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.

April 9, 1976

The Hockey News April 9, 1976

<h2>SOUTHWEST LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. March 17)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01120/3737937-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="625" height="154"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0284/3737930-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="600" height="534"></div><h2>NEW ENGLAND JUNIOR</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0366/3737923-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="598" height="196"></div><h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0453/3737916-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="600" height="270"></div><h3>Leading Goalers</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0543/3737909-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="600" height="142"></div><h2>MIDWEST JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. March 16)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0632/3737902-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="592" height="128"></div><h3>Leading Scorers</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0730/3737895-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="604" height="560"></div><h3>Leading Goalers</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0822/3737888-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="610" height="172"></div><h2>WESTERN INTERNATIONAL</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0921/3737881-1-eng-US/f0043-092.jpg" title="f0043-09" width="602" height="158"></div>(*Cranbrook awarded first place by winning season series with Trail)Final Scoring Leaders<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1018/3737874-1-eng-US/f0043-102.jpg" title="f0043-10" width="610" height="336"></div>Final Goaling Leaders<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1114/3737867-1-eng-US/f0043-112.jpg" title="f0043-11" width="606" height="156"></div><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1212/3737860-1-eng-US/f0043-122.jpg" title="f0043-12" width="622" height="82"></div>(Cranbrook leads best-of-seven senes 2-1)GAMES COMPLETEDKimberley 4, Cranbrook 6Cranbrook 3. Kimberley 4Kimberley 2, Cranbrook 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-139/3737853-1-eng-US/f0043-132.jpg" title="f0043-13" width="608" height="88"></div>(Spokane leads best-of-seven senes 2-0)GAMES COMPLETEDTrail 2, Spokane 6Spokane 5. Trail 4<h3>PLAYOFF SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-149/3737846-1-eng-US/f0043-142.jpg" title="f0043-14" width="618" height="290"></div><h2>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-157/3737839-1-eng-US/f0043-152.jpg" title="f0043-15" width="610" height="410"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

The Amateur Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY MORLEY HOWE</div>MILWAUKEE&mdash;Playoff time, the season when anything can happen and usually does, is upon the United States Hockey League, as the first round of post-season play featured two majorsurprises.Fifth-place Milwaukee Admirals surprised Southern Division champion Sioux City Musketeers with two straight victories to knock off the Sioux in the best-of-three series, while fourth-place Traverse City Bays dropped Southern Division runnersup, Waterloo Black Hawks, in two consecutive contests to advance into league semi-finals.Even league-champion Green Bay Bobcats, who were at Stevens Point to face Central Wisconsin in the first two games of their best-of-five series, could manage no better than a split of the games, after losing the initial playoff match, 4-3. Game two saw the Bobcats come back for a 5-3 triumph with the series set to continue in Green Bay.In Milwaukee, former professional player Jean Trottier&rsquo;s overtime goal at 7.56 closed out Sioux City&rsquo;s chances as the Admirals sailed to a 6-5 win. Earlier, league scoring champion Dave Kartio of Sioux City had sent the game into overtime with his second goal of the night.The upset began taking shape some four nights earlier when the Admirals opened the series with a convincing 6-3 victory over the Musketeers.At Waterloo, a combination of the ineffectiveness of the Black Hawks on power plays, some standout goaltending by Traverse City&rsquo;s Rich Dumas and the scoring power of Ray Tonelli and Larry Edwards of the Bays proved to be the downfall of the Waterloo club.Tonelli potted four goals and added two assists while Edwards chipped in with three goals and one assist in the 6-1 and 4-3 victories secured by the Bays.Milwaukee and Traverse City now meet in another best-of-three series to determine who will advance to the finals against the winner of the Green Bay-Central Wisconsin playdowns.Traverse City will have the advantage of the first game at home and the third game if necessary. &#9632;

Around The USHL

<div class="byline">By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02900/3735141-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="289" height="364"></div><h2>Winner On A Loser&hellip;</h2>THE RANGERS HAD LOST another game in the third period and John Bowie Ferguson, with a profile that could pare potatoes, eyes gleaming like hot coals, followed his New York club into their dressing room, slammed the door behind him. and let loose a tirade that tore through the door stopping the reporters outside in their tracks. Such profanities as poured from his lips brought giggles from our lowly lot as we eavesdropped with all the morals of peeping toms. Well, a winner who made Montreal muscular, the intense ex-Canadien is to be excused if he can&rsquo;t condone losing.Handicapping horses, operating a lacrosse team and presiding over a sweater factory. Ferguson must have been happier before he returned to the hockey wars in mid-season, but he knows how to win and has the talent to win here eventually. After he left the dressing room and disappeared in an explosion of energy, we went in to talk to some new and some old members of the Broadway Blues, who have not captured a Stanley Cup in 35 years and will even miss the playoffs this season for the first time in 10 years.Massaging a sore ankle. Phil Esposito admitted he couldn&rsquo;t wait for this season to end and next season to start. &ldquo;Trades tore this team apart and made a new team of it. All we need is a fresh start,&rdquo; he said. Down the row, Steve Vickers said. &ldquo;Were like strangers. All we have to do is get to gether. &ldquo;One of the few survivors. Steve is one of those on whom the basis of a better team can be built. We all know what Esposito can do even if he has not been able to do it this year, but he is in his middle 30&rsquo;s and will not do it many more years while one like Vickers, who is only in his middle I 20&rsquo;s will be able to do what he can do for years to come. And in only four seasons up top. Steve has shown he can do more than most. In a year when few played well here, he played well, which merits mention. Even with a loser, he has been a winner.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011003/3735134-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="805" height="748"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Vickers Rangers&rsquo; big hope for better things.</figcaption></div>The big left-winger out of Toronto, oldest of a firefighter&rsquo;s six children. Steve was superb as an amateur. He scored 43 goals and set up 64 more in his final season with the Marlboros and was set lected by the Rangers in the first round of the 1971 draft of graduating prospects. The Rangers were so deep in talent at that time that he was sent for seasoning to the Central League where he tallied 36 times for Omaha and coach Larry Popein. whom he credits with refining his raw skills.When he went to camp in 1972. Tommy Williams was the favorite for the one open spot up front, but Williams went back to the minors as Steve beat him out with superb play in the preseason. When the season started. Carr was playing ahead of him. but an injury to Gene brought Vickers off the bench and Carr never got back in thelineup. Steve spurted spectacularly by record in back-to-back hat tricks at the Garden in mid November, the first rookie ever to turn that parsiticular trick. At that point, Vickers established himself, while Williams and Carr were soon on their way to L. A.A few days after his twin hat trick a check by Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Darryl Edestrand tore up Steve&rsquo;s knee. He had to have repairs and missed six weeks, but he rehabilitated himself vigorously and returned to total 30 goals by season&rsquo;s end surpassing Wally Hergesheimer&rsquo;s Ranger record and following Gump Worslev and Camille Henry as Ranger winners of the league&rsquo;s Rookie of the Year prize, the Calder Cup. Voters of this trophy have shown wisdom as most winners have endured as stars. Vickers is included in an awesome list of Bobby Orr. Derek Sanderson. Danny Grant. Tony Esposito, Ken Dryden, Gil Perreault, Denis Potvin and Eric Vail the last ten years.Shaking off the so-called &ldquo;sophomore jinx&rdquo; his second season Steve improved to 34 goals. Conti uing to improve, he went to 41 goals last season, including a Ranger record four in one game, played every game and was selected a second All Star. This season he has struggled amidst the madness but by the time this reaches the readers he should have between 30 and 40 goals. Included is a game in mid-February after he shaved off his bushy mustache to change his luck He not only scoredthree. but helped score four others to break another Ranger record with a seven-point night. This surpassed the six tallied in one contest by &ldquo;Bones&rdquo; Raleigh in mid-February of 1951. 25 years back. &ldquo;That was the year I was born,&rdquo; smiles Steve.HE IS AT THIS POINT just approaching his peak. He is an Esposito style player in that he has the size and strength to plant himself by the crease and resist being budged, and the quick wrists and stick control to take feeds in front and snap off swift hard shots. In his four-goal games only one of his shots travelled more than a few feet. But he is a versatile shooter. Playing the off wing as an amateur he developed one of the few good back handers in the game. And statistically he always is among the most accurate.Montreal defenseman Don Awrey says, &ldquo;He is one of the hardest guys to handle around the net. You can&rsquo;t manhandle him and it is impossible to intimidate him. He&rsquo;s tough and gives everything that extra effort.&rdquo; Washington goaler Ron Low says, &ldquo;He shoots a hard shot that seems heavy and spins as if it had a pitcher&rsquo;s stuff on it. And he doesn&rsquo;t drive it right at you. He finds the holes and you have to make a save if you can.&rdquo; Vickers, himself, says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a great skater, or a fancy dan. I haven&rsquo;t got great moves. I try to make the most of the size and strength I have and the skills I&rsquo;ve developed. I&rsquo;m a digger.&rdquo;He digs into corners competitively, makes the good pass and the smart play, defenses foes determinedly. and has so far outfought so many bad guys few dare try to rough him up these nights. He says, &ldquo;I think confidence is most of this game and I have a lot of confidence. I know what I can do and I do it. That includes fighting, if I have to. I&rsquo;d rather just play.&rdquo; Teammate Gilbert says. &ldquo;He was what we call a veteran rookie. He came in mature. He has so much all-around ability it is awesome. He is going to get better and better.&rdquo;&ldquo;I hope I&rsquo;m mature,&rdquo; Steve says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m businesslike. It takes a lot to faze me.&rdquo; He takes things so in stride he has been called the most unemotional of players. Everyone was shocked at how little emotion he showed after his twin hat trick as a rookie. He says, &ldquo;I only had to work on one of the six goals. Everything just went right for me on those nights.&rdquo; He was similarly subdued after this season&rsquo;s seven-point game He says. &ldquo;I had help. I had to get the passes to get the goals and someone had to put my passes into the net If Daryl Sittier gets 11 in a game, Vickers isn&rsquo;t going to do cart wheels over seven.&ldquo;ANYWAY, THE TEAM is going bad so why should I be happy because I go good in a game? This emotionless stuff has been played up too much. I get excited, but I keep it inside of me. I&rsquo;m a workman. I&rsquo;d rather have a lot of good games than one or two great ones. We play a lot of games and I don&rsquo;t want to get too high or too low over anyone or two of them. I&rsquo;m looking for consistency over the long season of games.&rdquo;Steve is one of those bachelors who says he doesn&rsquo;t want to get married while he&rsquo;s playing because the hockey life is hard on family life. &ldquo;I sup pose I&rsquo;ll change my mind when the right girl comes along, but I&rsquo;m happy with my life the way it is right now.&rdquo; he smiles. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have to take the garbage out so I don&rsquo;t have to take my mind oft mv game. I&rsquo;m content to live alone for the time being. I&rsquo;m not one of those guys who has to have a lot of people around. I&rsquo;m enjoying life in the big city. It&rsquo;s still an exciting city. I go to a lot of plays and concerts. I like contemporary music. I like life. I&rsquo;d like it better if my team was going better. I think the team will get better and I&rsquo;d like to be a part of it. I&rsquo;ve lost a lot of friends through trades, but I don&rsquo;t want to be traded, though I definitely am not happy in the Garden. The fans don&rsquo;t offend me. but they haven&rsquo;t been fair to the players and they&rsquo;ve lost my respect. Maybe we have to win their respect. But mainly I want to be a better player and make this a better team for the sake of our self-respect.&rdquo; he concluded. &#9632;

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Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02789/3735410-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Hockey News’ Awards Winners

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01925/3734758-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Buffalo Sabres are big on offense again this season. They have three 40-goal men, a club first. Richard Martin is one. He leads the club with 47. Who are the other two? See page 16 for answer.</figcaption></div><h2>SCORERS EYE RECORD</h2>MONTREAL &mdash;With the NHL race coming down to the wire, there is a distinct possibility the scorers will set a record for most 100-point men in one season. Six have already reached the plateau, a feat which seemed unreachable 10 years ago. Guy Lafleur has 115 points, Bobby Clarke 112, Bill Barber and Gil Perreault 106 each, Pierre Larouche 103, and Pete Mahovlich an even 100. Three others, Jean Ratelle with 99, Jean Pronovost 97 and Darryl Sittier, 96, are within striking distance of the mark. Last season, the NHL produced seven 100-point scorers. This year they could have nine.In the scintillating individual point race, Lafleur leads Clarke by three points but Clarke has four games left to play and Lafleur three. Two of Clarke&rsquo;s games are against NHL also rans, Washington and the Rangers, giving him something of an edge. Lafleur also faces Washington once more.<h2>JETS&rsquo; KROMM SNUBBED</h2>WINNIPEG &mdash;Winnipeg&rsquo;s Bobby Kromm, who was selected WHA Coach of the Year by THE HOCKEY NEWS recently, feels he was done an injustice during a recent visit in Toronto&rsquo;s Maple Leaf Gardens. The disturbed Kromm said he had been asked to leave the MLG press box before the start of the third period after sitting there for the first two periods of an NHL game. Kromm said he paid scalpers $9 for a $6 ticket. Once inside, he bumped into sports columnist Jim Coleman, who invited him to the press box with the approval of Garden&rsquo;s press box custodian Stan Obodiac.Obodiac said he was instructed to tell Kromm he couldn&rsquo;t sit in the press box for the third period. The edict apparently came from the Leafs&rsquo; management. Kromm watched the rest of the game from his $9 seat in the greens. Kromm, Coleman and Obodiac were embarrassed by the whole thing.<h2>SCOUTS APATHETIC</h2>KANSAS CITY &mdash;The NHL has had some dandy losers over the years but it appears they may not be quite as apathetic as the second-year Kansas City Scouts, who are on the brink of setting a new league record for the most games without a win. Washington set the existing mark of 25 earlier this season. Now the Scouts are threatening the Caps&rsquo; dubious mark and have run their winless streak to 23 games.And if you ever wondered what teams in the pre-expansion era ranked as the losingest in NHL history it was the 1944 N.Y. Rangers and the 1950 Chicago Black Hawks, both of whom went 21 games in a row without winning. They shared the record until the Washington Caps came along.<h2>FROM LAST TO FIRST</h2>INDIAN APOLIS &mdash;The Indianapolis Racers have been labelled the &lsquo;surprise team&rsquo; of the 1975-76 WHA season and little wonder the way they&rsquo;ve been behaving with the playoff race heading for the finish line. The pesky Racers took a little more than 48 hours to catapult from last place &mdash; fourth &mdash; to first in the cluttered Eastern Division race.The Racers, who have been rejuvenated since mid-season with a dozen new faces including ex-Leaf Dave Keon, came on strong last week in their bid for a playoff berth. They tied San Diego 8-8, beat Houston 4-3, took Cleveland 3-2 and thumped New England 3-1 for seven out of eight points to move into first place with 72 points. New England has 71, Cleveland and Cincinnati 69 each. The Racers have four gamse left, Cleveland five, Cincinnati and the Whalers three each giving Indianapolis a decided edge for the final playoff run. &#9632;

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Deadline Stoppers

<h2>NHL TEAMS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03639/3734817-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="499" height="787"></div><h2>WHA TEAMS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04437/3734810-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="490" height="529"></div><h2>OTHER LEAGUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05312/3734803-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="499" height="412"></div><h2>COLUMNISTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06216/3734796-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="490" height="145"></div><h2>OTHER FEATURES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07131/3734789-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="487" height="130"></div> &#9632;

f0002-03

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT ALL

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;Phil Esposito leaned back on his bench in the Rangers dressing room. His face was etched in exhaustion, sweat dripped from every pore. He looked tired and drawn.&ldquo;I have had a despicable season,&rdquo; said Phil. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care what the stats say, it has been very bad. But I don&rsquo;t want to leave New York. There is unfinished business here, and I want the opportunity to get on with it. I wish it were August right now. I am looking forward to training camp.&rdquo;Esposito&rsquo;s stats for 1975-76 read 30 goals and 45 assists for 75 points, good by normal standards, but very poor for Esposito. He averaged 54.3 goals in the last six seasons with the Boston Bruins, reaching a high of 76 in 1970-71. He has only one game&mdash;winning goal with the Rangers.&ldquo;My ankle is part of the reason, but not all of it by a long shot,&rdquo; said the 34-year-old, six foot one inch, 221 pound center. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a lot of little things, none of them having anything to do with the other players on the Rangers.&rdquo;Against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Mar. 21, Esposito played with Pat Hickey and Rick Middleton. his linemates since he was taken off the Rod Gilbert-Steve Vickers line.Neither Middleton, a slick scorer himself, nor the rookie Hickey, do the job of getting the puck to Esposito that corner men Wayne Cashman, Ken Hodge and point man Bobby Orr did, when Phil was in Boston.&ldquo;Maybe Orr made Esposito,&rdquo; said a rival NHL general manager recently. &ldquo;It certainly seems that way.&rdquo;Esposito hurt his ankle in his second game as a Ranger against Los Angeles and it hasn&rsquo;t been right since then. He has played hurt most of the year, with out complaint.John Ferguson, the Rangers&rsquo; general manager-coach, said, &ldquo;I plan on having Phil around for quite a while. He will be our leader for years.&rdquo;Still Fergy would have to say something like that. All players on the Rangers will be evaluated in the off-season. Realistically, the right deal could move Phil, if a proper package was made up by a rival team. His salary, in the area of $385,000 per year, is a factor. It limits the teams who could afford him.The Chicago Black Hawks, Espo&rsquo;s former team before his 1967 trade to Boston, have been mentioned. The Hawks have trouble scoring at times, and attendance has dropped in the Chicago Stadium. A big name might revive it. Phil is close to his brother Tony, the Hawks goalie, and seemingly might be happy in Chicago.&ldquo;I want to stay here and do the job, but I&rsquo;ll go if I&rsquo;m traded,&rdquo; emphasized Esposito.The Rangers&rsquo; needs are many. A trade involving Esposito would almost have to involve a package of about four men coming to New York. A goaltender, defenseman and center might start the list.It&rsquo;s three years since Esposito tore up his knee in a collison with Ron Harris during the opening round of the 1972-73 playoffs. He bounced back with a stellar season the next year, after a summer of surgery and exercise. Last year he had 46 goals at mid-season and settled for 61. Boston observers felt he might have started downhill at some point therein.&ldquo;Give Esposito the right line mates and he&rsquo;ll put the puck in the net,&rdquo; insists Derek Sanderson, the Rangers former center now with the Blues. &ldquo;No one ever played center like Espo.&rdquo;Sanderson, a team mate of Esposito&rsquo;s at Boston, feels the Rangers need a buster in the corner to get the puck into the slot for Phil. And they need a different system from the point, with more emphasis placed on feeding the big guy.The present roster doesn&rsquo;t seem to have a corner type designed for this. Walter Tkaczuk, the slumping center, was tried there earlier. It didn&rsquo;t seem to mean anything.When Espo played with Gilbert and Vickers, all three were obviously unhappy. They sometimes still get together on power plays, but Gilbert got hot when Wayne Dillon was given Phil&rsquo;s spot at center.In the meantime the rebuilding Rangers are playing and losing with youth.Ferguson explained, &ldquo;I have to let the kids play and learn this game. It would be easy to insert Gilles Marotte on defense, but then the kids wouldn&rsquo;t learn.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02846/3734727-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="569" height="1188"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHIL ESPOSITO&hellip;Wants To Stay</figcaption></div>The kids referred to are Ron Greschner and Dave Maloney. Maloney broke the fibula bone above his left ankle crashing into his own net trying to stop Vic Hadfield&rsquo;s 30th goal against Pittsburgh March 21. It&rsquo;s been that kind of season.BLUE CHIPS: Despite the won-lost column the Rangers have still outshot their opposition 2,364 to 2,266&hellip; Phil Esposito was leading with 12 power-play goals, with Rick Middleton having five game winners&hellip;At home New York was 13-16-8 and season subscribers were giving away their tickets&hellip; On the road they were 12-23-1. &#9632;

f0002-02

Will Rangers Sacrifice Espo In Trade To Put Winner On Ice Next Season?

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01930/3734855-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Curt Bennet of the Atlanta Flames is coming off a big year in the NHL and will be a top candidate for a spot on Team USA.</figcaption></div>WHAT ABOUT THE CZECHS, SWEDES AND FINNS? AND WILL THE AMERICANS BE THE SLEEPERS OF THE TOURNEY?NEW YORK &mdash;Everyone knows that Team Canada. presumably combining the forces of both the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association. and Russia with its great national team will be favored in next September&rsquo;s World Cup competition. But what about the other four teams in this first ever meeting of the best that Sweden, Finland. Czechoslovakia and the United States, as well as Canada and Russia, can offer?Were the Czechs for real in their 4-3 loss to the referee and the Russians in the Gold Medal game in the recent Winter Olympics? What about the Finns, who are the strongest physical team in Europe? How about the slick Swedes who can lineup the great one-two punch of center Ulf Nilsson and winger Anders Hedberg, presently playing on the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; top line with Bobby Hull.Can the United States, whith native born and naturalized professionals do better than did the hard working American collegians, who held the Russians to a 6-2 loss in the Olympics?Taking it one at a time: Czechoslovakia is for real and can on any given night, beat any team in the world. Their goalie Jiri Holecik, 32, may just be better than Ken Dryden or Vladislav Tretiak.&ldquo;Helecik is the best goalie in the world,&rdquo; said Bobby Hull. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t give long shots the way Tretiak does.&rdquo;The Messrs. Dryden, Tony Esposito and even Bernie Parent if he can get back into shape, may dispute this.The Czechs&rsquo; Bobby Clarke is slick center ice man Milan Nevy, who uses a backhanded approach to winning faceoffs and skates tirelessly in the Clarke mold. In the game against Poland, when the Czechs had only seven able bodied players due to the flu, Nevy worked on two lines the entire game.Frantisek Pespisil, the captain of the Czechs and the player nabbed for taking a flu pill by the stringent Olympic drug committee, is a very solid defenseman. So is Milan Kajkl. His partner Jiri Bubla Likes to hit NHL style and should show well in the World games.&ldquo;Playing defense in NHL rinks, which are 15 feet smaller than those in Europe is very easy for the moilbile European defenseman,&rdquo; said Jan Starsi, the Czech coach.The Czechs feel they proved they can beat Russia and most of them feel they did. They were cheated out of a win by two curious calls by Swedish referee Ake Hanquist, 5 Hanquist disallowed a goal because of a Czech in the crease and called a typical Sweish penalty which led to the Russians tying goal by Aleksandr Yakushev. The talented Russians don&rsquo;t need any help Czechoslovakia led 2-0 and 3-2, before succumbing 4-3.&ldquo;The American official, Gordon Lee, called an almost perfect game,&rdquo; said Starsi. &ldquo;But the Swede was afraid of the Russians.&rdquo;Another player to be watched is Czechoslvakian forward Ivan Hlinka, a center who can skate and shoot with abandon and is rugged enough to handle the corner work in North America.The Finnish team, with Turk Broda look alike, Antti Leppaemnen in goal, can be tough and lost to the Czechs by a narrow 2-1 margin. The Finns might also get back rushing defenseman Pekka Rautakallio. from Phoenix of the WHA. He would complement the Bobby Orr of Europe, Pekka Marjamaeki.Up front the Minnesota North Stars plan to try out Seppo Ahekainen. Other youthful Finnish players, fresh from junior ranks, include forwards Matti Hagman and Matti Murte.Back from the Winnipeg Jets would be forward Veli-Pekka Ketola, a hard working type.The Swedes will present a roster of talented players, many of them have been seen in the NHL and WHA. Borje Salming, the Toronto Maple Leaf&rsquo;s best defenseman is the most prominent, with Thommie Bergmann of Winnipeg and Thommie Abrahamsson of New England two other big name defenders. Also available is Bergmann&rsquo;s Jet teammate Lars-Eric Sjoberg. From Sweden blueline candidates are Bjora Johansson, Stig-Ostling, Ulf Weinstock and Stig Salming.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02796/3734848-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1126" height="1642"><figcaption class="caption-body">American-born Mike Jensen made such an impact in the recent Olympics with the U.S. team he was signed by Minnesota</figcaption></div>In goal would be Chris Abrahamsson of the Whalers, Curt Larsson of Winnipeg and Leif Holmquist of Indianapolis. Up front Nilsson and Hedberg head the list, with Juha Widing of the Los Angeles Kings also very prominent Harold Ballard&rsquo;s friend. Inge Hammarstrom of Toronto Maple Leafs, as well as Mats Lindh, Mats AhIberg and Dan Labraaten seem to have lock on roster spots. The Swedes also want Bob Nystrom of the Islanders, but that is up in the air.Team USA has a list of 55 players to choose from with the most-prominent being the brothers Howe, Mark and Marty of Houston. Also the brothers Roberts, Gordie and the brothers Roberts, Gordie and Doug of New England. Gordie Howe, asked by THE HOCKEY NEWS if he would play against his sons for Team Canada, demurred, saying, &ldquo;No father can compete against his own flesh and blood in a physical body contact sport such as hockey. I will not play in the World Cup. I will not play after the WHA playoffs this year.&rdquo;American-born players also include Curt Bennett, having a big year with Atlanta, goalies Pete LoPresti of Minnesota, Mike Curran, former Minnesota Fighting Saint and Dave Reece, who has played a bit with Boston this year. Gary Sargent of Los Angeles would head the defense, along with Bob Paradise of Washington, Kansas City&rsquo;s Jim McElmury, New England&rsquo;s Alan Hangsleben and Mike Christie of California. Rick Chartraw and Bill Nyrop of Canadiens would have tryouts.Up front Bobby Sheehan of Chicago, Craig Patrick and Henry Boucha, Kansas City, Harvey Bennett. Washington, DougPalazzarri, St. Louis, Robbie Ftorek, Phoenix, Joe Noris, San Diego, John Stewart, Cleveland, Tim Sheehy, Edmonton. Larrv Pleau. New England and Butch Williams, now with Salt Lake City are candidates. Other players from the minors, such as Chris Ahrens, Ed Walsh, Dave Hynes, Earl Anderson, Glenn Patrick, Rob Palmer, Paul O&rsquo;Neil and Phil Hoenewill be invited. Olympic heroes Steve Jensen of the North Starsand goalie Jim Warden would also get looks.Murray Williamson is one candidate for the general manager post of Team USA, with Freddie Shero being an almost unanimous choice as the players pick for coach. The American-born players are united under Curt Bennett into the American Professional Players Association.Rating the teams now is tough, but Canada and Russia should finish one-two, Czechozlovakia has the talent for third with a possible second. After that it&rsquo;s up for grabs. &#9632;

f0003-01

WORLD CUP PREVIEW

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01982/3734907-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="461" height="460"></div>&bull;KEITH ALLEN of the Philadelphia Flyers could very well be the most competent general manager in hockey. He keeps a low profile and seldom makes the headlines but the outstanding job he&rsquo;s performed for the Flyers is second to none during the period he&rsquo;s been general manager of the team. Allen has drafted wisely, traded well and made the necessary personnel changes at the opportune time. The Flyers will be going all out for their third consecutive Stanley Cup this Spring which is indeed a remarkable feat for a club in its ninth season of play&hellip; Bob Gainey of the Canadiens will draw a lot of votes for the Masterton Memorial Trophy. The hard-working two-way winger is enjoying his finest season yet and 5 has played a major role in Montreal&rsquo;s winning season&hellip; St. Louis Blues&rsquo; Garry Unger, the National Hockey League&rsquo;s new &ldquo;Iron Man&rdquo;, says that what Ned Harkness did at Detroit will ruin the chances ofanv other college coaches making it to pro ranks&hellip; Noel Price, 40-year-old defenseman of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, is rated by many as the outstanding defenseman in the American League and Noel has supplied the leadership the club needed&hellip;Paul Newman, who will be starring in a new motion picture entitled &ldquo;Slap Shot&rdquo;, recently took some private hockey lessons from Leo Skidd. owner of the Crystal Ice Rink in Norwalk. Conn, and one of the most popular hockey men in the Northeast. The 61-year-old Skidd and the-year-old Newman went through all the basics night after night in complete secrecy. Reports have it that both teacher and pupil were happy and that Newman will do a lot of his own skatingin the upcoming film.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02938/3734900-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="273" height="432"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Allen</figcaption></div>&bull;AL MacNEIL, THE HOCKEY NEWS minor league Coach of the Year, is the most unheralded hero in hockey. His job with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs has been phenomenal. There are currently more than 30 players in the NHL that have played under him. This year alone four made the jump. They are Rick Chartraw and Bill Nyrop with Canadiens Jean Lemieux with Washington and Ken Houston with Atlanta. Followers of the Voyageurs, including hockey authority Arnie Patterson of radio st ation CFDR, feel that this is the best club in the team&rsquo;s history and that they should win their second Calder Cup in five years, and it&rsquo;s expected that at least 10 players on this year&rsquo;s team will be in the NHL within the next two years&hellip;Bob Plager. St. Louis Blues&rsquo; rugged defenseman. thinks he&rsquo;s created more knee surgery for the medical profession than any other player in the game. &ldquo;All on clean checks, too.&rdquo; claims Plager. Among his victims are Ron Sedlbauer of Vancouver, Ian Turnbull of Toronto, Doug Roberts, when he was with Detroit and Bob Pulford of the Los Angeles Kings, and Plager reflected sadly: &ldquo;I think I finished Pulford&rsquo;s playing career.&rsquo;.&hellip;..Montreal Canadiens have won more play off games than any other NHL team. They&rsquo;ve won 354 en route to a record 16 Stanley Cups&hellip; Toronto Maple Leafs, on the other hand, have lost the most playoff games. A total of 146&hellip; Lou Damia advises that the Philadelphia Fivers Fan Club donated $1,000 to Juvenile Diabetes and Bobby Clarke made the presentation for the Fan Club at their annual Appreciation Night party. Bill Barber was picked as the Player of the ear on the Fivers and given a week for he and his wife in either Hawaii or Bermuda after the playoffs courtesy of the Flyers Fan Club. At the same party the Clarke line was presented $500 savings bonds as the outstanding line in hockey&hellip;Unless they get a better deal from Maple Leaf Gardens and business picks up the Toronto Toros of the WHA are certain to move. Talk has them locating in the new arena in Hollywood. Florida&hellip;Toe Blake is the only Montreal Canadien player to ever win the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play and that was back in 1945-46&hellip; Bryan Watson of the Detroit Red Wings and new NHL penalty record holder, says the toughest players he&rsquo;s ever encountered are Dan Maloney and John Ferguson&hellip;Norm Ullman&rsquo;s son Gordie received his hockey letter at Yale. He led all defensemen with 13 points&hellip;Paul Henderson of the Toronto Toros has become very religious and is dedicating his life-to God. He could wind up preaching the Gospel when his puck career ends.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03833/3734893-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="273" height="428"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Henderson</figcaption></div>&bull;BAZ BASTIEN will replace Sid Abel as general manager of Kansas City Scouts next season. Abel will move upstairs&hellip;Abel and Bastien have both invested money in the Kansas City operation&hellip;It is generally agreed by NHL scouts that the top three draft choices this year will be Blair Chapman of Saskatoon Blades. Peter Marsh of Sherbrooke Beavers and Rick, Green of London Knights &hellip;Chapman and&rsquo; Marsh are both right wingers while Green is a defenseman&hellip; Trail Smoke Eaters, winners of the 1961 world hockey championship, are having quite a time playing exhibition matches throughout Europe&hellip;&rdquo;Iron Man&rdquo; Garry Unger is one of the very few pro players to still have all his own teeth&hellip;Congrats to Pierre Larouche of the Pittsburgh Penguins who became the youngest players in history to crack the 100 points or more mark in the NHL. The 20-year-old center should be one of hockey&rsquo;s all-time top scorers before he retires.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04731/3734886-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="265" height="420"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Green</figcaption></div><h4>The Hockey News</h4>OFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded October 1st, 1947Vol. 29No. 26APRIL 9, 1976Published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd., 1434 St. Catherine Street West, Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7. U.S. c/o W.C.C. Publishing, 150 E. 58th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022.Kenneth W. McKenzie President, Publisher and Advertising DirectorDon Wall Associate PublisherCharlie Halpin Editorial DirectorKeith Lawton Administration ManagerPat Beale Advertising Co-OrdinatorRalph Bridgland Asst. To EditorUnited States Advertising RepresentativesNEW YORK: Bill Hitzig, National Sports Publishing Corp., 150 East 58th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022. TeleDhone (212) 593-2100. CHICAGO: Hooper Jones & Associates, 3322 W. Peterson Ave., Chicago, III 60659. Telephone (312) 478-5544.ATLANTIC STATES (including New York, Boston, Buffalo & Philadelphia: Bob Basslmette, Bassinette/White, 50 East 42nd St.. New York. N.Y. 10017. Telephone (212) 986-6210.YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $9.50 in Canada $10.50 in the U.S.A, and $14.00 in Foreign Countries. Sec ond class postage paid at New York, NY, 10001 and at additional mailing offices SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO 1434 ST. CATHERINE STREET WEST, SUITE 217, MONTREAL, CANADA H3G 1R7. Second Class mail Registration No 1327 All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept, The Hockey News, 1434 St. Catherine St. W. Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7. Printed in Canada. &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THS PUCK

