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.

June 1, 1976

The Hockey News June 1, 1976

<div class="byline">BY RON WEBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02212/3626059-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">NELSON PYATT&hellip; Wants To Improve Defense Defensive Play</figcaption></div>WASHINGTON&mdash;Of all the 1975-76 Washington Capitals Nelson Pyatt had the strangest season. Consider the following:Pyatt was going good when the team was going bad (November) and struggling when the club was in a relatively prosperous stretch (February). That he was the team&rsquo;s leading scorer when benched. That his penchant for going to his right on one-on-one situations against opposing defensemen contributed to his being shifted to right wing. That while he finished as the Capitals leading goal-scorer (26) it took the season&rsquo;s final game to pull him up from the worst minus figure on the club (his-50 was just above Blair Stewart and Jack Lynch). That he went to training camp last September sure of being a regular at center, scored the most points and most goals of anybody in a Capitals uniform this season (remembering Gerry Meehan got about half his totals in Atlanta) and will go to camp this time not sure of playing center, much less on a regular basis.So if you run into Nellie up there on Lake Superior in his cottage 18 miles from hometown Thunder Bay, don&rsquo;t ask why the bewildered look.Actually, that cottage is just a rest stop between his travels. After Japan and Hawaii Nelson planned to stop down Toronto way, and later on this summer take in some of the swimming, diving and gymnastics events at the Olympics in Montreal. Nellie dabbled in those sports in his &ldquo;younger&rdquo; years. (He&rsquo;s only 22 now).Pyatt was traded to the Capitals on February 28, 1975 in what may have been the cheapest pickup in the Milt Schmidt regime. The exCap GM gave up only a third round draft pick. By the way, Detroit didn&rsquo;t waste that choice, selecting defenseman Al Cameron who made their big club earlier this year. Pyatt had become disenchanted with the Red Wings organization and walked out of their farm club in Norfolk at one point. He returned only with indications they would trade him.Nelson performed in 16 Caps games, giving him 25 for the season, making two straight NHL schedules that contained just enough games to keep him eligible for the rookie of the year balloting in 1975-76. Of course, the Islanders Bryan Trottier made that academic. Pyatt did finish sixth in rookie scoring this season with 26 goals and 49 points. In Washington career totals, he stands first in goals (32), second in points (59) sixth in assists and seventh in games played.Pyatt went on a 33-mile canoe trio in the Northern lights lake region last summer and says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take a canoe ride, water ski and play tennis a lot. The main thing is to keep active. I&rsquo;ll skate some with Denny Owchar (Pittsburgh) and Lee Fogolin (Buffalo) this summer.&rdquo; Owchar was a junior opponent, Fogolin a teammate. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m gonna come in (to camp) in shape. Since last year I&rsquo;ve felt I can play in the NHL. I&rsquo;ve got to improve my defensive play. That&rsquo;s the big thing. They say I had a good year but I had one of the worst plusminuses. I wasn&rsquo;t a very good stick handler. I&rsquo;ll work on it along with my defense, I&rsquo;m going to mix up my attack&mdash;and I gotta start picking up my man.&rdquo;Nelson&rsquo;s penchant for trying to take the outside route around the left defenseman helped shove him to right wing when fellow Thunder Bay man Rick Bragnalo wedged into the Caps center picture. However, Pyatt believes, &ldquo;I am a centerman, but if I have to play wing, I&rsquo;ll play it and not be bitter.&rdquo;The high point of the Capitals season, from his view was in Toronto on February 4 when, before friends and relatives down from the Bay, he scored twice in a 4-4 deadlock. While the Capitals closed fast (for them) Nelson got just nine points the rest of the season, partly due to the flu and Bragnalo but he remains the Capital forward with the most interesting potential.FOOTNOTE: Tommy Williams might argue that his Capital season was weirder than Pyatt&rsquo;s. Tommy started off the center on the team&rsquo;s hottest line. By November first he had five goals and fourteen points. Twice he came near a hat trick. He remains the club&rsquo;s all-time (two years) scoring leader, twenty ahead of Pyatt, is still second in goals and first in assists and nobody surpassed his 58-point first year total&mdash; but he was waived out of the league in December and ended up in New Haven. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Leading Cap Sniper Pyatt Not Deterred By ‘Minus’ Rating

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02167/3626481-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDRE LACROIX&hellip; It&rsquo;s Been Disappointing</figcaption></div>SAN DIEGO&mdash;1) The San Diego Mariners are a World Hockey Association franchise.2) The San Diego Mariners are no longer a WHA franchise.Peter Graham, please check one.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been two months now,&rdquo; reminded Andre Lacroix, referring to the last pay day before the league took over the San Diego franchise from Joe Schwartz of Baltimore. &ldquo;It will be another month before we get our playoff money. That&rsquo;s three months without pay. That&rsquo;s a longtime.&rdquo;Lacroix is not only concerned with back pay but next season.He said he needs to &ldquo;know where I stand. There are some other teams that have talked to me but are still in the playoffs.&rdquo;Earlier, Lacroix said his teammates were willing to give up their free agent status if there was a franchise in San Diego.The Mariners were promised during the WHA&rsquo;s quarter-final playoffs that they would stay in San Diego, but Peter Graham, the operator of the San Diego Sports Arena who made the statements, has said nothing publicly since.He has, however, been acting like an owner and the Mariners took part in the WHA draft of 20-year-olds.They first took Dave Farrish, 6-1, 195-pound defenseman from Sudbury of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. Farrish scored 27 goals and 48 assists for 75 points and logged 155 penalty minutes.Their second round choice was Mark Suzor, 6-1, 195-pound defenseman from Kingston of the OHA. He had 1630&mdash;46 totals in 48 games with 108 penalty minutes.They took Tony Horvath from Sault Ste. Marie in the third round, John Smrke from Toronto in the fourth and Archie King from Hamilton in the fifth. &#9632;

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Bitter Mariners Wonder What The Future Holds

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01903/3625230-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="874" height="738"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Clarence Campbell, who has presided at 30 Stanley Cup coronations couldn&rsquo;t stop talking about the Montreal Canadiens.&ldquo;They compare with the five time champion Canadiens and the great Detroit team in the early fifties that won twelve straight playoff games,&rdquo; said Mr. Campbell. &ldquo;Twelve wins in thirteen games is fantastic. They have the skating speed of the old time teams and much more size, especially on defense.&rdquo;The NHL Chief Executive was also happy that the series was a classic confrontation of the two best teams in hockey. It was worth waiting for.&ldquo;The teams played classic hockey,&rdquo; said Campbell. &ldquo;It was good when the Flyers won for the first time in 1973-74 because it demonstrated that expansion had worked. This series showed hockey at its best and that was good.&rdquo;For Peter Mahovlich, the 1975-76 Stanley Cup was the biggest of the three he has been involved in with Les Habitants. Pete played for the 1970-71 and 1972-73 winners.&ldquo;This was the best,&rdquo; said Pete. &ldquo;We wanted it so badly. All Canada wanted the Cup back. And we beat a great Chicago team four straight, a really great Islander team that is going to get even better and then to take the champion Flyers in four straight is super. We had a great season and capped it off withtheCup. Super.&rdquo;In winning 12 of 13 playoff games the Canadiens made coach Scotty Bowman happy.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t lose a playoff game at home,&rdquo; said Scotty. &ldquo;I tried to keep the pressure on them with a fresh center in there all the time. Our youngsters matured and did the job and everyone earned the Cup. It wasa twenty man effort.&rdquo;Freddie Shero, the Flyers coach, noted, &ldquo;Montreal skated,&rsquo;skated and skated. We had three men playing hurt in Bobby Clarke (knee), Orest Kindrachuk (back) and Gary Dornhoefer (bad charley horse and slow recovery from pneumonia). But they would have won, anyway, I think. Even if Rick MacLeish and Bernie Parent were available at top form, Montreal might have played even better. Their mobile defense is the best in hockey and that had a lot to do with it.&rdquo;Sport Magazine named Larry Robinson as its MVP in the series, disagreeinf with the Conn Smythe Award to loser Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers. Robinson, along with rookie Rick Chartraw and Pierre Bouchard worked occasional shifts on the forward lines in the last two games in Philadelphia. All three normanly are defensemen.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02771/3625223-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="823" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Risebrough (8) and Larry Robinson in victoryembrace. (Hockey News Photos By Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03517/3625216-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="1143" height="892"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goaler Ken Dryden sips champagne from the Stanley Cup for third time in his career.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04306/3625209-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="814" height="889"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Shutt&rsquo;s expression tells it all after Canadiens won cup.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-05172/3625202-1-eng-US/f0003-052.jpg" title="f0003-05" width="2929" height="1210"><figcaption class="caption-body">Canadiens&rsquo; captain Yvan Cournoyer, with cup upraised, leads his jubilant teammates on a victory skate around Spectrum ice after beating the Philadelphia Flyers.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I was trying to get weight up front and to keep in control. We play wide open hockey, but this year we went to a checking system. That&rsquo;s why we won the Vezina Trophy,&rdquo; said Bowman. Robinson could play wing on any team in the NHL.&ldquo;We had a great year,&rdquo; continued Scotty. &ldquo;Montreal won 70 games, lost 12 and tied 11. The NHL is better than many people think. Five teams had over 100 points. I&rsquo;m satisfied.&rdquo;Ken Dryden, the Canadiens goaltender, who has played every minute of every playoff game for Montreal since 1970-71 except during his 1973-74 sabattical, noted. &ldquo;We controlled the games. They came at us pretty good for about half the game and then we took over. Our speed was important. But we had size up front and our defense moved the puck. I did not have to stop as many good chances as Wayne Stephenson at theotherend.&rdquo;Still, Dryden made the big third period save in game four, stopping Dornhoefer and flopping on Dorny&rsquo;s rebound. A minute later, on the next shift, Guy Lafleur took Mahovlieh&rsquo;s pass and scored the Cup winner.&ldquo;The key goal for us was, Yvan Courncyer who tied it with just eleven seconds left in the second period. After that, we needed just one more,&rdquo; said Bowman. &ldquo;The longer the game went the more likely we were to win.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01608/3625195-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="1183" height="1165"><figcaption class="caption-body">Arbour Predicts Long Hold On Cup For Canadiens&hellip;Everyone got in on the act in the post-game celebrations. Some were soaked with the bubbly stuff like Yvon Lambert, left, and Guy Lapointe in the rollicking dressing room hijinks.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02502/3625188-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="1162" height="1165"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rookies don&rsquo;t get to cradle the Stanley Cup in their first NHL year but it happened to defenseman Rick Chartraw, shown here with a pretty good hold on the famous silverware.</figcaption></div>He did his best - and so did the rest of the Montreal Canadiens. Canada is happy once more with the Stanley Cup, the nineteenth in the Habitants history.Fittingly, Cournoyer, the Habitants&rsquo; captain got the turn around goal, and Lafleur, Montreal&rsquo;s newest super star, the winner. Last season when Lafleur seemingly had taken much of Cournoyer&rsquo;s thunder, there were rumors of unhappiness, but Les Habitants pulled together, with a total of 31 different forward combinations in the final game.Unsung Jimmy Roberts checked like a fiend and was on for only one opponents goal the entire playoffs. Still, the 36-year old utility man, who scored three clutch goals, expects to be moved on by general manager Sam Pollock.&ldquo;He has an awful lot of young legs who have to play. I think he&rsquo;ll move me on. But I have had my time. I&rsquo;m tired, but I can still go. Whatever happens I&rsquo;ll do my best,&rdquo; said Montreal&rsquo;s old pro.He did his best - and so did the rest of the Montreal Canadiens. Canada is happy once more with the Stanley Cup, the nineteenth in the Habitants history.And Pollock - now faced with the job of running Team Canada, must make some tough decisions as to which players the loaded Canadiens will keep, and which they will let go in the off-season.&ldquo;Montreal will win the Cup or be right in there for ten years to come,&rdquo; said Al Arbour, the Islanders coach. &ldquo;They have a great team.&rdquo; &#9632;

