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

March 26, 1976

The Hockey News March 26, 1976

<div class="byline">BY STEVE MARANTZ</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01993/3828657-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RANDY ROTA&hellip;High Sticks Most Bothersome</b></figcaption></div><p>KANSAS CITY&mdash;</p><p>Rodney Dangerfield doesn&rsquo;t have anything on Randy Rota, the Scouts 5&rsquo;8&rdquo;, 166 pound winger.</p><p>&ldquo;I think if I were bigger I could get a little more respect,&rdquo; says Rota, who gained a little self-respect with a good relief job at the end of February.</p><p>With Wilf Paiement nursing a muscle strain in his thigh Rota stepped onto right wing with center Guy Charron and left wing Craig Patrick. In three games Rota popped for the first goal of each game, beating Ken Dryden, Billy Smith and Gerry Desjardins.</p><p>&ldquo;Small but mighty,&rdquo; said Eddie Bush, the Scout coach. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a shooter and a skater. You don&rsquo;t have to be big to play this game.&rdquo;</p><p>Which is lucky for Rota. Only a few major-leaguers are smaller, like Bobby Lalonde and Dennis Polonich. And the way Rota tells it being tiny isn&rsquo;t all bad.</p><p>&ldquo;I crate more penalties than I take,&rdquo; said Rota. &ldquo;A guy will have his stick up to normal height and he&rsquo;ll high-stick me.&rdquo;</p><p>Being small is nothing new to Rota, since he&rsquo;s been that way all his life. He learned long ago how to deal with it on the ice.</p><p>&ldquo;Size doesn&rsquo;t bother me anymore,&rdquo; says Rota. &ldquo;I feel my speed and skating make up for it. Sometimes I wish I was six feet so I could reach for the puck in certain situations. I don&rsquo;t have the size where I can go out and beat up on Dave Schultz or somebody like that.&rdquo;</p><p>Rota came to the Scouts from Los Angeles in the expansion draft. A native of Kamloops, B.C., he played in all the Scouts games last season. This season he has been in and out of the lineup, assuming the role of utility forward under Bush.</p><p>&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re only playing two or three shifts a game you do the best you can,&rdquo; says Rota. &ldquo;Sometimes the legs don&rsquo;t go. Part of it is to be ready when they need you.&rdquo;</p><p>Rota is a stickler on conditioning and actually rides the bicycle in the dressing room between periods when he isn&rsquo;t playing. When Paiement was hurt he was ready, even though right wing is his off side. Throughout his six year career he has split playing time between wings, though he prefers the left side.</p><p>During the latest stint on right wing Rota displayed a newfound finesse.</p><p>&ldquo;On right wing I can cut into the center better,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Also I have more net to shoot at because I&rsquo;m not at the deep angle I&rsquo;m at on the left. Another advantage is that you have the puck right in front of you when you stop to shoot.&rdquo;</p><p>On the ice Rota maintains an unflappable style, rarely revealing a sign of anger. Against the Islanders recently he engaged in a brief stick joust with Gerry Hart, perhaps liking his chances against the small defenseman.</p><p>&ldquo;I usually play with quite a bit of self-control,&rdquo; says Rota. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t get any bad penalties that might hurt the team.</p><p>With Rota filling in, the Scouts survived a rash of injuries and played some respectable hockey. They blanked the Canadiens for two periods Feb. 25 before falling 3-1. Ties with the Islanders and Sabres followed. Denis Herron was absolutely magnificent in goal in all three games.</p><p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t seen anybody better this season,&rdquo; said Scotty Bowman, the Canadien coach.</p><p>&ldquo;He keeps getting better and better,&rdquo; said Glenn Resch, Islander goalie. &ldquo;No telling how good he&rsquo;d be with a contender.&rdquo;</p><p>Off the ice the Scouts were anxiously awaiting the results of the season-ticket drive. City officials and civic leaders kicked it off March 1st in good spirits, but prospects of selling 8,000 tickets, 4,000 new, seemed bleak. Ed Thompson, Scout president, glumly barricaded himself in his office, wondering how he would meet the March 15 payroll.</p><p><b>LOOSE PUCKS:</b> When the ticket drive began, Bush became a poet. Sample: Hope the season tickets push so the Scouts can Keep Eddie Bush Guy Charron scored his 100th career goal and reached 59 points for the season, a club record&hellip;After the tie with Buffalo Feb. 28, the Scouts needed seven points to equal their total last season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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IN THIS ISSUE

Scouts’ Rota Proving Size Not A Handicap

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01778/3829052-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="341" height="625"></div><h2><b>ATLANTA FLAMES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02667/3829045-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="713" height="701"></div><h2><b>BOSTON BRUINS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03535/3829038-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="714" height="840"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO SABRES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04419/3829031-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="713" height="715"></div><h2><b>CALIFORNIA SEALS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05315/3829024-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="713" height="679"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO HAWKS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06254/3829017-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="722" height="808"></div><h2><b>DETROIT RED WINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07228/3829010-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="728" height="734"></div><h2><b>KANSAS CITY SCOUTS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08208/3829003-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="738" height="720"></div><h2><b>LOS ANGELES KINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09186/3828996-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="728" height="760"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA STARS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10164/3828989-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="724" height="800"></div><h2><b>MONTREAL CANADIENS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-11150/3828982-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="726" height="790"></div><h2><b>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-12133/3828975-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="742" height="746"></div><h2><b>NEW YORK RANGERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-13121/3828968-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="730" height="798"></div><h2><b>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-14114/3828961-1-eng-US/f0016-142.jpg" title="f0016-14" width="728" height="702"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-15104/3828954-1-eng-US/f0016-152.jpg" title="f0016-15" width="722" height="770"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS BLUES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-16100/3828947-1-eng-US/f0016-162.jpg" title="f0016-16" width="720" height="678"></div><h2><b>TORONTO LEAFS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1792/3828940-1-eng-US/f0016-172.jpg" title="f0016-17" width="718" height="712"></div><h2><b>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1885/3828933-1-eng-US/f0016-182.jpg" title="f0016-18" width="716" height="760"></div><h2><b>WASHINGTON CAPS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1978/3828926-1-eng-US/f0016-192.jpg" title="f0016-19" width="714" height="666"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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NHL SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">&#x2014;By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011028/3828595-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="290" height="358"></div><h2><b><i>Home Away From Home&hellip;</i></b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>T IS NOT CLEAR</b> why Detroit makes men into monsters but it is a fact that the three most-penalized players in the history of the National Hockey League set their records in Red Wing uniforms. The fiery left-winger Ted Lindsay still leads with 1,808 minutes in penalties accumulated in 1,068 games over 17 seasons, hut this record may not endure much longer. The great right-winger Gordie Howe, second with 1,643 minutes in 1,687 games over 25 campaigns before he retired to the other league, was second until recently.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02924/3828588-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="304" height="413"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Bryan Watson</b></figcaption></div><p>This season little-known Bryan Watson passed both Howe and the number three man, the late, great Tim Horton of Toronto, to become second-best all-time at this singular specialty and the leading defenseman in this respect ever. Horton had 1,611 minutes in 1,446 games over 22 seasons. Watson entered this season with 1,557 minutes in only 630 games over a mere nine years and in his first 60 games this season in his 10th year added 213 more minutes to reach a total of 1,770.</p><p>Clearly Watson is in a class by himself at this art, since he collects minutes at about twice the rate of other immortals of the high stick and low trip. The numbers themselves are dull and do not tell the story as it should be told in terms of slashing, spearing, charging, stick-fighting, fist-fighting and the use of colorful language when an official finds fault with such conduct. Presumably, a television special splicing together each of his infractions over the years would not be fit for the family hour and might make World War II look like a Shriners&rsquo; convention.</p><p>&ldquo;I am a physical player,&rdquo; Watson admits modestly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t deliberately foul my foes. No one can say I ever tried to hurt anyone. I&rsquo;ve never tried to get a penalty. 1 never kept track of my total minutes and 1 was surprised to find I&rsquo;d reached the top of the list.&rdquo; Well, Watson is too modest. He has just gone on his way getting a penalty here and a penalty there. One shudders to think how many he&rsquo;d have if he tried for them. But like most record-holders, he just went on game after game, doing his thing, and the numbers just keep adding up. Like Gordie Howe got goals. Bryan Watson has gotten penalties. Each to his own.</p><p><b>THERE AKE A NUMBER</b> of amazing things about Bryan&rsquo;s record. For one thing, he cannot be considered a great player like a Lindsay, a Howe, or a Horton. He is not a big player, as they were. Two inches under six feet in height, a mere 17.5 pounds in weight, it is a wonder Watson has survived such violence. As they say, it is not the size of the tiger in the fight that counts, it is the size of the fight in the tiger. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think of myself as tough, but I do take the fight to the other guys and I won&rsquo;t back down,&rdquo; Watson says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not afraid of anything. Size doesn&rsquo;t matter.&rdquo; Clearly, it could not count for less. A small man can hook a foe as well as a big man can.</p><p>One might think that the penalty standards would have been set by defensemen. especially the old stay-put. stand-up bodycheckers, but the fact is half of the first eight in minutes are forwards. Aside from Terrible Ted and Gorgeous Gordie, other forwards in this select list are Reggie Fleming and Eddie Shack, both fine at the art of fouling foes. Aside from Watson and Horton, other defensemen are Bill Gadsby and Bobby Baun. who did belong to the old bunch. Actually, these days, defensemen play forward, while forwards play physically&mdash;forechecking especially. Forechecking flourishes, while bodychecking has been banished by Order of Orr. And Watson has played a lot of forward in his career, and forechecks fiercely. He first earned fame following forwards such as Bobby Hull around, guarding them as if they were being gripped by an octopus.</p><p>Another amazing thing about Bryan is that he has lasted long enough to attain such dizzying heights in the NHL and need endure only a little longer to hit the pinnacle of his profession. He has been bounced around. For seven seasons he was yanked up and down like a yo-yo between the majors and minors, playing in the minors in Hull-Ottawa, Quebec City, Omaha, Memphis, Cleveland, Houston and Baltimore more than he did in the majors in Montreal, Detroit, Oakland and Pittsburgh. He started in 1962 and did not make the majors to stay until 1970. Since then he has moved on to St. Louis and back to Detroit and is in only his sixth straight major league campaign. Somehow, someone always wants him. He has gone on and on. running at the record. &ldquo;I give my best wherever I go,&rdquo; he observes.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have the ability of some players,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;I have made it only by being aggressive and doing a defensive job. I don&rsquo;t score much, so I have to do what I do best. When you check aggressively, you&rsquo;re going to get into fights. There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with fighting in hockey. It&rsquo;s a physical game and there&rsquo;s no way you can avoid getting involved in fights. I don&rsquo;t look for &rsquo;em, but I&rsquo;ve had a few. I don&rsquo;t rate &rsquo;em. I haven&rsquo;t won many. I prefer to forget &rsquo;em. I just try to do my job consistently, game after game.&rdquo;</p><p><b>CONSISTENCY HAS BEEN</b> his hallmark. He&rsquo;s reaching for the record from a career of a hundred minutes here, a hundred there. Add to the amazing things about his record the fact he&rsquo;s led the league in penalties only once, a few years back when he had 212 minutes. He topped that with 238 last season, so this, only his third season over 200, should be his best yet. He did have 293 one season while learning his trade in the minors, but clearly he is just approaching his peak as a major leaguer. As he said, he&rsquo;s not much of a scorer. His best season in the majors he had three goals. This season he has none.</p><p>Because of his style of play. Andy Bathgate nicknamed him &ldquo;Bugsy,&rdquo;a newspaperman heard it and passed it on to the public, and Bryan has been stuck with it ever since. Clearly, it is not befitting a record setter of such stature and he does not like it, but has learned to live with it. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like it, but I don&rsquo;t know what I can do about it, &ldquo;he says. &ldquo;My wife doesn&rsquo;t like it. She calls me Bryan. My kids call me Dad.&rdquo; He does, indeed, have a wife, Lindy, a son, Stevie, six, and a daughter, Lisa, four. He looks like a light-heavyweight boxer. He has a rugged face, spider-webbed with the scars of countless stitches. But he has a good-looking grin, and, hard as it may be to believe, he&rsquo;s a quiet-living, family-man off the ice. He is a soft-spoken, pleasant person, who is shy and really doesn&rsquo;t like to talk about himself at all.</p><p>His hockey life has not been easy for him, but he has accepted it because he loves hockey. He has changed uniforms 17 times in 14 years as a professional. He has played for at least two half his seasons. Twice he has played for three teams in a season. He had two hitches in Montreal and is in his third in Detroit. Out of Bancroft. Ontario, he never has purchased a home.</p><p><b>HE SIGHS AND SAYS,</b> &ldquo;I never lasted long enough in one place, except Pittsburgh. The trade that hurt was from Pittsburgh after six years there. Being bounced around didn&rsquo;t bother me until I got married seven or eight years ago. We&rsquo;ve moved a lot lately and that&rsquo;s hard on a family. Three teams in one season the season-before-last was really rough on the wife and kids. Now that the kids are reaching school age I don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;ll do it I&rsquo;m traded again I&rsquo;ve saved some money and bought some land. No one will ever have to throw a benefit for me. But I hate the thought of reaching the end of the road. It&rsquo;s been fantastic fun for me. I didn&rsquo;t mind the last trade. I didn&rsquo;t like St. Louis. But I like Detroit. I&rsquo;ve been here before and it was like coming home. I don&rsquo;t want to move on again&rdquo;</p><p>He is a master at his job, an ordinary player who has hung on in at the top through hustle, who has tried so hard he has come up with a curious record.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY DOUG DOUGHTY</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLE RICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario. Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p>HAMPTON&mdash;</p><p>Steve Andrascik has yet to crash the top 15 scorers and he most certainly won&rsquo;t get many votes for Most Valuable Player. In fact, his name (the a is long and flat) has been mispronounced at least once in every Southern Hockey League rink this season.</p><p>However, when Hampton Gulls&rsquo; coach John Brophy is asked to account for his team&rsquo;s second-place showing in the SHL this season, he doesn&rsquo;t hesitate before singling out the 5-11, 190-pound right winger from Sherridon. Manitoba.</p><p>&ldquo;Frank Beaton was doing a great job for us before he was called up and then we lost Mike Sauter, who took a job coaching,&rdquo; explained Brophy. &ldquo;Steve filled right in. He&rsquo;s got to be one of the toughest men in hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>Andrascik just laughed when he heard Brophy&rsquo;s remarks. &ldquo;I used to fight a lot.&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;But. then I broke my hand once. After sitting out two and a half months, I think I learned my lesson.&rdquo;</p><p>Although Andrascik claims his pugilist days are over, he&rsquo;s still plenty tough. For the Gulls, he has been a relentless checker, as well as a good scorer and passer.</p><p>Through the last 32 games of the regular season, the 28-year-old Andrascik registered 16 goals and 15 assists, and he scored three times&mdash;his first hat trick of the season&mdash;in a 7-2 first-round playoff win over Winston-Salem.</p><p>The playoffs have always been Andrascik&rsquo;s proving ground and it&rsquo;s beginning to look as if this year will be no exception. In Hershey two years ago. he helped lead the Bears to the AHL title after scoring 23 goals and 43 assists during the regular season.</p><p>&ldquo;They mean so much more to me.&rdquo; said Andrascik, reflecting on his playoff heroics. &ldquo;Playoff games are easy to get up for. During the regular season, there are just, too many games. Now our season is coming to a close and we can see the end in sight.&rdquo;</p><p>Andrascik began the season with the Cincinnati Stingers, his third WHA club in two years, but it became clear from the start that things weren&rsquo;t working out.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I was playing up to my capability. The other players were starting plays and I just wasn&rsquo;t finishing them,&rdquo; said Andrascik. &ldquo;Maybe it was the pressure.&rdquo;</p><p>In any case, the veteran had been hanging around Hershey for a month when he finally decided to join Hampton. Andrascik had been with Greensboro briefly in 1975. but he hadn&rsquo;t exactly been smitten with the SHL.</p><p>&ldquo;I had a one-way contract with Cincinnati and, since it was cheaper, they released me outright early in the season.&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;I really wanted to play in Hershey, but it couldn&rsquo;t be worked out. In fact, I&rsquo;m working on something right now for next year.</p><p>&ldquo;I met Brophy in camp and when we played an exhibition down here (Hampton) Hiked the area. I could have gone to Mohawk Valley, but I wasn&rsquo;t wild about the long bus rides and the weather.&rdquo;</p><p>Andrascik was rusty upon joining the Gulls, but he quickly regained his skating legs. &ldquo;I had skated only twice in five weeks when I came down here,&rdquo; he said &ldquo;It was a really a grind for the first couple of days.&rdquo;</p><p>Virturally since his arrival. Andrascik has worked on a line with Pat Donnelly and the two have turned into one of Hampton&rsquo;s most potent combinations. Donnelly has provided the scoring punch and Andrascik has added the muscle.</p><p>&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it. my reputation helps,&rdquo; admitted the Gulls&rsquo; right winger. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played all over: the American League, the Central League, the WHA and even the NHL (he once joined the Rangers for the playoffs). I guess people have come to respect me.&rdquo;</p><p>Even though Andrascik has made his name as an enforcer, he has also become an offensive threat for the Gulls this season. In one recent five-game stretch, he scored nine goals, including two in each of four games.</p><p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think I would ever get No. 3,&rdquo; he said following the playoff win over Winston-Salem. &ldquo;But, it was well worth the wait.&rdquo;</p><p><b>CHARLOTTE:</b> Checkers clinched first place and then dropped playoff opener at Roanoke, 1-0. Rebels led second game with Charlotte, 2-1, before Checkers came back to win 3-2 in overtime&hellip;Winning goal came from flashy center Yvon Dupuis, who had league-high 52 goals during regular-season&hellip;Prospects for hockey in Charlotte looked bleak as owners said team would fold unless fresh financial help is forthcoming&hellip;&ldquo;Frankly. I don&rsquo;t think if anybody came in next year and took over they could do any better.&rdquo; admitted treasurer William Allen.</p><p><b>WINSTON-SALEM:</b> Polar Twins quickly got in a hole, losing first two playoff games at Hampton. 7-2 and 3-2&hellip;Problems developed early as club lost goalie Danny Sullivan with broken finger. Bob Champoux was left to man Winston-Salem goal, although possibility arose of Tidewater&rsquo;s Joe Junkin joining the Polar Twins&hellip;John Campbell won SHL scoring title, making up eight-point deficit in last week&hellip;Campbell finished with 92 points (33 goals and 59 assists), Charlotte&rsquo;s Dupuis was second and Polar Twins&rsquo; Kenny Gassoff was third.</p><p><b>ROANOKE VALLEY:</b> Goalie Brian Cousineau. dropped by Charlotte on two occasions during regular season. came back to haunt his former teammates in first-round playoff game&hellip;Shutout was third Cousineau has been involved in this year&hellip;Rebels tied with Winston-Salem during season but lost third place because of fewer wins&hellip;Although John Raynak was-team&rsquo;s top scorer with 35 goals and 40 assists, defensive-minded forward Brian Bradley was chosen MVP while John Huber was Most Popular Player&hellip;Huber was second in SHL in penalty minutes behind Frank Beaton&rsquo;s 276.</p><p><b>TIDEWATER:</b> Feud continued between coach John Hanna and general manager Kevin Johnson, as Hanna indicated first he would be leaving, then denied reports. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m listening to offers for next season,&rdquo; explained Hanna, who is supposedly talking with Springfield of AHL&hellip;Eliminated from playoffs, Sharks ended year with 13 players&hellip;Morley Johnson and Denny McLean went to Richmond, Dave Given, Derrek Harker and Billy Steele to Buffalo (NAHL) and goalie Jim Watt to Kalamazoo of the IHL.</p><p><b>GREENSBORO:</b> Team remained on the market with no present ownership&hellip;Leading scorer for the season was center Wally Sprange, who finished fourth in overall SHL scoring. Sprange had 22 goals and 59 assists&hellip;Best goaltender was Mike Corcoran, who had 3.47 goals-against-average before missing last two months with concussion&hellip;John Voss had 3.96 average while Kevin Neville was also barely under 4.00 with 3.99 mark.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01124/3830700-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="276" height="421"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Steve Andrascik</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0042-01

Andrascik Major Factor In Gulls’ Runnerup Performance

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02864/3828233-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>The Chicago Black Howks have been crippled with injuries but veteran captain Stan Mikita remains a bright light. Mikita recently recorded his 800th NHL career assist. For details see page 5.</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>HABS, FLYERS RACE TO WIRE</b></h2><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Philadelphia Flyers can be excused if they are getting just a little bit frustrated at the way things have been going in their quest to overtake the Montreal Canadiens and overall first place in the National Hockey League.</p><p>The Flyers are currently two games away from tying the NHL record for most consecutive unbeaten games as the defending Stanley Cup champs haven&rsquo;t lost in their last 21 starts.</p><p>However, the Canadiens continue to lead the Flyers by ten points and the Habs have strung together their own 13-game unbeaten skein.</p><p>Despite the fact the Flyers hold two games in hand on the league leaders, at the pace the two clubs are racing along it&rsquo;s going to be difficult for the Flyers to make up ground as the regular season winds down to its conclusion.</p><h2><b>WHA REJECTS MIAMI</b></h2><p>HOLLYWOOD&mdash;</p><p>Immediate hopes for a pro hockey franchise in the Hollywood, Florida sportatorium have been dashed but Bill Putnam, leader of the group attempting to acquire a franchise, remains optimistic that a World Hockey Association team will call the sportatorium home in the near future.</p><p>The WHA board of governors decided to suspend the Minnesota Fighting Saints franchise rather than award it to the Florida group.</p><p>Putnam said he&rsquo;s still as confident as ever that his group will have a franchise when next fall rolls around. He plans to continue his quest to bring an expansion franchise to the renovated 15,000-seat arena.</p><h2><b>VAN IMPE REPORTS</b></h2><p>PITTSBURGH&mdash;</p><p>Ed Van Impe, veteran defenseman on the past two Philadelphia Flyers cup champions, has decided to report to the Pittsburgh Penguins instead of retiring as first reports indicated.</p><p>Van Impe, 35, was dealt to the Penguins by the Flyers in return for goaler Gary Inness and future considerations. Van Impe is a nine-year NHL veteran and had been a member of the Flyers since their inception in 1967-68.</p><p>Van Impe upon being informed of the trade had initially decided to call it quits but after a subsequent meeting with Pittsburgh general manager Wren Blair, decided to report to his new club.</p><h2><b>NHL AIDS SCOUTS</b></h2><p>NEW YORK&mdash;</p><p>The National Hockey League has come to the financial aid of the Kansas City Scouts to insure the club&rsquo;s survival through the conclusion of the 1975-76 schedule.</p><p>NHL president Clarence Campbell said that he felt the league&rsquo;s position would be strenghtened by the arrangement. Campbell refused to describe the exact nature of the aid but said it was only an interim loan which means the Scouts will have to solve their own long-range problems. The Scouts had asked the NHL for $400,000.</p><p>Campbell said the main aim of the aid was to keep the players&rsquo; contracts current and that no defaults be involved.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-02

Deadline Stoppers

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><p>NEW YORK&mdash;</p><p>John Ferguson&rsquo;s eyes spat fire. He thrust out his chin and said, &ldquo;I have only one thing to say. This is not my type of hockey club. This is not my type of character for a team. You think I would stand there and let something like what happened to Dave Maloney happen to my team? Obviously, they don&rsquo;t respect our team. They come into our building without respecting us. But they will. Next year when teams come into our building they will respect us.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01949/3828202-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="272" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Dave Maloney</b></figcaption></div><p>Ferguson, upset after the Rangers had been blown out of Atlanta 8-3 on March 5, and then physically whipped in the first period of the return match March 7 at the Garden. Curt Bennett, the former Ranger forward, nailed rookie Ranger rearguard Maloney with one punch, and knocked him senseless. For a time, Maloney wa was feared to have a broken nose, concussion and possible fractured skull. He was groggy when helped from the ice, and spent the night in the hospital.</p><p>Nick Beverley did go to Maloney&rsquo;s aid and was thrown out as the third man in. Throughout the game, which New York eventually tied with a great third period comeback, 6-6, the crowd kept yelling for the Rangers to get Bennett. Curt hit Dave with his glove still on, claiming Maloney had crosschecked him first.</p><p>But nothing happened, even though John Bednarski, inserted by Ferguson with both Maloney and Beverley out of the game, did knock a few Flames around.</p><p>Steve Vickers, whose second tip in goal of the night got the Rangers their tie, noted, &ldquo;Maybe the NHL should make it a rule that each team should have a couple of goons. It was disgusting.&rdquo;</p><p>The Rangers playoff chances are just about gone, with Vickers, saying, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a realist. It&rsquo;s tough.&rdquo;</p><p>What it means is there will be changes galore for the 1976-77. This was Emile Francis&rsquo; team, not Ferguson&rsquo;s. John will attempt to change the mold. Hitters will be at a premium. Ranger fans still bemoan the trade which sent the young Curt Bennett to Atlanta in 1972, after he failed on defense against Buffalo in November that year. He played 16 games with New York, and impressed with his ability, his willingness to do any job and his toughness.</p><p>Ferguson may return as coach, that seems to be fairly evident.</p><p>&ldquo;The original idea was for me to coach this year and look and evaluate the team. I may return. If I do, I will hire an assistant coach. The Flyers and Islanders have had success going this route and Montreal uses it with Claude Ruel. Delegating different duties is a good approach to handling the different problems which come up in running an NHL team today.&rdquo;</p><p>The Garden crowd has bought Ferguson, they know he cares and is trying to right a bad situation. When John threw a towel high in the air in the Atlanta game, one fan yelled, &ldquo;Ferguson&rsquo;s having a four towel night.&rdquo;</p><p>At other times, most noticeably against Montreal February 29, the faithful roared &ldquo;Fergy, Fergy, Fergy.&rdquo; as once they did for Eddie Giacomin.</p><p>&ldquo;Eddie, Eddie, Eddie,&rdquo; returned for a short time during the Rangers 3-3 tie with Vancouver March 3, just prior to the Rangers big series with the Flames. With playoff hopes still aborning, news reached the Garden that Detroit was ahead of the Flames 3-0 and that Giacomin was in goal for the Wings. The &ldquo;Eddie, Eddie, Eddie,&rdquo; chant was immediately revived, but the Blueshirts let the fans down by surrendering a last minute goal to the Canucks.</p><p>If anything, it did demonstrate that the Ferguson regime had regained the backing of the Garden faithful, something that was badly slipping in the final days before the big midseason change.</p><p>There are rumors the Rangers may switch defenseman Ron Greschner to center for 1976-77. Greschner broke in with a bang last year, when called up in November from Providence of the AHL. But he got off poorly in his sophomore season and never regained his full confidence. Getting the maximum potential out 6-2, 185 pound 21-year-old, is a must for Ferguson.</p><p><b>BLUE CHIPS:</b> Ron Harris is out for the season and his career may be over. He hasn&rsquo;t properly recovered from knee surgery&hellip;John Davidson has started 14 straight games, the second such span this season for J.D&hellip;Ferguson benched both Walter Tkaczuk and Billy Fairbairn against the Flames on March 7, using them only on one penalty situation. They played a full shift in the Omni on March 5. Tkaczuk is sufferint through a horrendous eight goal season and is definite trade bait.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-01

Contemplating Staying Behind Bench, Ferguson Vows Rangers Will Change

f0003-05

NEWS AWARDS WINNERS

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE HALPIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01955/3828285-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="576" height="905"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DON CHERRY&hellip;First Award</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02820/3828278-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="572" height="903"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>SAM POLLOCK&hellip;Second Time</b></figcaption></div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Philadelphia Flyers have dominated the post-expansion era in the National Hockey League and the man generally credited with providing the inspiration and ice leadership for their upsurge in power is team captain Bobby Clarke.</p><p>The durable little Flyer center has been &lsquo;Mr. Everything&rsquo; to the two-time Stanley Cup champions in Philadelphia&rsquo;s storybook ascent to the NHL throne room. If the Flyers are to make it three in a row this season again much of the responsibility will have to rest with Clarke, whom buffs of the game have described as the &lsquo;complete hockey player&rsquo;.</p><p>The 26-year-old Flyers&rsquo; leader is waging a tense stretch battle with Montreal&rsquo;s Guy Lafleur for the individual NHL scoring title, one honor that has eluded Clarke in his brief but spectacular seven-year big league career.</p><p>Clarke&rsquo;s determination, durability and driving force has been the Philadelphia Story for three years and it is the major factor in his selection as the NHL Player of the Year by THE HOCKEY NEWS in their 27th annual awards covering the 1975-76 season.</p><p>For Clarke it is a repeat performance. He was similarly chosen as the best NHL performer in 1972-73 by THE HOCKEY NEWS for his feat of winning the Hart Trophy while being named to the second All Star team. With the current NHL race running down to the wire, Clarke could achieve his most glittering season of all and conceivably end up as the Hart winner again, also the NHL scoring champion and certainly the first team All Star center.</p><p>They&rsquo;re all supposition at the moment depending on the success of the Flyers, but no one will doubt Clarke&rsquo;s outstanding qualities this year, which have made him the No. 1 player in the NHL in the estimation of THE HOCKEY NEWS.</p><p>While Clarke has been honored for his on-ice achievements, two other prominent hockey figures have been chosen for off-ice awards by THE HOCKEY NEWS. Boston&rsquo;s Don Cherry has been selected as the Coach of the Year and Montreal&rsquo;s dynasty builder, Sam Pollock, has been picked as the outstanding executive in the NHL this season.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03547/3828271-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="1181" height="915"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BOBBY CLARKE&hellip;He Does It All Best In The NHL</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04324/3828264-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="1187" height="1055"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Seymour Knox III, left, chairman of the board and president of the Buffalo Sabres, accepts THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; award as executive of the year for last season from the publisher and president of THE HOCKEY NEWS, Ken McKenzie, during recent presentation ceremonies between periods of televised Montreal-Buffalo game.</b></figcaption></div><p>Both Cherry and Pollock are associated with front runners and each has contributed much to the success of their respective teams.</p><p>The 42-year-old Cherry is the first Bruin coach to be selected for the best coaching award by THE HOCKEY NEWS since Milt Schmidt won it last in 1956-57. Cherry, who never played a regular league game in the NHL during his playing career, has turned out to be a masterful tactician as coach of Boston and his efforts in putting the Bruins in first place in the Adams Division without the likes of Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr to carry the load for him, has been the great coaching success story of the NHL year.</p><p>The Bruins are riding on top of their division with an 11-point pull over Buffalo and are still not out of the battle for the overall points title entirely with Montreal and Philadelphia. Cherry, who is a former winner of THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; minor league coach of the year award, has managed to keep the Bruins a contender despite first losing Orr to knee surgery, then Espo to a trade and finally Brad Park to a knee operation that could deprive Cherry and the Bruins of his valuable services on the Boston backline.</p><p>But the Kingston, Ont., native has not let adversity stand in his way and has continued to push the Bruins to the top by employing some of his lesser known players to supplant the loss of his top stars.</p><p>The selection of Pollock as the Executive of the Year is an honor totally justified for the outstanding job being done by the 52-year-old Montrealer, who wears two hats with the Canadiens as vice-president and general manager.</p><p>Like Clarke, Pollock is now a two-time winner of THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; award. He was picked in 1972-73 when the Canadiens last won the Stanley Cup but his achievements with the Habs have been endless over the years.</p><p>Pollock&rsquo;s player manipulations have established the Canadiens as a talent-rich organization and he has been instrumental in putting Montreal in the forefront of the NHL struggle for power for the past 11 years during which Canadiens have won six Stanley Cups under his direction. A one-time successful junior hockey coach, Pollock knows the needs and demands of icing a winning NHL team and has managed to keep the Canadiens at or near the top in almost all of his 11 seasons in the NHL.</p><p>His ability to get the job done has made Pollock the odds-on general manager, player selector and organizer of the 1976 World Cup team that will represent Canada in the forthcoming six-country competition in which the world renowned Russians will be entered.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0003-01

