing the single-season standard.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02877/3629103-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="299" height="513"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Max McNab</b></figcaption></div><p>In the midst of this misery, Milt Schmidt, the manager who had doubled as coach since relieving his coach last season because it wasn&rsquo;t fair to subject a man to such misery, was replaced as manager by Max McNab, who signed as his coach Tommy McVie. It is easy to play this situation for laughs, but it is not funny to those people who pursue their professions under the pressure of this deepest, most continuous sort of disappointment.</p><p>It is incredible that the president of the league, Clarence Campbell, saw fit to blame management of the Caps for the club&rsquo;s plight. He presided over the program to stock the team with the sort of talent that, since the talent has thinned out in one expansion another, was so inadequate as to become an embarrassment to the selfish and short-sighted individuals who devised it.</p><p>Resigning, Schmidt said, &ldquo;If Mr. Mr. Campbell wants to manage, and has the money, let him come here and try his hand at it.&rdquo; As McNab took over. Milt told him, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough one. You don&rsquo;t have much to work with. I wish you luck. You&rsquo;ll need it.&rdquo; Max says, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if anyone can do a better job than Milt. 1 can try, but I can&rsquo;t imagine criticizing his attempt.&rdquo;</p><p>If there is a finer man in hockey than Milt Schmidt, it may be Max McNab. He played for 14 seasons, mostly in the minors, only three of them in the majors. He managed and coached for 14 seasons in the minors without getting a job in the majors. It came after he had become president of the Central League and he left the minors to take the worst job in the majors because it is still the majors and he couldn&rsquo;t pass up the opportunity when it came.</p><p><b>&ldquo;YOUR FIRST THOUGHT</b> is, here&rsquo;s the chance you&rsquo;ve been waiting for,&rdquo; Max observes. &ldquo;Then realism takes over. Even from the outside you can see it is a sorry situation you&rsquo;re walking into. You know you&rsquo;re taking over 20 guys who have been through a worse experience than anyone else in the 55 years of the National Hockey League. So you talk it over with family and friends.</p><p>&ldquo;Our Central League headquarters were in Dallas. It is a good development league, which should endure even though the minors are mostly not making it. My Board of Governors were all fair to me. They&rsquo;re NHL men. I felt bad about leaving at mid-season, but they encouraged me to take the offer to move up to the NHL. I&rsquo;m 51, but I didn&rsquo;t feel ready to retire to a swivel chair. The move meant a raise, but the money didn&rsquo;t mean that much.</p><p>&ldquo;My three sons are away. Peter is in the NHL playing for Buffalo, while David, a goaltender, and Michael are in college. My wife Jane said, &lsquo;You know, this has been one of the best years of our life. This looks like it&rsquo;ll be tough but if you&rsquo;re tempted, take it. There&rsquo;s just the two of us now and you can make a move if it&rsquo;s what you want.&rsquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I knew I might be playing the fool. But I think everyone who goes into professional sports has a competitive nature. The only thing I didn&rsquo;t like about this last job was that after 28 years of fighting to win, I had to go to games and watch them as a neutral. That goes against the grain. And no matter how many times I denied it, I always felt bad about not getting an NHL job. You always wonder how you&rsquo;ll do. The chance to build a big league team, to knock heads with the best, tempts you.&rdquo;</p><p>I know he is not a vain man, so I asked him if he thought he could do what Milt or others could not do. He seemed surprised. &ldquo;I never thought about it that way,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;We all think we can do a job or we&rsquo;d get out of the business. But I don&rsquo;t think of myself as a miracle man. I don&rsquo;t know how I&rsquo;m going to do the job here, but I know hockey and if hard work will help, I may make it.</p><p>&ldquo;I do know that if it can be turned around, if we can turn it around, when it&rsquo;s turned around, it is going to be a great franchise. There&rsquo;s four million fans in the Washington-Baltimore area, they have supported the team tremendously considering its record, and the arena in Landover, Maryland, is marvellous. I think with a worker like Tommy McVie we can turn it around. I&rsquo;ve watched him mature. If a fellow like him hadn&rsquo;t been available to coach, I might not have made the move.&rdquo;</p><p>McVie says, &ldquo;Max didn&rsquo;t try to con me about the job ahead of us. He told me it would be tough. Well, I knew that. Or thought I did. I didn&rsquo;t really know how bad it would be until I lived with 11 straight losses before we broke it. I told the guys in the dressing room I knew it was bad, but I didn&rsquo;t know it was this bad. But I told them that if we worked and kept trying and didn&rsquo;t give up and pulled together we&rsquo;d do better. I believe that or I wouldn&rsquo;t be here.</p><p>&ldquo;The thing with me is I been scratchin&rsquo; and scrapin&rsquo; 20 years to get with the big guys.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve become confident of my coaching, but now I have to lay it on the line. I&rsquo;ve been coaching Dayton in the International League. It&rsquo;s a nice city and a better league than you might believe, but it&rsquo;s a long way from the top. I&rsquo;m no fool. I know if we don&rsquo;t win, I&rsquo;ll be gone. But if we get enough time, I think we can start to win.</p><p><b>&ldquo;I WALKED OUT</b> on one job because management interfered with my work. But I can work with Max. We came to Washington without our families, checked into a hotel, and have been working 18 hours a day every day since. We talk to figure out what we can do. We made a trade that brought us two players for one and a draft choice. We think the way to a winner is through the draft, but a good deal or two will help. The talent isn&rsquo;t here to win now, but we have some players who can play and if I can condition them and pull them together and add to them we can start to win.</p><p>&ldquo;When we beat the Rangers our fans cheered us and the players celebrated like we&rsquo;d won the Stanley Cup. Max and I went back to the hotel to talk. He had a can of beer and I had a 7-Up and we talked until we fell asleep. We fell asleep happy. After our usual six hours of sleep we woke up worried how we were going to win another one. We started to talk some more and went to the arena and I put the players through practice while Max got on the telephone. All you can do is dedicate yourself.&rdquo;</p><p>I have known McVie since his minor league days and he is a decent and dedicated individual. His wife, Arlene, took their sons to their home in Portland, where she teaches figure-skating. She is missed dreadfully, but he didn&rsquo;t plan to bring the family to Washington until later.</p><p>Max&rsquo;s wife was moving to join him in Washington. That would leave Tommy more alone than ever. &ldquo;Maybe I&rsquo;ll ask him to move in with us,&rdquo; Max smiles. Well, misery loves company.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPEUAN</div><p>DETROIT</p><p>The Detroit Red Wings have an uncanny knack of finding a way to spoil their progress.</p><p>It has happened often this season, so it wasn&rsquo;t surprising when the Los Angeles Kings smashed the Wings, 8-3, at Olympia to ruin Detroit&rsquo;s most recent surge.</p><p>The Wings can be a pretty decent hockey club at times. And then again, they can be absolutely horrendous.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03735/3629141-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="270" height="388"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Dan Maloney</b></figcaption></div><p>That game against Los Angeles was a fine example of the latter. It was a defeat general managercoach Alex Delvecchio found tough to swallow.</p><p>&ldquo;After three straight strong games, I was encouraged,&rdquo; Delvecchio said. &ldquo;Damn right it hurt.</p><p>&ldquo;It was just one of those nights where everybody came up flat. Nobody did anything. Even Jimmy wasn&rsquo;t ready to play.&rdquo;</p><p>And when Jimmy Rutherford, the talented little goalie who registered three straight shutouts to tie a club record set in 1955 by Glenn Hall, isn&rsquo;t ready to play, the Wings definitely are in trouble.</p><p>At the All Star break, the Wings were six points behind third place Pittsburgh in the Norris Division. There was still plenty of optimism that the Penguins could be behind. Among the players sharing that viewpoint was Dan Maloney, the Wings&rsquo; lone representative in the NHL All Star game, where he scored a goal and an assist in the Wales Conference&rsquo;s 7-5 victory.</p><p>&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re going to catch Pittsburgh,&rdquo; Maloney said. &ldquo;And I know the other players feel the same way. There&rsquo;s still half a season to go and that&rsquo;s a lot. I remember once I played on a team which was 16 points behind at the halfway mark and finished five points ahead of the club it was chasing. That&rsquo;s a switch of 21 points in half-a-season.&rdquo;</p><p>Maloney was a most deserving choice for the All Star team. Buffalo coach Floyd Smith explained his selection of Maloney this way:</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the kind of guy who does so much more for a hockey team than just score goals,&rdquo; Smith said.</p><p>And Maloney didn&rsquo;t take the honor lightly. After the All Star game, it was suggested that the contest didn&rsquo;t mean anything.</p><p>&ldquo;It meant something to me,&rdquo; the rugged left winger said. &ldquo;If they pick you to come here and play against the best players in the NHL, that&rsquo;s got to make you think a little bit about how you play.</p><p>&ldquo;I was really honored to be out there and it was an unbelievable thrill. I was nervous before the game.&rdquo;</p><p><b>MOTOR CITY SHORTS:</b> The Red Wing schedule picks up in intensity and difficulty from here on&hellip;The Wings and Pittsburgh play on Feb. 22 before finishing their series with a pair of games in the final week of the season. The Wings would like nothing better than to carry the race down to that final week&hellip;Veteran defenseman Terry Harper missed one game with a bruised thigh&hellip;Trade rumors swirled unabated around Mickey Redmond.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-03

Detroit Players Still Optimistic Of Catching Final NHL Playoff Berth

<div class="byline">BY BILL MAKI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01946/3629203-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>&ldquo;Coach Smedley&mdash;The Chairman Of The Board Will See You Now.&rdquo;</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0009-01

CARTOON CORNER

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><p>NEW YORK&mdash;</p><p>The Rangers tied the Buffalo Sabres 3-3 in the best game of 1975-76 at Madison Square Garden and then whipped the St. Louis Blues 6-3 on consecutive nights, January 28 and 29. The unsung hero of the Ranger splurge was Greg Polis, the oft-maligned left winger.</p><p>&ldquo;Polis dropped about five pounds in the past week and has worked his butt.&rdquo; said John Ferguson. the Rangers general managercoach. &ldquo;I think he realizes that he doesn&rsquo;t have to score to help this hockey team. He had a record as a pretty fair goal scorer in the past, getting 26 goals last year, but so far only four this year. You have to wonder, but he is working very hard.&rdquo;</p><p>Now playing more or less regularly with Walter Tkaczuk and Billy Fairbairn. Polis made two plays in the Blues game which turned the contest around. He stole the puck at center ice from Bob Hess and zeroed in on Yves Belagner the Blues goalie. Overskating the disc, after deking Belagner. Greg finally had no angle, but his try at Belanger bounced off in front, and Tkaczuk banged in an unmolested rebound.</p><p>A few minutes later Polis stole the puck from Hess again, and hit Wayne Dillon with a pass. Dillon walked into the Blues zone and drilled the puck past Belanger&rsquo;s outstretched leg for another Ranger goal.</p><p>&ldquo;Polis was all over the ice,&rdquo; said Ted Irvine, the former Ranger forward, now with the Blues. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t get on the board himself: but he was the difference in the game. He made the big plays.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;It is frustrating to work as hard as we have and almost always come up empty.&rdquo; admitted Greg. &ldquo;But I have matured and realize you take the good with the bad. I used to think I had to score, but now I just go up and down my wing and do my best to help the team.&rdquo;</p><p>In the last four years Polis twice had scored 26 goals, once 22 markers and in 1971-72 hit for thirty goals with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was traded by Pittsburgh to St. Louis in 1973-74 and swapped by the Blues that summer to the Rangers.</p><p>&ldquo;The guy has been working and I appreciate that.&rdquo; said Ferguson.</p><p>Dune Wilson is another Ranger who finally seems to have worked his way clear of the Garden boo birds. He played a great game in the tie with the Sabres, who fired 39 shots at him, and only beat the 27-Year-old former Vancouver Canuck three times.</p><p>Rick Martin was in three times alone on Wilson and he stopped Mr Magic on all three.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02836/3629172-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="563" height="589"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GREG POLIS&hellip;Made Big Plays</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;He had it going for him.&rdquo; marveled Martin. &ldquo;The puck was hitting him. Onetime I had him down and he kicked with his leg and picked it off. He beat Don Luce on another shot. He was almost magical the way he stopped the puck.&rdquo;</p><p>In all Wilson stopped eight thrusts by Martin, which definitely saved the Rangers bacon. Even Ferguson was pleased with the tie, admitting, &ldquo;I want to win all the time, but the guys played better and I am as satisfied as I can be without winning.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;We can still make the playoffs,&rdquo; said Ferguson, who makes one want to believe.</p><p>The coach is not unaware of the team&rsquo;s shortcomings, but he is a winner and a doer and is trying to get something going. He will be helped by the return of John Davidson who broke is leg on January 4 against Toronto. This should take some of the pressure off Wilson.</p><p>&ldquo;Am I the scapegoat with the fans?&rdquo; queried Wilson. &ldquo;Someone has to be blamed for what&rsquo;s been happening to us. But this was a lot better.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0009-02

Revival Of Oft-Maligned Polis Aids Rangers

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;</p><p>When a hockey team changes coaches, invariably the fortunes of some players go up. and others drop.</p><p>The St. Louis Blues changed coaches this season from Garry Young to Leo Boivin with a three-week stewardship by Lynn Patrick as interim coach between Young and Boivin.</p><p>One player whose assignment has changed because of the coaching switch is Bob Hess, the talented. smooth-skating second year defenseman.</p><p>Hess is good enough to have a regular job on anyone&rsquo;s team, and both Young and Boivin would be quick to acknowledge Hess&rsquo; talents. But Young, stressing defense to Hess, kept the youngster in the Blues&rsquo; own end, while Boivin has encouraged Hess to carry the puck on offense. Hess prefers Boivin&rsquo;s style.</p><p>&ldquo;Garry didn&rsquo;t want me to carry the puck because he was scared I&rsquo;d get caught up the ice on a goal.&rdquo; Hess said. &ldquo;Leo looks at it differently; he wants to clear our end and thinks I&rsquo;m standing in our end. He wants me to get something started if I can, and that&rsquo;s my style.&rdquo;</p><p>Hess considers Boivin&rsquo;s hockey theories more positive than those of Young and credits Boivin with a more positive philosophy in his approach to the team.</p><p>&ldquo;Garry looked at the bad points and didn&rsquo;t look at the good things.&rdquo; Hess said. &ldquo;Leo is more apt to congratulate than to criticize. He&rsquo;ll let you know about a bad play but he won&rsquo;t harp on it.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t feel I accomplished much the way we had been playing.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t take much talent to bounce the puck off the boards. But. of course, a player has to conform to whatever system his team is using.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Hess can get the puck and move with it.&rdquo; said Plager. &ldquo;When he goes up ice. I&rsquo;m yelling for one of the forwards to stay back with me.&rdquo;</p><p>Hess is comfortable with the puck on his stick but has no intention of abandoning his defensive responsibilities.</p><p>&ldquo;When 1 carry the puck up ice. I get back quickly,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Bobby Plager gives me time to get back; he knows how to play these guys.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I think back to my first two years in the National Hockey League, and I&rsquo;ve learned a lot since then.&rdquo; Plager added. &ldquo;Experience is great, and I&rsquo;ve tried to help Hess. He&rsquo;s a skater.&rdquo;</p><p>Boivin is happy he has Hess to carry the puck but the coach doesn&rsquo;t want the speedy defenseman to neglect defense.</p><p>&ldquo;He can handle the puck and skate but he has to work on defense.&rdquo; Boivin said. &ldquo;When he takes a guy into the boards, he has to hold him there. I want him use his talents on offense but he has to concentrate on all phases of play. He has to work on little things.&rdquo;</p><p>When Boivin talks about a defenseman who carries the puck, he&rsquo;s not referring to rink-long dashes.</p><p>&ldquo;When he&rsquo;s beaten one man. I want him to pass the puck ahead,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;If he has a clear path down ice, I want him to stop at the blueline and pass it in. All our forwards can handle the puck, and sometimes Hess doesn&rsquo;t give it to them.&rdquo;</p><p>Hess, therefore, has a lot to remember. and fortunately he has the mental ability to handle his job. He has been a willing listener and learner, and now he has a coach who was a defenseman for 19 seasons in the NHL.</p><p>&ldquo;I feel better my second year in the league because I&rsquo;m more aware of what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; Hess said. &ldquo;At first I was worried about all of the opposing players. Now I can worry more about my own game and not worry about the other guy.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;An NHL career is better than I thought it would be,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I dreamed about it as a child, but it&rsquo;s surpassed my expectations.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01967/3629234-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="566" height="955"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BOB HESS&hellip;Needs WorkOn Defense</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0010-01

Hess’ Fortunes On Upswing With Blues

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01934/3629265-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BOBBY CLARKE&hellip;Wanted Some Ice Time</b></figcaption></div><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>e doesn&rsquo;t threaten goalies with a Richard Martin wallshattering shot. He doesn&rsquo;t have Denis Potvin&rsquo;s size or Gil Perreault&rsquo;s speed, but Bobby Clarke has acquired the prestigious label of world&rsquo;s best hockey player.</p><p>Clarke is a superb playmaker, a checker without parallel and an inspirational leader. In other words, he knows how to win hockey games. The two-time Hart Trophy winner has never been voted a Conn Smythe Trophy, but he is as much responsible for Phila-delphia&rsquo;s Stanley Cups I and II as anyone.</p><p>Clarke&rsquo;s latest shrewd tactic to remind teammates they weren&rsquo;t playing up to expectations occured, of all places, on a chilly night in Georgia. The Flyers were sinking toward their third consecutive loss, 8-4 to Atlanta. On the faceoff following former Flyer Bill Clement&rsquo;s third goal of the game, Clarke and Atlanta&rsquo;s Rey Comeau exchanged stick taps, then started throwing punches. Before calm was restored, Orest Kindrachuk had dashed to Clarke&rsquo;s rescue after seeing Comeau&rsquo;s skates thrashing perilously close to Clarke&rsquo;s head. Kindrachuk&rsquo;s appearance led to at least a half-dozen fights and the arrest of one Atlanta fan.</p><p>Later, coach Fred Shero would say Clarke had no business on the ice.</p><p>&ldquo;(Mel) Bridgman was supposed to be out there,&rdquo; said Shero. &ldquo;The game was lost. There was no sense using Clarke the way his heel is. I couldn&rsquo;t believe it when I saw him out there.&rdquo;</p><p>Clarke, whose playing time had been limited to duty on the Flyers&rsquo; powerless power play (3-for-38 after the Atlanta game), explained that he simply wanted some ice time. Flin Flon&rsquo;s favorite son had missed just two games in seven NHL seasons prior to suffering a painful bruised right heel that scratched him from the All Star game and two of the next three Philadelphia games.</p><p>However, people close to the Flyers suspected Clarke was determined to jolt his mates back to reality. Although starting a fight is a somewhat primitive maneuver, it&rsquo;s part of hockey&rsquo;s code and as friend and foe know, Clarke will do almost anything to win.</p><p>Atlanta coach Fred Creighton blamed Shero for encouraging brawling.</p><p>&ldquo;He (Shero) did that in the Central League,&rdquo; said Creighton. &ldquo;He figures &lsquo;if we can&rsquo;t win the game, maybe we can stir something up.&rdquo;</p><p>Shero&rsquo;s reaction to Creighton&rsquo;s charge was an exasperated expression.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said a thousand times I&rsquo;m willing to take a lie detector test with the other coach. I have no right to tell a man to fight. Kindrachuk saw the other guy&rsquo;s skates near Clarke&rsquo;s head and went out to help, that&rsquo;s all. Besides, Creighton wasn&rsquo;t in the Central League when I was there.&rdquo;</p><p>The case may not be closed because the Flyers were extremely bitter toward Comeau and Atlanta goalie Dan Bouchard. The Flyers charged that when their goalie, Bobby Taylor, was being held and punched by fans Bouchard also used Taylor as a punching bag.</p><p>&ldquo;He (Bouchard) didn&rsquo;t start hitting me until the fans grabbed me,&rdquo; said a furious Taylor. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see how brave he is when nobody&rsquo;s holding us.&rdquo;</p><p>Assistant coach Mike Nykoluk was nearly as angry as Taylor.</p><p>&ldquo;Hitting a player when a fan is holding him has to be the most despicable thing a hockey player can do,&rdquo; said Nykoluk.</p><p>After hearing referee Lloyd Gilmour&rsquo;s report, NHL president Clarence Campbell exonerated Comeau of the kicking accusation. But not even Campbell can exorcise the resentment the Flyers hold in their hearts.</p><p>The Flyers and Flames meet twice more this season. A jarring check or two is liable to be thrown by both sides.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-01

Philadelphia Bitter Towards Flames’ Conduct

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01938/3629296-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2><b>A New Format</b> Needed</h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>D</span>IDN&rsquo;T IT JUST STIR YOUR LITTLE</b> body right down to your socks when you heard that the National Hot key League All Star game matched the Wales against the Campbells?</p><p>The game at Philadelphia was a gaudy piece of show business, a well-staged, flashy production. Except for one small fact. The game itself dragged, matching the stars of the two conferences in a light workout, a 7-5shootout void of any contact.</p><p>Sure, there were some bright moments to the game. The uniting of Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; Richard Martin with Peter Mahovlich and Guy Lafleur of Montreal Canadiens on the forward line which zipped the puck around gorgeously was almost worth the trip.</p><p>But as a hockey game, the contest left much to be desired. Granted, there was some fine skill on display but hockey without hitting isn&rsquo;t much of an attraction.</p><p>Contact sports simply are not suitable for All Star games. Football contests matching stars against stars very seldom rise above in effect workouts. Basketball fares a little better in its star contests but hockey is in the same category as football.</p><p>The one sport which produces good All Star matches is baseball, a non-contact game. Baseball is a sport of individual skills within a rat her loose team framework when compared to football and hockey. where cohesion and team work are very important. The battles between the top pitchers and great hitters are isolated little skirmishes, involving only the two men. Hockey has few such situations.</p><p>Also, baseball has the built-in rivalry between the two leagues on which to base its All Star format. Victories in the contest carry considerable prestige for each league and because there&rsquo;s no interlocking play, other than in spring training games, the All Star games is the one chance fans have to see the top players in the other league.</p><h2><b>Stars Against Champs</b></h2><p><b>BACK IN THE PRE-EXPANSION</b> days, the NHL All Star match pitted the Stanley Cup champions against the stars in a game staged prior to the opening of the season in the home rink of the Cup-holders. That format produced many excellent All Star games which matched the cohesion of the champs against the pure talent of the stars.</p><p>When the NHL expanded in 1967. the game was played between the old East and West divisions until the four division, two conference setup was established in the 1974-75 season. The past two games between the conference teams have been crashing bores.</p><p>The All Star game rules call for the presence of a representative from all 18 teams in the league, another factor which doesn&rsquo;t help the game. Often players who deserve to be there aren&rsquo;t named because the coaches&rsquo; hands are tied by having to add players from all teams.</p><p>Fred Shero. the coach of Philadelphia Fivers who has lost the past two All Star games with the Campbell team, is one fellow who would like to see a return to the champs-stars format.</p><p>&ldquo;No doubt about it, a game between the cup champs and the All Stars would increase interest,&rdquo; Shero said. &ldquo;That would give the game meaning because something would be at stake. The champions would have an edge. I think, because of their ability to play as a team but the sheer talent on the All Stars takes away some of that.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s necessary to have players from every team in the game. If a player deserves to be in the All Star game, he should be there, even though his team is heavily represented.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-01

FRANK ORR SAYS:

<div class="byline">BY GEOFFREY FISHER</div><p>OAKLAND&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>hey won&rsquo;t be sipping the bubbly from the Stanley Cup this year and it&rsquo;s unlikely there will be any one of them whose name is featured on the marquee of the Oakland Coliseum, but this edition of the California Golden Seals is on its way to giving the Bay Area its finest NHL record since the 1968-69 season.</p><p>These baby Seals, with as many as 10 raw recruits in the lineup at any one time, are heading for a season record in victories and may topple some other club marks enroute.</p><p>Coach Jack Evans, also in his freshman campaign of NHL warfare. is quick to tell you that he is proud of the way the club has developed.</p><p>Says Evans: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m encouraged in all aspects.&rdquo;</p><p>Based upon their impressive sprint through January, when the Seals were defeated only once in nine games a 3-2 loss to Boston there was plenty of evidence to support Evans&rsquo; assessment.</p><p>But as suddenly as the Seals had soared to exciting ehights by grabbing 15 out of a possible 18 points in that nine-game stretch, they turned about and floundered on their flippers.</p><p>While declaring that he saw no cause for alarm as the Seals lost momentum in early February. Evans agreed that he would welcome the addition of some more muscle in the lineup.</p><p>&ldquo;We need to be more physical.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We could use a policeman out there for us.&rdquo; says the man who made life unpleasant for opposing NHL forwards during his 12 seasons as a defenseman with the Rangers and Black Hawks.</p><p>Does that mean he would huddle with general manager Bill McCreary to see if they could come up with a tough street brawler who can ice skate?</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s what we would like to get. I don&rsquo;t think we have suffered from being intimidated. but we know we need to be more physical.&rdquo;</p><p>The fact is that the Seals rate among the lowest penalty dubs in the league, a statistic that does not necessarily reflect timidness, but is a generally accepted barometer of a club&rsquo;s aggressiveness or lack of it.</p><p>Under the strict disciplined style of play coached by Evans, the Seals have displayed an overall defensive quality that has been very effective. It&rsquo;s the basic backchecking. forechecking. close coverage of the man-for-man style of play, and it is that style which has enabled the Seals to put toget her one of the better defensive records in the league.</p><p>&ldquo;Our defense has been very good and our goaltending outstanding,&rdquo; says Evans. &ldquo;In only a few cases have we left the gate open. But. on the other hand, we are short on the goal scoring. We have no big goal scorers and we are going to have to pick up some more muscle and goal scoring by trade or in the draft.&rdquo;</p><p>The Seals have been hurt by the long absence of veteran defenseman and captain Jim Neilson, out for the major part of the season following a leg operation.</p><p>Is the club in need of a player they can look to as a leader?</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never believed in that theory,&rdquo; says Evans. &ldquo;I played 22 years of pro hockey and I never followed a drummer. I always motivated myself and that&rsquo;s the way every player should be.&rdquo;</p><p>Without a &ldquo;drummer&rdquo; and without a playout a player of &ldquo;super star&rdquo; stature, the Seals have shown plenty of self-motivation. Up front Wavne Merrick, obtained in late November for Larry Patey in a trade with St. Louis, was maintaining an impressive scoring record at a point-a-game pace.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02808/3629327-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="577" height="590"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JIM NEILSON&hellip;Sorely Missed</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0012-02