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CANADIENS RATE WITH THE GREAT CUP CHAMPIONS OF PAST YEARS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02140/3627309-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg"></div>Most Valuable Player &mdash; Art Stratton, Hampton.Coach of the Year &mdash; John Hanna, Tidewater. &#9632;

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SHL All Star Teams

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01899/3625026-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ranger fans have been having their misgivings about &lsquo;The Trade&rsquo; with the Bruins. Brad Park went from the New York &lsquo;doghouse&rsquo; to a star on the Boston Blueline after the swap. For details see page 7.</figcaption></div><h2>NHL, WHA CLUBS PLAY</h2>TORONTO&mdash;Inter-league exhibition play between the NHL and WHA, which was dropped this season after a one-year trial, will be resumed next fall. The two leagues are reportedly going to get together for a total of seven pre-season games.Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Cowboys and Edmonton Oilers of the WHA will oppose Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis from the NHL. Games already scheduled include the Penguins playing in Calgary Sept. 23, in Winnipeg on Sept. 24 and in Edmonton Sept. 26 and 28. St. Louis will meet the Jets in Winnipeg Sept. 26, paly in Calgary Sept. 27 and finish in Edmonton on Sept. 29. A WHA spokesman said further exhibitions will be announced over the summer months with NHL clubs.<h2>AWREY RAPS CANADIENS</h2>KITCHENER&mdash;Defenseman Don Awrey, whose name will not appear on the Stanley Cup because he did not participate in any of the Canadiens&rsquo; 13 playoff games, has lashed out at the snub. Awrey played in 72 regular season games for Montreal but did not dress for the playoffs and the NHL said he and John Van Boxmeer&rsquo;s names could not be engraved on the cub with their teammates.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe it,&rdquo; said an angered Awrey. &ldquo;Expect for things to break loose if that&rsquo;s the case,&rdquo; he added. Awrey said he wondered about his $19,500 playoff bonus money each player received for winning the cup. The veteran defenseman has been publicly sounding off on the Canadiens for not playing him in the playoffs and has said repeatedly he wants to be traded. He said the only sour grapes was against the management, which hadn&rsquo;t levelled with him after benching him with five games left in the schedule.<h2>AHL WILL OPERATE</h2>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;The troubled American Hockey League will be back in business next season according to a league spokesman after a recent meeting here. The AHL will apparently start with possibly the same eight teams but could lose two franchises and go with six.The Springfield and Baltimore franchises are reportedly wavering to the point the AHL may exclude both cities in their future plans. There has also been talk that Richmond was considering moving to the Southern League because of the latter&rsquo;s lower operating budget. The AHL has definite assurances from Rochester, Providence, New Haven, Hershey and Nova Scotia for the 1976-77 season.<h2>MAY SWITCH CUP GAMES</h2>TORONTO&mdash;There is a distinct possibility Toronto may lose its Canada Cup games unless negotiations between the committee operating the event and Maple Leaf Gardens&rsquo; boss Harold Ballard are more fruitful. Alan Eagleson, who is the Canadian Government&rsquo;s representative for the series, said he has so far been unable to come to terms with MLG and is looking elsewhere.The city is to receive five or six of the games in the six-country round-robin international series butEagleson said he was looking into bids from Vancouver and Winnipeg to stage the games after failing to nudge owner Ballard on the rink rental price. Eagleson said he is offering $25,000 to $35,000 per game. Ballard is demanding $50,000. &#9632;

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DEADLINE STOPPERS

<div class="byline">BY JIM COLEMAN</div>As Seen In Montreal GazetteMONTREAL&mdash;Chalk up one important victory for Canadian public opinion.National Hockey League President Clarence Campbell, a proud and stubborn man, has conceded that the time has come to eradicate the goons and intimidators who have brutalized the fastest moving and most thrilling team sport in the world.Campbell has written to all NHL governors, advising them of action which he will recommend for their approval when they meet in Montreal during the upcoming summer hockev meetings June 79.In the twilight of his long tenure of office Campbell is making one of the most important proposals of his entire administrative career: he is asking the governors to remove &ldquo;unnecessary violence&rdquo; from the sport which he has served so well.This is the first official admission from NHL quarters that the game of hockey has been debased by the deliberately intimidating tactics of some players in recent years.Not even the most timorous sports spectator ever has objected to the occasional two-man bout of fisticuff the course of a hockey game. But bench-clearing brawls have become all too common in recent seasons. There isn&rsquo;t the slightest doubt in the mind of any knowledgeable spectator that these brawls usually are precipitated bv muscular but untalented fringe players who are attempting to intimidate the players on the opposing team.Consider professional football, in contrast. Football has 10 times as much brutal body contact as hockey. Yet, a player who precipitates a fist fight on the football field is thrown out of the game.There are no trivial five-minute penalties for a football player who throws a punch at an opponent &mdash; he is kicked out of that game and he takes an early shower.Undoubtedly, it is a groundswell of public opinion which finally has convinced the NHL that the goons and intimidators must be disarmed. And, it is Canadian public opinion which has aroused Campbell to act decisively. There hasn&rsquo;t been much of an outcry against &ldquo;goon hockey&rdquo; in American cities where very regrettably, violence has become an everyday fact of life.Campbell&rsquo;s move unquestionably was speeded by Ontario&rsquo;s Attorney-General Roy McMurtry&rsquo;s warning last autumn that he would instruct law enforcement officers to lay charges against hockey players who committed on-ice assaults. And, on two occasions this past season, Toronto police officers took legal action against NHL players.McMurtry never has fancied himself as a plumed white knight. For more than three years, he has been aware that public opinion in Canada was increasingly opposed to unnecessary hockey violence. When he became Ontario&rsquo;s attorney-general, he became the polarizing agent for this pnblic opinion.He enunciated a violence-curbing policy for hockey players which subsequently was echoed by attorneys-general in several other Canadian provinces.The Canadian public was opposed to goon hockey: McMurtry simply implemented the wishes of theCanadian public.The policy is this: &ldquo;A hockey player can&rsquo;t get away with something on the ice, if the tactics which he employs would cause him to face arrest, out on a city street.&rdquo;McMurtry never has inveighed against the occasional two--man fisticuffing on the ice. His instructions have been that policemen should lay charges only against players who commit acts of overt violence.Now, Clarence Campbell is urging his team owners to stamp out the hooliganism.Campbell, who is a lawyer, recognizes that - if the NHL amends its rules and provides very stiff penalties which will remove the goons from the game - it won&rsquo;t be necessary for attorneys-general such as McMurtry to bring municipal police officers into the arenas.I have another suggestion for Campbell when he gets around to talking with his club owners next month:The rink owners should do something about policing their own seat purchasers.It has become all too evident, recently, that the hockey players aren&rsquo;t solely to blame for some of the ugly incidents which have occured: the hockey players often are incited by spectators who taunt them with the most outrageous obscenities and hurl drinks, ice cubes and rolled-up programs at them. That type of spectator should be thrown out of the building and deprived of his seat-holding privileges, even if he happens to be a director of the home team.Southam News Services &#9632;

Public Outcry, McMurtry Force NHL To Take Action

TORONTO&mdash;NHL referee-in-chief Scotty Morrison said he and his rules committee are considering several changes during the upcoming summer meetings to rid the game of the intimidators and the bullies.Morrison&rsquo;s proposals would include such changes as game suspensions for more than three game misconduct penalties, club fines up to $1,000 if a player takes a third misconduct, etc.Morrison said the NHL knows who the instigators are of fights. They number nine players who have more than 200 penalty minutes and are always taking game misconducts and gross misconduct penalties. They are the ones the NHL is aiming at with their new proposals. &#9632;

NHL ‘Bad Men’ Face Trouble

The annual statistical issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS will be published in the July edition for all the figure filberts in hockey. It will include complete final statistics of the NHL, WHA, AHL, CHL, IHL and SHL plus the amateurs. Also included in next month&rsquo;s issue will be a rundown on the NHL amateur draft and a look at the progress being made by the various teams for the September Canada Cup series. If you like figures, this issue is a collector&rsquo;s item, so don&rsquo;t fail to pick one up. Watch for it on the newsstands. &#9632;

Hockey News 1975-76 Statistical Issue

<h2>NHL TEAMS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02824/3625157-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="487" height="619"></div><h2>WHA TEAMS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03630/3625150-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="478" height="332"></div><h2>OTHER LEAGUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04431/3625143-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="478" height="205"></div><h2>COLUMNISTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05306/3625136-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="477" height="208"></div><h2>OTHER FEATURES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06210/3625129-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="477" height="121"></div> &#9632;

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WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT ALL