One of hockey&rsquo;s most colorful and controversial hockey analysts, HOWIE MEEKER, will appear on the pages of THE HOCKEY NEWS starting with next week&rsquo;s issue. Meeker will delve into the inner most parts of hockey and analyze the top stories as they occur. Next week, Meeker will tell it as it happened in the recent explosive Russian-Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; showdown that rocked the Spectrum and the entire hockey world. Don&rsquo;t miss Howie Meeker&rsquo;s bristling hockey comments each week in THE HOCKEY NEWS. &#9632;

HOWIE MEEKER JOINS THE HOCKEY NEWS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05594/3734962-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2>Impressed By Bruins Style of Hockey</h2>Being an avid hockey fan and a very loyal supporter of the Boston Bruins. I have been very excited to see the Bruins play the type of quality hockey they have been playing this season. Many people contribute their upswing to the purchase of Brad Park and Jean Ratelie. This I think is a very big understatement.Last year Boston was led by Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito who both had All Star ratings. But, the rise of the Bruins cannot be contributed to any individual The whole team has begun to play well since the big trade. This makes it look bad for Esposito and Vadnais but good for Ratelle and Park.Another thing people say is that Boston does not need Bobby Orr. Look at Philadelphia. They have been winning games all year and have an excellent goalie in Stephenson, but to go all the way they need Bernie Parent. Well Boston needs Orr.All I can say is that if the Bruins are healthy, thev wil be the team to beatCHARLESSCOTT,Bathurst, N.B.<h2>Penalty Shot Rules In Need Of Change</h2>A thorny problem has been the reiuctance of a referee to call a penalty shot. All too often a player breaking over the blueline, is hooked, grabbed or tripped, even though he may not be entirely in the clear, thus spoiling an excellent scoring chance.What is the refs call? A minor penalty.Was justice done? No! Besides most penalties are killed successfully. It&rsquo;s high time to propose a rule change.Instead of a penalty, lets have a free shot on goal, like in basketball and soccer, and the coach will be permitted to choose hisshooter.Here&rsquo;s the scene, - after a player has been fouled by the last defender the ref will call the players from both sides, to the blueline, and will line up in anticipation. The puck is placed 15 feet inside the blueline. The shooter will skate, when given the signal over the blueline, and fire the puck on goal. If he scores, the play is dead and justice was served. If he fails to scores, he can go in after the loose puck. The goalie is not permitted to-catch. trap or fall on the puck, but must set it free immediately. The players on the blueline, will charge in, as soon as the shooter, has shot the puck. Play continues, no further penalty.Advantages of the free shot? One. it takes the pressure off the ref in calling a major penalty shot. Two, the penaltyshot is called so infrequently now that a player taking one usually has the jitters and ends up fouling his chance to score by not knowing whether to shoot or deke the goalie. Under the new rule, he shoots the puck, thus improving the chance of scoring a goal. Let&rsquo;s hear it fans!L.SWARDToronto, Ont.<h2>NHL To Dominate Team Canada &lsquo;76</h2>The 1976 tournament between all of the heckey powers will be a great test for the Canadian team. The Canadian team will most likely be made up of 90 percent NHL players and the remaining 10 percent players. The reason is that WHA have very few young players which are as talented as the NHL.Here&rsquo;s my choice for Team Canada. I tried to make it as young a team as possible, because they play in September and need young players that will work into shape fast.The average age of the team is 27.66 years old.GOAL-Dryden, Resch, Thomas; DEFENSE-Denis Potvin, Park, Lapointe, Dailey Schoenfeld, J.C.Tremblay; CENTER-Clarke, Sittler, MacLeish, Perreault; LEFT WING-Martin, D. Hull, Barber, B.Hull; RIGHT WING-Lafleur, Robert, Houle, Cournoyer.RICK WESTHOLM,Owen Sound, Ont.<h2>Can&rsquo;t See Cherry Coach Of The Year</h2>How could you name Don Cherry coach of the year? Granted the Bruins are having a great year, but it has nothing to do with the coach. You give as your reason, that the Bruins are winning without Esposito, or Orr. It isn&rsquo;t the coach that has the Bruins winning, it&rsquo;s the players&rsquo; desire. Players such as Sheppard, Park. Ratelle. Bucyk and gilbert, are why the Bruins are in first place.Any coach that would bench a star player like Ken Hodge, does not know his business. That&rsquo;s why I say - Don Cherry coach of the year, you gotta be kidding.MICHAEL MAIS,Medway, Mass.<h2>Agrees Europeans Play Dirty Hockey</h2>I am in agreement with W. Wesley Jannsson of Pine Falls, Man. (Mar. 5) in reference to violence in international hockey.It seems that Europeans, especially the Soviets, can&rsquo;t distinguish rough hockey from dirty hockey. In their attempt to inject a little Canadian play-the-man style, the Russians resort to flagrant high-sticking, elbowing, and especially interference and crosschecking.After witnessing the tactics used in the recent Olympic hockey tournament. I no longer listen to complaints about violence in the NHL.MILES DURRIE,Mayne Island, B.C. &#9632;

f0004-05

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01868/3734993-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARCEL DIONNE&hellip; Hasn&rsquo;t Had A Lot Of Help</figcaption></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;This has not been Marcel Dionne&rsquo;s best season by far, but he has been the best by far on the Los Angeles Kings so at season&rsquo;s end he is certain to be voted by the local hockey writers the team&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player, snapping a string of three straight MVP trophies collected by goaler Rogie Vachon.Prior MVPs Ed Joyal, Gerry Desjardins, Ross Lonsberry and Gilles Marotte were rewarded by being traded away and Juha Widing may face that fate this summer, but Dionne and Vachon will stay as the guts of this team which must be rebuilt a bit following the big trade last sumDionne scored 40 goals in his second season and 47 in his fourth, but he had a hard time trying to top the King record of 37 in this his fifth season as a major leaguer and first in Los Angeles, as well as the team assists record of 54. He has surpassed the team record of 72 points, but he is going to fall far short of the 121 that placed him third in the league last season.Of course statistics do not tell the whole story and Dionne has been a more complete player in Los Angeles than he was in Detroit. He has tried to fit into coach Bob Pulford&rsquo;s conservative system by checking at both ends of the ice with the result that in goals for-and-against while he has been on the ice he is about even, while he was a big minus last season and his new team is a minus this season.Marcel has not had a lot of help. The tough little guy has not had a policeman on his side to protect him as defenders have roughed him up on the theory that to stop him is to stop his team. He has no Danny Grants or Mickey Redmonds to convert his superb passes into 50-goal seasons and no superb passers to feed him.Labelled a soloist, he has sought to prove his unselfishness by passing to teammates even when he had a good shot, which is a waste of the best talent on the team. He seems to have gotten discouraged by the fact that his passes have not paid off, but he denies that he is, as he seems to be, down at this time.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still up for every game,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;This team is not as successful as last season&rsquo;s, but it&rsquo;s a lot better than the team I was on last season, and I&rsquo;m going into a playoff for the first time so I still have enthusiasm.&ldquo;I have gotten discouraged at times and I would like to have more points because I think it would have helped the team more, but I&rsquo;m not blaming any of my teammates. To be honest, I don&rsquo;t think I have played as well as lean. I&rsquo;ve tried, but it just hasn&rsquo;t been there.&ldquo;I do think I should shoot more, but basically I&rsquo;m oriented to the open man style of play. If I see a man in a better position to score than I am I want to give him the shot and I don&rsquo;t stop to think whether or not I&rsquo;m a better shooter. I really don&rsquo;t want to start thinking that way.&rdquo;This was after a game and Marcel mentioned passing up a shot to pass to Dave Hutchison who was open in front of an open net. Dave missed the shot, as he has every other one he&rsquo;s made in the majors in three seasons. When this was pointed out to Dionne the little guy laughed. He says a lot with laughs and smiles and expressions which he will not put intowords.Actually, Dionne&rsquo;s total of goals would be close to last season&rsquo;s it he had last season&rsquo;s league-record 10 short handed goals instead of this season&rsquo;s one, and there are indications the King brain-trust may take the wrap off him to some extent, though he still is only on the second penalty-killing unit.Marcel says, &ldquo;No one told me not to go with the puck, but it was made clear here from the first that you think defense first, especially killing penalties, and I&rsquo;ve tried to fit myself into that system. And it&rsquo;s a sound system. In Detroit we were always behind so we gambled, but we gave up more goals than we got.&lsquo;But I think they want more from me here now and I&rsquo;m going to gamble a little more now in the right situations. I can go one-on-one with anyone and if I get the break when I have control ofthe puck I&rsquo;m going to take advantage of it. I&rsquo;ve maybe been too conservative.&rdquo;He has been, but he is a brilliant talent and while he and his new team-mates seem still to be adjusting to each other, that adjustment once made could improve this team tremendously. He does not regret the trade at all.&rsquo;I&rsquo;m happy I made up my mind this is where I wanted to play,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;My wife and I with our new baby have been happy here. I love the life-style in southern California, have bought a new home and lam going to make my home here the year around.&rdquo;The sort of professional who refuses to gripe about being roughed up or not getting a lot of help or the pressure of being expected to make a miracle here, he says, &ldquo;The game is a business. I&rsquo;m paid to produce, not make excuses. I&rsquo;m paid a lot of money and I&rsquo;m determined to earn it. Im just one part of this team and I can&rsquo;t carry it by myself, but I can play a bigger part than I have, and I&rsquo;m as aware of that as anyone.Labeled a troublemaker, he is a bit of a loner but has not created any trouble either with his teammates or the reporters. He is an agreeable, intelligent young man who really does not like the spotlight but has matured to the point where he can handle the heat that goes with it.He has been the Most Valuable Player on the Kings this season and has the skills and desire to be the best in the league some season soon. &#9632;

f0005-01

Despite Letdown Dionne Still King In Los Angeles

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:NATIONAL LEAGUEBOSTON &mdash; Gord Clark, forward, recalled from Rochester of AHL as replacement for Doug Gibson, who is on injured list.CHICAGO &mdash; Randy Holt, defenseman, returned to Dallas of CHL after Keith Magnuson. defenseman, returned from disabled list.PHILADELPHIA &mdash; Paul Holmgren, forward, recalled from Richmond of AHL as replacement for Gary Donrhoeijfer, forward, who is on the inactive list with viral pneumonia.N.Y. RANGERS &mdash; Gilles Gratton, goalkeeper, signed as free agent after being waived through the NHL.DETROIT &mdash; Mike Wong, forward, recalled from Kalamazooof IHL.MINNESOTA &mdash; Chris Ahrens, defenseman, recalled from New Haven of AHL under emergency conditions and later returned.ST. LOUIS &mdash; Mitch Babin, forward, recalled from Providence of AHL under emergency conditions.WORLD HOCKEY ASSNHOUSTON &mdash; Bruce Aberhart, goalkeeper, from Tucson of CHL and Lynn Zimmerman, goalkeeper, from Erie of NAHL. John Huber, defenseiman, from Mohawk Valley of NAHL and Mike Stevens, defenseman, from Tucson of CHL, Bob Liddington, Gordie Titcomb and Steve West, forwards, from Tucson of CHL, and Jim Stanfield, forward, from Buffalo of NAHL. placed on playoff reserve list in event of injuries for upcoming WHA playoffs. &#9632;

Hockey Players On The Move…

The six grand prize winners of the Lange Hockey Skate contest were announced recently. They are:Jim Matthews, Hudson, Quebec.Brendon Edwards, Glenview, 111.Adam Cohen, Pittsburgh, Pa.Jeff Rudh, Fargo, N.D.Tim Scrimenti, Northeast, Pa.Scott Smith, Mississauga, Ont.These winners will enjoy an all expense trip to Phil Esposito&rsquo;s Summer Hockey School in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., as well as receive a pair of either Lange Junior Comp or Laser 3 skates. Another lucky 175 have won 25 pairs of either Lange Junior Comp or Laser 3 skates and 150 Lange hockey equipment bags. &#9632;

Lange Hockey Skate Contest Winners

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011013/3735072-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY INNESS&hellip; He&rsquo;s Ready To Learn</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Shortly after Philadelphia&rsquo;s version of The Trade, calls were received from curious parties in Boston. Washington and Pittsburgh. The callers all asked the same question: Why do the Flyers need another goalie?Puzzled reaction also swept Philadelphia when the deal bringing goalie Gary Inness and &ldquo;other considerations&rdquo; for veteran defenseman Ed Van Impe and goaltender Bobby Taylor was announced before the NHL trade deadline.With Wayne Stephenson having the season of his life and Bernie Parent nearing complete rehabilitation from October neck surgery, the Flyers appeared solid in the nets. GM Keith (the Thief) Allen offered this explanation:&ldquo;Through the years we&rsquo;ve always had three goaltenders who could play in the league, whether they were here or in Richmond. We decided our kids weren&rsquo;t ready at this stage. We were fortunate that nothing happened to Wayne while Bernie was out. People asked the same question when we got Wayne, but that turned out to be a pretty good deal.&rdquo;&ldquo;Pretty good&rdquo; is an understatement. The goalie known as &ldquo;Fort Wayne&rdquo; has been matching victories with Montreal&rsquo;s Ken Dryden all season and has been among the top three NHL goalies in average down the homestretch.Mark down Inness, 26, as insurance for the rest of this season. Then, presuming Parent again will be the All-Star, Vezina Trophy winner of old. the Flyers will be free to swap either Inness or Stephenson. 31. for a quality player should another Rick MacLeish type injury strike the team. The Flyers&rsquo; &ldquo;kid&rdquo; goalies, Jerome (Moses) Mrazek and Rejean Lemelin. aren&rsquo;t too far away from NHL employment.Although still stunned&mdash;and overjoyed&mdash;by trade arid wondering what his role with the Stanley Cup champions will be, Inness was hoping for long-term employment at the Spectrum.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to learning from Bernie - he&rsquo;s the best and I&rsquo;ve admired him for a long time.&rdquo; said Inness. &ldquo;I want to play, but if I don&rsquo;t I&rsquo;ll understand.&rdquo;The entire season has been a puzzle to Inness, who played in 57 games for Pittsburgh last season. After a superb playoff (2.67 average and five consecutive wins), the McMaster and University of Toronto graduate expected better treatment than that handed out by ex-Penguins&rsquo; coach Marc Boileau. Rookie Gord Laxton was Pittsburgh&rsquo;s starter in the season opener in Washington, with Michel Plasse as back-up.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not the type who walks in and says &lsquo;it&rsquo;s my job,&rsquo; Inness recalled. &ldquo;Laxton did have the best training camp, but I was preparing myself for the season. When I didn&rsquo;t even dress for the opener it shattered me. It took awhile for me to recover.&rdquo;By the time Inness recovered, Plasse was established as Pittsburgh&rsquo;s regular goalkeeper. After Ken Schinkel. Boileau&rsquo;s successor, dusted off Inness he compiled a 72-1 record and then packed for Philadelphia. Flyers&rsquo; coach Fred Shero was a bit vague on how much action Inness will see.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if we&rsquo;ll play him immediately, we&rsquo;re just happy to have him,&rdquo; said Shero.And for the future? Fred?&ldquo;I expect he&rsquo;ll try to beat somebody out of a job.&rdquo;Van Impe won&rsquo;t have to worry about beating out any of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s defensemen. Schinkel and Wren Blair, the Penguins&rsquo; GM-without-title, expect Van Impe to steady a defense whose closest association with the Vezina Trophy has been a visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame.That Van Impe. the first skater chosen by the Flyers in the original expansion draft, decided to finally wear the NHL&rsquo;s dullest uniform is a compliment to the persuasive powers of Blair and the wallet of board chairman Al Savill.Although he hadn&rsquo;t suited up for six of the Flyers&rsquo; seven games prior to the trade. Van Impe was jolted by his transfer to Pittsburgh. He had given the Flyers nine years of dedicated duty, had been the first player to settle in the Philadelphia area. and. at soon-to-be 36. was reluctant to accept a change. However, a meeting with Blair and Savill convinced him not to retire. &#9632;

f0006-01

“Our Kids Not Ready At This Stage” Flyer GM Allen’s Answer For Trade

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01913/3735103-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE ANTONOVICH&hellip; WHA Jumper Impressive In Trial</figcaption></div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;All the Minnesota North g; Stars have to look forward to now out of this 1975-76 NHL season is whether they will be drafting No. 2 or No. 3 in the first round of the amateur draft.From the look of things, the North Stars probably will end up as the third worst team in the league this year and, thus, pick behind Washington and Pittsburgh, which acquired Kansas City&rsquo;s position in the draft in a trade.Of course, once the North Stars do pick the second or third best junior player in Cais nada, they must concentrate on signing him. Bryan Maxwell, the 1975 No. 1 choice, passed up a $200,000 cash-on-hand bonus offer from the North Stars last summer to accept a three year contract at a higher salary with Cleveland of the WHA.Again, the North Stars probably will be looking for a rugged defenseman such as Maxwell, who could have been considerable help to the team this season.The North Stars were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday, Mar. 14 with an 8-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres with 10 games remainig ing in the regular schedule and St. Louis too far ahead in third place in the Smythe Division. The loss to Buffalo was Minnesota&rsquo;s 20th in its last 23 games in the team&rsquo;s worst slump of the season.Rookie Paul Harrison, who has seen only limited action this year, made some mistakes in goal, but he did not have much help in front of him either. A no-nonsense defenseman in front of him might have aided in cutting down the 43 shots which Buffalo unloaded on the Minnesota net.&ldquo;One of our greatest problems all year has been in position play in front of the net in clearing the rebounds,&rdquo; said coach Ted Harris.Harris, with the North Stars clearly out of the picture, went to a three-goalie rotation of Harrison, Pete LoPresti and veteran Cesare Maniago, who has to be the team&rsquo;s most valuable player with a 3.30 goals against average.Another late-season move was to give all the younger North Star players as much time as possible. That left veteran forwards Bryan Hextali, Glen Sather and Craig Cameron and defenseman Lou Nanne without regular status, although all were playing.The North Stars also signed 5&rsquo;8&rdquo; Mike Antonovich, formerly of the folded Fighting Saints, to what amounted to a 12-game tryout. The 21 year old forward played for the Saints since the birth of the WHA, scoring 90 goals in three-plus seasons.Antonovich received quite an introduction in his first two games after laying off for three weeks with the collapse of the Saints. He started at center ice against Chicago&rsquo;s Stan Mikita and saw duty against Buffalo star Gil Perreault.Harris was impressed with the little guy&rsquo;s hustle. &ldquo;I like the way he scraps,&rdquo; said the coach. &ldquo;The book said he scraps in the corners and he lives up to it. His size? He&rsquo;s not much smaller than a fellow by the name of Henri Richard. It&rsquo;s the size of his heart which counts. What good does a 6-2 frame do a guy if he doesn&rsquo;t have any guts?&rdquo;Antonovich, not assured of a contract for next season, showed plenty of that desire and let go of some zippy passes which were never finished off.&ldquo;Without much work the last three weeks,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I felt like I was carrying a piano on my back at times. All I&rsquo;m going to do is try my best the 12 games I&rsquo;ll be playing. After that I&rsquo;ll just have to wait, and see what develops.&rdquo;STAR DUST: Antonovich became the fourth Minnesota-born player on the North Stars&hellip; Dean Talafous, another, took over the team scoring lead and the club is billing him as the only U.S. born to lead his team&rsquo;s statistics this season. &#9632;

f0007-01

Amateur Draft Last Ray Of Hope For North Stars

<div class="byline">BY RON WEBER</div>WASHINGTON&mdash;He&rsquo;s the last of his kind, at least for awhile. If the narrow minds of the NHL can find further loop-holes. maybe a long while.Hartland Monahan, you see. is an intra-league draftee. That means by an NHL team from an NHL team. That kind of thing isn&rsquo;t being permitted this coming June in the annual summer pickins. By a vote of four to 14 (that&rsquo;s right, four teams voted against holding it) the intraleague draft was scuttled for 1976. So the Washington Capitals will have to look elsewhere for more Hartland Monahans.Last June Capitals owner Abe Pollin, at the summer conclave in Montreal, was hungry. For a bet-ter team, yes, but also for lunch. &ldquo;Might as well go eat.&rdquo; said his new team president, Peter O&rsquo;Malley, the intra-league draft was a dud. Indeed, it looked like every team would pass up a chance to draft from their brethren until the Rangers selected a forward named Dale Lewis off the Los An-geles roster. That meant New 5 ork had to free one man from their 18-player protected list. Guess who? Our boy Hartland.Presto, a flurry of activity around the Washington desk by the men then in charge. Milt Schmidt and Lefty McFadden, and Monahan was a Capital&hellip;and Pollin came back from lunch $40,000 lighter in the wallet. Without that, the Caps would be without any natural right-wingers. And they&rsquo;d had to have found a different man to lead them in assists, for that&rsquo;s what Hartland has done almost the entire season.After the recent win over the Rangers, their new coach John Ferguson was quote by the Washington Post&rsquo;s Bob Fachet as saying, &ldquo;Something must be wrong when you give a guy like that away. It makes you wonder. Damn, it makes you wonder.&rdquo; Monahanhad scored the opening goal, unassisted, in a 5-2 Washing-ton victory hat kept the Rangers the only team winless at the Capital Center.Of his drafting by the losingest team in league history. Hartland admits,. &ldquo;I was disappointed to start with. I thought New York was going to give me a real good shot. But once I got talking with Milt Schmidt I was really happy. I&rsquo;ve gotten lots of (ice) time. It&rsquo;s worked out well.&ldquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03755/3735172-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="569" height="1148"><figcaption class="caption-body">HARTLAND MONAHAN&hellip;Looking Ahead</figcaption></div>Not that it&rsquo;s all been a bed of roses. &ldquo;In the first half I thought I was playing really well.&rdquo; Then he got stuck at the eight goal mark for 18 games, and Tom McVie replaced Schmidt as coach. Says Hartland, &ldquo;Now with the (McVie) system the points don&rsquo;t come as readily. It&rsquo;s not each man for him-self. With Tommy we know where he wants us to be. It makes it a lot easier.&rdquo;Monahan finally got score number nine. &ldquo;I got a breakaway and scored.&rdquo; Now he&rsquo;s just a late burst from being a 20-goal man in his rookie season.Still, everyone, himself included. believes Hartland should do better next season. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m gonna shoot more. One of my biggest mis-takes is passing up my shot.&rdquo; He admits part of the problem is lack of confidence. The feeling here is that he worries about being called a puck hog. With the best acceleration on the Caps, plus a harder than average shot, he gets his opportunities.Monahan is a Montreal native. 11 years in the city and eight more in the suburb of Laval West. Except for a little defense as a junior and a half season at center at Salt Lake City, he&rsquo;s been a right winger all along. Unlike most righthanded people, he shoots a puck from the right side. &ldquo;Only thing I do lefty isshoot pool.&rdquo; he offers.In high school he was a third baseman in softball and a running back in football. He plays golf to a 14 handicap, and likes tennis, too.The most singular fact of Hartland&rsquo;s personal life is the hockey lineage he married into. Wife Linda is the daughter of Bernie Geoffrion and the granddaughter of Howie Morenz. So their son, Shane, almost two years of age, comes from great hockey bloodlines.They stayed in the New York area last summer but the Monahans will spend most of this coming off season in nearby Upper Marlboro, Maryland.&ldquo;Next vear,&rdquo; promises Hartland. &ldquo;Twenty wins at least. We&rsquo;ll be in shape in training camp. I&rsquo;m looking forward to the next two or three years when we make it.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rdquo; is the playoffs. &#9632;

f0008-03

Unique NHL Drafting Put Caps’ Monahan Back In Big Apple

<div class="byline">by JACK McCARTHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01969/3735203-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEN HODGE&hellip; 18 Goals In 25 Games</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;With speculation on the return of Bobby Orr from knee surgery taking up most of the ink in Boston not to mention the recuperation of Brad Park from the same injury, plus surgery the Bruins must have welcomed the 300th goal of Kenny Hodge.Hodge&rsquo;s 300th, which puts him higher in the list of alltime NHL scorers, and into some pretty select company, was accomplished with a flourish. Big Kenny got the hat trick on March 12 at the Garden against Toronto Maple Leafs in a 6-2 Bruins victory which lifted Boston up to 11 points over the Buffalo Sabres.The last goal of the trick was also Hodge&rsquo;s 20th of the year, which is quite an accomplishment considering that he has been playing rather sketchily, if that is the word.It was also the 18th for Hodgie in 25 games, and he should feel a sense of accomplishment, what with all his troubles with management this season. He has spent time on the bench and playing on makeshift lines, so 20 is a pretty good total for the big right wing.Hodge and coach Don Cherry are not a mutual admiration society by any means, and after the previous game, against Washington, when Hodge had been moved from his natural right wing over to the left side, and finally benched for the last period, he had some words of complaint.In the Toronto game, he was back at right wing, but on a makeshift line with Jean Ratelle and Johnny Bucyk and this line came up with all six goals. This, of course, puts coach Cherry in the genius class at juggling his troops.Hodge said that the way things have been going for him this year. that he was happy to get 20 goals and certainly would savor his 330th. &ldquo;The feeling is tremendous, especially where I have been playing so off andon this year&hellip;&rdquo;Another aspect of this game was that it was another win for Gerry Cheevers, and it ran his unbeaten string to eight at 6-0-2. With a sharp Cheevers going into the playoffs, the Bruins will have a big plus going for them.The Bruins, meanwhile, could benefit mightily from winning the Adams Division, because it would give them a bye in the opening round of the playoffs. This would, of course, give both Orr and Park a few more days to recover.The Bruins will start the playoff schedule just five weeks after Park&rsquo;s operation. Dr. Carter Rowe, who performed the surgery, was most happy with the way the operation went, and originally predicted six weeks recovery. Park was more optimistic at four, but was willing to split the difference at five. Said Park, &ldquo;Dr. Rowe is optimistic. So why should I be pessimistic?&rdquo;Meanwhile, the Bruins continue to confound people by winning, although they are without Orr, Park, Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais.Orr has been skating daily, and says that while he is anxious to play, he has had two operations, and wants to be certain before he returns from this latest surgery on his knee.In a rather strange twist, although there is nothing in one hockey player visiting another, Orr visited Park in Mass. General Hospital, where he has been the visitee more often than the visitor.BOSTON BEANS: Gregg Sheppard missed three games with the flu, and Bruins called up Gordie Clark, former University of New Hampshire player. &#9632;

f0009-01

300th Goal Welcome Sight For Hodge, Boosts Bruins’ Lead In Adams Division

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02851/3735234-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="525" height="776"></div>It looks very doubtful at this time that super star defenseman Bobby Orr will see action with the Bruins for the rest of this season, Orr was again sidelined with knee problems and had to once more go under the surgeon&rsquo;s knife. If Orr should not return this season, it&rsquo;s conceivable he will not be seen in a Boston uniform again as his contract runs out this summer. &#9632;

f0009-02

Bruins’ Lament: Orr Out For Year

<div class="byline">BY ALAN TRUEX</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01991/3735272-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="565" height="2261"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHIL MYRE&hellip;It&rsquo;s A Struggle</figcaption></div>ATLANTA&mdash;Phil Myre. an up-and-down style goaltender, is having an up and down season.The gymnastic, leg-splitting goalie of the Atlanta Flames is enduring what is statistically the poorest season of his career. His against average of 3.39 is higher than it has been in three previous years with the Flames.That may be a respectable performance for most goalers. But it compares most unfavorably to Myre&rsquo;s 2.85 of last season.The 27-year-old Myre. who relaxes by strumming country music on his guitar, has not been the consistent player he was last year. Three times he has been removed from games by coach Fred Creighton.Like most coaches. Creighton goes to any lengths to avoid criticizing his goaltender. But after Myre gave up four goals in one period of a recent game against Philadelphia, Creighton commented, &ldquo;I thought two of the goals were poor goals.&rdquo;Myre thought so. too. But he said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not gonna admit I&rsquo;m having a bad year.&rdquo;When you ask Myre for explanations of what appears to be an off-year, his response is not anger or indignation but a befuddled smile.He defends himself on grounds that &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gotten only 14 of the 37 home games.&rdquo;Some Flames observers feel the team has not supported Myre as well as it has Dan Bouchard, whose goals-against average of 2.60 at press time ranked fourth in the NHL.&ldquo;Look at the teams Phil has had to play,&rdquo; one of the Flames&rsquo; players pointed out. Indeed. Myre started four of the six games against Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia, the highest scoring team in the league.And Myre&rsquo;s won-lost-tied record has stayed very close to Bouchard&rsquo;s.Yet when you consult officials from other clubs, the general belief is that Bouchard is, this year anyway, more consistent and more effective than Myre.Clearly, Myre has been struggling the second half of the season. Although regarded as one of the most intelligent goalers in the league, he admits he&rsquo;s been out of position at times. He appears to have lapses of concentration, and his glove hand has not been as sure as it was last year.Last year he had five shutouts; this year only one.Creighton could be facing a difficult decision in the playoffs. Does he play Bouchard, or does he split the goaltending between Bouchard and Myre?So far, Creighton has clung to his &ldquo;take &lsquo;em one game at a time&rdquo; plan. But indications are he is not entirely satisfied with Myre&rsquo;s play.NOTES: When center Bill Clement suffered a bruised thigh recently. Flames recalled Guy Chouinard for another fill-in performance. The 19-year-old Chouinard again looked good in his brief role, setting up a goal in his one game, against Philadelphia. Then he was sent back to Nova Scotia&hellip;Right wing continues to be the Flames&rsquo; biggest deficiency. It seems to get progressively weaker. Bill Flett and Hilliard Graves, who were effective for half the season, have not played well in the second half&hellip;Rick Bowness, improving rapidly in the Central Hockey League, is the main hope for next season.Left winger Curt Bennett already has surpassed his goals total of 31 last year. He becomes the first Flame to have two 30-game seasons&hellip;Tom Lysiak has broken his own scoring record of 77 points, set last season&hellip;Flames&rsquo; sellout against Philadelphia March 16 was only the second Omni full house of the season&hellip;Playoff tickes have been on sale since the last week of February.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02812/3735265-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="1169" height="1572"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAN BOUCHARD&hellip; Is He No. 1 Now?</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-01