‘Baby’ Seals On Their Way To Giving Bay Area Fans Best Finish In Seven Years

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01911/3629372-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="559" height="764"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PIERRE JARRY&hellip;First Hat Trick</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02780/3629365-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="544" height="711"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DEAN TALAFOUS&hellip;Two-Goal Night</b></figcaption></div><p>TWIN CITIES&mdash;</p><p>In the bumpity-bump season of the Minnesota North Stars, the ups seem to be coming more often now than the downs, though the latter does surface in the vastly improved team of rookie coach Ted Harris.</p><p>Nonetheless, Harris has much more to smile about these days. The North Stars played their finest week of hockey of the season in a five-game span covering an eight-day period late last month into early February.</p><p>They tied Pittsburgh, 1-1, on the road; shelled Kansas City, 9-3, at home in their biggest offensive output in three years, and tied the defending champion Philly Flyers, 3-3, at home. On the road, the North Stars led 3-0 and 2-0 but dropped one-goal games to the New York teams, the Islanders and Rangers.</p><p>As the season moves into its final month and a half, it is becoming more evident the North Stars have a potential star line of the future in 20-year-old center Tim Young, 22-year-old right wing Dean Talafous and 26-year-old Pierre Jarry. The line of the future is doing some pretty entertaining things in the present.</p><p>Talafous scored two third period goals to tie the Flyers, his third and fourth goals against Philadelphia this season. Jarry picked up his first NHL hat trick against Kansas City and had two assists against the Flyers. Young continues to feed the two wingers on big goals.</p><p>The big thing that has impressed observers, and excited the Minnesota fans, is the line&rsquo;s unselfishness with the puck and the slick passes that have made for some spectacular goals.</p><p>&ldquo;No one guy can do it by himself,&rdquo; said Talafous, former University of Wisconsin star by the Twin Cities suburb of Hastings. &ldquo;We like to move the puck around, and we&rsquo;ve been getting the chances.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re concerned a lot about defense, too,&rdquo; said Young. &ldquo;It is not going to do the team any good if we end up giving more goals than we score.&rdquo;</p><p>General manger Jack Gordon obtained all three players in trades&mdash;Talafous in the Barry Gibbs deal with Atlanta, Jarry for Don Martineau with Detroit and No. 1 choice Young for a future draft pick with Los Angeles.</p><p>Jarry arrived on the scene after the Red Wings had demoted him to New Haven and were on the verge of sending him a step lower in their system.</p><p>&ldquo;I knew Pierre wanted to win,&rdquo; said Harris, who played briefly with Jarry at Detroit. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have to say a thing to him when he came here. He was ready to play.&rdquo;</p><p>Jarry knew it might be his last chance in the NHL. &ldquo;I had been hoping for a chance to play. Now that I have it, I&rsquo;m going to work hard to do my best.&rdquo;</p><p>Jarry&rsquo;s 14 goals, in his 29 games, were third best on the North Stars through 50 contests, and he had 11 assists. Talafous stood at 10 goals and 19 assists, and Young owned 8 goalsand 17 assists in 33 games.</p><p>Cesare Maniago, Minnesota&rsquo;s 37-year-old goalie, continues to perform in sparkling fashion. Turning into February, he had played in eight straight games with an even 3.00 goals-against average for the season. In less than a week, Maniago was called upon to stifle two penalty shots, by Bryan Trottier of the Islanders and Greg Polis of the Rangers.</p><p>So much for some ups. On the downs, center Blake Dunlop underwent knee surgery and will be lost for remainder of the season.</p><p><b>STAR DUST:</b> Norm Gratton has been called up for the second time this season from New Haven with John Flesch returned to the AHL team to get more playing time&hellip;Flesch had not been playing with the Stars&hellip;Ernie Hicke took the team lead in goals at 20 with two against Kansas City and one against the Rangers&hellip;Jarry continued to be bothered by back pains, but continued to play&hellip;The 14,943 fans who turned out to watch the Flyers game represented Minnesota&rsquo;s largest crowd of the season&hellip;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03691/3629358-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="521" height="671"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>TIM YOUNG&hellip;Set-Up Man</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0013-01

North Stars Uncover New Line Of Future

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><p>LOS ANGELES&mdash;</p><p>Bob Berry is unspectacular so often he is taken for granted, but he is the most consistent player the Kings have had. After 50 games this season he had played more games, 44 and scored more goals, 142, than any other player in the team&rsquo;s history.</p><p>He had moved past the milestones of 150 assists and 300 points. With 16 goals, he seemed certain to total 20 or more for the fifth time in his six seasons with the club.</p><p>Bob is a mediocre skater, but he has become a good all-around player and an opportunistic shotmaker. He tied for the team record with seven game-winning goals last season.</p><p>For most of his King career he has played left wing on a line centered by Juha Widing, with Mike Corrigan or Don Kozak on the right flank, but this season they&rsquo;ve all moved around, and, 17 weeks into the 27-week campaign, Berry finds himself on the team&rsquo;s hottest line.</p><p>At 33, Bob is the steadying influence on a trio that includes two unsettled 24-year-olds, Kozak and Vic Venasky. They accounted for 12 goals in a recent stretch of eight games. Venasky had five, Berry four and Kozak three.</p><p>They were especially impressive in New York. After being blanked in Long Island on a Saturday night, the team moved into the Garden the next night and beat the Rangers with each member of the trio tallying. Venaskv&rsquo;s two goals in the first five minutes teed off a 4-1 triumph.</p><p>&ldquo;They have been calling themselves &ldquo;The Scooter Line,&rdquo; in tribute to the old Black Hawk trio of Stan Mikita, Ken Wharram and Doug Mohns. Venasky says, &ldquo;We kid each other about it. Bob started it by calling me Stan. Kozie is supposed to be Wharram. I guess Bob is Mohns because he&rsquo;s so old.&rdquo;</p><p>Presumably, Vic has done his homework because he wasn&rsquo;t anywhere near the majors when that line was in its prime. His isn&rsquo;t anywhere near as good a line, but it&rsquo;ll do for the time being.</p><p>Berry says, &ldquo;It helps to play with the same linemates for a long time as I did with Widing and Corrigan. You get to know where your linemates are going to be and what they&rsquo;re going to do. But it&rsquo;s not that important. Lines usually don&rsquo;t stay together. If you&rsquo;re a player you have to be able to play with different teammates.&rdquo;</p><p>It has been a difficult year for Bob. When he married the former Lynn Mirach in 1973, he adopted her two children, Jina, now 12, and Cori, now 8. Bob and Lynn ex-pected a baby about the time this season started, but lost it when she suffered a miscarriage last spring.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s back to the old drawing board,&rdquo; he says wistfully, forcing a smile. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll try again.&rdquo; They took it very hard and have found it hard to talk about it. However, they are a happy family, and lead a full life beyond the ice.</p><p>A graduate of Montreal&rsquo;s Sir George Williams College, Bob is an intelligent, literate fellow, a reader, reserved, soft-spoken. He was an excellent all-around athlete in his younger years, but has always had interests beyond athletics.</p><p>On the ice he is businesslike and effective without attracting attention. When the goals weren&rsquo;t coming early this season, he wasn&rsquo;t thrown off stride. He just kept going out and going at it.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny about goals,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t create scoring opportunities the way a Marcel Dionne can. I have to take advantage of those that come along. I play exactly the same way game after game, and for a stretch of games none go in, then in another stretch they start to go in. I usually wind up with my share,&rdquo; he concludes.</p><p>His share is about 25 a season, though he had 36 the season Corrigan set the team record of 37. Dionne should surpass that shortly, as well as the all-time team points marks of 70 by Widing and 72 by Nevin. Goals have been scarce in the last dozen games or so for Corrigan, Nevin, Widing and Tom Williams.</p><p>Meanwhile, the hottest single player has been not Dionne, but Butch Goring, who has had eight in the last 12 games and 14 in the last 21 games.</p><p>The Kings were losing to visiting Detroit, 3-1, with two minutes left when Mike Murphy and Goring banged in back-to-back goals 16 seconds apart to gain a tie. Goring&rsquo;s goal was his second of the game and he just kept jumping up and down in joy while the fans went wild.</p><p>The Kings came from behind to win seven times in the first 18 games, but then went 30 games before they did so again. This was the first time they came from behind to tie.</p><p>It was the most exciting finish to a game this season. With seven players suffering from the flu, the team played poorly until the exciting finish. There are worse things than the flu, but few that make you feel worse. Despite the problem, the Kings emerged from the contest with only one loss in their last six.</p><p><b>KINGS THINGS:</b> Since their 0-16 start, the Kings have caught up in goals for-and-against three times, but never yet passed on to the plus side&hellip;Their penalty-killing pair of Goring and Nevin, backed by Dionne and Murphy, had an amazing streak of 36 straight shorthanded successes, most of them on the road, before it was broken in the Detroit game&hellip;Rogie Vachon had his fifth shutout of the season in the preceding game, 2-0 over Washington. Goring and Dionne got the goals&hellip;It is disappointing, but the average attendance of about 12,300 is almost identical to last season&rsquo;s.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01921/3629403-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="549" height="1511"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BOB BERRY&hellip;Does It Both Ways</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0014-01

Berry Still Most Consistent King

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><p>LONG ISLAND&mdash;</p><p>Albert Einstein must have known something about hockey when he issued his theory of relativity some years ago. And Al Arbour was probably the top student in the famous scientist&rsquo;s class.</p><p>A slump to the N.Y. Islanders a couple of years ago might have been a few weeks without a victory. But by 1975-76 standards, an Islander &ldquo;slump&rdquo; is a 2-3-2 stretch.</p><p>The Islanders appeared to lose their edge around Christmas time following a seven-game non-losing streak featuring four victories in succession. But then came a snag during which time the Isles played &ldquo;the worst hockey we&rsquo;ve played in a long time,&rdquo; by Arbour&rsquo;s own admission.</p><p>Arbour got his club back on the track with a 1-0 victory over Detroit back on December 13th. But he still wasn&rsquo;t happy, and his fiery pep talks helped send the club on a new seven-game streak through late January, including five wins in a row.</p><p>Some critics felt that the reason that the Islanders went into a midseason shell was because All (Star defenseman Denis Potvin didn&rsquo;t seem to be unloading his blast from the point as often as before. He went seven games without a goal before breaking out with four in two nights against Washington and Detroit.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe I was paying closer attention to my defensive play during that stretch,&rdquo; offered Potvin. &ldquo;Like in that game against the Soviets (a2-l loss). Most of us were so afraid of making a defensive mistake that we were afraid to take any kind of a chance in the offensive zone.&rdquo;</p><p>The play that the Islanders have been using more is the one in which the winger in either corner slips a pass into the deep slot just as Potvin jumps off his right point to meet it. Either Denis fires from there (about 35 feet), or he stickhandles closer for a better chance.</p><p>Older brother Jean, enjoying his best season ever by far, also broke out of a mild slump at the same time. After failing to light the lamp in eighteen consecutive games. Jean tallied his first NHL hat trick against Detroit on January 22nd.</p><p>&ldquo;I really feel great,&rdquo; Potvin said somewhat understandably afterward. &ldquo;I got a couple of hat tricks in the juniors, but never in the NHL. That&rsquo;s for sure.&rdquo;</p><p>Jean has already surpassed his best season point-wise, and is one main reason why the Islanders have the most potent power play in the league at this point.</p><p>The other reason, of course, is rookie center Bryan Trottier. The 19-year-old Calder hopeful has guided his linemates Billy Harris and Clark Gillies to their best projected marks while keeping his own scoring pace on a high plateau.</p><p>Altough he&rsquo;s had a couple of big five-point nights, Trottier&rsquo;s scoring pace is remarkably consistent. Game in, game out, he&rsquo;ll get his one or two scoring points. Oddly enough, the only game on the recent streak in which his line was shut out was the 8-1 goal party against the Red Wings the night that Jean Potvin scored his hat trick.</p><p>But the line always seems to be there for the big goal. On January 27th, the Islanders found themselves in the unaccustomed position of being down 3-0 before the game was eight minutes old.</p><p>It wasn&rsquo;t long before the young line went to work, though, as Harris and Trottier brought the Islanders back to within one by early in the second period. Jude Drouin ultimately got the tying goal and Gillies the winner in the third period.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01891/3629441-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="560" height="788"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JEAN POTVIN&hellip;Key To Power Play</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Harry (Harris) had the puck behind the net, and (Cesare) Maniago followed him,&rdquo; said Gillies of his big tally. &ldquo;I gave a yell, and Billy heard me. I practically put it into a wide open net.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02751/3629434-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="570" height="778"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DENIS POTVIN&hellip;Thinking Defense</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;But that&rsquo;s the way we work together,&rdquo; Gillies continued. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been playing as a unit all season, and we know what the other is going to do. Billy had a pretty good idea of where I&rsquo;d be on that play.&rdquo;</p><p>About the only thing that didn&rsquo;t go right for Trottier in recent weeks was a penalty shot he received in the same game. Bryan was streaking toward the Minnesota net when he was upended from behind by former Islander Ernie Hicke.</p><p>&ldquo;I came in slowly, and I wanted to shoot right away,&rdquo; said Trottier of his unsuccessful attempt. &ldquo;Maniago came out, so I made my move to the left. I had him out, but I tried to slap at the puck and fanned at it.&rdquo;</p><p>Needless to say, he was forgiven by the fans. Especially when he helped Harris and Gillies manufacture the winning goal.</p><p><b>ISLAND SOUNDS:</b> Eddie Westfall was in one of the roughest slumps of his career. Through the end of January, he had not scored a goal in 15 games. He still needed five goals to reach the 200 mark&hellip;Billy Smith won four straight games before he was relieved by Glenn Resch. Resch started, and beat. Toronto for the second time at Maple Leaf Gar; dens&hellip;Bert Marshall missed a couple of starts with a bruised foot.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0015-01

Coach Arbour Snaps Islanders Out Of Slump

<p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>ore individual records and milestones were attained in the Feb. 7 game at Toronto between the Maple Leaf&rsquo;s and Boston Bruins than in any other game in National Hockey League history.</p><p>Leafs devastatingly stopped Bruins&rsquo; seven-game winning streak with an 11-4 victory. What normally would have been a tribute to Boston veteran left winger John Bucyk was reduced to passing mention because Leaf center Darryl Sittler went on a scoring rampage unequalled in the 13,528 regular-season games played in the NHL since it was formed in 1917.</p><p>While Bucyk was moving past Alex Delvecchio of Detroit into second place in the all-time list of career point scorers. Sittler was setting the record for most points by a player in a game and tying two other marks. The Leaf captain tied the modern-era (post-redline) mark of six goals in a game and had four assists for an incredible 10 points. In the second period. Sittler scored three goals and added two assists, his five points, tying the record for most points in a period.</p><p>The fact that Bucyk&rsquo;s achievement perhaps perhaps did not receive the immediate prominence it deserved is not too surprising when one investigates the career of the 40-year-old native of Edmonton. Alta. He has quietly moved into second place in points with 523 goals (sixth-highest career total in NHL history), 760 assists (fourth-highest career total) and 1,283 points. Yet, in 20 seasons prior to this one. Bucyk was named to only one first All Star team (1970-71) and one second All Star team (1967-68). Even when people start listing the players who have scored 50 or more goals in a season, Bucvk&rsquo;s name is often forgotten (he scored 51 in 1970-71). When this season started and some observers noticed Bucyk was nearing Delvecchio&rsquo;s runner-up career point total, his accomplishments were belittled by them because he is playing in the post-expansion era. But 573 of his points were earned in pre-expansion days and 431 of those points were gained when Boston failed to make the playoffs for eight straight seasons.</p><p>The fact remains that only one other player in the 59-year history of the NHL has had more points than Bucyk: He, of course, is Gordie Howe who, in 25 seasons with Detroit, scored 786 goals, 1,023 assists and 1,809 points in 1,687 regular-season games.</p><p>Some other achievements by Bucyk: 15 20-or-more goal seasons and at least 24 goals in each of his last nine campaigns; 50 or more points in 17 seasons, including the last nine: six 30-goal seasons; two 40-goal seasons: and his 51-goal season; 113 penalty minutes in the last 11 seasons; the Lady Byng Trophy twice (1970-71 and 1973-74): in 73 Stanley Cup playoff games in the last eight seasons, he scored 36 goals. 45 assists for 81 points.</p><p>The other milestone attained in the Toronto-Boston game was the 350th regular-season goal by Bruin veteran center Jean Ratelle, making him the 18th player in NHL history to reach that plateau.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01625/3629503-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="558" height="566"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DARRYL SITTLER&hellip;Six-Goal Flurry</b></figcaption></div><p>Sittler&rsquo;s 10 points broke by two the former record for one game. It was set by Maurice Richard of Montreal Canadiens, Dec. 28, 1944, during a 9-1 victory over Detroit Red Wings at Montreal. The Rocket scored five goals and three assists in that game, none of his eight points coming on power-play goals. Rookie Harry Lumley was the Detroit goaltender. The mark was equalled by another Canadien left winger Bert Olmstead. Jan. 9, 1954, at Montreal as Canadiens whipped Chicago Black Hawks and goaltender Al Rollins 12-1. Olmstead scored four goals and four assists, including three power-play goals and one assist off the power play.</p><p>Since Richard set the eightpoint mark, there has been 9,453 games, including the one Saturday in which Sittier broke the record and in all those games, only Olmstead had equalled the Richard mark and eight other players had reached as many as seven points in a game.</p><p>Sittler is only the eighth player to score six goals in a game and only one, Joe Malone of Quebec Bulldogs, scored seven, the all-time NHL record.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-01

Sittler Shatters Rocket’s NHL Point-Scoring Mark

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p>Michel &lsquo;Bunny&rsquo; Larocque appears to have recovered from a disease which inflicts itself upon Montreal Canadien backup goaltenders.</p><p>The name of the malady is Ken Dryden and it keeps backup puckstoppers out of action for extended periods of time.</p><p>Larocque made what would prove to be his last start in two months on December 3 in Kansas City. He allowed the Scouts to tally six times while the Habs netted only five and was so unimpressive that coach Scotty Bowman decided that Dryden would be his goaltender unless something unforeseen popped up.</p><p>For 24 straight games Larocque watched from the sidelines as Dryden lost on only one occasion.</p><p>During that extended period of inactivity Larocque stated. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m ready to start anytime. I&rsquo;m working hard in practices. Then you never play, go on the road and don&rsquo;t practice too much.</p><p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re never happy when you don&rsquo;t play. Anybody would feel the same way.&rdquo;</p><p>Bunny began what looked like his 25th consecutive contest without seeing any action sitting on the bench as Dryden faced the Kings in L.A. But by the conclusion of 40 minutes the Kings had built up a 6-3 lead and coach Bowman decided that was as good a time as any to put Larocque between the pipes.</p><p>While the Kings went on to take a 7-3 decision, that period was a big boost for Larocque.</p><p>&ldquo;It helped because I hadn&rsquo;t played in so long.&rdquo; says Larocque, who carried a 2.94 goals-against average in 52 games for the Habs over the previous two seasons. &ldquo;It helped get my movement back. There was no pressure. The score was 6-3 and if I made a mistake it wouldn&rsquo;t hurt anybody but me.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02540/3629534-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="579" height="597"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MICHEL LAROCQUE&hellip;Not In Top Form</b></figcaption></div><p>Then on February 4. two months to the day after his previous start ing assignment. Larocque got the call from Bowman to face the Chicago Black Hawks at the Forum. The results was an 8-3 Montreal victory and two of the pucks which evaded Larocque were of the &lsquo;fluke&rsquo; variety.</p><p>Two nights later, against the California Seals. Bunny again got the starting nod and restricted the visitors to a single goal, having his bid for his third shutout of the season halted with less than eight minutes left in the game.</p><p>After recording the win over the Seals. Larocque stated. &ldquo;You need your confidence to be sharp. Practices and games are not the same. The pressure in a game makes you get tired faster.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not in top form.&rdquo; the 5&rsquo;10&rdquo;, 185 pound native of Hull. Quebec.</p><p>continued. &ldquo;Two games isn&rsquo;t enough. I&rsquo;m still making mistakes. I&rsquo;m not that confident around the net. In a week or ten days I should be in good shape again.&rdquo;</p><p>Larocque. 23. expressed the feeling that when you&rsquo;re not playing there are other things besides the lack of on-ice activity which can bother a player.</p><p>&ldquo;Some nights you don&rsquo;t feel a part of the team. I tried to do my, best to be part of the club. The rest of the guys treated me well. They treated me the same way as before.&rdquo;</p><p>In 11 appearances 1580 minutes) so far this season Larocque has posted a 2.59 goals-against average and in nine starts has won six and tied two.</p><p>When asked about the goaling rotation in upcoming games Larocque replied. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re playing well you could be in for ten games. If you have a bad game you could be out for ten games.&rdquo;</p><p>While Dryden is acknowledged as the Canadiens number one guardian of the nets, it is likely that Larocque will see more action than he has been accustomed to as the 1975-76 campaign comes down the homestretch.</p><p><b>HAB-BITS:</b> Dryden continues to lead the league with a 1.98 average in 45 appearances&hellip;Steve Shutt had the best plus figure in the NHL (42) at the half-way point of the schedule&hellip;-Jacques Lemaire celebrated his return to the lineup after being off for a month with a thumb injury by scoring three goals in his first two games back&hellip;Coach Bowman has returned to the lineup which he began the season with which means defensemen John Van Boxmeer and Rick Chart raw have found themselves sitting in the press box&hellip;After 52.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-02

Canadiens’ Larocque Recovered From Backup Goaler’s Malady

f0018-02

Looking At NHL Goalers

<div class="byline">BY RON WEBER</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and Canada</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01636/3629565-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="559" height="834"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GERRY MEEHAN&hellip;He&rsquo;s Been Around</b></figcaption></div><p>WASHINGTON&mdash;</p><p>Forgive Gerry Meehan if he says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been here before.&rdquo; Not in Washington, perse, but with an expansion team. Meehan was selected in the 1970 expansion draft by Buffalo and spent four fine seasons with the Sabres&mdash;two of them as captain.</p><p>Now he&rsquo;s starting back at the bottom, standings-wise at least. The Capitals are the fourth team Gerry&rsquo;s been with in 16 months. Buffalo swapped him and Mike Robitaille to Vancouver for Josh Guevremont and Bryan McSheffrey a year ago October. Some 57 games later the Canucks sent him to the far southeast in an even trade for Atlanta defenseman Bob Murray. Then on Jan. 22 Meehan became part of the biggest news in the Caps brief bartering history.</p><p>Bill Clement, the team leader, the man worth the first pick in the amateur draft was dealt to the Flames in exchange for Meehan, defenseman Jean Lemieux and a number one choice.</p><p>When Atlanta GM Cliff Fletcher hit Gerry with the news he was shocked and, at first, disappointed. His thoughts went quickly to his Italian-born wife, Mirella, and their two little boys, Danny and Adam, and to the play-off games that had just flown out his window. Not only the playoff money, but the participation. Savs Gerry, &ldquo;money isn&rsquo;t the primary motivation. Most players make far more on salary. But here was a team (Atlanta) that could not only make them but do really well in them.&rdquo;</p><p>Strangely, Meehan had moved a bit ahead of Claude St. Sauveur in their battle to win the center spot between Eric Vail and Larry Romanchych. Now he thinks he was being showcased. If so, Capital general manager Max McNab likes what he bought.</p><p>In Meehan, he has a dedicated, intelligent hockey player in the Clement mold, that seems to leave unexplained Gerry&rsquo;s moving onto six teams in seven NHL seasons. Evidently, Canuck boss Phil Maloney and Meehan didn&rsquo;t see eye to eye, but he was in no way considered a troublemaker around the league.</p><p>Asked about high spots in his hockey career Meehan cites the winning of the Memorial Cup while with the Toronto Marlboros and making the playoffs with the Sabres. He does not include knocking one of his old teams, Philadelphia, out of post season play. It was Gerry who scored against the Fleyrs with four seconds to go in the last game to put Pittsburgh into post-season action instead. Gerry recalls, &ldquo;It was my 19th goal. Then I won the following faceoff and shot quickly at their empty net&mdash;and missed. What I didn&rsquo;t realize was the time-keeper had not started the clock and I could have taken a better shot. A 20th goal would have earned me some good bonus money.&rdquo;</p><p>He makes good money, anyway, and says he gave no thought to quitting after his trade to the losingest NHL team. This expansion situation is different from Buffalo&rsquo;s. For one thing the Caps have been playing for a season and a half. And, says Gerry, &ldquo;I was 23 then, very disappointed how my career had gone so far. We had a strongyoung team. It wasn&rsquo;t a dismal situation.&rdquo; Is this? &ldquo;No, not at all. But you have to accept the fact you&rsquo;re going to be outplayed much of the time and still be ready when you have the chance (to win). &ldquo;The players have a good attitude. Tommy has a good attitude.&rdquo;</p><p>Gerry played a year in Seattle with his present coach Tom McVie.. Stories from the Western League paint McVie as quite the life of the party in those days and Gerry admits there is a difference. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve noticed he&rsquo;s a little more serene now. He kept us laughing one day in the Totems dressing room for a half hour with his one-liners. But Tommy is still the same personally.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen enough of the good and the bad in hockey that I would not encourage my sons to do it primarily for their living,&rdquo; says Gerry. &ldquo;At least, not until they used their ability to get a scholarship and go through college.&rdquo;</p><p>Lest you think Gerry is too serious, be it known that one of his best remembered goals is the one in St. Louis several years back that he knocked in&mdash;purposely&mdash;with his rump.</p><p><b>ICE CAPS:</b> Winger Bob Gryp and defenseman Willie Brossart were farmed to Richmond. Brossart was cut near the eye on his great away game, the day after the Caps broke their non-winning steak at 25. They not only beat the Rangers then, but played well in losing in L.A., then got a dandy win in Oakland. The first half of their longest road trip ever (7 games, 17 days) had to be termed a success.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-01