FLYERS’ BOBBY CLARKE

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011007/3828368-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="453" height="461"></div><p>&bull; <b>SAM POLLOCK, THE HOCKEY NEWS</b> Executive of the Year, is only the second general manager Montreal Canadiens have had in 30 years. The other was Frank J. Selke. The Canadiens have had three different ownerships during the same period. Hockey fans are urged to vote for their favorite players in the 29th annual HOCKEY NEWS NHL All Star poll. This is the only NHL team selected solely by the fans and usually rates at the top of the list of All Star teams&hellip;New York Islanders new telecasting crews are doing a great job with their much increased coverage of New York area. Tim Ryan and George Michaels handle VHF channel, while Spencer Ross and Stan Fischler, the noted hockey author, do cable TV&hellip;Toronto Maple Leafs are the only NHL club from the original six that has never had a 50-goal scorer. Frank Mahovlich came the closest when he scored 48 goals during a 70-game season in 1960-61&hellip;Bill DeWitt, chairman of the Cincinnati Stingers, is one of hockey&rsquo;s most innovative executives. He has come up with hockey&rsquo;s first business man&rsquo;s special. It will be held on March 31 when the Stingers host the Phoenix Roadrunners in a game starting at 12noon&hellip;Stock market prices will be flashed periodically on the board&hellip;Philadelphia&rsquo;s potent scoring line of Bobby Clarke. Reggie Leach and Bill Barber collected 113 of the first 279 goals scored this season by the Flyers&hellip;Fine story in the March issue of HOCKEY PICTORIAL on Wayne Dillon who finds himself under the gun in New York.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02963/3828361-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="296" height="427"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Wayne Dillon</b></figcaption></div><p>&bull; <b>BAZ BASTIEN,</b> assistant general manager of the Kansas City Scouts, says he knows what is wrong with his team. &ldquo;In a nutshell, it&rsquo;s lack of talent It&rsquo;s pretty tough to win games when you don&rsquo;t have the horses. They (the NHL) throw you a bone for some ridiculous price and expect you to go home happy with your franchise.&rdquo; stated Sid Abel&rsquo;s number one aide&hellip;Bastien feels that if the NHL doesn&rsquo;t do something to correct the situation clubs like Kansas City and Washington are not going to be able to sell tickets. The Scouts and Caps are both going through financial problems at the moment. Al Leader, longtime president of the Western Hockey League, is in extremely poor health and was represented at the dinner by his son. Friends may reach Al at 38-900 Island Drive, No. 209. Rancho Mirage, Ca. 92270&hellip;Bryan Trottier of the N.Y. Islanders will be tough to beat out for NHL rookie honors this season. The same thing applies in the WHA where Mark Napier. 19-year-old sensation of the Toronto Toros, has a lock on first-year performances. There is an interesting collection of trainers in the North American Hockey League. One is only 18; one is a former NHL trainer&rsquo;s assistant: one has a degree in physical and health education; one also drives the team bus; and one is a backup goalie and plays left wing as well&hellip;Owners of the Boston Bruins say there is no way they&rsquo;re going to offer Bobby Orr a five-year contract at $500,000 a year. It appears that Orr will be offered a pact calling for a great deal less and for a shorter period&hellip;Leo Boivin, coach of the St. Louis Blues, thinks the morning workout on the day of a game is being overdone. &ldquo;In the old days we&rsquo;d just try out our skates,&rdquo; Boivin stated. &ldquo;But, now it&rsquo;s become a regular practice.&rdquo;&hellip;Buffalo&rsquo;s Jerry Korab lost 25 pounds since he was sidelined with a badly broken nose and isn&rsquo;t expected back before the start of the playoffs. Korab had to be given two and a half pints of blood to replace what he lost as a result of the broken nose&hellip;The International Hockey League will pass the one million attendance mark for the 351 league games this season. The IHL is the healthiest of all the minor leagues and the attendance mark even reach 1,200,000.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03858/3828354-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="290" height="434"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Baz Bastien</b></figcaption></div><p>&bull; <b>HOCKEY PICTORIAL</b> is running a special feature in the March and April issues where hockey fans throughout the United States and Canada may select their own World Cup teams. Response has been terrific so far. Fans are asked to select a general manager, coach, two goalies, six defensemen. four centers, four right wings and four left wings&hellip;Special ballot forms appear in each issue&hellip;Ron Munro of the Swift Current, Sask. Broncos informs us that Bryan Trottier, the rookie sensation of the Islanders, was drafted from the Swift Current Broncos and not the Lethbridge Broncos as has been reported so often in the press. Trottier lived all his life in Val Marie, Sask. 75 miles south of Swift Current and played all his minor hockey in that town and with teams in Climax, Sask. After he was drafted from Swift Current he played one final year of junior with Lethbridge before joining the NHL Islanders. Hockey fans in Saskatchewan are very proud of Bryan as is Stan Dunn who coached him during two years of junior com pet it ion&hellip;Buffalo Sabres are expected to play a series of games in Sweden and Finland next September&hellip;Winnipeg Jets current lineup lists seven Swedes and two Finns who played in Sweden. All of these players were discovered by Dr. Gerry Wil-son of Winnipeg who acted as club doctor on Team Canada &lsquo;74&hellip;Bobby Hull says the line he plays on with Swedish players Anders Heberg and Ulf Nilsson is as good or better than any line he ever played with in the NHL with Chicago. Last season, their first as a unit in the WHA. Hedberg had 53 goals and 100 points, Nilsson 94 assists and 120 points and Hull no fewer than 77 goals, 65 assists and 142 points. They&rsquo;re doing equally as well again this season. At recent count Nilsson had 106 points, Hull 103 and Hedberg 99.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04756/3828347-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="287" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Jerry Korab</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05618/3828399-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2><b>Lack of Teamwork Kings&rsquo; Big Problem</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>ockey fans in Los Angeles have, by necessity, been very patient with the Kings during their nine years of NHL play. We accepted second rate performances because we knew the Kings were a second rate team which needed several years to become a genuine contender.</p><p>Last year the Kings appeared to be on the brink of success. Although not a powerhouse offensively, the Kings worked hard and managed to gain 105 points in their best season ever.</p><p>At the start of this season the Kings began to regress to mediocrity again. At mid-season, the only consistent factor on the team was their inconsistency. As the season draws to a close the Kings have finally become consistent-at not winning hockey games, especially those games on home ice.</p><p>Many critics blame the loss of &ldquo;Dangerous Danny&rdquo; Maloney and Terry Harper as the main reason for the Kings demise in &rsquo;75-76. Although both men contributed greatly to the Kings success, their absence is not the reason for the Crownshirts&rsquo; descent in the standings. Nor can Marcel Dionne be blamed for lack of defensive play, because the little French-Canadian has hustled consistently both ways&hellip;one of few Kings to do so.</p><p>The King&rsquo;s mediocrity is due to a lack of teamwork and a decrease in motivation. In one word, the team is &ldquo;lazy&rdquo;&hellip;a direct reflection on Bob Pulford&rsquo;s inability to keep his team moving a head.</p><p>We love the Kings in L.A., but the fans here tasted victory last year and refuse accept mediocrity as a placement. We want them to earn their pay!</p><p><b>ED ADAMSON,</b><br><b>Inglewood, Cal.</b></p><h2><b>Productive Career Ahead For Dillon</b></h2><p>Some members of the New York media have commented that Wayne Dillon of the Rangers is a disappointment and that he compares unfavorably with other young centermen in the NHL. These criticisms are most unfair.</p><p>As one of five centermen on the team last fall, Dillon did not play on a regular line at first. When he did play, he scored a very commendable number of goals and assists for the amount of ice time he was given. With Phil Esposito on the team. Dillon gets few powerplay opportunities and. therefore, misses many chances to add to his scoring totals.</p><p>Dillon, a remarkable playmaker, stickhandles like Edgar Laprade once did for the Rangers. He refrains from taking unnecessary penalties and is improving on faceoffs. Hopefully, he is just beginning a long, productive career for the Rangers.</p><p><b>LEON KOVAR,</b><br><b>Massapequa, N.Y.</b></p><h2><b>Irate Fan Lets Off Steam</b></h2><p>In the Jan. 30 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS you published a letter from Jim O&rsquo;Brien of Freehold. N.J. that, at the time, had me steaming and, two months later, I find that my initial indignation has not lessened one degree. 1 just have to respond. Mr. O&rsquo;Brien accuses NHL teams of resorting to &ldquo;ignorant violence to retaliate&rdquo; against the visiting Russians in the recent series.</p><p>The whole tone of his letter was one of praise for the poor maligned Russians and total condemnation of the NHL clubs involved. He obviously did not see the Buffalo or Montreal games. It is equally obvious that he has not seen too much of our Russian friends (particularly the 1972 games in Russia) and that he shares, to some degree, the ignorance with which he so flippantly charges the NHL players. Mr. O&rsquo;Brien summed up his letter by saying &ldquo;I am giving up being a hockey fan and going back to baseball. I just can&rsquo;t imagine if ten years from now the Yankees are playing the Russian baseball team and a Yankee batter strikes out, that he would turn around and club the Russian catcher in retaliation.&rdquo; Maybe not, but it wouldn&rsquo;t surprise me if a Yankee base runner went six feet off the base path with his spikes up in the teeth of the Russian second baseman in order to break up a double play. Or, for, that matter, to see a Yankee pitcher fire a hard inside pitch at a Russian batter&rsquo;s head only because he had the temerity to hit a home run his last time at bat.</p><p>Nuts to you Mr. O&rsquo;Brien.</p><p><b>GEORGE O&rsquo;LEARY,</b><br><b>Ottawa, Ont.</b></p><h2><b>All Stars Selected On Hockey Ability</b></h2><p>I am writing this letter in response to an article written by Cathee Pavilin in the Feb. 13 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS. She mentioned that the All. Star game was a boring affair and a better game might have been played if it were between Washington and Kansas City. Granted, the game wasn&rsquo;t much, but the main point of my letter is her reason for criticizing players like Larry Robinson, Steve Shutt and Wayne Stephenson. I don&rsquo;t know if she has anything against the Canadiens or Flyers, but who is she to say these players are not of All Star quality. Robinson has been playing great hockey for Montreal on defense and left wing, while Shutt has been having a super season on left wing scoring 34 goals to this date. Wayne Stephenson has kept the Flyers in contention all year with great goaltending and she says he is not of All Star calibre.</p><p>She goes on about Esposito and Orr like they are the only stars in the league. Orr is injured and Esposito has played poorly and doesn&rsquo;t deserve to play in the game. The All Star game is played on a year to year basis and the players aren&rsquo;t picked on past performances of other years.</p><p><b>BRIAN BEARE,</b><br><b>Fillmore, Sask.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0004-05

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><p>CHICAGO&mdash;</p><p>Well, the difficult part of the 1975-76 National Hockey League season is over for the Black Hawks. No more games in Buffalo.</p><p>The Chicagoans stand a better chance of survival in the proverbial barrell ride over Niagara Falls than they do of wining in The Aud, of which they are uncommonly awed.</p><p>Way, way back in Dec. 9, 1971, when the Sabres were just a gleam in Punch Imlach&rsquo;s fedora, the Hawks triumphed in upstate New York. Since then, zip. No victories, 14 losses and two ties. Furthermore, most of the games haven&rsquo;t been close.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what it is,&rdquo; said John Marks, one of the Hawks&rsquo; more physical road players. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s because were intimidated. How do you explain the way we play in Buffalo so badly, yet then we go to Philadelphia and almost always play well?&rdquo;</p><p>In their last outing at Buffalo Mar. 4, the Hawks gave the Sabres a real game for, er, 14 seconds. At that point in time. Rick Martin embarked on his hat trick-to-be with a score against Tony Esposito.</p><p>Before it was over, the reconnected French Connection accumulated four goals and nine assists to carve the Sabres 6-3 triumph, a triumph ignited by a sizzling first period during which the home club manageda4-l lead.</p><p>&ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t land in Buffalo, so we had to bus here from Cleveland,&rdquo; offered Chicago coach Billy Reay. &ldquo;Unfortunately, it looked like we were in the bus during the first period.&rdquo;</p><p>A victory in Buffalo not only would have helped the Hawks&rsquo; perishable Conn Smythe Division lead over the Vancouver Canucks, but it would have been a poetic boost for Reay. It was Buffalo where he last coached in the minor leagues, and it was Imlach, now general manager of the Sabres, who canned Reay in his first major league assignment with the Toronto Maple Leafs.</p><p>Had he triumphed in Buffalo this night, it would have been Reay&rsquo;s 501st with Chicago, making him the all time winningest coach with one club in NHL history.</p><p>But it wasn&rsquo;t to be and now the Hawks can shed Buffalo from their nightmares and hope for first place, not to mention good health.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t be too disappointed the way things have been going,&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re on a six-game road trip that goes from coast to coast. And there have been times when we&rsquo;ve had only 15 healthy hockey players.&rdquo;</p><p>So pronounced was the Hawks&rsquo; ill fortune that Dick Redmond, their ailing defensemen, acted as a trainer during the road spin while Lou Varga, the hard-working handyman who usually teams with fellow trainer Skip Thayer, stayed home because of a back ailment.</p><p>Redmond paced the bench, as trainers are wont to do, dished out towels, and even wore the traditional white garb. But he&rsquo;s back on skates now, following his Jan. 12 surgery for torn knee liagments, and there seems to be little question he&rsquo;ll be active by playoff time.</p><p>Grant Mulvey is another problem. Sandwiched by two Boston Bruins during a mid-February contest, the muscular right wing has been grounded by a sore right knee. The extent of the injury, and whether it can be cured by mere rest, is clouded. He wouldn&rsquo;t have been missed as badly had not Chico Maki, too, been sidelined for a week in February because of a sore rib cage.</p><p>Finally, there is Keith Magnuson. A cracked vertebra knocked him from the lineup Feb. 4 and despite pleas that he is ready, the brass is concerned.</p><p>&ldquo;Maggie always wants to play and always thinks he&rsquo;s ready,&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the type of guy he is. But I&rsquo;m not so sure that he isn&rsquo;t finished for the season.&rdquo;</p><p><b>PARTING SHOTS:</b> Stan Mikita, who was honored with the Lester Patrick Award in early March, registered his 800th career assist in that loss at Buffalo.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Hawks Expect Redmond, Mulvey Ready For Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><p>LONG ISLAND&mdash;</p><p>For Bryan Trottier, the N.Y. Islanders gifted center, the race began in earnest on Oct. 11th.</p><p>Playing in his club&rsquo;s home opener against the Los Angeles Kings, the 19-year-old teenager from Val Marie. Sask, tied a club record by registering five points in one game, including a hat trick. Following the contest, he placed a long distance telephone call to tell his dad.</p><p>Some five months later another telephone call was in order, this time to tell his family that he had broken two records. Bryan had recorded his 78th point of the season when he helped set up Clark Gillies&rsquo; 30th goal of the season against Vancouver on March 4th, eclipsing the old mark for freshmen set be Marcel Dionne in 197172.</p><p>The assist was also his 53rd of the season, topping teammate Jude Drouin&rsquo;s old mark. Drouin posted his record in 1970-71 with Minnesota.</p><p>&ldquo;I called my father after the second period and after the game, but there was nobody home,&rdquo; Trots said. &ldquo;I guess my dad must have been out watching a curling match or maybe watching my brothers play hockey. I&rsquo;ll try them again later.&rdquo;</p><p>This has been an incredible year for Trottier, especially when one considers that stateside he would be barely out of high school. In some NHL cities he would have trouble ordering a beer after a game.</p><p>&ldquo;From the very beginning, you could tell that he was born to be an NHL center. He did so many things well,&rdquo; says linemate Billy Harris. &ldquo;There were so few things he could improve on But one thing he does even better is bring the puck in different, ways. You don&rsquo;t see that until a guy has been in the league three or four years.&rdquo;</p><p>While his teammates were heaping on the compliments, Trottier continued to minimize the importance of his record. &ldquo;The team comes first,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;People are too much aware of our individual goals and of our statistics. They would ask when is Brian going to break the records, and when is Gillies going to get his 30th goal?</p><p>&ldquo;Now that it&rsquo;s finally over, we can go back to playing as a team. The team comes first, and now we have to think about pushing toward the playoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;What was I thinking about when I saw Gillies score that goal?</p><p>&ldquo;I said, &lsquo;Hey, Clark&rsquo;s got his 30th goal. Way to go, Gilly.&rdquo;</p><p>The Vancouver game, a 3-3 tie which ran the Islanders&rsquo; most recent streak to six without a loss, was also a milestone for captain Eddie Westfall, who was appearing in his 1000 NHL game. And the 35-year-old veteran responded with the tying goal late in the second period. Westfall was centering a line with J.P. Parise and Bob Nystrom as he replaced Jude Drouin, who was out with a pulled muscle in the rib cage.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny, but I really can&rsquo;t remember my first game,&rdquo; said Westfall afterward. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re supposed to remember things like that, but I don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p><p>Westfall&rsquo;s goal was his 19th of the season, and put him within a notch of reaching the 20-goal plateau for the third time in his career, and second with the Islanders. Eddie might not remember his first NHL game, but he won&rsquo;t forget the first time he hit 20. That was with the Bruins in 1971, and he got his yellow Porsche with it.</p><p>&ldquo;It was sort of a bet,&rdquo; laughs Westfall. &ldquo;It was really started by Espo and some of the other guys. Then this car dealer got into it, and we made a bet as to whether I&rsquo;d score 20. Well, I finally did it, and the next day the car was in my driveway.&rdquo;</p><p>&lsquo;&lsquo;Is the second thousand easier?&rdquo; joked a reporter. &ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ll see,&rdquo; came the response.</p><p>It was a nice night for records, but the effort didn&rsquo;t produce a victory. Somehow everyone would have preferred that instead.</p><p><b>ISLAND SOUNDS:</b> Ralph Stewart suffered a sprained ankle in practice and was immobilized indefinitely. With Drouin also on the shelf, the Islanders were down to Trottier and Andre St. Laurent as regular pivotmen&hellip;Gillies&rsquo; 30th goal was also the 100th point of his career&hellip;Billy Smith has been experimenting with the Russian-type &ldquo;birdcage&rdquo; mask. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just something different,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s any better. Just different. &ldquo;&hellip;Glenn Resch had to buy his defense dinner after his 2-1 victory over California on March 2 dropped his goals-against average below the 2.00 mark. &ldquo;I promised,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Al Arbour has been going with three defense combinations. The move has meant considerably more ice time for Dave Fortier.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011038/3828502-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="568" height="622"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BRYAN TROTTIER&hellip;Incredible Year</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0006-01

Isles’ Trottier Gives NHL Rookies New Marks To Shoot At For Future

<p>Following are the latest player movements in hockey:</p><h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;<b>Ed Van Impe</b>, defenseman, and <b>Bobby Taylor</b>, goalkeeper, traded to Pittsburgh in exchange for <b>Gary Inness</b>, goalkeeper, and future considerations. <b>Jerome Mrazek</b>, goalkeeper, returned to Richmond of AHL.</p><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;<b>Doug Grant,</b> goalkeeper, purchased from Detroit, for future considerations. <b>Dave, Hrechkosy</b>, forward, purchased from California in return for Blues 5th round amateur draft choice in 1976 and return of California&rsquo;s 1977 third round choice obtained earlier in Wayne Merrick-Jim Patey trade. <b>Bernie Lukowich</b>, forward, given, outright release to sign with Calgary of WHA.</p><p>BUFFALO&mdash;<b>Gary McAdam</b>, forward, and <b>Ken Breitenbach</b>, defenseman. returned to Hershey of AHL.</p><p>MINNESOTA&mdash;<b>Mike Antonovich</b>, forward, signed as free agent from defunct Minnesota, Fighting Saints of WHA.</p><p>PITTSBURGH&mdash;<b>Mario Faubert</b>, defenseman, returned to Hershey of AHL.</p><p>VANCOUVER&mdash;<b>Glen Richardson</b>, forward, returned to Tulsa of CHL.</p><p>WASHINGTON&mdash;<b>Greg Joly</b>, defenseman. recalled from Richmond of AHL. <b>Gord Smith</b>, defenseman. sent to Richmond as replacement <b>Ron Jones</b>, defenseman. recalled from Hershey of AHL.</p><p>BOSTON&mdash;<b>Paul O&rsquo;Neil</b>, and, <b>Gordie Clark</b>, forwards, recalled from Rochester of AHL under emergency conditions. O&rsquo;Neil later re-turned.</p><p>N.Y. RANGERS&mdash;<b>Greg Holst</b>, forward, returned to Providence of, AHL.</p><p>CALIFORNIA&mdash;<b>Ray Martyniuk</b>, goalkeeper, recalled from Tucson of CHL.</p><h2>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</h2><p>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;<b>Dave Keon</b>, forward, signed as free agent from defunct Minnesota Fighting Saints. <b>Bruce Boudreau</b> forward, drafted from Minnesota.</p><p>TORONTO&mdash;<b>John Garrett</b>, goalkeeper, signed as free agent from Minnesota Fighting Saints. <b>Bill Butters</b> and <b>John Arbour</b>, defensemen, and Jerry Zrymiak, forward, drafted from Minnesota.</p><p>CINCINNATI&mdash;<b>John McKenzie</b>, forward, drafted from Minnesota.</p><p>CALGARY&mdash;<b>Duane Rupp</b>, defenseman, recalled from Rochester of AHL. <b>Dennis McLean</b> and <b>Steve Hull</b>, forwards, sent to Richmond of AHL. <b>Pat Westrum.</b> defenseman, drafted from Minnesota.</p><p>CLEVELAND&mdash;<b>Perry Miller,</b> defenseman, and <b>Wayne Connelly</b>, forward, drafted from Min-nesota.</p><p>NEW ENGLAND&mdash;<b>Ron Busniuk,</b> defenseman, <b>Steve Carlson</b> and <b>Fran Huck,</b> forwards, drafted from Minnesota.</p><p>EDMONTON&mdash;<b>Lou Levasseur,</b> goalkeeper, drafted from Minnesota.</p><p>SAN DIEGO&mdash;<b>Jeff Carlson,</b> forward, drafted from Minnesota.</p><p>QUEBEC&mdash;<b>Curt Brackenbury</b> and <b>Ted Hampson,</b> forwards, drafted from Minnesota.</p><h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p>PROVIDENCE&mdash;<b>Pierre Langaniere,</b> forward, signed to AHL contract after returning from playing hockey in Europe.</p><p>RICHMOND&mdash;<b>Doug Fergu</b>son, defenseman, returned to Philadelphia of NAHL.</p><p>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;<b>Rocky Farr</b>, goalkeeper, loaned to Johnstown of NAHL.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Movements of Players

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01928/3828533-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p>Have you ever wanted to select a National Hockey League All Star team of your own and conceivably see it in print?</p><p>Well it can happen if you become a participant in the 29th annual NHL All Star poll conducted by THE HOCKEY NEWS. Unfortunately, this will be your last chance to do so as we are closing the selections with this issue.</p><p>But you still have time to get your ballots in if you hurry. And don&rsquo;t expect the job to be an easy one. If in the past you have become accustomed to picking Phil Esposito or Bobby Orr off the top of your head, you won&rsquo;t be able to do that this time around. The All Star selections are wide open this year and mainly because Orr has been injured all season and unable to play much. Espo is with the Rangers now and it is pretty obvious he isn&rsquo;t having the year to match his last four with the Bruins.</p><p>But there are an abundance of new names to offer our selectors a real challenge to pick NHL All Stars teams and then sit back and wait for the official ones to come out with theirs at the close of the season. You just might be surprised how close you&rsquo;ve come to looking like an arm chair hockey expert. So give it a try now while it&rsquo;s still fresh in your mind.</p><p>Last season we returned to the format of picking a first and second team from the 18 NHL clubs and the same procedure will be in force this year with readers requested to pick two goalers, four defensemen, two centers, two right wings and two left wings from the entire NHL. It is quite a test and offers a great challenge for all hockey fans.</p><p>In addition the editors of THE HOCKEY NEWS are asking all readers to select a most valuable player and the outstanding rookie of the year from all NHL performers.</p><p>Picking All Star teams is something most avid hockey fans relish but get very few opportunities to do. THE HOCKEY NEWS gives its readers this chance to exercise their right to select a first and second All Star team. Don&rsquo;t miss out on this test of your hockey knowledge.</p><p>It&rsquo;s fun and might require a little more concentration on your part to come up with the best teams. With nearly 350 eligible players to choose from, you can expect to have your work cut out for you.</p><p>Merely clip the ballot shown on this page and then till in your selections. It&rsquo;s simple and exciting All Star ballots have appeared in two issues of THE HOCKEY NEWS and final results will be published in the issue of April 16.</p><p>Remember if one of your favorites should fail to gain a berth on the Fans&rsquo; All Star teams by the margin of just a few points, it could be because you didn&rsquo;t take the time to send in your ballot. So right now, while it&rsquo;s still fresh in your mind, fill out the ballot and mail it right away to All Star Editor, THE HOCKEY NEWS, 1434 St. Catherine St., West, Montreal, Canada, H3G 1R7.</p><p>If you need any player help in making your selections, kindly consult the complete NHL rosters shown in column one of this page.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Hockey News Closes Fans’ NHL All Star Poll

<h2>CENTERS</h2><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>tlanta&mdash;Bill Clement, Claude St. Sau-veur, Tom Lysiak, Rey Comeau; Boston&mdash;Jean Ratelle, Gregg Sheppard, Andre Savard, Doug Gibson; Buffalo&mdash;Gilbert Perreault, Don Luce, Peter McNab; California&mdash;Dennis Maruk, Dave Gardner; Chicago-Pit Martin, Ivan Boldirev, Stan Mikita, Bobby Sheehan; Detroit&mdash;Walt McKechnie, Dennis Polonich, Dennis Hextall; Kansas City&mdash;Guy Charron, Chuck Arnason, Dave Hudson; Los Angeles&mdash;Marcel Dionne, Juha Widing, Butch Goring, Vic Venasky; Minnesota&mdash;Bill Hogaboam, Bryan Hextail, Tim Young, Dave Cressman, Blake Dunlop; Montreal&mdash;Pete Mahovlich, Jacques Lemaire, Doug Risebrough, Doug Jarvis; Is-landers-Bryan Trottier, Andre St. Laurent, Jude Drouin, Ralph Stewart, Lome Henning; Rangers&mdash;Phil Esposito, Wayne Dillon, Pete Stemkowski, Walt Tkaczuk; Philadelphia-Bobby Clarke, Orest Kindrachuk, Mel Bridgman, Terry Crisp; Pittsburgh-Pierre Larouche, Ron Schock, Syl Apps, Ed Gilbert; St. Louis-Garry Unger, Derek Sanderson, Red Berenson, Larry Patey; Toronto-Darryl Sittler, George Ferguson, Jack Valiquette; Vancouver-Don Lever, Chris Oddleifson, Bobby Lalonde; Washington-Gerry Meehan, Nelson Pyatt, Harvey Bennett, Ron Lalonde.</p><h2>LEFT WINGS</h2><p>Atlanta&mdash;Curt Bennett, Dave Kryskow, Tim Ecclestone, Eric Vail; Boston-John Bucyk, Wayne Cashman, Dave Forbes, Hank Nowak, Don Marcotte; Buffalo-Jacques Richard, Rick Martin, Craig Ramsay, Fred Stanfield, Brian Spencer; California&mdash;Gary Holt, Jim Moxey, Al MacAdam, Bob Girard: Chicago-Dennis Hull, John Marks, Darcy Rota; Detroit&mdash;Dan Maloney, Nick Libett, Danny Grant, Mike Bloom; Kansas City&mdash;Robin Burns, Craig Patrick, Gary Croteau, Don Cairns; Los Angeles&mdash;Mike Corrigan, Gene Carr, Tom Williams, Bob Berry; Minnesota Glen Sather, Pierre Jarry, Norm Gratton, Ernie Hicke; Montreal-Steve Shutt, Yvon Lambert, Murray Wilson, Bob Gainey; Islanders&mdash;Gary How-att, Clark Gillies, Billy MacMillan, J.P. Parise; Rangers&mdash;Steve Vickers, Pat Hickey, Greg Polis, Jerry Holland; Philadelphia&mdash;Bill Barber, Dave Schultz, Ross Lonsberry; Pittsburgh-Vic Hadfield, Stan Gilbertson, Lowell MacDonald, J. Bob Kelly; St. Louis Chuck Lefley, Bert Wilson, Ted Irvine, Floyd Thomson; Toronto-Errol Thompson, Stan Weir, Greg Hubick, Dave Williams; Vancouver-Garry Monahan, Gregg Boddy, Ron Sedlbauer; Washington&mdash;Garnet Bailey, Mike Marson, Tony White, Mike Lampman.</p><h2>RIGHT WINGS</h2><p>Atlanta&mdash;Bill Flett, Hilliard Graves, Larry Romanchych, Ken Houston; Boston&mdash;Ken Hodge, Bobby Schmautz, Terry O&rsquo;Reilly; Buffalo Rene Robert, Danny Gare; California&mdash;Gary Sabourin, Fred Ahern, Bob Murdoch, Wayne King; Chicago&mdash;Alain Daigle, Cliff Koroll, Grant Mulvey, J.P. Bordeleau; Detroit&mdash;Michel Bergeron, Bill Lochead, Buster Harvey; Kansas City&mdash;Wilf Paiement, Denis Dupere, Randy Rota, Phil Roberto; Los Angeles&mdash;Mike Murphy, Bob Nevin, Frank St. Marseille, Don Kozak; Minnesota&mdash;Bill Goldsworthy, Dean Talafous, Craig Cameron; Montreal&mdash;Jim Roberts, Yvan Cournoyer, Mario Tremblay. Guy Lafleur; Islanders&mdash;Billy Harris, Ed Westfall, Bob Nystrom; Rangers&mdash;Rick Middleton, Bill Fairbairn, Bill Collins; Philadelphia&mdash;Bob Kelly, Don Saleski, Gary Dornhoefer, Reggie Leach; Pittsburgh&mdash;Rick Kehoe, Simon Nolet, Lew Morrison, Jean Pronovost; St. Louis&mdash;Claude Larose, Pierre Plante, Jerry Butler, Bob MacMillan; Toronto&mdash;Lanny MacDonald, Blaine Stoughton, Inge Hammarstrom; Vancouver&mdash;Rick Blight, Dennis Ververgaert, John Gould, Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty; Washington&mdash;Hartland Monahan, Blair Stewart, Bob Sirois.</p><h2>DEFENSEMEN</h2><p>Atlanta&mdash;Larry Carriere, Pat Quinn, Barry Gibbs, Randy Manery; Boston&mdash;Brad Park, Dallas Smith, Gary Doak, Darryl Edestrand, Joe Zanussi, Bobby Orr; Buffalo-Jerry Korab, Jim Schoenfeld, Lee Fogolin, Bill Hajt, Jocelyn Guevremont; California&mdash;Rick Hampton, Mike Christie, Bob Stewart, Len Frig, Jim Neilson; Chicago&mdash;Bill White, Phil Russell, Dick Redmond, Dale Tallon, Randy Holt: Detroit&mdash;Terry Harper, Rick Lapointe, Bryan Watson, Al Cameron, Barry Salovaara; Kansas City&mdash;Dennis Patterson, Jim McElmury, Steve Durbano, Gary Bergman, Jean-Guy Lagace; Los Angeles&mdash;Bob Murdoch, Ab DeMarco, Larry Brown, Sheldon Kannegeisser, Dave Hutchison, Gary Sargent, Neil Komadoski; Minnesota&mdash;Dwight Bialowas, Fred Barrett, Dennis O&rsquo;Brien, Doug Hicks, Tom Reid, Lou Nanne; Montreal&mdash;Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Larry Robinson, Pierre Bouchard, John Van Boxmeer, Don Awrey, Rick Chartraw; Islanders&mdash;Gerry Hart, Denis Potvin, Jean Potvin, Bert Marshall, Dave Fortier, Dave Lewis; Rangers&mdash;Carol Vadnais, Ron Greschner, John Bednarski, Nick Beverley, Doug Jarrett, Gilles Marotte; Philadelphia&mdash;Andre Dupont, Ed Van Impe, Joe Watson, Jim Watson, Tom Bladon, Larry Goodenough, Jack Mcllhargey; Pittsburgh&mdash;Dave Burrows, Ron Stackhouse, Barry Wilkins, Colin Campbell, Dennis Owchar, Mario Faubert; St. Louis&mdash;Bob Gassoff, Bruce Affleck, Bob Plager, Barclay Plager, Bob Hess, Rick Wilson, Rick Smith; Toronto&mdash;Borje Salming, Ian Turnbull, Bob Neely, Jim McKenny, Dave Dunn, Brian Glennie, Rod Seiling; Vancouver&mdash;Mike Robitaille, Bob Dailey, Tracy Pratt, Dennis Kearns, John Grisdale, Harold Snepsts, Bob Murray; Washington&mdash;Jack Lynch, Greg Joly, Bob Paradise, Yvon Labre, Gordon Smith, Jean Lemieux.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Player Rosters To Help You Select Stars