Myre’s Alleged ‘Off Year’ For Flames Would Be Welcomed By Rival Goalers

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01964/3735303-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2>Name That Line</h2>JUST WHEN YOU THINK interest is lagging in hockey. National Hockey League variety, all it takes is a cause, silly or serious, to show that the game still is rather important to a great many fans and youngsters.An article under this byline in the Toronto Star pointed out that the Toronto Maple Leafs forward line of Darryl Sittier, Errol Thompson and Lanny McDonald lacked a nickname. No one had produced a handle for the triumvirate of the calibre of French Connection or those great names of yore&mdash;Punch. Production. Scooter or Kid Line.Surely, the line deserves a title. In their first 23 games as a unit, Sittier. McDonald and Thompson produced a total of 47 goals and 61 assists for 108 points, mathematics which certainly justified a nifty name.Obviously. Maple Leaf hockey fans agreed. They grabbed their pens and the telephone to respond with a torrent of suggestions of names for the line. Some were creative, some were silly, A few writers took off on marvellous flights of fancy. It proved nothing, really, except that being a hockey fan still can be a bit of fun.The players even received a few letters, which led Sittier, a man withthings in perspective, toremark: &ldquo;Maybe it will be much fuss about nothing. If we don&rsquo;t continue to play well, we won&rsquo;t need a name because we won&rsquo;t be toget her.&rdquo;Leaf owner Harold Ballard even got into the act. His suggestion was &ldquo;The Pacemakers&rdquo; because he felt they gave &ldquo;heart&rdquo; to the team. Obviously Ballard&rsquo;s talents are best in directions other than phrase-making.Leaf trainer Joe Sgro suggested &ldquo;Torpedo Trio&rdquo;, which, someone pointed out. would be very appropriate on nights when the line was only working in one direction.Leaf coach Red Kelly had no brilliant suggestions to offer.&ldquo;Just calling them a fine forward line is enough for me,&rdquo; Kelly said.<h2>Some Splendid Silliness</h2>THE NICKNAMES SUGGESTED by the fans displayed what could be called a certain madness and a penchant for reducing sports heroes to the diminutive. Cripes, you&rsquo;d think it was New York where the media tacks a nickname on any combination which remains intact for two games!Fans seemed hooked on construction of a nickname from the first letters of the players&rsquo; names. D-L-E or S-T-M. That produced such beauties as The Leaf DELights, The STeaM Line. The stamp line. (Sittier, Thompson And McDonald Produce), The SMaT Line. Toronto Scoring Machine and Toronto Super Men.Another obviously smitten young lady suggested &ldquo;Maple Sugar&rdquo; because &ldquo;they&rsquo;re not violent, just sweet and aggressive.&rdquo;A fan said that if Buffalo Sabres had the French Connection, then the three Leafs should be called &ldquo;The WASP Line.&rdquo;There was the &ldquo;DDT Line because it kills all unwanted opposition (players) and scores heavily (goals).&rdquo;Another said the &ldquo;BUG Line&rdquo; claiming they bug opposition goaltenders and the B-U-G stands for the Good (Sittier). The Bad (McDonald) and the Ugly (Thompson).&ldquo;But don&rsquo;t forget this is all goodfun.&rdquo; he added cautiously.<h2>They Include Headlines</h2>NEWS PAPERS OFTEN HEAR from sports fans with great ideas foi headlines which indicates that they feel the headline writers are all a few bricks shy of a load.&ldquo;Call them the Laser Line,&rdquo; a fan wrote. &ldquo;Then you can use a headline on stories&rsquo;Laser Line burns opposition.&rdquo;&ldquo;The Overdrive&rdquo; was another suggestion &ldquo;because McDonald is always passing guys as he breaks. Thompson is always in high gear and Sittier never runs out of gas.&rdquo;&hellip;.A Toronto family suggested &ldquo;The Goal Diggers&rdquo; and included a cadence cheer for the Maple Leaf Gardens fans &ldquo;Goal Diggers Go!&rdquo;.A Brampton insurance agent suggested a name out of the headlines &ldquo;Leaf Guide Line&rdquo; or &ldquo;Canadian Guide Line.&rdquo;Fortunately he had a change of heart and wrote in pen on the bottom of his typed letter &ldquo;Or maybe something like &lsquo;Loose Leaf Line&rsquo; would be more suitable.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

FRANK ORR SAYS:

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02825/3735334-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">JUDE DROUIN&hellip;Faces Suspension And Stiff Fine</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND &mdash;Although the Islanders started off slowly against the Minnesota North Stars on March 16, there was still every reason to believe that they would extend their club record-breaking non-losing streak to 12 games.But according to the Islanders, that opportunity appeared to burst when Bryan Trottier was flagged down bv referee Dave Newell for charging into Fred Barrett. But it wasn&rsquo;t the traditional minor penalty; instead it was a five minute major, usually reserved for an intent to injure.It didn&rsquo;t stop there, and as the penalties continued to mount, the Islanders had to play almost the entire first half of the second period at least one man down. Included in that stretch was a twoman disadvantage on which the North Stars tallied their second goal of the game.The Isles continued to dig their own hole mid-way through the third period when they allowed Bryan Hextail to score a shorthanded goal to make the score 3-1, Minnesota, but then came the whistles once again.First Garry Howatt went off at 12:37 for roughing and boarding. No sooner had Howatt stepped out of the box than Bob Nystrom went in for hooking. Everything came to a head in the closing minute when J.P.Parise drew an unsportmanlike conduct minor and a misconduct, and Jude Drouin took a gross misconduct for allegedly-shooting the puck at Newell, and then tripping him.Needless to say, everyone in the Islander locker room from coach Al Arbour on down was livid about the officiating. However when something like this occurs, there are two sides to every story.First of all, the play which seemed to bring out total frustration on the part of the Islanders occurred in the final minute, just before Parise received his misconducts. Goaltender Bill Smith had just reached the bench in lieu of an extra attacker, as the Islanders dumped the puck into the Minnesota zone.However the Isles never got a chance to recover the puck, as linesman Randy Mitton blew the play dead, ruling that the extra skater left the bench a shade too early; hence the face-off at center ice which was understood by practically none of the spectators, and perhaps only a few of the players.Such a whistle is a linesman&rsquo;s call, and solely that of the linesman. But the Islanders, picking up the booing of the crowd, went after Newell, setting the stage for the final penalties.Now for the defense. It was generally agreed in the press box that Newell had not called a consistent game. As Gerry Hart put it, &ldquo;a check would be allowed one minute, and then you would throw the exact same check seconds later, and get penalized for it.&ldquo;He made mistakes all night. And for both sides. He told me I was the third man in a fight. He told me I was gone. But he never gave me the penalty. I just came back on mv next shift.&ldquo;Then Eddie Westfall wanted Mike Antonovich&rsquo;s stick measured because we thought the hook was too great. He never got around to it. In the meantime they changed sticks.&ldquo;We lost two points tonight, but we&rsquo;ll get over it. The people who were really cheated were the fans. They pay their $13 to see 60 minutes of hockey; not to watch one team play short a man for half the game. They were the ones who were cheated.&rdquo;Hart&rsquo;s comments were not those of a typical&rdquo; sour-graped hockey player who had just lost a game. Hart is an intelligent individual who can speak and think for himself. Since Gerry is the first person to be critical of himself, and rarely blames others, his comments must be accepted with more weight than those of the hot-head who pops off at anything.The play that appeared to have infuriated the Islanders the most was the major penalty to Trottier. &ldquo;He (Newell) never gave us any kind of an explanation for the penalty,&rdquo; said Arbour. &ldquo;Are you kidding? You need an engraved invitation to talk to those guys.&rdquo;&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t understand it,&rdquo; said Trottier. &ldquo;We were both going for the puck, and he was a little off-balance. I wasn&rsquo;t trying to hit him in the head or anything like that, and I certainly didn&rsquo;t try to injure him.&rdquo;The Drouin incident at the buzzer could prove to be more costly, however. The gross misconduct penalty carried with it an automatic $100 and a lengthy meeting with Clarence Campbell. Premeditated or not, Drouin could be in line for a suspension and a stiffer fine.ISLAND SOUNDS: 0n a more pleasant note, all the Islanders were on hand two nights later at the Easter Seals &ldquo;Night&rdquo; for the team. Almost 400 fans donated $25 each for the affair, which included a buffet dinner and an auction handled admirably by Clark Gillies. Denis Potvin and his wife Debbi are the co-chairmen of this year&rsquo;s Nassau County drive. Ed Westfall is the Easter Seals chairman in New Hampshire&hellip;Mr. and Mrs. Potvin, as well as Islander GM Bill Torrey, received special plaques at the ceremony. &#9632;

f0012-02

Penalty Calls Anger Isles As 12-Game Unbeaten Skein Snapped By North Stars

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE HALPIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01934/3735379-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOE HARDY&hellip;A Fantastic Season</figcaption></div>HOCKEY NEWS 9TH ANNUANL MINOR AWARDSMONTREAL &mdash;How do you stop a howitzer with a pop gun? Rival netminders in the North American Hockey League have been asking themselves that question all season every time they look up and are confronted by super scorer Joe Hardy and the rampaging Beauce Jaros. They are truly a netminder&rsquo;s nightmare:Hardy, the 30-year-old player-coach of the Jaros, set a modern professional point scoring record this season with a fantastic 207-point season in 72 games as he personally sparked the runaway Jaros to a 54-victory season during which time they accumulated a spinetingling offense of 462 goals.Admittedly, the level of hockey in the NAHL doesn&rsquo;t quite come up to the American or Central Hockey Leagues, but few will doubt the credibility of Hardy&rsquo;s performance this season with Beauce. He made things happen every time he stepped on the ice with the Jaros and his electrifying display of scoring has won him the nod as Player of the Year in THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; ninth annual awards covering the minor leagues.Along with Hardy, THE HOCKEY NEWS selected Al MacNeil of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs of the American League as the Coach of the Year and chose Bill Beagan, the man who rose from the role of referee in the International Hockey League to the commissioner&rsquo;s chair, as the outstanding executive in minor hockey for the 1975-76 season.Hardy, who broke a nine-year monopoly on the top player award held by the AHL and CHL, happened on the NAHL scene this season as a free agent after flunking three WHA trials with Chicago, Indianapolis and San Diego. It seemed no one wanted Hardy except the Jaros and today the Kenogami. Que., native is the hero of a tiny Quebec City hamlet of St. Georges de Beauce.Hardy and his two high-scoring linemates, Alain &lsquo;Boom Boom&rsquo; Caron and Luc Simard, are the howitzers that Beauce fans expect will fire them all the way to the NAHL title in their first year in the league. Between the three of them, they have the most awesome personal scoring credentials of any three pros in the history of the game. Hardy, who was the league&rsquo;s All Star center and is certain to capture the MVP award as well, finished with 60 goals and 148 assists in .72 games. Caron was 78-59-137 and Simard 65-71-136 giving the Beauce trio a record 481 scoring points as a line.While Hardy was cutting a wide swath through the NAHL, coach MacNeil&rsquo;s Voyageurs were showing their heels to the rest of the American League, a distinction the Maritimers have enjoyed almost from the drop of the first puck back in September. MacNeil, who has been at the belm of the Voyageurs constantly since 1969-70, with a one year sabbatical in 70-71, has done masterful job of developing players for the parent Montreal Canadiens.The likeable MacNeil has revelled in his coaching job with the Voyageurs since he is a native of Halifax but most of all he has derived much satisfaction from seeing the more than 30 players he has developed over the years advance to various NHL clubs. The temptation to leave Halifax has cropped up many times for MacNeil, who has often been rumored as being the next coach of the Rangers, Black Hawks and other NHL teams.There is still the possibility that MacNeil will end his minor league tenure after this season when he hopes to bring home his second Calder Cup. He is still considered the No. 1 prospect outside the big time for an NHL coaching job and few will forget his memorable one-year stint as coach of the Canadiens in 1970-71 when he won the Stanley Cup in his first NHL effort.Circumstances forced MacNeil to resign and he returned to Halifax where he has moulded the Voyageurs into a perennial minor league power. Most AHL observers have already declared that the Vees can&rsquo;t miss this year in the Calder Cup hunt with MacNeil again calling the shots.The selection of Beagan as Executive of the Year is a tribute to the 39-year-old chief of the IHL, who has been credited with giving the 31-year-old league its present high rate of credibility in the hockey world. Beagan is serving his seventh year at the at the head of the league, and in the last four of those seven years, the IHL has surpassed the 1,000,000 mark in attendance.Beagan, an outgoing individual who makes firm decisions as top man of the enterprising International League, has often been called &lsquo;the innovator&rsquo; by hockey people. He has been instrumental in having the National Hockey League direct its referee training program towards his league and was the one who arranged the pro agreement with the NHL whereby each IHL team became affiliated with an NHL club, which was permitted to send a maximum five young professionals to the IHL. The fact the NHL teams helped write off these players salaries helped keep the IHL budgets in line and contributed greatly to the success of the league.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03697/3735372-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="517" height="694"><figcaption class="caption-body">AL MacNEIL&hellip;NHL Developer</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04619/3735365-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="535" height="715"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL BEAGAN &hellip;An Innovator</figcaption></div>The rise from referee to the position of commissioner in the IHL was a meteoric one for Beagan. who began his active hockey career with the pros as an NHL linesman. He is a keen student of the game and believes his league has progressed to the point today where he would like nothing better than to promote a &lsquo;showdown&rsquo; series with the American League champion.&ldquo;I think we would do all right&rdquo; is Beagan&rsquo;s unabashed opinion. &#9632;

f0013-01

BEAUCE’S HARDY SELECTED BEST PLAYER OF THE YEAR

<div class="byline">BY GEOFFREY FISHER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01947/3735441-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">WAYNE MERRICK&hellip;Smashing Club Records</figcaption></div>OAKLAND&mdash;Under the name of Leonard Wayne Merrick, the official guide of the St. Louis Blues last year had this to say: &ldquo;The Blues firmly believe that (Merrick) their top draft choice of three seasons ago is now ready to make it big in the NHL.&rdquo;That was a prophetic piece of press agentry by the Blues&rsquo; publicity department. Merrick is making it big. but he&rsquo;s doing it with the California Golden Seals who got the 24-year-old 190 pound center from the Blues late last November in a trade for Larry Patey, a center, plus a future third round draft choice.How big is Merrick making it? Real big, and the official scoring statistics tell it loud and clear. With only seven games remaining to play this season Merrick was the Seals&rsquo; top scorer with 30 goals and 33 assists, he had set a new club scoring mark with six points in a single game (against Washington, Jan, 2), he had tied a club scoring record with two hat tricks in a single season.Despite the unfavorable setting of playing with a last place team, Merrick was roaring along to his very best season since being turned pro by the Blues in the 1972-73 season.Billy McCreary, now the Seals&rsquo; general manager, was the man who was responsible for the Blues drafting Merrick as a No. 1 choice from the Ottawa Jrs. McCreary was then director of computer scouting for the Blues.&ldquo;We needed help at the center slot and I went after Merrick,&rdquo; says McCreary. &ldquo;I had a pretty complete book on him and it was all very impressive. He&rsquo;s big and strong, a fine playmaker, can pass and shoot and is a good solid skater. I always thought he had leadership qualities on ice and that was going to be an important item with a rookie-loaded club such as the Seals.&rdquo;McCreary recalls how he thought Merrick showed a lot of moves of a young Jean Beliveau. the ex-Montreal Canadien super star.&ldquo;I still feel that way about him,&rdquo; declares the Seals&rsquo; GM.Merrick, a native of Sarnia, Ont., has developed steadily since those early encounters with NHL competition. In his freshman campaign with the Blues he suffered his share of rookie pressure and produced only 10 goals.&ldquo;I accompanied him on the plane ride when the Blues sent him down to the Denver farm club for some seasoning,&rdquo; relates McCreary. &ldquo;I remember giving him a book to read that I thought might help him. It was titled &ldquo;How To Be Successful And How To Help Direct Your Own Destiny.&rdquo;Merrick admits he did some reading on the subject and that he got some hints that helped him in gaining self-confidence.How does he feel about the trade that sent him from a play-off contender to a last place club?&ldquo;It was a big shock at first to leave the players and the friends Carol (his wife) and I had made in St. Louis. But now I&rsquo;m very happy with the Seals. We have a great bunch of players who are going places in the NHL. And Carol and I really love living in California.&rdquo;Merrick&rsquo;s linemates in St. Louis were Floyd Thomson and Pierre Plante and it was an association that produced well for the Blues.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to take anything away from those fellows,&rdquo; he says thoughtfully, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;ve got a couple of wingers now (Gary Sabourin, ex-Blues teammate, and Bob Girard) who have really been good for me. They go out to play hockey hard every time they strap on the blades. They have both been great in getting the puck tomein theslot.&rdquo;Coach Jack Evans is high in his praise of his rangy, strong skating centerman.&ldquo;Since Wayne joined the club at the end of November, we picked up 41 of our 59 points,&rdquo; said Evans as the Seals headed into their final seven games of the campaign.&ldquo;He has been on the ice for 60 goals of the 229 we scored and he had a direct hand in 48 of them, plus 21 power play goals Wayne is a dominating factoi for us whenever he is on the ice.&rdquo;The fact is, Merrick at the youthful age of 24. is one of the &ldquo;senior citizens&rdquo; who is expected-to help pace the baby Seals to a position of prominence and success in the NHL. &#9632;

f0014-01

Merrick’s Big Year For Seals Makes St. Louis Sing The Blues

<div class="byline">BY BILL HEUFELDER</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;The Pittsburgh Penguins are playing well, but the question remains. Can they play better?They will need to improve as the playoffs near if they intend to seriously challenge for the Stanley Cup. What stymies the Penguins has been their inability to beat the big clubs; notably Boston, Buffalo, Philadelphia and Montreal.A case in point is the recent game against Buffalo at the Civic Arena, their home ice. Holding a 62 lead with less than half of the final period remaining, Pittsburgh bowed, 7-6.The Penguins then welcomed veteran Ed Van Impe, who had reconsidered and decided to join them after being traded from the Flyers. Giving up only three goals, the Penguins won a pair of weekend home games, then travelled to Montreal where the complexion changed again.Pittsburgh, despite holding the lead four times, eventually lost to the Canadiens, 5-4.&ldquo;One game we&rsquo;re flying,&rdquo; Ron Stackhouse said. &ldquo;The next game we&rsquo;re not. I&rsquo;d like to see a more consistent effort. I think our overall play can be a lot better.&rdquo;With the playoffs in mind, Stackhouse continued, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the club is in high gear yet. I don&rsquo;t know whether that&rsquo;s good or bad.&ldquo;We have our moments when everybody is skating, but we also have lapses that we can&rsquo;t afford.&ldquo;Stackhouse believes the addition of Van Impe will stabilize the defense, which has lacked such a player since Tim Horton&rsquo;s brief stay with the Penguins a few years ago.A stay at home type of defenseman whose specialty is clearing opposing forwards from in front of his own net, Van Impe was the first player selected by the Flyers in the expansion draft nine years ago.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01914/3735472-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="569" height="1188"><figcaption class="caption-body">RON STACKHOUSE&hellip;Strong on defense</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Adding Eddie really helps,&rdquo; acknowledged Stackhouse. &ldquo;The younger guys can learn a lot from him. He&rsquo;s very solid defensively. You have to have some kind of blend between age and youth, and there&rsquo;s no substitute for experience.&rdquo;A powerful offensive club, the Penguins have an obvious place for Van Impe in their desire to tighten up. Stackhouse, on the other hand, has been vital part of the scoring machinary.Tall and strong with fine talent for playing the point on the power play, Stackhouse has broken his own club record for most points in one season. He set the mark last year by registering 60 points, including 45 assists.&ldquo;Things have gone pretty well for me offensively,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The last few games, I&rsquo;ve been making a more consistent effort to improve defensively. I wasn&rsquo;t concentrating on defense as much as I should. I was making mental mistakes.&rdquo;In short, Stackhouse admits to being influenced by the inconsistency that has gripped the entire team and affected its bid to overtake second-place Los Angeles in the Norris Division.&ldquo;Everybody on the club seems to want to beat LA,&rdquo; Stackhouse said, &ldquo;but when we have a chance to make a big move, we play a lousy game. It turns out to be a &lsquo;who wants second place&rsquo; sort of a thing.&rdquo;If there is hesitancy in the way the Penguins are playing. Stackhouse has no doubt about their potential. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re good enough to do something in the playoffs,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but if we&rsquo;re going to beat the top clubs, we&rsquo;ve got to play well every shift.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-01

Inconsistency Clouds Pens’ Playoff Hopes

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;For the first time, since they entered the National Hockey League in 1970, the Buffalo Sabres have three 40-goal scorers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01754/3735517-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="497" height="1084"><figcaption class="caption-body">GILBERT PERREAULT&hellip;</figcaption></div>When they returned from a West Coast trip with eight games remaining on the schedule, the Sabres had Rick Martin and Danny Gare with 43 each and Gil Perreault with 40.When Perreault scored the final goal in a 5-3 win over the California Golden Seals, it marked the first time the smoothskating center hit the 40-goal mark in his six NHL years.Martin, of course, has the best record ever for a left winger in his first five NHL seasons. Counting his 43 this year the hard-shooting 24-year-old from LaSalle, Que., has 228 goals, including 52 each of the last two previous seasons.Gare is in only his second pro season. He had 31 goals in 1974-75.Last season was the only one in which the Sabres had two 40-goal scorers. Martin, with his 52, and Rene Robert with 40 even. Robert, who missed eight games because of injuries this campaign, needed nine goals in his last eight starts to hit 40.Last season Perreault missed by one goal as the French Connection totalled 131, most for any forward line in the league. He missed ten games because of a knee injury.This season the French Connection was broken up from Dec. 7, 1975 until Feb. 26, 1976. Perreault played with several different wingers&mdash;Fred Stanfield, Jacques Richard, Craig Ramsay, Jim Lorentz, Danny Gare. Robert missed only a few games as Gil&rsquo;s right winger but Martin was on the right side with Pete McNab and Brian Spencer for a long time.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02647/3735510-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="500" height="1096"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK MARTIN&hellip;</figcaption></div>Starting with the game before the Connection was reconnected Perreault had a goal or an assist in 12 straight games. In that dozen games he picked up eight goals and 19 assists, 26 points.Last season the Sabres set a league record by having six players with 30 goals or more. They were Martin, 52; Robert, 40; Perreault, 39; Don Luce, 33; Rick Dudley, 31, and Gare 31. Robert was the first Sabre to accumulate 100 points in a season.Robert was the only player besides the 40-goal men, Martin, Gare and Perreault, over the 30-goal plateau at the end of the West Coast trip. He had 31. Next closest to 30 was McNab with 24.You would think 43 goals in his second pro season would have Gare feeling mighty happy about the entire situation but the young blond bomber when asked about the season said he was somewhat disappointed.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not in first place,&rdquo; said Danny. &ldquo;I guess I was spoiled last year by breaking in with a team that went to the Stanley Cup finals. That&rsquo;s a tough thing to repeat.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot easier to play when everybody is playing well together. This year we&rsquo;ve had our ups and downs. We haven&rsquo;t been consistent.&ldquo;As for myself, I&rsquo;m not pleased with the way I&rsquo;ve played at times. Going over 40 goals is OK but my point total could be higher.&ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m a shooter and I shoot logs and they tell me to keep shooting but I&rsquo;d like to help Don and Craig (Luce and Ramsay, his linemates) get more goals. In other seasons I had as many assists as goals.&rdquo;Besides his goal total, another figure is up for Gare this season. He&rsquo;s leading the Sabres in penalty minutes. Going into the last eight games he had spent well over 100 minutes in the cooler. Only Jim Schoenfeld, with 102, was close to the century mark among the other Sabres.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03517/3735503-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="505" height="1092"><figcaption class="caption-body">DANNY GARE&hellip;</figcaption></div>ICE CHIPS: When the Connection was reunited, Jim Lorentz began to play regularly again, either with McNab and Spencer or Stanfield and Richard, or a combination of those forwards.Lorenzo, who had been in a bit of a slump, began to play as he did last season when he was the club&rsquo;s fifth-ranking scorer. He got a point or more in five straight games and in seven of nine. In those nine games he picked up seven goals and two assists. &#9632;

f0016-01

Free-Wheeling Sabres Still Big On Offense

<div class="byline">BY STEVE MARANTZ</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01648/3735555-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY CHARRON&hellip;Breaks Club Goal Scoring Mark</figcaption></div>KANSAS CITY&mdash;Even though the Scouts are at the bottom of the NHL standings, they have looked adversity in the eye and come away laughing. There is nothing funny about their performance, but the Scouts must be admired for the sense of humor with which they accept it.And for every game they lose, they win two points for quotable quotes.There was the game March 16 in Kemper Arena, when the Black Hawks ruined the Scouts with a 4-goal second period to take a 6-3 decision. The loss marked the Scouts&rsquo; 16th straight winless game, the second time this season they reached sweet 16.Spirits were so low they were high.Robin Burns, left winger, described the terrible feeling.&ldquo;An entanglement of troubles.&rdquo; he said.After a brief pause, Burns continued, building upsteam.&ldquo;A spontaneous nurturing of the fruits of disappointment,&rdquo; he articulated.And finally, the nitty-gritty.&ldquo;A demented departure from the reality of hockey.&rdquo; concluded Burns, keeping a face straight as Eddie Bush&rsquo;s fiat top.The next day Bush took Burns aside and asked him what he meant. Eddie probably wished he had thought of &ldquo;demented&rdquo;, although he has come up with his share.One night, on a bus ride to Seattle, Bush was pondering the Scouts&rsquo;3-1 loss to the Canucks. He had not seen Vancouver for 10 years.&ldquo;Well.&rdquo; said Eddie, working a variation on a theme, &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s up to date in Vancouver.&rdquo;A few days earlier the Canucks stormed though Kemper to a 5-3 tune, leaving Bush shaking his head.o&ldquo;What do you say after you&rsquo;ve said You&rsquo;re sorry?&rdquo; he implored.And what else was happening in this light hearted seat of hockey?For one thing, the Scouts and the city hadn&rsquo;t yet arranged a way to sell season tickets so hockey would be &ldquo;saved&rdquo;. As of March 17, there was no chairman for the drive, either with the Scouts, or the city, and the ticket sales were simple dying from neglect. A total of 120 new tickets had been sold, leaving the Scouts 3,880 short of their April 15 goal of 8,000. That&rsquo;s assuming the 4,000 ticket holders renew.A promotion was planned for the Seals&rsquo; game March 20, with all seats going for $2 on a first-come, first-served basis. Season ticket holders, who paid up to $8 for their seats, didn&rsquo;t like the idea, nor have they appreciated many of the other promotions.Guy Charron scored his 27th goal of the season in the BlackHawk game, breaking the club mark of 26 set last season by Simon Nolet and Wilf Paiement. Charron has not broken his scoring stride even though his right winger. Paiement has missed the last month with a thigh injury. Charron has had an excellent season on a weak team and should be considered for the Masterson Trophy.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02560/3735548-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="573" height="548"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROBIN BURNS &hellip; Tells It As It Is</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-01