Meehan Admits To ‘Starting Over’ With Caps

<div class="byline">BY STEVE MARANTZ</div><p>KANSAS CITY&mdash;</p><p>If there was a silver lining to he found in Scouts&rsquo; 14-game losing streak that ended Jan. 31 with a 4-4 tie against Pittsburgh, it was the conception of the Dave Hudson line, with Phil Roberto at right wing and Gary Croteau across ice.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01609/3629627-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="272" height="417"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Dave Hudson</b></figcaption></div><p>Of course, lines in Kansas City tend to change as fast as traffic lights, but since this threesome got together Jan. 21 against St. Louis it has shown signs of major-league stability.</p><p>Sid Abel threw them together in the first of his three games as acting coach. When Eddie Bush arrived he continued the act.</p><p>Hudson scored the first night against the Blues, taking a feed from Croteau, and since then the line has produced 14 points in six games, despite beging blanked twice by the Pens. In addition. Hudson and his cronies have become as solid a checking line as any the Scouts have, and with the prolonged slump of Guy Charron&rsquo;s line in mind, it must be considered the best overall.</p><p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got two burly wingers and a fast-skating center.&rsquo;&rsquo; said Bush. &ldquo;Roberto was a pretty good scorer at one time and he&rsquo;s got a good shot. Croteau is a good digging hockey player who will play his position and get the puck. Hudson is unproven, but it looks like he has the ability.&rdquo;</p><p>Inasmuch as Croteau is as consistent a player as the Scouts have, limited offensively but tenacious in his own zone and the corners, it has been the improvement of Hudson and Roberto that has jelled the combination.</p><p>Roberto was out of shape when the Scouts swapped Buster Harvey to Detroit for him in mid-January. With ice time, he is gradually emerging as the player who scored 40 points in 46 games last year for the Red Wings.</p><p>Hudson came on in January after a disappointing first half. He came to the Scouts from the Islanders in the expansion draft as one of the best skaters on the young team. And at times last season he showed promise of becoming one of the few the Scouts could pin their future on.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been disappointed in my year so far.&rdquo; aid Hudson. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been a slow starter but this has been slower than ever.&rdquo;</p><p>Until Roberto and Croteau joined him Hudson had skated this season with a variety of unsettled combinations, including Simon Nolet at one time and the departed Harvey at another. He welcomes the continuity he has now.</p><p>&ldquo;It takes a few games to get together.&rdquo; said Hudson. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played with Gary before. And Phil plays his position. If we can stick together we&rsquo;ll do all right.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rdquo;&rsquo; all capable of scoring. Gary is hot now and Phil is proven. I&rsquo;ve never been a goal-scorer. My game is playmaking and I consider that my job.&rdquo;</p><p>Statistics support Hudson, with 32 of his 41 points last season coming as assists. This season he is 8-12&mdash;20 but it has only been the last two weeks he has settled into a unit. Hudson and Croteau have been consistently good as penalty killing forwards since the new year.</p><p>While the Hudson line may never become a prodigious point producer. it has and will likely continue to carve its niche as a back-checking defensive unit. In every game since its inception it has allowed the fewest goals by the Scouts&rsquo; opponents.</p><p><b>LOOSE PUCKS:</b> Scout season ticket sales are down 20 percent reports Ed Thompson, president. Thompson also said he had offers for the franchise from groups in Miami and New Orleans &ldquo;I never considered them,&rdquo; he said&hellip;The Scouts logged their largest crowd of the season, Jan. 31, with th&egrave; Penguins in. Reason: Teen-ager Tanya Tucker gave a free concert at Kemper following the game. 12,478 attended, and saw the Scouts break their winless string in the process&hellip;Baz Bastien, assistant general manager, recovered from open heart surgery in what may be record time. He was back in the office 11 days after surgery, growling at the secretaries&hellip;The Scouts may have a gem in Bill Oleschuk, 20-year-old goalie who stands 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;. &Ograve;leschuk was called up from Port Huron, made a one-game appearance in California Jan. 23. and stopped 48 Seals shots. Seals won, 4-1&hellip;Eddie Bush has not thrown a stick rack yet.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-01

Scouts’ Hudson Line Bright Spot In Losing Streak

<div class="byline">BY HALSIGURDSON</div><p>VANCOUVER&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>here is just no way a line of cold, agate type, even the long, thorough ones put out by National Hockey League statistician Ron Andrews, can accurately describe some hockey players</p><p>Put down Don Lever in that category.</p><p>Mind you, the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; forward has no reason to blush at any list of his statistical accomplishments. They tell a flattering story. That&rsquo;s particularly true of the column headed &ldquo;games played&rdquo; but those headed &ldquo;goals,&rdquo; &ldquo;assists&rdquo; and &ldquo;points&rdquo; also disclose major contributions to the team which pays his salary.</p><p>Perhaps, though, the games played figures offer the reader the most significant insight into why Vancouver general manager-coach Phil Maloney views the young native of South Porcupine, Ont., among the Canucks&rsquo; most treasured possessions.</p><p>If you look closely, you&rsquo;ll note Lever has not missed an NHL game since joining the Canucks as their first amateur draft choice of 1972. At this writing that added up to 285 league games and five playoff games without once succumbing to either injury or illness.</p><p>In the rough and tumble world of professional hockey that&rsquo;s an impressive figure. More so when you know how often he put on the gear and played with injuries that would have kept most players on the sidelines.</p><p>&ldquo;I guess the worst was a sprained ankle I had in my rookie year,&rdquo; Lever says, &ldquo;but I was so scared of losing my job I didn&rsquo;t dare not play.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s a typical hockey player&rsquo;s understatement. What that unbroken string of showing up for work really means is Lever is a fierce competitor. They still haven&rsquo;t manufactured a set of statistics to measure that quality. But any coach will tell you no team ever becomes a winner without lots of them in the lineup.</p><p>That&rsquo;s why Lever&rsquo;s contributions to the Canucks go far beyond the 16 goals and 26 assists he had posted 49 games into the current schedule.</p><p>&ldquo;He creates goals,&rdquo; says Maloney. &ldquo;Maybe he doesn&rsquo;t&mdash;always score them or even get an assist, but somehow he makes them happen.&rdquo;</p><p>He creates them because he never quits, never gives up. He creates them because he simply wears people out with his non-stop skatingstyle.</p><p>The rap against Lever is that he isn&rsquo;t an adept puck-handler. To a point, that&rsquo;s true. No one is ever likely to mistake him for Stan Mikita or Pete Mahovlich or Bobby Clarke. That&rsquo;s why last seaso Maloney switched him from cen ter to left wing, a move that paidoff in a 38-goal season, a total tha tied the Vancouver club record se by Bobby Schmautz.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01457/3629658-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="545" height="590"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DON LEVER&hellip;Iron Man In Making</b></figcaption></div><p>This year, however, Maloney has needed him more down the middle than on the wing so Lever has gone back to center. Nifty he isn&rsquo;t but in typical Lever fashion he&rsquo;s getting the job done. Perhaps he isn&rsquo;t the classic playmaker, but among the forwards he&rsquo;s second only to fellow center Chris Odd-leifson in total assists. Oddleifson has a reputation as a fine playmaker, which he is, but Lever was only two behind in assists and ahead in total points.</p><p>&ldquo;Winding up on the same line as Lever is the best thing that&rsquo;s happened to me all season,&rdquo; insists Rick Blight, his rookie right winger, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a great skater, but Lever does the skating for the whole line. I just have to get myself in position for a shot and Don does the rest.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-01

Lever Keeping Canucks Competitive

<div class="byline">BY ALAN TRUEX</div><p>ATLANTA&mdash;</p><p>When the Atlanta Flames finally came back to earth, they didn&rsquo;t land very softly. They crashed with a thud.</p><p>For a month and a half, the Flames played as well as any team in the National Hockey League. Starting in late November and running through mid-January, they compiled a record of 15-4. They scored 96 goals in those 22 games while giving up only 54.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01301/3629689-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="254" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Phil Myre</b></figcaption></div><p>But then the Flames descended. Confronted with a hopes schedule. the Flames made about the least of it, winning one game, losing seven and tying two.</p><p>The club was not playing all that badly. But look what it was upagainst: Threestraight road games, starting with the New York Islanders and Montreal back-to-back, followed by Philadelphia.</p><p>After playing the Flyers Jan. 22, the Flames had to face Buffalo in Atlanta the next night. Next week came a back-to-back arrangement with Philadelphia and Chicago. Then two games against Boston, at that time the hottest team in the league. The brutal stretch ended after nine games, with a game on Long Island Feb. 3.</p><p>And the Flames&rsquo; prospects for the rest of February were not radiant. Since the Ringling Brothers Circus takes over The Omni for two weeks of that month, the Flames were forced to the road.</p><p>In February. Atlanta had eight road games and only four at home. It opened up the possibility that the Flames could conceivably blow their cozy lead on the Rangers for a playoff berth.</p><p>&ldquo;We better wake up,&rdquo; Flames goaltender Dan Bouchard said, sounding the alarm. &ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t, the Rangers might catch upto us.&rdquo;</p><p>What has been happening is that the Flames are paying the price for squandering an easy opening schedule. The months of October and November were loaded with home games, but the Flames at that time mysteriously couldn&rsquo;t win at home, even against the weaker clubs.</p><p>During the hot December, the Flames came together in coach Fred Creighton&rsquo;s system. They were playing well home and away, against all calibre of opposition.</p><p>But when the inevitable letdown hit. the schedule only compounded the problem. The back-to-back games took a deadly toll, as Atlanta could win only three of their first 12 games in which they had played the night before. They lost eight of them.</p><p>Offensively, the Flames played reasonably well during their tough January stretch. But facing a procession of Ken Dryden, Glenn Resches and Tony Espositos, they naturally couldn&rsquo;t fatten up their scoring statistics.</p><p>Defensively, there were no excuses. The forwards were frequently violating Creighton&rsquo;s system by playing the wrong wings and failing to cover the points or to backcheck to stop breakaways.</p><p>Another problem was Phil Myre&rsquo;s goaltending. Myre turned in a series of disappointing performances, although the fault undoubtedly was more with the non-checking forwards than it was with the goalie.</p><p>But Myre still was letting in some long goals, and he appeared to be fighting the puck. For the first time since he became coach last February, Creighton pulled a goaltender from a game, hooking Myre in Philadelphia Jan. 22.</p><p>&ldquo;I pulled him not because he was playing particularly badly,&rdquo; Creighton said, &ldquo;but because of the amount of shots we were giving up. I didn&rsquo;t think one guv could handle it.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-01

Struggling Atlanta Again Looking Back At Rangers

<p><b>(Standingson Tue, Feb. 10)</b></p><h2><b>Norris Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02249/3630024-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="588" height="204"></div><h2><b>Adams Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03217/3630017-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="586" height="151"></div><h2><b>Patrick Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04171/3630010-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="588" height="149"></div><h2><b>Smythe Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05145/3630003-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="588" height="174"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue, Feb.3</b></p><p>Atlanta 2 at N.Y. Islanders 2. Buffalo 1 at Vancouver California 4 at St Louis 4.</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 4</b></p><p>N.Y. Islanders 6 at N.Y. Rangers 5; California 1 at Atlanta 4; Chicago 3 ot Montreal 8; Washington 4 at Toronto 4; Minnesota 0 at Detroit 5; Buffalo 4 at Los Angeles 3; St Louis 3 at Kansas City 3.</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 5</b></p><p>Vancouver 1 ot Philadelphia 6; Pittsburgh 1 at Boston 5.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 6</b></p><p>Chicago 2 at Atlanta 1, California 1 at Montreal 7; Vancouver 3 ot St. Louis 5; N.Y. Islanders 3 at Detroit 4</p><p><b>Sat, Feb. 7</b></p><p>N.Y. Rangers 5 at Detroit 4; St. Louis 2 at Philadelphia 8; Washington 1 at Kansas City 5; Pittsburgh 7 at Los Angeles 3; Buffalo 4 at Minnesota 3; Boston 4 at Toronto 11.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 8</b></p><p>Montreal 3 at N.Y. Rangers 0, N.Y. Islanders 2 at Phila-delphia 4; Washington 2 at Chicago 4; Pittsburgh 7 ot Vancouver 3; Detroit 0 at Boston 7; Minnesota 1 at Toronto 4. California 5 at Buffalo 5.</p><h2><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h2><p><b>Tue, Feb 10</b></p><p>N.Y. Islanders at Vancouver, St. Louis at Montreal; Los Angeles at Washington.</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 11</b></p><p>Toronto ot Atlanta; Pittsburgh at California, Detroit at Buffalo, Los Angeles at Chicago, Boston at Minnesota.</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 12</b></p><p>N.Y. Rangers at Philadelphia, N.Y. Islanders at Kansas City; Vancouver at Montreal.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 13</b></p><p>Philadelphia ot N.Y. Rangers, Buffalo ot Atlanta; St. Louis at Washington; Boston at California.</p><p><b>Sat, Feb. 14</b></p><p>Pittsburgh at N.Y. Islanders, Atlanta at St. Louis, Los Angeles at Montreal; Detroit at Minnesota; Vancouver at Toronto; Chicago at Kansas City.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 15</b></p><p>Kansas City at N.Y. Rangers; N.Y. Islanders at Buffalo, Montreal at Philadelphia, Detroit ot Washington, Los Angeles at Pittsburgh; Boston ot Chicago, California at Minnesota.</p><p><b>Men. Feb. 16</b></p><p>Toronto at Washington, California at St. Louis.</p><p><b>Tue, Feb. 17</b></p><p>N.Y. Rangers at N.Y. Islanders; Philadelphia at Vancouver, Kansas City at Pittsburgh; Minnesota at Los Angeles.</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 18</b></p><p>Washington ot N.Y. gangers; N.Y. Islanders at Detroit; Montreal at Toronto; St. Louis at Los Angeles, Buffalo ot Chicago; Minnesota at Californio, Boston ot Kansas City; Philadelphia at Vancouver.</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 19</b></p><p>Atlanta at Buffalo, Toronto at Pittsburgh.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 20</b></p><p>N.Y. Rangers at Montreal; Philadelphia at Californio, Atlanta at Kansas City, Minnesota at Vancouver.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-02

LOOKING AT THE NHL SCOREBOARD

<h2><b>Sun, Feb. 1 BUFFALO 9, CALIFORNIA 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06116/3629972-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="587" height="643"></div><h2><b>Tue, Feb. 3 ATLANTA 2, ISLANDERS2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-07103/3629965-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="588" height="385"></div><h2><b>BIFFALO 1, VANCOUVER 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-293/3629958-1-eng-US/f0022-292.jpg" title="f0022-29" width="589" height="334"></div><h2><b>CALIFORNIA 4, ST. LOUIS 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0893/3629951-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="585" height="505"></div><h2><b>Wed Feb. 4 ISLANDERS 6, RANGERS 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0985/3629944-1-eng-US/f0022-092.jpg" title="f0022-09" width="586" height="482"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1075/3629937-1-eng-US/f0022-102.jpg" title="f0022-10" width="581" height="76"></div><h2><b>CALIFORNIA 1, ATLANTA 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1170/3629930-1-eng-US/f0022-112.jpg" title="f0022-11" width="584" height="462"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO 3, MONTREAL 8</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1266/3629923-1-eng-US/f0022-122.jpg" title="f0022-12" width="585" height="451"></div><h2><b>WASHINGTON 4, TORONTO 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1359/3629916-1-eng-US/f0022-132.jpg" title="f0022-13" width="584" height="539"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA 0, DETROIT 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1451/3629909-1-eng-US/f0022-142.jpg" title="f0022-14" width="591" height="434"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO 4, LOS ANGELES 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1549/3629902-1-eng-US/f0022-152.jpg" title="f0022-15" width="582" height="405"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS 3, KANSAS CITY 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1643/3629895-1-eng-US/f0022-162.jpg" title="f0022-16" width="588" height="430"></div><h2><b>Thu, Feb. 5 VANCOUVER 1. PHILADELPHIA 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1739/3629888-1-eng-US/f0022-172.jpg" title="f0022-17" width="583" height="234"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1838/3629881-1-eng-US/f0022-182.jpg" title="f0022-18" width="581" height="227"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH 1, BOSTON 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1938/3629874-1-eng-US/f0022-192.jpg" title="f0022-19" width="584" height="380"></div><h2><b>Fri, Feb. 6 CHICAGO 2, ATLANTA 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2037/3629867-1-eng-US/f0022-202.jpg" title="f0022-20" width="580" height="329"></div><h2><b>CALIFORNIA 1, MONTREAL 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2137/3629860-1-eng-US/f0022-212.jpg" title="f0022-21" width="584" height="431"></div><h2><b>VANCOUVER 3, ST. LOUIS 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2233/3629853-1-eng-US/f0022-222.jpg" title="f0022-22" width="553" height="129"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2334/3629846-1-eng-US/f0022-232.jpg" title="f0022-23" width="584" height="282"></div><h2><b>ISLANDERS3, DETROIT4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2429/3629839-1-eng-US/f0022-242.jpg" title="f0022-24" width="585" height="456"></div><h2><b>Sat, Feb. 7 RANGERS 5, DETROIT 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2518/3629832-1-eng-US/f0022-252.jpg" title="f0022-25" width="588" height="499"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS 2, PHILADELPHIA 8</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2612/3629825-1-eng-US/f0022-262.jpg" title="f0022-26" width="588" height="553"></div><h2><b>WASHINGTON 1, KANSAS CITY 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-277/3629818-1-eng-US/f0022-272.jpg" title="f0022-27" width="582" height="429"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH 7, LOS ANGELES 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-284/3629811-1-eng-US/f0022-282.jpg" title="f0022-28" width="577" height="153"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02242/3629804-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="580" height="322"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO 4, MINNESOTA 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03186/3629797-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="579" height="401"></div><h2><b>BOSTON 4, TORONTO 11</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04150/3629790-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="586" height="555"></div><h2><b>Sun.Feb.8 MONTREAL 3, RANGERS 0</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-05125/3629783-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="583" height="323"></div><h2><b>ISLANDERS 2, PHILADELPHIA 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-06111/3629776-1-eng-US/f0023-062.jpg" title="f0023-06" width="589" height="555"></div><h2><b>WASHINGTON 2. CHICAGO 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0797/3629769-1-eng-US/f0023-072.jpg" title="f0023-07" width="578" height="394"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH 7, VANCOUVER 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0882/3629762-1-eng-US/f0023-082.jpg" title="f0023-08" width="587" height="481"></div><h2><b>DETROIT 0, BOSTON 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0968/3629755-1-eng-US/f0023-092.jpg" title="f0023-09" width="582" height="206"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1058/3629748-1-eng-US/f0023-102.jpg" title="f0023-10" width="582" height="253"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA 1, TORONTO 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1145/3629741-1-eng-US/f0023-112.jpg" title="f0023-11" width="580" height="458"></div><h2><b>CALIFORNIA 5, BUFFALO 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1237/3629734-1-eng-US/f0023-122.jpg" title="f0023-12" width="520" height="377"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1332/3629727-1-eng-US/f0023-132.jpg" title="f0023-13" width="551" height="151"></div><h2>NHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1430/3629720-1-eng-US/f0023-142.jpg" title="f0023-14" width="601" height="905"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0022-06

National Hockey League Summaries

f0023-01

NHL Team Rosters

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNELL</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and Canada</p><p>ST. PAUL&mdash;</p><p>The Minnesota Fighting Saints suspended Henry Boucha, sent Mike Curran to their Johnstown farm club in the North American Hockey League and called up Lou Levasseur, the NAHL&rsquo;S leading netminder.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01314/3630100-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="280" height="405"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Lou Levasseur</b></figcaption></div><p>Boucha, 24, left the bench during the third period of a game with Winnipeg and failed to accompany the team to Indianapolis for a game the next night.</p><p>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t stand for this,&rdquo; said Saints&rsquo; president Wayne Belisle. &ldquo;We won&rsquo;t back away from problems like this.&rdquo;</p><p>Belisle, general manager Glen Sonmor and coach Harry Neale planned to meet with Boucha in the near future.</p><p>Boucha said he had no other choice &ldquo;but to go to Kansas City if something isn&rsquo;t done to solve this mess.&rdquo;</p><p>Boucha signed a contract with the Kansas City Scouts of the National League in November. As things turned out, Boucha left the Saints to directly join the NHL Scouts.</p><p>Boucha&rsquo;s attorney, Brian Smith, says his client&rsquo;s contract hasn&rsquo;t been completely honored by the Saints.</p><p>Smith said the Saints failed to produce a letter of credit for the duration of the contract, failed to&rsquo; match the pension fund built up by Boucha in three NHL seasons and failed to defer his salary over a long term as promised, making him subject to a large Internal Revenue Service liability.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;d hoped to buy a townhouse,&rdquo; said Boucha. &ldquo;But because of the tax status, my wife and I have been almost wiped out of cash. It&rsquo;s put us in a big bind.&rdquo;</p><p>Boucha also expressed annoyance at rumors the Saints are trying to peddle him to other WHA teams despite the no-trade clause in his contract.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve asked Belisle to let me go, but now he wants $50,000 from Kansas City,&rdquo; said Boucha. &ldquo;Now he&rsquo;s trying to sell me to the other league.&rdquo;</p><p>Boucha was also suspended by the Minnesota North Stars in the National Hockey League late last season for missing several practices. He jumped the North Stars in the off-season to sign a multi-year contract with the Saints.</p><p>Curran, 30, a star with the U.S. Olympic team which won a silver medal at the 1972 Games in Japan, shared the net minding with John Garrett the last two years but has played in only five games this season and none since November.</p><p>Levasseur had a 19-4-1 record with a 2.75 goals-against per game average for Johnstown.</p><p>Garrett played his 29th straight game in the Saints&rsquo; nets before Levasseur broke the string.</p><p>Mike Walton and Paul Holmgren fired two goals apiece in a 6-2 victory over Winnipeg and the following night Levasseur got his first WHA victory, 6-5 in overtime over Indianapolis on a breakaway goal by Walton.</p><p>Walton shot two more as the Saints upended the Houston Aeros 4-1 to gain second place in the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s Western Division, but still nine points behind Houston.</p><p>The Saints&rsquo; four-game winning streak was broken by the Cleveland Crusaders who have won all four meetings with Minnesota this season. Mike Antonovich, who had two goals in the victory over Indianapolis, had two more in the loss to Cleveland.</p><p><b>HOUSTON:</b> Rich Preston&rsquo;s goal with 40 seconds remaining gave the Houston Aeros a 6-5 victory in Edmonton, but they dropped their next two games, 2-1 at Indiana polisand 4-l at St. Paul.</p><p>Larry Lund counted his 17th and 18th goals of the season in the win over the Oilers.</p><p>Rookie goaltender Jim Park, in his first WHA start, made 37 saves against the Aeros and Brian McDonald victimized Aero goaltender Wayne Rutledge for the winning goal in the third period.</p><p>Rutledge attempted to freeze the puck behind his own net but fell and Blair MacDonald dug the puck out and fed Brian McDonald who was alone in front of the open net.</p><p><b>SAN DIEGO:</b> The San Diego Mariners blew 2-0 and 3-1 leads into a 4-3 overtime loss to the Phoenix Roadrunners, their second loss to Phoenix in three days, but came back to shut out Calgary 1-0 and whip the Roadrunners 6-1.</p><p>Ernie Wakely made 29 saves in posting his third shutout of the season and Kevin Morrison furnished the only goal of the game, a screened slap shot from outside the left faceoff circle.</p><p>Wakely stopped 13 shots in the final period, including breakaways by Danny Lawson and Ron Chipperfield.</p><p>Wakely only had to make 19 saves in the rout of the Roadrunners, who were in penalty trouble all night.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02244/3630093-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="544" height="711"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>HENRY BOUCHA&hellip;Raps Saints&rsquo; Brass</b></figcaption></div><h2>WHA Leaders</h2><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04125/3630086-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="606" height="1105"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0024-01

Boucha Quits Saints After Being Suspended; High Flying Aeros Grounded By Low Clubs