<div class="byline">BY BILL HEUFELDER</div><p>PITTSBURGH&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>f Barry Wilkins can hold together, the Pittsburgh Penguins are a serious threat to overtake Los Angeles in the Norris Division and make a strong showing in the Stanley Cup playoffs.</p><p>They were sailing smoothly along in the playoff quarter finals a year ago, having gone up, 2-0, in games against the New York Islanders when Wilkins crashed into the boards after absorbing a stiff check from Clark Gilles.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03777/3828626-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="260" height="434"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Barry Wilkins</b></figcaption></div><p>Wilkins went to the hospital with a separated left shoulder and the Islanders proceeded to stun Pittsburgh by sweeping the final four games of the best-of-seven series.</p><p>The fortunes of the 29-year-old defenseman do not dictate the success or failure of the Penguins, but Wilkins, on the other hand, belittles his contributions by saying, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just an average Joe who can help when the team is playing well.&rdquo;</p><p>Unlike the average Joe, Wilkins last season took 50 stitches to repair his mouth after being struck with a puck, but was in uniform the next game. Three nights after the injury, he was hurt on the bench in a freak accident.</p><p>The puck again sought him out when an opposing player cleared it along the boards in Detroit. Result? A cheeckbone broken in six places. After a brief absence from the lineup, Wilkins returned, wearing a face mask to guard against further mishaps.</p><p>He dragged out the protective piece recently, this time to cover a badly swollen eye. In the midst of the Penguins record 11-game unbeaten string, Wilkins flattened himself near the Penguin cage to block a shot.</p><p>The puck never reached the cage, instead crashing into his eye. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t see,&rdquo; Wilkins remembers. &ldquo;For a second, I thought I lost the eye.&rdquo; Trainer Ken Carson hurried out, inspected the damage and eased the defenseman&rsquo;s fear. After taking 11 stitches in the eyelid, Wilkins was back, only to be slowed by a groin pull a few games later.</p><p>Despite the obstacles, Wilkins missed only a couple of games displaing the same perserverance that typifies his approach to the game.</p><p>The effects of the shoulder seperation lingered well into this season. The shoulder, first injured while Wilkins was with Vancouver, was too stiff and sore to be of much use until late December.</p><p>&ldquo;The doctors said as long as it hurt, not to exercise it,&rdquo; explained Wilkins: &ldquo;So I couldn&rsquo;t work with the shoulder all summer. It was just weak, that&rsquo;s all.</p><p>&ldquo;In training camp, I couldn&rsquo;t lift the shoulder halfway up and I kept falling on it. Every time I fell, it would hurt for about five days.&rdquo;</p><p>The Penguins&rsquo; most reliable defenseman off the plus-minus chart last season, Wilkins slumped. He was benched for a handful of games before the shoulder improved, as well as his play, while teaming with a familiar partner, Colin Campbell, who also had been slowed by injuries.</p><p>In the past few weeks, Wilkins has made usual steady and determined contribution to the Penguins, who have climbed swiftly in an attempt to slip past the Kings.</p><p>An interesting race is inspiring to a club at this time of the year, according to Wilkins, who said, &ldquo;Most teams get tired about now. There seems to be a lull before the playoffs. We&rsquo;re not playing badly, but we don&rsquo;t have the jump that we had a few games ago.&rdquo;</p><p>Especially Wilkins, who is slightly restricted by the pulled muscle. A hockey player accustomed to living with more serious injuries and deeper pain, he says with an obvious detachment, &ldquo;The doctor told me it&rsquo;ll probably hurt the rest of the year.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-03

Often-Injured Wilkins Can Make Pens Threat If He Holds Together

<div class="byline">BY JACK MCCARTHY</div><p>BOSTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Bruins had been 10 points up on the Buffalo Sabres; were getting a solid effort from everyone, and were anticipating the return of Bobby Orr as they marched into the playoffs. Sure, Brad Park&rsquo;s knee was a little tender, but he could afford to rest it it, as the Bruins marched on.</p><p>Then, Orr took off for a week&rsquo;s vacation in Florida as Alan Eagle-son and Paul Mooney, new Bruins&rsquo; president, continued to spar over his new contract. This was a little disquieting to the faithful, although Orr had the Bruins&rsquo; full permission.</p><p>Then, Park shows up in New England Baptist Hospital one fine afternoon, shortly after Dr. Carter Rowe, the fine orthopedic surgeon (Orr, Espo, etc.) had said that Brad&rsquo;s knee had not been improving, and there was a chance he might require surgery.</p><p>Although the Bruins&rsquo; brass fled from telephones and, in one instance, denied there was any surgery contemplated for Park; sure enough, there was Brad on the table on Friday, March 5, in Mass. General Hospital, with Dr. Rowe set to repair a torn cartilage in his left knee.</p><p>Incidentally, Boston&rsquo;s sporting press did not take kindly to the way it was taking pinch bars and crow bars to pry any kind of information out of the Bruins about Orr, and how, at one point, it appeared that they didn&rsquo;t know that Park had entered New England Baptist for further examination. It boggles the mind trying to figure out why information on the status of athletes should be so hard to come by. One would think the fate of the world rested on a few simple questions. Hey fellers, this is not a head of state we are asking about.</p><p>At any rate, Orr&rsquo;s negotiations seemed to have bogged down noticeably after his two knee operations, and press and fans were divided as to whether the Bruins were right in not wanting to sign Bobby right away, or whether they should get with it, remembering what a great player he was-all out, fierce and talented performer who played hurt many, many times in his career.</p><p>Negotiations, however, were expected to pick up in a hurry when Drs. Benjamin Bierbaum and Arthur Pappas at New England Baptist had made their diagnosis and apparently recommeded surgery for Park.</p><p>Dr. Bierbaum, incidentally, had been orthopedic surgeon the U.S. Olympic Winter Team at Innsbruck, Austria.</p><p>The recovery period for an operation such as Park&rsquo;s is estimated to be at least six to eight weeks, thus keeping Park out of action until early in May. How long it will take him to get into top playing condition is something else again.</p><p>So, where a few days ago, the Bruins seemed to be going into the playoffs on top of the world, now they are in trouble.</p><p>Park is believed to have injured his knee in a game in New York against the Islanders on Feb. 21, when he stepped into a rut in the ice in the final minute of the game.</p><p>The Bruins had said originally, that Brad had, &ldquo;A mild sprain of the left knee&rdquo;. But, it failed to respond to treatment and he had difficulty walking up and downstairs. Eventually came his appearance at New England Baptist, and his subsequent operation at Massachusetts General.</p><p>Thus, Don Cherry and his team have been hit with the loss of two of the game&rsquo;s top defensemen in Orr and Park, and although the Bruins survived the loss of Phil Esposito and Orr, it would seem imperative that Orr return to take up the slack caused by the loss of Park, who was a Norris Trophy contender of the first rank.</p><p>They did, however, continue to win while Brad was ailing before the operation, so who knows about this club now?</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011015/3828688-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="562" height="710"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BRAD PARK&hellip;Out For Season?</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0010-01

Park Surgery Dims Bruins’ Hopes

<div class="byline">BY ALAN TRUEX</div><p>ATLANTA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>hile Cliff Fletcher was calling 1976 &ldquo;a transition year&rdquo; for the Atlanta Flames, his team was trying to attain a playoff berth by means other than backing in.</p><p>The Flames, one of the NHL&rsquo;s strongest clubs in December, did a back-flip in mid-January, and it wasn&rsquo;t until March that they showed any sign of coming out of the slump.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01975/3828719-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="274" height="372"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Cliff Fletcher</b></figcaption></div><p>After his club turned in a stretch of 4-14-4 hockey, Atlanta coach Fred Creighton was in understandably ill humor. Following a 3-2 loss to Detroit in The Omni on March 3, Creighton berated his players so loudly that he could be heard on the other side of the concrete wall.</p><p>The next day, he angrily took issue with a newspaper reference to his team and the New York Rangers as &ldquo;groveling&rdquo; for a play-off berth.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not grovelling,&rdquo; Creighton stormed. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re struggling, but we&rsquo;re not grovelling.&rdquo;</p><p>While the Flames were tailspinning, the Rangers continued to spin their wheels in the cellar. New York did manage to close the gap to within nine points before the Flames and Rangers met in a two-game series.</p><p>The Rangers had a chance to put real pressure on the Flames, but in the showdown game in The Omni, Atlanta used its far superior conditioning and strength to advantage, taking the game from the Rangers in the first period and going on to an 8-3 victory.</p><p>That put the Flames 11 points ahead of New York with just 13 games left, so Atlanta seemed assured of a playoff berth.</p><p>But a winning season was no guarantee, and indeed it seemed unlikely the Flames could match their point total of 83 last season. It will take a powerful stretch run, with four of the final six games of the season on the road.</p><p>&ldquo;The idea of backing into the playoffs doesn&rsquo;t appeal to me at all,&rdquo; said Fletcher, the Flames&rsquo; general manager-president. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have to play better.&rdquo;</p><p>Asked to account for the Flames&rsquo; poorer record this season than last, Fletcher said, &ldquo;I think one of the key factors is we had some really fine veteran players&mdash;Noel Price, Keith McCreary, Bobby Leiter, Bryan Hextall.&rdquo;</p><p>They are no longer with the-team, and Fletcher feels they are missed.</p><p>&ldquo;We just felt they were in the twilight of their careers and we had to make some changes,&rdquo; Fletcher said.</p><p>Price, McCreary and Leiter were with the club from the beginning, and all are now gone from the NHL. Although they were never stars, Fletcher maintains their leadership qualities are what&rsquo;s missing on the team now.</p><p>&ldquo;We had veteran players who did so much off ice and on to make the club successful,&rdquo; Fletcher said. &ldquo;We gave the responsibility to younger players, and sometimes their schedules are not on the schedule you would like them to be on. When I look around the room I see a little leadership loss there.</p><p>&ldquo;Bringing in the younger players means you won&rsquo;t necessarily have a better team, but the potential is much better.&rdquo;</p><p>Fletcher points to &ldquo;four or five very good prospects in the minor leagues&rdquo; who assure the Flames of a better future.</p><p>He feels right wingers Rick Bowness and Bill Plett, center Guy Chouinard and defenseman Rich Mulhern all will have good chances at NHL jobs next season.</p><p>For now, though, Flames&rsquo; fans may have to accept a disappointing season&rsquo;s record, with what is a very pleasant consolation: The Flames are almost sure to make the playoffs this season, while last year they did not.</p><p><b>NOTES:</b> Eddie Kea, a defensive defenseman who normally doesn&rsquo;t score many points, had four points and two goals in the key game against the Rangers March 5. Kea has had only one other four-point game in his pro career, and that was in the Central League.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-01

Flames Struggling, Not Grovelling, For Playoff Spot

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01989/3828757-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2><b>Caps Not Siberia</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>G</span>ERRY MEEHAN CONFESSES</b> that his initial reaction to the news that he&rsquo;d been traded from the Atlanta Flames to the Washington Capitals was similar to the feeling a citizen of the Soviet Union has when he&rsquo;s asked how he&rsquo;d like a little trip to Siberia.</p><p>Not that trades were anything new to Meehan. From the time he entered the National Hockey League with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1968, Meehan had worn the long johns of Philadelphia Flyers, Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks and Atlanta. In the 1974-75 season, he was traded twice, from Buffalo to Vancouver to Atlanta.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02834/3828750-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="603" height="607"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Gerry Meehan</b></figcaption></div><p>But a deal to the Capitals was different. They&rsquo;re the NHL&rsquo;s sad-sacks these days, a team that&rsquo;s so far down that anything looks like up. They won eight and tied nine of their first 67 games this season.</p><p>&ldquo;It really was one heckuva deflating announcement at first,&rdquo; Meehan said. &ldquo;I was with a team, Atlanta, which was a playoff contender and I figured I was on my way to a last-place team working in a depressing atmosphere. It was a good, swift kick in the seat of the pants.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>First Deal Is Worst</b></h2><p><b>AS A VETERAN OF THE</b> trade market, Meehan is well qualified to discuss the professional athlete&rsquo;s attitude towards the question of swaps. He says that the first one is the worst, producing that feeling of not being wanted. From then on, it&rsquo;s much easier.</p><p>&ldquo;That first deal is a big shocker in your career and after that you accept it as part of being a pro,&rdquo; Meehan explained. &ldquo;Look over the careers of pro players and you&rsquo;ll discover that very few of them spend their entire big league days with one team.</p><p>&ldquo;When you see a player of Phil Esposito&rsquo;s calibre and stature being dealt, you realize it can happen to anyone at any time.&rdquo;</p><p>Meehan was involved in one deal, from Vancouver to Atlanta, at his own request.</p><p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to play in Vancouver, they didn&rsquo;t want any players who didn&rsquo;t want to play there so they made a deal with Atlanta,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>Fortunately for Meehan, first impressions of teams, just as they usually are with individuals, are deceiving. After a few weeks with his new team, Meehan amended his first notion.</p><p>&ldquo;Being with the Caps has been nothing like I anticipated,&rdquo; he said.&rdquo; I&rsquo;ll admit I got a surprise when I found out that the players attitude was optimistic, rather than defeatist. The players here want to win as badly as any in the league and they try&mdash;oh, how hard they try&mdash;to do it.</p><p>&ldquo;The players give it all they&rsquo;ve got and this team isn&rsquo;t last because of a lack of effort. It&rsquo;s defeatist to say you haven&rsquo;t got a chance, anyway, so why work and worry about it? It&rsquo;s not that way when the players give it all they&rsquo;ve got.&rdquo;</p><p>Meehan was impressed with the manner in which general manager Max McNab and coach Tommy McVie, who took over from Milt Schmidt in mid-season, are operating the team.</p><p>&ldquo;McVie is working hard at getting the players to play a disciplined system and McNab is trying to make deals to improve the. team,&rdquo; Meehan said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very professional, businesslike operation.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>There Are Benefits</b></h2><p><b>TO A PLAYER AT MEEHAN&rsquo;S</b> level&mdash;a competent journeyman but not a super star&mdash;a deal to a lowly team is not without benefits. With the Flames, he ranked below the brilliant Tom Lysiak among centers and Lysiak was granted all the speciality jobs&mdash;power-play, penalty-killing and a heavy workload.</p><p>With the Capitals, Meehan was handed those assignments.</p><p>&ldquo;Personally, the trade gave me a chance to play a more important role,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In my first half dozen games with the Caps, I played more than I had in the previous 20 with the Flames. I&rsquo;m on the power-play, which supplies the chance for a higher point total, and I kill penalties. That means I&rsquo;m in the action much of the time, which is where any player wants to be.&rdquo;</p><p>While he concedes that the Caps face a long, up-hill battle to respectability, Meehan lists the forerunners of such moves.</p><p>&ldquo;There are plenty of precedents for expansion teams moving into contention very quickly,&rdquo; Meehan said. &ldquo;New York Islanders had that horrible first season and look at them now. Buffalo and Atlanta moved ahead very quickly, too.</p><p>&ldquo;A couple of good draft picks, a deal or two and maybe no one will call this team &lsquo;hapless&rsquo; again.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-01

FRANK ORR SAYS:

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><p>LOS ANGELES&mdash;</p><p>The Los Angeles Kings are not having as good a season as expected so it is not surprising that only a few of their individual performers are having as good seasons as expected. The two who more than any others have exceeded expectations are left handed defensemen Neil Komadoski and Gary Sargent, who have often been paired on the back line. Center Vic Venasky is probably the only other player who has done more than most thought he would. It&rsquo;s a slim list.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03649/3828788-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="280" height="426"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Neil Komadoski</b></figcaption></div><p>Komadoski is a 6-foot, 200 pounder out of Winnipeg. At 24 he is in his fifth professional season and fourth&rsquo; in the majors, but for the first time in the NHL he has been playing full time. It has improved him, and his improvement has warranted a regular role. An aggressive and fearless player, not stylish but a hard hitter, he has been sought by other teams for a couple of years, but the Kings hung on to him to see if he could settle down and stop making mistakes and it has paid off, although he has had to shift to the right side to fill a vacancy.</p><p>Coach Bob Pulford always has been high on the big blonde. Pully says, &ldquo;He has one of the best attitudes of any player I&rsquo;ve coached. He takes coaching. He wants to play and he wants to improve.&rdquo; Goaler Rogie Vachon notes, &ldquo;Neil is playing fantastic hockey. The thing is, he has more confidence. You can feel it playing with him.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s more relaxed. This year he&rsquo;s been the most steady player on the team on defense, I think.&rdquo;</p><p>Neil, married to the former Lori Zest almost four years, is a maturing young man. He says, &ldquo;I never gave up on myself because coach never gave up on me, but I had to have regular duty to make real progress. I couldn&rsquo;t relax. I&rsquo;d sit in a corner all by myself all the day of a game and think about the game and hope I got into the game. By the time the game came, I was tied up in knots. When I went in I tried to do too much, make too much of an impression. I&rsquo;d make mistakes and they&rsquo;d kill my confidence</p><p>&ldquo;Now, I read or do other things, anything to get my mind off the game. When I get into it, I&rsquo;m relaxed. I know I won&rsquo;t get yanked every time I make a mistake. So I&rsquo;m making less mistakes. Things like clearing the puck, which must be the hardest thing for a young defensemen. One mistake and you give up a goal. Now I just do it because I&rsquo;ve been doing it and I know I can do it. I&rsquo;m not running around so much making runs at people. I&rsquo;m playing my position more.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting there,&rdquo; he concluded.</p><p>Sargent says, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been a big help to me. He&rsquo;s always working and when you see your partner hustling like he does, well you know you better, too. He talks a lot out there. He tells me things I need to know as situations develop. Gradually, I&rsquo;m getting to recognize different situations and I know what I have to do every time. I react, rather than take time to think things out. The more I play, the more I relax. I&rsquo;ve been playing point on some power plays, also killing penalties. I like the ice time. I&rsquo;ve never lacked confidence.&rdquo;</p><p>Right now, Gary is going through what Neil went through. He makes mistakes and he gets yanked. He&rsquo;s been benched for several stretches. At other times he&rsquo;s been the best player on the ice. Pully admits, &ldquo;Maybe I should have more confidence in him because he has confidence in himself. Sometimes he gives me heart failure when he&rsquo;s clearing the puck, but he usually gets it out. He makes mistakes, but they&rsquo;re honest mistakes. He tries hard, maybe too hard at times. He forces plays because he&rsquo;s not sure what to do at times. He&rsquo;s learning. Eventually everything falls into place. He has all the attributes to be a good defenseman.&rdquo;</p><p>This writer has said from the start of the season that the 21-year-old Sargent has more natural ability than any defenseman on this team and if played regularly will become the best before long. Powerful at 5&rsquo;11&rdquo; and 210 pounds, Gary is fearless and forceful, a good skater, good stickhandler, and hard hitter. He is by far the best on the team at keeping the puck in play at the point on the power play and has a fast, accurate shot. Being benched doesn&rsquo;t bother him. He just bounces back with tremendous desire.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m enjoying life a lot, but I&rsquo;m working at my game,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I shoot 50 to 100 pucks after practice every day. I&rsquo;m working on my &lsquo;wrister,&rsquo; which is faster and more accurate than a slap shot.&rdquo; Although he pounds opponents, he has not been drawn into fights. He says, &ldquo;I play physically, but clean. I don&rsquo;t think the chippy stuff is part of the game. But I wouldn&rsquo;t back down if challenged.&rdquo; He looks like he could take care of himself. The Kings need more like him.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-03

Kings’ Young Defensemen Exceeding All Expectations

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01953/3828833-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Philadelphia Police Commissioner Joseph O&rsquo;Neill, left, accepts check for $92,208 from Flyers&rsquo; vice-president Lou Scheinfeld, during recent ceremonies in which NHL club turned over proceeds from the recent All Star game dinner to the Police Athletic League of Philadelphia. Looking on in background is Edmund K. Schauseil, PAL board chairman. O&rsquo;Neill is also president of the 28-year-old Police League, which has over 35,000 youngsters involved in sports and other projects in the Philadelphia area.</b></figcaption></div><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>s recently as last season, Barry Ashbee was saying,&rdquo; We&rsquo;ve led the league in penalties and won the Vezina Trophy&mdash;we must be doing something right.&rdquo;</p><p>Reason for Ashbee&rsquo;s outburst was one glance at the NHL All Star voting. Jimmy Watson was the Flyers&rsquo; highest ranking defenseman, way down there in 16th place, with six votes. Brother Joe had received four votes, Andre (Moose) Dupont had two, and Tom Bladon had one.</p><p>&ldquo;Our defensemen don&rsquo;t get enough recognition&rdquo; has been the Flyers&rsquo; lament ever since they started winning Stanley Cups. Until this season, Ashbee was the only Philadelphia blueliner officially honored. Ashbee, now an assistant coach with definite head coaching potential, was a second-team NHL All Star in the year of Stanley Cup I.</p><p>With Jimmy Watson, only 23, winning selection as Denis Potvin&rsquo;s Campbell Conference partner for the All Star Game, the Flyers&rsquo; lament is finally fading. Addition of Dupont to the Campbell &ldquo;Soups&rdquo; was also a sign Philadelphia&rsquo;s defense is no longer as anonymous as a United Nations delegate.</p><p>Watson, in fact, is a strong candidate for the prestigious All Star team awards. Knowledgeable observers are assigning Watson to the Potvin-Savard-Lapointe-Salming-Orr-Park class.</p><p>The encouraging point in Watson&rsquo;s rise is, although he is a complete defenseman like his previously mentioned colleagues, he isn&rsquo;t a scoring phenom. The Smithers, B.C., native hasn&rsquo;t even been among the top 10 in defenseman-scoring this season.</p><p>Watson, whose Flyers&rsquo; nickname is &ldquo;Chin.&rdquo; could be a scoring threat under the right circumstances. Those circumstances don&rsquo;t exist, however, when you play for Fred Shero.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not interested in our defensemen scoring a lot of goals, said Shero. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re mainly interested in them preventing goals. On offense, all we want them to do is put the puck on the net. If they do that, people like Bobby Clarke and Dorny (Gary Dornhoefer) will be around the net to get the goals.&rdquo;</p><p>Ashbee seconded Shero&rsquo;s theory after the Flyers had trounced California, 6-1. at the Spectrum. The Flyers were clearly in command. but the spirited new Golden Seals launched three final-period breakaways which Wayne Stephenson stylishly stopped.</p><p>The triumph over California was a gala occasion for Joe Watson. His goal and two assists marked his first three-point game in 10 NHL seasons. Bladon and Larry Goodenough also scored, but later Ashbee said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have to give them heck at practice. We&rsquo;re supposed to stop goals, not score them. No way they should have had those breakaways.&rdquo;</p><p>One might suspect that naturally offensive-minded lads such as Jimmy Watson, Bladon, Goodenough and Dupont might be grumbling in their Ovaltine about Shero&rsquo;s restrictions. If they are restless, they&rsquo;ve never shown it. Winning Stanley Cups has a way of subduing a man&rsquo;s striving for statistics.</p><p>Among the Flyers&rsquo; accomplishments is contributing toward a swing back to the days when All Star consideration for a defense-man started with how he played defense.</p><p>Here&rsquo;s a closer look at the men who, with Bernie Parent and Stephenson, form one of the Orange Army&rsquo;s strengths&mdash;its defense.</p><p>Jimmy Watson: Smooth skater with hard, accurate shot&hellip;Big baseball fan&hellip;Enjoys returning to Smithers in summers.</p><p>Joe Watson: Steady type&hellip;Team cheerleader&hellip;Nickname &lsquo;&lsquo;Pumpkin&rdquo;&hellip;Also a devout baseball fan&hellip;Promising tennis player.</p><p>Moose Dupont: One of Shero&rsquo;s prize pupils&hellip;A complete defender like Jimmy Watson&hellip;Harness racing fan&hellip;Learning to sketch.</p><p>Tom Bladon: Was nearing his club record for goals by a defenseman (12)&hellip;One of hardest shots in hockey&hellip;Nicknamed &ldquo;Sparky&rdquo;&hellip;Defense has improved remarkably since solving early season medication confusion.</p><p>Larry Goodenough: Another top draft pick who has established himself as a solid NHLer&hellip;Nicknamed &ldquo;Izzy&rdquo;.</p><p>Jack McIlhargey: A tough Van Impe-type who knows his limitations&hellip;A team-oriented rookie, he hasn&rsquo;t hurt the club defensively&hellip;Nicknamed &ldquo;Bucky&rdquo; and &ldquo;Wolfman.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02797/3828826-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="570" height="598"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JIM WATSON&hellip;Showing Class</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03700/3828819-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="572" height="586"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MOOSE DUPONT&hellip;Complete Defender</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0013-01

Flyers’ Defense Playing Like All Stars

<div class="byline">BY GEOFFREY FISHER</div><p>OAKLAND&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span> towering youngster from Southern California, who manned the last line of defense of the U.S. Olympic hockey team against the missiles of the Soviet Union&rsquo;s ice legions, has joined the California Golden Seals.</p><p>The announcement of the signing to a pro contract of goaltender Jim Warden was made in San Francisco March 3 to a turn out of press, radio and TV that one might expect at the inaugeration of the President of the United States.</p><p>The 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 190 pound native of Detroit, who grew up in the unhockeylike environment of Pasadena, Calif., was immediately assigned to the Seals&rsquo; Salt Lake City farm club of the Central League. But Seals&rsquo; general manager Billy McCreary said that the 21-year-old fifth-round draft choice in the 1974 amateur draft would very likely see some NHL action before this season was over.</p><p>&ldquo;Jim&rsquo;s pro capabilities are unknown,&rdquo; said McCreary, &ldquo;but we will be closely watching how well he can make the adjustment to the pro game. He&rsquo;ll be coached by a very wise veteran goaltender (Mary Edwards) at Salt Lake and that should be very helpful.&rdquo;</p><p>In an interview. Warden, a Michigan Tech business administration major, displayed confidence that he could master the leap from the amateurs to the pros without too much difficulty.</p><p>&ldquo;I honestly believe I&rsquo;ll have an easier time in the Central League and the NHL than I had against the Russians or Czechs. I&rsquo;ll be seeing a lot more slap shots and drives from the left and right points which I am used to. The Russians don&rsquo;t use that style of offense. They never shoot from the blueline points but always from the middle and if they miss they get the rebound right out in front.&rdquo;</p><p>Warden said that the Russians rely on the tricky passes to set up every play.</p><p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t go out and challenge them when you are playing in the goal or they will pass to an open man and they are always skating circles around the net.&rdquo;</p><p>A stand-up goaltender, Warden admits that the quick-skating Russians forced him to go down too often in order to cover up. In the 72 loss to Russia he stopped 60 shots.</p><p>&ldquo;I had the feeling they had about a dozen players on the ice at the same time,&rdquo; he said as he recalled the game at Innsbruck, Austria.</p><p>In five Olympic games he made a total of 226 saves, enough vulcanized rubber to cause him to feel that he was working on the assembly line at Goodyear.</p><p>Warden says he will have no trouble with the physical aspects of playing in the pro leagues. But he does expect the mental attitude will require some adjustment.</p><p>&ldquo;To be honest,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know what to expect. I&rsquo;m quite sure there is a different psychology in the pros compared with college hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>He admits that he had dreams as an amateur that he would turn pro with the San Diego club of the WHA &ldquo;because I&rsquo;m really in love with Southern California but when it came time for the decision I knew it would be the NHL for me.&rdquo;</p><p>Warden had never seen the Seals play up to the moment he signed a contract.</p><p>&ldquo;The Seals have a bright future and I look forward to being part of their organization. 1 have followed their action by reading THE HOCKEY NEWS.&rdquo;</p><p>The oldest of four brothers, his father is a medical doctor and his mother a nurse. He credits his parents with encouraging him in his hockey career from the time he started playing in Pasadena with the Pee Wee league at the age of eight.</p><p>Jim&rsquo;s father, who is a Canadian, played some goal as a youngster.</p><p>&ldquo;My folks always saw to it that I got to the rink on time wherever we lived and dad had me on ice skates when I was hardly old enough to walk.&rdquo; he said.</p><p>But after Jim had played junior league hockey in Pasadena, had put together a goals-against average of less than 1.00 and had been named to the Junior All America, both he and his father knew it was time for bigger challenges. Jim enrolled at Blake Sschool, a private educational institution near Minneapolis, Minn.</p><p>&ldquo;We figured that if I was ever going to be seen by the pro scouts we had to get to where the hockey country is and that meant a place like Minnesota.&rdquo;</p><p>From Blake, Jim went onto Michigan Tech where he was named MVP in the NCAA Tournament and in three seasons had a 3.14 average.</p><p>The Seals had put together a dossier on him.</p><p>Says McCreary; &ldquo;We were lucky other clubs passed over him the same way they did with Dennis Maruk (Seals&rsquo; brilliant rookie center.)&rdquo;</p><p>With two first-rate NHL goaltenders in Gilles Meloche and Gary Simmons, what chance has Warden got to break in with the Seals, McCreary was asked.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01971/3828864-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="569" height="721"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JIM WARDEN&hellip;Starts In Minors</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;If we see him shutting out the Central Hockey League he could be with the Seals fast,&rdquo; said McCreary.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-01

Seals Looking To Future Signing U.S. Born-Olympic Goaler Warden

<div class="byline">BY RON WEBER</div><p>WASHINGTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>Y</span>ou can count the past and present National Hockey Leaguers from Newfoundland on one hand, maybe while wearing one of their mittens on it. There was Alex Faulkner, who made a couple of appearances (seven years apart) for the Maple Leafs and Red Wings. Perhaps soon the list will embrace Donny Howse, Terry Ryan or goalie Doug Grant. But now they&rsquo;ll not only follow Faulkner but also Tony White.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01935/3828895-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="271" height="406"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Tony White</b></figcaption></div><p>While Tony isn&rsquo;t a household name yet, he has made more news lately than Spiro Agnew, becoming the first in the nation&rsquo;s capital to pull off two hat tricks. The Capitals left wing scored in each period (also a club first) in the late February drubbing of the Red Wings in Detroit. His other three-goal game beat Chicago in October. Four-fifths the way through the schedule White had 22 goals tying his recent centerman, Nelson Pyatt and last year&rsquo;s leader Tommy Williams, for the single-season high for a Cap.</p><p>All this from the 163rd player chosen in the amateur draft of 1974&mdash;a 15 goal scorer in his final year in junior&mdash;a guy who jumped ship for two weeks while dry docked in Dayton&mdash;and who was from the hockey hinterlands, a province well-known for belittling jokes.</p><p>Anthony White, a long shot? You bet. But there he is, out every third shift all season long, keeping his plus-minus as respectable as any Capital forward by giving and accepting the hard checks and by staying between his man and the goal.</p><p>White is from Grand Falls, Newfoundland, a town in the interior of the far northeast province. Most of Tony&rsquo;s high school buddies work in the paper mill, or in the mines or are attending college. Except for his hockey ability Tony would be one of those places. His dad worked in the mill until he retired. Raymond White was a good defenseman, but he broke an ankle at 22 and never laced on skates again. There was a house to build and a family to support.</p><p>Tony&rsquo;s early trips from Newfoundland were connected to the sport: a peewee tournament in Ontario at 12, the provincial winter games in Saskatoon at 15 and the Allen Cup when his senior A Grand Falls Cataracts lost to Barrie in the finals. Senior A is the big thing in Newfoundland and Tony made it as a 17-year-old. Somebody for the Kitchener Rangers caught his act and he left his happy province for OHA play.</p><p>Kitchener finished eighth, then first in Tony&rsquo;s two years. Teammates included Doug Risebrough (now with Canadiens) and Ron Sedlhauer (Canucks). But White had only 15 goals and 53 points while playing left wing and some defense and he feared the pro draft would pass him by. It almost did, Washington selecting him in the tenth round&hellip;and chief scout Red Sullivan waiting several days to contact him. But Red was right when he said Tony would get a chance.</p><p>White survived the rookie tryouts, then halfway through the regular camp was assigned to Dayton of the IHL&mdash;with the indication he&rsquo;d get a pro trial. Again the Capitals came through and Tony played well in five matches, picking up two assists. He said then of his Gems coach, Tom McVie, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s good on funementals and improved my positional play.&rdquo; Tony was basically a defensive player, admitting &ldquo;Even I don&rsquo;t know how many goals I can score.&rdquo; McVie of course, is now his boss on the Capitals, directing him close to a 30-goal season.</p><p>Up to now, Tony has learned well. You might say he&rsquo;s come a long way from Newfoundland&mdash;and thats no joke.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0015-01