Scouts Laughing But Fans Not Amused

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1944/3735838-1-eng-US/f0018-192.jpg" title="f0018-19" width="337" height="628"></div><h2>ATLANTA</h2>FLAMES<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01662/3735831-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="256" height="211"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02532/3735824-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="709" height="529"></div><h2>BOSTON</h2>BRUINS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03403/3735817-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="241" height="217"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04297/3735810-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="721" height="628"></div><h2>BUFFALO</h2>SABRES<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05224/3735803-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="232" height="244"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06184/3735796-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="721" height="502"></div><h2>CALIFORNIA</h2>SEALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07159/3735789-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="220" height="145"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-08134/3735782-1-eng-US/f0018-082.jpg" title="f0018-08" width="715" height="565"></div><h2>CHICAGO</h2>HAWKS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-09115/3735775-1-eng-US/f0018-092.jpg" title="f0018-09" width="259" height="238"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-10102/3735768-1-eng-US/f0018-102.jpg" title="f0018-10" width="706" height="511"></div><h2>DETROIT</h2>RED WINGS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1198/3735761-1-eng-US/f0018-112.jpg" title="f0018-11" width="274" height="169"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1290/3735754-1-eng-US/f0018-122.jpg" title="f0018-12" width="736" height="589"></div><h2>KANSAS CITY</h2>SCOUTS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1378/3735747-1-eng-US/f0018-132.jpg" title="f0018-13" width="205" height="220"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1472/3735740-1-eng-US/f0018-142.jpg" title="f0018-14" width="736" height="529"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES</h2>KINGS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1568/3735733-1-eng-US/f0018-152.jpg" title="f0018-15" width="187" height="208"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1664/3735726-1-eng-US/f0018-162.jpg" title="f0018-16" width="730" height="562"></div><h2>MINNESOTA</h2>STARS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1752/3735719-1-eng-US/f0018-172.jpg" title="f0018-17" width="250" height="226"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1848/3735712-1-eng-US/f0018-182.jpg" title="f0018-18" width="733" height="592"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2>CANADIENS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2045/3735705-1-eng-US/f0018-202.jpg" title="f0018-20" width="232" height="196"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2143/3735698-1-eng-US/f0018-212.jpg" title="f0018-21" width="724" height="604"></div><h2>NEW YORK</h2>ISLANDERS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2240/3735691-1-eng-US/f0018-222.jpg" title="f0018-22" width="220" height="202"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2338/3735684-1-eng-US/f0018-232.jpg" title="f0018-23" width="715" height="535"></div><h2>NEW YORK</h2>RANGERS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2437/3735677-1-eng-US/f0018-242.jpg" title="f0018-24" width="225" height="196"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2537/3735670-1-eng-US/f0018-252.jpg" title="f0018-25" width="724" height="610"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2>FLYERS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2636/3735663-1-eng-US/f0018-262.jpg" title="f0018-26" width="266" height="168"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2735/3735656-1-eng-US/f0018-272.jpg" title="f0018-27" width="698" height="580"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH</h2>PENGUINS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2831/3735649-1-eng-US/f0018-282.jpg" title="f0018-28" width="260" height="226"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-2926/3735642-1-eng-US/f0018-292.jpg" title="f0018-29" width="718" height="554"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS</h2>BLUES<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3026/3735635-1-eng-US/f0018-302.jpg" title="f0018-30" width="174" height="158"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3125/3735628-1-eng-US/f0018-312.jpg" title="f0018-31" width="710" height="548"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2>LEAFS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3224/3735621-1-eng-US/f0018-322.jpg" title="f0018-32" width="234" height="208"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3324/3735614-1-eng-US/f0018-332.jpg" title="f0018-33" width="722" height="528"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2>CANUCKS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3421/3735607-1-eng-US/f0018-342.jpg" title="f0018-34" width="190" height="138"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3520/3735600-1-eng-US/f0018-352.jpg" title="f0018-35" width="714" height="610"></div><h2>WASHINGTON</h2>CAPS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3618/3735593-1-eng-US/f0018-362.jpg" title="f0018-36" width="186" height="110"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-3716/3735586-1-eng-US/f0018-372.jpg" title="f0018-37" width="720" height="492"></div> &#9632;

f0018-19

SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div>MONTREAL&mdash;William (Bill) Nyrop is a new face on the Montreal Canadiens blueline but it looks as though he&rsquo;s going to be a regular before much time passes.After having seen action in only 14 games with the Habs this season, many people might take the stand that it&rsquo;s still too early to tell whether Nyrop will be a valuable addition to the Montreal lineup.But when Hab mentor Scotty Bowman indicates that young Mr. Nyrop should be next season&rsquo;s National Hockey League Rookie of the Year, you know his talents are far from ordinary.Nyrop is also an exception to the rule as far as hockey background is concerned. He was born in the United States, played his minor hockey there and then mixed education and hockey at the university level. One of those points, let alone all three of them, is sometimes enough to spell the difference between ordinary and super star when it comes to hockey players.&ldquo;I grew up in Minnesota,&rdquo; explains Nyrop. &ldquo;There you have the same minor hockey system as here; pee-wee, bantam, etc. Then you play 30 or 35 games in high school. Then you go on to university.&ldquo;When you first go to university you&rsquo;re really hepped up on sports,&rdquo; the native of Washington, D.C. continues. &ldquo;But they make sure if you don&rsquo;t have your marks up, you don&rsquo;t play hockey. By my junior year I was just as interested in my schooling as I was in hockey.&rdquo;So Nyrop played the backline for the University of NotreDame (South Bend, Indiana) while other pro hopefuls were honing their skills in the more advanced Canadian Major Junior Hockey Leagues.&ldquo;I guess playing university hockey was a disadvantage in a way and an advantage in another,&rdquo; opines Nyrop. &ldquo;In university hockey you play every Friday and Saturday. You practice a lot more. There&rsquo;s just as much skating, if not more. But you don&rsquo;t get the key game experience. It&rsquo;s awful close to Major Junior.&rdquo;Nyrop was the Canadiens&rsquo; seventh choice in the 1972 amateur draft but he finished his university studies before joining the Habs&rsquo; American Hockey League farm club in Nova Scotia last season.At 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 207 pounds, Bill isn&rsquo;t afraid to throw his weight around yet his penalty minutes are kept to a minimum. In 1974-75 with the AHL Voyageurs he collected only 76 minutes in 75 games.76 minutes in 75 games.&ldquo;The silly penalties in your own end hurt the team,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You take penalties when you&rsquo;re a step behind the play. I try to stay one step ahead.&rdquo;Nyrop would fit the mold of a Don Awrey-type defenseman rather than one with the offensive flair of a Guy Lapointe. When Nyrop came up he was immediately paired with Lapointe and covered up on the backline when Guy made his effective forays up ice.&ldquo;I played with Guy Lapointe right off the bat,&rdquo; says Nyrop. &ldquo;He could make my grandmother look good out there. He really helps you out.&rdquo;Playing in the Montreal farm system can be pretty frustrating as several players have already found out this season. However, Nyrop isn&rsquo;t about to start fretting over what has already passed.&ldquo;I have a motto: Always look forward. Let your shadow fall behind. Just keep looking ahead. You can learn from the past but don&rsquo;t worry about it.&rdquo;At 23 years of age and a Business Degree with a major in marketing in his back pocket, Nyrop&rsquo;s future indeed looks bright whether it be in hockey or business.&ldquo;My life right now is hockey,&rdquo; he states. &ldquo;The degree doesn&rsquo;t matter. My present goal in life is to play the best hockey I can.&rdquo; &#9632;

Despite Short Time With Canadiens Nyrop Tabbed Can’t-Miss Prospect

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01633/3735900-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="625" height="2230"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02522/3735893-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="616" height="652"></div> &#9632;

f0019-01

Looking At NHL Goalers

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03409/3735931-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="607" height="886"></div> &#9632;

f0019-03

NHL Leaders

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaCHICAGO&mdash;When they write the book on the 1975-76 Black Hawks, they&rsquo;ll have to reserve a chapter for Joey Johnston&rsquo;s saga. It did not begin happily. It threatens to finish the same way.For two three years you always heard rumors that Chicago wanted to obtain this bullish left wing from the California Seals. There was talk that he would come to the Hawks in a blockbuster with Ivan Boldirev. there was talk that he would come alone, there was talk that he would come with someone else.But, always, there seemed that mutual admiration society between Johnston and Chicago.&ldquo;When I named Joey to the All Star game a couple of years back,&rdquo; said Black Hawk coach Billy Reay, &ldquo;I did it because I thought he was the best hockey player on the Seals.&rdquo;And Johnston?&ldquo;I told them out there a couple times that I wanted to be traded.&rdquo; he will tell you, too. &ldquo;And Chicago was my first choice.&rdquo;Well. Boldirev came a couple of seasons ago to the Black Hawks for a couple of young defensemen &mdash; Len Frig and Mike Christie. But Johnston remained in California: scoring goals, getting into the occasional vat of hot water over his candid comments, scoring more goals, checking those depressing empty seats, and scoring more goals.Alas, it happened. Last May, the trade you knew would some day happen. Joey Johnston to Chicago for Jim Pappin, a talented right wing who didn&rsquo;t feel so welcome here anymore.Unfortunately, all of this bliss ends right there. Later in the summer. Joey almost killed himself. He was driving a van at night near his home of Peterborough. Ont., and never mind all the details. The fact is he almost lost his life and for awhile, injuries to the head left him in critical condition for some time.To make a sad story short, Johnston has not made it back. He escaped with his life and his faculties, and he did appear in Chicago for training camp, and he did buy a house in a town where he wanted to excel.But, on ice. the gestures have been tentative, the progress slow if at all, the process agonizing. Reay has alternately rested him, started him. tried him at left wing, at right wing, and shipped him to the team&rsquo;s Dallas farm club in the Central League.&ldquo;Unfortunately, nothing has seemed to work,&rsquo; said Reay. &ldquo;His reflexes just aren&rsquo;t thereat the moment. and we have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that they will never come back&hellip; that he will never be able to play hockey again.&rdquo;The Hawks summoned Johnston from Dallas in March, after which the 26-year-old forward went to Canada briefly for further examinations by doctors. If they gave no encouragement to the possibility of Johnston someday, somehow making a successful comeback, then there was that ominous eventuality that Johnston had played his last game, period.&ldquo;That would be a shame because when he was right, he was a heck of a hockey player,&rdquo; said Boldirev, who has turned out similarly in Chicago.It would also be a shame because Johnston had become immensely popular with his teammates. They called him &ldquo;The Jet.&rdquo; they laughed with his penchant tor quick, ary humor, and they enjoyed his all-too-rare company on the road.&ldquo;They love him,&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no way Joey&rsquo;s teammates could be pulling for him any harder. But we won&rsquo;t know for awhile what&rsquo;s going to happen.&rdquo;PARTING SHOTS: Shortly after Dick Redmond&rsquo;s return to the Hawk lineup following surgery, defenseman Randy Holt was shipped back to Dallas&hellip;Clift Koroll scored his second career hat trick when he led the Hawks to a 63 triumph at Kansas City March 16&hellip; One night later, the Chicagoans fell behind 4-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs, trailed 5-3 entering the final period, but won 65. &ldquo;That showed something,&rdquo; said John Marks. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re starting to get it back together again. The Hawks, once cruising atop the Conn Smythe Division, went into a 5-13-1 treadmill to make the division interesting again. &#9632;

Hawks, Johnston Mull Over Hockey Future

VANCOUVER&mdash;It took the Vancouver Canucks 76 games of the 1975-76 regular season to reach the same spot in which they finished in 1974-75. But it took only a matter of 48 hours to fall back again.Bv virtue of a pair of home-ice victories the Canucks to took over first place in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Conn Smythe Division forthe first time this season.Vancouver downed the New York Islanders 5-2 and Los Angeles 4-3 while the Chicago Black Hawks were losing two straight.Mike Walton scored his third and fourth goals since joining the Canucks from the World Hockey Association to pace the Vancouver attack against the Islanders. Don Lever, Garry Monahan and Gerrv O&rsquo;Flaherty rounded out the scoring.Walton scored the game-winner in edging the Kings as the Canucks moved past the stumbling Black Hawks. Bobby Lalonde. Chris Oddleifson and Monahan had the other Vancouver markers.John Gould got the Vancouverites off on the right foot with his 30th goal of the season after only a minute and a half the next night in Los Angeles but from there things went steadily down hill as the Kings dumped the Canucks 7-3. Lever tallied in the middle period to keep the count close but the Kings pulled away with only O&rsquo;Flaherty, his 20th goal of the season, finding the mark and that with less than three minutes to go in the game.That loss coupled with Chicago&rsquo;s win over Minnesota the following night, slipped the Canucks back intosecond spot, one point behind the Black Hawks with both clubs having three games remaining.Vancouver meets two teams of non-playoff status in their final trio of outings wit ha home-and-home series against California and a game on the West Coast against Kansas City the final night of the regular season.The Hawks on the other hand meet playoff-bound St. Louis in a home-and-home confrontation and also meet the Scouts at the Chicago Stadium. &#9632;

Canucks’ Hold On First Comes Slowly, Goes Fast

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01324/3736010-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Of all the honors heaped upon Garry Unger when he broke Andy Hebenton&rsquo;s consecutive-game record the one he cherishes the most is a gift from his St. Louis teammates.&ldquo;That,&rdquo; said Unger, &ldquo;is the greatest honor a guy can receive&mdash;recognition by his teammates.&rdquo;And the gift itself is highly appropriate and much appreciated by the hockey player who spends his free time in raising and riding horses on his farm outside St. Louis. Unger received a beautiful westernstyle saddle and said it would fit nicely on a horse named Dynamite.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a Billy Cook saddle out of Texas and it&rsquo;s top of the line,&rdquo; said Unger. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s exactly what I wanted.&rdquo;Unger&rsquo;s teammate, who chipped in $900 to buy the saddle, were delighted they had picked the perfect gift and were very pleased they had the opportunity to show some affection for one of the team&rsquo;s most tireless workers.Floyd Thomson, who lived with Unger when they were both single and remains his closest friend on the team, had the idea to buy the saddle and discussed it with the Blues&rsquo; captain Red Berenson. Farm boys Chuck Lefley and Bob Gassoff and city-slicker Derek Sanderson formed the three man committee which selected the saddle and picked it up from Cletis Hulling of Smithton, Ill., the largest quarter horse dealer in the world.&ldquo;I picked out one that cost $1,200 and had a lot of silver on it,&rdquo;said Sanderson, &ldquo;but Floyd told me it would be too showy for Unger. What Lefley and Gassoff decided on is a real cowboy workingman&rsquo;s saddle.And the bit will stop an elephant.&rdquo;The saddle was wheeled on the ice at the St. Louis Arena when Unger was honored in a 15-minute pregame with Kansas City after Unger broke the record with his 631st straight game in Toronto. Unger also received two $500 checks from St. Louis fan clubs for charities. The money from the Biueliners went to the March of Dimes, for which Unger is 1976 chairman in St. Louis, and the money from the Goaltenders went to St. Louis Children&rsquo;s Hospital. Unger&rsquo;s wife. Bev, who was on the ice with her husband and their one-year-old daughter. Kim, was presented with a big bouquet of flowers. Unger was touched by the reading of a congratulatory telegram from Florida from Sidney Salomon Jr., chairman of the Blues, and Sid Saloman III, president of the club. The younger Salomon is recuperating from surgery for the removal of a tumor from his chest.Also during the ceremony Arena employes unveiled a 6 foot high abstract sculpture depicting a hockey player and made of one half inch rods to commemorate Unger&rsquo;s position as the all time Iron Man of the National Hockey League. The sculpture, designed by artist Robert Lee Walker and given by Valley Industries in St. Louis, will be placed on a 7-foot pedestal in front of the Arena.&ldquo;I could hardly play hockey after all that,&rdquo; said Unger. &ldquo;The Kansas City players were congratulating me, and then I was supposed to go out on the ice and hit them.&rdquo;But Unger played quite well, scored a goal and assisted on another as the Blues won. 5-3. And, of course, he extended his own NHL record to 632 consecutive games. He&rsquo;ll be in the unusual position of setting a new league record every time he stepeson the ice for a game.&ldquo;I plan to keep going.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think this record may be one that will last long after I&rsquo;m gone. I want to make sure it does by extending the string as far as I can.&rdquo;Hebenton sent Unger a telegram of congratulations and wished him luck on extending the string.&ldquo;I think he showed a lot of class by sending the telegram,&rdquo; Ungersaid. &ldquo;It was very nice for him to do it.&rdquo;&ldquo;The record was under played by me before I reached it because that&rsquo;s the way I do things, and I didn&rsquo;t want to take away from doing my job,&rdquo; Unger said. &ldquo;But it ended up to be a bigger thrill than I thought it would be.&rdquo;Unger said the closest he came to breaking his streak of consecutive games was earlier this season when a cartilage was torn from his rib cage at about the time of the All Star game.&ldquo;My job is to play hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When I&rsquo;ve been hurt. I&rsquo;ve played. That&rsquo;s what I put my mind to do, and that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve done.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0021-01

Acclaim From St. Louis Teammates “Greatest Honor A Guy Can Receive”

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01352/3736055-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="529" height="487"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02267/3736048-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="472" height="472"></div>DETROIT&mdash;Alex Delvecchio is a travelin&rsquo; man these days.While his Detroit Red Wings finish out the National Hockey League season, general manager Delvecchio has been zig-zagging the continent watching junior players and collegians to prepare for the amateur draft.&ldquo;We want to get a first-hand look at each of the top 36 kids.&rdquo; Delvecchio said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s some decent talent around.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s no great mystery what the Wings are looking for - a classy center to add strength down the middle and another defenseman. In both areas, the Wings would prefer veterans but may have to settle for youngsters.Detroit&rsquo;s strongest position is forward and it will be helped to settle for youngsters.Detroit&rsquo;s strongest position is forward and it will be helped by the return of two 50-goal scorers next season, Mickey Redmond and Dannv Grant, both of whom sat out most of this season with injuries. Their absence was the main reason for Detroit&rsquo;s lack of fire-power.Two other forwards could help next season. They are collegiate stars George Lyle of Michigan Tech and Don Dufek ot Michigan. They were drafted two seasons ago by the Wings but elected to stay in college. But they&rsquo;re graduating seniors this year and more than likely will turn pro. Another in the same category is Clark Hamilton of Notre Dame, drafted by the Wings on the third round of the amateur draft last June.Dufek&rsquo;s status is complicated by the fact that he was also an All America Football player at the University of Michigan. He figures to be drafted quite high in the National Football League body lottery and in that event would probably give pro football a shot. His only drawback in that respect is that some football scouts have called him, at 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 180. &ldquo;too small&rdquo; for pro football. But the kid is a winner and would help any team he plays on, football or hockey.Dufek was at Olympia when the Wings zapped the Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2. to end the champs&rsquo; record tying unbeaten streak at 23 games.The Flyers, two-time Stanley Cup winners, have not won a game at Olympia for two seasons now but it was no mystery to coach Fred Shero.&ldquo;We played well.&rsquo; Shero said. &ldquo;But they played well. too. Don&rsquo;t blame us. Give the Wings credit.&ldquo;When we go into another building, other teams don&rsquo;t play as well against us as the Wings have.&rdquo;Detroit whipped the Flyers, 3-1, earlier in the season and it was expected that their last encounter would follow suit but the rough stuff didn&rsquo;t develop. The two teams stuck to playing hockey and it was an outstanding game, easily the best of the season at Olympia.Walt McKechnie, Terry Harper, Michel Bergeron and Alan Cameron scored for Detroit. It was Cameron&rsquo;s first of the season.Newcomer Dennis Hextail has been a standout. Of Detroit&rsquo;s 20 goals in a five-game span. Hextali and linemate Nick Libett were in on 14 of them. Bergeron, in his first appearance on the right wing ot the Hextall-Libett unit, responded with four goals in a 6-3 victory over St. Louis.&ldquo;The kid was hotter than a pistol,&rdquo; Hextall said. &ldquo;Playing with him. I try to control the right corner. Nick controls the left corner.Bergeron isn&rsquo;t too big but if we can get the puck to him. you saw what he cando.&rdquo;Bergeron added another goal, his 29th, in the next game against Philadelphia.Hextall is optimistic about the future in Detroit and it would be improper to overlook his importance. He looms as a solid addition for next season and one of the real solid performers on the club.&ldquo;This team can be a playoff team next season.&rdquo; Hextall said.&ldquo;If we get some shooters, guys like Grant and Redmond, we&rsquo;ll be tough. And Cameron is going to be a super player. You can just see it.&rdquo;MOTOR CITY SHORTS: The last Detroit player before Bergeron to get four goals in a game was Frank Mahovlich in the 1969-70 season&hellip;Bryan Watson became the NHL&rsquo;s all-time leader in penalties when he picked up sevenm minutes against St. Louis.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03233/3736041-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="550" height="679"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON DUFEK &hellip;He&rsquo;s A Winner</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

Delvecchio Combing College, Junior Ranks

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div>TORONTO&mdash;Things being what they are in hockey these days. Kurt Walker will be a Toronto Maple Leaf for the duration of the season and playoffs.Walker is 21 years of age with a limited hockey background. He&rsquo;s also 6&rsquo;3&rdquo; and 205 pounds with a willingness to play physical hockey. Yes. he&rsquo;ll even engage in fights. Walker has been a rookie pro with the Leafs&rsquo; Central League farm team, the Oklahoma City Blazers, where he made immense strides forward as a hockey player this season, according to the Leaf scouts. He also had 190 penalty minutes.When the Leafs&rsquo; veteran defenseman Rod Seiling acquired a lower back strain while donning his trousers one morning in Chicago, the Leafs promoted Walker from Oke City as his replacement. It probably was just coincidence that the Leafs had a trip to Philadelphia to meet the Flyers in Walker&rsquo;s second National Hockey League game.Walker played two shifts in his first game against the Washington Capitals, picked up a minor penalty and almost scored a goal. The following night in Philadelphia, he played three first period shifts, earned a penatly, then engaged the Flyers&rsquo; Jack Mcllhargey in a long bout at the end of the first period to kick of a brawl involving most players on the two teams.The Leafs lost the contest. 4-2. but played their strongest game in the Spectrum in several seasons. Normally, the Leafs are a pushover for the Flyer there because they lack aggressiveness. This time, however, they pushed back and the team&rsquo;s administration figured that Walker&rsquo;s presence had much to do with the change in attitude.&ldquo;No doubt about it: Having a big guy like Walker around tamed down the Flyers a little and they didn&rsquo;t shove us around,&rdquo; said Leaf owner Harold Ballard, a man who often has criticized his club&rsquo;s lack of malevolence.Walker&rsquo;s home is Hingham Mass., qhere he played highschool hockey. He played part of a season with Sherbrooke Beavers and had a year of college hockey at Northeastern University. He spent the 1974-75 season with the Saginaw Gears of the International League.When the Leafs signed him to a pro contract last fall and assigned him to Oke City, they had a &ldquo;three-year-plan&rdquo; for his development.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s big. strong and isn&rsquo;t afraid to work hard at his game.&rdquo; said Leaf general manager Jim Gregory at the time. &ldquo;We figure he&rsquo;ll need a couple of seasons in the Central League to learn the parts of the game he&rsquo;s missed. But we think he has major league potential if given a chance to develop.&rdquo;Walker now perhaps lacks major league ability in some areas but the Leafs feel he can supply the muscle needed on a fairly pacifist team. Although the Leafs have upgraded their bellicosity considerably this season to the point where they&rsquo;re third most penalized NHL team behind Philadelphia and Detroit, they do have some players who need protection. Thus. Walker can be the policeman.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not afraid to fight a little if that&rsquo;s what I have to do to help the team.&rdquo; Walker said, &ldquo;but I want to be a hockey player, too. but I know I have a great deal to learn.&ldquo;When I was playing maybe 17 games season in high school hockey, most of the guys I&rsquo;m playing against were playing 80 games in the Canadian junior leagues. I have much catching up to do. I feel I made good progress at Oke City.&rdquo;LEAF NOTES: The Leafs continued their assault on the team&rsquo;s record book for individual achievements. First, Darryl Sittier&rsquo;s 10-point game against the Boston Bruins smashed several club marks, then Tiger Williams established a new Leaf penalty record for a season. After Sittier passed he old point record of 85 set by Norm Ullman in ,70-71, defenseman Ian Turnbull scored four goals in the games against Washington and Philadelphia to raise his season&rsquo;s total to 20, busting the Leaf mark for defensemen of 17, set by Babe Pratt back in &rsquo;43-44.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01332/3736086-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="561" height="1039"><figcaption class="caption-body">KURT WALKER &hellip;NHL Prospect</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0023-01