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-01955/3625282-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="430" height="442"></div>&bull; RALPH MELLANBY, executive producer of Hockev Night in Canada, received the highlight of his career recently when he was awarded an Emmy for his work as a director on the 1976 Winter Olympics for ABC. Ralph, Canada&rsquo;s outstanding sports producer, was loaned to the American Broadcasting Company for the telecasting of the Winter Olympics&hellip; John Ferguson would like to get Rick Chartraw, a tough young defenseman or Don Awrey, a tough old defenseman, from the Montreal Canadiens for his N.Y. Rangers&hellip;. Ferguson has introduced an innovative physical conditioning program during the summer months for the Rangers. It covers nutrition, diet planning, sleep and relaxation. &ldquo;When my team leaves the chute, there will be no excuses for us not being ready,&rdquo; warned the new boss&hellip; Two Stanley Cup playoff editions of Goal Magazine, the NHL publication that appears with the program, is available for $2.50. Write: Goal, Box 477, Philadelphia. Pa. 19105&hellip; WHA fans are wild that the CBC is not telecasting their Avco World Trophy finals. People in Winnipeg and Western Canada have been waitinga longtime forthisseries.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02911/3625275-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="254" height="400"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ralph Melkinb</figcaption></div>&bull; MONTREAL VICE-PRESIDENT and general manager Sam Pollock. THE HOCKEY NEWS Executive of the Year, who has led Canadiens to seven Stanley Cups, credits Jerry DeLise with solid contribution for a super scouting job of the Flyers for coach Stotty Bowman. DeLise, himself a former HOCKEY NEWS minor league Executive of the Year winner in 1968, has managed and owned teams to 15 titles. Ironically, his Muskegon Zephyrs won the International Hockey League title over Flyers&rsquo; Fred Shero in 1961-62, when Shero was coaching the St. Paul Saints&hellip; Al Arbour, coach of the New York Islanders, believes the Canadiens can remain at or near the top of the NHL for the next 10 years. &ldquo;They have so much talent and depth throughout their ranks,&rdquo; said Arbour, &ldquo;that they have the potential to win their divisional championship for the next 10 years. I&rsquo;m not saying they can win the Stanley Cup every time, as many things can happen in the playoff, but they&rsquo;re that deep&rdquo; &hellip; The Islanders have lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion in the semi-final round for two straight years now. They lost to Canadiens in five games this year (Canadiens only loss of the playoffs) and to Philadelnhia in seven games last year. Coach Arbour was highly pleased with his club&rsquo;s performance this season&hellip; &ldquo;Score!&rdquo;, the Philadelphia Flyers Bicentennial gift to the city of Philadelphia, stands outside the Spectrum and the 12-foot high bronze sculpture, by Gilman Whitman, depicts a player with arms raised leaping over a just-beaten goalie. Whitman&rsquo;s works have been displayed at Expo 67 in Montreal and the Pittsburgh International Art Gallery&hellip; Canadiens threw 31 different attacking units at Flyers in the last game of the finals&hellip; Coach Fred Shero has promised that there&rsquo;ll be some player changes in the Flyers&rsquo; lineup before next season starts.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03806/3625268-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="272" height="394"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Arbour</figcaption></div>&bull; DAVE SCHULTZ could be traded to New York Rangers any day. The Flyers&rsquo; chief enforcer is the type of player John Ferguson is seeking, for the Rangers and he has admitted he likes the guy&hellip;Marc Tardif is making excellent progress from his head injure and started playing golf this month. He doesn&rsquo;t know if he&rsquo;ll represent Team Canada in September&hellip; Canadiens&rsquo; Bob Gainey still receiving plaudits for his outstanding work during the playoffs&hellip; &ldquo;Our team had such great desire that coaching was easy.&rdquo; said a modest Scotty Bow man following his team&rsquo;s triumph&hellip;Bobby Hull is expected to play a key role in leading the Winnipeg Jets to the Avco World Trophy over the defending champion Houston Aeros. The Jets are a finely-balanced team and. like Montreal Canadiens, possess plenty of desire&hellip;Hamilton Fincups are the Cinderella Team of Canadian major junior hockey. New Westminster Bruins were definitely favorites to capture the Memorial Cup this year, but they were no match for the spirited Fincups in the final&hellip;NHL president Clarence Campbell was rudelv tripped by some hooligan leaving the Philadelphia Spectrum after the final game of the playoffs&hellip; Wayne Connelly maintains he&rsquo;s good for two more seasons at least and plans to play with Cleveland Crusaders next year&hellip;Dale Rolfe&rsquo;s appointment as special assignments scout for the New York Rangers, means that his legal suit against the club and Madison Square Garden will be dropped. Rolfe had blamed poor ice conditions at the Garden for an injury that ended his playing career&hellip;Rick MacLeish worked out with the Flyers during the finals but never seriously expected to play. The leading playoff scorer the past two years will face strenuous weight work this summer to return to 100 percent status. MacLeish suffered two torn ligaments and torn cartilage in his left knee when checked by Vancouver&rsquo;s Harold Snepsts in early February.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04704/3625261-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="249" height="406"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Gainey</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05572/3625337-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2>Sittier Only Tied Game Points Record</h2>No offense to Darryl Sittier or Brian MacFarlane, but I just want to point out a mistake by MacFarlane.Most of the time, when Brian MacFarlane is doing the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, he will comment on how Darryl Sittler accomplished such a tremendous task of setting a new point record in one game (10).I hate to say this, but Darryl did not set a new record, he tied the record.According to the October, 1973 edition of the Guinness Book of Records it states, &ldquo;The most points scored in one game is 10 (three goals, seven assists), by Jim Harrison (Alberta) on Jan. 30. 1973.&rdquo;I hope that Brian reads this to catch up on his mistake.RICH EMERY Victoria, B.C.<h2>Canadien Victory Sheer Teamwork</h2>It is almost impossible to single out a hero in the Stanley Cup Final Series victory by the Canadiens.The whole team did a tremendous job on defense to silence the big guns, with the exception of Leach, of the Flyers. They only allowed nine goals in the series, while the Flyers normally score that many goals in two games.Offensively the Canadiens just scored enough to win, thus every one of those goals became so important. The following is only an example of the contributions of the players:Shutt: In Games 3 and 4, matched Leachgoal-by-goal.Cournoyer: Critical tying goal with 11 seconds remaining in the second period of Game 4 and with 4 seconds to go on the power play.Lemaire: Tie-breaking shorthanded breakaway goal in Game 2. Tying goal in Game 1 without which the whole series could be totally different.Lafleur: Two game winning goals.Mahovlich: Series clinching goal - back breaker for the Flyers. Key assist to Lafleur&rsquo;s series winninggoal.Lapointe: Wanning goal in Game 1 that barely avoided sudden death overtime.Bouchard: Goal number two of the season sure was a big one. Number three was not bad either.They are certainly hockey&rsquo;s champion no matter what you look at.KENNETH S. CHIA, New York, N.Y.<h2>Finesse Of Canadiens Makes Them The Best</h2>I have just finished listening to the last game of the Flyers - Canadiens series, the &ldquo;Super Series&rdquo; in which the Canadiens completely handled the Flyers.I listened to all four games over a Flyers network and was convinced the Canadiens are indeed the best in the world. After two years of watching the Flyers decapitate their opponents I was overjoyed the Canadiens won the Cup again.I&rsquo;m only 18 years old but ever since I first saw hockey, I liked the Canadiens and always admired their style of play. This style has been with them from the beginning and as you well know they&rsquo;ve won more Cup championships than anyone else.In the late 60&rsquo;s and e&rsquo;arly 70&rsquo;s the Bruins played rough hockey. They had their couple year stint and are now back to the basics - skate and check but don&rsquo;t kill!I hope that Mr. Shero will soon see this and return to civilized hockey.I pay tribute to the fans in Philadelphia for their loyalty and good sportsmanship.I&rsquo;m extremely glad the Cup is back where it belongs&hellip; in Montreal.TIM ABBOTT, Greensboro, N.C.<h2>Montreal, Toronto Fans Not So Classy</h2>After watching the first game of the Stanley Cup finals, I feel obliged to write.I&rsquo;ve always heard about the classy fans of the six original cities, expecially Toronto and Montreal. Now, I mourn the loss of those fans.Surely, no one who spits on players, assaults them on their way to the dressing room as the Toronto fans did, or throws debris on the ice during a game, can be called classy.Of course the Spectrum crowd has its share of oafs - for example, the minority of idiots who booed the playing of &ldquo;O Canada&rdquo;. They were quickly drowned out, however, by true fans who applauded the song, hoping to compensate for the others&rsquo; stupidity.But when a number of fans, not once but twice, delay the game by throwing debris on the ice during play, as the Montreal fans did, I can only say that THAT is a form of violence that should be stopped before a player, any player is injured.Also, I&rsquo;m sure that if a Flyer had pulled the stunt that Pierre Bouchard pulled on Mel Bridgman, there would have been shouts of &ldquo;animal&rdquo;.I only hope that all fans will come to their senses before someone is killed!MARY MALIVERIC, Philadelphia. Pa. Let&rsquo;s See An<h2>International &lsquo;Showdown&rsquo;</h2>In the past few months we have been able to witness a very exciting segment of Hockey Night in Canada, that is, SHOWDOWN.With the coming of the Canada Cup Series this September, we will be afforded the opportunity of a real &ldquo;showdown&rdquo;.How about having a program, based on the same format used this past season, utilizing the talents of the top hockey players in the world?Wouldn&rsquo;t it be interesting to have a matchup of Dryden versus Yakuskev or, Tretiak versus Lafleur. Or, who really skates faster - MacLeish or Kharlamov?Howie Meeker is excited already!KEN SCHNEIDER, Hudson Bay, Sask.<h2>Mrs. Howe&rsquo;s Departure Was No Surprise</h2>I noted with some interest your May 14 edition which mentioned that Colleen Howe had a falling out with the Houston Aeros&rsquo; management and no longer works for the firm.After having read her recent book, &ldquo;My Three Hockey Players&rdquo; this comes as absolutely no surprise tome.Her upper class suburban values simply don&rsquo;t fit the hockey milieu. She comes across as a bit too&rdquo;Hotsy totsy&rdquo; in the sense that unless one is a perfect specimen he will somehow not fit in. Which is very sad because Gordie Howe is one of the all time great people.When she harangues on and on about the inferior hotel facilities of the Russians or when she plays up Gordie belting this guy and that, she somehow leaves the reader a bit cold.The book was terrific, but Colleen Howe needs to upholster her values.RICHARD EPTON, Spokane, Wash.<h2>Fans Thanks The Flyers</h2>This letter is to thank the Philadelphia Flyers for a great year.So they didn&rsquo;t win the Cup, so what? They&rsquo;ve still had a great season setting records with the Leach, Clarke, Barber line.How many teams can come up with an effort like that?Of course the Stanley Cup is the greatest thing a team can win, but we can&rsquo;t complain. In less than 10 years of existence they won two Cups.And Wayne Stephenson! Maybe now people will give him credit where it is due. He played absolutely fantastic! So many times he was left alone during the playoffs and came up big.I just hope fans can take this loss. They were so used to winning they&rsquo;ve been spoiled.I&rsquo;m anxious to see if Montreal inherits the Flyers&rsquo; cross to bear. Maybe they will be the ones to be watched by the officials for every single minute, get abused by fans, and last but not least-arrest!On the other hand, maybe everyone will think that the cup is in its proper place and lay off them. Only time will tell.Thanks again, Flyers. I&rsquo;m one fan who&rsquo;s enjoyed every minute of this season.BETH L. ROSEBERRY, Phillipsburg, N.J. &#9632;