Caps’ Rookie White Making Presence Felt

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>hroughout this season &lsquo;defense&rsquo; has been the most oft-used word when explaining the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; surge to the top of the National Hockey League standings.</p><p>Perhaps the best example of how this emphasis on defense has boosted the Habs, is their record against the Buffalo Sabres this season as compared with 1974-75.</p><p>To say that the Sabres were the Canadiens&rsquo; nemesis last season would be an understatement. Montreal failed to conquer the Buffalo squad in five regular season meetings (four losses and a tie) and were eliminated from the playoffs in a six-game semi-final set by the Sabres.</p><p>This season things have changed around. While the Canadiens didn&rsquo;t blow the Sabres off the ice, they did manage to take the season series three games to two. But the major difference was the way they lost last season and how they won during this campaign.</p><p>In the five regular season meetings between the two clubs in &rsquo;74-75 there were a total of 50 goals scored, with the Sabres potting 28 of them. In &rsquo;75-76 the goal total was cut almost in half with 28 markers between the two clubs.</p><p>Defensive hockey won the games for the Habs whereas last season offensive hockey was losing them.</p><p>This season&rsquo;s series boiled down to the March 3 matchup at the Forum. Both teams had recorded a pair of victories and it was defense which gave the Canadiens the rubber match, 3-2.</p><p>As most NHL teams will tell you, the key to stopping the Sabres is bringing the famed &lsquo;French Connection&rsquo; to a standstill. While the Habs didn&rsquo;t keep them off the scoresheet, they did a masterful job at keeping the threesome&rsquo;s scoring opportunities to a minimum.</p><p>Bob Gainey was one of the key man in thwarting the French Connection&rsquo;s efforts as he lined up on the left side across from high scoring Rene Robert.</p><p>&ldquo;We usually play one line against them,&rdquo; explained Gainey. &ldquo;We know it&rsquo;s better if we&rsquo;re playing in their end against them. We keep shooting in their end and never get caught 3-on-2.&rdquo;</p><p>The French Connection was held to seven shots on goal (three by Robert and four by Rick Martin), scored twice (Robert on a power play and Martin with less than three minutes remaining in the game) but were also on the ice when John Van Boxmeer scored what proved to be the winning goal early in the final period.</p><p>The game was a chippy one from start to finish as Jim Schoenfeld and Doug Risebrough got minors and majors with only 25 seconds elapsed in the opening period.</p><p>&ldquo;They (Buffalo) played pretty well,&rdquo; said Gainey. &ldquo;When you play well and then get down a couple of goals it gets frustrating. The whole game was a little chippy. There was lots of checking. It was a tough game in the corners.&rdquo;</p><p>Perhaps one of the most picked on Habs was freshman Doug Jarvis, who seemed to be the target of the Sabres&rsquo; frustration all evening long. Why Doug, who is usually the most mild-mannered performer on the ice, even flattened big Peter McNab with a well-placed elbow with only four seconds left in the contest.</p><p>&ldquo;It depends on what&rsquo;s happening,&rdquo; opined Jarvis concerning the chippiness of the game. &ldquo;It depends on the way the game&rsquo;s going. There are stages in the game when retaliation, not fighting but a shove back, is needed. In other stages with a one or two goal lead, you wouldn&rsquo;t want to.</p><p>&ldquo;The chippiness keeps everybody on their toes, alert for shoving. In a tense game like this there&rsquo;s bound to be hits and retalitation.&rdquo;</p><p>While the initial credit for the Habs&rsquo; defensive showing is heaped upon goalers Ken Dryden and Michel Larocque and the entire defensive corps, it is in reality a team effort.</p><p>&ldquo;Less goals against is not only because of the defensemen and goalers,&rdquo; pointed out Serge Savard. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a team effort. The forwards are coming back a lot more and it makes a big difference.</p><p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t play 3-on-2 all night and keep the goals against down no matter who&rsquo;s playing defense.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;The whole team has tightened up this year,&rdquo; explained Gainey. &ldquo;Whether they (Buffalo) have changed or we&rsquo;re doing it to them, I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;</p><p><b>HAB-BITS:</b> The Canadiens had scored more goals in the second period, 101, than any other through 66 games. They were close behind in the third with 100 while they had tallied 73 times in the opening frame&hellip;Defensively they have allowed the most goals in the first period, 52, while allowing 49 in the second and 42 in the third&hellip;The Habs have scored six goals on two occasions in the final period this season (against Los Angeles and Minnesota), five once (against Chicago) and four goals twice. They have also done well in the second period with five-goal bursts against Boston and Washington and have scored four goals in the middle period six times. Through 66 games the Canadiens were held scoreless in the first period 21 times, 18 times in the second and 16 times in the third.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03468/3829090-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="568" height="802"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>SERGE SAVARD&hellip;A Team Effort</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>NHL Leaders</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04359/3829083-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="607" height="867"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0017-03

Habs Performance Against Sabres Indicative Of Defensive Improvement

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01671/3829128-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="616" height="2261"></div><h2><b>TEAM PENALTIES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02580/3829121-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="614" height="645"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0017-01

Looking At NHL Goalers

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01686/3829159-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GARRY UNGER&hellip;Inspired By His Sister</b></figcaption></div><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;</p><p>Comparisons are continually being made between those records set before 1967 and the so-called &ldquo;post-expansion&rdquo; marks. When the subject is discussed the general consensus of opinion is that those milestones reached in the six-team National Hockey League were more of an accomplishment than those of modern-day.</p><p>However, in the case, of the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; Garry Unger, who has established the all-time consecutive regular season games mark with 633, it is a feat unequalled in NHL annals, expansion or no expansion.</p><p>&ldquo;Garry Unger&rsquo;s National Hockey League record was more difficult to attain than the previous mark,&rdquo; stated Andy Hebenton, the previous record holder with 630 straight games.</p><p>Hebenton, whose streak covered nine full seasons of 70 games each from 1955-56 through 1963-64, said that the travelling involved today makes it tougher for a player to maintain a long consecutive streak.</p><p>When I had mv streak the farthest we had to travel was to Chicago and we didn&rsquo;t have the concentration of games which now exists in the schedule.</p><p>&ldquo;There are also more pileups around the goal now,&rdquo; said the previous &lsquo;iron man&rsquo; record holder, &ldquo;and, therefore, it is more dangerous for a high goal scorer such as Unger who is often involved in the pushing and shoving in front of the net.&rdquo;</p><p>Unger has had his share of injuries, some of which would have kept many other players out of action. His most serious was a fractured back, suffered in a fall from a horse in the summer of 1970. He missed the entire training camp but was in Detroit&rsquo;s lineup for the first game of the season; in fact he scored a goal and had an assist in that game. Earlier this season, Unger played several games with a pulled rib-cage muscle.</p><p>Unger&rsquo;s philosophy about life has been instrumental in his attaining the iron man record.</p><p>Garry&rsquo;s 21-year-old sister is a constant source of inspiration for him. She was crippled by polio when she was six months old and wears heavy braces on both legs.</p><p>&ldquo;All of a sudden, am I going to say I&rsquo;ve got a sore foot and that I&rsquo;m not going to play?&rdquo; questioned Unger. &ldquo;I mean she&rsquo;s got to go through life not even being able to walk, so am I going to use some little excuse not to do my job?&rdquo;</p><p>Unger gives much of the credit for his continuation of playing even when he was injured to the Blues&rsquo; training staff.</p><p>&ldquo;Tommy Woodcock, Al Mathieu and Tommy Ryan are the best in the game. Many of us on the Blues are able to play with injuries because those three know how to look after the types of injury which, if properly handled, allow a player to keep going.&rdquo;</p><p>Unger&rsquo;s offensive ability is demostrated by the fact that only he and Rick Martin of Buffalo have scored at least 30 goals in each of the last five seasons, including this one. He is also past the 250-goal and 500-point marks.</p><p>Only a twist of fate prevented Unger from breaking the record before a hometown St. Louis crowd. When he was traded by Detroit to St. Louis on Feb. 6,1971, the Red Wings had played one more game than the Blues. That meant Unger played 79 games in a 78-game schedule in 1970-71 and, therefore, he would have tied Hebenton&rsquo;s mark in Toronto and broken it in St. Louis in the Blues&rsquo; next game.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-01

Unger Admits It Hasn’t Been Easy Becoming New ‘Iron Man’

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><p>DETROIT&mdash;</p><p>The Red Wings are letting opponents know they&rsquo;re still around, even though it won&rsquo;t do them much good until next season.</p><p>Once again. Detroit is out of the playoff picture-for the sixth straight season-but the club is playing much more aggressively than it has in many seasons.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01657/3829190-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="283" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Al Cameron</b></figcaption></div><p>Some people, including Montreal coach Scotty Bowman. have accused the Wings of taking cheap shots in late season games.</p><p>But as far as the Wings are concerned. it&rsquo;s just a reminder that they intend to be back next year.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of guys on this team now that don&rsquo;t like to lose,&rdquo; assistant coach Billy Dea said, trying to explain the club&rsquo;s chippy play.</p><p>&ldquo;The frustrations have built up and when that happens, you have to get it out of the system. But I&rsquo;ll say this, this is a gutsy team and they&rsquo;re sticking together &ldquo;</p><p>For the Wings, that unity almost certainly is the first toward success.</p><p>Even the most dedicated fan would have trouble recognizing this team now. It&rsquo;s considerably more physical, and quite willing to mix it up.</p><p>The Wings have been pushed around quite a bit in recent seasons and it was no secret management wanted to change that. First of all, tough Danny Maloney was added to the already present, irrepressible Bugsy Watson.</p><p>Then along came three rookies who would not be pushed around defensemen Rick Lapointe and Al Cameron and center Dennis Polonich. Veteran Terry Harper, the old agitator, is here, too.</p><p>Nick Libett, who works as hard as anybody in hockey, never plays a bad game but gets considerably less recognition than most players with half his ability because he&rsquo;s on a losing team, fit in perfectly with his new teammates.</p><p>Then, in the Wings&rsquo; last trade this season, Dennis Hextall came aboard. Hextall was tossed out of his second and third games as a Red Wing, showing some of the fire he had several seasons ago as a Red Wing.</p><p>In one game, Hextall went after Atlanta&rsquo;s large defenseman Pat Quinn, after the Flames&rsquo; captain decked Buster Harvey on a late hit. In the next game, Libett and Hextall both were ejected for their parts in a free-for-all in Philly.</p><p>Libett scored a split decision over Jack McIlhargey and Hextall and Dave Schultz went at it pretty good at center ice. In that fracas, 11 of the 12 players on the ice-all except Detroit goalie Jimmy Rutherford-received five-minute major penalties for fighting, including Flyers&rsquo; goalie Wayne Stephenson.</p><p>The Flyers and Red Wings are 12 in penalty minutes in the NHL this season so the brawl shouldn&rsquo;t have been unexpected.</p><p>Dea was puzzled over the three-star selections in Detroit&rsquo;s 3-2 victory in Atlanta.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe Cameron didn&rsquo;t get a call,&rdquo; Dea said. &ldquo;I thought he deserved the No. 1 star. He was outstanding. But he didn&rsquo;t get anything at all.&rdquo;</p><p><b>MOTOR CITY SHORTS:</b></p><p>Mickey Redmond was reported to be progressing very well with the therapy program designed to rehabilitate his injured back&hellip;Danny Grant began skating but is not expected to return to action this season&hellip;Polonich leads the club in penalties with 229, Watson has 223, Maloney 152 and Hextall 129, but most of those were while he was with Minnesota.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-01

Wings Letting Foes Know They’re Still Around

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p>BUFFALO&mdash;</p><p>It has to be a thrill for a 21-year-old from the metropolis of Nelson, British Columbia, to be voted both the Most Valuable and Most Popular member of one of the best teams in professional hockey.</p><p>Danny Gare, the youthful-looking, sophomore right winger for the Buffalo Sabres was quick to admit that it was, indeed, a thrill when he was announced as winner of both trophies presented at the Buffalo Sabre Boosters Club awards dinner.</p><p>Gare was the third to sweep both the Wayne Larkin Memorial Trophy, as most valuable on a vote of his teammates, and the Frank Eddolls Memorial Trophy, as most popular on balloting of Booster Club members.</p><p>The others to win both awards were Gil Perreault in the club&rsquo;s first year, 1970-71, and Rick Martin in 1974-74.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01504/3829221-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="533" height="770"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DANNY GARE&hellip;Having Big Year</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;It was a shock,&rdquo; said the young blond bomber, at the dinner. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t even cross my mind that I would win them. Especially the, MVP. That&rsquo;s a real honor, to have your teammates vote for you as most valuable.</p><p>&ldquo;I remember when we voted, before a Montreal game, I never thought I might win it. When I heard I did, I said, &lsquo;You must be kidding.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>When you figure the Sabres have such widely-publicized stars as Perreault, Martin and their French Connection right winger, Rene Robert; Jim Schoenfeld and Jerry Korab at defense, and Gare&rsquo;s linemates, Don Luce and Craig Ramsay, it is sort of surprising that the rugged little winger got both awards.</p><p>At the time, however, he was leading the team in goals with 39, one of the highest totals in the National Hockey League.</p><p>In weekend games before the banquet, Gare had scored twice. He triggered a shot with 78 seconds remaining that gave the Sabres a 4-4 tie with the Scouts in Kansas City on Saturday and the next night he got the first goal, in the second minute of play, against Los Angeles to start the Sabres on their way to a 5-1 triumph over the visiting Kings.</p><p>The 5&rsquo;8&rdquo;, 175 pounder from British Columbia can do more than shoot. For two years he has been on the Sabres&rsquo; checking line with Luce and Ramsay and he is a digger in the corners.</p><p>There was an interval this season when the fans wondered if Danny had forgotten how to dig but they didn&rsquo;t know that the youngster was playing despite a painful infection on his right elbow.</p><p>He had suffered a deep cut on the elbow, got it stitched up, had it open again, had it restitched and then it became infected, painful as a boil. &ldquo;Every time I got hit on it, it really hurt,&rdquo; said Danny. &ldquo;It was hard to go into the corners as as long as I had that infection.&rdquo;</p><p>Danny was shut out, nary a point, in the first game following the dinner. It was French Connection night on that occasion, a 63 victory over the Chicago Black Hawks in Buffalo&rsquo;s Memorial Auditorium.</p><p>In its fourth game after being reunited, the Connection had a 13 point night. Perreault and Martin had four points, Robert had five.</p><p>Martin, who had scored only three goals in his last 11 games&mdash;none in the last four&mdash;drove home two in the first six minutes and had three for the game.</p><p>He got the first at the 14-second mark, on a rebound of a shot by Robert after Perreault sent out a pass from the corner. With Robert scoring after Martin got his two, the line scored on each of its first three shifts of the game.</p><p>In their first four games together again, the Connection registered eight goals and a total of 25 points.</p><p>Their outburst against the Black Hawks came the same week that stories were published and broadcast in Montreal that the members of the French Connection were not getting along and that Martin was going to be traded to the Canadiens.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how that rumor got started,&rdquo; said Martin, after the game. &ldquo;I certainly don&rsquo;t want to leave a young team that is going to be best in the league very soon.</p><p>&ldquo;And let&rsquo;s get one thing straight, once and for all. We&rsquo;re not in any kind of trouble. There&rsquo;s nothing going on among us. We&rsquo;re happy to be together again.</p><p>&ldquo;We want to win hockey games and we like to score goals and we realize we can&rsquo;t do that if we don&rsquo;t help each other.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-01

Gare Selected Most Valuable, Popular Sabre

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he way hockey teams have of copying each other&rsquo;s techniques could see assorted National Hockey League clubs stopping off at Las Vegas on their way to California for games.</p><p>After all, they have the success of the two-day Vegas holiday of Toronto Maple Leafs as an example. The Leafs visited North America&rsquo;s hedonism capital as part of their most successful 197576 road trip. Sure, they came away from the jaunt with lighter wallets but a heavier hold on sixth place in the NHL&rsquo;s overall standings, their target for this rebuilding season.</p><p>The Leafs started the trip with a victory at St. Louis, then dropped in at the gaming tables of Nevada for 30 hours of relaxation. The team then moved on to Los Angeles and a win over the Kings and jetted up to Oakland where they tied the Seals.</p><p>That stretched Leafs&rsquo; strongest work period of the season to seven wins and a tie in nine games and sent them down the stretch segment of the season with their hopes the highest in recent seasons.</p><p>The Leafs&rsquo; stopover in Las Vegas received much publicity in Toronto. Although several other NHL teams, notably Montreal Canadiens, have taken short holidays in various spas, it was one of the few times a Leaf club had been granted such a respite from the rigors of the NHL schedule. When he announced the trip. Leaf owner Harold Ballard made it sound like a two-day revel.</p><p>But the Leaf players did the normal Vegas tourist routine&mdash;a little gambling, a few shows and the soaking up of some sun.</p><p>&ldquo;It was good just to unwind for a couple of days and relax,&rdquo; said Leaf captain Darryl Sittler. &ldquo;For some strange reason, a few people in Toronto figured we were going to rip the town apart. All we wanted to do was get a change of pace.&rdquo;</p><p>Leaf coach Red Kelly, who had the idea for the vacation in the first place, figured the results were only beneficial.</p><p>&ldquo;People forget that an 80-game schedule is a grind, a succession of practises, airplanes and hotels,&rdquo; Kelly said. &ldquo;About this stage of the season the pressure builds up and anything that gets the players away from it for a time is good.</p><p>&ldquo;As things turned out, our team was very relaxed in the games that followed the break and produced good efforts. Sure, we got into a shooting match in Oakland but you have to have those every so often, a game where the lid just blows off.&rdquo;</p><p>Leafs&rsquo; management has the feeling that everything is falling into place at precisely the proper time for a good run down the stretch and some playoff success. In their strong nine-game streak, the Leafs scored 45 goals and surrendered 23.</p><p>Pivotal in the club&rsquo;s strong play was the work of goalie Wayne Thomas. Through the first half of the season, Thomas performed superbly, earning a spot in the All Star game. Then he encountered a flat spot and was replaced by Gord McRae in several games.</p><p>Slowly, the fine edge returned to his play and Thomas backboned the Leaf climb. Even in the 7-7 tie at Oakland when he faced 48 shots, Thomas played a big role in the tie. Early in the game, his big saves held the Leafs in the rink.</p><p><b>NOTES:</b> Leafs demoted defenseman Dave Dunn to their Oklahoma Blazers&rsquo; farm team in the Central League after he had cleared NHL waivers. They hope to work a trade for Dunn, acquired from Vancouver Canucks early in the, 74-75season&hellip;Bob Neely, who has had an inconsistent three Leaf seasons as a defenseman, will receive a long look as a forward following his two goal effort against the Seals at Oakland. Neely has surprising speed and agility for a man his size (6&rsquo;l&rdquo;210 pounds).</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01345/3829252-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="562" height="620"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BOB NEELY&hellip;Surprising Agility</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0021-01

Leaf Hopes Soaring Down Stretch Run

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;</p><p>The only way to slow Chuck Lefley is to sabotage his skates.</p><p>The St. Louis Blues&rsquo; lightning quick left wing is having a marvelous season and already is past 35 goals. St. Louis coach Leo Boivin has been giving maximum ice time to Lefley and his linemates, Derek Sanderson and Claude Larose, and Lefley and Sanderson also kill a lot of penalties.</p><p>But, indeed, Lefley sat out a couple shifts in a game with Montreal because of skate defects. No sabotage was involved&mdash;just some heavy wear and tear on the fast skates of the Blues&rsquo; leading scorer.</p><p>&ldquo;It was crazy,&rdquo; said Boivin. &ldquo;Twice during the game I wanted to send Lefley out on the ice, but he was getting his skates sharpened.&rdquo;</p><p>The shy Lefley was embarrassed to cause any consternation. He stepped on Serge Savard&rsquo;s skate once, and then later ran into another Montreal player and again banged up his own skate blades.</p><p>&ldquo;I was really being clumsy,&rdquo; said Lefley. &ldquo;But I banged up my blades so much both times I just couldn&rsquo;t skate on them. I fell down the one time.&rdquo;</p><p>The hero of the little noticed minidrama in the game was Blues&rsquo; assistant trainer Tom Ryan, who dashed back to the dressing room each time to resharpen the skates and made quick work of the task.</p><p>&ldquo;The one time I got back to the bench just as Floyd Thomson was going over the boards in Lefley&rsquo;s place for the next shift,&rdquo; said Ryan. &ldquo;Chuck really stripped the edge off that skate.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01376/3829283-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="566" height="882"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>CHUCK LEFLEY&hellip;Getting The Puck</b></figcaption></div><p>Sharpening skates for Lefley this season would seem to be a big job. Lefley&rsquo;s play has been the brightest spot on the Blues throughout the season. His production has helped the Blues&rsquo; nail down a playoff berth, and his breakaway speed while killing penalties is the reason the Blues lead the National Hockey League in shorthanded goals.</p><p>The 26-year-old Lefley was the sixth player chosen in the 1970 amateur draft after he had played on the Canadian National Team. He spent his first pro season with the Montreal Voyageurs and moved with the team to Nova Scotia the following season, when he also received a 16-game trial with the parent club. He made the Canadiens his third year, had 21 goals that season and followed with 23 goals in 1973-74. Last season the Blues grabbed him in November in exchange for veteran defenseman Don Awrey.</p><p>Denis Ball, the Blues&rsquo; vice president of hockey operations, says, &ldquo;Lefley, when he accelerates, is one of the fastest players in the game; and he can turn on a dime. That&rsquo;s what makes him so valuable killing penalties. He hasn&rsquo;t scratched the surface of how great he can be.&rdquo;</p><p>The line of Lefley, Sanderson and Larose was assembled by Boivin in his first game as coach in January.</p><p>&ldquo;It has just seemed to click from the start,&rdquo; said Lefley. &ldquo;We never really had to learn each other&rsquo;s moves.&rdquo;</p><p>Sanderson says of Lefley, &ldquo;Charlie is the best winger I&rsquo;ve ever played with. What a skater! It was a crime he wasn&rsquo;t selected on the All Star team.&rdquo;</p><p>Lefley&rsquo;s 22nd, 23rd and 24th goals this season comprised his first NHL hat trick and tied his personal high of 24 goals the previous season. His 26th goal broke a St. Louis team record for goals by a left wing. Ab McDonald scored 25 in 1969-70.</p><p>Lefley says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting the puck all the time because Sanderson&rsquo;s such a good playmaker. &ldquo;</p><p>Former St. Louis coach Garry Young experimented in training camp before this season by putting Lefley at center, but that plan soon was abandoned.</p><p>&ldquo;He expected productivity from me at center but he didn&rsquo;t get it,&rdquo; said Lefley. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re better centermen on this club than me. At the time I was playing center, Red Berenson was on the bench and Doug Palazzari was sent to Providence because we also had Garry Unger and Wayne Merrick.&rdquo;</p><p>But Lefley is solidly entrenched at left wing now, and the Blues hope he can stay there for a long time to come.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-01

Streaking Winger Lefley Wearing Out Skates

<p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;</p><p>Gordon (Red) Berenson has been appointed the captain of the St. Louis Blues, following the resignation of defenseman Barclay Plager, who had been the ice leader of club for the past six years.</p><p>The 36-year-old centerman is in his second stint with the Blues after originally breaking into the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers.</p><p>During his first stay with the Blues, which lasted the better part of four seasons, Berenson tied the modern day record with six goals in one game, against Philadelphia.</p><p>He was traded to Detroit, rejoining the Blues on Dec. 30, 1974 in exchange for Phil Roberto and a draft choice.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Berenson Named St. Louis Captain

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><p>TWIN CITIES&mdash;</p><p>For the third straight season, the Minnesota North Stars will start their vacations a month early.</p><p>It became very evident the first week in March they would not make the playoff&rsquo;s, and very evident they couldn&rsquo;t wait until the final game of the season.</p><p>Looking back, the first 20 games of the season and another 20-game span in the last half of the schedule were the most frustrating for Ted Harris, who is completing his first year as coach.</p><p>The North Stars won only four of their first 20 games, recovered enough to draw within one point of third-place New Year&rsquo;s Eve but sank swiftly out of contention in the Smythe Division. Heading into the final 13 games, the North Stars were on another giant tailspin&mdash;in a 20 game span, they had lost 17 and tied one.</p><p>The team put on one of those get-it-over performances against the Vancouver Canucks on March 7 after taking a 3-0 lead in the first period. The Canucks won, 4-3, after being out-shot 15-8 in the opening 20 minutes. Over the next 40, the Canucks held a 30-16 edge in shorts edge in shots, and the North Stars were credited with only one (0-N-E) accurate shot in the final period.</p><p>&ldquo;It makes you wonder if the boys are out there counting off the games they have left to play,&rdquo; sighed Harris. &ldquo;Too many guys out there were trying to make the perfect play. You can&rsquo;t walk the puck in&mdash;you have to shoot it in.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say it&rsquo;s all because of inexperience. It&rsquo;s happening to guys with 10 years experience, too. It has to be concentration.&rdquo;</p><p>It is easy to say now that things might have been different with a little more of this concentration. But the Vancouver loss was the 17th of the season by only one goal. Ties and victories in half those games would have kept the North Stars in playoff contention.</p><p>&ldquo;One-goal losses don&rsquo;t bother me as much as blowing 2-0 and 3-0 leads, and we&rsquo;ve done that quite often,&rdquo; Harris moaned. &ldquo;We can look like world beaters for 60 minutes and that&rsquo;s it. I wonder just how many 3-0 leads we have kicked away.&rdquo;</p><p>Either that, or the North Stars don&rsquo;t score at all. The night before the Vancouver loss, Harris gave rookie Paul Harrison his first start since the youngster lost to Philadelphia 9-5 in the second game of the season. Pittsburgh beat the Stars, 5-0, but the final outcome does not indicate how Harrison performed in stopping 39 Penguin shots. He should have sued his teammates for nonsupport.</p><p>Even with the financial collapse of the WHA Fighting Saints, attendance will not show much improvement the rest of the season. Through their first 34 home dates, the North Stars averaged 9,483 fans a game, a drop of 4,300 customers per game. If not for their 7,500 season ticket holders the North Stars would be suffering even greater financial losses.</p><p><b>STAR DUST:</b> Pierre Jarry, who joined the North Stars in November, reached the 20-goal mark against Vancouver&hellip;Projected over a full-season, that might have been 35 to 40 goals&hellip;Steve Jensen, the U.S. Olympian who signed in last February, scored his first NHL goal in his fourth game&hellip;Jensen missed a game after the death of his father&hellip;Four North Stars have not missed a game this season: Ernie Hicke, Doug Hicks, Dennis O&rsquo;Brien, Dave Cressman&hellip;Bill Goldsworthy has not been the same since spraining an ankle and knee in December&hellip;The team captain has 14 goals at the time, and has added only seven since he returned from the 12-game absence&hellip;Although Goldy has 20 goals for the seventh time of his career, he will finish with his lowest production since he had 14 in 1968-69&hellip;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01354/3829338-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="558" height="466"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BILL GOLDSWORTHY</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0023-01

North Stars Anxious For Final Game

<h2><b>NORRIS DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2322/3829603-1-eng-US/f0024-232.jpg" title="f0024-23" width="586" height="155"></div><h2><b>ADAM DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2419/3829596-1-eng-US/f0024-242.jpg" title="f0024-24" width="592" height="128"></div><h2><b>PATRICK DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2514/3829589-1-eng-US/f0024-252.jpg" title="f0024-25" width="583" height="127"></div><h2><b>SMYTHE DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-269/3829582-1-eng-US/f0024-262.jpg" title="f0024-26" width="592" height="153"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. Mar. 9</b></p><p>St. Louis 0 at N.Y Islanders 4; Boston 0 et Atlanta 9; Vancouver 1 at Los Angeles 6.</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 10</b></p><p>Atlanta 4 at Minnesota 1; Montreal 5 at Chicago 1; Buffalo 7 at Pittsburgh 6; Detroit 3 at California 4; Kansas City 1 at Vancouver 3; St. Louis 2 at Toronto 2.</p><p><b>Thu. Mar. 11</b></p><p>N.Y. Rangers 3 at Los Angeles 4; Buffalo 1 at Philadelphia 6; Toronto 2 at Boston 6.</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 12</b></p><p>Washington 1 at Atlanta 4.</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 13</b></p><p>N.Y. Rangers 7 at Vancouver 3, N.Y. Islanders 2 at Toronto 2; Boston 2 at Montreal 4; California 2 at Pittsburgh 4, Detroit 4 at Los Angeles 1; Chicago 4 and Minnesota 1; Kansas City 3 at St. Louis 5.</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 14</b></p><p>N.Y. Islanders 5 at Chicago; 3; Atlanta 1 at Philadelphia 6; Washington 1 at Montreal 5; St. Louis 1 at Pittsburgh 7; Buffalo Bat Minnesota 2; California 2 at Boston 4</p><h3>GAMES TO COME</h3><p><b>Tue. Mar. 16</b></p><p>N.Y. Rangers at Washington, Minnesota at N.Y. Islanders, Philadelphia at Atlanta, Pittsburgh at Montreal; Detroit at Vancouver; Buffalo at Los Angeles, Chicago at Kansas City, Boston at St. Louis.</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 17</b></p><p>Minnesota at N.Y. Rangers; Toronto at Chicago; Buffalo at California.</p><p><b>Thu. Mar. 18</b></p><p>Vancouver at Philadelphia; St. Louis at Detroit; loston at Kansas City.</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 19</b></p><p>Vancouver at Atlanta, Montreal at California; Pittsburgh at Washington.</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 20</b></p><p>N.Y. Rangers at Boston, Chicago at N.Y. Islanders; Philadelphia at Detroit; Montreal at Los Angeles; Washington at Toronto; California at Kansas City.</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 21</b></p><p>Pittsburgh at N.Y. Rangers; Toronto at Philadelphia, Detroit at Chicago; Los Angeles at Minnesota; St. Louis at Vancouver; Kansas City at Buffalo.</p><p><b>Mon. Mar. 22</b></p><p>St. Louis at California.</p><p><b>Tue. Mar. 23</b></p><p>N.Y. Islanders at Vancouver; Philadelphia at Minnesota; Kansas City at Washington.</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 24</b></p><p>N.Y Rangers at Buffalo; N.Y. Islanders at Los Angeles, Atlanta at Chicago; Toronto at Montreal, Washington at Detroit; Boston at Pittsburgh; Minnesota at Kansas City.</p><p><b>Thu Mar. 25</b></p><p>N.Y. Rangers at Philadelphia; Pittsburgh at St Louis; Chicago at Boston.</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 26</b></p><p>N.Y. Islanders at California; Buffalo at Washington; Los Angeles at Vancouver.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-23

LOOKING AT THE NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01364/3829551-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="740" height="961"></div><h2><b>Tue. March 9 ST. LOUIS 0, ISLANDERS 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02286/3829544-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="598" height="436"></div><h2><b>BOSTON 0, ATLANTA 9</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03201/3829537-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="611" height="397"></div><h2><b>VANCOUVER 1, LOS ANGELES 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04153/3829530-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="598" height="456"></div><h2><b>Wed. March 10 ATLANTA4. MINNESOTA 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-05120/3829523-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="587" height="355"></div><h2><b>MONTREAL 5, CHICAGO 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-06104/3829516-1-eng-US/f0024-062.jpg" title="f0024-06" width="600" height="424"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO 7, PITTSBURGH 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0789/3829509-1-eng-US/f0024-072.jpg" title="f0024-07" width="630" height="535"></div><h2><b>DETROIT 3, CALIFORNIA4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0884/3829502-1-eng-US/f0024-082.jpg" title="f0024-08" width="621" height="619"></div><h2><b>KANSAS CITY 1, VANCOUVER 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0977/3829495-1-eng-US/f0024-092.jpg" title="f0024-09" width="607" height="399"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS 2, TORONTO 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1070/3829488-1-eng-US/f0024-102.jpg" title="f0024-10" width="645" height="437"></div><h2><b>Thu. March 11 RANGERS 3, LOS ANGELES 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1168/3829481-1-eng-US/f0024-112.jpg" title="f0024-11" width="610" height="437"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO 1, PHILADELPHIA 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1260/3829474-1-eng-US/f0024-122.jpg" title="f0024-12" width="609" height="510"></div><h2><b>TORONTO 2, BOSTON 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1350/3829467-1-eng-US/f0024-132.jpg" title="f0024-13" width="641" height="448"></div><h2><b>Fri. March 12 WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1440/3829460-1-eng-US/f0024-142.jpg" title="f0024-14" width="612" height="408"></div><h2><b>Sat. March 13 RANGERS 7, VANCOUVER 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1536/3829453-1-eng-US/f0024-152.jpg" title="f0024-15" width="601" height="440"></div><h2><b>ISLANDERS2, TORONTO2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1633/3829446-1-eng-US/f0024-162.jpg" title="f0024-16" width="581" height="370"></div><h2><b>BOSTON 2, MONTREAL 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1730/3829439-1-eng-US/f0024-172.jpg" title="f0024-17" width="642" height="409"></div><h2><b>CALIFORNIA 2, PITTSBURGH 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1828/3829432-1-eng-US/f0024-182.jpg" title="f0024-18" width="625" height="427"></div><h2><b>DETROIT 4, LOS ANGELES 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1928/3829425-1-eng-US/f0024-192.jpg" title="f0024-19" width="591" height="445"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO 4, MINNESOTA 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2027/3829418-1-eng-US/f0024-202.jpg" title="f0024-20" width="602" height="402"></div><h2><b>KANSASCITY 3, ST. LOUIS 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2124/3829411-1-eng-US/f0024-212.jpg" title="f0024-21" width="632" height="520"></div><h2><b>Sun. March 14 ISLANDERS 5, CHICAGO 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2222/3829404-1-eng-US/f0024-222.jpg" title="f0024-22" width="623" height="532"></div><h2><b>ATLANTA 1, PHILADELPHIA 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01308/3829397-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="603" height="406"></div><h2><b>WASHINGTON 1, MONTREAL 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02227/3829390-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="604" height="450"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS 1, PITTSBURGH 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03156/3829383-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="607" height="465"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO 8, MINNESOTA 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04121/3829376-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="608" height="442"></div><h2><b>CALIFORNIA 4, BOSTON 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-05102/3829369-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="605" height="471"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0024-01