Rookie Walker Had Flyers Backing Off

(Standings on Mon. March 29)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2513/3736386-1-eng-US/f0024-252.jpg" title="f0024-25" width="560" height="657"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Mon. March 22St. Louis 1 at Californio 7.Tue. March 23N.Y. Manders 2 at Vancouver 5; Philadelphia 3 at Minnesota 3. Koreas City 5 at Washington 5.Wed. March 24N.Y. Rangers 3 at Buffalo 7; N.Y. blunders 1 at Las Angela 1. Atlanto 7 at Chicago 2; Toronto 2 at Montreal 1 Washington 3 at Detroit 7, Boston 5 at Pittsburgh 5; Minneota 4 at Koreas City 1.Thu. March 25N.Y. Rangers 1 at Philadelphia 4, Pittsburgh 2 at St. Loue 5; Chicogo 2 of Boston 4.Fri. March 26N.Y. Manders 3 at Californio 2, Buffalo 4 at Washington 1; Las Angela 3 at Vancouver 4Sat. March 27N.Y. Rangers 6 at Chicago 5; Philadelphia 4 at Baston 4 Atlanta 0 at Detroit 8; Karecs City 2 at Montreal 8; Vancouver 3 at Las Angela 7, Minnesota 3 at St. Loue 6; Buffalo 4 at Toronto 2.Sun. March 28Kansas City 2 at N.Y Rangers 4; Atlanta 3 at Washington 1; Montreal 2 at Boston 2. Detroit 0 at Pittsburgh 3; Minneota 3 at Chicago 5.<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Mon. Mar. 29Philadelphia at N.Y. Islanders; Pittsburgh at TorontoTue. Mar. 30Detroit at Washington; Los Angeles at Kansas City; Californio at Voncouver; St. Louis at Minnesota, Buffalo at Boston.Wed. Mar. 31N.Y. Islanders at N.Y. Rangers; Pittsburgh at Montreal; Toronto at Detroit; los Angeles at St. Louis; Kansas City at Chicago.Thu. Apr. 1Atlanta at N.Y Islonders, Washington at Philadelphia; Boston at Buffalo.Fri. Apr. 2Minnesota at Atlanta; Vancouver at CalifornioSat. Apr. 3N.Y. Rangers at N.Y. Islanders, Buffalo at Philadelphia; Detroit at Montreal; Washington at Pittsburgh; Kansas City at Los Angeles; Chicago at St. Louis. Boston at Toronto.Sun. Apr. 4Philadelphia at N.Y. Rangers, N.Y. Islanders at Atlanta; Montreol at Washington, Pittsburgh at Detroit; Los Angeles at California; Kansas City at Vancouver; St. Louis ak Chicago; Minnesota at Boston, Toronto at Buffalo &#9632;

f0024-25

LOOKING AT THE NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01340/3736355-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="857" height="988"></div>Warning Health and Welfare Canada advises that danger to health increases with amount smoked avoid inhaling Av per cigarette Regular 16mg &ldquo;tar&rdquo; 1.2mg nicotine King 18mg &ldquo;tar&rdquo; 1.3mg nicotine.<h2>Sun. March 21</h2>KANSAS CITY 1, BUFFALO 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02268/3736348-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="608" height="430"></div><h2>Mon. March 22</h2>ST. LOUIS 1, CALIFORNIA 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03190/3736341-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="610" height="364"></div><h2>Tue. March 23</h2>ISLANDERS 2, VANCOUVER 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04144/3736334-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="600" height="416"></div>PHILADELPHIA 3, MINNESOTA 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-05112/3736327-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="606" height="460"></div>KANSAS CITY 5. WASHINGTON 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0697/3736320-1-eng-US/f0024-062.jpg" title="f0024-06" width="602" height="406"></div><h2>Wed. March 24</h2>RANGERS 3, BUFFALO 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0782/3736313-1-eng-US/f0024-072.jpg" title="f0024-07" width="596" height="222"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0877/3736306-1-eng-US/f0024-082.jpg" title="f0024-08" width="596" height="312"></div>ISLANDERS 1, LOS ANGELES 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-0970/3736299-1-eng-US/f0024-092.jpg" title="f0024-09" width="612" height="364"></div>ATLANTA 7, CHICAGO 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1063/3736292-1-eng-US/f0024-102.jpg" title="f0024-10" width="608" height="472"></div>TORONTO 2, MONTREAL 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1161/3736285-1-eng-US/f0024-112.jpg" title="f0024-11" width="594" height="382"></div>WASHINGTON 3, DETROIT 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1254/3736278-1-eng-US/f0024-122.jpg" title="f0024-12" width="602" height="526"></div>BOSTON 5, PITTSBURGH 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1344/3736271-1-eng-US/f0024-132.jpg" title="f0024-13" width="592" height="434"></div>MINNESOTA 4, KANSAS CITY 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1436/3736264-1-eng-US/f0024-142.jpg" title="f0024-14" width="616" height="510"></div><h2>Thu. March 25</h2>RANGERS 1, PHILADELPHIA 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1532/3736257-1-eng-US/f0024-152.jpg" title="f0024-15" width="592" height="464"></div>PITTSBURGH 2, St. LOUIS 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1630/3736250-1-eng-US/f0024-162.jpg" title="f0024-16" width="590" height="338"></div>CHICAGO 2, BOSTON 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1727/3736243-1-eng-US/f0024-172.jpg" title="f0024-17" width="594" height="384"></div><h2>Fri. March 28</h2>ISLANDERS3, CALIFORNIA 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1826/3736236-1-eng-US/f0024-182.jpg" title="f0024-18" width="598" height="360"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-1926/3736229-1-eng-US/f0024-192.jpg" title="f0024-19" width="610" height="121"></div>BUFFALO 4, WASHINGTON 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2025/3736222-1-eng-US/f0024-202.jpg" title="f0024-20" width="602" height="436"></div>LOS ANGELES 3, VANCOUVER 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2122/3736215-1-eng-US/f0024-212.jpg" title="f0024-21" width="594" height="452"></div><h2>Sat. March 27</h2>RANGERS 6, CHICAGO 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2220/3736208-1-eng-US/f0024-222.jpg" title="f0024-22" width="612" height="528"></div>PHILADELPHIA 4, BOSTON 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2320/3736201-1-eng-US/f0024-232.jpg" title="f0024-23" width="624" height="498"></div>ATLANTA0, DETROIT 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-2418/3736194-1-eng-US/f0024-242.jpg" title="f0024-24" width="576" height="362"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01287/3736187-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="608" height="82"></div>KANSAS CITY 2, MONTREAL 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02211/3736180-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="604" height="452"></div>VANCOUVER 3, LOS ANGELES 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03145/3736173-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="620" height="580"></div>MINNESOTA 3, ST. LOUIS6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04112/3736166-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="606" height="280"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0594/3736159-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="598" height="230"></div>BUFFALO 4, TORONTO 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0676/3736152-1-eng-US/f0025-062.jpg" title="f0025-06" width="582" height="412"></div><h2>Sun. March 28</h2>KANSAS CITY 2, RANGERS 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0772/3736145-1-eng-US/f0025-072.jpg" title="f0025-07" width="602" height="424"></div>ATLANTA 3 WASHINGTON 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0864/3736138-1-eng-US/f0025-082.jpg" title="f0025-08" width="580" height="356"></div>MONTREAL 2, BOSTON 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0957/3736131-1-eng-US/f0025-092.jpg" title="f0025-09" width="594" height="396"></div>DETROIT 0, PITTSBURGH 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1040/3736124-1-eng-US/f0025-102.jpg" title="f0025-10" width="620" height="406"></div>MINNESOTA 3, CHICAGO 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1132/3736117-1-eng-US/f0025-112.jpg" title="f0025-11" width="600" height="424"></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

National Hockey League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01291/3736417-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICH LEDUC&hellip;Bright Light For Crusaders</figcaption></div>LIUISYILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD. Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaINDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Hey, wait a minute. Here it is the final weeks of the World Hockey Association season and the Indianapolis Racers are still a factor in the East Division race.And quite a factor they are. Playing the best hockey of any of the four teams in the weakest division in the league, the Racers have come from out of nowhere to climb back into the fight.That fight is developing into one for not only a playoff spot, but one for first place because not one club has taken command in the first 23 weeks ot the campaign.The Racers, during an 11-game stretch in late February and the first three weeks in March, lost only two games while all the other contenders were playing dead.The reasons for this surge by the once-lowly Racers are the goaltending of young Michel Dion, the steady defense of Whitey Stapleton and Ken Block and the sensational scoring of center iceman Mike Parizeau and right winger Renald Leclerc.These two expatriates from the Quebec Nordiques sizzled in one five-game streak, each scoring five goals and assisting on five others. The left wing on their line has been shared at one time or another by Al Karlander. Brian Coates and Kerry Bond.It really makes no difference who plays there, these two Frenchmen keep putting the puck in opposing nets.The addition of wily Dave Keon has not hurt the center ice situation. Keon set up two goals and scored the tying tally in a 4-4 deadlock with the San Diego Mariners. He played his regular shift, killed penalties and worked on the power play.The key to where the Racers finish is the New England Whalers. The two teams meet four times in the final If games with three of these contests at Hartford. The Racers love to play New England, witness their 5-1-2 record against the three time East Division champions.&ldquo;If we Win three of those games.&rdquo; said Indianapolis coach Jacques Demers, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ll finish in first place.&rdquo;Earlier, Demers said if his club won seven of its final 11 contests, it would finish on top. And the intense coach is putting all his faith in Dion, who has gotten the Indy skaters this far with some superb goaltending.Dion will be between the pipes for most, if not all, of the Racers&rsquo; games down the stretch.NEW ENGLAND: The Whalers, on the other hand, are having goaltending problems. Regular netminder Christer Abrahamsson could miss the rest of the season with a concussion suffered in Phoenix a few weeks ago.Bruce Landon, who took over tor Abrahamsson. pulled a groin muscle in a loss in Quebec. Landon missed one game, but came back to backstop a 6-5 overtime victory over Cincinnati.The Whalers play seven of their final 10 games on home ice, but that means nothing, according to Harpoonists general manager Ron Ryan. &ldquo;At this time of the year, it&rsquo;s not really that significant,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t find teams coming in and giving it a waltz.&rdquo; continued Ryan, who must be wondering at what is becoming known as the New England injuryjinx. Ron Busniuk joined the Whalers after the Minnesota Fighting Saints folded and immediately wrenched a knee. The defenseman. who had not missed a game in three seasons, had to miss a couple and now is wearing a brace.CINCINNATI: Nothing like an old head to get the Stingers back on the right track. That old head belongs to 38-year-old John McKenzie, late of the Minnesota Fighting Saints.In his first three games with his new club, the veteran right winger scored three goals and orchestrated three others and blended in well with the Cincinnati attack, particularly on the power play, which had been a misnomer before he arrived.Rick Dudley, in the meantime, continues to pile up the goals and has 39 at this writing. The curly-haired and now-bearded right winger has been the most consistent two-way forward for the Stingers this season.CLEVELAND: The Crusaders, all of a sudden, bottomed out. After their black armband protest against owner Jay Moore and then general manager oJack Vivian, the C&rsquo;s went out and stubbed their collective toes in three straight losses.That would not have been so bad had the Clevelanders played well. But they didn&rsquo;t and coach-John Wilson didn&rsquo;t like it. Goaltenders Bob Johnson and Cam Newton were facing too many shots.One of the losses was a 3-2 overtime setback at home to the Phoenix Roadrunners on a goal by Rockey Rautakallio. But the C&rsquo;s gained some revenge &mdash; and broke their three game losing streak with a 6-5 overtime decision in Phoenix.Richie Leduc notched the game-winner, but Gary Jarrett&rsquo;s hat trick brought the Crusaders back from a three-goal deficit to send the contest into the extra period. Jarrett has scored just 12 goals this season and all have come on foreign ice. &#9632;

f0026-01

Indianapolis Racing Towards Playoff Spot

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNELL</div>ST. PAUL&mdash;The World Hockey Association office has been informed it can expect a reactivation application from St. Paul.The Minnesota Fighting Saints had about one-quarter of the 1975-76 season remaining when the owners had piled up nearly $1 million in debts and a million dollar lawsuit, plus some hard feelings, when the club folded.E.E. (Pete) Perranto, a St. Paul developer and one of the group trying to raise funds to launch the Saints again, predicted the city will have a WHA team next season. He said he expects the lawsuit will be settled amicably and that there will be new investors.Wayne Belisle, a St. Paul attorney and the team&rsquo;s fifth and most recent president, said: &ldquo;There are a lot of peopleherewhothinkthat St. Paul has the right to have something of its own on this side of the river.&rdquo;Debts piled up prior to the Saints&rsquo; demise included:&mdash;$390,000 owed to John O. &ldquo;Jock&rdquo; Irvine, main Saints financier this season. He underwrote notes of 8200,000 from Commercial State Bank of St. Paul and 8140.000 from First National Bank of St. Paul, and paid off a 850,000 loan.&mdash;$8182.000 due First National of St. Paul, guaranteed bv local businesses.&mdash;225,000 owed the league, including a $100,000 assessment and$125,000 in a Commercial State Bank loan guaranteed by the WHA.&mdash;$195,000 in accounts payable, including $72,(X)0 in rent for use of the St. Paul Civic Center, where the Saints played home games. The St. Paul Civic Center Authority intends to sue to recover.The $2 million suit filed in Ramsey County District Court is over the franchise ownership, which the WHA has suspended but not revoked. The franchise holder apparently could, with convincing financial backing, reactivate the team.Meanwhile, the WHA &ldquo;officially pulled&rdquo; the financially faltering San Diego Mariners&rsquo; franchise from owner Joseph Schwartz and expected to be able to announce new owners within a week.WHA board chairman Ben Hatskin said Schwartz, the Baltimore businessman who moved the Mariners to San Diego two years ago, was declared in forfeit after he failed to meet a twice-monthly payroll.Hatskin, who also is the WHA&rsquo;s chief executive officer, flew into San Diego in an attempt tosort through the club&rsquo;s financial woes and find new owners willing to assume the team&rsquo;s reported $400,000 obligation.The expected new owners are headed by San Diego International Sports Arena operator Peter Graham and former WHA president Dennis Murphy. The group broke off negotiations for purchase of the club 10 days before when Schwartz demanded sale of the team within a week for$1.8 million.The Mariner players voted to play without money in anticipation of new owners.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking for local control,&rdquo; said Hatskin. &ldquo;I want to emphasize that in big, black letters.&rdquo;The Mariners were tied 4-4 at Indianapolis on a third period powerplay goal by Dave Keon. his first score since joining the team, and it was the only point the Mariners gained in the week.They fell seven points behind second place Phoenix in the Western Division, losing 8-3 at Houston and 4-3 in overtime to Phoenix in San Diego. &#9632;

St. Paul Group To Seek WHA Re-Entry; League Hunting New Owners For San Diego

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01272/3736472-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="586" height="769"></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

WHA Leaders

(Standings on Tue. March 30)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1926/3736695-1-eng-US/f0028-192.jpg" title="f0028-19" width="558" height="484"></div>(*&mdash;suspended operations.)<h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Tue. March 23Indianpolis 8 at San Diego 8; Cleveland 3 ot Quebec 1. Calgary 5 at Toronto 6Wed March 24Cincinnati 5 at Phoenix 4, Houston 3 ot Cleveland 2; Edmonton 3 at Winnipeg 2; Colgory 7 at New England 6Thu. March 25Cincinnati 1 at San Diego 9. Houston 3 at Indianaods 4 Edmonton 5 at Quebec 7Fri. March 26Cincinnati 1 at Houston 5. San Diego 1 at Phoenix 3, Indianapole 3 at Cleveland 2; Edmonton 3 ot Toronto 7; New England 4 at Colgory 1.Sat. March 27Phoenix 5 at San Diego 2, Calgary 4 at Quebec 6.Sun. March 28Phoenix 4 at Houston 7. San Diego 1 at Winnipeg 6; Indianapolis 3 ot New England 1; Calgary 5 ot Toronto 4.<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>Tue. Mar 30San Diego at Houston; Toronto at Colgory; Edmonton at QuebecWed. Mar. 31New England at Cleveland. Toronto at Winnipeg; Phoenix ot Cincinnati.Thu. Apr. 1Houston ot Indianapolis; Edmonton at Quebec.Fri. Apr. 2Indianapolis ot Toronto; Cleveland at Cincinnati; Winnipeg at Colgory.Sat. Apr. 3Houston at Phoenix; New England at Indianapolis; Toronto at Quebec, San Diego ot Cleveland.Sun. Apr. 4San Diego at Houston; Indianapolis at New Eng land; Cincinnati at Cleveland; Winnipeg at Edmonton, Quebec at Toronto.Tue. Apr. 6Winnipeg at Calgary; Toronto ot Quebec, San Diego at Cleveland; Phoenix at Houston. &#9632;

f0028-19

WHA SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01258/3736664-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="394" height="1081"></div><h2>Tue. March 23</h2>INDIANAPOLIS8, SAN DIEGO 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02187/3736657-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="622" height="670"></div>CLEVELAND 3, QUEBEC 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03138/3736650-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="594" height="396"></div>CALGARY 5, TORONTO 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04110/3736643-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="624" height="370"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0594/3736636-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="600" height="198"></div><h2>Wed. March 24</h2>HOUSTON 3, CLEVELAND 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0678/3736629-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="602" height="426"></div>CALGARY 7, NEW ENGLAND 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0768/3736622-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="624" height="536"></div><h2>Thu. March 25</h2>HOUSTON 3, INDIANAPOLIS 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0863/3736615-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="608" height="202"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0959/3736608-1-eng-US/f0028-092.jpg" title="f0028-09" width="622" height="286"></div>EDMONTON 5, QUEBEC 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1057/3736601-1-eng-US/f0028-102.jpg" title="f0028-10" width="624" height="632"></div>CINCINNATI 1, SAN DIEGO 9<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1151/3736594-1-eng-US/f0028-112.jpg" title="f0028-11" width="612" height="336"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1248/3736587-1-eng-US/f0028-122.jpg" title="f0028-12" width="608" height="128"></div><h2>Fri. March 26</h2>NEW ENGLAND 4, CALGARY 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1344/3736580-1-eng-US/f0028-132.jpg" title="f0028-13" width="622" height="412"></div>INDIANAPOLIS 3, CLEVELAND 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1438/3736573-1-eng-US/f0028-142.jpg" title="f0028-14" width="612" height="474"></div>EDMONTON 3, TORONTO 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1538/3736566-1-eng-US/f0028-152.jpg" title="f0028-15" width="622" height="196"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1633/3736559-1-eng-US/f0028-162.jpg" title="f0028-16" width="614" height="376"></div><h2>Sat. March 27</h2>PHOENIX 5, SAN DIEGO 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1728/3736552-1-eng-US/f0028-172.jpg" title="f0028-17" width="606" height="431"></div>CALGARY 4, QUEBEC 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1828/3736545-1-eng-US/f0028-182.jpg" title="f0028-18" width="638" height="368"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01222/3736538-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="643" height="277"></div><h2>Sun. March 28</h2>PHOENIX 4, HOUSTON 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02183/3736531-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="637" height="559"></div>SAN DIEGO 1, WINNIPEG 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03126/3736524-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="628" height="238"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0496/3736517-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="607" height="283"></div>INDIANAPOLIS 3, NEW ENGLAND 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0587/3736510-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="590" height="404"></div>CALGARY 5, TORONTO 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0668/3736503-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="616" height="559"></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

World Hockey Association Summaries

HOCKEY 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 &lsquo;76 next September.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.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. &#9632;

Fans Can Pick World Cup Teams

TORONTO&mdash;A little more than a month ago the figure filberts were ready to write off the Toronto Toros. They said there wasn&rsquo;t enough time or games left for them to catch a World Hockey Association playoff spot.Well, the amazing Toros have been nothing short of incredible in the closing weeks of the WHA schedule and if they can maintain their present momentum &mdash; four wins in their last five games &mdash; there is a good chance they&rsquo;ll send the cynics scurrying for cover when they edge past the slumping Edmonton Oilers into the fourthand final playoff berth in the Canadian Division race.The Toros have been the big noise of the WHA&rsquo;s stretch run. They have closed the gap on the Oilers to four points and have a remarkable edge over Edmonton in that they have three games in hand.Toronto hockey fans have been flocking to the Toros&rsquo; games in their bold bid to unseat the Oilers. A crowd of 16,507 turned out at Maple Leal Gardens on March 26 to see the Toros scuttle the Oilers 7-3 in a classic game the Toronto club had towin and did.Toros&rsquo; manager-coach Gilles Leger and team captain Frank Mahovlich said the whole issue is on the line and it is up to the club to come through &ldquo;They (Oilers) are sitting there with their points already. We still have to catch them. It won&rsquo;t be easy. Now it&rsquo;s up to us to do it&rdquo;, said the Big M.The Toros beat Calgary 6-5, toppled Edmonton but lost a big game to the Cowboys 5-4 with 14.536 Toronto fans looking on asex-Toro Gavin Kirk stuck it to his old teammates by scoring the winning goal.In other Canadian Division developments. the leading Winnipeg Jets won their only outing a. 6-1 decision over San Diego as Bobby Hull scored his 45th and 46th goaIs of the year.Calgary took a pair from New England 7-6 and 6-4, seriously jeopardizing the Whalers&rsquo; closing stretch drive for a playoff spot. The Cowboys also lost 6-4 to Quebec before edging the Toros. &#9632;

Toros Coming On Strong In Bid For Playofff Spot

<div class="byline">by DOUG McCONNELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01253/3736774-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="547" height="802"><figcaption class="caption-body">GORDIE HOWE &hellip; Still Doing It</figcaption></div>HOUSTON&mdash;Gordie Howe has his own particular way of sending St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day greetings home to his wife.Howe said he isn&rsquo;t Irish, but his wife Colleen is. Her maiden name was Mulvaney.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t send her a St.Patrick&rsquo;s Day Card.&rdquo; said Howe, 48 on Mar. 31, &ldquo;so this was the the next best thing I could do.&rdquo;&ldquo;This&rdquo; was four goals and two assists in Houston&rsquo;s 7-4 victory over the Phoenix Roadrunners in Phoenix St. Patrick&rsquo;s night.&ldquo;The kids chipped in with one goal each, so I imagine their mot her&rsquo;s pretty happy.&rdquo;Gordie has been doing it all for the Aeros this season.Besides playing center, the point on the power play and killing penalties, he&rsquo;s the club president, the father of two of his teammates (Mark and Marty) and the team&rsquo;s best fisherman.On a day off in Arizona, he landed a five-pound, 10-ounce largemouth bass.&ldquo;My biggest night,&rdquo; Papa Howe repeated a Question and thinking back over 28 major league seasons, said. &ldquo;I guess this is about it. I had four once before, right in Houston, never did in Detroit and I don&rsquo;t remember scoring two in a game this season.&rdquo;Gordie&rsquo;s hat trick was &ldquo;pure&rdquo; coming on consecutive goals in the first period.Mark had scored a &ldquo;pure&rdquo; hat trick two weeks before in Houston against Phoenix.The 20-year-old left wing also fired another, his fourth of the season, in an 8-3 win over San Diego at Houston.&ldquo;His arms must be tired from shooting.&rdquo; said Phoenix goaltender Jack Norris and noting Gordie had only taken seven shots to produce four goals, pointed out. &ldquo;that doesn&rsquo;t count all the ones he had blocked by the defense.&rdquo;&ldquo;It was one of those nights.&rdquo; said Gordie, shaking his head. &ldquo;I was putting the puck on the corner and everything went in. When that happens, you havetoget in high gear and keep shooting.&rdquo;Gordie had 11 points during the week on five goals and six assists in four games. His fifth goal was also against the Roadrunners in a 4-3 comeback victory in Houston which gave the Aeros a team record 29 home victories and clinched the Western Division title.Mark also scored in a 2-1 loss in Cincinnati and brother Marty, 21, a defenseman, scored one in Phoenix, and one in each game at home against San Diego and Phoenix to run his season&rsquo;s total to 12. &#9632;

f0030-01

Dad, Sons Stage Own Irish Shootout

<h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02196/3736896-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="628" height="439"></div><h2>CINCINNATI</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03150/3736889-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="613" height="451"></div><h2>CLEVELAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04115/3736882-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="622" height="397"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0579/3736875-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="604" height="397"></div><h2>HOUSTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0658/3736868-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="619" height="424"></div><h2>INDIANAPOLIS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0746/3736861-1-eng-US/f0030-072.jpg" title="f0030-07" width="628" height="211"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0839/3736854-1-eng-US/f0030-082.jpg" title="f0030-08" width="625" height="166"></div><h2>NEW ENGLAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0931/3736847-1-eng-US/f0030-092.jpg" title="f0030-09" width="607" height="376"></div><h2>PHOENIX</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1024/3736840-1-eng-US/f0030-102.jpg" title="f0030-10" width="604" height="373"></div><h2>QUEBEC</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1120/3736833-1-eng-US/f0030-112.jpg" title="f0030-11" width="619" height="322"></div><h2>SAN DIEGO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1219/3736826-1-eng-US/f0030-122.jpg" title="f0030-12" width="622" height="297"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1317/3736819-1-eng-US/f0030-132.jpg" title="f0030-13" width="616" height="307"></div><h2>WINNIPEG</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1415/3736812-1-eng-US/f0030-142.jpg" title="f0030-14" width="628" height="340"></div><h3>LEADING GOALERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1515/3736805-1-eng-US/f0030-152.jpg" title="f0030-15" width="628" height="286"></div> &#9632;

f0030-02

WHA Statistics

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01232/3736934-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="589" height="640"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRYAN MAXWELL&hellip;Stopped Bleeding</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02186/3736927-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="571" height="688"><figcaption class="caption-body">BARRY DEAN&hellip;Near Tragedy</figcaption></div>PHOENIXRobbie Ftorek of Phoenix became the first player in WHA history to top the century mark in both points and penalty minutes and the Phoenix Roadrunner team doctor praised the quick thinking of rookie Cleveland defenseman Brvan Maxwell when Phoenix rookie winger Barry Dean was injured.The fiery little Roadrunner center collected three assists in a 4-3 overtime victory at San Diego to push his points total to 101.He added his 36th goal of the season the following night in a 4-3 loss at Houston.He has 103 penalty minutes.Ftorek. from Needham. Mass., is the highest scoring U.S. born player ever to play major league hockey, surpassing the 87 point total Larry Pleau counted for the New England Whalers in 1972-73.He is also the second highest scoring center in the whole of the WHA and the highest scoring player in either of the U.S. Divisions. He is fifth in league scoring.The 24-year-old who was written off as too small (152) by the Detroit Red Wings scored four goals and six assists in a four game week as the Roadrunners increased their second place lead in the WHA West over San Diego to seven points.Dean, the fourth highest scoring rookie in the WHA (9-25&mdash;34), had a tendon, a radial artery and a minor nerve in his right forearm cut by a skate when he was dumped in a corner in the second period.The nerve, which supplies sensation to the web of the thumb, was buried in tissue, the radial artery was repaired and the tendon, which supplies lift to the wrist, was cut 80 percent through but was resewn and 100 percent recovery is expected.The 21-year-old left wing might have his heavy cast replaced in two weeks with a lightweight plastic cast which would enable him to skate in the playoffs.Dr. Eli Krigsten, who performed surgery on Dean along with Dr. Robert Wilson at Baptist Hospital in Phoenix, said of Maxwell&rsquo;s actions:&ldquo;Dean lost a unit of blood right there on the ice. He would have lost a whole lot more if Maxwell hadn&rsquo;t put pressure on it.&rdquo;Dean was Maxwell&rsquo;s best man at his wedding last summer and they were junior teammates at Medicine Hat for three years.&ldquo;I dumped him in the corner and he came up shaking his gloves off.&rdquo; said the 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 210 pound Maxwell. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think he wanted to fight me then I realized he was saying. &lsquo;Maxie, get me to a doctor.&rdquo;&ldquo;He must have cut his arm on Cam Connor&rsquo;s skate.&rdquo;Connor and Dean share a house in Phoenix.&ldquo;I just grabbed Dino&rsquo;s arm.&rdquo; said Maxwell, &ldquo;pushed the two sides (of the welling gash) together and ran to the dressing room with him.&rdquo;Despite Del Hall&rsquo;s 12th two-goal came (still without a hat trick in four seasons of pro hockey), the Roadrunners lost their third straight home game. 6-5 to Cleveland in overtime after Gary-Jarrett&rsquo;s second and third goals in the third period tied the score.Hall has43 goals, highest among the U.S. Divisions. Cincinnati&rsquo;s Rick Dudley is second with 39.John Gray&rsquo;s second goal of the game came in overtime in a 4-3 victory at San Diego.The Roadrunners aren&rsquo;t boasting about it but they cannot ignore either the record for most power play goals. They have allowed 81 through 73 games, breaking the WHA record of 761 hey set last season. &#9632;

f0031-01

Quick-Thinking Maxwell Saves Rival Roadrunner

<div class="byline">BY ALFISCHER</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH S, BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH S, BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaRICHMOND&mdash;The Robins picked an opportune time to turn things around in their final drive for the Southern Division&rsquo;s final playoffberth.Thev ended a four-month slide with a week of splendid hockey in consecutive victories over Hershey, Providence and Rochester, culminating their work with a 7-0 Mike Belhumeur shutout of the Amerks. his third whitewash of the season.At week&rsquo;s end, the Robins were securely ensconced in third place, a playoff berth assured, and hopes of a possible second place finish.Coach Larry Wilson&rsquo;s club trailed New Haven by three points as the regular-season started its final two weeks.The Nighthawks and Robins have one more clash against each other on Mar. 26. and the Robins also held a game in hand.Belhumeur&rsquo;s goaltending and personnel changes in the last tew weeks have enabled the Robins to turn the tide. The addition of Steve Hull and Dennis McLean from Calgary has been a major factor and Alain Langlais and Richard Nantais, obtained in a trade with New Haven, have finally fit into Wilson&rsquo;s offensive alignments as expected after a slow start.Add tough guy Paul Holmgren to the lineup on loan from Philadelphia and Wilson has the ingredients to make a strong run for the Calder Cup in play-offactivity.Larry Fullan, season-long leader in the assist category, was overtaken last week by Hershey&rsquo;s Jean Gratton, but Fullan was only one behind and still hoped to finish as the league leader.Steve Short&rsquo;s penalty minutes continued to climb near the 300 mark, easily the leading league figure.The three victories, all at home, enabled the Robins to go over the .500 mark on the Richmond Coliseum ice. leaving Baltimore and New Haven as the only clubs under the break-even mark at home.The 18 goals scored in the three victories also moved the Robins into third place ahead of theClippers in the goalscoring category in the South.HERSHEY: The Bears, safely insured as the Southern Division champions, are biding their time, getting ready for a playoff series against either New Haven or Richmond.If records during the regular season are an indication. Richmond would be an easier, foe. since the Bears hold a 73 season&rsquo;s edge. Against New. Haven, the Bears finished on the short end of a 6-5-1 series.Coach Chuck Hamilton is giving Jean Gratton as as much ice time as possible in his quest for the league scoring title.Gratton held a four-point edge entering last week&rsquo;s play and picked up four points in three games. The challenge on Nova Scotia&rsquo;s Guy Chouinard and Ron Andruff. plus Rochester&rsquo;s Gordie Clark, is a tough one to hold off. but Gratton is responding splendidly.Richmond handed the Bears one their rare home defeats, a 5-4 setback. only the ninth in 36 starts at home for Hershey.The Bears lead the division in most every department, most goals scored, fewest allowed, assists, penalty minutes, including league highs in minor and misconduct violations.Increased scoring production from Pete Laframboise and Andre Deschamps, plus the return of Gary McAdam from Buffalo, has helped to ease the offensive burden carried by Gratton.The defensive alignment appears set forthe playoffs with the return of both Ken Breitenbach and Mario Faubert. plus thev expected return of Ron Jones, called up to Washington due to emergency conditions.A loss in Nova Scotia and a home victory against Providence concluded Hershey&rsquo;s season&rsquo;s war against the Northern Division and the results were exactly all even, 18 wins, 18 losses and four ties. They lost the series to Nova Scotia, won from Rochester and split with Springfield and Providence.Hamilton is hopeful that the first round playoff bye won&rsquo;t leave the Bears too rusty and he will keep them hard at work in order to have them primed for post-season play.BALTIMORE: To all intents and purposes, the Clippers ended their season in Nova Scotia where the Voyageurs unceremonoiusly elimated them from plavoff consideration. 7-5.The loss was the 11th consecutive road loss for the Clippers, establishing a new team record in futility on alien ice. The setback was the ninth straight on their current losing streak which equalled a Baltimore team record for consecutive defeats home and away.For general manager-coach Terry-Reardon it has been a season frought with frustration as he attempted to mold a team without the availability ol a major league affiliate.The talent simply failed to bloom and the Clippers fell to their second poorest record in club history.The owners will now sit down for a long discussion as to whether to continue hockey in the Monumental City. The Civic Center crowds were far off the anticipated 4,000 average and an in depth study will be made to ascertain Baltimore&rsquo;s hockey future.There could be a major shakeup in both ownership and front office management. There have been rumors that Reardon will announce his retirement and a whole new management team will be brought in for next season, if there is one.There were some bright sports during the campaign. I he goal-scoring battle between Don Grierson and Dennis Giannini, not only for team honors, but league laurels as well. Both players were on the wav to 40-goal season.Injuries took their toll, riddling the defensive corps horrendously. Paul Curtis and Ray Clearwater were lost overworked due to lack of bodies tor substitution.for the season, while Kent Douglas and Ralph McSwevn were playing with painful ailments that diminished their effectiveness.Replacements were hard to come by and the players available were often The offense had the lowest goal-scoring total in either division, while the goals-allowed figure was the second highest.NEW HAVEN: The Nighthawks, seeking to clinch second place, were looking over their collective shoulders at onrushing Richmond, lying just three points in arrears.Coach Parker MacDonald watched his minions divide four encounters during the week as the Hawks battled for home ice advantage in the playoffs.However, home ice may not prove that much advantage to the Hawks. In 35 starts in the confines of their Connecticut rink, the Hawks show onlv a 15-17-3 record.However they have won six of their last nine at home so maybe the tide has turned at just the right time.An exchange of goaltenders sent Terry Richardson to New Haven, while Doug Grant was dispatched to Detroit. The goaltender exchange has been a continuing thing in New Haven. Richardson had played in 20 games for the Hawks, showing a 6-10-1 record and a 4.28 goals allowed average.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03118/3736965-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="553" height="595"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE BELHUMEUR &hellip;Helped Turn Tide</figcaption></div>In another move not destined to add New Haven&rsquo;s offensive burden was the recall of Brian McCutcheon, one of the Hawks leading goal getters and a producer of three hat tricks this season, leading the Hawks to a league-high figure of 11 three goal game performers.A March 26 encounter with Richmond may well be the key to New Haven&rsquo;s second place hopes as the race for the final playoff positions goes down to the wire.Tom Colley, who had been in a sixway battle for league goal scoring honors, clumped off a bit in the race, although he maintained his lead as the club&rsquo;s leading scorer with 58 points and a team high of 33 goals. &#9632;

f0032-03

Robins Put Breaks On Four-Month Slide To Secure Playoff Position In AHL South

<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01233/3737003-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="610" height="577"></div><h2>GOALING RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02173/3736996-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="619" height="463"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