f0004-05

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">&#x2014;By Bill Libby</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-01987/3625375-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="346" height="430"></div><h2>A Season Ends&hellip;</h2>SCOTTY BOWMAN seldom has been considered for coach of the year honors in recent years because his Montreal team has so much talent, but there may not be a better coach in this sport and no coach did a better job this past season.As he put together the best regular-season record in the National Hockey League, and before he went to win the Stanley Cup with 12 victories in 13 playoff contests, sweeping Philadelphia in the finals in four straight, Scotty said:&ldquo;The best talent doesn&rsquo;t always make the best team. I don&rsquo;t think there is a lot of difference in talent between five or six teams in the league these years. The talent has to pull together. It&rsquo;s a coach&rsquo;s job to pull it together.&rdquo;Bowman pulled it together to take the Canadiens to the cup for the second time, making it a dozen mentors who have taken two cups in history. Previously, he took the Blues to the finals three times. The St. Louis team has fallen apart since he left.They thought it would be difficult for an Englishman, Bowman, to coach the French-Canadiens who usually dominate this Montreal team. He says, &ldquo;I have not had any trouble with the French-Canadien players. I do not play favorites with the English players. Everyone knows that. People are people. I am bilingual. I talk to the entire team in English, but I may talk to certain individuals in French.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02767/3625368-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="802" height="1201"><figcaption class="caption-body">Canadiens&rsquo; Scotty Bowman follows the theory that a coach&rsquo;s job is to pull the talent together to make a winner. He says the best talent doesn&rsquo;t necessarily make the best team.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;My kids are learning to be bilingual in a Montreal school. I do not think the friction between French and English is what it was a few years ago in Montreal. People are learning to live together. My hockey team is together, like a family.&rdquo; This season of the 22 players on the Canadiens 13 were English and nine were French.Scotty and his expectant wife Sue have a family of three children, one of whom is hydrocephalic and confined to an institution. &ldquo;We endure,&rdquo; says Scotty, who is learning to farm 240 acres he purchased at Roxton Pond in the mountains.Prior to the playoffs, he said, &ldquo;I missed a lot before I met Sue. Now no matter what happens in hockey I have a home to go to and love to give and to get. Nothing that happens in hockey, can change to make it better or worse what I have at home.&ldquo;People think because hockey has been all my life I never could leave it, but now I know I could. It will be hard, but it has to happen sooner or later. It&rsquo;s too tough on the family. I&rsquo;m 42 now and I can&rsquo;t see myself coaching past 50. By then, my oldest will be a teenager.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m giving hockey everything I have and I want to go on awhile, but I don&rsquo;t want to go on to the point where I do not give to my family enough of myself. My family is my real victory in life,&rdquo; he concluded.BOWMAN&rsquo;S BEST PLAYER this season was Guy Lafleur, the league scoring champion, who soared to stardom last season. One night this season, Lafleur said, &ldquo;Last season was good for me, but it was no good because we did not win the Stanley Cup. This season is going good but it will only be good if we go on to capture the cup. It is nice to be called by some the best player in this sport, but it would be better to be called one of the best players on the best team.&rdquo;Canadien defenseman Larry Robinson was voted by Sport Magazine the top player in the playoff finals. Late in the season, he said, &ldquo;This team has so many stars it doesn&rsquo;t matter to me if I don&rsquo;t get recognition. I&rsquo;m not supposed to be a star. Just being an important part of this team is enough for me. It&rsquo;s the best team in the league and we&rsquo;re going to prove that in the playoffs.&rdquo;A month before he got to carry the cup over his head on his victory tour of the rink in which the Canadiens clinched the championship, captain Yvan Cournoyer said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never had the honor of skating that cup around and that&rsquo;s really all I want from this season. What more could a hockey player ever want?&rdquo;THE PHILADELPHIA FLYER captain, Bobby Clarke, Player of the Year according to THE HOCKEY NEWS, and maybe most valuable player according to the NHL panel, said near the end of the season, &ldquo;Individual honors mean nothing to me. What matters most is team victories. We&rsquo;d love to win the Stanley Cup a third straight time, but there are no guarantees in life. If we don&rsquo;t win, we&rsquo;ll just go back to work to win it back next season.&rdquo;Fred Shero, who coached the club to the final said, &ldquo;We can win again. If we don&rsquo;t, it won&rsquo;t be for lack of trying. If we don&rsquo;t, we&rsquo;ll just try harder next time. All any man can do is his best. I&rsquo;m proud of my team, not because it is always the best, but because it always does its best.&rdquo;Reggie Leach led the league in goals with 61 during the season and a record 19 in the playoffs, including a record-tying five in one playoff game, scoring goals in a record 10 straight playoff games. He was voted the NHL award as the top player in the playoff. He said earlier, &ldquo;I always could shoot, but I couldn&rsquo;t play until I came to this team. Playing for a Stanley Cup champion last season was the biggest thrill of my life and I&rsquo;ll do all I can for the Flyers in this season&rsquo;s playoffs.&rdquo;DARRYL SITTLER who tied NHL records with six goals in one regular-season game and five in one playoff game, said, &ldquo;There are more consistent scorers than I am, but I seem to get those games where everything goes right for me. We have the talent to win a title in Toronto, but we have to pull together and get consistent.&rdquo;Borje Salming, the defenseman I thought may have been the best player in the league this season, was brutalized by Philadelphia&rsquo;s violent tactics in the playoffs, but like the Canadiens he just kept playing his game until the Flyers backed off The Swede earlier said, &ldquo;I was taught to play hockey, not to play the goon.&ldquo;I love hockey, but I don&rsquo;t admire rough play. It may be one way to win, but it is also a way to hurt this sport. The league and the officials should stop this before everything that makes this sport great is gone. People will not pay to see muggings in alleys, will they?GARRY UNGER set a new National Hockey League record and stretched his string of consecutive games played to 643 this season. He said, &ldquo;I always believed in going to school and going to work and not making a lot of feeling sick or having an injury. I have a sister, Carol, crippled by Polio, who gets around on crutches. She is my inspiration and the real hero of my family. Hockey is only part of life. My family is the most important part of my life.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0006-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03545/3625406-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG FAVELL&hellip; Likely To Be Traded</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;Several National Hockey League managers and coaches have expressed the view that the Toronto Maple Leafs are a club with the most upward mobility of the five or six teams in the middle pack of the standings.The Leafs&rsquo; improvement from 13th to seventh place in the overall NHL standings, their extension of the Philadelphia Flyers to seven games in that controversial quarter-final playoff series and the presence on their roster of several excellent young players are signs that brighter days are ahead for the Toronto club.However, the Leaf management acknowledges that the club hopes to make some changes, adding players to improve the team. A rather large body for each wing plus a strong defenseman would appear to be the major targets.The Leafs won&rsquo;t pick in the first round of the amateur draft. They sacrificed that choice to the Montreal Canadiens in the trade which brought goalie Wayne Thomas to Toronto. A first-round pick secured in 1974 from the Pittsburgh Penguins won&rsquo;t be used by the Leafsuntil 1977.Thus, any players they acquire will come via the trade route. Here&rsquo;s a look at the Leaf personnel and the spots they hope to bolster.Goal: Thomas supplied the team with its soundest goaltending in many seasons and, at 28, has his peak years ahead of him. Gord McRae is set as the back-up. The Leafs hope to peddle their goalie, Doug Favell, and his high salary. Favell played in only three games last season.Defense: Borje Salming&rsquo;s brilliance was established beyond any doubt in the series against the Flyers when he withstood great physical punishment to play superb hockey. Ian Turnbull isn&rsquo;t far behind with impressive attacking credentials and an improving defensive ability. Veterans Rod Seiling and Brian Glennie gave Leafs a big season and Glennie should be able to rebound from a badly smashed jaw secured in the playoffs.Claire Alexander remained in the picture with some sound playoff work. Dave Dunn is expendable, demoted to the minors late last season then recalled for a couple of playoff games.Owner Harold Ballard likes the muscle displayed by young Kurt Walker when Leafs called him up late in the season. That alone, will keep the big kid around although he needs seasoning to become a regular.Big Bob Neely was used as a winger late in the season and playoffs and the Leafs may still try to make him into an NHL defense - men. Jim McKenny, too, was shifted to forward.The Leafs may have to yield a little on their youth-kick to find a front-line rearguard. A man such as Don Awrey who wasn&rsquo;t used in the playoffs by the Canadiens would be an asset.Center: Darryl Sittier is one of the game&rsquo;s brightest stars and the Leafs feel they have another center of that calibre in big Jack Valiquette, 20, who had 33 points in 45 games. The third spot is a slight problem. Stan Weir played soundly in spots and is the calibre of playmaker the Leafs need but lacks speed. George Ferguson rescued something from an ordinary season with a solid playoff effort. Young Don Ashby, who had a blah rookie pro season, still rates as a player of promise.Leaf Wing Errol Thompson blossomed into a good NHL winger (43 goals) and Tiger Williams (21 goals, 306 penalty minutes) improved steadily. Williams didn&rsquo;t acquire a playoff point but, surprisingly, was one of the Leafs&rsquo; best players. A third strong left winger is a must, Neely, Ferguson in spots and Inge Hammarstrom worked there. Hammarstrom will be coming off knee surgery but the Leafs still hope to harness his abundant natural ability now that the club has sufficient muscle to supply some protection for the pacifist Swede.Right Wing: There were few better two-way wingers during the second half of the season. than Lanny McDonald, who has 50-goal, high-plus potential. Scott Garland got into the line-up in the Philly series and was a bright spot with his muscular effort. Rookie Pat Boutette was another Leaf who improved a great amount during the season, a muscular, little nuisance type. Here, again, Leafs need a solid big league worker. &#9632;