<p>PHOENIX&mdash;</p><p>Michel Corier was a hero one</p><p>Michel Cormier was a hero one night and finished for the season the next.</p><p>Cormier scored a hat trick and his center, Jim Byoyd, scored 17 seconds into overtime to take a come-from-behind 4-3 victory at San Diego but the following night, Cormier was sent to hospital with torn knee ligaments during a 5-0 shutout of Calgary.</p><p>The team doctor, Eli Krigsten, pronounced the surgery successful but said Cormier is out from two months to the rest of the season.</p><p>J.C. Migneault had his nose broken for the 10th time in the shutout of the Cowboys. Migneault made a painful stop of one of the 20 shots the Cowboys had on Gary Kurt&rsquo;s goal when he fell into the goal and got his skates tangled with the mesh.</p><p>The Cleveland Crusaders, who have lost only once in nine games with two ties with the Roadrunners in two seasons, came back from a 2-0 deficit to earn a 4-4 tie in Phoenix.</p><p>The tie ended a four-game victory streak for the Roadrunners and deprived a crowd of 8,869 of a free meal. Mike Pulos, president-owner of the Spaghetti Company, promised everyone in the Coliseum a free meal if the Roadrunners won.</p><p>It was the second time Pulos has made such an offer. In November the Roadrunners took a 4-0 lead and the pasta appeared on the plate but the Quebec Nordiques came back for a 4-4 tie. In addition, Pulos repeated the offer in Tucson but the Roadrunners Central League farm team lost 2-1 to Oklahoma City.</p><p>Grant Erickson was called up from Tucson as Cormier&rsquo;s replacement and Dave.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03169/3630131-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="566" height="939"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MICHEL CORMIER&hellip;Knee Surgery</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0024-03

Runners’ Hero Of Night, Cormier Out For Season

f0025-01

Looking At WHA Goalers

<p>WINNIPEG&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he showdown for first place in the Canadian Division of the World Hockey Association could conceivably go down to the wire the way the Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques are going about it.</p><p>The front-running Jets are not letting up for one minute after winning twice, tying a third and losing once in four starts last week while the pursuing Nordiques split their week with two wins and two losses.</p><p>The Nordiques numbered the Jets among their victims last week as they skated to a 5-4 win in Quebec City but it appears all the pressure of the closing weeks of the schedule will be squarely on the shoulders of the Nordiques, who have played five games lesss than Winnipeg. However, the way the Jets are winning, it would almost seem the Nordiques will have to sweep those five games in hand to make it a race to the wire for the division title.</p><p>The Jets are still packing the most awesome offense in the entire WHA with a team total of 245 goals with Ulf Nilsson, Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg, Peter Sullivan and Veli-Pekka Ketola showing the way. Hedberg leads with 37 goals but Hull is close, behind with 33. Hull also recently connected for his 15th hat trick as a member of the Jets raising his career total to 43, 28 of which came as a Black Hawk.</p><p>It isn&rsquo;t very often a Jets&rsquo; defenseman gets a chance to steal the scoring spotlight away from the club&rsquo;s high-powered forwards but it happened to rearguard Mike Ford on Feb. 6 when the Jets edged the Toronto Toros 7-6 in Maple Leaf Gardens. Ford, who had only nine previous goals this season, banged in the game-winning goal at 19:05 of the third period on relays from Nilsson and Hedberg to scuttle the Toros before 12,372 fans. It was Ford&rsquo;s 10th of the year and no doubt the goal was a big thrill for the 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 180-pound Ford.</p><p><b>EDMONTON:</b> Norm Ullman, the veteran center who jumped from the NHL Maple Leafs to the Oilers, was honored by Edmonton fans the night of Feb. 8 when the Nordiques came to town. Ullman, who is team&rsquo;s leading scorer, was given a standingovation by the near capacity crowd at the Coliseum&hellip;The Oilers picked up defenseman Paul Hurley from New England in exchange for two reargurards, Kerry Ketter and Steve Caryle. Ketter. who came over from Atlanta of the NHL. hadn&rsquo;t been too productive with the Oilers.</p><p><b>TORONTO:</b> Les Binkley is back in Toronto with the Toros after a stint with Buffalo Norsemen of the NAHL. The much travelled goalkeeper said he is tired of hacking it in the minors and asked the club to bring him hack&hellip;The team has been putting it together a little more regularly but it may be a case of too little too late. Frank Mahovlich scored a hat trick recently to maintain his team scoring lead but Vaclav Nedomansky is breathing down his neck with 59 points, one less than the Big M. Nedomansky leads in goals with 34&hellip;John Van Horlick, a defenseman was called up from, Buffalo to fill the blueline void&hellip;Toros&rsquo; Mark Napier leads all rookies with 49 points.</p><p><b>QUEBEC:</b> The Nordiques have one of the hottest young scorers in the WHA in Real Cloutier. the former Quebec junior whiz. Cloutier, who banged in three goals in the recent All Star game to skate off with most valuable player honors and a brand new automobile as his prize, scored seven goalsand set up three others in a three-game span after the All Star break&hellip;MarcTardif is still the No. 1 WHA goal sniper with 45. Cloutier is a close second with 41 and Hedberg of Winnipeg is next with 40&hellip;The Nordiques recently packed 13,805 fans into their Colisee to watch them humble Cincinnati 9-1. It was the largest crowd to see a WHA game in Quebec City.</p><p><b>CALGARY:</b> Winning on the road is important and it&rsquo;s one of the big reasons Joe Crozier&rsquo;s Cowboys are in contention in the Canadian Division race. The Calgarians are 11-12-1 on the road, a mark than ranks second only to Winnipeg. who are 19-10 away from their home rink&hellip;Danny Lawson is the top Cowboy with 58 points and 30 goals but he is only 15th in the overall race&hellip;Veteran Harry Howell is making an impact on the Calgary defense since his return from the retirement list&hellip;Lawson likes to shoot the puck. His 218 shots on goal represent the third highest in the entire WHA. Only Bobby Hull and Marc Tardif have more shots at the nets than Lawson.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02188/3630193-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="567" height="572"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MIKE FORD&hellip;Sunk The Toros</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0025-02

Jets’ Winning Puts Pressure On Nordiques Quebec’s Cloutier Turning Into Hot Scorer

<p><b>(Standings on Tue, Feb. 10)</b></p><h2><b>Canadian Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02213/3630465-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="587" height="209"></div><h2><b>Eastern Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03176/3630458-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="587" height="152"></div><h2><b>Western Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04135/3630451-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="585" height="150"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue, Feb. 3</b></p><p>Cincinnati 2 at Calgary 3; Winnipeg 4 at Quebec 5; New England 0 at Edmonton 4; Minnesota 4 at Houston 8.</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 4</b></p><p>Cleveland 1 at Phoenix 5, Minnesota 1 at San Diego.</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 5</b></p><p>New England 6 at Calgary 4; Quebec 2 at Indianapolis 4, Edmonton 1 at Phoenix 5; Cleveland 2 at San Diego 3.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 6</b></p><p>Winnipeg 7 at Toronto 6; Edmonton 0 at Cincinnati 7, Indianapolis 3 at Houston 4</p><p><b>Sat, Feb 7</b></p><p>Quebec 4 at Calgary 4; Winnipeg 4 at Cleveland 4; Toronto 3 ot New England 7; Cincinnati 1 at Indianapolis 5; Minnesota 2 at Phoenix 4.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 8</b></p><p>Calgary 4 at Winnipeg 8; Quebec 5 at Edmonton 4; Cleveland 6 at New England 1; San Diego 2 at Houston 5; Minnesota 3 at Phoenix 3.</p><h2><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h2><p><b>Tue, Feb. 10</b></p><p>Toronto at Calgary; Son Diego at Minnesota.</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 11</b></p><p>Quebec ot Winnipeg; Cincinnati al Cleveland</p><p><b>Thu, Feb 12</b></p><p>Quebec at Minnesota; Houston at Phoenix</p><p><b>Fri, Feb 13</b></p><p>Calgary at Indianapolis, Toronto at Edmonton; Cincinnati at New England.</p><p><b>Sat, Feb 14</b></p><p>Indianapolis at Cincinnati; Houston at San Diego; Phoenix at Minnesota.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. IS</b></p><p>Calgary at Cincinnati; Toronto at Winnipeg; Quebec at Houston, Phoenix at Edmonton, San Diego at Indianapolis, New England at Cleveland.</p><p><b>Tue Feb. 17</b></p><p>Winnipeg ot Edmonton; San Diego at Quebec, Minnesota at Toronto. New England at Houston.</p><p><b>Wed Feb. 18</b></p><p>Calgary at Cleveland, Phoenix at Winnipeg.</p><p><b>Thu Feb. 19</b></p><p>New England at Indianapolis; Cleveland at Houston.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb 20</b></p><p>Minnesota ot Calgary; Edmonton at Winnipeg, San Diego at Toronto; Phoenix at Cincinnati<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0026-02

WHA SCOREBOARD

<h2><b>Sat, Jan. 31 PHOENIX 1, SAN DIEGO 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-306/3630420-1-eng-US/f0026-302.jpg" title="f0026-30" width="577" height="377"></div><h2><b>Sun, Feb. 1 WINNIPEG 2, INDIANAPOLIS 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05108/3630413-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="575" height="327"></div><h2><b>CINCINNATI2, EDMONTON 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0685/3630406-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="584" height="429"></div><h2><b>NEW ENGLAND 7, TORONTO 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0774/3630399-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="576" height="527"></div><h2><b>CLEVELAND 6, MINNESOTA 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0865/3630392-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="580" height="497"></div><h2><b>Tue, Feb. 3 CINCINNATI 2, CALGARY 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0959/3630385-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="570" height="105"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1056/3630378-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="579" height="256"></div><h2><b>WINNIPEG 4, QUEBEC 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1153/3630371-1-eng-US/f0026-112.jpg" title="f0026-11" width="583" height="424"></div><h2><b>NEW ENGLAND 0, EDMONTON 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1247/3630364-1-eng-US/f0026-122.jpg" title="f0026-12" width="580" height="357"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA 4, HOUSTON 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1347/3630357-1-eng-US/f0026-132.jpg" title="f0026-13" width="577" height="278"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1443/3630350-1-eng-US/f0026-142.jpg" title="f0026-14" width="579" height="300"></div><h2><b>Wed, Feb. 4 CLEVELAND 1, PHOENIX S</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1540/3630343-1-eng-US/f0026-152.jpg" title="f0026-15" width="583" height="400"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA 1, SAN DIEGO 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1632/3630336-1-eng-US/f0026-162.jpg" title="f0026-16" width="579" height="379"></div><h2><b>Thu, Feb. 5 NEW ENGLAND 6, CALGARY 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1728/3630329-1-eng-US/f0026-172.jpg" title="f0026-17" width="574" height="131"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1827/3630322-1-eng-US/f0026-182.jpg" title="f0026-18" width="584" height="337"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC 2, INDIANAPOLIS 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1926/3630315-1-eng-US/f0026-192.jpg" title="f0026-19" width="586" height="416"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON 1, PHOENIX 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2023/3630308-1-eng-US/f0026-202.jpg" title="f0026-20" width="579" height="448"></div><h2><b>CLEVELAND 2. SAN DIEGO 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2121/3630301-1-eng-US/f0026-212.jpg" title="f0026-21" width="584" height="374"></div><h2><b>Fri, Feb. 6 WINNIPEG 7, TORONTO 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2220/3630294-1-eng-US/f0026-222.jpg" title="f0026-22" width="590" height="497"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON 0, CINCINNATI 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2318/3630287-1-eng-US/f0026-232.jpg" title="f0026-23" width="578" height="208"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2415/3630280-1-eng-US/f0026-242.jpg" title="f0026-24" width="578" height="206"></div><h2><b>INDIANAPOLIS 3, HOUSTON 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2513/3630273-1-eng-US/f0026-252.jpg" title="f0026-25" width="582" height="403"></div><h2><b>Sat, Feb. 7 QUEBEC 4, CALGARY 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2610/3630266-1-eng-US/f0026-262.jpg" title="f0026-26" width="584" height="584"></div><h2><b>WINNIPEG 4, CLEVELAND 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-279/3630259-1-eng-US/f0026-272.jpg" title="f0026-27" width="589" height="559"></div><h2><b>TORONTO 3, NEW ENGLAND 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-286/3630252-1-eng-US/f0026-282.jpg" title="f0026-28" width="583" height="458"></div><h2><b>CINCINNATI 1, INDIANAPOLIS 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-296/3630245-1-eng-US/f0026-292.jpg" title="f0026-29" width="571" height="83"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03145/3630238-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="584" height="327"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA 2, PHOENIX 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04113/3630231-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="586" height="509"></div><h2><b>Sun, Feb. 8 QUEBEC 5, EDMONTON 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0588/3630224-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="587" height="450"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-30

World Hockey Association Summaries

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01249/3630503-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="549" height="584"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JACQUES CARON&hellip;Rescued Crusaders</b></figcaption></div><p>CLEVELAND&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>eclaring he &ldquo;can no longer play for a team general managed by Jack Vivian,&rdquo; Cleveland Crusaders&rsquo; goaltender Gerry Cheevers announced his &ldquo;retirement&rdquo; from the World Hockey Association club</p><p>Actually, it amounts to more of a release &ldquo;by mutual agreement&rdquo; between the two parties, helped along by the long-simmering feud between Cheevers and Vivian. It came to a head in Indianapolis Jan. 25, shortly after Cheevers and the C&rsquo;s dropped a 4-2 decision to the Racers.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02198/3630496-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="244" height="394"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Jim Park</b></figcaption></div><p>Cheevers, who had been publicly blamed by Vivian for the Crusaders&rsquo; problems this season, resigned shortly after Vivian fined him $1,000 and suspended him for poor play.</p><p>Vivian denies fining and suspending Cheevers, but that point is moot. The fact is Cheevers was let go with comparative ease. No attempt was made to change his mind, leading many people to believe the Crusaders wanted no part of his $200,000-a-year contract.</p><p>Cheevers immediately became a free agent in the WHA, but instead began to negotiate with his old National Hockey League team, the Boston Bruins. Cheevers then signed with Boston.</p><p>Supposedly one of the reasons Cheevers wanted out was non-payment of his massive contract. Reportedly, he has not been paid since Dec. 15 and the $65,000 cash settlement with the Crusaders included some of his back pay.</p><p>The Crusaders nearly had a player revolt as the result of some late pay-checks shortly after Cheevers departed the scene. The Dec. 31 payroll arrived 13 days late and the Jan. 15 payroll came 12 days late.</p><p>And it was only after a foulup at two Cleveland banks was corrected that the Crusaders agreed to play their Jan. 28 game in Cincinnati.</p><p>The Crusaders voted not to play the game against the Stingers after discovering the money was not in the bank. At two o&rsquo;clock the day of the game, a Cleveland bank president assured C&rsquo;s player representative Al McDonough there would he sufficient funds to cover the checks, so they played.</p><p>Cheevers&rsquo; departure from the Cleveland hockey scene drew sharp criticism from members of the Crusaders and many members of the news media, most of which was directed at Vivian.</p><p>In several areas, Vivian&rsquo;s resignation was called for, but club owner Jay Moore said he would not make any hasty decisions.</p><p>To complicate matters, the other Cleveland netminder, Bob Whidden, came up with a bad back. Vivian scrambled to get John Voss from Greensboro of the Southern Hockey League and Jacques Caron from Syracuse of the North American Hockey League.</p><p>Caron, the veteran cage cop who has had major league experience in the NHL with St. Louis and Los Angeles, stepped in and gained three points for the C&rsquo;s in his first two starts&mdash;a victory in Cincinnati and tie in Phoenix.</p><p><b>INDIANAPOLIS:</b> The Racers, all of a sudden, had goaltender problems Michel Dion came down with a severe case of the flu and Leif Holmquist had three fingers damaged on his catching hand against New England. So Andy Brown, bad back and all. stepped in and played two periods before Jim Park, late in arriving from Mohawk Valley, took over in the third period en route to a 6-5 overtime loss to the Minnesota Fighting Saints. And Park did the Saints a favor the following evening by halting the Houston Aeros, 2-1, before the home folks, stopping 37 shots. The victory was Indianapolis&rsquo; 19th, one more than the Racers had all last season.</p><p><b>NEW ENGLAND:</b> The Whalers and Edmonton Oilers made their third trade in a year, the Harpoonists sending defenseman Paul Hurley and the amateur rights to Clarke Jantze of the University of Alberta to the Oilers in exchange for defensemen Steve Carlyle and Kerry Ketter&hellip;The Whalers may not have high-scoring right winger Tom Webster until the playoffs, if then. Webster underwent spinal fusion surgery a few years ago and the fusion is cracking. If the fusion does not close in a month, Webster will have to go under the knife&hellip;</p><p><b>CINCINNATI:</b> Rookie-of-the-year candidate Claude Larose suffered a recurrence of an old back injury and missed several games for the Stingers, forcing coach Terry Slater to temporarily break up the French Collection line. Slater has moved Pierre Guite from right wing to Larose&rsquo;s left wing slot and shifted Rick Dudley to the right side on Jacques Locas&rsquo; line. Bernie MacNeil has taken Dudley&rsquo;s left wing spot on the Bryan Campbell-Murray Myers line. Dennis and Gene Sobchuk are skating with newcomer Frank Beaton on the right side.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-01

Club Rift Drives Cheevers Out Of WHA; Racers Hit By Unexpected Goal Problem

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1147/3630632-1-eng-US/f0028-112.jpg" title="f0028-11" width="781" height="814"></div><p>GP&mdash;Games played; G&mdash;Goals; A&mdash;Assists; P&mdash;Points; PM&mdash;Penalty Minutes; SOG&mdash;Shots on Goal; SC%&mdash;ScoringPercentage.</p><h2>CALGARY COWBOYS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01237/3630625-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="743" height="743"></div><h2>CINCINNATI STINGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02168/3630618-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="746" height="716"></div><h2>CLEVELAND CRUSADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03125/3630611-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="733" height="894"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04101/3630604-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="723" height="769"></div><h2>HOUSTON AEROS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0587/3630597-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="731" height="730"></div><h2>INDIANAPOLIS RACERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0673/3630590-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="736" height="892"></div><h2>MINNESOTA SAINTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0763/3630583-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="739" height="794"></div><h2>NEW ENGLAND WHALERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0954/3630576-1-eng-US/f0028-092.jpg" title="f0028-09" width="741" height="838"></div><h2>PHOENIX ROADRUNNERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1053/3630569-1-eng-US/f0028-102.jpg" title="f0028-10" width="748" height="840"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1244/3630562-1-eng-US/f0028-122.jpg" title="f0028-12" width="737" height="755"></div><h2>SAN DIEGO MARINERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1340/3630555-1-eng-US/f0028-132.jpg" title="f0028-13" width="732" height="712"></div><h2>TORONTO TOROS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1434/3630548-1-eng-US/f0028-142.jpg" title="f0028-14" width="732" height="801"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1534/3630541-1-eng-US/f0028-152.jpg" title="f0028-15" width="728" height="758"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0858/3630534-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="1218" height="983"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Frank Mahovlich is wheeling in old time form again. The Big M has taken over the scoring lead on the Toronto Toros with 60 points. Last week Mahovlich, shown here carrying the puck past teammate Jim Turkiewicz, left, fired a hat trick for the Toros.</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0028-11

WHA SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY DON ETLING</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01202/3630670-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="505" height="786"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MIKE LUIT&hellip;Stand Up Goaller</b></figcaption></div><p>BOWLING GREEN&mdash;</p><p>So what&rsquo;s in a name?</p><p>Opposing players may have trouble pronouncing the names of Bowling Green goalies Mike Luit (pronounced Lay-YUTE) and Al Sarachman (sounds like Irishman with an &ldquo;S&rdquo;), but that&rsquo;s nothing compared with the problems they&rsquo;ve had putting the puck behind the two Falcon netminders this season.</p><p>Coming off a Jan. 23-24 split with St. Louis University, Luit and Sarachman find themselves a top the Control Collegiate Hockey Association in goaltending statistics with a 2.29 and 2.84 goals against respectively. And their success has been reflected in the &ldquo;Ice House Gang&rsquo;s&rdquo; league leading 6-1 mark, 14-3-1 overall record and sixth place ranking nationally.</p><p>As similar as their statistics are, the two juniors present a contrast in style &ldquo;Mike gets the job done by standing up playing the shots well, covering up. And in his case he has very quick feet for a big (6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 190 pounds) guy. He doesn&rsquo;t look as flashy as Al Sarachman but by his goals&mdash;against average you can see he gets the job done.&rdquo;</p><p>Sarachman says his diving, sprawling habits in the nets are similar to Tony Esposito&rsquo;s. He admits, though, his confidence has been slow in coming this season. &ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t been with me. I had it (confidence) a little at the start of the year and then I lost it in a game against RPI (won by RPI 6-5). Now I&rsquo;m slowly starting to gather it.&rdquo;</p><p>And gather it he did against league arch rival St. Louis University-Jan. 23. The scrambling netminder kicked out 34 shots in stopping the Billikens 6-1 at Bowling Green.</p><p>And the shots Sarachman wasn&rsquo;t clearing to the corners his defense and backchecking frontliners were clearing out of the Bowling Green zone. &ldquo;We feel that a good offense will win games, but defense wins championships,&rdquo; coach Mason agrees.</p><p>Luit&rsquo;s finest effort was a 5-0 shutout victory over non-league opponent Notre Dame. He, too, credits the defense with much of his success. &ldquo;The forwards and defense kept me in the game early in that they didn&rsquo;t allow Notre Dame much of an opportunity to score, but save a few times. By the third period when the defense, say, let down somewhat, then I was able topull them through.&rdquo;</p><p>Luit. as Sarachman, sees the B.G. goaltending as just one component in the equation that is the total team effort. &ldquo;The wingers help the defensemen, the defensemen help the goalies and the goaltender tries to come up and make the big play when the team needs it.&rdquo;</p><p>How confident is coach Mason in his goaltenders? &ldquo;We feel we&rsquo;ve got the best one-two punch in the nation in goal.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02166/3630663-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="511" height="778"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>AL SARACHMAN&hellip;Sprawling Style</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0029-01

Bowling Green Boasts Pair Of Top CCHA Goalers

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>P</span>re-season expectations to the contrary. the Southern sector of ECAC Division One has been the cliched soft underbelly for most of the 1975-76 campaign.</p><p>Pennsylvania and Princeton, the two Ivy League institutions which are also the southern most points in the 17-team loop, found themselves looking up at most of the pack as February opened. But both Bob Crocker and Jack Semler fully expect a solar plexus punch or two by the league&rsquo;s heavies to clang into an iron wall during the schedule&rsquo;s home stretch.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03114/3630701-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="248" height="391"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Carl Jackson</b></figcaption></div><p>The year began with hopes high both at Class of &lsquo;2.3 and Hobey Baker rinks. But Penn began the final month with a 4-11 record and a 3-9 league slate for 14th spot. Princeton was two slots astern in 16th with 2-11-1 overall and league marks.</p><p>Crocker, now in his fourth season steering the Quakers, had a base of 13 juniors plus two varsity caliber goalies in Carl Jackson and Tony Ciresi available when practice started in the fall. By the time the first game arrived, not one experienced defenseman was around, and Ciresi was academically ineligible.</p><p>&ldquo;Well, we haven&rsquo;t done much lately,&rdquo; admitted Crocker. &ldquo;A lot of bad things have happened to us, but it&rsquo;s no use crying about it.&rdquo;</p><p>Perhaps a tear or two might have been excusable. You don&rsquo;t give up defensemen like Greg Reeves and Tom Guarino, plus a goalie like Ciresi, and not feel it. Crocker&rsquo;s style of coaching is oriented to the close checking, overall team defensive game, so without the leaders, Penn was in trouble.</p><p>Reeves separated a shoulder in practice. Guarino fell victim to a virus which left him partially paralyzed in his fingers and toes. Promising freshman Dave Taylor came down with mono two weeks into training camp. Jamie Hodge&rsquo;s knee has been mummified by bandages but ne continues playing. Freshman Norm Kerr lost ground via a five game suspension for accepting a small sum of money in Canada. Mark Irwin, the team captain, is gone the rest of the year after succumbing in a battle with the blue book.</p><p>Crocker refuses offers of a hankie and points to the last 10 games of the schedule, with five of them slated for the class of&rsquo;23 rink.</p><p>&ldquo;Spoilers? No, we still have a fighting chance at the playoffs. Any kid I find on my team who has the attitude that we&rsquo;re all through won&rsquo;t be on the team for long.&rdquo;</p><p>The Quakers rose to the occasion when Dartmouth arrived in town. Jackson stopped 43 shots in a 3-2 triumph, with Skip Suss netting the winner at 3:48 of the final period. It was Penn&rsquo;s first Division One win since early December.</p><p>The &ldquo;experts&rdquo; figured that both Penn and Princeton would benefit greatly from the new rule allowing freshmen to play on Ivy League varsities. But thus far it&rsquo;s just made the rich richer, with frosh playing key roles for Harvard, Brown, and Cornell.</p><p>The injury bug hasn&rsquo;t bitten Princeton badly, with only defenseman Al Rosner missing any ice time. Rollefstad had been alternating with Mike O&rsquo;Leary in the goal before the latter broke a bone in his stick hand in practice before the Colgate game.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0029-03