National Hockey League Summaries

<p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD. Arnold Street Wallaceburg, Ontario in U.S. and Canada</p><p>WINNIPEG&mdash;</p><p>Winnipeg Jets have all but wrapped up the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s Canadian Division crown and did it by outscoring, not out-fighting, their closest pursuers, the Quebec Nordiques.</p><p>The Nordiques won the fights but the Jets were at their scoring best in registering a resounding 10-3 victory. The win moved Winnipeg 14 points ahead of Quebec and also built their overall point lead to 12 over the Houston Aeros.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02258/3829648-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="265" height="421"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Marc Tardif</b></figcaption></div><p>Both benches emptied in Winnipeg when Quebec&rsquo;s Pierre Roy vacated the penalty box to aid teammate Bill Prentice who was engaged in fistic endeavors with Winnipeg&rsquo;s Bobby Hull. Fights broke out all over the ice and the Jets were on the losing end of most.</p><p>A half-dozen police officers were called in to restore order after the altercations had persisted for 25 minutes. Referee Ron Fournier dealt out game misconducts to Roy, Serge Bernier, who also was on the receiving end of three major penalties. Charles Constantin and Gordie Gallant of Quebec while Lyle Moffat was the only Jet evicted from the game.</p><p>The main reason the Jets can boast of the WHA&rsquo;s top point total is the line of Hull, Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg, which has picked up right where it left off in 1974-75.</p><p>Through 68 games the trio had accumulated 298 points, the highest total in major league hockey.</p><p>Hull and Nilsson both had 100 points while Hedberg was closing in on the century mark. Hull had counted 40 goals, Nilsson 35 and Hedberg led the troika with 46 tallies.</p><p>It marks the sixth season in succession that Hull has scored 40 or more goals and the 12th time he&rsquo;s notched 40 or more during his pro career.</p><p><b>QUEBEC:</b> Marc Tardif became the first player in the WHA this season to score 60 goals as he counted that one in lopsided defeat in Winnipeg. It was a lost week for the Nordiques who also dropped a 7-4 verdict in Calgary. The pair of defeats saw Quebec fall 14 points behind the front running Jets and while the Nordiques hold three games in hand their title chances are at best slim. The line of Tardif. Chris Bordeleau and Real Cloutier is close behind the Jets&rsquo; high scoring threesome. The Quebec trio has accounted for 289 points in 65 games. Tardif leads the way with 115 points. Bordeleau has 82 and Cloutier 92. The 19-year-old Cloutier appears certain to become the youngest player to score 50 goals in a single season with 49 already to his credit. The Nordiques claimed Curt Brackenbury and Ted Hampson in the league draft of the players from the defunct Minnesota franchise.</p><p><b>CALGARY:</b> Cowboys clinched third place with 2-0 win over fourth place Edmonton. Don McLeod faced only 16 shots in recording the shutout and Rick Jodzio and Gavin Kirk supplied all the scoring that was needed Cowboys also dumped Quebec 7-4 to make for perfect week. Pat Westrum was obtained in the draft of Minnesota players and Bernie Lukowich was secured from Indianapolis as furture consideration from the earlier trade involving Hugh Harris. Defenseman Duane Rupp was recalled from Rochester of the American League.</p><p><b>EDMONTON:</b> Oilers are edging closer to securing a playoff berth but not on their own merits. The only thing moving the Oilers closer to the postseason action is the inefficiency being displayed by the Toronto Toros. Oilers dropped unimpressive 2-0 decision in Calgary to mathematically eliminate them from any chance of achieving third spot. Edmonton leads the Toros by 12 points and Toronto has a half-dozen games in hand. The Oilers have nine games remaining and could wind up the regular season with a total of 71 points while the Toros have 15 games left and could also finish with a total of 71 points. Oilers drafted Paul Holmgren and goaler Lou Levasseur from defunct Minnesota Fighting Saints. Holmgren, however, inked a pact with Philadelphia of the NHL.</p><p><b>TORONTO:</b> Toros stumbled after having won three in a row. Dropped 5-2 verdict at home against division leading Winnipeg and then lost 3-1 to Racers in Indianapolis The Toros still trail Edmonton and the final playoff berth by 12 points and time is beginning to ran out. Their hopes lie in the six games which they have in hand on the Oilers. Mark Napier continues his fine play as he scored his 32nd goal of this, his rookie season. in loss to Racers. Goaltender Les Binkley was retired for medical reasons. Defenseman Gerald Gibbons was made a free agent. Gavin Kirk was sent to Calgary to complete the trade for Wayne Wood. The Toros strengthened their goaling more when they picked up John Garrett, previously with Fighting Saints, on league waivers. Toronto drafted three players from the disbanded Minnesota franchise. Bill Butters. Jerry Zrymiak and John Arbour.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01315/3829641-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="630" height="1634"></div><h2><b>WHA Leaders</b></h2><h3><b>LEADING SCORES</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03218/3829634-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="602" height="700"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-02

Looking Jets Take Hold On Division Crown At WHA With “Big Three” Leading The Way Goalers

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div><p>PHOENIX&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>R</span>obbie Ftorek became the highest scoring U.S. born player in major league hockey in a single season with the former record holder watching from the opposition bench.</p><p>Ftorek&rsquo;s 31st goal of the season in a loss to the New England Whalers, gave the 24-year-old center from Needham, Mass., his 88th point this season. Pleau scored 87 points in the 1972-73 season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01295/3829686-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="282" height="399"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>John Gray</b></figcaption></div><p>Ironically, a piece of advice from Pleau is recalled by Ftorek every time he steps into the faceoff circle.</p><p>They met while Ftorek was trying out for the 1970-71 U.S. National team. Pleau, a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team was playing for the Montreal Canadiens at the time, but the national team tryouts were in his home, Lynn, Mass.</p><p>Ftorek was turning his bottom hand over so the thumb pointed up the stick (as most Europeans do), enabling him to take the faceoff on his backhand only.</p><p>&ldquo;Larry told me that was a bad thing to do,&rdquo; said Ftorek, &ldquo;that I was telegraphing where I was going. He said I should develop quickness either way.&rdquo;</p><p>The 153-pound Ftorek is one of the quickest in the WHA.</p><p>The Roadrunners were busy setting records, but put together a three-game losing streak to follow a four-game winning streak.</p><p>They scored five times between a pair of Indianapolis goals for the fourth consecutive victory, but had the string. broken and the losing streak started when Mark Howe&rsquo;s third period hat trick dealt them a 6-3 loss at Houston.</p><p>They gave up three goals in the final 5:08 for a 5-3 loss to New England at home and ran the streak to eight consecutive goals allowed&mdash;seven in 20 minutes and 52 seconds of playing time&mdash;as the San Diego Mariners jumped to a 5-0 lead and held on for a 5-2 victory, cutting the Roadrunners&rsquo; hold to two points on second place in the WHA West.</p><p>San Diego outshot Phoenix 9-1 in the first period, but the Roadrunners still hold a 6-3-0 edge this season over Phoenix.</p><p>John Gray&rsquo;s assist in the loss to New England and goal in the defeat at San Diego gave him points in 11 consecutive games, breaking the team record of nine, shared by Ftorek and injured Michel Cormier.</p><p>Ftorek&rsquo;s goal at 0:31 of the third period in the win over Indianapolis, followed by Dave Gorman&rsquo;s at 1:31 and Blair MacDonald&rsquo;s score for Indianapolis at 1:55 set a new league record for the fastest three goals from the start of the third period. The previous record of 2:59 was set by Edmonton and Quebec, March21,1974.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02235/3829679-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="1177" height="1005"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ROBBIE FTOREK&hellip;Puts Advice To Good Use</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0027-01

Runners’ Ftorek Sets New Point Mark For U.S. Players

<h2><b>Tue. March 9 SAN DIEGO 2, HOUSTON 9</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01281/3829843-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="602" height="498"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC 4, CALGARY 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02205/3829836-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="594" height="645"></div><h2><b>WINNIPEG 5, TORONTO 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03152/3829829-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="596" height="488"></div><h2><b>Wed. March 10 QUEBEC 3, WINNIPEG 10</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04121/3829822-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="596" height="728"></div><h2><b>PHOENIX 3, NEW ENGLAND 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05103/3829815-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="626" height="439"></div><h2><b>CINCINNATI 2, CLEVELAND 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0686/3829808-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="602" height="429"></div><h2><b>Thu. March 11 HOUSTON 1, SAN DIEGO 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0776/3829801-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="640" height="432"></div><h2><b>TORONTO 1, INDIANAPOLIS 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0870/3829794-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="627" height="358"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON 0, CALGARY 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0964/3829787-1-eng-US/f0028-092.jpg" title="f0028-09" width="603" height="384"></div><h2><b>Fri. March 12 PHOENIX 5, TORONTO 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03171/3829780-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="537" height="498"></div><h2><b>CLEVELAND 2, NEW ENGLAND 8</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04131/3829773-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="610" height="561"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC 10, WINNIPEG 8</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-05100/3829766-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="599" height="621"></div><h2><b>INDIANAPOLIS 6, CINCINNATI 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0680/3829759-1-eng-US/f0027-062.jpg" title="f0027-06" width="608" height="482"></div><h2><b>Sat. March 13 HOUSTON 3, SAN DIEGO 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0769/3829752-1-eng-US/f0027-072.jpg" title="f0027-07" width="646" height="470"></div><h2><b>PHOENIX 4, INDIANAPOLIS 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0865/3829745-1-eng-US/f0027-082.jpg" title="f0027-08" width="602" height="466"></div><h2><b>NEW ENGLAND 5, CINCINNATI 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0964/3829738-1-eng-US/f0027-092.jpg" title="f0027-09" width="614" height="418"></div><h2><b>Sun. March 14 EDMONTON 2, WINNIPEG 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-1060/3829731-1-eng-US/f0027-102.jpg" title="f0027-10" width="605" height="380"></div><h2><b>PHOENIX 3, CLEVELAND 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-1151/3829724-1-eng-US/f0027-112.jpg" title="f0027-11" width="593" height="433"></div><h2><b>TORONTO 3, QUEBEC 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-1244/3829717-1-eng-US/f0027-122.jpg" title="f0027-12" width="608" height="427"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0028-01

World Hockey Association Summaries

<p><b>(Standings on Tue. Mar. 16)</b></p><h2><b>Canadian Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1062/3829888-1-eng-US/f0028-102.jpg" title="f0028-10" width="542" height="156"></div><h2><b>Eastern Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1156/3829881-1-eng-US/f0028-112.jpg" title="f0028-11" width="547" height="133"></div><h2><b>Western Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1252/3829874-1-eng-US/f0028-122.jpg" title="f0028-12" width="554" height="155"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. Mar. 9</b></p><p>San Diego 2 at Houston 9; Quebec 4 at Calgary 7. Winnipeg 5 at Toronto 2.</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 10</b></p><p>Phoenix 3 at New England 2; Cincinnati 2 at Cleveland 5; Quebec 3 at Winnipeg 10.</p><p><b>Thu. Mar. 11</b></p><p>Houston 1 at Son Diego 4; Toronto 1 at Indianapolis 3; Edmonton 0 at Calgary 2.</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 12</b></p><p>Phoenix at Toronto 2; Indianapolis 6 at Cincinnati 3; Cleveland 2 at New England 8; Quebec 10 at Winnipeg 8.</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 13</b></p><p>Houston 3 at Son Diego 2, Phoenix 4 at Indianapolis 6; New England 5 at Cincinnati 1.</p><p><b>Sun. Mor. 14</b></p><p>Edmonton 2 at Winnipeg 4; Phoenix 3 at Cleveland 2; Toronto 3 at Quebec 1.</p><h3>GAMES TO COME</h3><p><b>Tue. Mar. 16</b></p><p>Cleveland at Toronto, Calgary at Edmonton.</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 17</b></p><p>Houston at Phoenix; Toronto at Cincinnati, Calgary at Winnipeg.</p><p><b>Thu. Mar. 18</b></p><p>Son Diego at Indianapolis.</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 19</b></p><p>Son Diego at Houston; Cincinnati at New England; Win mpeg at Edmonton; Quebec at Toronto.</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 20</b></p><p>Houston at Cincinnati, Indianapolis at New England;</p><p>Calgary at Quebec</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 21</b></p><p>Phoenix at Houston, Cincinnatti at Cleveland. Winnipeg at Toronto.</p><p><b>Tue. Mar. 23</b></p><p>Indianapolis at Son Diego; Cleveland at Quebec; Calgary at Toronto.</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 24</b></p><p>Cincinnati at Phoenix, Edmonton at Winnipeg; Calgary at New England</p><p><b>Thu. Mar. 25</b></p><p>Cincinnati at Son Diego.</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 26</b></p><p>Cincinnati at Houston; Son Diego at Phoenix; Indiana polis at Cleveland; Edmonton at Toronto.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0028-10

WHA SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div><p>HOUSTON&mdash;</p><p>When Mark Howe scored a pure hat trick, it was only fitting that Papa Gordie Howe assist on all three goals.</p><p>Mark. 20, scored all three goals to break open a 3-3 tie and give the Houston Aeros a 6-3 victory over the Phoenix Roadrunners. The Houston victory stretched their lead in the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s Western Division to 12 points over second place Phoenix.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01241/3829919-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="564" height="1258"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MARK HOWE&hellip;100th WHA Goal</b></figcaption></div><p>Mark&rsquo;s third goal of the night, into an empty net as the Roadrunners pressed with an extra attacker, was the 100th of his three-year WHA career.</p><p>Gordie, 47, the club&rsquo;s president as well as its premiere right wing and leading scorer, also scored earlier in the game fora four point night.</p><p>Late goals by John Tonelli and Rich Preston fell just short of a successful rally and the Aeros lost 5-4 to the Cleveland Crusaders.</p><p>The Aeros have a new single season attendance record with 279,240 through 32 games. Their former record, set last season was 265,622.</p><p>The Houston team is also close to the million mark in all time home attendance. In a little less than four years in the WHA they have drawn 990,129.</p><p><b>SAN DIEGO:</b> Joe Noris is proving Ron Ingram right.</p><p>Ingram signed the Denver-born skater away from the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; organization, ignoring his previous record, and declaring that all the 6-0, 190-pounder needed was a regular position and ice-time.</p><p>Noris had bounced among eight different teams in four seasons, including the Pittsburgh Penguins, the St. Louis Blues and the Sabres in the National League, playing defense, center and wing.</p><p>The 24-year-old member of the 1970-71 National Team was installed at center by Ingram and so far has counted 26 goals, the same number he scored in the minor leagues last season, with Syracuse of the American League.</p><p>One of Noris&rsquo; goals came just six seconds after the opening faceoff, the second fastest goal in World Hockey Association history, and led to an 8-2 San Diego rout of the New England Whalers.</p><p>The game also featured the first pro goal by U.S. Olympic star Bob Dobek, who is on a 10-game trial with the Mariners.</p><p>The Mariners had lost to the Whalers two nights before as Mike Rogers scored the winner with just three seconds left.</p><p>Andre Lacroix went on a rampage against the right team, the Phoenix Roadrunners.</p><p>His goal and three assists triggered a 5-2 victory over Phoenix, which cut the Roadrunners&rsquo; lead in the race for second in the WHA West to two points over the Mariners.</p><p>The Mariners took a 5-0 lead as Lacroix set up three of four first period goals and scored himself in the second.</p><p>The four-point night moved Lacroix to within one point of Robbie Ftorek of Phoenix as the leading scorer in the U.S. divisions. Lacroix has 22 goals and 65 assists.</p><p>The Mariners still trail the Roadrunners 6-3-0 in games this season although San Diego completely dominated the last meeting outshooting Phoenix 9-1 in the opening period.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0029-01

Gordie Sets Up Son Mark Howe’s Hat Trick

<p>CLEVELAND&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>rusaders&rsquo; general manager Jack Vivian resigned his position and the players wore black armbands. However, the players&rsquo; display of grief wasn&rsquo;t to indicate sorrow on account of a person leaving, rather for a group of people reportedly coming to Cleveland.</p><p>The Crusaders wore the armbands as pro test to demonstrate dissatisfaction with management and the report that the Kansas City Scouts of the National Hockey League could be moving to Cleveland.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01276/3829957-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="289" height="402"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Larry Pleau</b></figcaption></div><p>Vivian and Crusader owner Jay Moore met with team player representatives to try and persuade them not to wear the armbands in their game against the Cincinnati Stingers that night, but to no avail. Vivian subsequently resigned as GM of the World Hockey Association club.</p><p>The Crusaders showed no pity on the Stingers, however, as they skated to a 5-2 victory to move into a first place tie with Cincinnati in the WHA&rsquo;s East Division. The Crusaders and Stingers have 63 points while the New England Whalers are just one point back with 62. Cleveland, however, has three games in hand on the Stingers and has played two fewer games than the Whalers.</p><p>Crusaders selected Perry Miller and Wayne Connelly in the league draft of the players from the suspended Minnesota Fighting Saints franchise.</p><p>The victory over the Stingers stretched the Crusaders&rsquo; unbeaten streak on home ice to four games and they carry a two-game unbeaten skein on the road to New England for important matchun with the Whalers.</p><p><b>NEW ENGLAND:</b> Whalers currently the owners of the WHA&rsquo;s 11th ranked offensive totals having scored just 213 goals in 68 games for an average of 3.13 per game. One of the main reasons has to be their ineffective power play. In 206 man advantage situations the Whalers have scored 37 power play goals for a proficiency average of 18.0, which ranks 10th in the 12-team league. Larry Pleau has been far and away the Whalers&rsquo; hottest powerplay shooter with 13 goals to his credit via that route so far this season. While Whalers were being edged at home 3-2 by the Phoenix Roadrunners, Cleveland was dumping Cincinnati to move ahead of New England in the wild scramble for first place. Whalers now find themselves a point behind both Cincinnati and Cleveland. Whalers drafted three players from the defunct Minnesota Fighting Saints franchise; Ron Busniuk, Steve Carlson and Fran Huck.</p><p><b>CINCINNATI:</b> Stingers dropped 52 verdict in Cleveland and now find themselves tied for first place with Crusaders and only one point in front of New England. Johnny McKenzie former Minnesota Fighting Saints star was taken by the Stingers in the WHA draft of the Saints players. McKenzie. 39. had scored 21 and counted 26 assists with Minnesota until the franchise collapsed. Stingers have been outscored-in every period by their opponents with the opening stanza being their most successful 74-76 and the third period their worst, 80-95. Cincinnati has been outscored 104-93 in the second period. Rick Dudley in eighth place in WHA goal scoring with 35 and a .57 goals-per-game average. John Hughes and Dale Smedsmo in top ten penalty minute leaders. Hughes has served 168 minutes while Smedsmo is right behind with 167.</p><p><b>INDIANAPOLIS:</b> Racers falling off the pace being set by three division rivals. Club trails New England by seven points and Cincinnati and Cleveland by eight. Racers trail league leading Winnipeg by slight margin in goals-against category. Jets have a team percentage of 3.04 while the Racers are at 3.06. While impressive defensively the Racers have the worst offensive totals in the WHA. Their 192 is 21 goals behind the Whalers, who own the second worst mark. Renald Leclerc and Michel Parizeau, both in-season additions to the Racers, lead the club in points. Leclerc has a season total of 23 goals and 52 points with eight goals and 20 points coming in 26 games with Indianapolis. Parizeau has one goal and seven assists since joining the Racers nine games ago to bring his season total to 13 goals and 47 points. Bob Sicinski tops the players that have been with the club since the start of the season with 43 points, 34 of them assists.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02218/3829950-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="568" height="922"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JOHNNY MCKENZIE&hellip;Stingers&rsquo; Choice</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0030-01

GM Vivian Resigns Over Armband Issue

<p>VANCOUVER&mdash;</p><p>The National Hockey League&rsquo;s Conn Smythe Division is living proof that history does repeat itself.</p><p>Last season the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Black Hawks and St. Louis Blues were involved in a struggle that went right down to the wire with Canucks capturing first place almost, it seemed, by default.</p><p>Once again the Smythe section is proving to be the weak link in the NHL alignment and it&rsquo;s beginning to look as though things will once more be up for grabs come the final weekend of regular season action.</p><p>The Canucks are only two points behind the leading Black Hawks in the battle for top spot, which in reality isn&rsquo;t saying much for if the Hawks were in any one of the other three divisions they wouldn&rsquo;t have enough points to earn a playoff berth.</p><p>The major factor keeping the Canucks in the pennant hunt has not been inspired play on their own part but rather the unimpressive showing of the Black Hawks of late.</p><p>The Canucks managed only one victory in three tries this past week but the Hawks were keeping pace by also registering just one win.</p><p>The Canucks&rsquo; lone victory was 3-1 on home ice over the less than feared Kansas City Scouts. Bobby Lalonde, Rick Blight and Chris Oddleifson tallied for Vancouver.</p><p>The Canucks didn&rsquo;t come close in the other two games, dropping a 6-1 verdict in Los Angeles and a 7-3 dicision at home to the New York Rangers.</p><p>Vancouver fell behind 5-0 in L.A. before John Gould scored early in the third period and things went pretty much the same way against the Rangers as the New Yorkers vaulted into a 5-1 bulge early in the middle stanza.</p><p>If the current Smythe Division trend continues, it should be quite a race, or should that be stumble, to the finish line.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Canucks Hanging Tight In Smythe Pennant Race

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div><p>TROY&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>eld in abeyance pending the last few games of the regular season, the annual March Madness officially broke its bonds and flashed across the East when the Division One seeding committee announced the official proclamations on the 1976 playoff qualifiers.</p><p>After viewing the 9-6 RPI win over Vermont here and awaiting the results of March 6&rsquo;s games, the committee awarded the top eight playoff spots on the basis of won-lost percentage alone. For the second year in a row. no subjective decisions between the relative merits of two deadlocked teams were necessary.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01256/3830040-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="250" height="403"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Ken Kuzyk</b></figcaption></div><p>The top three in everyone&rsquo;s opinion. Boston University, New Hampshire, and Brown, were seeded in that order. BU, 21-2 in league play, would meet eighth seed Boston College (11-9-1) at Walter Brown Arena on March 9. These bitter rivals had already tussled in three close contests, with BU winning 4-2 and 6-4, while BC prevailed 3 in the Beanpot Tournament.</p><p>New Hampshire at drew Harvard, 10-7-3 on the year. These two did not meet in the regular season. UNH hasn&rsquo;t made it past the best club over the course of the season. Harvard had at bumpy start, a hot January. and a few February woes typified by a pair of losses, 5-4 and 9-2, to oncoming Dar-t mouth.</p><p>Brown, 18-5, drew Dart mouth, 14-10 in what promised to be a tough match since the Bruins had just beaten the upstart Greenies 7-4 and 8-7 in (overtime in the eight days before the regular season closed, Dart mouth is the most improved team in the East and would be this writer&rsquo;s upset pick if they were not playing Dick Tommey&rsquo;s sextet. Brown wound up its campaign with eleven straight wins, the longest streak ever for the Providence school.</p><p>The final playoff tussle went to&gt; Potsdam. New York, where 16-8-1 Clark-hosted 14-8-1 Cornell. This us the first time since 1965 that Cornell fell below fourth in the seedings. With their records so chose, it was still easy for the committee to choose since Clarkson had already beaten the Bug Red 4-2 and 6-4,</p><p>In the final week of play, the important games were Dartmouth&rsquo;s 9-2 drubbing of Harvard and Clarkson&rsquo;s wins of 8-3 over UNH and 5-4 at un-St, Lawrence. Dartmouth scored seven goals in the second period, with Ken Pettit and Kevin Johnson each net ting a hat trick. Clarkson Hopped out in front of UNH 7-1 after two periods and coasted, thus cementing their fourth place berth. The Knights had lost a pair to light weights Penn and Princeton the week before and were in some danger of hosing that first round prize.</p><p>Before we commence with the play-where in All Americans are quite often born, let&rsquo;s pause and give some credit to the key players who in this writer&rsquo;s mind, might be every bit as good as the more publicized ones who eventually will be All America. On no particular order, they are Providence&rsquo;s Dan Kennedy. Harvard&rsquo;s Billy Hozack, Boston College&rsquo;s Bob Feritter, Boston University&rsquo;s Ken Kuzyk. Northeastern&rsquo;s Jim Martel, and Vermont&rsquo;s Ed Hill.</p><p>Coach of the Year was never easier: George Crowe of Dart mouth, who brought his team from 16th to 6th.</p><p>Playoffs were already underway in the first week of March for Divisions Two and Three in the East. In the littlest loop. Amherst was the host and winner with a final game overtime triumph over Worcester State, 3-2 Bill Greer converted a rebounded at 8:44 of the extra period to give the Lord Jeffs their first playoff title ever.</p><p>In Division Three&rsquo;s first round games, Amherst fell behind early but rallied with five second period goals to down Framungham State 7-4. Worcester trounced Rochester Tech BB-B(O) with Curt Degon, Bob Turcotte. and Bob Donoghue each scoring twice.</p><p>Three of the top four seeds in far-flung Division Two advanced to the semi-finals in the Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday playoff format. The only upset saw fifth-ranked Army knock off fourth-ranked Union 3-2 in Schenectady for the Dutchmen&rsquo;s first home Loss this season. Dave Yancey and Dave Rost combined on a two on one break with thirteen minutes to in the third period, and Yancey slipped the disc behind Jim Baxter for the-winner. Union and Army had not met during the regular season.</p><p>Top ranked Merriimack, trying to forget their upset loss in the playoffs last year, had a struggle before knocking off the No. 8 seed Buffalo 7-4. in North Andover. Stocked with eight semiixors. Merrimack fell behind early and found itself knotted 4-4 with 15 minutes to go, But Mike Reynolds tallied on the power play at 7:30 of the third period, and Bob Sneider completed his hat trick before Greg Walker capped the scoring with a short handed goal.</p><p>Bowdion ended the dreams of last year&rsquo;s Cinderella team. Hamilton, with a 7-3 thrashing at Brunswick. Mark O&rsquo;Keefe&rsquo;s two power-play goals paced the Polar Bears.</p><p>In another close one, third ranked Salem State threw 46 shots at Oswego&rsquo;s goalie, Steve Paluseo and beat him only twice. But that was enough as the Vikings yielded but one goal themselves and hit for an empty net score in the final seconds for a 3-1 triumph. Oswego held a 1-0 lead on Ron Gabriella&rsquo;s goal in the second period, but Ken Irving finally broke the ice for Salem in the opening minute of the third frame. John Baldassari hit for the winner later in that period.</p><p>Salem thus earned a trip to Bowdoin to face the Polar Bears for a semi-final game while Merrimack hosted Army.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02192/3830033-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="576" height="598"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ED HILL&hellip;An All American?</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>College Races</b></h2><h3><b>ECAC CONFERENCE</b></h3><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03133/3830026-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="592" height="450"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPUTED</b></h3><p><b>DIVISION I</b></p><p>Princeton 3, Clarkson 2</p><p>Boston University 9, Cornell 4</p><p>Brown 11, Yale 4</p><p>Dartmouth 9, Harvard 2</p><p>New Hampshire 9, RPI 7</p><p>Princeton 5, Pennsylvania 1</p><p>Clarkson 8, New Hampshire 3</p><p>Boston University 5, Providence 3</p><p>Brown 8, Dartmouth 7</p><p>Clarkson 5. St, Lawrence 4</p><p>RPI 9. Vermont 6</p><p>Harvard 7, Yale 2</p><p><b>DIVISION II PLAYOFFS</b></p><p><b>First Round</b></p><p>Merrimack 7, Buffalo 4</p><p>Bowdoin 7, Homiltan 3</p><p>Salem State 3, Oswego 1</p><p>Army 3, Union 2</p><p><b>DIVISION III PLAYOFFS</b></p><p><b>First Round</b></p><p>Worcester State 11, Rochester Tech 0</p><p>Amherst 7. Framingham Stole 4</p><p><b>Second Round</b></p><p>Amherst 3, Worcester State 2 (Amherst wins title)</p><h3>WCHA CONFERENCE</h3><p><b>(Standings on Mon. March 1)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0483/3830019-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="587" height="302"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Michigan State 5, Colorado College 4</p><p>North Dakota 4, Denver 2</p><p>Michigan Tech 9, Wisconsin 3</p><p>Michigan 5. Minnesota 2</p><p>Notre Dame 7, Minnesota-Duluth 5</p><p>Michigan Stole 6, Colorado College 4</p><p>Denver 7, North Dakota 6</p><p>Minnesota 7, Michigan 4</p><p>Michigan Tech 9, Wisconsin 6</p><p>Notre Dame 10, Minnesota Duluth 4</p><h3>TOP TEN SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0549/3830012-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="595" height="281"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0032-01

BU, New Hampshire, Brown Top Seeded As ECAC Selects Playoff Starters

<div class="byline">BY SCOTT HERRON</div><p>HOUGHTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>ichigan Tech, the defending national champion. captured its second Western Collegiate Hockey Associaition title in three years by sweeping a two-game series from last place Wisconsin with a week logo in the regular season.</p><p>For the past couple of seasons, clinching the league crown early hasn&rsquo;t been very beneficial. Tech did it two years ago, only to see second place Minnesota eventually win the NCAA title. Last season, it was just the reverse, with runner up Tech claiming the national championship.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0632/3830071-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="284" height="366"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Mike Zuke</b></figcaption></div><p>But this year, things could be different. For one thing, the Huskies, who have won seven WCHA championships, don&rsquo;t finish the season against the Gophers, undoubtedly to the relief of both climbs. And for another. Tech doesn&rsquo;t appear ready to let down.</p><p>&ldquo;We were fortunate to have cinched at least a share of the title two weeks ago, &ldquo;says coach-John Maclnnes. whose team ends the regular season with a series at Minnesota-Duluth. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played better since then. Maybe it took the burden off our shoulders. I was quite pleased with our performance against Wisconsin. We&rsquo;re checking better and executing better.&rdquo;</p><p>Maclnnes, who considered leaving Tech at the end of last season, won&rsquo;t find an argument on that count. The Huskies drilled the Badgers 9-3. 9-6. scoring three goals in each period hot h mights (Feb. 27-28). The week before that they drubbed North Dakota 12-2. 5-2.</p><p>A major reason for Tech&rsquo;s success this season has been due to what Maclimes calls his &ldquo;&lsquo;Big Four.&rdquo; Mike Zuke. George Lyle, Stu Ostlund and Jim Mayer have accounted for 112 goals and 247 points against league competition-Zuke ranks third among WCHA scorers with 32 goals and 35 assists, Lyle fourth win 34 and 32. Ostlund fifth with 23 and 38 and Mayer seventh with 24 and 30.</p><p>But the Huskies&rsquo; fabulous foursome hasn&rsquo;t done all the work. Maclnnes is quick to point out. &ldquo;A big plus for us has been that some of the others are beginning to score.&rsquo;&rsquo; he says. To the dismay rod other teams in the league, freshmen Dave Joelson and Lou Drazenovich. sopbomore Doug Young and junior Jeff Wilcox have supplemented the &ldquo;Big Four&rsquo;s &ldquo;goal production.</p><p>Another finer Young, freshman Warren. plays on a line with Joelson and sophomore Dana Decker, and the trio has helped the Huskies cut down on their goals against. Another unheralded line&mdash;comprised of center Scott Jessee and wings Stu Younger and Rick Keller&mdash;has been a &lsquo;&lsquo;big surprise,&rdquo; Maclnnes adds. It was formed after sophomore center Chris Ferguson separated a shoulder.</p><p>&ldquo;Hopefully, we&rsquo;ll continue to play as well as we have been,&rdquo; Maclnnes says. &ldquo;Two years ago we had an awful letdown. But we&rsquo;re satisfied with the way we&rsquo;ve been playing. We&rsquo;ve been going at a rather consistent pace. The thing I&rsquo;m leary of is that we&rsquo;ll run dry (in scoring).&rdquo;</p><p>There seems little likelihood of that, consideringTech&rsquo;s23-7 WCHA record, 27-8 over all. And even if the Huskies should falter, they open the WCHA playoffs at home March 10-11 and if they sweep that total-goal series, stay at home March 13-14.</p><p><b>WCHA NOTES:</b> State goalie Dave Versical took a slapshot in the throat in the Spartans&rsquo; first game against Colorado College, but after being replaced by John Sztykiel came back to play Saturday., State&rsquo;s Tom Ross has set a school record with 44 total goals. Four players were ejected for fighting in the Notre Dame-UMD series in South Bend, the Bulldogs&rsquo; Dave Langevin and Joe Nelson and the Irish&rsquo;s Alex Pirus and Kevin Nugent., Rick Palm er replaced former All-American Robbie Moore in goal for Michigan in its series against Minnesota. Moore had the flu., Minnesota has set a single season attendance record with 143,321 fans for 19 home games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0032-06