f0006-03

Leafs Need Wingers, Defenseman To Move

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01892/3625444-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">JEAN RATELLE&hellip; Starred For Bruins</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Everyone rooted against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but most Ranger fans rooted for the Boston Bruins because of their long time allegiance to Brad Park and Jean Ratelle.It took almost three months after The Trade for many of the loyal Ranger season ticket holders to stop grumbling and start rooting. They finally came around, but the sight of Park and Ratelle doing well in the early rounds of the playoffs, stirred memories.Ratelie had a great season, very close to his 1971-72 campaign when he was challenging Phil Esposito for the NHL scoring title until he suffered a broken ankle on Mar. 1. He was struck by a shot off the stick of Dale Rolfe. Ratty&rsquo;s 1975-76 stats were 80 games, 3669&mdash;105. In his big Ranger year he was in 63 games, scoring 46 goals and adding 63 assist for 109 points. His playoff contributions in 1971-72 were limited by his bad ankle, as he returned in the finals for minimal action.This year Ratelle rolled up eight goals and eight assists for 16 points, before Boston was eliminated in the semifinals, after previous success against the Los Angeles Kings. It was the 35-year old Ratelle&rsquo;s best ever playoff.&ldquo;They should never have traded Ratty,&rdquo; said one long time Ranger fan, whose allegiance goes back to 1946. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to lose my season tickets, so please don&rsquo;t use my name. Why did those guys play better in Boston than in New York?&rdquo;Brad Park, overweight and under fire in Gotham, slimmed down and proved something in the Hub. He was the leading candidate to replace Bobby Orr as the winner of the Norris Trophy when he tore up his knee in the Nassau Coliseum. Now, Denis Potvin would appear to have a lock on the 1975-76 Norris.&ldquo;Park was tremendous for us,&rdquo; said Don Cherry. &ldquo;He came back just five weeks after knee surgery and played hurt in the playoffs. He is a leader and very vital to our team. The Trade saved my job.&rdquo;Brad was all of that with the Rangers in his seven and a little bit seasons. He twice got over twenty goals, scoring 24 in 1971-72 and 25 two years later. In 1975-76 he logged 18-41&mdash;59injust56games.&ldquo;I am happy in Boston, happy with the hockey oriented atmosphere and glad to help the Bruins,&rdquo; said Brad during the Boston-Philadelphia series.Park was upset over the mention of his weight with the Rangers. He claims that he took cortisone shots to combat a skin rash a couple of years back. One of the side effects was to blow up his face and make him appear fat and jowly.If the Bruins would appear to be the winners of The Trade 1975-76 version, it is only because, by his own words, Phil Esposito had &ldquo;a despicable season.&rdquo; Carol Vadnais played very well, certainly as well as Park would have done in the deteriorating Ranger situation. Vadnais, at present, is the key Ranger defenseman. He lugs the puck, plays the point and works hard.Emile Francis, now with St. Louis, engineered The Trade, mostly in desperation. The Cat didn&rsquo;t win with Ratelle and Park and was under tremendous pressure from on high and from what the Francis Rangers used to do &mdash; a near miss &mdash; with some excitement and elimination in the semi-finals. That was the story almost every year, except 1971-72 when the Rangers lost to Boston in the finals.With John Ferguson building a new team &mdash; and interest centering on trade and draft possibilities, it was nice to see Rod Gilbert win the Masterton Trophy. Gilbert played his heart out last season, logging 36-50&mdash;86. He had never before won a top league trophy and, of course, never played for a Stanley Cup winner.Gilbert is still emotional over the hurt suffered &ldquo;his&rdquo; Rangers for not winning the Stanley Cup. In New York, this has stood as the hallmark of failure.&ldquo;Anybody who came as close as we did has to feel the pain of those bad raps,&rdquo; said Rod. &ldquo;It still hurt to hear the things that were said. We played Philadelphia two years ago to a seventh game and a one goal decision. We were a great team. At the time most people didn&rsquo;t realize how outstanding Philadelphia was.&rdquo;&ldquo;It was the same way when we played Boston in 1972. Two great teams. But we got rapped, people claimed we were overpaid. It all led to the changes on our club.&rdquo;Clearly the massive changes have left Gilbert still shaken. Reports circulated in the Nassau Coliseum during the Islanders-Mont-real senes that he and Phil Esposito had engaged in fisticuffs during the Rangers&rsquo; post season party. This report has been debunked by the Rangers front office, but knowing insiders feel that Rod is still smarting over Esposito&rsquo;s appointment as captain by Francis.&ldquo;I popped off at the time of the Ratelie trade and it cost me the captaincy,&rdquo; said Rod.Clearly, after Ferguson gets some new bodies on the scene, his main job may be to get the old and the new together.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02758/3625437-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="555" height="1188"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRADPARK &hellip; Under Fire In Gotham</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0007-01

Rangers’ Fans Convinced ‘The Trade’ With Bruins Shouldn’t Have Happened

<div class="byline">By Howie Meeker</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-01976/3625475-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="434" height="568"></div><h2>Few Wagered On Habs&hellip;</h2>THERE WERE A GREAT number of hockey fans who openly predicted that Montreal would defeat Philadelphia for the Stanley Cup. Quite a few of them backed their predictions with a small wager of some sort but not too many were willing to put the weekly pay check on the line.Would you believe that in the three days following the final game of the series, I met two Newfies that bet the Canadiens to win in four straight and their reasoning was as sound as the Royal Bank. Both men said that they were a little worried about the Habs in the fourth game, that maybe, after winning three in a row they might let down a little, but when Larry Robinson finished the check and took Don Saleski into the boards on the first play of the final game, they knew that they were home free.Whether you believe it, I really don&rsquo;t have a favorite hockey team, one that I cheer for or one that has to win in order for me to enjoy a hockey game.Sometimes an outstanding effort by one club will get me on their side and I&rsquo;ll pull for them to score a goal and win the game or a well deserved tie, but normally I thoroughly enjoy the speed, skill, strategy and bodily contact of the game. The outcome really doesn&rsquo;t matter. Sure as being an ex-Leaf, I&rsquo;d love to see them become competitive for the Stanley Cup and give the millions of Toronto fans across Canada the opportunity to see them play in the finals. However, it&rsquo;s a privilege that has to be earned by management and players alike but the Leafs of late are getting closer to that target.<h2>Montreal Fans Entertained&hellip;</h2>IF I WANTED TO SEE an NHL game and had to pay the going rate to get into the building and had a choice of the city I&rsquo;d pick Montreal and hey, after 10 years in the NHL, as player and coach, the only team and fans that I ever worked up a great dislike for was the Montreal Canadiens. I had tremendous respect for the entire organization&rsquo;s ability. However, there were incidents that always tarnished their image in my mind. But that&rsquo;s in olden times, a quarter of a century ago. Since then the Montreal organization has continued to be the most consistent in the league. Continually challenging for the Stanley Cup and enjoying the most success of any city in the world. Obviously then, they give the fans the most value for their dollar. The odds are that when you see Montreal play anyone, the top competitors or the also rans, you&rsquo;re going to be entertained. What more can you ask?I&rsquo;d like to take you back to last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup semifinals, Buffalo against Montreal. In my opinion there was absolutely no way in the world that the Sabres should beat the Canadiens. No one in their right mind would trade Punch Imlach&rsquo;s team for Sam Pollock&rsquo;s crew. Scotty Bowman had to lose the series. It was impossible for Floyd Smith to win it and that&rsquo;s just what happened. After Buffalo eliminated Montreal in six high scoring games, not being too much of a diplomat, instead of saying, &ldquo;Imlach and Smith did a fantastic job&rdquo; (which was obvious to even the dumbest of the millions of-fans who watched the series on TV), I said to a National audience that Punch and Smitty outcoached Pollock and Bowman, which they did in every sense of the word and Mr. Pollock and Mr. Bowman knew it. They had the best goaltender, the best defense and the best four lines. All they needed was a little system (defensive not offensive) and they would have cake-walked by Buffalo just as easy as the Islanders did this year (four straight after losing the first two in the series) and just as nonchalantly as the way their team downed Chicago, Islanders and Philadelphia on the way to the Stanley Cup this year. What a record-12 wins in 13 playoff games.<h2>Set Cup Pattern Early&hellip;</h2>FROM THE FIRST DAY of training camp in September, the Montreal heirachy set a pattern that would lead to the Stanley Cup. They abandoned their wide open offensive style and demanded and received a disciplined type checking game behind their own blueline. No longer did the forwards take off on the attack looking over their shoulder for a pass the moment that a defenseman got his stick on the puck. Their first objective was to get the enemy off the puck by finishing the check. Their second was to regain possession and their third was to advance the puck over their blueline and out of danger. From there they went in search of a goal. A coach can control how his team plays when they haven&rsquo;t got the puck, how they perform behind their blueline and what they do to regain possession of the puck. When they go on the attack, the success they have depends on the natural talent of the individual.In 1974-75, the Canadiens thought that their great, freewheeling, high-scoring machine would win the Stanley Cup. That their offense would generate enough goals to beat Buffalo and then the Philadelphia Flyers. Well, it didn&rsquo;t and you certainly have to give Pollock and Bowman credit for insisting that everyone contribute to a defensive system first and then go in search of goals. The coach of the year has to be Bowman and no one will dispute the fact that Pollock has one of the keenest hockey minds in the world. Last year when Buffalo beat the Canadiens, I was terribly disappointed, really hurt to see such tremendous talent eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.However, they were a different team this year - still great when they went to the attack, but the moment they lost possession of the puck everyone on the ice worked like trojans to make Ken Dryden&rsquo;s job as easy as possible.Defense not offense wins Stanley Cups and it&rsquo;s just great to see the world&rsquo;s most talented hockey team skate off with the big prize. Wouldn&rsquo;t it be super if the Montreal Canadiens, backed up by the NHL&rsquo;s first and second All Star teams, would be allowed to compete in next September&rsquo;s Canada Cup Series?Howie Meeker is a TV analyst on Hotkey Night In Canada, teaches young hockey players the finer points of the game through his CBC &lsquo;Howie Meeker Hockey School, television show and operates two summer hockey schools located at Trinity College School and Stanstead College. He is a former NHL rookie of the year winner and player on four Stanley Cup winners with Toronto Maple Leafs before retiring. &#9632;