Penn, Princeton Fall Back In ECAC Race

<div class="byline">BY SCOTT HERRON</div><p>MADISON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>ll season long Wisconsin coach Bill &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; Rothwell has claimed that the Badgers &ldquo;are a heck of a hockey team,&rdquo; the pitch of his voice rising with each pronouncement.</p><p>But Wisconsin&rsquo;s position in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings has pretty much cast a shadow over Rothwell&rsquo;s credibility and judgment. His sentiments have been echoed from the depths of the league cellar.</p><p>It seems, however, that the Rocket&rsquo;s claims can&rsquo;t be totally dismissed. Although the Badgers were in last place as of Jan. 30 with only six victories and a tie in 20 WCHA games, they have demonstrated since the first of the year that they might make one of the eight playoff spots.</p><p>&ldquo;I really think we&rsquo;re going to make the playoffs,&rdquo; says Rothwell, Wiscon sin&rsquo;s acting head coach while Bob Johnson guides the U.S. Olympic team. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to say who we re going to beat out because that&rsquo;s no way to keep friends, but there are a few teams not out of the woods yet.&rdquo;</p><p>The Badgers, who have drawn over 100,000 fans this year at home despite winning only three games, began finding their way out of the woods January 2-3 when they swept the Pioneers at Denver. Then after dropping a series to North Dakota, which included an overtime loss, they split with Minnesota Duluth and shocked the league by nearly sweeping first-place Michigan Tech.</p><p>Wisconsin won its opener against Tech 5-1, and after being down twice by three goals in the second game had the Huskies tied 4-4 until with 14 seconds remaining Stu Younger put in a winning goal for the defending national champions. Had the Badgers won the Saturday night contest, they would have handed Tech its first series loss of the season.</p><p>&ldquo;John Maclnnes (Tech coach) said his club hasn&rsquo;t played a team better than us,&rdquo; Rothwell relates. &ldquo;And I have to admit that if Tech is as good a team as there is in the league I have to be confident of our chances.&rdquo;</p><p>Rothwell isn&rsquo;t kidding himself, however. He realizes that the Badgers won&rsquo;t have an easy time moving up in the standings. Their remaining series are with the league&rsquo;s top six teams, meeting Michigan State, Colorado College, Minnesota, Michigan, Tech and Notre Dame in order. Only the series with Minnesota (February 13-14) and Notre Dame (March 6-7) are at Dane County Coliseum.</p><p>&ldquo;We have our work cut out for us.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But we have been playing excellent hockey since the first of the year. We beat Duluth 10-4, and although we lost the second game 3-2 we outshot them 48-20. Against Tech we shut them out until the last minute of the opener and held them scoreless for 37 minutes of the second game.</p><p>&ldquo;We played to perfection Friday night against Tech We dominated every aspect of the game forechecking, backchecking, penalty killing. People told me they never saw the pace of a game so fast before.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0486/3630732-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="463" height="605"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MIKE DIBBLE&hellip;Florida Vacation</b></figcaption></div><p>There&rsquo;s reason for Wisconsin&rsquo;s improved play, according to Rothwell. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not getting those stupid, aggressive penalties that we were getting before,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a much better team than we were earlier in the season.&rdquo;</p><p>The Badgers have won four of their last eight games, playing without regular goalie Mike Dibble until the Tech series. He had had difficulty stopping the puck, taking himself out of a couple games, and decided a Florida vacation was the best way to soothe his frenzied nerves.</p><p>&ldquo;Dibble lost confidence and wasn&rsquo;t playing well,&rdquo; Rothwell says. &ldquo;So he took a couple of weeks off. Mike is a great goaltend for. I don&rsquo;t want to take anything away from our other guys, hut if we had had Mike we might have 7-1 in our last eight games.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0029-04

Wisconsin Showing Signs Of Late-Season Resurgence

<h2><b>ECAC CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon, Feb. 2)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0577/3630791-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="603" height="533"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Boston College 11, Yale 2</p><p>Boston University 9, Brown 4</p><p>St. Lawrence 8, Colgate 7</p><p>Cornell 7, Princeton 2</p><p>Dartmouth 6, Northeastern2</p><p>New Hampshire 6, Vermont 3</p><p>Providence 7, St. Lawrence 3</p><p>New Hampshire 5, Boston College 1</p><p>Vermont 7, Boston University 1</p><p>RPI 7, Colgate 2 Colgate 8,</p><p>Northeastern 5 Clarkson 6,</p><p>Providence 3 Dartmouth 5,</p><p>Yale 4 Cornell 3,</p><p>Pennsylvania 0 Brown 5, Princeton 1</p><h2><b>WCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon, Jan. 23)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0659/3630784-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="598" height="349"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Michigan State 6, Colorado College 4</p><p>Denver 8, North Dakota 4</p><p>Michigan 7, Minnesota 3</p><p>Wisconsin 5, Michigan Tech 1</p><p>Notre Dame 4, Minnesota-Duluth 3</p><p>Colorado College 6, Michigan State 4</p><p>Denver 7, North Dakota 2</p><p>Michigan 5, Minnesota 3</p><p>Michigan Tech 5. Wisconsin 4</p><p>Minnesota-Duluth 4, Notre Dame 3</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0747/3630777-1-eng-US/f0029-072.jpg" title="f0029-07" width="595" height="311"></div><h2><b>CCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri, Jan. 30)</b></p><h3><b>OVERALLGAMES</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0840/3630770-1-eng-US/f0029-082.jpg" title="f0029-08" width="604" height="252"></div><h3><b>LEAGUE PLAY</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0936/3630763-1-eng-US/f0029-092.jpg" title="f0029-09" width="604" height="170"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p>Bowling Green 6, St. Louis 1</p><p>St. Louis 4, Bowling Green 2</p><p>Lake Superior 7. Ohio State 3</p><p>Lake Superior 5. Ohio State Q.</p><p>Western Michigan 7, Lake Forest 3</p><p>Western Michigan 10, Lake Forest 2<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0029-05

College Races

<div class="byline">BY AL FISCHER</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p>BALTIMORE&mdash;</p><p>Once again, the Clippers provided the focal point for Southern Division news with the announcement that general manager Terry Reardon was taking on the added duties of coach.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01233/3630836-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="265" height="376"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Fred Speck</b></figcaption></div><p>It was the fourth time in the club&rsquo;s 13-year history that Reardon stepped into the coaching breach, this time replacing playing-coach Kent Douglas, who will remain with the club as a player.</p><p>&ldquo;We have given this a lot of thought,&rdquo; Reardon commented after making the announcement, &ldquo;and we made the decision with Kent&rsquo;s full consent. We feel that with the coaching burden lifted, Kent can concentrate more on the playing aspect of the game and help us much more. He will continue to handle the team in practice and serve as an assistant coach,&rdquo; Reardon said.</p><p>Reardon&rsquo;s initial weekend behind the bench did little to make him believe he made the right decision, as the Clippers, following a 4-1 victory over Providence in Reardon&rsquo;s home debut, proceeded to drop encounters in Hershey and New Haven.</p><p>The latter loss was an added pill for Reardon to swallow, leaving the Clippers just a single point in front of the Nighthawks in the battle for the third and final playoff position.</p><p>An injury to veteran defenseman Ray Clearwater in the Providence game kept the popular rearguard out of action in Hershey and New Haven, and his absence was certainly felt. A pairing of Paul Curtis and Ralph Mac-Sweyn were on the ice for seven of the 10 goals surrendered in the losses to Hershey and New Haven.</p><p>Only some stout goaltending by Dave Hainsworth prevented the Bears and Nighthawks from scoring more, as the Baltimore defense once again, is reverting to the appalling habit of backing in deep and allowing those easy 10 and 15 foot shots, giving Hainsworth nightmares.</p><p>Fred Speck continues his lively pace as the team scoring leader and had moved up to the 10th spot among the league&rsquo;s top scorers.</p><p>The Clippers wasted Dennis Giannini&rsquo;s hat trick in the loss to Hershey. The swift left winger, now playing on a line centered by Speck, with Don Grierson on the right side, scored twice in the win over Providence. The Speck line accounted for 10 scoring points against the Bears, but it went for naught.</p><p><b>HERSHEY:</b> The Bears enjoyed a profitable week, winning three of four starts to maintain their comfortable lead stop the Southern Division, stretching their advantage to 14 points over runner-up Richmond.</p><p>They opened with a victory over Providence and after dropping an affair in Springfield, bounced back for victories over Baltimore and Richmond.</p><p>The Bears added Larry Bignell to the defensive corps, signing the tough rearguard after the Ottawa franchise in the WHA folded. Bignell had played before for the Bears and is a popular fan favorite in Chocolatetown. His addition means less playing time for Steve Cardwell, whose antagonistic style was becoming more than Hershey fans could swallow.</p><p>The loss to Springfield was only the first in seven games for the Bears, who are easily the class of the division. It is unlikely that any team will catch the Bears in their bid for their first division title since 1969-70.</p><p>The Bears, who didn&rsquo;t have one player on the top 20 list for the first three months of the season, now boast four players in the top 20, including the league leader, Jean-Guy Gratton.</p><p>In addition to Gratton, the Bears also list Derek Smith, Michel Deziel, and Pete Laframboise among the league&rsquo;s elite.</p><p>Don Edwards and Gord Laxton continue their outstanding play as alternating goaltenders in coach Chuck Hamilton&rsquo;s system, with Edwards getting closer and closer to the 3.00 goalsallowed level. His current 3.09 is second only to Nova Scotia&rsquo;s Dave Elenbaas.</p><p>The Bears also continue to live up to the old adage that a team with the most penalties usually wins. They lead the league with almost 1,000 minutes.</p><p><b>RICHMOND:</b> The Robins split four contests this week, losing in Baltimore and at home to Hershey, while winning in Rochester and beating Providence at home.</p><p>The Robins added two veterans from Washington, when left winger Bob Gryp and defenseman Willie Brossart joined the team early in the week.</p><p>With Pete Scamurra having been recalled and Terry Murray still sidelined Brossart was a welcome addition to the depleted Robin blueline ranks.</p><p>A home record of only 12-12-1 has kept the Robins from seriously challenging the runaway Hershey Bears, and the six-point Robin lead over Baltimore is precarious to say the least.</p><p>Larry Fullan maintained his lead as the top assist man in the league and ranked fifth among all league score s, while Steve Short remains the league&rsquo;s bully boy, with more than 200 minutes in the penalty box.</p><p>The Robin fans continue to turn out in large quantity. A crowd of 6,000 enjoyed a recent 4-3 victory over Baltimore on stick night, one of many popular Robin promotions.</p><p><b>NEW HAVEN:</b> At long last, coach Parker MacDonald received player help, without having to relinquish any of the men on the New Haven roster. Minnesota returned Richard Nantais while Detroit graciously sent back Don Martineau and Bill Lochead.</p><p>In addition, the North Stars assigned John Flesch and the young winger immediately responded with two goals in a victory over Baltimore that allowed the Hawks to move within one point of the Clippers.</p><p>Peter McDuffe was also returned by Detroit following emergency recall and was superb in the goal in the 4-2 decision over the Clippers.</p><p>Rick McCann moved up to grab a share of the team lead in scoring. The veteran center divides the honor with Tim Colley, both with 38 points. McCann&rsquo;s 30 assists earn him a share of fourth place in the league in that category.</p><p>MacDonald is hopeful that all the juggling in Minnesota and Detroit may be over and his Nighthawk lineup can remain intact long enough to escape the division cellar and move up to challenge Richmond for second place, a spot predicted for the Hawks before the season opened.</p><p>The Hawks had won three and tied another of their last five games as once again they give evidence of finally having put it all together. MacDonald hopes that a slump does not set in, as it has every time the Hawks appear ready to move up.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03132/3630829-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="566" height="696"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JEAN-GUY GRATTON&hellip;Top AHL Scorer</b></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/f0030-02178/3630822-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="598" height="569"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0030-01

Reardon Behind Clipper Bench Again; Hershey Pulling Away In Southern Race

<div class="byline">BY AL FISCHER</div><p>HALIFAX&mdash;</p><p>This was the week that wasn&rsquo;t for the American League&rsquo;s Northern Division teams.</p><p>The supposedly tougher half of the AHL posted a meager 2-6-2 record, with Rochester and Providence both failing to win one game, while Nova Scotia split a pair of contests. Ironically, it was lowly Springfield that upheld some of the North&rsquo;s prestige with a victory and a tie in its only two starts.</p><p>Nova Scotia, minus the services of Rick Chartraw, Glenn Goldup, Ken Houston and Sean Shanahan, still had enough left to beat Rochester in a head-to-head meeting of the top two teams in the division, and the Voyageurs held a four-point lead at week&rsquo;s end, as the Amerks dropped a home encounter to Richmond and then had to settle for a 2-2 tie in Springfield.</p><p>The Voyageurs did welcome back Ron Andruff and Noel Price following short sojourns to the National League on emergency recall basis.</p><p>Andruff&rsquo;s return was opportune, since he had been the team&rsquo;s leading goal scorer before his departure for Montreal and a brief stint with the Canadiens.</p><p>Pierre Mondou and Guy Chouinard. the Voyageurs&rsquo; top point pro ducers, were finding the range again after a short slump and with 49 points each shared fifth place in the league scoring race.</p><p>Andruff also is one of the league&rsquo;s leading penalty killers, and has a league-leading figure of four short-handed goals.</p><p>Andruff had a six-point week upon his return to share the week&rsquo;s honors with Hershey&rsquo;s Jean-Guy Gratton and Baltimore&rsquo;s Don Grierson.</p><p>National League clubs continue to cast covetous eyes at the Voyageurs&rsquo; goaltending tandem of Dave Elenbaas and Ed Walsh. Elenbaas has a brilliant 2.42 goals-allowed adverage in 28 games, while Walsh has hovered under, at, or slightly over the 3.00 mark. Elenbaas&rsquo; winning record of 20-4-3 is easily the league&rsquo;s best. as are his four shutouts and a team shutout total of six.</p><p>The return of Shanahan, Chartraw and Goldup is expected as the Voyageurs gird for the tough month a head, a month of 14 games, eight on the road, including a five-game trip to the South.</p><p><b>ROCHESTER:</b> Some of Rochester&rsquo;s walking wounded finally returned as Dave Hynes and Dunc Rousseau were back in uniform. Hynes had been sidelined almost a month with a fractured cheekbone, while Rousseau had missed seven games with a groin injury.</p><p>However, their presence was not enough as the Amerks toiled through their first winless week of the season.</p><p>It started with a 4-2 loss in Providence, continued with a defeat in Nova Scotia and another back home against Richmond, before the Amerks settled for a 2-2 deadlock in Springfield.</p><p>The lost week cost the Amerks valuable ground as they dropped four points behind Division-leading Nova Scotia.</p><p>The Amerks have won only two of their last seven and since back-to-back victories in Richmond and Baltimore two weeks ago, Dick Mattiussi&rsquo;s charges are winless in four games.</p><p>The loss in Nova Scotia left the Amerks with a 4-3-2 series edge on the Voyageurs. They have yet to win in the Halifax Forum, losing twice and tying two others.</p><p>Along with Hershey, the Amerks boast four players on the list of the league&rsquo;s top 20 scorers, the most of any club in the league.</p><p>Gordie Clark is the team leader with 50 points. Rene Drolet has 45, team captain Barry Merrell, 41, and Hynes, 39.</p><p>Mattiussi is anxiously awaiting the return of his top goal scorer Paul O&rsquo;Neil, who had 26 lamplighters before injuring his back.</p><p>O&rsquo;Neil lost his league lead in that category due to his idleness, but only trailed leader. Providence&rsquo;s Greg Holst by one.</p><p>Rochester was one of only two teams that did experience any player shifts during the week, Baltimore was the other.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1036/3630867-1-eng-US/f0031-102.jpg" title="f0031-10" width="526" height="502"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BILLY INGLIS&hellip;Production Up</b></figcaption></div><p><b>SPRINGFIELD:</b> The Indians, as promised, acted the role of spoiler, knocking off Hershey&rsquo;s Southern Division leader and then holding Rochester to a 2-2 deadlock.</p><p>The Indians have shored up their defense with the addition of Ken Murray and Claude Houde, while forward Germain Gagnon has added firepower to a rather spotty offense, whose 152 goals is the lowest mark in the league.</p><p>Veteran Billy Inglis continues to step up his point production and was only a point behind team leader Norm Dube, who returned to the lineup following an injury.</p><p>The tie with Rochester ended a three-game victory streak for the Indians, their longest of the season, as goaltenders Terry Richardson, Ed Humphreys and Rocky Farr keyed the brief winning fling.</p><p>The deadlock with the Amerks marked the sixth overtime game of the season for the Indians and they were still looking for their initial victory in extra limit encounters. Hershey is the only other club that has failed to win in overtime.</p><p><b>PROVIDENCE:</b> The Reds went on the road and the hosts were quite inhospitable. Back-to-back 3-2 defeats in Hershey and Richmond were followed by a 4-1 defeat in Baltimore.</p><p>The high-powered Reds&rsquo; offense was almost completely stifled in those losses, combining for a mere five goals in the three contests.</p><p>The Reds had won only once in their last six starts and their hopes of moving up from third place were diminishing.</p><p>Team captain Lynn Powis saw his league lead as top scorer snatched away by Hershey&rsquo;s Jean-Guy Gratton, while Greg Holst still maintained his grasp on the league lead in goals scored.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0031-10

Lowly Indians Uphold Prestige Of Division

<h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed, Feb. 11)</b></p><h3><b>Northern Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01213/3630954-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="605" height="345"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue, Feb. 3</b></p><p>New Haven 2 at Baltimore 6; Springfield 3 at Nova Scotia 1.</p><p><b>Wed, Feb 4</b></p><p>Nova Scotia 4 at Hershey 2; Richmond 2 at Rochester 4.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 6</b></p><p>Novo Scotia 6 at Baltimore 1, Hershey 3 at Providence 7;</p><p>New Haven 3 at Rochester 3; Richmond 6 at Springfield 7.</p><p><b>Sat, Feb. 7</b></p><p>Rochester 3 at Hershey 1.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 8</b></p><p>Baltimore 1 at Novo Scotia 3; Richmond 3 at Providence 6; Hershey 6 at Rochester 4; New Haven 1 at Springfield 5.</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Wed, Feb. 11</b></p><p>Baltimore at New Haven; Springfield at Rochester.</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 12</b></p><p>Providence at Baltimore, Rochester at Richmond.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 13</b></p><p>Providence at New Haven; Nova Scotia at Springfield.</p><p><b>Sat, Feb 14</b></p><p>Nova Scotia at Richmond; Providence at Springfield.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 15</b></p><p>Hershey at New Haven, Baltimore at Providence.</p><p><b>Mon, Feb. 16</b></p><p>Novo Scotia at Richmond.</p><p><b>Tue, Feb. 17</b></p><p>Novo Scotia at Baltimore; New Hoven at Providence</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 18</b></p><p>Rochester at Hershey; Providence at New Hoven</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 19</b></p><p>Baltimore at Richmond</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 20</b></p><p>Nova Scotia at New Hoven, Rochester at Providence.</p><p>Hershey at Springfield</p><h2><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue, Feb. 10)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02169/3630947-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="585" height="217"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Wed, Feb. 4</b></p><p>Fort Worth 6 at Salt Lake 4; Tucson 2 at Tulsa 5.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 6</b></p><p>Tucson 3 at Dallas 7; Tulsa 3 at Oklahoma City 1, Fort Worth 5 at Salt Lake 6.</p><p><b>Sat, Feb. 7</b></p><p>Fort Worth 2 at Dallai5 Oklahoma City 5 of Tulsa 4.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 8</b></p><p>Tucson 3 ot Oklahoma City 2.</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Tue, Feb. 10</b></p><p>Tucson at Tulsa</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 11</b></p><p>Tucson at Dallas</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 12</b></p><p>Tulsa at Salt Lake</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 13</b></p><p>Oklahoma City ot Fort Worth; Soit Lake at Tucson, Dallas at Tulsa</p><p><b>Sat, Feb. 14</b></p><p>Dallas at Oklahoma City; Salt Lake at Tucson; Fort Worth ot Tulsa.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 15</b></p><p>Oklahoma City at Dallas.</p><p><b>Mon, Feb. 16</b></p><p>Tucson at Salt Lake</p><p><b>Tue, Feb. 17</b></p><p>Tulsa ot Fort Worth</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 18</b></p><p>Tucson at Salt Lake</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 20</b></p><p>Tulsa at Dallas; Fort Worth at Oklahoma City</p><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed, Feb. 11)</b></p><h3><b>NORTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03142/3630940-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="583" height="152"></div><h3><b>SOUTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04114/3630933-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="583" height="149"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Wed, Feb. 4</b></p><p>Flint 3 at Fort Wayne 2; Port Huron 4 at Dayton 4; Muskegon 4 at Toledo 3.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 6</b></p><p>Muskegon 2 at Flint 5; Columbus 4 at Saginaw 9; Fort Wayne 4 at Toledo 8; Port Huron 5 at Kalamazoo 3.</p><p><b>Sat, Feb. 7</b></p><p>Flint 2 at Dayton 5; Toledo 3 ot Columbus 5; Soginaw 10 ot Port Huron 4; Fort Wayne 5 at Kalamazoo 4</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 8</b></p><p>Kalamazoo 4 at Flint 5; Toledo 1 at Saginaw 7, Dayton 8 at Columbus 6, Fort Wayne 3 at Port Huron 3.</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Wed, Feb. 11</b></p><p>Flint at Columbus; Kalamazoo at Toledo; Saginaw at Dayton, Port Huron at Muskegon</p><p><b>Fri, Feb 13</b></p><p>Fort Woyne ot Muskegon, Saginaw at Columbus, Port Huron at Toledo; Dayton at Kalamazoo.</p><p><b>Sat, Feb. 14</b></p><p>Soginaw at Muskegon, Flint at Port Huron, Fort Woyne at Dayton; Columbus at Toledo.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 15</b></p><p>Port Huron at Kalamazoo, Muskegon at Saginaw, Dayton at Flint; Toledo at Columbus.</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 18</b></p><p>Port Huron ot Fort Woyne; Flint at Kalamazoo, Muskegon at Columbus.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 20</b></p><p>Kalamazoo at Muskegon, Fort Wayne at Flint; Toledo at Saginaw, Dayton at Columb</p><h2><b>NORTH AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon, Feb. 9)</b></p><h3><b>EAST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05100/3630926-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="604" height="222"></div><h3><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0676/3630919-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="604" height="177"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Mon, Feb. 2</b></p><p>Philadelphia 4 at Binghamton 5.</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 4</b></p><p>Mohawk Valley 4 at Beauce 7 (game of Tue, Feb. 3); Mohawk Valley at Cape Codders (postponed to later date); Buffalo 4 ot Erie 3; Maine 2 ot Syracuse 9, Binghamton 0 at Johnstown 3.</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 5</b></p><p>Syracuse 0 at Philadelphia 6; Beauce 4 at Mohawk Valley 3</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 6</b></p><p>Beauce 5 at Syracuse 3; Philadelphia 4 at Buffalo 1, Binghamton 3 at Cape Codders 4.</p><p><b>Sat, Feb. 7</b></p><p>Syracuse 6 ot Mohowk Valley 3; Beauce 10 ot Maine 4; Erie 4 at Johnstown 8; Buffalo 3 at Philadelphia 7.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 8</b></p><p>Cape Codders 4 at Philadelphia 5; Mohawk Valley 6 at Syracuse 3; Buffalo 5 at Binghamton 6; Johnstown 7 ot Erie 5.</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Mon, Feb. 9</b></p><p>Maine at Beauce</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 11</b></p><p>Beauce at Cape Codaerx Johnstown at Philadelphia, Erie at Buffalo</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 12</b></p><p>Beauce at Syracuse; Cape Codders at Maine, Erie at Mohowk Valley; Philadelphia at Binghamton.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 13</b></p><p>Mohowk Valley at Buffalo; Maine at Johnstown.</p><p><b>Sat, Feb. 14</b></p><p>Mohawk Volley at Syracuse, Binghamton at Philadelphia, Erie at Cope Codders; Buffalo ot Johnstown.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 15</b></p><p>Cape Codders at Binghamton; Erie at Maine, Buffalo at Philadelphia; Syracuse at Beauce</p><p><b>Mon, Feb. 16</b></p><p>Erie at Beauce</p><p><b>Tue, Feb. 17</b></p><p>Syracuse ot Maine</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 18</b></p><p>Beduce at Mohowk Valley, Johnstown at Buffalo; Syracuse at Cape Codders, Philadelphia at Erie.</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 19</b></p><p>Mohawk Volley at Philadelphia</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 20</b></p><p>Beauce at Syracuse, Binghamton at Erie, Cape Codders at Buffalo; Philadelphia at Johnstown.</p><h2><b>SOUTHERN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue, Feb. 10)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0945/3630912-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg" title="f0031-09" width="611" height="210"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPUTED</b></h3><p><b>Tue, Feb. 3</b></p><p>Winston-Solem 1 at Greensboro 1.</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 4</b></p><p>Tidewater 0 at Charlotte 4; Roanoke 4 at Hampton 6.</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 5</b></p><p>Tidewater 4 ot Roanoke 4.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 6</b></p><p>Winston-Solem 2 at Hampton 3, Charlotte 8 at Greensboro 5.</p><p><b>Sat, Feb. 7</b></p><p>Greensboro 2 ot Hampton 8, Charlotte 6 at Roanoke 6,</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 8</b></p><p>Tidewater 3 at Winston-Solem 3.</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Tue, Feb 10</b></p><p>Hampton at Tidewater; Winston-Salem at Charlotte.</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 11</b></p><p>Tidewater at Hampton.</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 12</b></p><p>Charlotte at Winston-Salem; Greensboro at Roanoke.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 13</b></p><p>Greensboro at Hampton; Winston-Salem at Tidewater; Roanoke at Charlotte.</p><p><b>Sat, Feb. 14</b></p><p>Tidewater at Roanoke; Hampton at Greensboro.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 15</b></p><p>Charlotte at Tidewater; Hampton at Winston-Salem.</p><p><b>Tue, Feb. 17</b></p><p>Winston-Salem at Charlotte.</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 18</b></p><p>Winston-Salem at Hampton; Greensboro at Tidewater, Charlotte at Roanoke.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 20</b></p><p>Hampton at Tidewater, Greensboro at Charlotte, Winston-Salem at Roanoke.</p><h2><b>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Thu, Feb. 5)</b></p><h3><b>NORTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0764/3630905-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="589" height="161"></div><h3><b>SOUTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0857/3630898-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="589" height="152"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Thu, Jan. 29</b></p><p>Green Bay 3 at Marquette 5.</p><p><b>Fri, Jan. 30</b></p><p>Sioux City&rsquo;2 ot Traverse City 3; Central Wisconsin 1 at Waterloo 4.</p><p><b>Sat, Jan. 31</b></p><p>Sioux City 7 at Marquette 5, Waterloo 1 at Green Bay 4, Milwaukee 2 at Traverse City 9.</p><p><b>Sun.Feb. 1</b></p><p>Sioux City 4 at Green Boy 1; Milwaukee 3 at Traverse City 4; Waterloo 7 at Central Wisconsin 2.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0031-01