Tech Huskies Bring Home WCHA Title With Depth

<p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>U</span>niversity of Toronto Blues have added fuel to the controversy surrounding the 1976 Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union hockey championships.</p><p>The Blues qualified for the national championships not because they were the top team in their division, but rather on account of the fact they were the host club. They were specified as one of the teams competing in order to assure gate receipts from the event.</p><p>As it turned out the Blues were inhospitable hosts as they downed the Guelph Gryphons 7-2 in the final game to capture the national title for the eighth time in 11 seasons.</p><p>The format under which the championships were played also drew criticism, especially from the teams involved. A pair of games were played on the first day of the tournament Friday with the winners playing the losers in the semi-final matchups the next day. The two winners would then meet in the sudden-death final. What it really meant was that the games on the opening day meant nothing in deciding the final outcome.</p><p>&ldquo;The CIAU has bungled things badly,&rdquo; said Calgary coach George Kingston in an interview with the Toronto Star. &ldquo;These guys (his players) are students first and some of them have exams Thursday and Friday, It&rsquo;s just hard to justify an exhibition game at this point.&rdquo;</p><p>Guelph coach Bob Folusewych also voiced displeasure with the setup stating that his first reaction was to for feit the opening game on Friday and show up for the semi-final match the following day.</p><p>Concordia Stingers, the province of Quebec&rsquo;s representative, entered the championship as the favorites, Alt the conclusion their record in the last 37 games stood at 36 wins and one loss but that single setback was in the semi-final game, a 3-2 overtime defeat at the hands of the Blues.</p><p>Guelph, the Ontario conference entry. faced the Blues in the final game by virtue of a 4-2 win over Calgary in the semi-final.</p><p>Meanwhile the All-Canadian university team was announced. as selected by a panel of five hockey coaches, one from each of the country&rsquo;s athletic associations.</p><p>The forward line consisted of three Ontario players. Toronto captain Kent Ruhnke. York center Bob Wasson and Peter Fraser of Western. Petter Mackenzie of St. Francis Xavier and Craig Stewart of Calgary were the defensemen while Jim Corsi of Concordia was the top netminder. Paul Arsenault, also of Concordia was voted the top coach in the country.</p><p>Wasson was the top point-getter in the country with 84 while Ruhnke led the nation in goals with 49 in 39 games. Corsi turned in an unbellievable college goals-against average in 39 appearances, l;58.</p><p>Arsenault has brought nine teams from the province of Quebec to compete in the national finals and has yet to come away a champion. This past loss was the most disappaonting as Arsenault considered this year&rsquo;s edition of the Stingers the best team yet.</p><p>Ironically, the Stingers&rsquo; season record ended a 43-3-1 with two of the three defeats to Toronto by identical 32 counts.</p><p>For the Blues the final game was somewhat of a revenge for the loss they had earlier suffered to the Guelph club in the finals of the Ontario section.</p><p>But for those who are critical of the eligibility of the host team, Toronto coach Tom Watt is quick to point out that of the top ten rated teams in Canada. his Blues are the only club to have beaten the other nine.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Controversy Surrounds College Playoff System

<p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>OCKEY PICTORIAL, the world&rsquo;s official hockey magazine, is currently conducting a poll to see who you, the hockey fans of North America, feel should represent Canada and the United States in World Cup &rsquo;76 next September.</p><p>While it will be up to the team executive to assemble the players, HOCKEY PICTORIAL will be your voice and let the men who control our hockey destiny know what players you think would efficiently oppose the foreign squads threatening our hockey heritage.</p><p>Don&rsquo;t pass up this golden opportunity to have your opinions heard. Be sure to purchase either the March or April edition of HOCKEY PICTORIAL for your ballot. Then watch for the May issue and see which players you fans want to put your confidence in.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Fans Can Pick World Cup Teams

<div class="byline">BY DON ETLING</div><p>SAULTSTE. MARIE&mdash;</p><p>The last weekend in February marked a number of &ldquo;lasts&rdquo; for the Lake Superior State Soo Lakers. It was the final regular season series ever to be played in Pular Stadium which abuts the icy locks separating Lakes Huron and Superior.</p><p>It was the last regular season series for coach Rick Comley who will move to Marquette, Mich, next year to begin a hockey program at Northern Michigan University.</p><p>And although Comley and Pular Stadium have served the Soo Lakers well over the past few years, the future seems even rosier for the Central Collegiate Hockey Assn&rsquo;s third place finisher this year.</p><p>Although the team graduates three of its top four scorers in center Rod Hookwith (11 goals, 38 assists), Ian Ward (20-27) and Ernie Chambers (19-19) it returns its leading goal scorer in Mike Gaba (27) as well as two other 30-point scorers.</p><p>And with Junior goalie Pat Tims gaining confidence over the 1975-76 campaign, the Lakers figure to be a bonafide contender for the Central Collegiate crown next season. It was Tims who recorded a dramatic 1-0 shutout over the nationally ranked Bowling Green Falcons and checked the St. Louis University Billikens in a 5-4 overtime Laker victory.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not the strongest defensive team in the world,&rdquo; admits coach Comley, &ldquo;but I think he&rsquo;s (Tims) one of the best goaltenders in the league.</p><p>&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s unfortunate that we don&rsquo;t have a stat that would record goals against based on shots per game. That goals against is a misleading factor in league statistics,&rdquo; Comley adds.</p><p>Tims&rsquo; and freshman netminder Greg Zimmer&rsquo;s goalie chores have been compounded by the small ice surface of Pular Stadium where normally harmless shots into the opponent&rsquo;s corner can produce a rebound to the crease to rival any accurate centering pass.</p><p>&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t seem that it&rsquo;s that difficult a rink to play in. I think the big factor is that it&rsquo;s five feet narrower and 15 feet shorter and the people are very close to you,&rdquo; Comley says.</p><p>The Soo Laker coach believes the rink, in which his team has recorded 14 wins and a tie this season with just two losses, has presented more of a psychological hazard for visiting teams.</p><p>&ldquo;We see the teams around the league and they all dread coming to the Soo. And when you think that way early in the year it has to have a big effect on you.&rdquo;</p><p>The effects of the new on-campus ice rink will be unknown to CCHA opponents until next season but the young Soo Laker squad promises to continue this year&rsquo;s winning ways (19-14-1 going into the final week end of regular season play) on the new surface.</p><p>The defense should improve considerably with experienced blueliners Rick Thomson, Bill DeMaulenacre, Mike Stuart and Pat Wilson returning. Offensively Junior Kim Gellert (20 goals, 27 assists), leading goal scorer Gaba and underclassmen Ron Sandzik. Danny Stack, Claude Boileau and John Bohdanec should make the school&rsquo;s adjustment to a new coach and new ice arena next season a pleasant one&mdash;except, that is, for the rest of the CCHA.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Lake Superior Looking To Next Year In CCHA

<div class="byline">BY AL FISCHER</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p>HALIFAX&mdash;</p><p>Now that the division leaders. Nova Scotia in the North and Hershey in the South, have clinched Calder Cup playoff berths, interest is beginning to mount as to the selection of All Star teams, most valuable player, rookie of the year awards, etc.</p><p>What better place to start the award nominations than with the Voyageurs, who wrapped up their third divisional title in their seven-year history.</p><p>The Vees are strong in every position beginning from goal on out. Certainly, there will be no dispute that Dave Elenbaas is the league&rsquo;s top netminder. If there is any dispute, statistics will quickly put an end to it. Young Elenbaas has compiled a 32-6-3 record, posted four shutouts and boasts an outstanding 2.23 goals allowed average, the lowest mark in that category since the legendary Johnny Bower showed a 2.19 mark with Cleveland in the 1957-58.</p><p>In this day and age of high-scoring, Elenbaas&rsquo; record is even more remarkable.</p><p>Of course, a goalie is only as good as the defense in front of him and Elenbaas has two of the very best rearguards to compensate for any mistake he might make in Rick Chartraw and Bill Nyrop.</p><p>Both are highly regarded, not only by the parent Montreal organization, but also by many other National League teams. The two young backliners have both been subject to recall several times this season, with Nyrop currently serving with the Canadiens. They both possess that quality that makes a Montreal product stand out. They carry the puck well, have good shots, pass to the head man, and most importantly, they play defense, clearing the opposition away from the goal, thus making Elenbaas&rsquo; task easier and more enjoyable.</p><p>Up front, the class continues, with three young players ranked among the top five scorers in the league. Ron An-druff leads the way with 70 points, compiled on a league-leading 34 goals and 36 assists.</p><p>His four short handed goals are also a league best and lend credence to his ability as a strong penalty killer, while his seven game-winning goals are evidence of clutch performance.</p><p>Not to be outdone are Guv Chouinard and Pierre Mondou, both, 30-goal scorers and also outstanding team players as is evidenced by Mondou&rsquo;s 36 assists and 33 by Chouinard.</p><p>The Vees were the first team to clinch a playoff berth and they need only two more victories to win the overall point title in both divisions.</p><p>The overall point championship earns the winner the home-ice advantage in all playoff series.</p><p>Coach Al MacNeil used alternating goalies as he prepared his troops for the playoffs. Elenbaas worked in a 2-2 tie with Richmond and a 2-1 loss in Hershey, while Ed Walsh, last year&rsquo;s All Star choice beat Baltimore 3-1 and lost to New Haven, 5-2.</p><p>Despite the plethora of talent, the Vees have only managed a single Calder Cup title, 1971-72. Most fans expect them to add their second this season.</p><p><b>ROCHESTER:</b> The Amerks clinched a playoff berth in dramatic fashion when Ken Broderick knocked aside 25 shots shots enroute to a 6-0 shutout of Baltimore, the first time the Clippers have been blanked this season.</p><p>Rochester won all four of its starts during the week, but still trailed front running Nova Scotia by eight points as the season winds down.</p><p>Dave Hynes and Gordie Clark both reached the 30-goal mark, while team captain Barry Merrell is closing in fast at the same plateau.</p><p>The efforts of Hynes and O&rsquo;Neil are outstanding, considering they both missed 13 games due to injury.</p><p>Broderick&rsquo;s shutout was his second of the season and his win total of 19 ranks him third in the league behind Elenbaas and Hershey&rsquo;s Don Edwards.</p><p>O&rsquo;Neil was only one goal away from equalling the league mark for unassisted goals in a season, eight by Cleveland&rsquo;s Johnny Holota in 1947-48. O&rsquo;Neil had already surpassed Steve West&rsquo;s mark of six in a 76-game season, while Holota set his record in a 68-game campaign.</p><p>It appears almost certain that the Amerks will finish second and host the first game of the playoffs on Apr. 2 against either Providence or Springfield.</p><p><b>PROVIDENCE:</b> A big victory over Hershey coupled with a Springfield defeat, inched the Reds closer to a playoff berth. They led the Indians by 11 points with just 11 games left.</p><p>The New York Rangers returned Jerry Holland, which in part, made up for the loss of Lynn Powis, a 30-goal scorer who defected to the World Hockey Association a few weeks ago.</p><p>Powis&rsquo;s ability on the power play was sorely missed by the Reds, who lead the league in extra-man goals with 74. Powis had a league high of 15 powerplay scores before his departure for Calgary.</p><p>Young Greg Holst continues his bid for the league scoring title, rookie of the year and MVP awards. His recall by the Rangers was brief. He returned to the Reds after one weekend.</p><p>Holst shared the scoring lead with Hershey&rsquo;s Jean Gratton, and could become the third rookie to win all three awards; Bill Hicke did it in his first season at Rochester in 1958-59, and Baltimore&rsquo;s Fred Speck equalled that feat in 1970-71.</p><p>An injury to defenseman Dave Maloney, who just recently was recalled by the Rangers, could necessitate another callup from the Reds, whose rearguard is already thin.</p><p><b>SPRINGFIELD:</b> The Indians late season bid for a playoff berth was blunted by a tough loss in Richmond. In that game, the Tribe roared to a 4-0 first period lead, only to have the Robins rally fora 5-4 decision.</p><p>The Indians trailed third-place Providence by 11 points with but 12 games remaining on their schedule. Springfield, in all likelihood would have to win them all. plus having Providence completely collapse.</p><p>Norm Dube, season-long club scoring leader, was facing a challenge from veteran Billy Inglis for the honor. Dube had 56 points and Inglis 53 as the campaign moved into its last three weeks.</p><p>Hockey certainly has taken a funny turn in Springfield, with the Indians, Calder Cup champions just a year ago, apparently destined for a last-place finish.</p><p>Like Baltimore, the Indians became somewhate independent, with a partial working agreement with Kansas City, and coach Jim Anderson has not had the talent that Los Angeles once supplied as the parent club.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01248/3830202-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="279" height="376"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Dave Hynes</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02194/3830195-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="570" height="595"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GUY CHOUINARD&hellip;Hit 30-Goal Mark</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03148/3830188-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="564" height="564"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>KEN BRODERICK&hellip;Blanked Clippers</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>AHL Leaders</b></h2><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0496/3830181-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="608" height="568"></div><h3><b>GOALING RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0561/3830174-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="592" height="493"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-01

Voyageurs Top Picks For AHL Awards, Join Bears In Clinching Playoff Spots

<div class="byline">BY AL FISCHER</div><p>NEW HAVEN&mdash;</p><p>The New Haven Nighthawks continued their drive to lock up second place in the American Hockey League beating both division leaders Hershey and Nova Scotia, although the Hawks did drop back-to-back affairs to Rochester.</p><p>In the Nova Scotia game, Tom Colley, the team&rsquo;s top scorer, registered the hat trick and went over the 30-goal mark.</p><p>The Hawks held a three-point lead over third-place Richmond but most fans expect the Hawks to claim the runner-up spot behind Hershey and the home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.</p><p>Coach Parker MacDonald experienced another one of those happy weeks&mdash;no recalls&mdash;and the Hawks haven&rsquo;t had too many of those this season with Minnesota and Detroit constantly shuffling players around.</p><p>Colley&rsquo;s hat trick added to the league-leading total of three-goal games by one team as the Hawks geared for the final playoff push.</p><p>Doug Grant had been drawing the major share of the goaltending burden and he had performed admirably, which probably influenced Detroit&rsquo;s decision to sell him to the St. Louis Blues.</p><p><b>RICHMOND:</b> Robins halted a skid that had plummeted them into the division basement and in so doing moved ahead of Baltimore in the battle for the final playoff berth.</p><p>Tie games with Baltimore and Nova Scotia, plus a thrilling come-from-be-hind victory over Springfield, moved the Robins back into excellent position to hold off Baltimore for the final spot.</p><p>Greg Joly, on loan from Washington, scored both goals in a 2-2 tie with the Voyageurs and then produced the winner in a 5-4 decision against Springfield. In that victory the Robins rallied from a 4-0 first period deficit, a rally led by team scoring leader Larry Fullan and Joly. Fullan, the league&rsquo;s leading assist man, dished out three of his specialties.</p><p>The return of Terry Murray on defense was also a big plus for the Robins as was the continued scoring efforts of Steve Coates and a return to form of Andre Peloffy.</p><p><b>HERSHEY:</b> Although the Bears won only once in three starts, that one victory, a 2-1 decision over Nova Scotia, clinched the Southern Division title for the first time since 1968-69.</p><p>Coach Chuck Hamilton must now guard against a letdown before the playoffs begin.</p><p>There does not appear to be any help coming the rest of the season for the Bears, as the deadline for playoff rosters nears.</p><p>Pete Laframboise is beginning to get back on the scoring beam and display the form he showed back in 1971-72 when he scored 81 points for Baltimore&rsquo;s division champions.</p><p>Hershey&rsquo;s penalty minute total of over 1,300 minutes is far and away the highest in the league.</p><p><b>BALTIMORE:</b> With a squad depleted by injury, especially on defense, general manager-coach Terry Reardon has little reason to feel optimistic about the Clippers&rsquo; chances of gaining a playoff spot.</p><p>A winless streak reached five games as the Clippers tumbled back into the Southern Division cellar, three points behind Richmond in the struggle for the final post-season berth.</p><p>The Clippers scored 14 goals in the five game stretch, but six came in one game, a tie with Richmond for Baltimore&rsquo;s lone standing point of the week.</p><p>Paul Curtis is definitely out for the season with a possible slipped disc, while assistant coach Kent Douglas has not recovered from ankle miseries.</p><p>Add Ray Clearwater (dislocated elbow) and Ralph MacSweyn (playing with a toe injury) and it is plain to see Baltimore is hurting on the backline.</p><p>Goalie Dave Hainsworth, who has played more games than any other goalie in the league, is overworked, but hasn&rsquo;t complained and his efforts this season warrant consideration from the All Star selectors.</p><p>Mike Marson, the man Reardon has been expecting for three weeks as a replacement for recalled Mike Lampman, finally made his appearance following his assignment from Washington.</p><p>In Rochester, the Clippers saw their record of not having been shutout come to an end when Ken Broderick dulled the Baltimore scoring sticks in a 25 save 6-0 whitewash.</p><p>The Clippers had been the only team in league to have scored in every game until Broderick applied the stopper.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01240/3830233-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="247" height="404"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Tom Colley</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0035-01

Surging New Haven Hoping To Lock Up Second Place

<h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. Mar. 17)</b></p><h3><b>NORTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02202/3830341-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="601" height="136"></div><h3><b>SOUTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03151/3830334-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="603" height="133"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. Mar. 9</b></p><p>Springfield 9at Baltimore 4; Providence 2 at Nova Scotia 3.</p><p><b>Wed. Mar 10</b></p><p>Springfield 2 at Hershey 5</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 12</b></p><p>Hershey 6 at Baltimore 1; New Haven 2 at Nova Scotia 6; Rochester 2 at Providence 3; Richmond 3 at Springfield 6.</p><p><b>Sat. Mor. 13</b></p><p>Baltimore 2 at Hershey 9; Richmond 3 at Springfield 4.</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 14</b></p><p>Hershey 5 at New Haven 3. Richmond 5 at Nova Scotia 6, Springfield 1 at Providence 4; Baltimore 2 at Rochester 5.</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Wed. Mor. 17</b></p><p>Richmond at Hershey; Providence at New Haven, Rochester at Nova Scotia.</p><p><b>Thu. Mar. 18</b></p><p>Providence at Richmond.</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 19</b></p><p>Rochester at New Haven; Hershey at Nova Scotia; Baltimore at Springfield.</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 20</b></p><p>Providence at Hershey; Rochester at Richmond; New Haven at Springfield.</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 21</b></p><p>Springfield at New Haven, Baltimore at Nova Scotia; Providence at Rochester</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 24</b></p><p>Nova Scotia at Hershey, New Haven at Providence.</p><p><b>Thu. Mar. 25</b></p><p>Nova Scotia at Richmond.</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 26</b></p><p>Richmond at New Haven, Baltimore at Rochester, Providence at Springfield.</p><h2><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. Mar. 16)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04120/3830327-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="601" height="172"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. Mar. 9</b></p><p>Salt Lake 2 at Fort Worth 10.</p><p><b>Thu. Mar. 11</b></p><p>Fort Worth 3 at Tucson 4.</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 12</b></p><p>Salt Lake 1 at Dallas 3; Tulsa 3 at Oklahoma City 7; Fort Worth 5 at Tucson 9.</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 13</b></p><p>Tulsa 1 at Dallas 3; Salt Lake 2 at Oklahoma City 4.</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 14</b></p><p>Tucson 4 at Tulsa 9.</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Tue. Mar. 16</b></p><p>Tucson at Oklahoma City; Salt Lake at Tulsa</p><p><b>Wed. Mor. 17</b></p><p>Salt Lake at Dallas, Tucson at Fort Worth</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 19</b></p><p>Tucson at Dallas; Salt Lake at Fort Worth; Tulsa at Oklahoma City.</p><p><b>Sat. Mar 20</b></p><p>Dallas at Salt Lake, Oklahoma City at Tucson; Fort Worth at Tulsa.</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 21</b></p><p>Oklahoma City at Tucson</p><p><b>Mon. Mar. 22</b></p><p>Dallas at Salt Lake</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 24</b></p><p>Oklahoma City at Fort Worth; Tulsa at Salt Lake; Dallas at Tucson</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 26</b></p><p>Fort Worth at Oklahoma City; Tulsa at Salt Lake; Dallas at Tucson.</p><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. Mar. 16)</b></p><h3><b>NORTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0591/3830320-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="595" height="151"></div><h3><b>SOUTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0673/3830313-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="591" height="126"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Wed. Mar. 10</b></p><p>Columbus 2 at Fort Wayne 3; Muskegon 3 at Dayton 4; Flint 2 at Kalamazoo 2; Port Huron 1 at Toledo 4.</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 12</b></p><p>Saginaw 4 at Port Huron 7, Muskegon 3 at Kalamazoo 5; Fort Wayne 5 at Toledo 7; Dayton 5 at Flint 5.</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 13</b></p><p>Toledo 2 at Muskegon 5; Kalamazoo 0 at Port Huron 4; Columbus 3 at Dayton 8; Flint 3 at Saginaw 4.</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 14</b></p><p>Dayton 3 at Fort Wayne 2; Columbus 1 at Muskegon 7; Kalamazoo 3 at Flint 0; Port Huron 3 at Saginaw 5.</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Tue. Mar. 16</b></p><p>Fort Wayne at Saginaw; Columbus at Kalamazoo</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 17</b></p><p>Kalamazoo at Fort Wayne, Toledo at Dayton; Port Huron at Columbus.</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 19</b></p><p>Port Huron at Muskegon; Dayton at Toledo; Columbus at Flint.</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 20</b></p><p>Saginaw at Muskegon; Dayton at Port Huron; Flint; at Toledo.</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 21</b></p><p>Toledo at Fort Wayne; Kalamazoo at Port Huron; Muskegon at Flint; Saginaw at Columbus</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 24</b></p><p>Saginaw at Fort Wayne, Flint at Muskegon; Port Huron at Kalamazoo; Dayton at Columbus</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 26</b></p><p>Muskegon at Port Huron; Columbus at Toledo; Saginaw at Flint; Fort Wayne at Kalamazoo</p><h2><b>NORTH AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings On Mon. March 15)</b></p><h3><b>EAST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0764/3830306-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="599" height="167"></div><h3><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0846/3830299-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="599" height="187"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. March 9</b></p><p>Beauce 5 at Buffalo 3; Binghamton 3 at Philadelphia 6.</p><p><b>Wed. March 10</b></p><p>Beauce 5 at Erie 6; Johnstown 5 at Maine 4, Buffalo 5 at Mohawk Valley 6; Philadelphia 4 at Binghamton 6</p><p><b>Thu. March 11</b></p><p>Mohawk Volley 6 at Beauce 9</p><p><b>Fri. March 12</b></p><p>Erie 4 at Buffalo 10; Johnstown 0 at Philadelphia 5; Syracuse 4 at Beauce 6.</p><p><b>Sat. March 13</b></p><p>Philadelphia 5 at Johnstown 2; Binghamton 3 at Erie 5; Syracuse 2 at Maine 6.</p><p><b>Sun. March 14</b></p><p>Mohawk Volley 5 at Maine 5; Buffalo 3 at Johnstown 5, Philadelphia 5 at Erie 4; Binghamton 0 at Syracuse 6.</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Mon. Mar. 15</b></p><p>Maine at Binghamton.</p><p><b>Tue. Mar. 16</b></p><p>Syracuse at Buffalo; Erie at Philadelphia; Mohawk Valley at Beauce.</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 17</b></p><p>Johnstown at Philadelphia, Buffalo at Binghamton; Maine at Erie.</p><h2><b>SOUTHERN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0943/3830292-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="601" height="173"></div><h3><b>PLAYOFFS Semi-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1035/3830285-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="604" height="83"></div><p><b>(Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)</b></p><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p>Charlotte 0 at Roanoke 1</p><p><b>Tue. March 9</b></p><p>Roanoke 2 at Charlotte 6</p><p><b>Thu. March 11</b></p><p>Roanoke 0 at Charlotte 3</p><p><b>Fri. March 12</b></p><p>Charlotte 2 at Roanoke 4</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Tue. March 16</b></p><p>Roanoke at Charlotte</p><p><b>Wed. March 17</b></p><p>Charlotte at Roanoke</p><p><b>Thu. March 18</b></p><p>Roanoke at Charlotte</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1131/3830278-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="608" height="112"></div><p><b>(Hampton wins best-of-seven series 4-0)</b></p><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p>Winston-Salem 2 at Hampton 7</p><p><b>Mon. March 8</b></p><p>Winston-Salem 2 at Hampton 3</p><p><b>Fri. March 12</b></p><p>Hampton 9 at Winston-Salem 6</p><p><b>Sun. March 14</b></p><p>Hampton 4 at Winston-Salem 3</p><h2><b>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tues. March 9)</b></p><h3><b>NORTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1224/3830271-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="601" height="99"></div><h3><b>SOUTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1321/3830264-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="599" height="122"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Wed. Mar. 3</b></p><p>Milwaukee 7 at Central Wisconsin 10.</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 5</b></p><p>Marquette 2 at Traverse City 19.</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 6</b></p><p>Traverse City 4 at Green Bay 4; Milwaukee 5 at Waterloo</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 7</b></p><p>Waterloo 3 at Green Bay 6; Marquette 3 at Central Wisconsin 20.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0035-02

LOOKING AT THE MINOR LEAGUE SCOREBOARD

<p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>HL 1&mdash;Montreal. 2&mdash;Detroit. 3&mdash;Boston 4&mdash;N.Y. Rangers 5&mdash;Chicago 6<i>&mdash;</i> Toronto. 7&mdash;Los Angeles 8 Pittsburgh. 9&mdash;California. 10&mdash;Philadelphia. 11&mdash;Minnesota. 12&mdash;St Louis. 13&mdash;Vancouver. 14&mdash;Buffalo 15&mdash;NY 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;Phoemix. 29&mdash;Quebec. 30&mdash;Son Diego 31&mdash;Toronto. 32&mdash;Winnipeg. Inter-league: 33&mdash;N.Y. Rangers (NHL) & St. louis (NHL). 34&mdash;Montreal (NHL) & Atlanta(NHL) 36&mdash;Pittsburgh (NHL) & Buffalo (NHL). 37&mdash;New England (WHA) & Washington (NHL) 38&mdash;Detroit(NHL) A Minnesota (NHL) 39&mdash;Atlanta (NHL) & Vancouver (NHL) 40&mdash;Phoenix, Houston & San Diego (WHA). 41&mdash;Los Angeles (NHL) A 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) 46-7-Cplgory (WHA), Kansas City (NHL) A Minnesota (WHA). 47&mdash;Philadephia (NHL) A Washington (NHL). 50&mdash;Boston (NHL) San Diego (WHA). 51&mdash;Buffalo (NHL) A Toronto (WHA) 52&mdash;Montreal (NHL), A Toronto (WHA). 55&mdash;Buffalo (NHL) A Calgary (WHA) 56&mdash;Buffalo (NHL) A Cleveland (WHA) 57&mdash;N.Y. Rangers (NHL) & St. louis (NHL) 58&mdash;Detroit (NHL & Edmonton (WHA).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Minor League Affiliations

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p>FORT WORTH&mdash;</p><p>General manager Ed Chadwick resumed the coaching of the Fort Worth Texans, relieving Terry Gray as the club headed into the stretch, battling for the Central Hockey League&rsquo;s fourth and final playoff spot. Gray was reassigned to other duties with the parent New York Islanders.</p><p>The Texans responded to the coaching change by going unbeaten in their first three games under Chadwick, all at home. They trimmed the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, 8-3; blanked the Tucson Mavericks. 40. then rallied from two goals down to tie the archrival Dallas Black Hawks, 4-4.</p><p>Chadwick coached the Texans the two previous seasons under Islander sponsorship. With this season&rsquo;s Fort Worth entry a joint effort of the Islanders and Los Angeles Kings, Gray was given his first pro coaching assignment. Chadwick was in charge of training camp, but had based his operations in New York until the coaching change.</p><p>Islanders&rsquo; general manager Bill Torrey announced the change &ldquo;only with the hope that it will shake up the team and get them started on a playoff drive.</p><p>&ldquo;Both parent organizations are serving notice that we expect a lot more from the players in the stretch drive for the playoffs. Last year at this time, Springfield&mdash;the Los Angeles affiliate in the American Hockey League&mdash;was struggling for a playoff berth, but came on strong down the stretch, made the playoffs, and swept through to a Calder Cup championship.</p><p>&ldquo;What we are looking for is a repeat of the same clutch performance. Considering the experience of the Los Angeles players on the club, coupled with the potential of the New York players, I see no reason why we can&rsquo;t bring the city of Fort Worth its first Adams Cup ever.&rdquo;</p><p>At the same time Torrey squelched rumors the Islanders and Kings might give up their Forth Worth franchise. Both parent clubs confirmed their intention of having a CHL entry next season. Season ticket plans were being readied. Torrey also said he was involved in discussions with local people regarding the possibility of turning the team&rsquo;s business operation over to Fort Worth interests.</p><p>Under Gray the Texans had an 1823-14 record, were 21 points out of first place, but only five behind the slumping fourth-place Oklahoma City Blazers.</p><p>The two victories and a tie in Chadwick&rsquo;s first week behind the bench pulled the Texans to within two points of fourth place. It also ran their current home streak to six games without defeat. In the last five weeks of the season both the Texans and Blazers were to play eight times at home, 10 on the road.</p><p>Bill Hughes was in the nets for all three victories. The shutout was his third of the season, second in a week, and fourth in his two-year pro career. He had won a 3-0 game in Oklahoma City.</p><p>Six goals in the second period put the game away against Salt Lake. Two were by Alf Handrahan in a 15-second span, two others in the period were by Dennis Abgrall, and Bart Crashley scored his second of the night. Lorne Stamler and Crashley had tallied in the first period, and Bob Bourne got into the second period parade. Bourne, the Texans&rsquo; top scorer, had 55 points and was only one out of the CHL&rsquo;s top 10.</p><p><b>OKLAHOMA CITY:</b> The Blazers finally won again in the old State Fair Arena, but not before they had tied an unhappy league record by dropping seven straight games on home ice. The record in home futility was set by the Omaha Knights in 1967-68.</p><p>The record was tied when the Dallas Black Hawks administered a 7-2 shellacking. However, the next night the Blazers turned around and trimmed Salt Lake&rsquo;s Golden Eagles, 5-2. Mike Palmateer started both games in the Blazer nets, but was relieved in the third period against Dallas by Pierre Hamel, his first appearance since breaking a finger in Fort Worth, Feb. 13.</p><p>The long-awaited victory was in the last of 15 home games the Blazers played at the Fairgrounds in-January and February. They weren&rsquo;t sorry to leave the old building (where they had a 5-9-1 record) and return to the spacious Myriad (where they had posted a 10-1-4 record the first three months of the campaign).</p><p>However, the Blazers&rsquo; playoff games (if there are any) will have to be played in the Arena, because the Myriad is solidly booked in April.</p><p>That playoff spot, which seemed a certainty earlier in the season, was no longer a cinch, as the Blazers had gone 3-9 since Jan. 30, and were wilting before the challenging Fort Worth Texans in the battle for fourth place.</p><p><b>SALT LAKE:</b> The Eagles were 1-2 for a three-game road trip, beating the first-place Tulsa Oilers, 4-3, but tailing in Fort Worth and Oklahoma City, 8-3 and 5-2. That left them 12 points out of second place, and anxious to get back to the Salt Palace, where they were to play only twice in a 30-day span. Newcomers Gary Holt and Dave Hrechkosy scored on breakaways in a 20-second span, late in the final period, to provide the win in Tulsa, after Glen Patrick and Paul Tantardini had provided earlier leads that didn&rsquo;t stand up. Another newcomer, Wayne King, scored both goals in the loss at Oklahoma City.</p><p>The debacle at Fort Worth saw Butch Williams and Frank Spring score 16 seconds apart in the middle period, but only after the Texans had amassed a 5-0 lead. Holt scored later in the period. That game saw three Eagle point streaks scissored, as Bradley, Brent Meeke and Rick Kessell had each scored at least a point in eight previous games.</p><p><b>DALLAS:</b> Winning and tying on the road, the Hawks dropped two points behind first-place Tulsa, but had two games in hand, with 17 games left and nine of them at home.</p><p>Jim Koleff scored twice in the second period. Rob Palmer twice in the third, in the 7-2 romp at Oklahoma City. Gary Donaldson, Joey Johnston and Mike O&rsquo;Connell also tallied. Dan Hinton got two goals in Fort Worth, Moe L&rsquo;Abbe and Johnston also counted, but the Texans pulled out a 4-4 tie.</p><p>Hawk coach Gordon Fashoway was down to two regular defensemen and 10 forwards. Right wing Reggie Giroux had knee surgery, Feb. 24. Center PierreGiroux (no relation) hurt a leg at Oklahoma City and reinjured it in Fort Worth. He was one of the forwards who had been taking a turn on defense. Palmer and Dave Elliott were working the blueline, and occasionally Hinton.</p><p><b>TUCSON:</b> The Mavericks had the most favorable home slate for the last five weeks of the season, but were virtually out of the playoff picture. Three losses to Tulsa and one to Fort Worth made it 10 straight setbacks for Bob Barlow&rsquo;s men, tying a league record set in 1964-65 by both Memphis and St. Louis.</p><p>The Mavs had 12 games left at home, only six on the road, for the last five weeks of the season, an enviable position if they had been in contention.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01218/3830410-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="279" height="419"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Ed Chadwick</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>CHL Leaders</b></h2><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02163/3830403-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="594" height="305"></div><h3><b>GOALING RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03120/3830396-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="600" height="406"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0036-01