f0008-01

HOW IT IS

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;Bruce Norris isn&rsquo;t the kind of man to waste then words. And so, when he was asked for his post-season assessment of the Detroit Red Wings, the answer came swiftly.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed,&rdquo; said the Red Wings owner. &ldquo;I think we were a lot better than we played. We beat strong teams one night, then lost to a weaker team the next. I can&rsquo;t fathom how that happened.&rdquo;Norris went on to say that, in his opinion, the Wings are &ldquo;just a player or two&rdquo; away from becoming a contending team next year.&ldquo;At least this season we&rsquo;ve become a physical team and that&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve looked for a long time,&rdquo; Norris said. &ldquo;We had some good spurts this season but I just can&rsquo;t understand how we lost to some of those teams.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s true the Wings were terribly inconsistent. No one in the organization will deny it but the question is, what can they do about it? That puts a greal deal of emphasis on off-season developments. First, the Wings must straighten out their muddled coaching situation. Either give the job to assistant Billy Dea who handled it most of the season or find someone else and let him take control.Then, general manager Alex Delvecchio must find the right players in the amateur draft and, in addition, manage to acquire some veterans of note.As far as bolstering the lineup, Delvecchio said: &ldquo;We could use another forward and another defenseman. Hopefully, we&rsquo;ll get the right person in the amateur draft. With Jimmy Rutherford and Eddie Giacomin I think our goaltending is very strong. There&rsquo;s no problem there.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02876/3625506-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="559" height="1324"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAN MALONEY &hellip; Rated High</figcaption></div>The Wings will have the No. 4 choice in the amateur draft. Delvecchio said the Wings would not necessarily draft to fill a position but to get the best player available. There are many outstanding right wingers in the draft and Detroit will probably nab one of them if the right defenseman isn&rsquo;t available. Delvecchio also would like a slick playmaki ng center.As for trades, the GM said: &ldquo;I expect to have a chance to sit down with some people from other clubs and discuss some names (of players). But I hate to say we&rsquo;re going to go out and make trades because this team gave such a good effort all season and it wouldn&rsquo;t be fair to the players to start throwing names around. I can&rsquo;t complain about the players&rsquo; attitude at all.&rdquo;When evaluating the Red Wings individually, several players stand out. The most encouraging thing, of course, was the play of rookies Rick Lapointe and Al Cameron on defense and Michel Bergerpn and Dennis Polonich up front. Along with a young veteran like Dan Maloney (25) and a fine young goalie like Rutherford, they figure to be the nucleus of this club for many years.Among the veterans, Maloney (27 goals, 39 assists) easily was the club&rsquo;s most valuable player - on and off the ice. The man&rsquo;s contributions cannot be measured by the usual goals, assists, etc. His very presence meant something to this club. He&rsquo;s a leader and that&rsquo;s something the Wings have lacked.Defenseman Terry Harper also was a valuable addition. Despite being 36, Harper didn&rsquo;t play as if he&rsquo;s near the end of the line. Nobody played any harder or better than this man. Nick Libett, who had a fine season, and newly-acquired Dennis Hextail figure to play key roles next season if and when the team finally gets into the playoffs. &#9632;

f0008-02

Red Wings Are Near Being NHL Contender

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-01945/3625537-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DEREK SANDERSON&hellip; Back Playing For The Cat</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;The day Emile Francis was appointed the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; man in charge of everything he joked about his penchant for making trades.Asked whether he expected to make any trades before the season began, Francis grinned and said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve ever gone that long without making a trade.&rdquo;But even the great traders such as Francis are disillusioned these days by the calibre of players on the trading block.&ldquo;The players I want are now available,&rdquo;he said.&rdquo;Most teams these days don&rsquo;t have any depth, except Montreal which has more depth than anybody.&rdquo;He says of the Blues&rsquo; depth, &ldquo;We&rsquo;d have to weaken ourselves in one position to strengthen ourselves at another position. I don&rsquo;t anticipate any big deals.&rdquo;Francis probably won&rsquo;t be shut out in the trading market but he probably will give the current St. Louis players and farmhands close scrutiny before shipping them elsewhere. Although Francis has promised his players he won&rsquo;t prejudge them before training camp, he has some ideas about how the Blues will look and play.&ldquo;I know exactly how we&rsquo;re going to play, and everybody will play that way,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have about 36 players in camp, and I&rsquo;ve told them camp won&rsquo;t be to get in shape; it will be to make the hockey team.&rdquo;Francis wants to lower the Blues&rsquo; goals-against figure by about 50 or 60 next season but is noncommittal about plans for the Blues&rsquo; defense.&ldquo;On the basis of past performance the Plager brothers rate high,&rdquo; Francis said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m not guided by how long a player has been around. I don&rsquo;t just hand a job to somebody.&rdquo;In addition to the Plagers the Blues have defensemen Bruce Affleck, Bob Hess, Bob Gassoff and Rick Wilson and promising young Jamie Masters, whom Francis saw last season at Providence, where the Blues and New York Rangers share a farm club.At Providence Francis also was impressed by the Blues&rsquo; playoff hero, goalie Ed Staniowski. At training camp Staniowski will be competing for a job with Eddie Johnston, Yves Belanger and Doug Grant.Francis definitely wants to improve the Blues&rsquo; penalty killing but he probably will be relying on the same players who worked the assignment last season: Derek Sanderson, Red Berenson, Jerry Butler and Chuck Lefley.&ldquo;We need two sets,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;I spend a lot of time on penalty-killing.&rdquo;Francis also is dissatisfied with the Blues&rsquo; past performance on the power play. He plans to have a special powerplay unit rather than one of the regular lines on the power play.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have a separate unit even if it means drawing from three lines,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have to improve.&rdquo;&ldquo;I hope to go with set lines because I don&rsquo;t like jockeying, around with my lines,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Basically we&rsquo;ll have three lines plus a fourth line that won&rsquo;t be used on a regular basis.&rdquo;Two farmhands Francis plans to check carefully in training camp are Rick Bourbonnais and Doug Palazzari. Bourbonnais was called to the Blues three times last season, usually for short periods of time. Palazzari, who spent the entire 1974-75 season with the Blues, was hampered by a shoulder injury at the beginning of last season and played only for Providence. &#9632;

f0009-01

New GM Francis Intends To Build From Own Roster

Thu. Sept. 2Finland vs CanadaFri. Sept. 3Russia vs Czechoslovakia Sweden vs United StatesSun. Sept. 5Finland vs Czechoslovakia Russia vs Sweden Canada vs United StatesTue. Sept. 7Russia vs Finland Canada vs Sweden Czechoslovakia vs United StatesThu. Sept. 9Russia vs United States Canada vs Czechoslovakia Sweden vs FinlandSat. Sept. 11 Czechoslovakia vs Sweden Finland vs United States Canada vs Russia<h2>PLAYOFF GAMES</h2>Best-of-three series between the top two teams to decide the championship. Games will be played Sept. 13 and 15 and if a third is necessary, Sept. 17. &#9632;

When Cup Series Will Be Played

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-01966/3625575-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEN DRYDEN&hellip; He&rsquo;s Been There Before</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;You can scratch all that speculation talk about Fred Shero or Al Arbour or anybody else as being the coach of Team U.S.A, for the fall Canada Cup hockey series.Bob Pulford, the coach of the Los Angeles Kings, has been named to direct the ice operations of the American entry for the six-country international series in September.Tommy Ivan, general manager of the Chicago Black Hawks, and Bill MacFarland, president of the Phoenix Roadrunners, jointly announced that Pulford had consented to accept the coaching assignment forTeam U.S.A.There had been considerable talk that Shero would be selected for the post.Meanwhile, profits from the 1976 Canada Cup will be divided among the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, Hockey Canada and the NHL and NHA&rsquo;s players&rsquo; pension fund, according to Alan Eagleson, chairman of the organizing committee for the competition, which will be played from Sept 2-17.Following the agreement of a $2.53 million dollar pact which gives the Carling O&rsquo;Keefe Brewing Company 50 percent Canadian sponsorship and television rights to the series (the largest contract for special sports event in Canadian history), Eagleson estimated that a minimum of between $2 and $3 million profit would be divided evenly between amateur and professional hockey.Fifty per cent of the money would go to the CAHA and to Hockey Canada, while the other half of the profits would be placed into the players&rsquo; pension fun of the NHL and NHA, according to the proportion of players selected from each league.Competing in the tournament will be teams from the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Sweden, the United States and Canada. Plans call for several games in Montreal, three of four in Philadelphia and possibly some in Toronto, although negotiations have not yet been successful.Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; general manager Sam Pollock has accepted the difficult task of piecing together the team that will represent Canada, a dilemma that has raised widespread conjecture.Said Eagleson, &ldquo;No restrictions have been placed on Pollock, he&rsquo;ll pick the 25-man team which might not possibly be the best 25 players, but instead the 25 best players that could be molded into a team.&rdquo;&ldquo;This is the first time that Canada will have the opportunity to send its best to such a tournament. In 1972, it was an NHL All Star team, in 1974 it was the WHA All Star team,&rdquo; added the Eagle.&ldquo;Now we&rsquo;ll be able to send our very best. It might be the Stanley Cup champions reinforced by a few players like Denis Potvin or Bobby Orr, but it&rsquo;s up to Pollock,&rdquo; Eagleson explained, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;re confident Pollock will come up with a strong team.&rdquo; Speculation is growing that Pollock will name Scotty Bowman as coach and will form the team from the bulk of his Stanley Cup winning roster.Often there has been talk that the professional players aren&rsquo;t really that interested in tournaments of this kind and international competition, but NHL Player&rsquo;s Association president Pit Martin says differently: &ldquo;Those who are selected to tackle the job will be every bit as enthusiastic as those who&rsquo;ve represented Canada in the past.&rdquo;One such player, Paul Henderson, who scored three consecutive game-winning goals to lift the Canadians over the Soviets in 1972, thinks he&rsquo;ll enjoy this September&rsquo;s tournament as a spectator only.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02799/3625568-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="553" height="1312"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB PULFORD &hellip; New Challenge</figcaption></div>Meanwhile, Eagleson predicts that the tournament will not become an annual event: &ldquo;More like every three or four years to he more realistic.&rdquo;He also added that several concessions had to be made all around to find the time of year that is acceptable to all of the participating teams.&ldquo;We feel that January or February would be the best time to hold the tournament because that&rsquo;s when our players would be in peak form,&rdquo; said Eagleson, &ldquo;but it was impossible to arrange it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-01