AHL Leaders

<div class="byline">BY AL FISCHER</div>HALIFAX&mdash;A two-way battle for team and league scoring honors is featuring the Voyageurs late season campaign as the Northern Division champions gear for the playoffs and a hopeful repeat of their Calder Cup title of 1971-72.Guy Chouinard and Ron Andruff both went over the 40-goal mark last week as they chased Hershey&rsquo;s Jean Gratton for the point-scoring title.Chouinard holds a slight edge in goal scoring, while Andruff tops the team in the assist category. Pierre Mondou, although slightly off the pace of his teammates could move up with a productive final twoweeks.Chouinard was recalled due to erne, rgency conditions by Atlanta but was returned before missing any game time with the Vees.Dave Elenbaas, an expected unanimous choice for All Star goalie, saw his average go up a bit, but is still under the 2.30 mark in goals allowed.The Vees have already clinched season series against every club in the league. A 5-0 Elenbaas-shutout of Rochester, his fifth of the season, gave the Vees a 6-4-2 advantage over the Amerks.They won seven of ten from Baltimore. eight of ten from Hershey, lead New Haven 6-3 with one to play, topped Providence 7-3-1. with a game remaining, lead Richmond 6-1-2 with one left and concluded a highly successful 9-2-1 series against Springfield.With but one home game remaining, the Vees boast a remarkable 29-5-3 record at the Halifax Forum, the main reason they reign as division champion.They now prepare for a playoff meeting with the winner of the Rochester-Providence best-of-five series.ROCHESTER: Paul O&rsquo;Neil and Gordie Clark were both recalled by Boston due to emergency conditions, but returned after only one game in the bigtime.O&rsquo;Neil equalled an AHL record of nine unassisted goals in a season, established just a year ago by the now departed Peter Sullivan of Nova Scotia.The Voyageurs reached the 100-point total in the standings in a 7-5 victory over Baltimore and will be the only club to reach that figure this year.The century mark is the first fora division champion since 1972-73 when the Vees finished with 101 to win the Eastern Division and Cincinnati paced the West with a league record 113 points.Injuries hurt the Amerks at a time when they were closing the gap between themselves and Nova Scotia. Recalls and trades also hampered coach Dick Mattuissi in his efforts to guide his club totop spot in the North.The Amerks lost their best defenseman, Joe Zanussi, after obtaining him from Providence in a trade between Boston and New York; lost their best center. Doug Gibson, by recall, plus losing various other key men to injury at inopportune times during the campaign.Clark, O&rsquo;Neil, team captain Barry Merrell. Dave Hynes and Rene Drolet provided most of the Amerk scoring power this season and with the home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, the Amerks just might move on for a revenge meeting with the Voyageurs in the semi-finals.The Amerksadded Mike Amodeo on loan from Toronto&rsquo;s WHA club and to make room, sent Ron Snell to Buffalo of the NAHL.PROVIDENCE: Although their record is better than the second, third and fourth place teams in the Southern Division, the Reds had not yet clinched a playoff berth in the North.Coach Johnny Muckier&rsquo;s team however, should clinch a berth by a time this is in print. They needed only a victory or a Springfield loss to earn a post-season spot tor the sixth consecutive year.It&rsquo;s been 20 years since the Reds won a Calder Cup under then general manager Terry Reardon and coach Johnny Crawford, who later joined forces as a team in Baltimore.Greg Holst, although in a slight slump, is still in the running for league scoring honors and looks to be a sure bet for rookie of the year honors. If he does win that award, he would be the third straight Providence player to do so.Jerry Holland won it last year and Rick Middleton in 1973&mdash;74. Both are currently with the New York Rangers.Providence&rsquo;s power play and penalty killing units took over the top spot in the league. The Reds have scored 81 times with a man advantage, while scoring 12 times while short handed.Yves Belanger&rsquo;s work in the goal drew praise from Muckier and the St. Louis chattel may get the starting nod come playoff time. However, young Doug Soetaert will get a couple of more starts to be ready if he is called on.SPRINGFIELD: Time had just about run out for the Indians, whose late-season drive to overtake Providence for the final playoff berth in the North, was spectacular, but abortive.The Indians, in their first year without a complete working agreement, fell into the same pitfalls that befell the Southern Division&rsquo;s lone independent, the Baltimore Clippers.Like Baltimore. Springfield was unable to get the top drawer players early in the season to be competitive. The Indians fell far behind, and although their 22-11-4 pace since Christmas is one of the league&rsquo;s best, but a horrendous 9-26 first half proved too much to make up.A partial working plan with Kansas City resulted in countless shuffling, especially on defense, and to his credit, coach Jim Anderson finally got his crew unravelled and on the winning track.Veterans Norm Dube and Billy Inglis were the offensive leaders throughout the season, and the addition of Claude Houde and Roger Lemelin, shortly after Christmas, gave the defense some respect and creditability, as did the acquisition of goaltender Dave Reece.But the Indians, last year&rsquo;s surprising Calder Cup champs, fell to last place as the experts predicted in the pre-season. &#9632;

Reds Near Closing Indians Out Of Playoff Hunt

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. March 30)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01209/3737177-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="606" height="306"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 23Baltimore 4 at Richmond 5.Wed. March 24Novo Scotia 2 at Hershey 8; New Haven at Providence 5.Thu. March 25Nova Scotia 6 at Richmond 4Fri. March 26Richmond 3 at New Haven 3; Baltimore 0 at Rochcter 9, Providence 5 at Springfield 6.Sat. March 27Hershey 2 at Richmond 5; Rochester 6 at Springfield 5Sun. March 28Richmond 6 at Hershey 6; Baltimore 1 at New Haven 4, Novo Scotia 2 at Providence 2; Springfield 0 at Rochester 6<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Mar. 30New Haven at Novo Scotia.Wed. Mar. 31Springfield at Baltimore, Rochester at New Haven; Providence at Richmond.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. March 30)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02159/3737170-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="616" height="179"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. March 22Dallas 0 at Solt Lake 1.Wed. March 24Oklahoma City 2 at Fort Worth 4, Tulso 5 at Salt Lake 3; Dallas 7 at Tucson 3.Fri. March 26Fort Worth 3 at Oklahoma City 2; Tulso 6 at Salt Lake 3; Ddlas 6 at Tucson 1.Sat. March 27Dallas 2 ot Fort Wortho; Oklahomo City 2 at Tulsa 3.Sun. March 28Oklahoma City 0 at Dallas 0.GAMES TO COME Tue Mar. 30Fort Worth at Salt Lake.Wed. Mar. 31Dallas at Oklahomo City; Fort Worth at Tucson.Fri. Apr. 2Fort Worth at Dollos; Tucson at Salt Lake, Oklahomo City at Tulsa.Sat. Apr. 3Dallas at Fort Worth; Tulso at Oklahoma City; Salt Lake at Tucson.Sun. Apr. 4Oklohomo City at Dollos, Tulsa at Fort Worth, Salt Loke at Tucson.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03118/3737163-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="622" height="334"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. March 24Saginaw 4 ot Fort Wayne 8; Flint 5 at Muskegon 4; Port Huron 1 ot Kalamazoo 5; Dayton 7 at Columbus 1.Fri. March 26Muskegon 3 at Port Huron 2; Columbus 2 at Toledo 10; Saginaw 2 at Flint 11; Fort Wayne 1 at Kalamazoo 4.Sat. March 27Dayton 5 at Fort Wayne 2; Kalamazoo 0 ot Muskegon 4; Toledo 3 at Port Huron 6; Flint 3 at Saginaw 5.Sun. March 28Fort Wayne 3 at Dayton 5; Port Huron 3 at Flint 7, Muskegon 2 at Saginaw 4; Kalamazoo 2 at Toledo 5.<h2>NORTH AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0498/3737156-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="613" height="395"></div>(* &mdash;Suspended operations.)<h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Quarter-finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0577/3737149-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="618" height="81"></div>(Beauce wins best-of-five series 3-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. March 19Maine 3 at Beauce 5.Sat. March 20Beauce 6 at Maine 10.Sun. March 21Moine 3 ot Beauce 9.Tue. March 23Beauce 6 at Moine 3.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0662/3737142-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="614" height="80"></div>(Syracuse wins best-of-five series 3-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. March 19Mohawk Valley 3 at Syracuse 4.Sat. March 20Syracuse 2 ot Mohawk Valley 4.Mon. March 22Mohawk Valley 1 at Syracuse 6.Tue. March 23Syracuse 8mat Mohawk Volley 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0753/3737135-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="608" height="81"></div>(Johnstown wins best-of-five series 3-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. March 21Johnstown 1 ot Buffalo 5.Mon. March 22Buffalo 4 ot Johnstown 6.Wed. March 24Buffalo 2 ot Johnstown 8.Thu. March 25Johnstown 2 at Buffalo 3.Sat. March 27Buffalo 0 at Johnstown 1 (forfeit)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0846/3737128-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="606" height="78"></div>(Philadelphia wins best-of-five series 3-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. March 19Erie 5 at Philadelphia 10Sat. March 20Philadelphia 2 at Erie 3.Sun. March 21Erie 8 at Philadelphia 3.Tue. March 23Philadelphia 7 at Erie 4Thu. March 25Erie 4 at Philadelphia 6.Semi-finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0938/3737121-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="606" height="88"></div>(Beauce leads best-of-seven series 2-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. March 26Syracuse 4 ot Beouce 5.Sun. March 28Syracuse 7 ot Beauce 10.<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. March 30Beauce ot Syracuse.Thu. April 1Beauce at Syracuse.Sat. April 3Syracuse at Beauce.Sun. April 4Beauce at Syracuse.Tue. April 6Syracuse ot Beauce.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1034/3737114-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="606" height="78"></div>(Philadelphia loads best-of-seven series 1-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. March 28Johnstown 4 at Philadelphia 5.<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. March 29Philadelphia at Johnstown.Tue. March 30Johnstown at Philadelphia.Thu. April 1Philadelphia at Johnstown.Fri. April 2Johnstown ot Philadelphia.Sat. April 3&gt;Philadelphia at Johnstown.Mon. April 5Philadelphia at Johnstown.<h2>SOUTHERN LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1133/3737107-1-eng-US/f0033-112.jpg" title="f0033-11" width="608" height="178"></div><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1232/3737100-1-eng-US/f0033-122.jpg" title="f0033-12" width="600" height="84"></div>(Charlotte wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. March 21Hampton 2 at Charlotte 5Tue. March 23Hampton 2 of Charlotte 3Wed. March 24Chorlotte at Hampton 5Fri. March 26Chorlotte 4 at Hampton 1Sat. March 27Hampton 0 at Charlotte 8Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1321/3737093-1-eng-US/f0033-132.jpg" title="f0033-13" width="606" height="84"></div>(Charlotte wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Charlotte 0 at RoanokeTue. March 9Roanoke 2 at Charlotte 6Thu. March 11Roanoke 0 at Charlotte 3Fri. March 12Charlotte 2 at Roanoke 4Tue. March 16Roanoke 4 ot Chorlotte 5Wed. March 17Chorlotte 1 at Roanoke 0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1418/3737086-1-eng-US/f0033-142.jpg" title="f0033-14" width="604" height="94"></div>(Hampton wins best-of-seven series 4-O)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Winston-Salem 2 at Hampton 7Mon. March 8Winston-Salem 2 ot Hampton 3Fri. March 12Hampton 9 at Winston-Salem 6Sun. March 14Hampton 4 at Winston Salem 3<h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1514/3737079-1-eng-US/f0033-152.jpg" title="f0033-15" width="626" height="312"></div><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1610/3737072-1-eng-US/f0033-162.jpg" title="f0033-16" width="596" height="82"></div>(Best-of-five series tied 1-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Central Wisconsin 4, Green Bay 3Green Bay 5, Central Wisconsin 3Quarter-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1710/3737065-1-eng-US/f0033-172.jpg" title="f0033-17" width="602" height="82"></div>(Milwaukee wins best-of-three series 2-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-188/3737058-1-eng-US/f0033-182.jpg" title="f0033-18" width="593" height="80"></div>(Treverse City wins best-of-three series 2-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Treverse City 6, Waterloo 1Traverse City 4, Waterloo 3 &#9632;

f0033-01

LOOKING AT THE MINOR LEAGUE SCOREBOARD

NHL: 1&mdash;Montreal 2&mdash; Detroit. 3&mdash;Boston 4&mdash;N.Y Rongers. 5&mdash;Chicago. 6&mdash;Toronto. 7&mdash;Los Angeles. 8&mdash;Pittsburgh 9&mdash;California. 10&mdash;Philadelphia. 11&mdash;Minnesota. 12&mdash;St. Louis. 13&mdash;Vancouver 14&mdash;Buffalo. 15&mdash;N.Y Islanders 16&mdash;Atlanta 17&mdash;Kansas City. 18&mdash;Washington WHA: 19&mdash;Calgary 20&mdash;Cincinnati. 21&mdash;Cleveland 22&mdash;Denver 23&mdash;Edmonton. 24&mdash;Houston. 25 &mdash; Indianopolis. 26&mdash;Minnesota 27&mdash;New England. 28&mdash;Phoenix. 29&mdash;Quebec 30&mdash;San Diego 31&mdash;Toronto. 32&mdash;Winnipeg Inter-League: 33&mdash;N.Y. Rongers (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;Det rort(NHL) & Minnesota (NHL) 39&mdash;Atlanta (NHL) & Vancouver (NHL) 40&mdash;Phoenix, Houston & San Diego (WHA) 41&mdash;Los Angeles (NHL) & N.Y. Islanders (NHL) 43&mdash;Kansas City (NHL) & N.Y. Rangers (NHL). 44 &mdash; Boston (NHL) & Washington NHL) 45&mdash;Minnesota (NHL) & Vancouver (NHL) 46&mdash;Colgary (WHA), Kansas City (NHL) & Minnesota (WHA) 47 &mdash; Philo de phia (NHL) & Washington (NHL). 50&mdash;Boston (NHL) Son Diego (WHA) 51 &mdash; Buffalo (NHL) & Toronto (WHA). 52&mdash;Montreal (NHL) & Toronto (WHA) 55 &mdash; BuHalo(NHL) & Calgary (WHA) 56&mdash;Buflolo&rsquo;(NHL) & Cleveland (WHA) 57&mdash;NY Rongers (NHL) & St Louis (NHL) 58&mdash;Detroit (NHL) & Edmonton (WHA). &#9632;

Minor League Affiliations

<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01226/3737270-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="616" height="282"></div><h2>GOALING RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02173/3737263-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="600" height="376"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

CHL Leaders

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaTULSA&mdash;One of the prime candidates for Central League rookie of the year is Tulsa Oiler left wing Brad Gassoff, who is not only the club&rsquo;s leading goal scorer, but an effective policeman as well.Hence it was with a feeling of shock that Oiler coach Orland Kurtenbach watched Brad crash into a goalpost and crumple to the ice in the Oklahoma City&rsquo;s Myriad. Mar. 12. An almost identical accident in the same arena Nov. 22. had cost the Oilers the services of center Danny Gloor for four weeks with a knee injury.Gassoff went back to Tulsa for treatment of his injured right knee, and the doctor est imated a week&rsquo;s layoff.&ldquo;Doctors don&rsquo;t know everything,&rdquo; muttered Brad, as he returned to the ice two nights after the accident, scored his 29th goal and played regularly the last two periods.Kurtenbach hadn&rsquo;t planned to let Gassoff wear a uniform for that Sunday night game against the Tucson Mavericks. But after almost 48 hours packed in ice, Brad insisted the knee felt good, and he wanted to warm up with the team. When defenseman Bob Bilodeau couldn&rsquo;t put on his skates because of a badly swollen ankle (hit by a puck in Dallas the previous night). The coach decided to let Gassoff sit on the bench.After watching one period from the bench (with the Oilers trailing, 2-1), Gassoff insisted he was ready to play. Coach Kurt was skeptical, but gave in, reuniting Brad with his linemates, Jim Wiley, the CHL&rsquo;s leading scorer, and crafty veteran Leon Rochefort on the right flank. Gassoff and Wiley collected goals in the 9-4 rout of the Mavericks which lifted Tulsa back into first place by a two-point margin.The big noisemakers in that resoundingvictory. however, were center Gloor. left wing Andy Spruce and right wing Rick Bowness. They accounted for six Oiler goals, with Spruce scoring his first professional hat trick, Bowness tallying twice and Gloor once.The victory cheered the Oilers after two dismal losses on the road, which squandered their four-point league lead. The OC Blazers outclassed the Oilers. 7-3, in the Myriad the night Gassoff was hurt Then Mike Veisor&rsquo;s stingy goaltending and the Dallas power play provided a 3-1 Black Hawk victory in Dallas the next night, and the two clubs were tied for the top rung.While Tulsa regained sole possession, of first place with its Mar. 14 victory, the Hawks had three games in hand.Left wing Glen Richardson rejoined the Oilers after five weeks with the parent Vancouver Canucks.While Gassoffs 29 goals and 21 assists have made him a vital cog in the Oilers&rsquo; attack, his aggressive play all over the ice has made an impression on every team in the league. Some of that impression has been made by Brad&rsquo;s fists.&ldquo;I had to learn to fight,&rdquo; he laughs. &ldquo;When I was younger, every place I played hockey, my brother Bob had already been there, and had fought everyone in the league. A lot of guys thought they could get even with Bob by fighting me. But I could take care of myself.&rdquo; Now Brad is fighting with players who have never seen any other Gassoff.With a total of 270 minutes in penalties, Brad was still 36 minutes off the pace of league-leader Paul Tantardini of Salt Lake. (The two had a fierce battle in Tulsa near the close of the Feb. 27 game, then lay on first-aid tables side by side for repairs in the Oiler dressing room.Brad&rsquo;s had his share of major penalties and misconducts, but he was the league leader in minors, with 60. He was also the league&rsquo;s No. 2 shooter in accuracy, with goals on 21.7 percent of his shots. Only Dallas&rsquo; Moe L&rsquo;Abbe (22.9 percent I had a better record.Gassoff was drafted off the Kamloops, B.C. Chiefs last June by the Canucks as a 5-11, 188-pounder. High living followed receipt of his signing bonus, and Vancouver manager-coach Phil Maloney was disgusted when Brad showed up at training camp weighing 214 pounds.Gassoff wasn&rsquo;t allowed to play in exhibition games till he shed 10 of those pounds, and he was late reporting to Tulsa. Finally getting under 200, he resolved to stay there. &ldquo;I feel better at this weight, and I&rsquo;ve got that extra burst of speed, iflhavetohave it.&rdquo;SALT LAKE: Three straight losses on the road had the Golden Eagles looking over their shoulders, as their third place hold was challenged by Oklahoma City (two back) and Fort Worth (four back).Almost the only cheerful note for Eagle fans and coach Marv Edwards was the continued hot hand of right wing Frank Spring, who notched his 39th and 40th goals. The big fellow had hit 20 goals only once previously in six pro seasons. (Last winter he had 19 for Denver in the CHL and three for the California Seals after being traded in January by the St.Louis Blues).The Big Birds were on an eight-game road swing, and stood 1-4 for the trip. They were looking forward to six straight on home ice before ending the schedule with two in Tucson.U.S. Olympic goalie Jim Warden was ripped for four goals in the first period at Fort Worth. Mar. 9, with Larry Hendrick taking over for the rest of a 10-2 setback. Ernie Miller worked a 3-1 loss in Dallas, and a 4-2 setback in Oklahoma City.Eagle defenseman Brent Meeke scored his 20th goal, and his 12th power play tally, at Oklahoma City. The Eagles regained defenseman Tom Price from California, but lost winger Dave Hrechkosy, who was dealt to St. Louis.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03132/3737232-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="550" height="1030"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRAD GASSOFF &hellip; Quick Return</figcaption></div>DALLAS: In spite of being shorthanded from injuries and callups, the Black Hawks won two big games, including a 3-1 showdown with leagueleader Tulsa, and were in the strongest position for the CHL&rsquo;s stretch run, two points behind the Oilers with 12 games remaining, while Tulsa had only nine left.Left wing Joey Johnston was the latest loss. Going back to Chicago briefly on personal business, he was held over by the parent Hawks for medical exanimation. (Joey was working into condition after an auto acident.) Dallas didn&rsquo;t know when or if to expect Johnston back, and the same was true of defenseman Randy Holt. Forwards Reggie Giroux, Pierre Giroux (no relation) and Greg Vaydik were lost with injuries.Defenseman Dave Logan, still about a week away from being ready alter a long groin-injury layoff, took the ice for one brief shift in a 3-1 triumph over Salt Lake at home. Mar. 12, and again as the Hawks beat the Oilers by the same score the next night.Logan was then to sit out the home games suspension for attacking Tulsa broadcaster Hal O&rsquo;Halloran in the Coliseum Ice Arena press box, Feb. 20. Hawk coach Gordon Fashoway figured Logan might be ready for full duty at the start of a six-game road trip. Mar. 20.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what it would be like to have a full squad,&rdquo; Fashoway said. &ldquo;Maybethey&rsquo;re all working harder, because we&rsquo;re shorthanded.&rdquo;Two power goals in the third period turned the trick against Salt Lake, as rookie goalie Bob Volpe registered his 12th game without a loss. Power goals in the second and third decided the game against Tulsa, as Mike Veisor blanked the Oilers for more than 56 minutes.With the Hawks apparently stuck on a 3-1 note, their scoreboard stayed at that figure, too. Broken wires made it impossible to reset the score board after a Saturday afternoon midget game, and the board showed &ldquo;Black Hawks three, Visitors one&rdquo; all the way through the game against Tulsa. It was correct for the last four minutes.FORT WORTH: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just got to keep plugging, playing our game, and try to improve our road record,&rdquo; said Texans coach Ed Chadwick. The club had fallen two points behind Oklahoma City in the battle for fourth place and the final CHL playoff spot. But third place Salt Lake was only four points awav.The Texans hadn&rsquo;t been beaten in eight games at their own Will Rogers Coliseum, since a Jan 17 loss to Dallas. The latest gem was a 10-2 romp over Salt Lake, with Dave Salvian and Alf Handrahan each getting two goals in the rout.But on the road it was another storv. as the Texans lost narrowly in Tucson. 4-3, with a three-goal rally in the final period falling short. A rematch the next night produced a 9-5 cakewalk for the Mavericks, and a bench emptying team brawl at the end of the middle period. The Texans were 6-19-8 on the road for the season.Tucson was proving a thorn in the Texans&rsquo; side. While the Mavs were generally patsies for other CHL teams, the double loss for Fort Worth. Mar. 11-12. left the Texans and Mavericks all square at 4-4-4. with a game to be played in each rink.Right wing Mike Kennedy, who.had been ordered to Muskegon in the International League, was quickly reassigned to Fort Worth. The Texans never received big forward Curt Brack-enbury. formerly of the WHA Minnesota Fighting Saints. Almost as soon as he stepped off the plane, he was ordered to report to Quebec, which had drafted him.OKLAHOMA CITY: The return of right wing Scott Garland from the Toronto Maple Leafs lit the spark for the Blazers&rsquo; dormant attack. Knocked &lsquo;briefly out of fourth place. Ray Miron&rsquo;s lads regained that position and were pressingforthird.Garland rejoined his former linemates. center Tom Cassidy, the Blazers&rsquo; top scorer and No. 2 in the league, and left wing Ken Richardson. They teamed up for three goals (two by Richardson. one by Garland) in a 7-3 home rout of Tulsa. Garland got the winning goal in a 4-2 game against Salt Lake the next night.&ldquo;That line is really hot.&rdquo; agreed manager-coach Miron, &ldquo;hut we&rsquo;ve got three strong lines now. The other two have come around.&rdquo;The victories ran the Blazers&rsquo; unbeaten string at their downtown Myriad to 17 games. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see how we can be unbeaten in 17 games in this rink, and lose nine at the State Fair Arena.&rdquo; Miron puzzled. &ldquo;They have the same size ice surface.&rdquo;After losing their home opener to Dallas. 5-1, Oct. 11. the Blazers had 10 victories and four ties at home through Christmas night. Forced to play their home slate at the Fairgrounds in oJanuary and February, because of other attractions at the Myriad, Miron&rsquo;s men were 6-9-1 in their new &ldquo;home&rdquo; They had a 2-0-1 record since resuming downtown action. Mar. 6.Experienced defenseman Dave Dunn was expected to solidify the blueline corps, as he came down from Toronto. &ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t playing that much up there,&rdquo; Miron said. &ldquo;It takes time to get yoursea legs.&rdquo;Blazer captain Ron Clarke announced his retirement, returning to school teaching in Toronto and farm ing near Orillia, Ont. The 25-year-old defenseman had been benched for playing poorly.&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t want to sit around drawing a salary if he wasn&rsquo;t playing.&rdquo; Miron said. &ldquo;He has class.&rdquo; Garland was named the new captain.TUCSON: The Mavericks were mathematically eliminated from the April playoffs, but coach Bob Barlow pointed out. &ldquo;These March games are our playoffs. The guys are playing for next season&rsquo;s jobs, and we&rsquo;re finding out just who wants to play.&rdquo;One who definitely wanted to play was center Steve West, who came hack after missing two months with a broken jaw. Once he had the doctor&rsquo;s OK. even before the plastic that held his teeth clamped together was removed. West was back with the Mavs, picking up a goal and three assists in three starts.The suddenly-hot Maverick offense accounted for 37 goals in six games, of which they won four Their latest gems were 4-3 and 9-5 victories at home against Fort Worth. Then they started a four-game road swing on a sour note, losing in Tulsa. 9-4. &#9632;