Chadwick Moves Texans In Playoff Bid After Replacing Gray

<p>TULSA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Tulsa Oilers took over first place in the Central Hockey League by winning twice in Tucson, 4-1 and8-4, and later in the week drubbed the Mavericks again in Tulsa, 5-0, as Dan Brady posted his second shutout of the season.</p><p>But for 20 seconds late in the final period, the Oilers would have had a 4-0 week. The Salt Lake Eagles scored on two breakaways in that span, catching the Tulsa defense up the ice, and salvaged a 4-3 decision.</p><p>The win over the Eagles, the Oilers&rsquo; 31st of 37 home games, ran the season attendance total to an all-time club record of 147,976. Previously the best Oiler season total was 143,351 for 36 games in 1971-72.</p><p>Although the makeup of the CHL for 1976-77 was still uncertain, optimistic owner Bobby Gilbert launched the Oiler season ticket sale March 1.</p><p>Jim Wiley had three goals and three assists to pad his CHL scoring lead. With 71 points, he was five ahead of Salt Lake&rsquo;s Denis Meloche, and with 49 assists, he led Meloche by one in that figure.</p><p>The loss broke a four-game win string (all on the road) for the Tulsans. As the week ended they held first place by two points over Dallas, with 15 games remaining (eight on the road). Brad Gassoff missed two of the week&rsquo;s four games with an ankle injury. Captain Dan Seguin returned briefly after missing 10 games with a knee injury.</p><p>Four goals in the last seven minutes at Tucson, gave the Oilers a 4-1 victory and the league lead. Leon Rochefort and Larry McIntyre scored on the same power play (Maverick Mike Stevens got a major penalty, Cam Botting a minor, when Stevens cut Botting in a stick duel).</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0477/3830441-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="277" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Dan Brady</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0036-04

Tulsa Vaults Into CHL Lead At Expense Of Lowly Mavericks

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div><p>OTTAWA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>P</span>eter Lee, described in some quarters as the most unpublicized junior A hockey superstar in history, established a single season goal-scoring record in the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A series in Kingston when he scored twice to lift his 1975-76 total to 72 goals.</p><p>The old mark of 71 was set by Rick Martin, now of the Buffalo Sabres, when he was playing with Montreal Junior Canadiens in the 1970-71 season.</p><p>The Canadiens at that time were playing in the Ontario League.</p><p>Lee&rsquo;s 72 were scored in the 60th game of the 66-game schedule while Martin produced 71 in a 62-game schedule.</p><p>After setting a torrid pace early in the schedule Lee had tapered off in his previous four or five games but equalled the mark in the first period with his 71st, then broke into a type of war dance when he fired a 10-foot shot between Kingston goalie Barry-Ashby&rsquo;s legs in the third period.</p><p>Oddly enough Ashby and Lee were teammates with Ottawa for three years before the goalie was picked up by Kingston a month ago as an overage player and the goal was also noteworthy as it was scored while the 67s were short handed.</p><p>Later in the week the city of Ottawa held a &ldquo;Peter Lee Day&rdquo; complete with mid-ice ceremonies and his picture in full color on the front page of the two dailies.</p><p>He promptly responded with a three-goal game in the 67s 6-5 win over Oshawa lifting his total to 75 goals. More than 10,000 sat in, the largest crowd in three years.</p><p>His jersey was retired, an honor which even defenseman Denis Potvin was not accorded during five splendid seasons in Ottawa. Lee also received about $4,000 in gifts.</p><p>The natural question is: &ldquo;How will he make out as a professionnal?&rdquo;</p><p>Quiet-spoken but a very determined 20-year-old, Lee will certainly be drafted but just where in the NHL list remains to be seen.</p><p>Three scouts we contacted claimed he would be somewhere between the fifth and 10th picks, one other placed him at the head of the class of 1976 and still another though he might not be picked up before the second round.</p><p>The reason for the uncertainty is his lack of stature.</p><p>Lee is only 5&rsquo;10&rdquo; but is a muscular 180 pounds and is all heart on the ice.</p><p>All agree he isn&rsquo;t the greatest player to be produced in Ontario Junior A but, all going well, he just might be another Bobby Clarke who was not ranked No. 1 when he joined Philadelphia.</p><p>Some feel that the best prospect in Canada is Hamilton Fincups&rsquo; Dale McCourt.</p><p>However the 18-year-old nephew of former Toronto Maple Leaf captain George Armstrong (now Toronto Marlboro coach) isn&rsquo;t eligible for the draft this year and the NHL insists it won&rsquo;t pick any under-age players.</p><p><b>SUDBURY:</b> The Wolves had long since clinched the Leyden Division pennant but they were given an indication they&rsquo;ll have to work hard in the playoffs when London Knights beat them 6-3 just before the schedule ended&hellip;Rod Schutt scored his 66th and 67th goals of the season, far and away the best by any Sudbury player in history&hellip;Earlier in the week Wolves and their traditional rivals Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds literally battled through more than three hours of a wild game in which a total of 213 minutes in penalties was issued&hellip;Four Sault players and one from Sudbury were suspended by Commissioner Tubby Schmalz as a result&hellip;Fourty-eight hours later a game between the same two teams went fairly mildiy as Wolves won 6-2.</p><p><b>KINGSTON:</b> Canadians still playing before packed house and team is certain to show profit this year although budget is said to be about $200,000&hellip;With a week left in the schedule Kingston was in third with the possibility still of moving up to overtake second place Ottawa or dropping behind fourth place Oshawa&hellip;Fans gave Peter Lee a standing ovation when he scored the two goals in Kingston to break Martin&rsquo;s record&hellip;On the weekend they won two, 3-2 in Peterborough and 7-4 in Markham over the Marlboros&hellip;All their goals in Peterborough, two of them by Dave Hynek were in first period.</p><p><b>OSHAWA:</b> Generals have come alive recently as evidenced by their 13-1 trouncing of Windsor in their only game of the week&hellip;They had been slated to play in Hamilton but match was postponed because of bad weather&hellip;There was violence in the Windsor game as Glen Knight of the Generals and Chris Kotsopoulos of Spitfires became involved in a fight and eventually both benches cleared&hellip;Even Windsor&rsquo;s starting goalie and Oshawa&rsquo;s backup Larry McRae were assessed majors and game misconducts&hellip;Oshawa mayor Jim Potticary who was at the game has demanded an inquiry into the incident by his crown attorney Bruce Affleck who was also at the game.</p><p><b>SAULT STE. MARIE:</b> Barring a last-week sprint the Greyhounds will have to be satisfied with fifth place but at least it&rsquo;s the playoffs, a feat they have not previously accomplished in their four seasons&hellip;The 116 and 6-2 defeats to Sudbury were the killers as far as climbing any higher were concerned&hellip;The Sault players suspended because of the battle with Sudbury were Tim Coulis and Tony-Horvath four games each which meant the balance of the schedule while Romano Carlucci and Randy Borbely got two each.</p><p><b>PETERBOROUGH:</b> The Petes never quit trying even though they were mathematically out of playoffs the last month&hellip;They beat St. Catharines 4-2. The one bright spot for the Petes is that they&rsquo;ll have an early pick in the midget draft&hellip;Oddly enough if they had been in the Emms Division they might have beaten St. Catharines out for the final playoff spot.</p><p><b>HAMILTON:</b> After being forced to postpone their home game with Oshawa because of an ice and snowstorm, the pennant-winning Fincups hit the road two nights later and flattened Windsor 11-2&hellip;The 11 goals moved them ahead of Sudbury in that department but they have no hope of catching the Wolves for the over-all points title&hellip;That means if they meet in the final Sudbury would have the extra home game advantage&hellip;Archie King paced Hamilton against the Spits with three goals and the little fellow has been playing well lately&hellip;Dale McCourt however is still the main key to their attack.</p><p><b>LONDON:</b> The Knights&rsquo; 6-3 win right in Sudbury had to be a great pre-playoff morale-builder&hellip;It also settled what everyone had conceded&mdash;Bill Long had coached the team into second place, the highest ever by a London Major Junior A entry&hellip;Jim McRae was top man for the Knights with two goals&hellip;They also beat Windsor 14-5 as Jim Hamilton scored three and tied Fincups 4-4 thanks to two period goals by Hamilton&hellip;Could be London is hitting its peak at right time.</p><p><b>TORONTO:</b> Marlboros finally ended their slump which had extended through three losses and dropped them down to within a point of fourth place Kitchener Rangers&hellip;However it was slight consolation for coach George Armstrong as win was at expense of hapless Windsor Spitfires and by the relatively low margin of 5-l&hellip;Rob Garner, Terry Porter, Mark Murphy, Bruce O&rsquo;Grady and Lynn Jorgenson were the marks men&hellip;Attendance of 1.252 was surprisingly high as most of the Marlie home games in Markham have at traded fewer than 800.</p><p><b>KITCHENER:</b> After seeming to be out of the running for third place the Rangers have played extremely well late in the schedule and closed to within a hair of third position Marlboros&hellip;Red Laurence has been their top man on attack again and counted his 49th and 50th goals in 4-3 win over Kingston&hellip;That game, before 3,830 fans, produced another hectic night for the officials as the teams seem to be getting edgy with playoff time around the corner&hellip;Gord McDonald of Kitchener and Ken Linseman of Kingston were the two to drop their gloves first and again the benches cleared with 111 minutes in penal ties.</p><p><b>ST. CATHARINES:</b> Black Hawks are grinding towards one of their poorest years on the ice and at the box office since Junior A started at Garden City Arena 33 years ago&hellip;Their average attendance will be about 900 a game and they&rsquo;ll finish fifth, only in the playoffs because of the lenient format which permits five of six teams in each group to advance&hellip;Still nothing definite on next season&hellip;Owner Hap Emms has league permission to move back to Niagara Falls which is where he left because of poor attendance but he must have clearance from Russ Masterson who owns the Tier Two team there and the territorial rights&hellip;Oddly enough Junior B Falcons have been drawing better and had 1,400 at a recent game.</p><p><b>WINDSOR:</b> The best thing which happened to Windsor Spitfires was that their season finally ended&hellip;They lost 11 straight towards the end of the schedule, most of the scores being in double figures&hellip;However they retired the jersey of Scott Miller, their captain, who had played with them three previous years in Tier Two&hellip;The same night they were beaten 11-2 by Hamilton&hellip;Miller went straight to Kalamazoo, Mich, of the International League when the season ended.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01192/3830486-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="295" height="370"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Archie King</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>HOW THEY STAND</b></h2><h3><b>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE</b></h3><p><b>(Standings on Sat. March 13)</b></p><p><b>EMMS DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02150/3830479-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="595" height="174"></div><p><b>LEYDEN DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03113/3830472-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="597" height="181"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Sun. March 7</b></p><p>Kitchener 1, Toronto 10, Ottawa 6, Oshawa 11, London 7, Sault Ste. Marie O, Kingston 10, St. Catharines 6</p><p><b>Tue. March 9</b></p><p>Toronto O, Hamilton 2, St. Catharines 6, Oshawa 6, Sudbury 7, Ottawa 6.</p><p><b>Thu. March 11</b></p><p>Ottawa 9, Windsor 7, Peterborough 4, Toronto 2, Sault Ste. Marie 16, Kitchener 4.</p><p><b>Fri. March 12</b></p><p>Toronto 6, Ottawa 2, Peterborough 6, London 5. Windsor 1, Kingston 9. Kitchener 0, Sudbury 12, Hamilton 11, Oshawa 1.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0037-01

Most Unpublicized Junior A Super Star 67s’ Lee Establishes Scoring Record

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U. S. and Canada</p><p>WINDSOR&mdash;</p><p>The symbol of excellence in the International Hockey League is the Turner Cup. It&rsquo;s the prize for winning the annual playoff championship&mdash;the counterpart of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Stanley Cup.</p><p>There&rsquo;s another trophy available for team accomplishment. It represents excellence over the long haul&mdash;the 78-game regular season chase. Unfortunately, it doesn&rsquo;t carry the prestige of the coveted Turner Cup. Few IHL fans have forgotten that Toledo&rsquo;s upstart Goaldiggers won the Turner Cup last season. Few remember&mdash;or care&mdash;that Muskegon won the Huber Trophy, emblematic of the regular season championship.</p><p>But winning the overall league crown has a distinct advantage. It&rsquo;s the gateway to the ultimate&mdash;winning the playoffs. For with the season championship goes the advantage of the home ice in the post-season activity.</p><p>With the season winding down, there is a heated, two-team battle raging for the Huber Trophy&mdash;and the accompanying playoff advantage. Dayton and Saginaw, South and North division leaders, respectively, are making the turn for home all deadlocked with 85 points. The two have identical, 3821-9 records with 10 games remaining. The two have completed their season series with the Gems winning, 5-2-1. Saginaw would like to remedy that result and the only opportunity would be in the finals of the playoffs.</p><p>If either has an advantage in the stretch, it would be the Gears. Saginaw&rsquo;s final 10 games are split even between home and road assignments. Dayton, however, has only four home games remaining with six on foreign ice.</p><p>Coach Don Perry has to feel confident about the Gears&rsquo; chances to out-skate Dayton in the stretch. Saginaw appears to be playing its best hockey just when the best is required. Saginaw has won six straight to just about lock up the North Division championship. The recent surge has dropped runner-up Port Huron 12 points off the pace. Two of the victories in the winning streak were scored on the road, including a 6-4 verdict at always-troublesome Flint.</p><p>Triggering the Saginaw surge has been center Paul Evans, who became the highest scoring centerman in the Gears&rsquo; four-year history with a four-point night as the Gears bombed Fort Wayne, 10-5. Evans had a pair of goals and two assists to boost his season total to 78. That&rsquo;s one more than Mike Hornby recorded in the 1972-73 campaign, the previous club high for a center.</p><p>The addition of Bob Sykes from Oklahoma City of the Central League could provide that little extra push for the Gears to go all the way. Perry has been concerned about the left wing position and Sykes, who was Toronto&rsquo;s 65th draft choice in 1971, may have eliminated that concern.</p><p>&ldquo;I thought he played well.&rdquo; Perry said about Sykes&rsquo; first exposure against Fort Wayne. Sykes played for Oklahoma City for three seasons and appeared in two games with the Leafs last season.</p><p>In the 10-5 victory over Fort Wayne, Saginaw tied a club record by scoring six goals in the first period. It was the first time, however, the Gears had scored that many in an opening period. After two periods, the Gears had a 10-1 lead. Fort Wayne scored four times in the final period&mdash;a fact Perry didn&rsquo;t appreciate. &ldquo;I was starting to get mad. We played well for two periods but relaxed. It only goes to show you what can happen,&rdquo; Perry barked.</p><p>The Gears can&rsquo;t afford any periods of relaxation down the stretch if they want to finish ahead of Dayton.</p><p><b>PORT HURON:</b> The Flags not only have slipped way behind Saginaw in the battle for first place in the North but now find their hold on second in jeopardy. With only one victory over the last five games, Port Huron has fallen 12 points behind Saginaw and has but a two-point edge over fast-charging Flint in third.</p><p>Only victory in the last five was a 4-1 triumph over Muskegon at home. Flint cut the Flags down, 5-2, in Port Huron in a critical &ldquo;four-pointer.&rdquo;</p><p>Following a recent 9-4 bombing at Dayton, Port Huron coach Bobby McCammon analyzed the Flags&rsquo; current problem.&rdquo; It happens to every club. We&rsquo;re in a down cycle now, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p><p><b>FLINT:</b> The Generals, whose accomplishments on the road during their years in the IHL have best been forgotten, have suddenly developed into an unwanted &ldquo;guest&rdquo; and have become a strong challenger for Port Huron and second place. The Generals overcame a 3-1 deficit to whip Toledo on the road, 6-3, and then beat the Flags in their own playpen, 5-2.</p><p>What started as a most rewarding week ended with a 6-4 loss to Saginaw at home. But the Flags opened up a three-point lead over fourth place Muskegon and cut Port Huron&rsquo;s second place lead to just two points.</p><p><b>MUSKEGON:</b> Coach manager Moose Lallo made a couple of player moves in an effort to beef up the Mohawks for the stretch run and subsequent playoff bid. The Mohawks picked up Gary Winchester, a winger, from Toledo, and Larry Gibbons, defenseman from Flint. The deal for Winchester was a one-player transaction. To get Gibbons, Muskegon will send a player to be named later to the Generals.</p><p>On the ice, the Mohawks broke even in four starts, winning twice and losing a pair. Three of the games were on the road. The Mohawks won at Kalamazoo, 4-2, while losing at Port Huron, 4-1, and at Fort Wayne, 5-3. At home, Muskegon blanked Columbus, 4-0.</p><p><b>KALAMAZOO:</b> The K-Wings&rsquo; playoff hopes continue to flicker but haven&rsquo;t faded away. While the Wings managed just a tie in three games over the weekend they managed to stay within one point of Columbus in the fight for the final playoff position. The Owls are having troubles of their own.</p><p>The Kalamazoo effort certainly can&rsquo;t be faulted. They dropped a pair of goal games&mdash;both on the road. They lost at Saginaw, 7-6, and in Dayton, 32. A 4-4 tie at home with Dayton gave the Wings their lone point for the week.</p><p>Complicating the Wings&rsquo; drive for a playoff berth have been injuries to two key players; Al Genovy is out indefinitely with a knee injury and Mike Wong will be out for at least two weeks with the recurrence of a shoulder injury-</p><p><b>FORT WAYNE:</b> The Komets have secured a playoff position&mdash;ending a two-year famine in this department&mdash;but haven&rsquo;t accomplished their ultimate goal as yet&mdash;second place.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a playoff berth cinched,&rdquo; said coach Ralph Keller. &ldquo;But what we want is second place.&rdquo;</p><p>The Komets have a 12-point lead over Kalamazoo and an 11 point spread over Columbus, the two clubs fighting for the final playoff position. However, the Komets have just a seven-pointlead over third-place Toledo. The two appear destined to meet in the first round of the playoffs and the Komets want the home ice advantage which goes to the second-place finisher.</p><p>The Komets ended a four-game road trip with a 5-3 triumph over Muskegon&mdash;their first win at home over the Mohawks in three tries. The two teams had played a pair of ties in earlier meetings at Fort Wayne. Rookie Sid Veysey snapped out a mild scoring slump with four goals in a three-game stretch.</p><p><b>TOLEDO:</b> Injuries, which have plagued the Goaldiggers all season, are still haunting the defending Turner Cup champions. Latest casualties include Jim McCabe, out for the season with a broken collarbone, High-scoring Ian MacPhee, on the shelf indefinitely with head injuries suffered in a game at Columbus, and Don Westbroke, who reinjured his leg following a game at Columbus and Don Westbroke, who reinjured his leg following a short return from the original injury.</p><p>&ldquo;I in all my hockey career, have never seen a team hit by so many injuries. The miracle this year will be that despite all the injuries we made the playoffs,&rdquo; said manager-coach Ted Garvin. Despite the trouble with injuries, the Goaldiggers have been perking up on the ice. They won a key game at Columbus, 6-1, and also knocked off second-place Fort Wayne, 7-2. The Diggers are just seven points off the Komet pace.</p><p><b>COLUMBUS:</b> Since ending a six-year jinx with a 6-3 victory at Dayton, it&rsquo;s been all up hill for the Owls. They haven&rsquo;t won since, managing only a 4-4 tie at Port Huron over the last five games.</p><p>The winless streak has kept Kalamazoo right on the Owls&rsquo; skates in the shutout for the final playoff position. The Owls have just nine games left and hold a one-point edge on the K-Wings.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01226/3830531-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="266" height="414"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Paul Evans</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>IHL Leaders</b></h2><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02175/3830524-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="598" height="426"></div><h3><b>GOALING RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03131/3830517-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="599" height="474"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0038-01

Perry’s Gears In Top Form At Opportune Time

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div><p>REGINA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>ow is the time for all good men to read a story about the Regina Pats Later could be too late. Coach Bob Turner is concerned that for he first time in the glorious history of the Pats organization. the team may not qualify for playoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;This is one of the greatest names in the history of Canadian junior hockey.&rdquo; said Turner, who has never coached a non-playoff team in his 10 years behind various benches. &ldquo;But the players either don&rsquo;t realize that the colors they&rsquo;re wearing have a great history or they just don&rsquo;t care.&rdquo;</p><p>Going into the season&rsquo;s final; three weeks, the Pats had nine games to play&mdash;all but one of them on the road. They were 10th in league standings good for the final playoff position, but just five points ahead of 11th place Calgary.</p><p>The writing on the wall was in bold letters: the Pats would require two, three, maybe four more victories. In all sincerity. Turner couldn&rsquo;t predict whether the Pats would win again this year.</p><p>&ldquo;To be truthful,&rdquo; he said after a 5-3 loss to Brandon, &ldquo;It bought we had the horses up front this year. Drew Callander had a heckuva playoff season last year, so I was expecting big things from him. We had experienced guys in Robbie Tudor. Jon Hammond and Al Dumba.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01209/3830583-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="277" height="376"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Bob Turner</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;And in this league. I&rsquo;m convinced if you&rsquo;ve got two guys you can depend on to score in most games, you&rsquo;re gonna have a winner.&rdquo;</p><p>In most games. Turner hasn&rsquo;t had two of those &lsquo;dependents&rsquo;.</p><p>Tudor and Callander each have 42 goals and Dumba has 38. but that&rsquo;s where the big scoring slops. And according to Turner. it isn&rsquo;t entirely scoring&mdash;or lack of it&mdash;that has bugged him this season about his forwards.</p><p>&ldquo;They won&rsquo;t get a bruise to stop a goal or to score one.&rdquo; he mumbled. &ldquo;Heck, when 1 played. I was always blue by this stage of the-season. But these guys? I don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;ve got a welt on them.&rdquo;</p><p>Rookies Greg Ing and Gerry Minor have supplied 20 goals each for the Pats, who have only 244 goals on the season, second worst in the league.</p><p>Turner lays the blame for his team&rsquo;s demise squarely on the shoulders of his forwards. The defense, he says, has been adequate. But he laments the fact that his young defensive brigade hasn&rsquo;t received proper back-checking support from the forwards.</p><p>Another sore spot all season has been in the nets. Turner has gone through more goaltenders than Liz Taylor has husbands, starting with incumbent Bob Mahnic (backup to Ed Staniowski Bast year) and through a list like Jack Anderson. Bob Leslie. Kerry Nisbet. Brent Darke and Gerry Simpson.</p><p>Heading into the Pats&rsquo; six-game journey to the west coast, a haven for East Division clubs looking for batterings, Turner shuffles the deck and winds-up with either Nisbet or Anderson sharing the goal duties.</p><p>Along the way. Turner hopes he can pull an ace out of his sleeve somewhere to win the 10th place playoff jackpot.</p><p><b>SASKATOON:</b> Poor Jack McLeod. As coach of the Eastern Division leading Blades and a solid second behind New Westminster over all, he&rsquo;s worried because &ldquo;only one line is scoring.&rdquo; Last week. (three wins, one loss) he got goals from 10 players, and the problem seems to have been solved. Wes Peters hit for the hat trick in a 13-5 win over Brandon while Fred Williams became the third Blade over the 100-point mark with a one-goal, eight-assist week, giving the five-year veteran 102 points.</p><p><b>FLIN FLON:</b> Rich Gosselin hit the 50-goal mark with two in a 5-5 tie with Winnipeg, but the Bombers lost to Clubs the next night, 7-3. Brandon then skated into Whitney Forum and and beat the Bombers 94 before Mickey&rsquo; Keating&rsquo;s gang, behind Rick Wannamaker&rsquo;s first goal of the year and Gosselin&rsquo;s three goal three assist performance. rebounded for a 9-5 win.</p><p><b>WINNIPEG:</b> Kevin McCarthy broke Ron Greschner&rsquo;s point record for defensemen with three assists in the win over Flin Flon, giving him 105 points on the year. In the tie game with Bombers, rookie Kelly Durnin scored twice. Guy Lash, the team&rsquo;s goal leader. hit the 40 mark in Flin Flon. Later. Clubs lost twice on the road. 5-4 in Saskatoon and 7-3 in Medicine Hat. despite out-shooting the Tigers 47-29.</p><p><b>BRANDON:</b> Bill Derlago with nine goals in five games, broke the Wheat Kings&rsquo; rookie goal record, held by teammate Danny Bonar. The 17-year-old now has 44 goals. Dale McMullin, meanwhile, tied Al Hillier&rsquo;s WCHL career assist mark of 238 in a 5-3 win over Regina.</p><p><b>LETHBRIDGE:</b> Broncos, with a comfortable home schedule during the final three weeks, snapped a three-game losing streak by edging Calgary 4-3 as Willie Desjardins scored twice. Desjardins had the only goal in Broncos&rsquo; only other game of the week, a 5-1 defeat to New West.</p><p><b>MEDICINE HAT:</b> Tigers a one-line team? Well, in three wins last week, they scored 20 goals and 14 of them were by the Don Murdoch-Morris Lukowich-Greg Carroll combination, the hottest thing in Western Canada since a July afternoon. Lukowich had his second five-goal game of the year as the Tigers completed a four-game seasonal sweep at home over New Westminster with a 9-5 win.</p><p><b>EDMONTON:</b> The Oil Kings completed their first winning month of the season with a 7-5 win over Calgary as Doug Lecuyer scored twice. But they opened March with back-to-back home-ice losses against New Westminster.</p><p><b>CALGARY:</b> Bert Olmstead&rsquo;s Centennials are confident of overtaking Regina for the final playoff position, but they had only a 5-4 win over Victoria to show for their week&rsquo;s three games.</p><p><b>NEW WESTMINSTER:</b> The Bruins are making a shambles of the league record books with their phenomenal season. Among marks likely to fall by Ernie McLean&rsquo;s troops are: most wins, most goals for. most points in standings, most 50-goal scorers, most 100-point men, most road wins, least home and road losses.</p><p><b>KAMLOOPS:</b> Losing more often than winning lately has caused Chiefs to suddenly be in battle for second place in the West Division with red-hot Medicine Hat. Their only win of the week was a 6-1 triumph in Regina as rookie Ryan Walter, and veterans Rob Flockhart and Al Young scored twice each. Flockhart needs just one more goal to hit the 50 mark. Darryl Ferner&rsquo;s&rsquo;70 assists and 110 points established team records in both categories, breaking marks held by Neil Lyseng and Brad Gassoff respectively.</p><p><b>VICTORIA:</b> Currently in a battle for fifth place over-all with Brandon. Cougars lost their only start of the Week behind new coach Cliff Lennartz. Calgary edged Cougars 5-4, despite Mike Will&rsquo;s two goals. Center Jim Gustafson, earlier reported to be out for six-to-eight weeks, missed only a few games and is back in his point getting form, which is a good sign for Patty Ginnell&rsquo;s team.</p><h2><b>WCHL Statistics</b></h2><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02156/3830576-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="609" height="715"></div><h3><b>TOP SCORERS</b></h3><p><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03121/3830569-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="608" height="359"></div><h3><b>ROOKIE SCORING</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04102/3830562-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="611" height="292"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0039-01

Pats’ Lack Of Pride, Determination Has Turner Worried About Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY GARY CLARK</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKS</b> Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada</p><p>BUFFALO&mdash;</p><p>Joe Hardy and Paul Larose head the 1975-76 official North American Hockey League All Star team announced by commissioner Jack Timmins. The team was selected by a vote of the nine NAHL coaches.</p><p>Hardy, in the midst of a spectacular record-setting season, received the most points in the All Star balloting. The Beauce playing-coach picked up seven of a possible eight first team votes (the coaches were prohibited from voting for their own players). Hardy had scored 188 points through games of March 7, just before the All Star announcement was made, a total which along with his 131 assists breaks all previous professional standards.</p><p>Larose was selected for his third consecutive NAHL All Star team and thus became the only player named to the team in each year of the league&rsquo;s existence. Larose is the all time NAHL scoring leader. With 109 points to date in 1975-76 he has increased his league career scoring total to 331 points.</p><p>There are only four repeaters from the 1974-75 All Star team on this year&rsquo;s squad: Larose, second team defensemen Jim Pritchard and Reg Krezanski, who was a first team selection last year, and second team center Bob Collyard. Second team right wing Luc Simard is a repeater from the 1973-74 team.</p><p>Rounding out the 15-man honor squad are 10 newcomers: first teamers Jacques Caron, Jim Cardiff, Larry Mavety. Richard Grenier. Hardy, and coach Dan Belisle and second teamers Lynn Zimmerman, Guido Tenesi, Robbie Neale, and Alain Caron. Cardiff was named as second team coach as well as first team defenseman.</p><p>Among them are several other record setters.</p><p>Mavety has become the first NAHL defenseman ever to score 20 goals in a single season, despite having played in only 49 games to date. Mavety began the current season in the World Hockey Association.</p><p>&lsquo;Boom Boom&rsquo; Caron has established a new single season NAHL goal scoring mark with his 70 red lighters. With six games to play, the Boomer has an excellent shot at the all time pro record of 77 that he holds jointly with Bobby Hull.</p><p>The 1975-76 All Stars are the highest scoring All Star team in league history. Each of the seven forwards on the team has already bettered the 100-point barrier, something their two sets of predecessors were unable to match. Grenier. Simard, and Caron, in addition to Hardy have already outdistanced the old league scoring mark of 124 points.</p><p><b>JOHNSTOWN:</b> The Jets clinched the Western Division championship with a last minute 5-4 win over the Nordiques in Maine. Scoring the title winning goal at 19:29 of the third period was Dave Hanson, an irony in that Hanson is the lightest scorer of all the Jets&rsquo; regulars.</p><p>Thirty seven different players have been named to the NAHL All Star team in the last three seasons, yet Tenesi was only the fourth American, and the first non-Minnesotan of those, ever chosen when he received his second team berth for 1975-76. Tenesi was born in Detroit, although he played tier one junior with the OHA Oshawa Generals. The three previous U.S. born All Stars, Wally Olds, Ron Docken, and Bob Collyard, all came from the collegiate ranks of the WCHA.</p><p><b>MOHAWK VALLEY:</b> Bobby Jones reached the 100-point mark for the second year in a row with two assists in the 6-5 win over Buffalo. Jones&rsquo; final scoring total will nearly match his league leading 114 points of last season. The Comet captain currently places ninth in the 1975-76 rankings, lost in the scoring onslaught of the Beauce Jaros. However his record this season may rank as a greater personal accomplishment in that the Comet defenders are not as adept at breaking him out of their own zone as were the Syracuse Blueliners of a season ago.</p><p><b>PHILADELPHIA:</b> The Firebirds enter the 1976 playoffs as a logical dark horse contender for the Lockhart Cup. The Birds have won 23 and lost only eight over the latter portions of the season. They are the only team in the league to have won the season series from Beauce and recently they have shown they can handle Johnstown as well. They have won four straight against the Jets at the Philadelphia Civic Center. On March 13 they won for the first time this season at the Cambria County War Memorial, by a score of 5-2.</p><p><b>SYRACUSE:</b> Locked into second place in the NAHL East, the Blazers have spent the final month of the season preparing for the playoffs, both mentally and physically. With Darryl Knowles recovered from his near disastrous eye injury and pesky Mark Izzard back in the lineup as well, the Blazers are almost rully recovered from the string of nagging mishaps that have dogged them since mid season. Of course star goaltender Jacques Caron&rsquo;s cracked vertebrae is the most serious injury they have suffered all season. It is thought that Caron is lost for the season. On the mental side, the Blazers tried to soften up their first round opponent, the Mohawk Valley Comets, by blasting them 10-2 in their final regular season meeting at the Onondaga War Memorial. The two teams meet in Utica in the final game of the season.</p><p><b>BEAUCE:</b> Yves Archambault, injured in a late season game with Syracuse, seems to be a forgotten man as the Eastern Division champions prepare for the playoffs. Goaltender Archambault was an iron man for the Jaros over long stretches of the season. However, the Jaros seem intent on qualifying two late season acquisitions, John Voss and Nick Sanza, to be their goaltending duo for the Lockhart Cup tournament. By NAHL rules a player must have appeared in 10 regular season games in order to be eligible for post season competition. The Jaros have been playing both the veteran Voss and the rookie Sanza in each of their final games in order to qualify them.</p><p><b>BINGHAMTON:</b> The Dusters are still struggling for the final playoff spot in the west, but entering the final week of the season they still trailed fourth place Buffalo by two points. The Dusters hope that they can complete their bid to overtake the Norsemen in their final game of the season, a head to head confrontation with Buffalo at the Broome County Arena on March 17.</p><p><b>BUFFALO:</b> The Norsemen lost a heart breaking 6-5 decision to the Comets in Utica on March 10, the same night on which just 90 miles to the south Binghamton was knocking off Philly 6-4. As a result the Norsemen&rsquo;s once sizable edge over the Dusters slipped to two points. Guy Trottier scored a hat trick in the Utica defeat, but watched in vain as his team wasted several close-in opportunities in the third period. The Norsemen outshot the Comets 17-9 in the final period.</p><p><b>ERIE:</b> Erie lost center-right wing Brian Marchinko to a knee injury just as they began preparing for the playoffs. The seriousness of his injury was not immediately known. Coach Nick Polano seems to have settled on his three forward units for the post season battles.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01152/3830614-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="554" height="506"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ALAIN CARON</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0040-01