Canada Cup Already Money Maker; Pollock Likely To Draw On Champs

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01933/3625630-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLARK GILLIES&hellip; Led Isles In Goal Scoring</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;In terms of becoming a true National Hockey League power, the New York Islanders have most definitely arrived. During the regular season they joined the ranks of Montreal, Philadelphia, Boston, and Buffalo with 101 points. And in the playoffs they finished among the four best for the second year in a row.Now that the disappointment of being eliminated by the Montreal Canadiens has worn off, the Isles can sit back and look at their progress. And tryto evaluate what&rsquo;s in store in the immediate future.When asked what the Islanders had to do to improve on their somewhat surprising record of 1974-75, coach Al Arbour responded last October that, &ldquo;We need some more offensive. If we can take advantage of some more of our chances, we&rsquo;ll be among the best in the league.&rdquo;Thanks to the best power play in the league, the Islanders increased their total to 297 goals this season, up from 264 of a year ago. And instead of sacrificing defense, the Islanders allowed only 190 goals this season, compared with 221 in &rsquo;74&rsquo;75.The Islanders&rsquo; proficiency while a man to the good was not the only reason for the improvement. Rookie sensation Bryan Trottier just about accounted for the difference by himself as he posted 32 goals and 63 assists.Add to that the general improvement of young players with another (or one full) season under their belts, and you have a few more notches in the plus column. Billy Harris, for instance, finally cracked the 30 goal barrier, as did defenseman Denis Potvin. Rugged left winger Clark Gillies&mdash;only a sophomore&mdash;led the club with 34 goals.With the off-season now upon us, general manager Bill Torrey has an important decision to make. Should he go with his blossoming kids, or should he look elsewhere?It&rsquo;s generally accepted that if the Islanders need anything, it&rsquo;s a &ldquo;home run hitter,&rdquo; namely the guy who might do little else but put the puck in the net. There are a number of veteran lamplighters around that might be bought at the right price, but the tag would be high.&ldquo;We could have used a big scorer, but we could have done it ourselves if we had more of a killer instinct,&rdquo; said Torrey. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d pour it on, but just when we can put them away, we stop. But we&rsquo;re always looking around for ways to improve our team. There might be some changes made.&rdquo;It is possible that the Islanders might have a &ldquo;home run hitter&rdquo; around right now. Any member of the Trottier-Gillies-Harris&rsquo;line could potentially score 50. Each potted between 30 and 35 this year, and an improvement of only 10 next season could put any or all of them in the super star category.If Torrey decides to go shopping, it is almost certain that he will not offer any of his regulars as bait. That means he must go to market with the likes of Andre St. Laurent, Ralph Stewart, and defenseman Dave Fortier in his purse. Lome Henning has presumably reached &ldquo;untouchable&rdquo; atatus after his great performance as a penalty killer in &rsquo;75&rsquo;76. He was especially effective in the playoffs when he had to go it alone without Eddie Westfall, who was out with a broken foot.Torrey&rsquo;s ace up his sleeve could be offensive-minded defenseman Pat Price, who spent most of the season with Fort Worth in the Central League. Price was the young man who picked up a million dollar contract from the WHA a couple of years ago after being generally recognized as the best junior player in Canada.Price never quite lived up to his reputation in the WHA, and was signed as the Islanders&rsquo; number one pick last June. He could play-even star-for just about any team in the league, but he found it impossible to break the solid defensive lineup of Denis and Jean Potvin, Gerry Hart, Bert Marshall, Dave Lewis, and Fortier.Center Bob Bourne could be another expendable body, but the Islanders would be reluctant to give up on the speedster so soon. Bourne scored 16 goals as a rookie for the Isles two years ago. After missing most of training camp with a viral infection. Bob was shunted to Fort Worth where he enjoyed a fine season, making the second All Star team.Bourne has a world of speed, and when he&rsquo;s on the ice, things happen. All he needs is a little more stamina and a few more pounds.After establishing his reputation as a dealer last year with the acquisitions of Jude Drouin and J.P. Parise, Torrey has proven he only knows how to make one kind of a trade.Good ones. &#9632;

f0011-01

Islanders Still In Need Of A ‘Home Run Hitter’

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-01937/3625668-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2>A Few Good Signs</h2>TO A GAME AND A LEAGUE which had been kicked around a great deal during its playoffs because of violence, the classy final between the Montreal Canadians and Philadelphia Fivers was a bonanza to the National Hockey League.Although the Canadiens won the Cup in four games, all contests were taut and exciting, excellent demonstrations of major league hockey at its best.And, most important to the NHL&rsquo;s sagging prestige, only-two major penalties were called for fighting in the four games, the result of a little flare-up between Flyers&rsquo; Moose Dupont and Mario Tremblay of Canadiens.Not that the hockey lacked hitting and muscle. Both teams worked with considerable aggressiveness. There were lively battles in the corners but minus the cheap-shot garbage which has cluttered up the game so often in the past few seasons.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02807/3625661-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="506" height="570"><figcaption class="caption-body">SERGE SAVARD</figcaption></div>The day after the series ended, it was revealed that NHL president Clarence Campbell had recommended to the governors that some severe penalties be written into the rule books against the instigators of fights, including ejection from the game and suspensions on an escalating scale to repeat offenders.One governor, Bill Jennings of the New York Rangers, said that he wanted the penalties made even stiffer than Campbell had suggested. Jennings&rsquo; suggestion would just about end fighting in the game if adopted.Thus, there were some signs that hockey just might be dragged into the real world and the game returned to the hockey players. To bolster that view, several players, notably Serge Savard of the Canadiens, publicly declared that the violent aspects of the game had to go and the NHL Players&rsquo; Association plans a discussion of the subject at its annual meeting in June.Then, too, the New Westminster Bruins, a team which talked far more about its fighting skill than hockey ability, were upended in the Memorial Cup final.<h2>Another habitant Dynasty?</h2>THERE WAS A TENDENCY to turn the Cup final into a Philadelphia vs. the world situation. To many fans outside of Pennsylvania, the Flyers represented the bad guys while the Canadiens were the good side of the game and their victory was a triumph for clean living, motherhood and apple pie.Granted, the Canadiens are a splendid hockey team, the club with everything &mdash; superb speed, great skill, depth, size and aggressiveness. They were brilliantly coached by Scotty Bowman, who deployed his deep ben ch mast erful ly to counter just about everything the Flyers&rsquo; Fred Shero tried. In the concluding game, Bowman used 31 different line combinations.The brilliance of Canadiens&rsquo; three superb defensemen &mdash; Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe and Savard &mdash; in the end, was the deciding factor of the series. That troika of big, mobile men almost completely obliterated the Flyers&rsquo; trademark forechecking approach.&ldquo;To have three of the best six or seven defensemen in the world is one heckuva plus for a team,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; Bobby Clarke.<h2>An Example For The NHL</h2>ALTHOUGH THEY OFTEN DISPLAYED many of the bad things in the game as part of their act, the NHL owes a vote of thanks to the Flyers fortheir demonstration of what can be done to produce a winning team in these days of expansion dilution.The team is strictly a first-class operation. These days,&rdquo;only the Canadiens can assemble a roster with a player of great talent for every job. The others must draw the maximum from available talent and the Fivers certainly did that.They drafted shrewdly and traded wisely. Shero brought a new dimension to NHL coaching, first by adding two assistants, Mike Nykoluk and Barry Ashbee, then in producing the &ldquo;Shero system&rdquo;, with its total devotion to team play.The Flyer players accomplished a great deal through sheer hard work. No wonder they have such loyal fans. No paying customer at the Spectrum ever went away without being given his money&rsquo;s worth in effort which is all a fan can ask.But minus Bernie Parent and Rick MacLeish and with Clarke, Orest Kindrachuk and Gary Dornhoefer nursing injuries, the Flyers simply didn&rsquo;t have enough tocope with the Canadiens. &#9632;

f0012-01

FRANK ORR SAYS

<div class="byline">BY BILL HEUFELDER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03632/3625699-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">VIC HADFIELD&hellip; Keeping Production Up</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH &mdash;The skeptics who decided there weren&rsquo;t any more hockey moves in Vic Hadfield when the New York Rangers traded him to Pittsburgh two years ago, finally are right.Having just completed his 13th full season in the National Hockey League, Hadfield has been immobilized by a full-length cast on his right leg after undergoing surgery.Hadfield will wear the cast for another month, then the skeptics can withdraw once more because the 36-year-old left winger intends to kept skating with the Penguins, who have benefited greatly from his services the past two seasons.The former Ranger captain, acquired in a lopsided deal that sent defenseman Nick Beverley to New York, has enjoyed back-to-back 30-goal campaigns. It&rsquo;s the kind of productivity that doesn&rsquo;t suggest any thoughts of retirement.Hadfield is not surprised by what he has accomplished with the Penguins. &ldquo;I never felt like I was going downhill,&rdquo; he said. I thought I could still score 30 or 35 goals, which I was able to do.&ldquo;I saw no reason when I left New York why I couldn&rsquo;t have a good year and maybe be able to influence some of the younger players with Pittsburgh. If I could help them, I thought I&rsquo;d be doing my job.&rdquo;He has kept steady company with center Ron Schock, although there have been a variety of right wingers since Rick Kehoe held down the position in 1974-75 after coming over from the Toronto Maple Leafs.Reflecting on his two-year stay, Hadfield is pleased with his situation. He has one more season remaining on a rich, five-year pact signed while in New York and figures there may be more playing years for him when it expires.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to continue playing as long as I can contribute something,&rdquo; Hadfield explained.More specifically, he hopes to remain with the Penguins indefinitely. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to stay either as a player or in the front office,&rdquo; Hadfield continued. &ldquo;We love Pittsburgh. We have our home here and we don&rsquo;t have one anywhere else.&ldquo;I feel real good. I still enjoy flying, and meeting people, so I want to play as long as lean.&rdquo;Hadfield was not in the best of health after slamming into a goalpost during the past season. The collision caused a recurrence of a knee injury on Pittsburgh&rsquo;s last regular-season trip into Toronto.&ldquo;I caught my skate in a rut in the ice,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In the playoffs. I could even skate on the knee. I tried to play, to help the club in some way, but I couldn&rsquo;t turn on the knee.&rdquo;Clearly outplayed in the first-round playoff opener at Toronto, the Penguins came home with their work obviously cut out for them. Hadfield, despite his dam aged knee, battled Darryl Sittier in the opening minute and his spirited performance caught on among his teammates.Consequently, the Penguins tied the series and forced a third game that the inspired, closechecking Maple Leafs won on their home ice.After the season, Hadfield went into surgery to repair torn ligaments in the knee and a torn capsule.In his first post-operative checkup, doctors expressed satisfaction that the knee was mending properly and Hadfield, his spirits uplifted, looked forward to a rehabilitation program in preparation for another season.He&rsquo;ll make use of the Super Bowl champion Steelers&rsquo; weight facilities at Three Rivers Stadium and run.A new season excites him. &ldquo;With the bunch of guys in Pittsburgh, we have the nucleus for a fine hockey club,&rdquo; Hadfield says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to be a part of it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-03