LOOKING AT THE MINOR LEAGUE SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p>FORT WORTH&mdash;</p><p>It may have been the two-a-day practices, or perhaps it was the shuffling of players. But the Fort Worth Texans put everything in place to break their eight-game winless string with a 5-3 home verdict over the Tulsa Oilers, Jan. 22.</p><p>The Texans played creditably in the next two starts, rallying for ties before succumbing to Oklahoma City, 2-1, in a defensive gem and bowing to Dallas, 7-5, in an offensive display. So Fort Worth headed into the last few days of January trailing Salt Lake by three points in the fight for fourth place, and the Eagles had two games in hand.</p><p>Ahead of the Tulsa game the Texans brought in 26-year-old defenseman Keith Kokkola from the Erie Blades of the North American League for a 10-game pro trial. The 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 215-pound native of Windsor, Ont. divided last season between the Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association and the Long Island Cougars of the NAHL.</p><p>Fort Worth shipped defenseman Joe Leduc to the Saginaw Gears of the International League for the rest of the season, and sent right wing Mike Kennedy and defenseman Ken McPhail to Erie for a two-week stint.</p><p>After the narrow loss in OC, the Texans added more muscle by acquiring right wing Alf Handrahan in a straight player exchange for Fort Worth captain Mark Heaslip. Defenseman Bart Crashley hurt a knee in that OC game, and could be lost indefinitely.</p><p>In the turn-around game against Tulsa, Phil Hoene scored in the first period, Jim Peters (shorthanded) and Heaslip in the second. Then Walt Ledingham added two in the third, his second into an empty net with 31 seconds left. It was the Texans&rsquo; first victory since Jan. 1, ending a string of six home games without a triumph.</p><p>Bob Bourne got the only Fort Worth goal at Oklahoma City, gaining a 1-1 tie early in the second period. Doug Favell, veteran goalkeeper down from the Toronto Maple Leafs, bested Fort Worth&rsquo;s Bill Hughes in a duel of brilliant goaltending.</p><p>Brad Anderson&rsquo;s two goals featured a Texan rally to gain a 4-4 tie early in the third period at Dallas, but the Hawks came back with three to win, two in an eight-second span by Dave Elliott. Fort Worth coach Terry Gray was ejected after Dallas took a 2-1 lead in the first period, after some heated language and two water bottles came flying from the Texans&rsquo; bench in protest of Greg Madill&rsquo;s officiating.</p><p>Neil Nicholson had put the Texans in front just 14 seconds into the game. After Randy Holt tied it for Dallas, the Texans were awarded a penalty shot when Hawk Ian McKegney threw a stick at the puck. But Lorne Stamler couldn&rsquo;t beat goalie Mike Veisor on the play.</p><p>Anderson narrowed the deficit to 3-2 early in the second and 4-3 early in the third, then Dave Salvian tied the score, before Elliott&rsquo;s salvo regained the advantage for Dallas.</p><p>The losses in OC and Dallas launched Fort Worth on a string of six straight road games that would keep them out of Will Rogers Coliseum until Feb.13.</p><p><b>DALLAS:</b> The amazing Black Hawks, winning as consistently on the road as at home, opened up a three-point margin over the Tulsa Oilers in the fight for first place by posting three straight victories. Victories in Salt Lake by 6-4 and 6-2 margins were followed by the 7-4 home win over Fort Worth.</p><p>That ran the Hawks&rsquo; string to nine games without defeat (and six straight victories) since a Jan. 7 home loss to Salt Lake. They had won four straight at home, and hadn&rsquo;t lost in seven road games since a Dec. 26 trip to Tulsa. And finally, after the two victories in Salt Lake, the Hawks of Gordon Fashoway owned the season series advantage against every CHL foe.</p><p>Injuries and the absence of defenseman Randy Holt, who flew home for his 1 father&rsquo;s funeral, left the Hawks with only 12 skaters for the Jan. 21 game in Salt Lake. But that didn&rsquo;t slow down Dallas. Pierre Giroux and Jim Koleff scored two goals each, with Michel Archambault and Moe L&rsquo;Abbe counting the others. Four goals in the last period did the trick, after the Eagles had taken a 3-2 lead in the second.</p><p>Holt came back for the rematch two nights later. For all intents and purposes this one was settled when Archscored on the first two Dallas shots of the game. L&rsquo;Abbe, Reggie Giroux, Gary Donaldson and Pierre Giroux also counted, with three of the Hawk goals coming on power plays. Mike Veisor was the goalie in the Wednesday game, with Bob Volpe working Friday.</p><p>Back home the next night the Hawks scored four times on the power play to beat Fort Worth. Dallas wasted 3-1 and 4-2 leads, but went ahead for keeps when Dave Elliott scored twice in eight seconds early in the third frame, setting a club record for quick goals.</p><p>Holt, Donaldson, L&rsquo; Abbe and Terry Smith also got into the scoring act. Donaldson&rsquo;s 25th goal tied him for the CHL leadership. Smith was playing his first game after missing 16 with a broken foot.</p><p>Veisor stopped Lorne Stamler on a penalty shot in the first period of that game, with the score tied at 1-1. Mike was still the No. 3 goalie in the league, but his a verage slipped to an even 3.00.</p><p><b>TULSA:</b> Orland Kurtenbach&rsquo;s Oilers broke out of their worst slump of the season, five winless games, as Curt Ridley blanked the Blazers in Oklahoma City, 4-0, Jan. 24, and then the Oilers went on an 8-2 scoring rampage in Salt Lake, two nights later.</p><p>A Jan. 22 trip into Fort Worth produced a 5-3 loss. Oklahoma City&rsquo;s victory the next night moved the Blazers into a second-place tie with Tulsa, as the teams headed into a showdown at State Fair Arena.</p><p>Ridley&rsquo;s perfect goaltending there gave him a victory against NHL veterah Favell, serving his last game in the Blazer nets. Danny Gloor had the only goal for the first 40 minutes, but Cam Botting, Brad Gassoff and Jim Wiley raised the margin in the final period.</p><p>The line of Gloor, Botting and Andy Spruce had accounted for ail the Oiler scoring in Fort Worth (one goal each). In the Jan. 26 visit to Salt Lake, it was almost a question of who didn&rsquo;t score. Glen Richardson had a pair, with others by Leon Rochefort, Bob Bilodeau, Dan Seguin, Gassoff, Wiley and Gloor.</p><p>The Oilers were reduced to four defensemen when John Grisdale was recalled by the Vancouver Canucks and Richard Mulhern was summoned to the Atlanta Flames after the Fort Worth game. When Glen Surbey drew a game misconduct in the second period at Salt Lake, the veteran Rochefort filled in at the blueline.</p><p>Gloor hurt a knee when he wrapped himself around a goalpost while scoring, but the extent of his injury was still undetermined.</p><p>The Oilers had one more game left in Salt Lake before getting home for the first time in nearly three weeks. Wiley was the club scoring leader with 48 points. No. 4 in the league, and had 36 assists, second-best in that department.</p><p>Meanwhile Ridley was showing his heels to the rest of the CHL netminders, lowering his average yield to 2.64.</p><p><b>TUCSON:</b> With nine days between games, Maverick coach Bob Barlow gave his lads a four-day &ldquo;vacation&rdquo;, and many of them visited Mexico or Las Vegas. The Mavs had just split a two-game home series with Oklahoma City, winning a 5-1 Tuesday game but dropping a 2-1 Wednesday decision.</p><p>The club&rsquo;s two top scorers were gone. Mike Hobin was back with the parent Phoenix Roadrunners of the WHA after returning for the two bouts with the Blazers. Steve West suffered a triple fracture of the jaw, Jan. 17 in Salt Lake, and was expected to miss six weeks. Dave Walter was slowed by a shoplder injury, and Blair Davidson by a lame knee. Each missed one game against OC, and played sparingly in the other.</p><p>Goaltending was the feature of both games. Ray Martynuik won the first game, although the Mavs were outshot, 42-27. Roger Swanson made 38 saves in the 2-1 loss.</p><p><b>SALT LAKE:</b> Home ice wasn&rsquo;t living up to expectations, as the Golden Eagles suffered their third straight loss, and their fourth in five games since returning from their early January road grind. The first-place Dallas Hawks inflicted back-to-back losses, and the second-place Tulsa Oilers continued the Eagles&rsquo; misfortune. Ernie Miller gave up 20 goals in the three games, as backup goalie Jim Weaver was sidelined by a severe thumb sprain.</p><p>With a full complement of 18 players for only the third time this season. Eagle coach Marv Edwards began to think his club played better short-handed. The latest addition was center Rick Shinske from the New Westminster, B.C. Bruins on a 10-game pro trial. Shinske was drafted last June by the California Seals, but preferred to play another junior season.</p><p>Paul Shakes had back surgery Jan. 23, and apparently would miss the rest of the campaign. His problem was finally diagnosed as a herniated disc. Defenseman Glen Patrick came back from a two-week layoff with a groin pull.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02156/3631016-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="563" height="772"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>WALT LEDINGHAM&hellip;Two-Goal Flurry</b></figcaption></div><p>Dallas became the first team to sweep a two-game series from the Eagles in the Salt Palace in the two years the CHL has been scheduling such pairs. Frank Spring got two goals, including his 25th (to share the league lead) in the first game against the Hawks. John Martin and Butch Williams also scored, but the Eagles succombed to a four-goal Hawk barrage in the third period.</p><h2>CHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03101/3631009-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="593" height="415"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0032-02

Skidding Texans Brake Eight-Game Slide; Dallas Hawks Spurt Back Into CHL Lead

<p>OKLAHOMA CITY&mdash;</p><p>Goalie Doug Favell. sent home to Toronto with a fever, Jan. 14, made a surprising reappearance in OC a week later, and manager-coach Ray Miron used him in two weekend games. Favell was sensational in a 2-1 home victory against Fort Worth, but less impressive against Tulsa in a 4-0 loss. That left the Toronto Maple Leaf veteran with a 3-1 record for his latest venture into the CHL as he headed back to the big time where he is the No. 3 man in a three goaler system with the Leafs.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01212/3631047-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="269" height="379"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Doug Favell</b></figcaption></div><p>The Blazers had managed exactly seven goals in their last five starts, but amazingly had a 2-2-1 record in that span, thanks to terrific goaltending by Favell, Pierre Hamel and Mike Palmateer.</p><p>The Oke Citians split a pair in Tucson, losing 5-1 and winning 2-1 in front of Hamel, before coming home for the weekend split with Fort Worth and Tulsa. After the victory over Fort Worth, the Blazers dealt aggressive right wing Alf Handrahan to the Texans for Mark Heaslip. Handrahan had scored only three goals for the Blazers after notching 23 last season for OC, and 22 for Tulsa the previous year. Heaslip had scored seven for Fort Worth. He had 18 last season for Springfield in the American League, where he teamed with current Blazer scoring leader Tom Cassidy.</p><p>Claire Alexander had the only goal against Maverick Ray Martyniuk in the Jan. 20 clash. Second-period goals by Les Burgess and Cassidy provided the win the next night. Alexander and Cassidy scored to beat Fort Worth. That was Alexander&rsquo;s 23rd goal, tying a CHL record for defensemen which he established as a Blazer rookie in 1973-74.</p><p>Trying to provide more scoring punch, Miron moved Kurt Walker to defense, and reassigned Guy Delparte to left wing on a line with Cassidy and Heaslip. Veteran Ken Richardson was put with Gerry Teeple and Bob Sykes.</p><p>Cassidy had 53 points and Alexander 51 to rank second and third, respectively in the league scoring. Scott Garland, after two weeks in Toronto, was still tied for eighth place on the CHL chart, with 42.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0032-01

Favell Leaves His Mark In Four-Game CHL Stint

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div><p>ST. CATHARINES&mdash;</p><p>The proposed sale and possible move of the St. Catharines Black Hawks and the firing of Windsor Spitfire coach Doug Johnston combined to make headlines in almost all Ontario sports sections within the span of a couple of days.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01191/3631078-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="248" height="440"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Peter Lee</b></figcaption></div><p>The story about the offer by 43-year-old Toronto businessman John Rodkin to purchase the Hawks and shift them to either Agincourt, where he owns two small rinks, or Mississauga was especially shocking.</p><p>St. Catharines has had the longest continuous affiliation in the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A League, dating back to 1943 when Rudy Pilous and Jay MacDonald talked a group of St. Catharines businessmen into buying a franchise for $10.</p><p>Now, 33 years later, Rodkin was prepared to buy the club from present owner Hap Emms for $300,000.</p><p>However after a tentative understanding had been apparently reached. Emms called off the deal when he claimed that Rodkin had originally stated he would keep the team in St. Catharines.</p><p>There were other hurdles too.</p><p>Any new owner or Emms if he moves, must prove to the OHA they have a rink large enough to handle a junior A club and must get permission from any team within a radius of 50 miles where they plan to locate.</p><p>All Ontario Major Junior A teams have territorial rights stretching in a 50-mile radius of the city in which they play.</p><p>It has been said that Hamilton, for example, opposed a move by Emms to Brantford which is only about 20 miles distant.</p><p>Reason for the Emms attempt to sell out or change location is simply that he can&rsquo;t attract fans to games at Garden City Arena.</p><p>Attendance has been sliding since Marcel Dionne left here five years ago and from a peak of 3, 4000 average in the 3,090-seat arena it has gone down to about 975 a game this year.</p><p>No team can operate with so few customers but there is a group in St. Catharines willing to buy the team and keep it here if Emms lowers the asking price.</p><p>Many in the Major Junior A council are also said to oppose the move out of St. Catharines especially since Emms has already switched twice&mdash;starting in Barrie, then going to Niagara Falls and coming to St. Catharines four years ago.</p><p>During their 33 seasons here the team went through three names&mdash;Falcons, Teepees and now Black Hawks&mdash;and won the Memorial Cup twice and the Ontario championship four times.</p><p>They produced over 100 NHL players including such greats as Bobby and Dennis Hull, Stan Mikita and Phil Esposito.</p><p>In Windsor Doug Johnston, who gave up a teaching post and accepted a $5,000 cut in salary to handle the new-Spitfire entry in Major Junior A was said to have resigned &ldquo;after careful consideration of what was best for both parties.&rdquo;</p><p>However as the saying goes most believe he was pushed rather than jumped.</p><p>The team had done fairly well in its first year&mdash;in fact much better than most new teams&mdash;but was still last and almost out of contention for a playoff berth in the Emms Division.</p><p>His successor is Wayne Maxner who was extremely popular while coaching Windsor to two Southern Ontario Tier Two championships.</p><p>But the one-time pro will face a difficult task.</p><p>As Johnston pointed out, not entirely bitterly, &ldquo;I think it will be a buidling process regardless of who is the coach. You can&rsquo;t do it overnight. It will take a couple of years.&rdquo;</p><p>Asked if he had been treated fairly Johnston said he felt he had been given &ldquo;adequate time&rdquo; but would accept another coaching job fit was offered.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a challenge I enjoyed,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It just ended too soon.&rdquo;</p><p>With his children in school and university at Windsor he&rsquo;ll stay there at least until the end of the school term.</p><p>It is understood that he came to a financial settlement on his three-year contract which will give him time to look around for his next move.</p><p>In Maxner&rsquo;s debut the Spitfires nipped Sault Ste. Marie 2-1 before a home crowd of 3.865.</p><p><b>SUDBURY:</b> The Wolves are still cruising along in first place with plenty to spare in the Leyden Division and there is absolutely no doubt they&rsquo;ll finish on top&hellip;They were beaten 8-4 in the Sault but the night before won 4-2 on their home ice against the Marlboros and only have to play .500 hockey at most to clinch the pennant&hellip;Captain Ron Duguay scored his 29th and 30th goals in the win over Toronto&hellip;Crowds still well over 3,000 mark which is making Wolves one of best franchises in league.</p><p><b>KINGSTON:</b> As has been mentioned here so often the big battle in the Leyden Division is tor-positions two to five&hellip;That involves Kingston Canadians. Sault Greyhounds. Ottawa 67s and Oshawa Generals&hellip;When this was written Canadians and Greyhounds shared the runner-up place a point above Ottawa with the Generals just three back&hellip;As center Brad Rhiness scored the 100th goal of his junior A career, then tying the in-and-out Petes 5-5&hellip;Canadians had to rally for the draw with unanswered goals by Bob Parent, Mark Suzor and Mike Simurda in the third period.</p><p><b>SAUT STE MARIE:</b> The 8-4 home-ice win over Sudbury was a most satisfying one for the Canadians as the two Northern Ontario teams are genuinely arch-rivals&hellip;However they were able to pick up only one point in their next two starts losing 2-1 in Windsor as Craig Hartsburg scored their only goal then tying London 2-2 thanks to a goal late in the third period by John Tavella&hellip;It was Tavella&rsquo;s 47th of the season as many players are charging in the direction of Rick Martin&rsquo;s record 71 goals scored in the 1971-72 season.</p><p><b>OTTAWA:</b> The 67s won two of their three games and again became a factor for second place&hellip;Under coach Brian Kilrea they dumped St. Catharines 5-3 (the Hawks haven&rsquo;t won in Ottawa for almost five years) as Peter Lee collected his 54th of the season, then destroyed the Petes right in Peterborough 11-3 after the home club had led 3-1 in the first period&hellip;Lee had three more to give him 57 on the year and added yet another in 5-3 loss to Toronto Marlboros in Markham&hellip;A husky compact forward. Lee could be one of the higher Canadian junior draft choices.</p><p><b>OSHAWA:</b> The Generals defeated Kitchener 5-2 but didn&rsquo;t play the rest of the week which kept them slightly off the pace for second place&hellip;In their one win which ended an eight-game winless streak (they had a couple of ties along the way) Brian Drumm, Greg Malone, Rick McIntyre, Glenn Kirkham and Alex Jeans had singles&hellip;Generals are difficult team to figure&hellip;They play well some nights, look less than impressive others but their coach Gus Bodnar could have them up for the playoffs.</p><p><b>PETERBOROUGH:</b> It&rsquo;s not yet quiteofficial but the Petes are virtually dead as far as a playoff spot is concerned&hellip;It was their misfortune to be in the stronger of the two divisions otherwise they&rsquo;d at least be in contention for the last spot&hellip;They lost 5-3 in St. Catharines, 11-3 at home to Ottawa but salvaged a 5-5 tie in Kingston after it looked like they had a victory tucked away while leading 5-2&hellip;Ron Mason was the top attacker in their usually weak offense with two goals against Kingston.</p><p><b>HAMILTON:</b> The tough, well-disciplined Fincups are almost 20 points above their closest rivals in the Emms Division and nothing will stop them taking the first-ever pennant by a Hamilton junior A team&hellip;They slugged St. Catharines 6-2 despite a couple of suspensions as the result of a battle with Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and have exceptionally strong bench strength&hellip;Unfortunately one of their top forwards Danny Shearer may be lost for the season with a second knee injury&hellip;Mike Keating and Alan Secord scored twice each against the Hawks while in the 11-5 win over Windsor Keating had four goals giving him an even half dozen in the two games.</p><p><b>LONDON:</b> With only a point in three games the Knights just about blew their final hope of catching the Fincups&hellip;The loss to Kingston at home was particularly disappointing as it was Knights&rsquo; first defeat in four games and they seemed to have a streak going&hellip;Vern Stenlund scored a pair for London in that loss but they were edged 3-2 in Kitchener two nights later, then had to settle for a 2-2 home ice tie with Sault Ste. Marie after Stenlund had scored on first shot of game&hellip;Rookie Dan Eastman had the other.</p><p><b>KITCHENER:</b> Rangers had one of their better weeks taking two wins in three games but they&rsquo;re still mired in third although they now have a better chance of moving up to second as Knights aren&rsquo;t winning regularly&hellip;They were defeated 5-2 in Oshawa but came back to take London 3-2 and Windsor 4-2.</p><p><b>TORONTO:</b> Marlboros are finally starting to look something close to what had been predicted of them&hellip;That is they are winning on a farily regular basis&hellip;Marlies, defending Memorial Cupchampions. lost 4-2 in Sudbury then tied 6-6 in St. Catharines after leading most of the way and beat Ottawa 5-3 in Markham.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0033-01

Proposed Sale Of St. Catharines Franchise, Coach Johnston’s Resignation Surprise OHA

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p>COLUMBUS&mdash;</p><p>Christmas 1975 had taken on a new meaning for coach-manager Moe Bartoli and his Columbus Owls. It marked the beginning of a &ldquo;New Season.&rdquo; the starting point for a determined bid to escape the South Division basement and an eventual playoff berth&mdash;if not a championship.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01207/3631116-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="284" height="385"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Ivan Prediger</b></figcaption></div><p>Stuck at the starting gate&mdash;primarily because of an importent offense&mdash;the Owls at one time were 21 points out of second place and 14 behind third-place&mdash;the last, guaranteed playoff position. Because of the unbalance in the two-division league (five teams in the North, four in the South), the last-place finisher in the South qualifies for the playoffs if it has a higher point total than the fifth-place finisher in the North.</p><p>But since Christmas, the Owls have been flying high. Over the last 20 games, Columbus has won 12. lost but five and tied three. Translated into the South Division standings, Columbus started the stretch run just one point out of third and only five points back of second.</p><p>The turning point for Columbus dates to Bartoli&rsquo;s decision to move stellar defensemen Steve Lyon and Mike Thompson to the front line. Joining Al Hillier&mdash;and recently Jim Doyle in the wake of an injury to Hillier&mdash;the two former defensemen have anchored what has become the Owls&rsquo; top offensive unit.</p><p>Lyon has found the new position most enjoyable&mdash;and the results most gratifying. &ldquo;Things are going so well I really like it up front.&rdquo; he commented following a recent victory over Fort Wayne. &ldquo;Gosh. I went up to the All-Star gameat Muskegon and played defense. It seemed like I was lost.&rdquo; &lsquo;Beating South Division rival Fort Wayne has been one of the keys in the Owl surge. A two-game sweep gave the Owls seven victories in 10 meetings thus far. And the Owls have won four straight from the Komets in the Memorial Coliseum, the last a real shootout&mdash;9-7.</p><p><b>DAYTON:</b> The Gems continue to roll towards the South Division championship and are making life most pleasant for new coach Ivan Prediger. Since Ivan took over the post, the Gems have won four of five, including a two-game sweep of a home-and-home series wilh arch-rival Toledo. The lope loss was a 6-3 verdict at Fort Wayne.</p><p>Bill Riley has added new offensive punch since returing from a leg injury. He has scored six goals in five games. The Gems hold a contending. 16-point lead over second-place Fort Wayne.</p><p><b>FORT WAYNE:</b> If the Komets never have to play Columbus again it would be okay with coach Ralph Keller and his employees. The Owls snapped a four-game undefeated string for the K&rsquo;s with a 5-3 decision in Columbus and came back the next night in Fort Wayne to skate off with a 9-7 victory. The Owls have won seven of 10 from the Komets and four straight at the Coliseum.</p><p>Following a mid-week game against Flint at the Coliseum, the Komets are out of the Coliseum for 14 days during which they will play five games on the road.</p><p>TOLEDO: Troubles continue to mount for controversial Ted Garvin on and off the ice as he tries to build a second straight championship club in Toledo. He has been suspended indefinitely for shoving referee Murray Harding under the stands after a recent NHL game.</p><p>With the impending court battle over his use of three players declared ineligible by the IHL, settled out of court, Garvin has watched his team continue to be losers on the ice. The Diggers have lost eight straight and losses, plus conditions of the court settlement, have seen the Diggers slide into third place. While Garvin got clearance to play the players involved&mdash;Rick Fraser, Gerry Methe and Brian McKenzie&mdash;three victories recorded while the three were in the lineup were reduced to ties as a result of the settlement.</p><p>In addition, Garvin was hit for a total of $2,000 in fines by IHL Commissioner Bill Beagan. The fines were levied for (1) criticizing the league&rsquo;s schedule which calls for three-game weekends frequently: and (2) tor reportedly instructing the penalty time-keeper to refuse to give the game referee a new puck after one had been hit into the stands during a game with Dayton. Garvin admits the first charge but denies the second.</p><p>And following the Diggers&rsquo; 4-3 loss to Flint at home, Garvin vented his frustrations on referee Murray Harding for which he reportedly received an indefinite suspension.</p><p>Garvin may have lost favor with some Digger fans as well. In an effort to beef up his lineup&mdash;reduced by injuries and suspensions&mdash;Garvin traded away popular Willie Trognitz to Columbus for Dave Johnson and Gary Winchester. Trognitz was one of the most popular Toledo players but is currently sitting out a 10-game suspension for attacking a referee in a game at Port Huron. Commenting on the deal, Garvin said: &ldquo;I know the fans loved Willie but I can&rsquo;t run a team with my heart. I&rsquo;ve got to qualify for the playoffs. I got two quality hockey players for him. Willie Trognitz has been loyal to me and I appreciate that. I feel bad in a way that I had to make the deal.&rdquo;</p><p><b>SAGINAW:</b> The Gears have added defensive strength in the person of Joe Leduc from Fort Worth of the Central League. He played junior hockey in Sherbrooke and helped his team make the Memorial Cup finals. He was a high draft choice of the Los Angeles Kings. Also, captain Borden Smith, out with an arm injury since Christmas, was expected back soon.</p><p>On the ice, the Gears boosted their North Division lead over runner-up Port Huron to five points with a pair of home ice wins over Flint and Muskegon.</p><p><b>PORT HURON:</b> The Flags got off to a rocky start on a five-game road string, dropping a 6-2 decision at Kalamazoo. But they rallied for a 3-3 tie in Muskegon before losing at Flint, 4-2. The Flags will be away from home until Feb. 7 when North Division leader Saginaw comes to Port Huron.</p><p><b>MUSKEGON:</b> Failure to win consistently at home where victories once were almost automatic has kept the Mohawks from moving up higher in the North Division standings. Muskegon currently is skating third, three points behind Port Huron. Flint is three points back in fourth place.</p><p>The most recent home dates resulted in a 3-3 tie with the Flags. A 4-4 tie at Fort Wayne followed and then the Hawks took a 6-1 trimming at Saginaw.</p><p><b>FLINT:</b> A 3-6-3 record in January dropped the Generals 10 points off the leaders&rsquo; pace but maybe the Generals have finally turned the corner. A 4-3 win at Toledo ended a long frustrating away from home for the Generals and triggered a modest, two-game winning streak. The road victory was followed by a 4-2 win over second-place Port Huron at home. Clyde Simon featured the triumph with the hat trick.</p><p><b>KALAMAZOO:</b> A lot of IHL rivals snickered when Bob Lemieux installed the European style of hockey for his last-place Kalamazoo K-Wings. But Lemieux and the Wings may have the last laugh.</p><p>A recent 5-2 victory over front-skating Saginaw gave the Wings a club record of five straight victories at home. Mike Wanchuk paced the 5-2 triumph with his 31st and 32nd goals.</p><h2>IHL Leaders</h2><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02155/3631109-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="594" height="430"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-01