f0034-03

Tough Oiler Rookie Gassoff Helps Lift Club Back On Top

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div>HAMILTON&mdash;Dale McCourt didn&rsquo;t win the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A scoring championship and wasn&rsquo;t among the large group who established records this seasonHowever according to the majority of the Ontario Junior A coaches he is the most skilled player in the 12-team league.In a poll conducted by the Toronto Star, McCourt was chosen as the league&rsquo;s best stickhandler, penaltykiller, No. 1 in the faceoff circle and what was termed the &ldquo;smartest player&rdquo; &mdash; an adjective used to describe Stan Mikita of the Chicago Black Hawks in a poll conducted in the same paper a week earlier among National Hockey League coaches.In addition the 18-year-old center was considered second-best at playmaking and determination (they called it hard work) and third in checking.Some scouts have gone on record as saying the nephew of former Toronto Maple Leaf captain George Armstrong (now Toronto Marlboro coach) is the best pro prospect in the country but according to present regulations at least, they&rsquo;ll have to keep hands off for one more season.McCourt, who completed his fourth year of Major Junior A (three with Hamilton, one with Sudbury) has one more season of eligibility left and it is unlikely either the NHL or World Hockey Association will pick underagejuniors this spring.Oddly enough his style is not in keeping with most of his teammates.The Fincups run one-two with Sudbury Wolves, pennant-winners in the Leyden Division &mdash; as the toughest teams in Major Junior A but McCourt almost always sticks to hockey.He doesn&rsquo;t go out of his way looking for trouble although he has never been known to back down &mdash; and has remarkable strength and durability for a teenager.He was perhaps the key reason for the Fincups winning the Emms Division pennant as he was not only brilliant on the ice but, as captain, had a calming effect on the sometimes volatile Fincup players and their coach Bert Templeton.Tops in other categories included Mike Kitchen of Toronto Marlboros, best body checker; Rick Green, best defensive defenseman. Rick Doyle, best checker, Steve Stockman fastest skater and Ken Linseman, also of the Canadiens, most improved player.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01217/3737301-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="565" height="788"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG WILSON &hellip; Hardest Shot</figcaption></div>Mike Kaszycki the Doints scoring Champion with Sault Ste. Marie who had a record-breaking 170 points including 119 assists which was also a record, was chosen best playmaker.Peter Lee of Ottawa, who established a new standard for goals with 81, was runner-up in scoring and three other individual categories &mdash; hardest worker, most dangerous in goal area and best shot.Another highly-rated Ottawa player was defenseman Doug Wilson, voted the best attacking defenseman and possessor of the hardest shot.Most under-rated was the Sault&rsquo;s John Tavella and, in a departure from usual routines of this nature the coaches even picked their favorite referee.Jim Lever was given this unexpected recognition.Windsor Spitfires in the Emms Division and Peterborough Petes in the Leyden Division both finished last and were the only teams to miss the playoffs.Oddly enough, though, the Petes will have only the third draft pick in June as they had more points than St. Catharines Black Hawks who were fifth in the Emms Division (the last playoff spot) but had four fewer points.The midget drafts are in the reverse order of points.As expected in junior hockey there were immediate upsets as the post-season games got underway.Toronto Marlboros. fourth in the Emms Division, defeated third place London in the first two games of their best-of-seven series by scores of 4-2 and 6-1.The Marlies, defending Memorial Cup champions, did not have a particularly good season after John Tonelli and Mark Napier were &ldquo;kidnapped&rdquo; by the World Hockey Association but have a history of winning on London ice.In other series, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds bested the Oshawa Generals in a five-game set as they outscored the Generals 25-17. Oshawa won game one of the series 5-4 but after that the Hounds took over winning three of the next four to push the Generals to the sidelines. Kaszvcki&rsquo;s two goals in game two before 4,138 sparked the first Sault win and seemed to set the pattern for the rest of the series. The Hounds now oppose Sudburv.Kitchener Rangers breezed past the St. Catharines Black Hawks winning three games to one and registering a 2017 edge in goal scoring. Rangers won the opener at home 5-3 and then downed the Hawks 6-3 at Garden City Arena before going on to take it all and earn the dubious honor of meeting the tough Hamilton Fincups in the second roundThe Rangers found out in a hurry the Fincups meant business as Hamilton ran all over them 12-4 in the first game of the series. Maybe it is a sign of things to come for the Rangers and possibly the rest of the OHA teams. &#9632;

f0035-01

Fincups’ McCourt Most Skilled Player, Sharpshooter Lee Double Winner In Poll

<h2>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</h2><h3>PlAYOFFS</h3>Quarter-Final<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02181/3737353-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="608" height="83"></div>(Best-of-seven senes tied 1-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. March 26Hull 3 at Sherbrooke 4Sun. March 28Sherbrooke 5 at Hull 7.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03134/3737346-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="602" height="87"></div>Trois-Rivieres leads best-of-seven series 2-0)GAMES COMPLETEDFri. March 26Chicoutimi 2 at Trois-Rivieres 7.Sun. March 28Chicoutimi 2 ot Trois-Rivieres 12.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04108/3737339-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="600" height="82"></div>(Montreal leads best-of-seven series 2-0)GAMES COMPLETEDThu. March 25Montreal 4 at Cornwall 2.Sun. March 28Cornwoll 1 at Montreal 7.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0585/3737332-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="602" height="77"></div>(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. March 26Sorel 5 ot Quebec 6.Sun. March 28Quebec 4 at Sorel 6. &#9632;

f0035-02

HOW THEY STAND

DENVER&mdash;Revenge is sweet and if you don&rsquo;t think so ask the Minnesota Gophers.Smitten by their loss in the 1975 National Collegiate Athletic Association final to Michigan State that cost them the championship, the Gophers rebounded with a vengeance in this year&rsquo;s tournament to lift the crown from Tech and win their second NCAA title in the last three years.It was a dramatic windup to the 1976 college hockey season for Herb Brooks and his Gophers, who went into the four-team tournament no better than second choice to win it all. Brooks hadn&rsquo;t forgotten Tech&rsquo;s 6-1 defeat of his Gophers in last year&rsquo;s final game and neither did the Gophers. They rallied behind the brilliant play of junior center Tom Vannelli to rebuff the Huskies 6-4 in the deciding game and repeat their 1974 conquest of Michigan Tech.It marked the third straight year the two representatives of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association had advanced to the NCAA finals and gave Minnesota a 2-1 edge in the battle for the college spoils.Pat Phippen&rsquo;s 25-foot shot eluded Tech goaler Bruce Horsch midway through the final period to break a 4-4 tie and send the Gophers on their way to another championship season.In the consolation game, Brown University, the No. 2 team in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, posted a come-from-be-hind 8-7 decision over Boston University, who were ranked No. 1 in theECAC.Vannelli, who had a goal and four assists in the championship game, was chosen the tournament&rsquo;s most valuable player and his inspirational leadership on the ice was the turning point for Brooks&rsquo; skaters. However, the Gophers looked for a time they would fall out of it early when Michigan Tech roared away to a 30 lead in the opening period on two goals by Warren Young and another by Jim Murray.Minnesota changed goalers at the start of the second period and applied more pressure on the Huskies as they scored three straight times to go on top 4-3. Joe Micheletti, Bill Baker and Tom Gorence connected for the Gophers after Vanelli counted on a first-period power play for Minnesota&rsquo;s opening goal.The Gophers, who dramatically knocked off second-place Minnesota State in the WCHA playoffs while Michigan Tech ousted Michigan, to earn their trip to the NCAA&rsquo;s here in Denver, appeared to get stronger as the game progressed.After Nels Goddard of Tech pushed the No. 1 ranked WCHA team back into a 4-4 tie late in the second period, the Gophers came on in the final period with two goals, one by Phippen and the wrap-up goal by Warren Miller at 19:30 to put the game and title out of Michigan Tech&rsquo;s reach.Brooks, who had won the admiration of his rival WCHA coaches, including Michigan State&rsquo;s Amo Bessone, for his handling of the Gophers in the playoffs, credited his kids with a gutsy performance to topple the Huskies. &ldquo;The kids hung together and it paid off for us,&rdquo; said Brooks, who had been loud in his praise of the Gophers for their impressive romp through the WCHA playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01195/3737384-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="568" height="587"><figcaption class="caption-body">HERB BROOKS &hellip; How Sweet It Is</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0036-01

Minnesota Regains NCAA Title From Michigan Tech

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>NEW HAVEN&mdash;The Yale Whale has swallowed another victim.Paul Lufkin, coach of the Yale hockey team for the past four years, was fired the week after the 1975-76 season came to a close. His assistant, Russ McCurdy, who&rsquo;d been in that position for three years, submitted his own resignation shortly thereafter. Once again, the Blueshirts must start from scratch and find someone to lead them back fromobsucurity.That task will not be an easy one. Indeed, the question to consider is not who the right man is, but is there a man who can actually bring Yale hockey to a competitive position?The official press release gave an inkling of the challenge facing anyone who takes the job. Athletic Director Delaney Kiphuth was quoted as saving:&ldquo;&hellip;He (Lufkin) found it very difficult to coach hockey at Yale because of the many obstacles he faced. Coaching is an unusual challenge here and the academic requirements are very stiff. The Ivy League is a very competitive one and Yale does not enjoy the natural advantages of many of her opponents. &ldquo;Kiphuth went on to say, &ldquo;Paul was always a gentleman and gave it his best shot. I&rsquo;m sorry it didn&rsquo;t work out better. We will seek a replacement as soon as possible, so that our admissions process doesn&rsquo;t suffer any more than necessary.&rdquo;Now, if that doesn&rsquo;t sound to you that any hockey coach with career advancement in mind should steer clear of the program until guaranteed a chance to show his skills with the proper tools, i.e. good hockey players, then it should.Gib Holgate of the Yale Athletic Department declined to elaborate on the reasons for Lufkin&rsquo;s dismissal when queried by this writer. But he did echo the opinion that the Yale Admissions Office is a bigger obstacle to winning hockey than the Boston Universities and Harvards of the world. He went on to mention, off the record, the names of several promising young candidates in the college coaching ranks who are under consideration for the job. Upon reflection, maybe Yale is looking under the wrong rock by interviewing these . individuals.Lufkin was just such an individual four years ago. He came to Yale after two good years as Princeton freshman coach. The program immediately improved, on the surface, but went quickly downhill. The first year. Yale went 11-100verall, their first winning season since 1966-67 under Lufkin&rsquo;s predecessor, Dick Gagliardi. However, the Division One record was 5-9-1, as Yale avoided every team in the league save its Ivy rivals. Northeastern, and Boston College.The following year saw a 7-16 record posted by a much better team led by goalie Ken McKenzie and a handful of good forwards. Lufkin had upgraded the schedule and the personnel wasn&rsquo;t deep enough but Lufkin appeared to milk the most of it out. especially in wins of 5-2 over Cornell, 3-2 over BU, and 6-1 over Harvard.Then came last season and a horrendous 1-21-1 mark, followed by 1975-76&rsquo;s 4-21 slate. The Elis lost&rsquo;their last 13 games in a row this year, a not unexpected result of having 14 of 20 regular skaters playing their first year of varsity hockey.With the facts out of the wav, now for some observations. In general, you can pretty well gauge the direction of an athletic program after a coach&rsquo;s second year. His own players, the results of his own recruiting, are beginning to fill up the roster. In Lufkin&rsquo;s case,, it should have been a year later for such an indication, since he was hired in September of 1972 and lost a whole year of recruiting.But still, the players weren&rsquo;t there for the 1975-76 season; even though there was slight improvement, a big upswing didn&rsquo;t appear likely. Maybe it would have come in another year, but that presumes that the deposed coach was actually able to bring in some good hockey players who needed some time to develop. Such was not the case, and the crux is: Was that recruiting deficiency the fault of Paul Lufkin?This writer&rsquo;s opinion is that it was not Lufkin&rsquo;s fault, and that Yale must seriously consider whether it wants to be competitive with the rest of the Eastern teams. If so. they&rsquo;ve got to give whomever comes into the job the leeway to get enough good hockey players into the door of Ingalls Rink. Nobody in the Ivy League questions the standards of the Harvards, Dartmouths, and Cornells, all of whom plunge into the cut-throat recruting game with elan. Yale, one of the finest institutions in the world, would lose very little prestige by at least allowing its coaches to compete on a level with such teams in recruiting.Which brings us back to the aforementioned wrong rock. Rather than go after a young coach whose career is at a similar stage of development to that of Paul Lufkin four years ago, Yale ought to go find some elder statesman type coach who has nothing to prove. It&rsquo;s too bad. for instance, that Jack Kelley isn&rsquo;t available any longer. If a man like him couldn&rsquo;t turn Yale into a winner, nobody could. If he lacked the means to do the job, people would listen and believe.Meanwhile, Lufkin will be sending out resumes. He shouldn&rsquo;t have any trouble finding a coaching job. and should he make it back to tbe Division One level some day. many would like to see what he can do with a squad full of skilled, motivated athletes. He deserves that chance. &#9632;

Yale Hunting Coach After Firing Lufkin

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICM & BRAOSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICM & BRAOSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01208/3737463-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="565" height="709"><figcaption class="caption-body">JURI KUDRASOVS &hellip; He&rsquo;s On Hot Seat</figcaption></div>DAYTON&mdash;Ivan Prediger, nicknamed &ldquo;Ivan the Terrible&rsquo; during his playing days as a hard-nosed defenseman in the International Hockey League and called a few other names while Serving as a linesman after his playing career ended, could be called Coach ofthe Year when the current IHLcampaign isover.Prediger, who took over the Dayton Gems just before the All Star break, has led the Gems to the South Division championship and within striking distance of an IHL record for total points by a team in one season.There will be some who say Ivan inherited a first place club and will tend to discount his contributions to the Gems&rsquo; fine season. But the Gems have lost just four games since Ivan took over&mdash;a statistic he certainly played a major role in producing.When Prediger took over for Tommy McVie when the latter moved on to be head school master for the Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League, the Gems were in first place with a 25-17-5 record. Since that time, the Gems have skated along on at a 194-5 clip to far outdistance the rest of the field in the South and also North Division Champion Saginaw.With three games remaining in the regular season, the Gems were just four points away from the record of 102 points established first by the Fort Wayne Komets during the 1959-60 season and the following year by the old Minneapolis Millers. The Komets, who set a record that season with 14 consecutive victories, had a 50-16-2 season over a 68-games in 1959-60J Minneapolis accumulated its 102 points in a 72-game schedule with a record of 50-20-2.While the Gems savor a division crown, the ultimate goal is the Turner Cup playoff championships. And the Gems may not be at full strength for the post-season competition.During a bench-clearing incident in the final second of a game at Toledo, the Gems&rsquo; two goalies&mdash;major contributors to the Gems&rsquo; success&mdash;were injured. And first reports were both may be out for the balance of the season.Jim Pettie received a possible fracture in his right hand. Early estimate on his lost time was two weeks.Gary Carr, who was in goal for the game, won by the Gems, received a dislocated shoulder. First reports had Carr out of action for at least a month&mdash;which would cover most ofthe plavoff activity.More optimistic reports came later. Carr is expected to be out for a week &mdash; no longer. Pettie&rsquo;s fracture was later diagnosed as a bad bruise. But the injuries are certain to have an effect on the playing potential of both goalies. The Gems have started a search for replacements should either Carr or Pettie&mdash;or both&mdash;not recover in time.Possible replacements include Rockey Menard of Columbus. The Owls are the only team with no post-season plans. The Owls will finish behind Kalamazoo of the North which will open its playoff bid against the Gems.Also mentioned as likely replacements for the Gems goalies were Dave Reese, a pro owned by Boston, and Jerome Mrazek. pro owned bv Philadelphia.FORT WAYNE: The Komets have picked the wrong time to go into a slump. While coach Ralph Keller&rsquo;s young club has won a playoff berth, their play recently doesn&rsquo;t indicate a longterm lease in the post-season activity.The Komets have gone five games without a victory and have won just two of the last five. Despite the lacklustre performance the Komets appear headed for the runner-up position to Dayton in the South Division. Such a finish would give the Komets the home ice advantage in the opening round of the playoff with defending champion Toledo.TOLEDO: The Goaldiggers&rsquo; hopes of defending their Turner Cup Championship will rest with the behind-the-bench coaching talents of a &ldquo;rookie&rdquo;. Ted Garvin, suspended from behind-he-bench duties for the Goaldiggers for the balance of the season, has named Juri Kudrasovs as his bench coach forthe playoff bid.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an intelligent kid. I think he&rsquo;ll do all right.&rdquo; Garvin said about Kudrasovs, the Diggers&rsquo; leading scorer last season who was lost as a player because of an auto accident. Kudrasovs made his coaching debut in Fort Wayne and the Diggers responded with a 3-3 tie.&ldquo;He put some guys out to kill penalties I didn&rsquo;t like,&rdquo; said Garvin. &ldquo;But, on the whole, he did a good job,&rdquo; Ted added.COLUMBUS: Reports the Owls may leave their nest following the conclusion of the current campaign surfaced again as a late bid for a playoff berth failed. Unhappy with a attendance, owner At Savill will ask the IHL Board of Governors to move the franchise to Grand Rapids, Mich.The Owls started the final week of the season five points behind Columbus with just two games to play. The loss which finally eliminated the Owls was a one-goal heartbreakerat Flint, 65.SAGINAW: The Gears are celebrating their first IHL Division Championship and looking forward to hopefully celebrating their first first playoffcrown.The Gears, who have been members of the IHL for just four years, have enjoyed remarkable success although the ultimate goal has as vet not been reached. Following a last-place finish in their maiden season in 1972-73, the Gears climbed to a second-place finish in the North two years ago and came home third a year ago. In each of the last two seasons Saginaw gained the finals of the Turner Cup playoffs, losing to DesMoines two years ago and to Toledo last season.The Gears, who held a 10-point spread over second-place Port Huron as the final week of the season unfolded. aren&rsquo;t certain of their opening playoff opponent. It could be any of three teams &mdash; Port Huron, Muskegon or Flint. Which of the three finally lands in fourth place will test the Gears first.PORT HURON: With the race for first lost, the Flags have turned all their attention towards hanging onto second place as the IHL regular season approached the end. The Flags have been chasing North Champion Saginaw most of the season but lost ground in recent weeks at both ends of the spectrum. In addition to slipping 10 points back of the Gears &mdash; too far for a comeback &mdash; the Flags have been chasing North Champion Saginaw most of the season but lost ground in recent weeks at both ends of the spectrum. In addition to slipping 10 points back of the Gears &mdash; too far for a comeback &mdash; the Flags started the final week just four points ahead of fast-finishing Muskegon which has moved to third place with a recent surge.MUSKEGON: Moose Lallo. who has won more league championships than any of his contempories, appears tohave the Mohawks ready for a strong playoff challenge &mdash; an area in which Muskegon certainly hasn&rsquo;t excelled during its long IHL tenure. With four games left, the Mohawks still had a shot at second place in the North. Convincing victories over Port Huron and Saginaw, by identical 5-2 scores, and a 2-2 tie at Flint gave the Mohawks momentum for the final push.FLINT: A heart-breaking loss in Toledo put the Generals&rsquo; hopes of higher than a fourth-place finish in jeopardy. The Generals were holding a 21 lead with less than three minutes to play when the Diggers rallied for two goals to squeeze out a 3-2 triumph. Moe Brunel scored the tying goal at 17:59 of the period and Gerry Methe got the winner with just two seconds showing on the clock.KALAMAZOO: The young Kalamazoo K-Wings have rewarded their faithful fans with a playoff performance in their second season. Kalamazoo outdistanced Columbus of the South Division for the wild card position in the post-season competition. The Wings did it without scoring a goal&mdash;too. A 6-5 Flint victory over Columbus put the Wings in &mdash; who were idle at the time. &#9632;

f0038-01

Dayton Runs Away With Division Title; Savill May Move Owls To Grand Rapids

LEADING SCORERS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02158/3737557-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="602" height="418"></div>TEAM SCORING<h2>COLUMBUS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03118/3737550-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="610" height="454"></div><h2>DAYTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0479/3737543-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="602" height="466"></div><h2>FLINT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0556/3737536-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="610" height="462"></div><h2>FORT WAYNE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0643/3737529-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="614" height="468"></div><h2>KALAMAZOO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0738/3737522-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="622" height="474"></div><h2>MUSKEGON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0826/3737515-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="602" height="466"></div><h2>PORT HURON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0923/3737508-1-eng-US/f0038-092.jpg" title="f0038-09" width="618" height="462"></div><h2>SAGINAW</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1020/3737501-1-eng-US/f0038-102.jpg" title="f0038-10" width="598" height="466"></div><h2>TOLEDO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1118/3737494-1-eng-US/f0038-112.jpg" title="f0038-11" width="596" height="462"></div> &#9632;

f0038-02

IHL Statistics

Following are the Turner Cup playoff dates for the IHL quarterfinals, all best-of-seven series:<h2>Series &ldquo;A&rsquo; SAGINAW vs MUSEKGON</h2>Tue. March 30 at MuskegonFri. April 2 at SaginawSat. April 3 at MuskegonSun. April 4 at SaginawWed. April 7 at SaginawFri. April 9 at MuskegonSun. April 11 at Saginaw<h2>Series &lsquo;B&rsquo; KALAMAZOO vs DAYTON</h2>Tue. March 30 at DaytonFri. April 2 at KalamazooSat. April 3 at DaytonTue. April 6 at KalamazooWed. April 7 at DaytonThu. April 8 at KalamazooSat. April 10 at Dayton<h2>Series &lsquo;C&rsquo; FLINT vs PORT HURON</h2>Wed. March 31 at Port HuronFri. April 2 at FlintSat. April 3 at Port HuronSun. April 4 at FlintTue. April 6 at Port HuronFri. April 9 at FlintSun. April 1 1 at Port Huron<h2>Series &lsquo;D&rsquo; TOLEDO vs FORT WAYNE</h2>Tue. March 30 at Fort WayneWed. March 31 at ToledoSat. April 3 at Fort WayneSun. April 4 at Fort WayneWed. April 7 at ToledoFri. April 9 at ToledoSat. April 10 at Fort Wayne &#9632;

IHL Playoff Dates

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div>BRANDON&mdash;Western Canada Hockey League governors goofed when they devised the format for the 1975-76 playoffs. They bungled it. Badly Nobody&rsquo;s standing up and laying claim to it being his idea. But the dissenters are being heard. Loudly.So loudly, in fact, that there is no hope for this faux pas to celebrate its first anniversary next spring.It will be replaced with, hopefully, a more logical, more geographically-fitting system of declaring a league champion in 1976-77. But for now. the WCHL is stuck with the Monster.To realize the ramifications of the new playoff design, one first must realize that the WCHL stretches further than any other junior league in North America. From the city of Winnipeg to Victoria isabout 2,000miles.Oh yes. East is East and West is West, but the twain may meet. But only in the WCHL could it happen in the first round of playoffs.The league governors decided to let 10 of 12 teams into the playoffs this year. The 10 teams with the most points, regardless of division. Then, they said that the first-place team would play No. six. No. two would meet No. seven; three would take on eight; four would tangle with nine; and five would play 10.You can visualize the troubles: Nobody wants to finish sixth. In fact, if it were impossible to finish fifth or higher, a team would be smarter to play dead and drop to 10th.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like a format where teams could be encouraged to cheat.&rdquo; says Brandon Wheat King coach Dune McCallum. &ldquo;A team needs incentives, but where&rsquo;s the incentive involved when you&rsquo;d be smarter to finish 10th than sixth?&rdquo;The situation also brings up the possibility of some dandy first-round matchups. New Westminster. B.C. could plt.v Brandon, Man., in the first round. Kamloops. B.C., could take on Winnipeg. Man. Victoria. B.C. could play Regina, Sask.Not only would it be financially troublesome to play a best of seven series with lengthy travel involved, the natural provincial rivalries are possibly shot out the window.Gerry Brisson, president, generalmanager and coach of Winnipeg Clubs and one of four people who voted against this playoff proposal in January, has a simpler format, but his voice has fallen on deaf ears.Brisson suggests that five teams (of six) from each division qualify for playoffs. but keep play in divisions until two teams remain. &ldquo;The fourth-and fifth-place teams could play a best-of-five to see who plays the first-place team.&rdquo; Brisson says. &ldquo;No. two and No. three could play a best-of-seven and meet the winner of No. one and whoever wins between lour and five.&rdquo;Then, naturally, the division winners will tangle for the league championship.A system along the lines of Brisson&rsquo;s suggestion will likely be devised for next year, but in the meantime. New-Westminster Bruins could offer a simple solution to all the problems presented by this year&rsquo;s plan.The league could dispense with this year&rsquo;s playoffs and award New Westminster the league title, which, after five weeks play, they&rsquo;ll win anyway. Everybody knows that.NEW WESTMINSTER: Kevin Schamehorn got a team record five goals and a team record tying seven points in a 10-6 Bruins&rsquo; win over Regina as New Westminster romped to lay claim to the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as over all points leaders. They now have 108, five better than the old record. In addition, their 52 wins is also a new mark. Clay Rachal, meanwhile, whose 17 goals last year was his career (three years) best got three in a 7-4 win over Edmonton to boost his seasonal total to 40. Defenseman Barry Beck closed to within one point of 100 with a two-goal, one-assist performance in a 5-3 victory over Victoria.VICTORIA: The only real playoff race of any importance is the battle for fifth place between the Cougars and Brandon Wheat Kings. The fifth-place winner escapes New West in the first round of playoffs. Victoria stayed one point ahead of Brandon with a split week&rsquo; downing Regina 6-3 behind the two-goal efforts of Mike Will and Al Hill, but then losing a 5-3 decision to New Westminster. Cliff Lennartz is the man handling the Cougars in the stretch run since Patty Ginnell resigned in February.KAMLOOPS: Chiefs got off to a slow start during the week, getting shocked 5-3 at home against Regina, which was finishing off a 1-5 western swing. Chiefs were then beaten 6-2 in Lethbridge before turning tiger and scoring 5-2 and 3-2 road wins in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat respectively. The big game was the Tigers, who were tied with Kamloops for third spot overall. Rob Flockhart&rsquo;s 50th goal of the year in the third period gave Chiefs a 32 win in that one. Darrell Ferner scored the hat trick in the victory in Lethbridge.MEDICINE HAT: Don Murdoch&rsquo;s 80th goal of the year highlighted the Tigers&rsquo; win, but it came in a 3-2 homeice defeat to Kamloops. Otherwise, Tigers were high-scoring, and winning, bouncing Edmonton twice. 8-3 on the road and 10-7 at home. Murdoch had four goals in the 10-7 win. Brian Hill and Ron Areshenkoff each got their 21st goals in the 8-3 triumph.EDMONTON: Playing without their two top scorers &mdash; Doug Lecuyer. suspended for the regular season, and Wayne Babych, injured &mdash; the Oil Kings dropped three straight, but a playoff position has already been secured. Tony Currie got his 40th and 41st goals during the week.CALGARY: Centennials were officially scratched from playoff contention on a night they were idle; a Regina victory closed out Cents&rsquo; hopes. Calgary got three of a possible eight points, tying Lethbridge 4-4 before hitting the road and winning one of three. 8-5 in Flin Flon, as Gary Riss-lingstruckfor four goals, giving him 32. The second game of the Flin Flon doubleheader was a Calgary loss for everyone but Ted Olson, who sniped three in a 10-4 defeat. Their other loss was in Brandon, 4-0.LETHBRIDGE: Lack of goals was the problem as the Broncos averaged four a game in a split (1-1-1) week. Mike Sauter&rsquo;s team will be one of only three teams in the WCHL (Calgary and Edmonton are the others) without a 100-point scorer. Leading the way is rookie Steve Tambellini. who scored twice in a 6-2 win over Lethbridge. He was in on both goals in a 5-2 loss to Kamloops and picked up one assist in a 4-4 tie in Calgary. Gary Wagner recently broke out of a long slump with two goals. Wagner hadn&rsquo;t scored since Christmas.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02140/3737612-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="577" height="559"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON MURDOCH &hellip; Tigers&rsquo; Big Shooter</figcaption></div>SASKATOON: The line of Bernie Federko-Blair Chapman-Neil Hawryliw picked up 21 points in two games as the Blades kept winning, 7-4 in Winnipeg and 6-5 over the Clubs in Saskatoon. Federko, who last week broke Bobby Clarke&rsquo;s long-standing season point record, has an outside shot at Clarke&rsquo;s 116-assist mark. Presently, he had 108, with four games left.REGINA: Finally getting some consistent scoring from his veterans, coach Bob Turner watched his Pats clinch the 10th and final playoff position with an 8-6 win at home over Brandon. That victory came on the heels of a surprising 5-3 win in Kamloops. Pats also lost twice. 6-3 in Victoria and 10-6 in New Westminster. With Rob Tudor already over the 100-point plateau, veterans Drew Callander and Al Dumba joined him with 10 point weeks. Another veteran in Turner&rsquo;s bad books earlier. Jon Hammond, had nine points, as did rookie Greg Ing. fitting in nicely on a line with Dumba and Tudor. Sophomore defenseman Dean Tidhall had five assists in the four games.FLIN FLON: Despite losing just once in four starts, the Bombers were the other team eliminated from playoff contention. At home, the Bombers continued to be high-scoring, beating Calgary 10-4 and Winnipeg 11-3. Still at home, though, they tied the Clubs 33 as Rich Gosselin scored short handed with three seconds to play, and were beaten 8-5 by the Centennials. Bombers have scored 171 goals in 33 home games, but have tallied just 95 in 36 road contests. Gosselin had 15 points in the four games to increase his total to 128. Line-mate Mark Davidson duplicated the 15-point feat to boost his total to 111.BRANDON: Wheat Kings beat Calgary 4-0 as Glen Hanlon recorded his league-leading fourth shutout, but then dropped a crucial 8-6 decision in Regina, as the Kings lost ground in their fifth place struggle with Victoria. Defenseman Dale Anderson led the point-getters in the two games with five. Over-age Dale McMullin got his 50th goal and Murray Thomson snapped a 17-game drought with one goal in the Regina loss.WINNIPEG: Clubs were winless in four starts, but coach Gerry Brisson attributed the dry spell to a letdown after clinching a playoff berth. Their only point was in Flin Flon, were Rich Gosselin stole a Winnipeg win with his late goal for a 3-3 tie. The night previous, Clubs had been stung 11-3 in Flin Flon. Later. Saskatoon handed Winnipeg a home-and-home double defeat. 6-5 and 7-4. Rookie Dave Morrison up for a trial, scored in Saskatoon. Veterans Kevin McCarthy and Gord Blumens-chein and rookie Tom Roulston led Winnipeg point-getters with six during the week. &#9632;