Beauce Dominates NAHL All Stars; Johnstown Clinches Division Title

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div><p>HULL&mdash;</p><p>The difference between winning and losing might very easily be a mere half foot according to Hull Festivals&rsquo; coach Marcel Pronovost.</p><p>If Pronovost can get the six-inch area between each of his players&rsquo; ears thinking in the right direction, he believes there could be a major upset in the quarter-final round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs. If not, the Festivals might just as well concede before the-series begins.</p><p>For all intents and purposes the 1975-76 QMJHL regular season is concluded for the Festivals. They are in fourth place in the West Division and there&rsquo;s no possibility of moving up or down.</p><p>With four games remaining on their schedule. Pronovost has begun preparing his charges for their opening round playoff matchup with the defending champion Sherbrooke Beavers.</p><p>The Festivals are in the most undesireable position for the post-season playdowns as the Beavers have already been conceded the title in many hockey circles and the remaining clubs are just battling for the right to meet and fall to the Sherbrooke powerhouse in the finals. The Festivals face the distinct possibility that they very easily could be the first team out.</p><p>Pronovost faces the unenviable task of trying to convince his players that they can upset the Beavers. If he succeeds in getting his point across it will be the most impressive piece of brainwashing since the supposed one involving a young lady in San Francisco.</p><p>Just one look at the standings is enough to bring the Hull players back to reality. The Beavers have 39 more points that the Festivals (102-63) and in seven meetings between the two clubs this season Hull has come out on the short end of the score on all but one occasion.</p><p>&ldquo;The preparation is more mental than anything,&rdquo; explains Pronovost. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want our club to think Sherbrooke can&rsquo;t be beat. I don&rsquo;t want our guys to think they&rsquo;re beaten before they start.&rdquo; While he is attempting to convince his players they can win, there are certain things they are going to have to do on the ice in order to upset the Beavers.</p><p>&ldquo;With a big offensive club like Sherbrooke, we&rsquo;ll have to play extremely well defensively,&rdquo; says Pronovost. &ldquo;We have to play it tight in our own end but we also have to move well offensively.</p><p>&ldquo;Against a team like Sherbrooke were not going to win the high-scoring games. We have a better chance in the close games.&rdquo;</p><p>Much of the Sherbrooke game plan is centered around the physical aspects of the game something which could upset the Festivals who aren&rsquo;t as big as their foes.</p><p>&ldquo;It sometimes has a way of going against you,&rdquo; the Hull mentor states in reference to Sherbrooke&rsquo;s aggressive style, &ldquo;such as taking stupid penalties. They (Beavers) can play good hockey without getting physical.&rdquo;</p><p>Pronovost took over the Festivals&rsquo; reins in mid-season from Lally Lalonde. who was-having trouble getting the club untracked. There have been several things which the new bench boss has attempted to improve during his tenure.</p><p>&ldquo;The general positional play and the reaction to certain situations had to be improved,&rdquo; says Pronovost. &ldquo;They have some bad habits which they keep repeating. Some of them were formed in their young years and it&rsquo;s hard to change when they&rsquo;re 19years old.&rdquo;</p><p>The only thing which stands in the way to a successful debut in the QMJHL for Pronovost is the Sherbrooke Beavers hockey club.</p><p>&ldquo;If you win against a club you&rsquo;re not supposed to beat the victory isn&rsquo;t as sweet as when you&rsquo;re the underdog,&rdquo; relates Pronovost.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re the underdogs. We have nothing to lose. You never know what can happen.</p><p>&ldquo;Our goal is a story book finish.&rdquo;</p><p>Should the Festivals reach that goal it would be better termed a miracle.</p><p><b>SHERBROOKE:</b> Beavers continue to roll along recording three wins and a tie in their four outings. In the four games they scored 43 goals while only-surrendering 11. Victories were 14-1 over Shawinigan, 17-1 over Sorel and 7-4 over Montreal while draw was in Chicoutimi, 5-5. Ron Carter was the most consistent goal-getter during the four-game stretch picking up a pair of goals in each contest. Peter Marsh moved into a comfortable eight-point lead in the league points race by picking up 14 points, evenly divided between goals and assists. Beavers first, and only team to break 100-point mark.</p><p><b>CORNWALL:</b> Royals maintained eight-point bulge over third place Montreal but Juniors hold three games in hand. Split back-to-back road games, winning 4-2 in Trois-Rivieres and being blanked in Quebec 3-0. Pierre Brassard with a pair of markers, Gord Botting and Dan Geoffrion were the Royal marksmen against Draveurs. Brassard in top ten scorers with 62 goals and 59 assists for 121 points.</p><p><b>MONTREAL:</b> Juniors still attempting to get back into race for second spot in West. Presently trail runnerup Cornwall by eight points but have three games in hand on the Royals. Defeated lowly Shawinigan 9-2 before dropping 7-4 home ice decision to division leading Sherbrooke. Frank Donnelly scored twice in losing effort against Beavers. Juniors continue to lead QMJHL in defense having allowed only 253 goals, three less than both Sherbrooke and Cornwall. Normand Dupont club&rsquo;s leading scorer with 63 goals and 124 points.</p><p><b>LAVAL:</b> Nationals fell out of playoff contention by losing four in a row but then bounced back to dump Draveurs 6-4 in Trois-Rivieres. The loss which really broke their backs was 7-4 setback in Hull. Festivals were club Nationals had to catch to grab final playoff spot. Michel Bossy had hat trick in win over Draveurs to move him within two goals of the QMJHL lead in that department. He now has 72 just two back of league leader Sylvain Locas of Chicoutimi.</p><p><b>QUEBEC:</b> Remparts have all but assured themselves of the top rung in the East Division. They are now 12 points up on second place Draveurs with only six games left on the schedule for each team. Maurice Barrette blocked all 37 Cornwall shots sent his way in recording 3-0 shutout. Francois Vachon. Jean Chouinard and Denis Turcotte supplied the Remparts with the winning margin. Dropped 6-4 decision is Sorel despite building up 3-0 margin before first period was nine minutes old. Denis Turcotte scored four times to lead the Remparts to 16-2 romp over Shawinigan.</p><p><b>TROIS-RIVIERES:</b> Draveurs will have to be satisfied with second spot after disappointing week which saw them drop both home games, 6-4 to Laval and 4-2 against Cornwall. Lone win was in Chicoutimi by 6-3 count. Yves Richer and Roland Cloutier tallied two goals apiece in that one. Richard Dalpe in third place in league points derby with 140, including league-leading 82 assists. Richard David also in top ten with 111 points.</p><p><b>SOREL:</b> Black Hawks have put on a late season charge and have moved one-point up on fourth place Chicoutimi. Sagueneens. however, have three games in hand. Sole loss of the week was 17-1 pasting in Sherbrooke. Hawks had to come from behind twice in registering a pair of home ice victories. Daniel St. Laurent, Patrice Legault, Maurice Cayouette and Serge Menard eraced a 2-0 Shawinigan lead as the Hawks downed the East basement dwellers 4-2. Sorel fell behind 3-0 to Quebec but four unanswered third period goals gave Hawks 6-4 win. Yvon Blais scored three times to lead the winners.</p><p><b>CHICOUTIMI:</b> Sagueneens fell out of third place after picking up only one point in three outings. Sylvain Locas scored twice as Sags scored three unanswered goals in third period to earn 5-5 sawoff in Sherbrooke. Setbacks were 64 in Hull and 6-3 at home to Trois-Rivieres. Sags trail Sorel by one point in battle for third spot in East.</p><p><b>SHAWINIGAN:</b> Sixty-six down and only six to go as the Dynamos finish up a disastrous season. In four outings during past week they were outscored 43-7. losing 14-1 to Sherbrooke, 16-2 to Quebec, 9-2 in Montreal and dropping close 4-2 decision in Sorel. Dynamos have now allowed 512 goals and have a 9-53-4 slate.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01126/3830645-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="278" height="420"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Marcel Pronovost</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0041-01

Pronovost Facing Unenviable Task Preparing Festivals For Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY MORLEY HOWE</div><p>SIOUX CITY&mdash;</p><p>As the regular schedule headed into its final week of play, the overall top spot of the United States Hockey League, has still not been decided</p><p>The idle Sioux City Musketeers clinched their first division divisional title, thanks to a 6-3 victory by the GreenBay Bobcats over second-place (Southern Division) Waterloo.</p><p>Sioux City holds a one-point edge over Green Bay, the Northern Division champs, with 61 points, although the Bobcats do have a game in hand.</p><p>Traverse City is a distant second in the Northern Division, while Waterloo fell seven points off the Sioux City pace.</p><p>USHL scoring records went up in smoke after the Marquette Iron Rangers suffered two lopsided defeats on the road. First, they dropped a 19-2 decision to Traverse City, and then were rocked with 203 thrashing against Central Wisconsin Flyers.</p><p>Rick Kramp of the Flyers, established a new league mark for most points in a game when he scored three goals and added eight assists in leading the assault against Marquette.</p><p>Kramp also scored eight points in an earlier 10-7 win over Milwaukee, allowing him to move four points in front of Sioux City&rsquo;s Rick Kennedy in the scoring derby.</p><p>Thunder Bay Twins, last year&rsquo;s USHL playoff champions, returned from a successful six-game tour of Japan where they competed against the Japanese National team. Their record for the trip: three wins, two ties and a loss.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Around The USHL

<div class="byline">BY JOHN ARNOLD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0285/3830731-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="952" height="1259"></div><h2><b>SOLUTION IN APRIL 2 ISSUE</b></h2><h3><b>Across</b></h3><p><b>1. Registered 103 shutouts in his NHL career.</b></p><p><b>8. An AHL team.</b></p><p><b>9. Estimated time of arrival, (abbr.)</b></p><p><b>11. One of the L.A. Kings, (init)</b></p><p><b>12. Former NHL goaltender.</b></p><p><b>14. Steve Vickers was born in this month.</b></p><p><b>15. Pronoun.</b></p><p><b>17. 22 across used to play for this team, (abbr.)</b></p><p><b>18. One of the North Stars answers to this.</b></p><p><b>20. Fear.</b></p><p><b>21. Short for given name of Leafs&rsquo; coach.</b></p><p><b>22. Former Minnesota forward.</b></p><p><b>25. Ex-defenseman nicknamed &ldquo;Moose&rdquo;.</b></p><p><b>27. There&rsquo;s 4 of these in each deck.</b></p><p><b>30. Preposition.</b></p><p><b>31. 1st NHL team of 25 across.</b></p><h3><b>Down</b></h3><p><b>1. An Islander forward.</b></p><p><b>2. A former Black Hawk right winger.</b></p><p><b>3. 3rd and 5th letters of the alphabet.</b></p><p><b>4. Initials of Richard, former Hab captain.</b></p><p><b>5. Pictured player played college hockey here, (abbr.)</b></p><p><b>6. Ex-New York defenseman.</b></p><p><b>7. One of the Bruins answers to this.</b></p><p><b>10. The Canadiens are there right now.</b></p><p><b>13. Pictured player.</b></p><p><b>16. There are 3 of these with Houston.</b></p><p><b>19. An NHL general manager.</b></p><p><b>23. Recently traded to Pittsburgh. (init.)</b></p><p><b>24. 12 across once played for this team.</b></p><p><b>26. Boxing term.</b></p><p><b>27. High scoring Beauce forward, (init)</b></p><p><b>28. Initials of former NHLer Ingarfield.</b></p><p><b>29. A. U.S. State, (init)</b></p><h2><b>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</b></h2><h3><b>Across</b></h3><p><b>1. STAPLETON.</b></p><p><b>8. A.R.</b></p><p><b>9. ACRE.</b></p><p><b>10.R.A.</b></p><p><b>11. TOR.</b></p><p><b>12. R.S.</b></p><p><b>13. NINE.</b></p><p><b>14. LE.</b></p><p><b>16. IN.</b></p><p><b>17. SEE.</b></p><p><b>19. AIR.</b></p><p><b>20. PAR.</b></p><p><b>21. AGE.</b></p><p><b>23. SAN.</b></p><p><b>25. CROP.</b></p><p><b>28. INK.</b></p><p><b>29. JARRETT.</b></p><p><b>31. LEON.</b></p><p><b>33. APT.</b></p><p><b>34. T.E.</b></p><p><b>35. A.S.</b></p><h3><b>Down</b></h3><p><b>1. SARNIA.</b></p><p><b>2. TRAINING CAMP</b></p><p><b>3. PETE.</b></p><p><b>4. EARL.</b></p><p><b>5. T.C.</b></p><p><b>6. ORR.</b></p><p><b>7. NESTERENKO.</b></p><p><b>15. ESPOSITO.</b></p><p><b>18. EA.</b></p><p><b>22. ERR.</b></p><p><b>24. AN.</b></p><p><b>26. OR.</b></p><p><b>27. PELT.</b></p><p><b>30. TEE.</b></p><p><b>32. N.A.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0042-02

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">BY HOWIE STALWICK</div><p>SPOKANE&mdash;</p><p>The Man works in mysterious ways. Especially when he casts his eyes upon the Western International League.</p><p>This has not been what veteran observers would consider an average winter in the WIHL, not with the year-long musical chairs battles for playoff positions. Jim Stanfield&rsquo;s incredible six-goal game and subsequent departure from Spokane for the pros, the perennial champion Flyers&rsquo; shocking fall, and Trail&rsquo;s equally stunning rise to the top.</p><p>Now the league&rsquo;s scoring race has come down to an air-tight three way struggle between a trio of performers from the league&rsquo;s two worst offensive clubs (Kimberley&rsquo;s Dave Lee and Dennis Schick and Ted Hargreaves of Nelson), defenseman-of-the-year honors may go to a blueliner on the loop&rsquo;s most generous defensive squad (Rick Williams of Nelson), and the next most generous six (Kimberley)may end up with the leading netminder in Barrie MacKay.</p><p>Not your normal happenings. And if that isn&rsquo;t enough, the first-place Smoke Eaters of Trail went into their final three games with identical 185 totals for goals scored and allowed, while Spokane&rsquo;s Flyers wander around in third place wondering what happened to them despite the loop&rsquo;s top offense (190) and second stingiest defense (165).</p><p>Only he&mdash;or Trail&mdash;knows for sure.</p><p><b>NELSON:</b> When Williams joined right winger Wayne Florko on the sidelines for two games recently, the Maple Leafs promptly went out and lost both contests by a combined score of 16-3. His first game back, they walloped Cranbrook 5-0 behind Brent Mason&rsquo;s 33-save shutout goaltending.</p><p><b>CRANBROOK:</b> The Royals entered the final two weeks of regular play four points behind Trail with three games in hand and six to go overall. The club will be aided in a big way by the return of fine centerman Dick Mortenson, who has been out of action since Christmas with a serious groin injury.</p><p><b>TRAIL:</b> Rick Martin&rsquo;s nine-game suspension is finally over, and the Smoke Eaters are certainly hoping that he returns to form a little quicker than goaltender Ty Langton. The latter recently made his first start since being set down Jan. 17 for jostling an official in Cranbrook, and the result was a 134 shellacking from low-scoring Kimberley.</p><p>Rookie Brian DeBiasio hit Nelson for a hat trick and now has 29 goals on the year. The Trail native looks like he may be the only player with a chance to catch Stanfield&rsquo;s league-leading 33 figure, even though the former Spokane star left for Buffalo of the North American League in late January.</p><p><b>SPOKANE:</b> Surgery victims Ernie Gare and Jim Montgomery are at last back in action for the Flyers after watching from the sidelines since December. The incredible injury problems of the Flyers continue. however, as Larry Palanio was again hurting with another broken rib, fellow blueliner Ken McLash was playing despite a broken toe, and Gary Vaughn tore some ankle ligaments and may be missing for a week or two.</p><p><b>KIMBERLEY:</b> Former WIHL star Bill McLelland made his season debut with the Dynamiters in a 13-4 win over Trail and helped linemate Brian Macklin to four goals and six points.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The WIHL Scene

<h2><b>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. March 9)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01124/3830940-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="588" height="203"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0288/3830933-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="595" height="415"></div><h2><b>MANITOBA JUNIOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><h3><b>South Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0370/3830926-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="587" height="152"></div><h3><b>NORTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0455/3830919-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="588" height="157"></div><h3><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0545/3830912-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="589" height="387"></div><h2><b>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Sat. March 6)</b></p><h3><b>EASTERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0634/3830905-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="602" height="178"></div><h3><b>WESTERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0732/3830898-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="613" height="158"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Sat. Feb. 28</b></p><p>New Westminster 5 at Medicine Hat 9; Winnipeg 5 at Flin Flon 5; Victoria 4 at Calgary 5.</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 29</b></p><p>Calgary 5 at Edmonton 7; Brandon 5 at Saskatoon 13; Winnipeg 7 at Flin Flon 3; New Westminster 5 at Lethbridge 1; Kamloops 6 at Regina 1.</p><p><b>Mon. March 1</b></p><p>Brandon 9 at Flin Flon 4; Saskatoon 2 at Regina 5.</p><p><b>Tue. March 2</b></p><p>Brandon 5 at Flin Flon 9; Winnipeg 4 at Saskatoon 5; New Westminster 8 at Edmonton 4; Kamloops 3 at Medicine Hat 4.</p><p><b>Wed. March 3</b></p><p>Calgary 3 at Lethbridge 4</p><p><b>Thu. March 4</b></p><p>Winnipeg 3 at Medicine Hot 7; Regina 3 at Brandon 5; New Westminster 9 at Edmonton 6.</p><p><b>Fri. March 5</b></p><p>Regina 4 at Saskatoon 7, New Westminster 4 at Kamloops 2.</p><h2><b>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. March 15)</b></p><h3><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0824/3830891-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="590" height="150"></div><h3><b>EAST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0923/3830884-1-eng-US/f0043-092.jpg" title="f0043-09" width="594" height="150"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Mon. March 8</b></p><p>Chicoutimi 1 at Laval 7</p><p><b>Tue. March 9</b></p><p>Hull 1 at Montreal 3; Chicoutimi 6 at Trois-Rivieres 12</p><p><b>Thu. March 11</b></p><p>Chicoutimi 1 at Cornwall 3; Sherbrooke 3 at Hull 6.</p><p><b>Fri. March 12</b></p><p>Sorel 2 at Montreal 4; Laval 2 at Quebec 8; Chicoutimi 10 at Shawingan 3; Trois-Rivieres 3 at Sherbrooke 8.</p><p><b>Sun. March 14</b></p><p>Montreal 3 at Chicoutimi 5; Laval 7 at Shawingan 1; Quebec 1 at Sherbrooke 3; Cornwall 6 at Sorel 3.</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1019/3830877-1-eng-US/f0043-102.jpg" title="f0043-10" width="591" height="374"></div><h2><b>NEW ENGLAND LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. March 8)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1115/3830870-1-eng-US/f0043-112.jpg" title="f0043-11" width="600" height="200"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1213/3830863-1-eng-US/f0043-122.jpg" title="f0043-12" width="601" height="261"></div><h2><b>MIDWEST JUNIOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. March 1)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1310/3830856-1-eng-US/f0043-132.jpg" title="f0043-13" width="594" height="128"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1410/3830849-1-eng-US/f0043-142.jpg" title="f0043-14" width="600" height="347"></div><h2><b>WESTERN INTERNATIONAL</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. March 1)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-158/3830842-1-eng-US/f0043-152.jpg" title="f0043-15" width="602" height="155"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-167/3830835-1-eng-US/f0043-162.jpg" title="f0043-16" width="598" height="325"></div><h2><b>SASKATCHEWAN JUNIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><h3><b>NORTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-175/3830828-1-eng-US/f0043-172.jpg" title="f0043-17" width="599" height="172"></div><h3><b>SOUTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-183/3830821-1-eng-US/f0043-182.jpg" title="f0043-18" width="603" height="198"></div><h3><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-193/3830814-1-eng-US/f0043-192.jpg" title="f0043-19" width="614" height="276"></div><h2><b>ALBERTA JUNIOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. March 1)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-203/3830807-1-eng-US/f0043-202.jpg" title="f0043-20" width="602" height="177"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-21/3830800-1-eng-US/f0043-212.jpg" title="f0043-21" width="592" height="204"></div><h2><b>SOUTHWEST LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Thu. March 4)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-22/3830793-1-eng-US/f0043-222.jpg" title="f0043-22" width="600" height="151"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-23/3830786-1-eng-US/f0043-232.jpg" title="f0043-23" width="593" height="513"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0043-01

The Amateur Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY BILL HILTS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-24/3830971-1-eng-US/f0043-242.jpg" title="f0043-24" width="339" height="420"></div><h2><b>New York Metro League</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>ave <b>Fairweather</b> is the Metropolitan Junior Hockey Assn. Player of the Week with a seven goal and four assist performance over that span, including a four goal effort against Essex. The Bergen-Rockland Knights, now one point ahead of Suffolk, have two games to play with their third place rival. Against Essex, winger <b>Keith Banasiak</b> contributed four assists while <b>Kevin Behan</b> had one goal and three assists<b>. Rick Cuddeback</b> scored both Essex tallies in a losing cause.</p><p>It was Fairweather and Banasiak teaming up again against LIAC, and while Fairweather scored the game winner in the third period, Banasiak notched one goal and two assists for a total of one goal and six assists over the two games.</p><p>Tim <b>McDougal</b> led the way against LIAC in their second meeting of the week with a two goal and three assist performance. <b>Dave Stanchak</b> contributed two goals and two assists and <b>Harry Maynes</b> scored twice. <b>Bob Mancini</b> had four assists to go along with two goals for LIAC.</p><p>New York Americans finished the season with a firm hold on first place downing Essex twice, 5-3, and 8-5, sandwiching a 9-6 win over New Hyde Park. <b>Mike ladenza</b> of the Amerks scored four goals and added one assist in the 9-5 win while linemate <b>Joe Modaferri</b> had one goal and four assists.</p><h2><b>New York&mdash;Penn League</b></h2><p>The Southtown Cougars have put a lock on second place to join with Gannett Trophy winner Amherst Knights to represent the N.Y. Penn League in the State Championship Tournament. The Cougars dumped the Syracuse Stars 12-2, with <b>Jay Boudreau</b> leading the scoring with four goals and three assists. <b>Tom Metzger</b> had two goals and four assists. <b>Dave Greune</b> two goals and <b>Carl Koeppel</b> four assists.</p><p>The Niagara Falls Mangs Sharks are ending the season with a rush, which should put them in a good position for playoff play for the Empire Cup. They tied the Amherst Knights 5-5. <b>Robbin Hill</b> led the Sharks with two goals and <b>Rich Connette, Dave Raham</b> and <b>Sam Crogan</b> shot singles. <b>Bill Hilts, Bill Pippard</b> and <b>Lou Rosetti</b> each added a pair of assists. <b>Keith Dera</b> had 34 shots on his net. Amherst got single goals by <b>Bob Barton, Paul Hamilton, Rick MacLean</b> and <b>Jeff Brownschidle,</b> with <b>Greg Jantz</b> shooting the tying marker at 11:54 of the final period</p><p>Then the Sharks beat the Buffalo Blades 5-4. The Blades got single goal efforts from Al <b>Solarz, Pat McCrossan, Rob Sanders</b> and <b>Tim McMahon</b>. The same for the Sharks. With <b>Mike Brigante,</b> Crogan. <b>Harry-Roberts</b> and <b>Jim Rickard</b> denting the mesh. <b>Robbin Hili</b> shot the game winner.</p><p>Then the Sharks dumped the Rochester Monarchs 6-4 with Brigante notching a pair of goals for the winners. Singletons were shot by Hill, Raham, <b>Vic Talarico</b> and Rosetti. Connette had three assists and <b>Stan Wojton</b> stopped 30 shots. For Rochester. <b>Mark Burgholzer</b> shot a pair of markers, <b>Clint Campbell</b> and <b>Ron Weathers</b> one each<b>. Owen McIntee</b> had 32 shots fired at him.</p><p>The Blades closed out the season by also beating the Monarchs. <b>Rob Sanders</b> led the way with two tallies. <b>Mike Bates</b> and McCrossan each had one and <b>Ray Nucherno</b> shot the game winner with 3:14 left in the game. Monarch goals were scored by Campbell who had a pair, with one each by <b>Jerry Short house</b> and <b>Pete Dawes.</b></p><h2><b>New England League</b></h2><p>The Roc-Ice Meteors from Stony Point, N.Y. lost a league game to the Hershey Icers 8-1 at the winners&rsquo; arena, but the loss was tempered by the fact that the Meteors had won their Zone playoff from the Sport-O-Rama Jr. Saints the night before by a score of 7-3. Scoring for Hershey was <b>John Peters</b> with three points. <b>Bobby Graham</b> and <b>Tom Malloy</b> each had two points. Goals also by <b>Duncan Wine, Nick Bonfanti, Rex Eckels, Kenny Dulebohn</b> and <b>Scott Stemberger</b>. <b>Brian Riley</b> had the only tally for Roc-Ice.</p><p>The night before Roc-Ice outskated the SOR Saints with goals by Meteors <b>Chris LaPrade</b> and Riley, matched by Saints <b>Billy O&rsquo;Connor</b> and <b>Timmy Sprance</b> closing out the first period, with a 2-2 tie. Then it was Roc-Ice all the way with two goals each by <b>Ivar Leetma</b> and <b>Rick Hess</b> and another by Riley. <b>Jeff Bentzen</b> posted one more for the Saints. <b>Norm Fleischer,</b> in goal for the Meteors made 27 saves and SOR&rsquo;s <b>Anton Mathews</b> 33.</p><p>The Springfield Olympics spotted the Fitchburg Wallopers a 2-0 lead in the opening moments of the second period but then came back with six unanswered markers to earn the victory. Fitchburg, despite three ties against Springfield on home ice this season, hasn&rsquo;t beaten the Olympics since October, 1974 <b>Bernie Croteau</b> set up three goals for the Olympics, including the game-winner by <b>Dean Lombardi</b> and <b>Steve Czepiel</b> came up with 25 saves. <b>Mickey Rego</b> scored two goals for Fitchburg and now has 21 goals in his last nine games, while <b>Chuck Pappas</b> notched his 60th goal.</p><p>Springfield trailing 4-3, pumped in three goals in the final 65 seconds of the second period and went on to down the TriValley Squires 8-5. Croteau had two of the goals for the Olympics and <b>Dan Ferioli</b> also scored a pair<b>. Scott Huna</b> punched in two goals for the Squires and <b>Rick Cavallaro</b> netted his 20th of the season. Mark Hansen blocked 40 shots for Tri-Valley.</p><p>Rego fired in four goals and assisted on two as Fitchburg skated past the Berlin Maroons 13-7. <b>Kevin Lawler</b> had two goals and went past the 300-point mark in career scoring. The 18-year-old center from Fitchburg, Mass, who is the NEJHL&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer, now boasts 306 points in three seasons. Pappas, <b>Brian Fitzpatrick</b> and <b>Ron Hakala</b> also scored two goals for the Wallopers. <b>Butch Poirier</b> fired in three goals for Berlin, including his 40th and <b>Gerry Gingras</b> scored twice and had four assists.</p><h2><b>Midwest League</b></h2><p>Midwest Junior Hockey League clubs fared well in their informal mini-tournament with representatives of Chicago and Michigan junior leagues, played in the Windy City. The St. Paul Vulcans whipped the Southfield Chiefs and Paddock Pools of the Great Lakes League 9-2 and 6-2, respectively. The Hennepin Nordiques recorded a 7-4 win over Southfield and tied the St. Clair club 8-8. Chicago junior teams entered in the three-day play down lost to both the MJHL and Michigan circuit entries.</p><p>In MJHL league play, Austin went all out for a crowd of 1.200 to humble the Weber Insurance seniors 7-2. <b>Mark Ostapina</b> got three goals for the Mavericks, who outshot Weber 46-33. <b>Bill Fedoryk</b> handled 44 saves for the home team.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0043-24

JUNIOR JOTTINGS

<p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>hile it appears unlikely that Philadelphia Flyers will, with only 11 games remaining, overhaul Montreal Canadiens for first place in the NHL, no one can accuse them of not trying.</p><p>It&rsquo;s been six weeks or 21 games since Flyers last lost a game&mdash;8-4 at Atlanta, Jan. 27&mdash;and along the way, many club marks have fallen while they approach one of the League&rsquo;s oldest, that of longest undefeated streak in one season. They are currently just two games away from matching Boston Bruins&rsquo; 23-game undefeated skein of the 1940-41 season. During that stretch Bruins won 15 games and tied eight; Flyers&rsquo; current streak comprises 15 wins and six ties. Canadiens enjoyed an identical 21-game streak last season. Habs, incidentally, are on a tear of their own, having gone 13 games without a loss which, of course, makes it difficult for Flyers to gain on them. Montreal has 114 points to Philadelphia&rsquo;s 104 and has played two games more.</p><p>Flyers&rsquo; club records which have been broken lately include: their current 21-game streak, of course, their previous best being 12 games undefeated last season; longest home-winning streak (15) eclipsing an 11-game mark last season; longest road undefeated streak (10 games), erasing a seven-game streak of two seasons ago; most goals scored (307) compared to their previous high of 296 in 1972-73. Individual records shattered include; most goals (51) by Reggie Leach, previous record was 50 by Rick MacLeish in 1972-73 as well as most points by a left wing, 98 by Bill Barber, breaking his own record of 71 last season.</p><p>Opponents must dread visiting the Spectrum where Flyers have earned 64 of a possible 70 points this season on the strength of a 312-2 record. During their current 15-game home winning streak they have outscored their foes 79 to 24. Remarkably, the team has registered only one shutout all season, but has limited the opposition to just one goal in 15 other home games. After a shaky start, Feb. 24 at Washington where he allowed five goals against, last year&rsquo;s Vezina Trophy winner, Bernie Parent, has given up only one goal in each of his other four games for a five-game average of 1.96, the same as NHL leader, Glenn Resch of New York Islanders. Canadiens&rsquo; Ken Dryden and Bunny Larocque still lead over all with a combined 2.11 average.</p><p>Elsewhere, Guy Lafleur of Montreal opened a three-point lead over Flyers&rsquo; Bobby Clarke and now has 105 points compare to Clarke&rsquo;s 102. Bill Barber of Philadelphia is third with 98 points one ahead of Pete Mahovlich of Canadiens and two more than Buffalo&rsquo;s Gilbert Perreault. Pierre Larouche of Pittsburgh is sixth with 94 points.</p><p>Flyers&rsquo; Reggie Leach, as mentioned with 51 goals, became the first player this season to reach that plateau, scoring his 50th and 51st, Sunday vs. Atlanta, he is the 13th player in NHL history to perform the feat.</p><p>A rarity occurred when Rangers and Vancouver staged the first penalty-free game in the NHL since Feb. 4, 1973&mdash;the interval being2,163 games.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c4-01211/3831009-1-eng-US/c4-012.jpg" title="C4-01" width="566" height="1251"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GUY LAFLEUR&hellip;Holds Scoring Lead</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c4-02181/3831002-1-eng-US/c4-022.jpg" title="C4-02" width="574" height="853"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>REG LEACH&hellip;</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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March 26, 1976

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Andrascik Major Factor In Gulls’ Runnerup Performance