Gems Keep Rolling Under New Mentor Prediger

<p>MUSKEGON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>tu Irving of the Saginaw Gears won the most valuable player award and saved the North from defeat with a two-goal performance in the International Hockey League&rsquo;s All Star game here. The second of Irving&rsquo;s two goals let the North skate off with a 4-4 tie when it appeared the South would be the winners.</p><p>Irving&rsquo;s goal came on a power play in the final minute of play. He deflected a shot by Flint&rsquo;s Kirk Bowman past South goalie Robbie Irons of the Fort Wayne Komets.</p><p>Fort Wayne&rsquo;s veteran defenseman Terry Pembroke had appeared to have scored the winner with less than three minutes remaining when he broke a 3-3 tie with a long screen shot.</p><p>It was a well-played game with considerable hitting. Both teams skated well. There were no goals in the first period but each team scored three times in the second period to set the stage for the exciting finish.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03114/3631147-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="505" height="584"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>STU IRVING&hellip;Two-Goal Effort</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-03

Irving All Star MVP With Game-Saving Tally

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div><p>KAMLOOPS&mdash;</p><p>Kamloops Chiefs are quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most unfriendly teams in the Western Canada Hockey League.</p><p>Inhospitable may be a better word. The camaraderie which may exist between two owners, two coaches, two general managers and 40 hockey players on any given night comes to an abrupt halt whenever the Chiefs faceoff at home against a WCHL visitor.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01196/3631178-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="253" height="402"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Darrell Ferner</b></figcaption></div><p>Kamloops, you see, is the junction where every team beginning a British Columbia journey first stops. And Kamloops also signals the completion of the westward journeys.</p><p>And oh, what pastings. Edmonton Oil Kings, just finished with five games against B.C. opposition, skate into Chiefland before heading home. And get pounded 15-6.</p><p>Calgary, just beginning a jaunt to B.C. with coach Bert Olmstead set to get his WCHL coaching baptism, is whipped 11-4.</p><p>Winnipeg, seeing the mountains for the first time this year, find out what the trouble is in Kamloops. Find out the hard way&mdash;10-3.</p><p>There are more than those three teams vowing revenge on the Chiefs away from Kamloops. The only thing is, Chiefs have one of the league&rsquo;s best road records, too. Seldom are they whipped on the road.</p><p>One team, now Westminster, has Kamloops&rsquo; number. And that is primarily the reason the Bruins lead the Chiefs by a mere four points.</p><p>New West, though, uses restraint. Ernie McLean has been around long enough to know that you can beat an opponent, but you don&rsquo;t have to rub it in. He knows that things have a way of evening out. He understands that the team he could annihilate this season might have the gunners next year. Or the year after.</p><p>But in Kamloops, it&rsquo;s every scorer for himself. Fatten the totals. Get that goals-for figure up into the zillions.</p><p>Darryl Ferner is one Chief who thinks like that, and he&rsquo;s got a good reason. He&rsquo;s an over-age player, ignored by the National Hockey League brains last year; a fifth-round choice of the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s Calgary Cowboys. He&rsquo;s anxious to convince the scouts they were mistaken last summer.</p><p>Ferner is the Chiefs No. 1 point-getter and centers the team&rsquo;stopine with Rob Flockhart and Larry Lestander on the wings.</p><p>In Chiefs&rsquo; last five games, Ferner has picked up 10 goals and eight assists to give him 84 points, the exact total he accumulated all of last season.</p><p>Ferner is one of about a half dozen over-age players this year who could reap the benefits of the newly-instituted rule of using 20-year-olds.</p><p>Another, Bruins&rsquo; Rick Shinske, is having a banner season for the over-all league leaders. He was voted as the Western Division&rsquo;s first team All Star center and his play this year has caused scouts to give him more than just a passing glance.</p><p>&ldquo;He (Shinske) is probably the most improved junior hockey player in Canada,&rdquo; one scout commented after Bruins downed Edmonton 7-1 in a recent game. &ldquo;And he&rsquo;s probably the smartest, too.&rdquo;</p><p>Jim Gustafson of Victoria, and Dale McMullin of Brandon are the other two over-age players making their presence felt with the extra season of junior competition.</p><p>Gustafson is presently third in the scoring race with 104 points and was voted the Western Division&rsquo;s top player in the annual All Star game in Lethbridge.</p><p><b>VICTORIA:</b> Cougars picked on poor Calgary for two wins, 10-6 as Al Hill got the hat trick and Jeff McDill and Gustafson accounted for five points each, and 6-4, with McDill scoring twice. But Kamloops spoiled the perfect week with a 7-3 win.</p><p><b>NEW WESTMINSTER:</b> Blaine Peterson got his first-ever WCHL shutout as Bruins blanked Calgary 8-0. Later in the week, Kamloops beat New West for the first time in seven games, with a 6-5 home-ice decision. Fred Berry, Clay Pachal (twice) and Steve Clippingdale had two-goal games.</p><p><b>KAMLOOPS:</b> Chiefs were three-for-three to pull to within four points of the Bruins, with one game in hand. Their offense still showed no signs of sputtering, as it clicked for 23 goals. Chiefs balance is amazing: they have seven 20-goal scorers.</p><p><b>CALGARY:</b> Centennials hit the road and lost four straight, leaving winless coach Bert Olmstead perhaps wishing he hadn&rsquo;t taken the job. Dave Colborne had a goal in each of the three games Calgary scored (they were blanked 8-0 by New West in the other match) and Gary Rissling led the point-getters with five.</p><p><b>MEDICINE HAT:</b> Tigers lost two straight for one of the few times this year, 5-4 at home to Saskatoon and 6-4 on the road to Edmonton. They snapped the string with a 6-5 win at home against Lethbridge, a match that was marred by a wild brawl that halted the game for nearly and hour.</p><p><b>EDMONTON:</b> Oil Kings must win at home, figures general-manager Brian Shaw, because the team makes its final dash at the playoffs by playing 10 of its final 14 games on the road. Before a promotion night crowd of more than 9,500 fans, the largest ever to watch a WCHL regular-season game, Doug Lecuyer scored twice in a 6-4 win over The Hat.</p><p><b>LETHBRIDGE:</b> Coach Mike Sauter&rsquo;s first loss (after four straight without a defeat) came in Medicine Hat. Broncos trailed 5-2, rallied to tie 5-5. but finally lost on a power-play goal. 6-5. Sauter has the team playing well; a 2-2 tie with high-flying Saskatoon and a 3-1 win in Edmonton kept them solidly in fourth place, one point back of Winnipeg.</p><p><b>REGINA:</b> Pats moved out of the Eastern cellar as Greg Ing snapped a 12-game scoring drought with four in a 6-3 win over Calgary. Earlier. Pats had tied 1-1 with the Clubs in Winnipeg and lost twice on the road 7-5 in Saskatoon, where they led after the second period, and 5-2 in Brandon.</p><p><b>SASKATOON:</b> Pats were busy, winning four and tying one in a seven-day stretch, to increase their Eastern lead over Brandon to 19 points. One pro scout has Blair Chapman, the 109-point rightwinger, as the No. 1 amateur in Canada, and his 128-point center, Bernie Federko, as No. 2.</p><p><b>FLIN FLON:</b> Rich Gosselin hit for the hat trick in Bombers&rsquo; 7-4 win over Winnipeg, but the team&rsquo;s leading scorer was held to just one assist as Saskatoon swept the Bombers at home, 5-2 and 4-2.</p><p><b>WINNIPEG:</b> Clubs averaged just two goals a game in getting one tie and three losses. Center Jim Cruise&rsquo;s goal in the third period gave Clubs a 1-1 tie with Regina, the day after Winnipeg lost 7-4 in Flin Flon.</p><p><b>BRANDON:</b> Glen Hanlon missed two minutes due to equipment repairs, so didn&rsquo;t get credit for his fourth shutout of the year, 6-0 over Winnipeg. Backup Don Light protected the blank job with three great saves.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0035-01

Kamloops Lowers Boom On ‘Visitors As Chiefs Close Gap For First Place

<h2><b>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standingson Sat, Jan. 31)</b></p><h3><b>EASTERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02162/3631223-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="593" height="267"></div><h3><b>WESTERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03121/3631216-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="593" height="206"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Sat, Jan. 24</b></p><p>Winnipeg 4 at Flin Flon 7; Saskatoon 5 at Medicine Hat 4; Calgary 6 at Victorio 10.</p><p><b>Sun, Jan. 25</b></p><p>Regina 1 at Winnipeg 1; Saskatoon 2 at Lethbridge 2; Victoria 3 at Kamloops 7; Calgary 0 ot New Westminster 8; Medicine Hat 4 at Edmonton 6.</p><p><b>Tua. Jan. 27</b></p><p>Winnipeg 0 ot Brandon 6, Regina 5 at Saskatoon 7; Lethbridge 3 at Edmonton 1; Calgary 4 at Victoria 6.</p><p><b>Wed, Jan. 28</b></p><p>New Westminster 5 at Kamloops 6.</p><p><b>Thu, Jan. 29</b></p><p>Regina 2 at Brandon 5; Lethbridge 5 at Medicine Hat 6; Saskatoon 5 ot Flin Flon 2.</p><p><b>Fri, Jan. 30</b></p><p>Winnipeg 3 at Kamloops 10; Calgary 3 ot Regina 6; Saskatoonz4 at Flin Flon 2.</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0498/3631209-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="610" height="614"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0035-02

HOW THEY STAND

<div class="byline">BY GARY CLARK</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p>MOHAWK VALLEY&mdash;</p><p>With just six weeks remaining in the 1975-76 season, interesting confrontations for playoff positions are shaping up in both divisions of the North American Hockey League.</p><p>Beauce and Johnstown both appear to have solid holds on first place in their divisions. So the race is on among the teams below them in the standings to finish in at least third place in order to avoid the two powerhouses in the opening round, tin the NAHL playoff structure the first four teams from each division qualify with teams one-four and two-three meeting in the quarter-finals.)</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01175/3631268-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="280" height="394"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>George Swarbrick</b></figcaption></div><p>In the east. Cape Cod and Mohawk Valley are knotted in a struggle for third place. At last look the teams were tied with 49 points, though Cape Cod had five games in hand. Adding intrigue to the battle: The Comets have been the stronger of the two clubs recently, having been fortified by their parent Indianapolis Racers. The Comets have won the last three meetings between the two teams. They will play five more games against each other before the close of the regular season, three of them at Mohawk Valley.</p><p>If the Comets can surge and overtake the Codders they could earn the right to meet thruway rival Syracuse in the quarter-finals. That is if Syracuse does not spoil their plans by pulling the upset of the year and over taking the mighty Jaros.</p><p>The Blazers have been steadily sneaking up on the Quebec team and are now only three points behind them. The Jaros have six games in hand but. and it is a big but. They play head to head with the Blazers five more times, twice at the Palais des Sports where the Blazers are the last team to have beaten them, and three times in Syracuse. where the Blazers have a current 13-game unbeaten streak going and where the laros have dropped both of their previous visits.</p><p>In the West. Erie, Buffalo, and Binghamton are all in a dog fight for the last two post-season spots.</p><p>The Dusters seemed out of the playoff picture only a few weeks ago. But with a totally revamped lineup, including Bill Goldthorpe. Cap Raeder. Larry Mavety. Billy Orr, Rob Walton. Marty Gateman, -John Danby, and Randy MacGregor, they are hot. They have won seven of nine and may have enough time to catch the slumping Norsemen.</p><p>The Norsemen, while looking over their shoulders at the Dusters, still have their eye on third place Erie. They have signed pro veterans-Jim Stanfield and Keke Mortson from the senior ranks and those two might give them the leadership they need to make an upward push.</p><p>Erie Blades are still trying to collect, themselves after the misfortune of having one of their affiliates fold. They now have Lynn Zimmerman back in the nets and George Swarbrick returned on right wing. They were not the same team after Zimmy went up to the WHA.</p><p>BEAUCE: The Jaros forfeited a game that they had won in overtime. 8-7, against the Firebirds because they used an ineligible player. Dwayne Byers should have been sitting out the third game of a three-game suspension but he appeared in the Jaro lineup. It was the first forfeit in the NAHL since Maine lost their first three wins of 1973-74.</p><p><b>BINGHAMTON:</b> Defenseman Paul Stewart made his first goal as a professional a big one. He fired the winner in the Dusters&rsquo; 3-2 win in Johnstown on Jan. 16. Stewart also leads the Dusters in penalty minutes with 127 despite the fact that he has played in only 26 games.</p><p><b>BUFFALO:</b> GM Willie Marshall is counting on Keke Mortson and Jim Stanfield to help the Norsemen solidify their hold on a playoff spot. &ldquo;Mortson will give us leadership on the ice, and that is what you need at this time of year.&rdquo; commented Marshall. Stanfield let. the WIHL in scoring last season with Spokane and was leading again this season when he returned to the pros. with Spokane and was leading again this season when he returned to the pros.</p><p>Marshall unloaded high scoring Bryan McSheffrey to Cape Cod saying. &ldquo;we simply had too many right wingers and we think that we have better two-way hockey players.&rdquo;</p><p>Norsemen have been fined $1,000 by commissioner Jack Timmins for refusing to finish game against Beauce on Jan. 22. They left the ice with 10 minutes remaining in the game while trailing 9-6.</p><p><b>CAPE COD:</b> Codders made two deals, trading their leading scorer Robbie Neale to Erie and acquiring McSheffrey from Buffalo. For Neale they received wingers Joe Fortunato and Mal Zinger plus cash. They owe future considerations to the Norsemen for McSheffrey.</p><p>Goaltender P.J. Flaherty proved his versatility by skating wing and scoring the game winning goal in an important 5-1 victory in Buffalo.</p><p><b>ERIE:</b> Blades are in a horrendous slump. They have won only once in 11 starts. Five of the losses have been on home ice, where the Blades had been strong early in the season.</p><p>Jim Pritchard asked for and received permission to give up his role as captain of the Blades. Pritch&rsquo;s decision was strictly for personal reasons as he is having his best season ever and is being boosted by the Blades for All Star honors.</p><p><b>JOHNSTOWN:</b> Jets lost Lou Levasseur when the star netminder was recalled to Minnesota. Levasseur had won 19 of 24 decisions at the time of his recall. Fighting Saints replaced Levasseur with 1972 Olympic star Mike Curran. Curran backstopped the United States silver medalists at Sapporo.</p><p>Henry Taylor set an NAHL rookie record for goals in a season with two in a 3-0 win over Binghamton. The two goals gave the youngster 34 for the season, topping by two the mark jointly held by Ned Dowd and Bob Murray.</p><p>MAINE: The Nordiques had a record setting night against the Dusters in a 13-2 romp at Central Maine Youth Center. The 13 goals represented an all time Nordique high (the previous high was 11). Paul Larose became the third NAHLer in seven days to record six assists in a single game. And 11 different Nords scored at least one goal, another new league mark.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0395/3631261-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="569" height="619"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>KEKE MORTSON&hellip;Landed By Norsemen</b></figcaption></div><p><b>MOHAWK VALLEY:</b> The Comets were left with only one goaltender when Jim Park was recalled to Indianapolis. Net chores fell to Randy Burchell, who had played in only six games all season. The rookie responded with a star-of-the-game performance in his second start, beating Buffalo 7-l.</p><p><b>PHILADELPHIA:</b> Gregg Pilling let trainer&mdash;emergency goaltender&mdash;all everything David Settlemyre handle the coaching on Jan. 24 in Buffalo while Pilling watched from the stands. The result? A 3-2 overtime win that put the Firebirds in sole possession of second place.</p><h2>NAHL Leaders</h2><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02127/3631254-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="601" height="694"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0036-01

Rest Of NAHL Teams Battling For Playoff Spots

<h2>Joe Hardy&hellip;&hellip;Beauce</h2><p>BUFFALO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he North American Hockey League showcased itself in three Major League arenas in a 10-day period in the month of February and in each instance was met by record setting crowds.</p><p>On Feb. 7 the Philadelphia Firebirds and the Buffalo Norsemen met in a Saturday afternoon matinee at the Philadelphia Spectrum, home of the Flyers. A total of 15,105 fans, the largest crowd ever to see an NAHL game, thrilled to a fast paced 7-3 Firebird win. The Firebirds broke their own crowd record of 9,184 set exactly 11-months before.</p><p>Less than one week later, on Friday the 13th no less, the Norsemen took the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium ice usually graced by the likes of Gilbert Perreault and Richard Martin. The date held no bad luck for the Norsemen as they treated 5,924 enthusiastic fans to come-from-behind 75 win over Mohawk Valley. The crowd was by far the largest turnout ever at a Norsemen home game. The Aud resounded with many of the same cheers and chants usually reserved for the Sabres, a sign of total acceptance from a city whose response to the Norsemen thus far had been disappointing.</p><p>The Beauce Jaros completed a successful NAHL hat trick when they put their championship bound team on display at the Quebec Colisee on Feb. 16, against the Erie Blades. The third largest crowd in NAHL history, 8,396, watched Erie stage an upset 8-7 overtime victory over the home team.</p><p>The NAHL has already received inquiries from groups from the Toronto and New York metropolitan areas considering expansion teams for next season. Thus the league&rsquo;s documented attraction in major markets is all the more attractive.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

NAHL Showcases Itself In Major League Arenas

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div><p>SHAWINIGAN&mdash;</p><p>Marc Picard has enjoyed the thrill of victory and suffered through the agony of defeat in the 1975-76 hockey season.</p><p>Picard began the current campaign as coach of the North American League&rsquo;s Beauce Jaros and had the club atop the standings when he resigned his post on December 8. The Jaros, in their first season of NAHL competition, had been involved in several major flareups and Picard was at the center of some controversy so he decided to move to calmer surroundings.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01161/3631323-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="255" height="426"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Marc Picard</b></figcaption></div><p>Thus Picard took over at the helm of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League&rsquo;s Shawinigan Dynamos, a team which had won but a half-dozen games all season when their new bench boss came on the scene.</p><p>Losing may have been a relatively new experience for Picard, who had previously guided the QMJHL&rsquo;s Quebec Remparts, but for the Dynamos it was becoming a habit. Last season they managed but 16 wins and 11 ties in 72 games which left them in the undisputed possession of the league&rsquo;s most undesirable record.</p><p>This season has proven to be no exception and the way things have gone the club may not even match its 1974-75 totals.</p><p>When Picard took over the Dynamos reins the club for all intents and purposes was already out of playoff contention which makes it very difficult for a mentor to set any future goals or instill any competitive feeling into his players.</p><p>&ldquo;When I took over I hoped to have a more aggressive team,&rdquo; pointed out Picard. &ldquo;It was coming along good. Then we had three or four injuries to regular players.</p><p>&ldquo;Normand Lahaie and Robert Constantin were hurt. They played with Jean-Marc Bonamie (a leading candidate for QMJHL rookie of the year honors) and were the best line we had.</p><p>&ldquo;Injuries are not the answer to all the questions,&rdquo; Picard stated.</p><p>With a record of nine wins and four ties in 50 games Picard still has things he wants to accomplish in the remainder of the regular schedule.</p><p>&ldquo;I want to see from now to the end of the season which players really want to play. It&rsquo;s a real problem when they know we can&rsquo;t make the playoffs. I want them to work to show they can play hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>Early in January the Dynamos were on a hot streak, at least for them, when they picked up five points in a stretch of five games and stayed close even in defeat.</p><p>&ldquo;We were playing good hockey before we played in Laval.&rdquo; explained the coach.</p><p>The Dynamos lost 8-5 to the Nationals on that occasion and have lost four straight since that time and have been outscored 30-12 by their opponents.</p><p>Ironically three of Shawinigan&rsquo;s nine victories have come against East Division leading Quebec and two of the three wins the club has registered with Picard behind the bench have come against the Remparts.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played well against Quebec,&rdquo; said Picard. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why.&rdquo; Undoubtedly the fact Picard has coached the Remparts has had a part to play in the Dynamos&rsquo; success.</p><p>Losing only one player in the overage draft next summer, captain Gilles Gelinas, makes the prospects next season look bright for the Dynamos.</p><p>&ldquo;It takes more than a year to build a good team.&rdquo; emphasized Picard. &ldquo;We may not be at the top next season but we should begin the playoffs.&rdquo;</p><p>As the old saying goes, there&rsquo;s no where to go but up.</p><p><b>QUEBEC:</b> Remparts retained hold on first place in East Division despite splitting two games. A Colisee crowd of over 12,000 watched the league&rsquo;s top two teams. Sherbrooke and the hometown Remparts, do battle and the Beavers came out on top by an 8-3 count. Two nights later the Remparts met the Montreal Juniors, again at home, and skated to a 5-3 decision before over 6,000 fans.</p><p><b>TROIS-RIVIERES:</b> Draveurs kept pace with Quebec by putting three wins in a row together. Cooled off Chicoutimi, who had been hot on their heels, with 17-6 trouncing in Trois-Rivieres. Richard David scored five times while Richard Dalpe tallied twice and added eight assists for a ten-point splurge. Dalpe and Yves Richer counted two goals each in 5-3 win over Nationals in Laval while David and Richer registered two markers apiece in 8-3 thrashing of Montreal.</p><p><b>CHICOUTIMI:</b> After dropping disastrous 17-6 decision in Trois-Rivieres, Sagueneens bounced back to win one. lose one and tie two. Sylvain Locas and Alain Cote scored twice in 7-4 win in Shawinigan. Locas tallied his second goal of the game at 17:12of the final period to put the Sags ahead of Hull 5-4 but the Festivals came back to knot the count only 45 seconds later. Louis Lavoie scored with 1:16 left in the game in Cornwall to give the Sagueneens a 3-3 deadlock with the Royals. Loss was in Laval, 7-3.</p><p><b>SOREL:</b> Black Hawks collected three of a possible four points to move within five points ot Chicoutimi and hold two games in hand on the Sagueneens. Club fell behind 4-0 after two periods in Cornwall but a third period hat trick by Yvon Blais and a single from Alain Chaput lifted Hawks into 4-4 sawoff. Chaput and Blais had two goals apiece as Sorel upset Sherbrooke 6-3.</p><p><b>SHERBROOKE:</b> Except for loss in Sorel, Beavers enjoyed unbeaten week as they continued to widen the gap between themselves and the rest of their QMJHL competition. They are now 12 points ahead of their closest league rival, East leading Quebec, and 19 ahead of the closest pursuing West team. Cornwall.</p><p><b>CORNWALL:</b> Royals continue to falter along with Montreal, who are still only a point behind Cornwall. Played two games, both on home ice, and emerged with two ties. Built up 4-0 lead over Sorel on goals by Ed-Clarey, Jeff Rintoul, Norm Kojola and Bill Wells only to have Black Hawks score four unanswered goals in final period.</p><p><b>MONTREAL:</b> Juniors got their four-game road trip off on the right foot with an 11-6 win in Shawinigan and a 5-5 draw with Sherbrooke but then the roof fell in as they dropped an 8-3 decision in Trois Rivieres and a 5-3 verdict in Quebec.</p><p><b>HULL:</b> While the attention is focused on the battle for second between Montreal and Cornwall, the Festivals are starting to make up ground on the Juniors and Royals. They now find themselves only seven points out of second place.</p><p><b>LAVAL:</b> Nationals right in thick of playoff battle as they trail Sorel by only five points in fight for final postseason berth. Opened with 5-4 set back against Trois-Rivieres and then upset Chicoutimi 7-3.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0037-01