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WCHL Playoff Format Draws Criticism; Bruins Romp To Over-all Points Title

<h2>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Sat. March 20)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01190/3737643-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="613" height="409"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. March 13Regina 3 at Victoria 6; Edmonton 7 at Medicine Hat 10; Winnipeg 3 at Flin Flon 11.Sun. March 14Regina 6 at New Westminster 10; Lethbridge 4 at Calgary 4; Winnipeg 3 at Flin Flon 3.Tue. March 16Calgary 0 at Brandon 4; Regina 5 at Kamloops 3, Winnipeg 5 at Saskatoon 6.Wed. March 17Kamloops 2 at Lethbridge 6; Medicine Hat 8 at Edmonton 3; Victoria 3 at New Westminster 5; Calgary 8 at Flin Flon 5.Thu. March 1 8Kamloops 3 at Medicine Hat 2; Calgary 4 at Flin Flon 10.Fri. March 19Brandon 6 at Regina 8; Kamloops 5 at Lethbridge 2; Edmonton 4 at New Westminster 7; Saskatoon 7 at Winnipeg 4. &#9632;

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<div class="byline">BY GARY CLARK</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH 6 BRAOSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaBUFFALO&mdash;Beauce, Syracuse, Philadelphia and Johnstown have advanced to the final group of four who will play in the semifinal round of the Lockhart Cup playoffs in the North American Hockey League.None of the winners had an easy time with their first round opponents. Beauce and Syracuse defeated Maine and Mohawk Valley by identical margins of three games to one. but each suffered first game scares on their home ice&hellip; had they not held off their upset minded counterparts, each series might have gone the other way Philadelphia was extended to five games by Erie. Moreover, after falling behind two games to one Philly had to win the fourth game on Erie&rsquo;s home ice in order to stay alive. Johnstown also had to go to five games to oust Buffalo Norsemen.The Jaros swept by the Nordiqueson the strength of 9-3 and 6-3 scores in games three and four of their series. But the series would have taken a different direction if the Jaros had not not snuck away with a come from behind first game win. Beauce fell behind in the opener 3-0 after only 14 minutes of the first period. The Jaros tied the score 3-3 during the second. After 17 plus minutes of third period hockey Luc Simard finally scored the game winning goal with 2:31 left on the clock.Syracuse came even closer to first game disaster: They had to battle through the longest game in NAHL history, over 79 minutes, to earn their triumph. Marc Izzard connected on a perfect feed from Bim McFall to score the winner. The score dulled what had been a splendid performance by Comet goaltender Jim Park. Park made 17 saves, several of them spectacular, in the overtime alone. In all he faced 55 Syracuse shots. Park&rsquo;s goaltending wizardry earned the Comets their only win of the series on the following night in Utica, despite the fact that they were outshot in every period. In the end though Izzard and his companions overwhelmed the shorthandedThe most unpredictable series was Erie-Phillv. The Firebirds opened in Philadelphia by winning 10-5. Who would have thought that anyone would beat second All Star Lynn Zimmerman seven times in two periods (Andre Lepage replaced Zimmy for the final period)? Or who would have thought that Erie would come back to the Civic Comets. Izzard was the leading scorer of the series with five goals and three assists.Center two games later and bomb the Firebirds 8-3. With their backs against the wall the Birds got goals from seven different players to hold off the Blades in game four at the Erie County Fieldhouse and to set up their tense 6-4 series clinching win back in Philadelphia.BEAUCE: Joe Hardy&rsquo;s 208 points. Alain Caron&rsquo;s 78 goals. Gilles Bilodeau&rsquo;s 451 penalty minutes, the team&rsquo;s 462 goals and 2.134 penalty minutes all received their share of publicity throughout the season. Lost in the shuffle however may have been the most remarkable records of all. Richard Grenier shattered all existing pro records with 18 shorthanded goals on the season. These Beauce Jaros were noordinary hockey team.BINGHAMTON: The Dusters were the one team eliminated from the NAHL&rsquo;S eight team playoff setup, but it was not for lack of pulling out all of the stops. For the crucial last eight days of the season the Dusters managed to load up with Whalers Bob Charlebois and Bob McManama. Despite their contributions (McManama had eight points and Charlebois five in five games) the Dusters fell short of fourth place. Crucial road losses in Erie and Syracuse on the final Saturday and Sunday of the schedule doomed the Dusters.Larry Mavety scored 21 goals (14 of them as a Duster) to set a league record. In fact hebecmes the only blueliner ever to crack the 20-goal barrier.BUFFALO: Greg Neeld also proved a capable goal scorer from the point with seven scores in only 26 games. Oddly, of his seven goals, six came on the power play and the other was in a shorthanded situation. Neeld also proved that he is in no way unnerved by his over discussed impairment with seven fighting majors.Keke Mortson returned to the Norsemen for the last games ofthe regular season and the playoffs. Mortson interupted his retirement to play in nine mid-season games with Buffalo. Forty two years may have worn away some of his speed, but you could not prove it by the flash he showed on his second tour ofthe NAHL.ERIE: Richie Hansen scored two goals in Erie&rsquo;s final regular season game to reach the 40-goal mark. Glenn Johnson also scored in the 8-5 Blades win to join seven other Blades who had at least 20 goals.Did the addition of Robbie Neale and Jim Sherrit mean much to the Blades? Only if you think that 42 and 36 points in less than 25 games indicates a significant contributionJOHNSTOWN: Two players whose performances are never spectacular but who are always steady contributors have to mentioned in any reprise ofthe 1975-76 Jets. Vern Campigotto and Ron Docken have completed their fifth season with the Jets, three of them of course in the NAHL. Only three players have appeared in more games lifetime than Campy in the NAHL. He had more assists this year. 44, than in any of his previous four, and now ranks 10th on the NAHL all time list. Docken, who posted the fourth best goals-against average in the league this season. has now played in more games, played more minutes, posted more wins than any other NAHL goaltender.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01143/3737674-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="573" height="608"><figcaption class="caption-body">LUC SIMARD &hellip;Fired Game Winner</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Beauce, Syracuse, Johnstown Advance In NAHL Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div>MONTREAL&mdash;The Montreal Juniors face a situation that only one other Major Junior A team in Canada encounters: sharing the same building with a National Hockey League cluh.For the Toronto Marlboros it has become a case of not playing all of their home games at Maple Leaf Gardens. The past regular season they played a large part of their contests in Markham while in 197475 Brantford was their &lsquo;home away from home.&rsquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01122/3737705-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="268" height="403"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin Reeves</figcaption></div>The Montreal Juniors, however, have remained tenants of the Montreal Forum and while things have not gone badly on the ice surface this season, attendance figures have been a source of concern for the Juniors&rsquo; management. While a 2,000 attendance would be considered satisfactory in many Major Junior A centers in Canada, that amount of people inhabiting the Forum makes it appear&rsquo;as&rsquo;though there can&rsquo;t be half that number in the stands.Which brings up the question of what is needed to draw fans to the Montreal Forum for Quebec Major Junior Hockey League games.&ldquo;First of all you need a good hockey club,&rdquo; says Juniors&rsquo; managing director Ron Caron. &ldquo;You cannot have just an average team. Just because we have a big building doesn&rsquo;t mean we can attract people.&ldquo;The fans were disappointed last year and management, too. We had 12 overage players. We thought the trade for (Pierre) Mondou (from Sorel) could have turned the trick. We gave up 12 years ineligibility for him. It was a failure on the part of the hockey club.&ldquo;This year we had to start from scratch,&rdquo; continues Caron. &ldquo;It takes time to gain experience. Our fans know we should have a great club next year with a couple of trades and by selecting well in the draft.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re over the hump.&rdquo;As Major Junior operators will attest, a certain amount of local talent on the team is a necessity.&ldquo;I would like to have a full team from this area,&rdquo; Caron states. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting tougher to limit ourselves. You can&rsquo;t disregard good hockey players. We&rsquo;ve got the nucleus to satisfy our fans. If two players are of equal talent, we&rsquo;ll give the nod to the local boy.&rdquo;One of the best examples of a local boy making good in Major Junior A ranks is young Kevin Reeves, who enjoyed great midget success with the Verdun Maple Leafs and has in Caron&rsquo;s words, &ldquo;added charisma&rdquo; tothe Juniors&rsquo; hockey club. With two years of Junior eligibility left. Reeves is sure to be a drawing card in the future.Throughout the season the Juniors have been criticized by both the fans and the press for not providing exciting hockey.&ldquo;The fans are entitled to express themselves,&rdquo; opines Caron. &ldquo;Some fans hinted we weren&rsquo;t playing tough enough. We may be a little small but we lack experience (five 16-year-olds, six 17-year-olds). The fans will rally around our club when we show we&rsquo;re a competitor. Next year I believe we will be able to hold our own against the top clubs.&rdquo;With such a young team, Caron faced another crucial problem.&ldquo;Our prime concern was that it was hard to combine studies and hockey with the form we had. There was doubtful ice time at the Forum that conflicted with schooling. So we decided we would protect ourselves with ice time elsewhere. There was a new rink close by and despite the price being very high we booked 85 practices.&rdquo;Having taught English at St. Laurent College, &lsquo;Prof Caron understands the need for education among young hockey players and set out at the start of the season to see that as many of the his charges as possible were attending classes.&ldquo;You cannot just be a hockey player. We&rsquo;ve been keepng a close watch on it. I met with everyone and they needed their school records.I thought it would take a couple of hours but it lasted six.&rdquo;The Juniors finished the regular season in third place in the QMJHL&rsquo;s tough West Division and faced runnerup Cornwall in the first round of the playoff&rsquo;s. However. Caron feels the experience gained this season will be invaluable no matter what the outcome of the post-season action.&ldquo;I think the experience acquired this year, as much at the management level as at the player level, will lead us to the top as early as next year.&ldquo;We have to play good, solid hockey, tough when we have to be tough. The fans will come and appreciate the type of hockey we play.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not age that gives drive, it&rsquo;s ability.&rdquo;In a city which drew junior crowds of 18,000 when the likes of Gil Perreault and Richard Martin were with the Junior Canadiens. the present state of things is disappointing.&ldquo;The Quebec League has some good years ahead.&rdquo; states Caron, &ldquo;because of the quality of prospects in the league.&rdquo;That combined with the excellent crop of youngsters on the Juniors&rsquo; squad could lead to the revival of Major Junior A hockey in Montreal. &#9632;

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Junior Revival In Montreal Rests With Youth

<div class="byline">BY STEVE WAIT</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMaden in Canada by HILLE RICH & BRADSBY HD Arnold Street Wallaceburq Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMaden in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY LTO Arnold Street Wall3ceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaROANOKE&mdash;It looked, for a moment there, that the Southern Hockey League final playoff series between the Charlotte Checkers and the Hampton Gulls wouldn&rsquo;t quite be what people expected.The Checkers, winners ofthe SHL&rsquo;s regular-season title, were expected to have a close, tough series with the Gulls, their archrivals all season long and the team which took second place in the final SHL regular-season standings.The Checkers, however, rolled off to a quick 2-0 lead in the best of seven series by thrashing the Gulls 5-2 in Charlotte and then taking the second game 3-2 on home ice. The series opened up Mar. 21 and 22.With Charlotte holding its lead in games, it was imperative for the Gulls to win and they did, 5-1 on their ice Mar. 24 to cut the series to 2-1 in games. The series was scheduled to continue Mar. 26 in Hampton and then return to Charlotte Mar.28. Right now. the Checkers have a chance towin it all in five games, although most figure that&rsquo;s unlikely. But the Checkers need only win on Hampton ice. it seems, to pull that out. So far, through playoff games with Roanoke and Hampton, the Checkers have not been beaten on home ice, avoiding some close calls.Oddly enough, the Checkers have already scored in the three games with Hampton almost as many goals as they did in their entire six-games series with Roanoke. Charlotte has scored nine goals in three games in the finals and scored but 14 in six games against Roanoke. What&rsquo;s the difference?A combination of high-powered offenses provided by both the Gulls and the Checkers and the obviously superior goaltending displayed by Charlotte and Roanoke in their series.The statistics of the semi-finals tell it all. The top two scorers so far in the playoffs have been Hampton players Pat Donnelly and Steve Andrascik. The duo has scored nine goals between them in just four games against Winston-Salem. Donnelly had four goals and six assists while Andrascik added five goals and four assists.Third in the playoff scoring race is Neil Korzack. Charlotte center. He scored three goals and five assists through seven playoff games (six against Roanoke, one against Hampton). Ron Serafini, Hampton defenseman. has one goal and seven assists through five games, followed by Charlotte center Bob ^mulders with three goals and four assists and Don O&rsquo;Donoghue of Hampton with one goal and five assists.In fact, there are 18 Hampton and Charlotte players among the top 20 scorers after the first round ofthe playoffs, which indicates just where all the scoring power has been. Only Roanoke&rsquo;s Ted Hodgson (one goal, three assists in six games) and Winston&rsquo;s Rick Loe (three goals, one assist in four games) managed to crack the top 20.So the statistics indicate that Hampton and Charlotte should provide plenty of scoring in the remainder of their playoff series, as they already have through three games.Defensively, it was a good showing for both Roanoke and Charlotte, in spite of the fact that Hampton didn&rsquo;t lose a single game to Winston in the first round SHL playoffs. Goal tending was never better throughout the year than it was in the Roanoke-Chariotte series.Roanoke&rsquo;s Rick Lemay posed a healthy 1.51 goals-against average, allowing only four goals in three games. Bob Sauve of the Checkers has a 1.75 average through four games played, followed by Gaye Cooley&rsquo;s 2.00 average through three games. Brian Cousineau ofthe Rebels is next with a 3.02 average in four games.The goaltending averages indicate just the type of low-scoring, tight series Roanoke and Charlotte had. Norm Lapointe and Rich Coutu of Hampton have 3.33 averages and 3.38 averages, respectively, while Winston&rsquo;s Bob Champoux and Danny Sullivan trail with 5.05 and 6.52 marks, indicative of the 23 goals the Gulls scored against thePolarTwinsin just four games.The winner of the Charlotte-Hampton series will take home the Crockett Cup, symbolic of SHL supremacy. The finals last season were between the same two teams, with Charlotte winning it in six games. The Checkers are looking for their second SHL title in the league&rsquo;s three-vear existence.Meanwhile, in events involving other teams, the SHL got-some good news out of Greensboro where it seems as if the Generals may very well live under new ownership for next year. The Generals were st ruck by very serious financial problems this season and nearly collapsed. The stayed afloat only because the players were willing to play out the season for a percentage ofthe gate receipts, which weren&rsquo;t good.New ownership, however, seems to be lurking through onetime owner Eugene Johnson, who may take over the team and move in it from the Piedmont Sports Arena to the 15,000 seat Greensboro Coliseum. If the anticipated move takes place, it will cure one SHL headache.Roanoke, another financially-plagued team, managed to hold together rather well through the season. Present owners have announced plans to continue the team and will likely undertake massive stock sale both to private individuals and the public. Reception of stock sale by the public (at $50 for a share) will have a lot to do with future of team, but there is confidence that the public will respond. Team drew average of better than 2,600 fans per game this season in spite of off ice woes.Hampton and Winston-Salem seem likely to be strong next year financially. Polar-Twins acquired new owners during year, as did Tidewater Sharks. Only Charlotte, which is for sale, has vet to announce firm committment for next year or at least tentative plans for the season. &#9632;

Checkers Jump In Front Of Gulls In SHL Final

<div class="byline">BY JOHN ARNOLD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01121/3737760-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="952" height="1267"></div>SOLUTION IN APRIL 16 ISSUE<h2>ACROSS</h2>1&mdash;Former NHLforward.5&mdash;An NHLcoach. (init)7&mdash;Pictured player.10&mdash;4th and 14th letters of the alphabet.12&mdash;Former defenseman Brewer answers to this.13&mdash;Former greats Max and Doug.15&mdash;Jenson played for this team before turning pro.16&mdash;Example.17&mdash;Wing played by Hodge. (abbr.)18&mdash;One of the Penguins answers to this.19&mdash;Affirmative.21&mdash;A.U.S. State, (abbr)22&mdash;1965-66 Calder Trophy winner.25&mdash;Number worn by Dave Burrows. (Rom. Numb)26&mdash;First name of one of the Edmonton Oilers.28&mdash;Initials of Keon.29&mdash;Some players have one before a game.31&mdash;I across once played for this team.32&mdash;A U.S. State, (abbr.)<h2>DOWN</h2>1&mdash;Mike Marson played Junior here.2&mdash;1st and 22nd letters of the alphabet.3&mdash;Yvon Cournoyer is one.4&mdash;11th and 14th letters of the alphabet.5&mdash;Michel Larocque was born in this month.6&mdash;An NHLcoach.7&mdash;Skating requisite.9&mdash;Pictured player was born in this month.11&mdash;Former Hawk winger.14&mdash;Not applicable, (abbr.)16&mdash;Denotes number worn by Dave Hudson.18&mdash;An NHLtrophy.20&mdash;Usually seen on a farm.23&mdash;First name of 22 across.24&mdash;25th and 13th letters of the alphabet.27&mdash;Girl&rsquo;s name.28&mdash;Former NHL forward Baton, (onit)30&mdash;One of the Indianapolis Racers, (init)<h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1&mdash;VANIMPE.7&mdash;OILER.9&mdash;CASSELMAN.11&mdash;T.S.12&mdash;R.l.13&mdash;ONE.15&mdash;NOR.16&mdash;U.J.18&mdash;LE.19&mdash;BOB.20&mdash;TEN.21&mdash;R.H.22&mdash;T.K.O.24&mdash;NINE.26&mdash;ORR.28&mdash;AS.29&mdash;OR.31&mdash;EA.32&mdash;COD.33&mdash;BERENSON.<h3>DOWN</h3>1&mdash;VACHON.2&mdash;NESTERENKO.3&mdash;MOE.4&mdash;PILL.5&mdash;ELM.6&mdash;ARNIE.8&mdash;EAR.10&mdash;S.S.14&mdash;NOLET.16&mdash;UBRIACO.17&mdash;JOHNSON.23&mdash;OREE.25&mdash;BOB.27&mdash;RAN.30&mdash;RE. &#9632;

f0042-01

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">BY HOWIE STALWICK</div>TRAIL&mdash;Following one of the league&rsquo;s wildest regular seasons in many ayear, it only seems fitting now that the Western International League playoffs should be marked by one of the most bizarre episodes in the senior amateur circuit&rsquo;s long, long history.While Cranbrook and Kimberley engaged in a tight semi-final bout which saw the regular season champs from Cranbrook take a 2-1 lead after three games, pandemonium broke loose in Trail&rsquo;s Cominco Arena in the third game of the host Smoke Eaters&rsquo; series with Spokane.Desperate after dropping the first two games to the of the best of seven series Flyers. Trail player-coach Norm Dennis evidently sought to oignite his club by starting journeyman forward Ed Wyatt. And ignite things he did.Wyatt allegedly first butt-ended and later speared Flyer All Star defenseman Murray Kennett during his initial shift, and their ensuing fight eventually involved a number of players from both sides and an even larger number of penalties called &mdash; the majority of which went to Spokane.Minutes later, Flyer bad man Don Dirk pummelled Trail veteran Eric Nesterenko, and when Spokane coach Tom Hodges caught sight of the nine minutes in penalties and a game misconduct which his man received (while Nesterenko earned but a two-minute minor), he proceeded to lead his team off the ice with the game scoreless after just 5:56 of play.Dirk&rsquo;s infractions increased the Flyers lead in penalties to 13-5 after just six minutes, and only after league directors threatened to rule the game a forfeit did Hodges bring his team back onto the ice from their dressing room.Only to find that Trail had now left the ice.The Spokane skaters remained on the ice for some 30 minutes before finally calling it quits, and the whole matter has now been turned over to the British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association. Early indications were that the game would be replayed from the point where everything shut down, with the Flyers absent both Kennett and Dirk.TRAIL: During the much-calmer regular season, final official stats showed WIHL Rookie of the Year Brian De Biasio finished with 34 (not 35) goals, still good for the league lead.SPOKANE: Nels Venerus has been white-hot for the Flyers lately, particularly at home. His two playoff goals in the series opener against Trail gave him 10 markers in the last four home games.CRANBROOK: Normally mild-mannered left winger Jim Miller was suspended for three games for spearing Kimberley&rsquo;s Dave Lee in the playoff opener. Miller joined teammates John Price and Brian Dickie in notching two-goal games in the Royals&rsquo; 6-4 win.KIMBERLEY: Veteran Wayne Bell has been sensational in all three playoff games for the Nitros, and the line of Len Hicks Aurel Beaudin-Adrian Blais has scored six of the team&rsquo;s 10 goals.NELSON: This is the Maple Leafs&rsquo; fourth consecutive year out of the playoffs. Hargreaves was named the team&rsquo;s MVP, Rick Williams was most popular and inspirational, and defenseman Randy Trudeau was the top rookie. &#9632;

The WIHL Scene

STOCKHOLM&mdash;The recent SKURU ice hockey tournament, a 16-team invitat ional held March 12-15 in Stockholm among Swedish, Finnish, and U.S. teams of high school age, was another dramatic display of the growing interest of international hockey competition. Exciting throughout, the tourney saw solid performances by the visiting American teams, and an unusual &ldquo;tie-breaker&rdquo; in the form of the best-of-three penalty shots, an innovation used in the semi-final and final rounds.Honored as the outstanding foreign team was Team Ithaca (Ithaca High School, N.Y.) coached by Art Cicchetti. Finishing third, Ithaca won three games, tied one, and lost to the tourney&rsquo;s eventual winner. AIK of Sweden, through the penalty shot tie-breaker employed at the end of a 2-2 deadlock. AIK scored on two of three penalty shots, Ithaca on one of three, resulting in a 4-3 AIK victory.A second U.S. team, from West Haven High School, Conn, finished in sixth place with a record of one win, three ties (all 0-0) and a loss. West Haven received the tournament&rsquo;s sportsmanship award, and the team&rsquo;s goalie, Mark Carlo, with three shutouts, was named the outstanding goaltender.The third U.S. entry from Hamden High School, Conn, suffered two 2-1 losses before gaining a 2-2 tie with the eventual fourth-place finisher. Tunadal of Sweden. Therefore, Hamden, too, rose to the international occasion in three very close, hard-fought contests.Sponsored by World Amateur Sports Alliance, this was the sixth annual SKURU Tournament, and the first time that any U.S. team has finished higher than ninth place. &#9632;

U.S. School Teams Impress As Penalty Shot Tie-Breakers Decide Stockholm Tournament

<div class="byline">BY BILL HILTS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-166/3737968-1-eng-US/f0043-162.jpg" title="f0043-16" width="329" height="428"></div><h2>Alberta League</h2>Cec Papke&rsquo;s Calgary Canucks established an all-time Alberta Jr. Hockey League points record edging Pass Red Devils 4-3, giving Canucks 89 points, one more than Spruce Grove Mets who held mark with a record of 44 wins in 60 games set last year. Canucks have four more league games remaining to add to their total. Calgary led offensively with line of ex-Drummheller Falcon Grant Pushie, Rick Zaparniuk and rookie Gord Salt; and defensively with veteran Wayne Sherger who plays either defense or forward. Zaparniuk is closing in on record of 157 points in a single season, currently held by Ryan Wecker who is now coach of Drumheller Falcons. Rod Pimm scored twice in 3-1 Red Deer victory over Spruce Grove, while George Buat tallied three times in Pass Red Devil 6-5 upset win over Calgary in Calgary. Since taking over Pass Red Devil in December, coach Fred Hilts has done an excellent job with club. Merlin Malinowski scored four times in 8-7 Drumheller victory over Taber. Playoff pairings appear to be Calgary vs. Taber and Red Deer playing defending Centennial Cup Champion Spruce Grove in best of seven semi-finals. League announced expansion for 1976-77 season to St. Albert and Fort Saskatchewan.<h2>Mid-Atlantic League</h2>In a tune-up for the Mid-America Jr. Regionals, the Phildelphia Jr. Flyers took on the University of Pennsylvania club team. The Philly juniors came away easy 9-2 winners. Flyer scoring leader was Pat Monohan who posted two goals and three assists. Rick Smalley was second, notching four assists. Henry Coxe shot a goal and set up two others; Buster Tripp had a pair of goals while Mike Clisby had one goal and one assist. Ken Miller recorded a pair of assists. Other Fiver goals came off the sticks of Marcel Pelletier, Drew Brazier and Bill Minter. Drew Schaeffer was in the nets for the Flyers and made 19 saves while his teammates rained 54 shots on the Penn netminder.<h2>N.Y. State Tourney</h2>The top two teams form the Metropolitan N.Y. Jr. Hockey Association &mdash; N.Y&rsquo;. Americans and Suffolk Royals, squared off against the top two teams from the NY-Penn Jr. League &mdash; Amherst Knights and Southtown Cougars, for the New York State Junior Championship. The seven game round-robin series produced some mighty fine hockey with the Amherst team finally prevailing over the New Yorkers by an 8-4 count in the championship game. The previous day, the Americans handed the Knights a 4-0 whitewash for the tournament winners only loss.In the Friday evening opener, the Amerks dropped Southtown 6-4. Jeff Bloom shot the hat trick for the winners and single goals came from Rob Schunke. Vinnie Regina and Nick Demaio, Jay Boudreau and John Elphick led the Southtowners, each with a pair of markers. A single was shot by Tom Metzger.The second match that evening saw Amherst completely outplay Suffolk in the first period, bombarding Royal goalie Tom Hasenzahl with 31 shots over the opening 20 minutes span. The Royals could muster just seven shots on Amhersts&rsquo; Mark Daniels, but the score at the end of the opening period was just 1-0. It evened up more in the next two periods and overall Amherst outshot Suffolk 57-29 and the final score saw the Knights winning 6-3. Tom Wilde and Leo Lynett led the Knights, each with a pair of goals. Singles were fired by Stu Campbell and Derek Embody. Suffolk goals came off the sticks of Bob Cochrane, Mike LaBianca and Dave Drew.Saturday morning the Amerks came on strong to dump the Champs 4-0. N.Y&rsquo;, goalie Vinnie Bocchino came up wit 47 big saves while the Amherst goalie made 30 stops. Jeff Bloom and Matty Byrnes led the N.Y. scoring. In the companion game, Southtown outshot Suffolk in a high-scoring match that saw the Cougars winning by an 8-7 count with Metzger netting the game winner, his second of the game, at 19:12 of the final period. John Elphick and Boudreau each notched a hat trick. Suffolk scores came from LaBianca who also had a hat trick. Dave Drew had a pair, with single scores by Tom Ready and Tom Ray.Saturday evening the Armerks and Royals skated to a 3-3 tie. Vinnie Regina shot the tying marker at 17:00 of the final stanza. The other N.Y. goals were scored by Schunke and Byrnes. Suffolk scorers were Cochrane, LaBianca and Eric Broecker. The companion game saw Amherst bury Southtown 8-0 with Bob Barton leading the way with a hat trick. Singles were notched by Paul Hamilton, Lynett, Campbell, Dale Guynne and Malcolm Sheedy.The Championship game on Sunday afternoon saw Amherst come on strong and take a commanding 5-0 lead during the first period on goals by Sheedy, Lynett, Pat Barton, Hamilton and Paul Schleur. The second period daw a fine comeback attempt by the Amerks, following an early Amherst score by Jeff Brownschidle. In less than four minutes the N.Y. team put three marks on the scoreboard by DeMaio, Joe Madaferri and Bloom. Then half-way through the final period Greg Jantzi scored for Amherst, followed by Campbell. Matty Byrnes netted the Amerks final goal in the last minute of play to make the final score Amherst eight, New York four. Amherst outshot N.Y. 45-24.<h2>Midwest League</h2>Austin goalie Bill Fedoryk, who has seen duty in the net for 33 games this season, came through with 51 saves to anchor a 4-1 victory over Hennepin. Fedoryk had a shutout going until a Nordiques&rsquo; tally at 14:14 spoiled it. Defenseman Pat Nolan scored twoice for Austin in the effort. Walt Kyle, Mike Ryman and Mike Stoltzner scored to effect a comeback against Hennepin in a return engagement, but despite seven shots in five minutes of overtime, Austin couldn&rsquo;t pull it out and fell 4-3. Jeff Lemen kicked out 37 Nordique shots in the fourth overtime contest between the two clubs.Hennepin again outshot the opposition in two encounters last week &mdash; 55-33 and 41-31 against Austin. Ron Carlson got the lone goal for the club in the 4-1 loss to Austin, while Rob Hannibal, Bruce Bailey and Randy Larch each got on the board for the hennepin team to send the rematch into overtime. Jon Morisette tipped in a shot by Duke Johnson at 5:04 in over time to wrap it up for Hennepin. &#9632;

f0043-16

JUNIOR JOTTINGS

MONTREAL&mdash;Being a winner in the National Hockey League pays dividends judging by the league&rsquo;s recent financial breakdown of shares covering the windup of the four division races.For example the two ultimate conference championship teams will each receive21 shares of$2,500 and an additional 21 shares of $2,000 for finishing first. Each division winner will pocket 21 shares of $2,000. Should Montreal and Philadelphia emerge as the top clubs in the Prince of Wales and Campbell Conferences respectively as they should, each member of the Canadiens and Flyers will be richer by $4,.500.Teams finishing second in the divisionraceswill earn shares of $1,000 per player with $500 going to third place finishers. In all 12 teams make up the NHL&rsquo;s post-season playoff round. &#9632;

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April 9, 1976

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