Picard At Low Point Of Up-Down Season; Win Streak Keeps Draveurs Close In East

<h2><b>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon, Feb. 9)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02124/3631382-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="604" height="359"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Mon, Feb. 2</b></p><p>Chicoutimi 3 at Laval 7.</p><p><b>Tue, Feb. 3</b></p><p>Laval 3 at Hull 5, Sherbrooke 6 at Trois-Rivieres 4, Shawinigan 2 at Montreal 8.</p><p><b>Wed, Feb. 4</b></p><p>Shawinigan 1 at Sorel 6.</p><p><b>Thu, Feb. 5</b></p><p>Laval 4 at Montreal 1, Hull 1 at Cornwall 5.</p><p><b>Fri, Feb. 6</b></p><p>Cornwall 4 at Shawinigan 3, Quebec 3 at Sherbrooke 5, Montreal 2 at Chicoutimi 6.</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 8</b></p><p>Sherbrooke 7 at Laval 5, Quebec 3 at Chicoutimi 3, Shawinigan 2 at Montreal 10, Cornwall 10 at Sorel 5, Hull 5 at Trois-Rivieres 2.</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0393/3631375-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="603" height="429"></div><h2><b>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standngson Tue, Feb. 10)</b></p><h3><b>EMMS DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0477/3631368-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="599" height="271"></div><h3><b>LEYDEN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0561/3631361-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="599" height="199"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Sat, Feb 7</b></p><p>Sudbury 6 Windsnor 2; Kingston 7 Toronto 4</p><p><b>Sun, Feb. 8</b></p><p>Toronto 5 Peterborough 3; London 7 Oshowo 2; Hamilton 5 St Catharines 3, Kingston 7 Kitchener 4; Sault Ste. Marie 14 Windsor 6.</p><p><b>Fri, Jan. 30</b></p><p>Sault Ste. Morie 2 London <i>2,</i> Kitchener 4 Windsor 2, Peterborough 5 Kingston 5; Hamilton 6 St. Catharines 2; Toronto 5 Ottawa 3.</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0647/3631354-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="600" height="359"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0037-02

<p>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;</p><p>The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has moved decisively in an at tempt to put an end tostick-swingingduels.</p><p>Pierre Demers of the Montreal Juniors and Joe Carlevale of the Sherbrooke Beavers received stiff suspensions for stick-fighting in a game between the two clubs in Sherbrooke on January 28.</p><p>Demers was suspended for 11 games (until Feb. 12) and Carlevale eight games (until Feb. 6). The suspensions include the three regular season contests which the two clubs have remaining to play against each other.</p><p>Referee Yvon Levac handed out match penalties to the two combatant^- which brought the incident before the QMJHL executive. Carlevale incurred facial injuries in the encounter which dictated Demers&rsquo;stiffer suspension.</p><p>According to Levac&rsquo;s report Demers was the instigator, having speared Carlevale which precipitated the fireworks.</p><p>Commented QMJHL president Raymond Lagace. &ldquo;What happened in Sherbrooke is bad for our league and bad for hockey. We re very fortunate neither player was seriously hurt.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Stiff Suspensions Levied Following Stick Fight

<div class="byline">BY STEVE WAID</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER</b></p><p><b>HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p>GREENSBORO&mdash;</p><p>In the latest chapter of financial problems to befall Southern League teams, the Greensboro Generals are floundering in the midst of enough financial woes to put them under for good.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01189/3631444-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="271" height="391"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Gaye Cooley</b></figcaption></div><p>On Jan. 30. it was announced by Greensboro boss Conway Owings, the man who heads a six-man group that leases the Generals and owns their rink, the Piedmont Sports Arena, that unless the Generals came up with new money or a way to stop losing $2,800 a game, their Jan. 31 contest against Tidewater would be their last.</p><p>Owings said that the Generals had lost $100,000 to date during their 1975-76 operation and couldn&rsquo;t stand to lose any more. But he also said that the team wasn&rsquo;t bankrupt and would most assuredly pay all of its bills, even if it&rsquo;did go under.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m willing to listen to anything anyone has to say,&rdquo; said Owings, referring to solutions to keep the team solvent at least through the season. &ldquo;Naturally. I want to see the team remain. I feel like I&rsquo;ve tried to do what&rsquo;s right all along and I&rsquo;m willing to do what lean if we can keep the costs reasonable.&rdquo;</p><p>Pat Shetler, director of player personnel for the Generals, said that the team&rsquo;s average attendance in the Piedmont Sports Arena was 1,750 paid customers&mdash;which was considered good for a building that sat just over 3,000 and was owned and operated by team officials.</p><p>Obviously, though, it wasn&rsquo;t enough to help offset Generals&rsquo; expenses, which includes a $7,500 Bi-weekly payroll.</p><p>Deliberations among players, management and Greensboro City officials postponed the Generals&rsquo; demise Jan. 31, and the team lost a 4-3 encounter to Tidewater. After furt her deliberations, the team announced that it would play through Feb. 6. but unless something concrete had been worked out by that time, the Generals would die.</p><p>The offer that is getting the most consideration and will probably be the plan that will ultimately save the Generals is a proposal in which the players would give up salaries and play for a percentage of gate receipts throughout the remainder of the season.</p><p>Owings said that he would give the players $6,000&mdash;$3,000 of which would go to travel expenses and the other $3,000 to help defray other costs&mdash;if the players would accept the proposal to play for gate receipts. Shetler added that if the team drew 2,000 a game for remainder of season, players would suffer only a 12 percent pay cut throughout the year.</p><p>However, some of the players balked at the idea of taking a pay cut, especially since they could likely latch on with other SHL teams&mdash;some of which would make playoffs and give players some playoff money. Players&rsquo; haggling throughout the first week of February kept the Generals&rsquo;situation in limbo.</p><p>The Greensboro cause wasn&rsquo;t helped any when the city said it would not be feasible for it to take over the team and move it back to the Greensboro Coliseum for the remainder of the season.</p><p><b>HAMPTON:</b> Every player on Hampton roster except the two goaltenders and defenseman Dick Spannbauer picked up points in romp over Greensboro. Michel Boudreau scored the hat trick to lead Gulls&rsquo; scoring. &ldquo;This just snowballed when you have a first period like we did,&rdquo; said Gulls&rsquo; Steve Andrascik. &ldquo;Our scoring was far overdue. All three lines just put it together.&rdquo;</p><p>Hampton&rsquo;s win followed a tough 2-1 loss at Roanoke, where Gulls lost for first time in seven games this season. Rick Serafini scored lone goal for Gulls, who pressed Rebels but couldn&rsquo;t get tying goal.</p><p><b>WINSTON-SALEM:</b> Can anybody here stop the Twins? Polar Twins far and away hottest team in SHL, losing but three of last 21 games and going 7-0-2 in month of January. Checkers. Gulls. Rebels&mdash;all falling to revamped and happy Twins.</p><p>Big wins for Twins during week of Jan. 27 included 5-2 whipping of Charlotte Jan. 29, in which center John Campbell picked up the hat trick. Twins also beat Hampton. Roanoke and Tidewater during the week to close out in fourth place&mdash;just a scant four points behind Roanoke. Twins at one time had been in last place in SHL. but began to turnaround with new ownership and some personnel changes. Campbell moved into second place in SHL scoring race.</p><p><b>CHARLOTTE:</b> Checkers still boss of SHL, holding on to first place. Checkers only loss during week of Jan. 27 was to Twins, with wins over Greensboro and Roanoke to their credit. Victory over Roanoke followed loss to Twins, and goaltender Gaye Cooley. SHL leader with 2.74 average, picked up his fourth shutout of the season in the 3-0 win. Checkers closed out the week seven points ahead of Hampton.</p><p>Money problems hurting Checkers also, as team bosses announced a $1,000 per game loss and will look to sell or refinance team at the end of the season. Despite successful year on the ice. Checkers are not drawing that well in the stands.</p><p><b>ROANOKE:</b> No team slipping like the Rebels are slipping. Once a challenger for first place, Rebels now having to light for third. Team went 4-11-4 in last 19 games, with money problems, injuries, lack of practice ice and illness all taking their toll. Rebels went to game in Hampton Feb. 3 with just 11 skaters.</p><p>Steady Ted Hodgson is out with knee injury for a month while high-scoring Randy Andreachuk suffered severe charley horse. Rebel coach Jack Chipchase had to suit up for several Rebel games and plav defense.</p><p><b>TIDEWATER:</b> The Sharks also hit a hot streak, going 5-0-5 in 10 games. Big wins included 5-2 triumph over Roanoke, and 4-3 victory at Green-sboro Jan. 31, in which Billy Steele scored the hat trick. Steele was loaned to Sharks from Gulls, and some controversy has arisen as to just exactly where he should play. Sharks&rsquo; coach John Hanna, though, says that Steele will play in Tidewater until end of season. as per his agreement with Gulls&rsquo; coach John Brophy.</p><h2>SHL Leaders</h2><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02141/3631437-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="609" height="644"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0038-01

Greensboro Club Facing New Financial Crisis

<div class="byline">BY MORLEY HOWE</div><p>GREEN BAY&mdash;</p><p>Heading into the final six weeks of the 1975-76 season, most playoff positions in the United States Hockey League are st ill wide open.</p><p>Traverse City Bays moved back into first place in the Northern Division by scoring three consecutive wins at home over Sioux City and Milwaukee. Defenseman Bill Slewidge led Traverse City, picking up five goals and three assists including game-winners in 3-2 and 4-3 victories.</p><p>Sioux City Musketeers opened up a 15-point lead in the Southern Division race by scoring road victories at Marquette and Green Bay. Center Rick Kennedy of Musketeers collected five points on three-game road trip to lead all scorers with 83 points.</p><p>All Star defenseman Jim Peck collected four assists during the past weekend bringing his season&rsquo;s point total to 54 and tying the mark he set last season. Waterloo Black Hawks continued their climb by defeating Central Wisconsin Flyers 4-1 and 7-2 to move into a second place tie with Milwaukee Admirals.</p><p>In ruling on protest filed by Central Wisconsin after dropping 6-2 contest at Green Bay Jan. 25. the league has found referee Chuck Turner incorrect in calling back a Central Wise, first period goal on illegal stick infraction.</p><p>The record books will show a final 6-3 score: the goal will be credited to Flyers&rsquo; Peter Salosky, who has also been fined $20 for use of an illegal stick.</p><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><h3>SOUTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03103/3631482-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="535" height="356"></div><h3>NORTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0467/3631475-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="539" height="316"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0038-03

The USHL Scene

<div class="byline">BY JOHN ARNOLD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0547/3631513-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="933" height="1252"></div><h2>SOLUTION IN FEBRUARY 27 ISSUE</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3><p>1. One of the Black Hawks.</p><p>3. Every team needs these.</p><p>5. 5th and 15th letters of the alphabet.</p><p>7. Pictured player.</p><p>12. Former Minnesota forward.</p><p>13. Body of water.</p><p>14. First name of former Ranger Heller.</p><p>15. Black gold.</p><p>16. New Rochelle, (init)</p><p>17. New Guinea, (init).</p><p>18. Distress signal.</p><p>20. Short for height.</p><p>22. Denotes number worn by Gil Perreault.</p><p>23. One of the North Stars, (init)</p><p>24. Detroit&rsquo;s coach, (init)</p><p>26. 20th and 18th letters of the alphabet.</p><p>27. Half of scheduled games are played here.</p><p>29. Alright, (slang)</p><p>30. A former Penguin forward.</p><p>31. To exist.</p><p>32. 1960-61 Calder Trophy winner.</p><h3>DOWN</h3><p>1. A Minnesota Fighting Saints forward.</p><p>2. Rochefort answers to this.</p><p>3. Former nickname of Detroit.</p><p>4. Initials of an Edmonton center.</p><p>6. Native province of 1 across.</p><p>8. Played 10 seasons in the NHL with four different teams.</p><p>9. Simon Nolet was recently involved in one.</p><p>10. 1 st and 9th letters of the alphabet.</p><p>11. Marcel Dionne used to play for this team.</p><p>19. An NHL general manager.</p><p>21. Many players expect this in career.</p><p>25. A Bruin defenseman.</p><p>27. One of the Crusaders answers to this.</p><p>28. A Black Hawk defenseman. (init)</p><p>31. Initials of Orban.</p><h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2><h3>Across</h3><p>1. ESPOSITO.</p><p>2. ERIC.</p><p>8. COTE.</p><p>9. EARL.</p><p>12. E.E.</p><p>13. ROD.</p><p>14. ERR.</p><p>16. T.W.</p><p>17. S.O.S.</p><p>18. S.M.</p><p>19. T.N.</p><p>20. O.K.</p><p>21. OTT.</p><p>23. I.H.</p><p>25. NYKOLUK.</p><p>28. ONE.</p><p>29. T.L.</p><p>31. COFFEE.</p><p>34. BERENSON</p><h3>Down</h3><p>1. ECCLESTONE.</p><p>2. PETERS.</p><p>3. OREE.</p><p>4. S.I.</p><p>5. ICE.</p><p>6. OOROWSKI.</p><p>10. ART.</p><p>11. L.D.</p><p>15. RONTY.</p><p>22. T.K.O.</p><p>24. HALE.</p><p>26. ONCE.</p><p>27. LEON.</p><p>29. TEN.</p><p>30. R.E.</p><p>32. F.S.</p><p>33. F.O.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-05

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<p>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Hennepin Nordiques look better and better. The club has won six of seven games so-far this month: their only loss was to the Kostka senior champions. Two wins over Bloomington put Hennepin in third place in the Midwest Junior Hockey League this week, trailing St. Paul by three points, with four games in hand.</p><p>Goalie Mike Boniarczyk is more than pulling his weight in the nets these days. He stopped 31 shots as the Nordiques whipped second-place St. Paul 6-3, then handled 23 more in Hennepin&rsquo;s 7-3 route of Bloomington. Duke Johnson had two goals to lead the attack on the Vulcans. The game set a new high in attendance in the penalty box this MJHL season 30 penalties for 126 minutes&hellip;Mike McMillen had two goals, two of five scored by Hennepin in the third period, plus three assists against Bloomington&hellip;Don Olund and McMillen each took home nine points last week and Olund, moved up to second place among top league scorers&hellip;Team currently is averagings.8 goals per game.</p><p><b>AUSTIN:</b> After concentrating on offense the first part of the season, coach Lou Vairo says the emphasis will be on defense from here on out. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re taking one step at a time to come up with the best possible balance for the playoffs,&rdquo; headds&hellip;Plan paid off last week as the Mavericks posted wins over bloomington (5-2) and St. Paul (4-3)&hellip;Austin took a 3-0 first period lead over the Junior Stars and never let up. Three of the Mavs&rsquo; five tallies were power play efforts&hellip;Goalie Bill Fedoryk. who made 32 saves against Bloomington. turned away 41 shots to write the victory script at St. Paul. Defenseman Mike Ryman settled the seesaw battle with a tiebreaking goal at 14.19 in the third period&hellip;Tim Phippen. sidelined with a concussion, will sit out the next six to10 games.</p><p><b>ST. PAUL:</b> Although the Vulcans have the league&rsquo;s best goals-against average&mdash;4.7 per game, they couldn&rsquo;t muster a win last week. After back-to-back defeats by Hannepin St. Paul fell to Austin, leaving the club&rsquo;s second-place ranking vulnerable to the challenge from New Hope&hellip;Chick Yackel&rsquo;s two goals paced Vulcans&rsquo; scoring in the 6-3 loss, while Russ Welch and Ted Garvey, with a pair apiece, accounted for St. Paul&rsquo;s scoring in the 5-4 overtime disappoint ment. Vulcans outshot Hennepin 43-34. but couldn&rsquo;t ruffle Keith Johnson&rsquo;s composure.</p><p><b>BLOOMINGTON:</b> If it&rsquo;s true that one learns by losing the Junior Stars have been getting quite an education over the past 10 games. With injuries still crippling both offense and defense, Bloomington has only three wins in 10 contests&hellip;Bloomington goals came off the sticks of Paul Green and Dave Wilkens in the 5-2 defeat by Austin: Greg Wymer got two goals and Mike Belde one to round off scoring against Hennepin. Game was 2-2 going into the third period when the roof fell in on goalie Chuck Holman. End result was Hennepin 7-3.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Hennepin Streaks Into Third As Midwest Race Tightens Up

<div class="byline">BY HOWIE STALWICK</div><p>CRANBROOK&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Western International Hockey League&rsquo;s torrid pennant chase continues to shape up as one which will go right down to the wire, and it appears that the competition for the circuit&rsquo;s individual awards may be every bit as interesting.</p><p>Any early guesses pertaining to possible trophy winners obviously are dangerous ones when the league standings remain so close this late in the season, but several strong possibilities have moved forward in some categories.</p><p>One piece of hardware which appears safely tucked away for a second straight year is the J. Vingo Trophy for outstanding goaltending, an award which Cranbrook ironman Leo Karchie should take again with a goals-against average hovering near 3.40.</p><p>His closest challengers. Kimberley standout Barrie MacKay and Frank Turnbull of Spokane, are both presently in the 3.70 vicinity.</p><p>The hands-down pick for top defenseman honors in the WIHL so far is Spokane star Murray Kennett. but if the Edmonton Oiler assignee fails to qualify because of a lack of games. Cranbrook&rsquo;s Bernie Reed looms a very likely candidate for the Paul Kozak Memorial Trophy, with Nelson&rsquo;s hustling little Rick Williamsa longshot possibility.</p><p>Turnbull is the unofficial pick in this corner for rookie of the year attention, but Cranbrook right winger Chris Becker has a hometown following and a flashy point total (fifth in the league with 41) in his favor and could win out with a solid season finish.</p><p>The Lester Patrick Trophy for total points has developed into pretty much of a three-man race involving defending champion Jim Stanfield (33-21-54) and Kimberley line-mates Dave Lee (17-31-48) and Dennis Shick (16-32-48). Barring injury to one of those three, nobody else seems capable of seriously challenging.</p><p>And that brings us to the most important accolade for all in the WIHL. the Howard Anderson Memorial Trophy for the most valuable and gentlemanly performer in the loop, and this is the one award above all others which figures to be up for grabs right to the very end afterall has been said and done about the struggle for first.</p><p>Certainly a spirited team player such as Nelson&rsquo;s Williams should be considered in the MVP voting, but the men with the votes more likely will look towards the ranks of pennant contenders Cranbrook. Trail and Spokane for their pick.</p><p>At Cranbrook, Karchie&rsquo;s star has faded somewhat after a sensational start, and now it is defenseman Reed who many rate the top on-ice leader of the Royals. Spokane&rsquo;s top contestant at this point may very well be the 20-year-old Turnbull, and at Trail, most give the nod to player-general manager Eric Nesterenko for his great leadership in-fluence on the young Smoke Eaters.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The WIHL Scene

<h2><b>MIDWEST JUNIOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Sat, Jun. 28)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01172/3631683-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="612" height="207"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02125/3631676-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="612" height="463"></div><h2><b>NEW ENGLAND JUNIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon, Feb. 2)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0397/3631669-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="609" height="276"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0481/3631662-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="609" height="303"></div><h2><b>SOUTHWEST LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon, Feb. 2)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0565/3631655-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="590" height="223"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0654/3631648-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="594" height="566"></div><h2><b>NEW YORK METRO JUNIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Thu, Feb. 4)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0746/3631641-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="594" height="287"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0840/3631634-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="591" height="429"></div><h2><b>ONTARIO COLLEGES</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon, Feb. 2)</b></p><h3><b>EASTERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0934/3631627-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="600" height="240"></div><h3><b>CENTRAL DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1030/3631620-1-eng-US/f0039-102.jpg" title="f0039-10" width="600" height="174"></div><h3><b>WESTERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1128/3631613-1-eng-US/f0039-112.jpg" title="f0039-11" width="600" height="180"></div><h2>MARITIME COLLEGES</h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon, Feb. 2)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1225/3631606-1-eng-US/f0039-122.jpg" title="f0039-12" width="605" height="330"></div><h2>WESTERN COLLEGES</h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri, Jan. 22)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1321/3631599-1-eng-US/f0039-132.jpg" title="f0039-13" width="597" height="198"></div><h2>QUEBEC COLLEGES</h2><p><b>(Standingson Fri, Feb. 6)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1418/3631592-1-eng-US/f0039-142.jpg" title="f0039-14" width="603" height="226"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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/f0039-1517/3631714-1-eng-US/f0039-152.jpg" title="f0039-15" width="343" height="413"></div><h2><b>Ontario Provincial League</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>orth York and Richmond Hill remain deadlocked for the league lead, each with 57 points on 27 wins and 3 ties. Jim Clement fired four goals to lead Richmond Hill Rams over the Wexford Raiders 9-4. The other Ram goals game off the sticks of Larry Kimble, Ben Pederson, Bob Osborn, Mike Rowley and Mike Gallagher. Raider marksmen were Craig Laughlin, MikeCollins, Dave Northern and Bill Metcalfe.</p><p>To close up the lower section of the league standings, the Royal York Royals were defeated by Ajax Knob Hill Farms 5-2. Only three points separate 10th place Aurora and 5th place Toronto Nationals and Markham Waxers.</p><p>League scoring leader Jim Duignan registered his 30th goal of the season in the Ajax victory. The other Knob Hill scores were made by Jim Heasty, Jamie Lytle, Mark Prentice and Andy Clark. Royal York scoring was by Al McRae and Dave Robb.</p><h2><b>New York&mdash;Penn League</b></h2><p>The league leading Amherst Knights have pretty well locked up the league championship in the NY-Penn League. The Knights have registered only 3 losses all season long, while marking up 22 wins and 2 ties for 46 points. The Southtown Cougars are their closest rivals and they have a 15-&rsquo; 9-5 record for 35 points. Third spot is held by the Rochester Monarchs with 15-9-4 for 34 points. The Niagara Falls Mangs Sharks hold the final playoffspot with 10-12-6 for 26 points.</p><p>The Amherst juniors got a real scare from the fifth place Buffalo Blades, needing a goal from Greg Jantzi with just 30 seconds left in the game to pullout a 3-2 win. Blades goabe Bill Kaminski was outstanding in the nets with 44 saves.</p><p>Then the Knights moved into Rochester and easily subdued the usually tough Monarchs 10-3. Paul Hamilton shot a hat trick for the winners and Derek Embody had a goal and three assists.</p><p>The Southtown Cougars won both games of a home-and-home series with the Niagara Falls Mangs Sharks. At Southtown the Cougars took an exciting 1-0 win. their first shutout ever in league play and the fourth registered in the league so far this season. Goalie Brian Smasz.cz registered the shutout and made 30 saves in doing so. The big goal was a tip-in by Mike Scheu. It&rsquo;s ironic that Sharks goaltender Mike Bagocus. who posted a pair of shutouts so far this season (the second and third in league history) was the losing goalie. He made 47 saves in a losing cause.</p><p>At Niagara Falls, the Cougars defeated the Sharks handily by 8-4. John Manzella was the big scorer for the winners notching a. hat trick. Jay Boudreau fired a pair of goals and as many assists. Jeff Stitt had a goal and 3 assists. High scorer for the Sharks was Mike Brigante with two goals.</p><p>The Syracuse Stars broke a nine game losing streak by dropping the Buffalo Blades 7-1. Mark Kemp paced the Stars attack with 2 goals and 1 assist. Dan Mathewson had a goal and one assist and was the game&rsquo;s outstanding performer. Stars goalie Gary Colburn stopped 41 shots for the win.</p><h2><b>New York Metro League</b></h2><p>The New York Americans kept themselves in the running for first place in the Metropolitan Junior Hockey Association by downing league-leader Suffolk 5-1. Jeff Bloom led the Amerks with 2 goals and 2 assists, while Vinnie Regina added a goal and 3 assists. The Americans have now accounted for all four Suffolk losses this season.</p><p>Enn Kunnapas and John Jaskul are this week&rsquo;s co-Players of the Week. In their last three games, the New Hyde Park pair have scored 23 points between them, with Jaskul going 6-7-13 and Kunnapas 3-7-10, each tallying a hat trick.</p><p>Frank Kehoe scored late in the third period to give the NY Westsiders a 5-4 win over New Hyde Park in the battle for fourth place. Later, however, the Westsiders ran into an improving Oyster Bay Club that scored three times in the final period to beat NY 5-3.</p><p>Jeff Allsopp scored twice in the final period to enable LI AC to tie Essex 3-3. Afteren early LIAC tally. Essex scored three times, but could not hold off LIAC. Jim Keys had a goal and an assist for the Rockets.</p><p>John Jaskul has finally taken sole possession of MJHA scoring lead with his big week. LIAC&rsquo;s Bob Mancini, league leader most of the season, is second, but still leads the league in goals (53) and hat tricks (9). League leading Suffolk Royals are doing it with defense&mdash;their goals against total of 106 is almost 30 better than runner-up NY Westsiders. In addition. Royals boast the top goaltending tandem in the league, with Tom Hasenzahi and Bob Harvey, running 1-2 in the MJHA.</p><h2><b>New England League</b></h2><p>With an assist from the South Shore Braves, who upset the Springfield Olympics for the second time this season, the New England Junior Hockey League race tightened upagain last week.</p><p>On Friday Coach Bob Sylvia&rsquo;s Braves bumped off the Olympics 5-4 as Scott Callan kicked out 36 shots. Jim Quirk&rsquo;s third period goal at 14:18 turned out to be the game-winner. Bernie Croteau netted his 30th and 31st goals for Springfield.</p><p>The Fitchburg Wallopers then won twice to creep back within two points of first place. The Wallopers blanked the Tyngsboro Huskies 5-0 as Don Leger steered aside 31 shots andthen buried the Berwick Vikings 10-6. Brian Fitzpatrick scored twice for Fitchburg against Tyngsboro as Huskies goalie Jim Browder had a record-tying nine-game winning streak broken despite 46saves. Chuck Pappas then pumped in four goals to reach the 50-goal mark for the&rsquo;second straight year against Berwick. Jim Wisniewski also tallied twice for the Wallopers while Rich Campisi recorded three goals for the&rsquo;Vikings.</p><p>The Berlin Manons hammered the Tri-Vajley Squires 11-5 as the NEJHL&rsquo;s leading scorer. John Normand scored two goals and handed out four assists to reach the 100-point plateau after just 29 games. Gerry Gingras shot four goals for the Maroons and Mike Smith added a pair.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Search for your favorite player or team

February 20, 1976

NHL SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

CUPOLO’S

Minor League Affiliations

BABY-FACED PENGUIN WITH THE GROWN-UP MOVES