Hadfield Expects To Play Regularly With Penguins

<div class="byline">BY JACK McCARTHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01910/3625730-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Boston coach Don Cherry, loft, knows the Bruins can turn it around even more next season if he has his ailing super star Bobby Orr back on the firing line. Orr hopes to return after missing almost entire 1975-76 season following knee surgery.</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;Any gent who has been around the sportswriting dodge long enough has spent his share of time sitting in a darkened room with a football coach, watching films endlessly - back and forth, and forth and back as the coach backs up the film with a &ldquo;clicker&rdquo;, and runs the games over and over in slow motion.This summer coach Don Cherry of the Bruins intends to do the same thing with television tapes, which were taken by the Boston television station, Channel 38.Although Cherry has been coach of the year in two leagues in three of the last four years, and has won both THE HOCKEY NEWS and NHL Broadcasters Association awards this year, he will not be content until he wins the Stanley Cup.To that end, he is prepared to work throughout the summer, looking for weak spots and noting where he can introduce some new wrinkles.The best wrinkle of all would be the return of Bobby Orr, but until that does or doesn&rsquo;t happen, and Cherry says Orr wants to come back to Boston, the coach must do with what he has.He says, &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t try new things, you are stagnating.&rdquo; Cherry set a definite style, or plan of play for the Bruins, and it paid off with the Adams Division title. Despite the fancy terms used for his style, he says it is just plain, old, hard-working position play, up-and-down.Cherry says that he figures the Bruins are about 60 percent along the way with his plan to turn the team around. One of the things he wants is more accurate shooting.One of the reasons the Bruins were beaten by the Flyers in the Stanley Cup semi-final was that they couldn&rsquo;t put the puck in the ocean. He notes that the Bruins had as many chances as the Flyers, but just didn&rsquo;t capitalize on them.While old Bruin Reggie Leach was sniping away for a fantastic shooting percentage, the Bruins were missing. Says Cherry, &ldquo;That is something that is going to be corrected in training camp. We&rsquo;ll begin working on it right away.&ldquo;Even when the players are just fooling around in a practice or in a warmup, the guys who are not putting the puck on the net who are missing too much, will hear about it.&ldquo;When we needed the K.O. punch against the Flyers for a crucial score, we didn&rsquo;t have anybody who could produce it&hellip;&rdquo;Cherry is happy with having won those awards, but he doesn&rsquo;t believe that coaches are geniuses. &ldquo;A man has to keep a sense of perspective. A coach doesn&rsquo;t get anywhere without the right players&hellip;&rdquo;So coach Cherry will spend his summer watching those tapes noting not only the Bruins, but the opposition, also.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not ashamed to pick up some ideas from other people, and I like some of Fred Shero&rsquo;s ideas, for example.&rdquo;Cherry knows the Bruins still have a way to go to get the Stanley Cup, and he will go the movie route to try and get every advantage he can.GM Harry Sinden, meanwhile, will be working on making some moves with personnel. Don&rsquo;t be surprised if the Bruins trade, and not only because of the Ken Hodge situation, either.As far as young players getting into the act next season. Cherry says that the opportunity is there for some youngsters to make this club. Which is a change in itself from the Boston set-up going into training camp over the years. &#9632;

f0013-01

Cherry To Use TV Tapes In Planning For Next Year

<div class="byline">Bill Fleischman&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01920/3625768-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="274" height="442"></div>BOBBY CLARKE, Bill Barber, Jimmy Watson, Tom Bladon, Alan MacAdam, Bill Clement, Larry Goodenough, Mel Bridgman, Don Saleski, Dave Schultz &mdash; all are established NHL players, either with the Philadelphia Flyers or other teams.They are also all Flyers&rsquo; draft choices. When the foundation of a two-time Stanley Cup winner is drawn from the amateur draft, some people are obviously doing something right.The Flyers&rsquo; outstanding draft record is a combination front office - field success. Board chairman Ed Snider provides the finances and encouragement, GM Keith Allen and personnel director Marcel Pelletier supply leadership and decision making and combine scouts Alex Davidson, Jerry Melnyk and Eric Colville in the shrewd judgment needed to select players such as Clarke, Barber, Watson and the others.A few years ago, with Snider&rsquo;s blessing, the Flyers added a computer to their scouting lineup. Teams using the computers of California-based Optimum Systems Inc. believe the expense (as much as $20,000 a year just for the computer&rsquo;s use) is worth every thousand-dollar bill. But, as John Brogan, the Flyers&rsquo; publicist who doubles as scouting aide, says, &ldquo;The computer is no better than the information that&rsquo;s fed it by the scouts.&rdquo;Just how do the scouts compile their reports? What do they look for? Come along with Eric Coville as he visits an arena in Sherbrooke, Kitchener or Medicine Hat.&ldquo;THE FIRST THING I look for is size,&rdquo; said Coville. &ldquo;Then, does he want to play, does he have the extra desire to learn? Then I go for hockey ability. You can overcome a lot of deficiencies if you want to play. Bobby Clarke is the greatest example of that.&ldquo;I talk a lot to the trainers. They&rsquo;ll tell you a lot about the players. Talking about one player who is eligible for this year&rsquo;s draft, a trainer told me, &lsquo;Unless he has 10 dozen rolls of tape he won&rsquo;t play.&rsquo; One night I was watching a kid we like. He wasn&rsquo;t having a very good game. Later, the trainer told me the kid was so banged up he shouldn&rsquo;t be playing. Right away, a kid like that impresses you.&rdquo;Coville admitted scouts develop personal preferences. And when another team drafts a lad you&rsquo;ve been hoping your club will take, it hurts.&ldquo;Sure it&rsquo;s disappointing. A couple&rsquo; of years ago I really hoped we&rsquo;d get Eric Vail. When I heard Atlanta took him I felt bad. But that&rsquo;s the year we got Larry Goodenough and he&rsquo;s turned out fine.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02780/3625761-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="1108" height="1288"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mel Bridgman wasn&rsquo;t every body&rsquo;s No. 1 pick on their 1975 draft list but the Flyers grabbed him as their top choice because he could help them right away. Bridgman proved that in his rookie year with Philadelphia this season.</figcaption></div>Every year a team&rsquo;s needs change. Marcel Pelletier, who has served as Keith Allen&rsquo;s right-hand man since the first Flyers&rsquo; T-shirt was created reviewed the club&rsquo;s key drafts.&ldquo;In 1969 we wanted big players. Bob Currier was our first pick. He was a center, he had size and he could skate. That year, the second guy (Clarke), saved our butts.&ldquo;THE NEXT YEAR, we took Bill Clement first. He had size and was a good checker. He did a good job on (Gil) Perreault in junior. Bob Kelly was our second pick: tough, tried hard all the time. We thought we had a good one in Jacques Lapierre. He was the best defenseman in the Quebec League, but when he came to camp he said because he was French he wouldn&rsquo;t get a break. I told him, &lsquo;If that&rsquo;s your attitude, get your skates and go home.&rsquo; Now he&rsquo;s a carpenter.&ldquo;In &lsquo;71 Larry Wright was the best center in junior. But he got sick and never produced. We still think he can play in the NHL. Pierre Plante (now with St. Louis) is a good hockey player. Our last pick that year was (goalie Jerome) Mrazek. He was a longshot, still in college, but it looks like he&rsquo;ll make it.&ldquo;1972 was our best: Barber, Bladon, Watson and MacAdam We got Goodenough the next year Our second pick, Brent Leavins, oh, what a hockey player he&rsquo;d have been. But he banged up his ankle in a car accident.&rdquo;The only 1974 draft choice with the Fivers is Steve Short and he was taken on the 13th round! Short, a Paul Bunyan type from Minnesota, led the AHL in penalties. The Flyers also think their No. 6 pick in &lsquo;74, goalie Rejean Lemelin, has a chance at NHL employment.Last summer&rsquo;s draft produced Bridgman, and the promising threesome of winger Bob Ritchie, goalie Rick St. Croix and winger Paul Holmgren.&ldquo;Bridgman wasn&rsquo;t first on some teams&rsquo; lists,&rdquo; said Pelletier. &ldquo;But we felt he was the type of player who could help the Flyers.&rdquo;By the end of Bridgman&rsquo;s finaljunior season, the computer had him ranked first overall and first among centers. As Brogan says, &ldquo;At its worst, the computer could be a great filing system. But it&rsquo;s much more than that. Anybody can pick the top 10 juniors. The computer helps you make good picks in the third, fourth and fifth rounds.&rdquo;And the more a team wins, the more important those lower selections become. So far, the Flyers&rsquo; scouts and computer have a heckuva average. &#9632;

f0014-01

HOCKEY WORLD

OAKLAND&mdash;The California Seals have blamed a &ldquo;complete misinterpretation of the facts&rdquo; for a statement issued by the National Hockey League that Seals&rsquo; owner Mel Swig had decided to sell his franchise to interests outside the Bay Area.NHL president Clarence Campbell stated that Swig had informed the league of his intention &ldquo;to dispose of the franchise outside the Oakland area.&rdquo; The wire service story which quoted the NHL head referred to &ldquo;Swig&rsquo;s decision,&rdquo; and evoked an immediate denial from Swig and Seals&rsquo; president Munson Campbell.&ldquo;The statement simply does not reflect the true facts,&rdquo; said the Seals&rsquo; president. &ldquo;The real story is that Mr. Swig was merely protecting a right of resale or transfer of the franchise as guaranteed to him in the purchase agreement at the time he bought the club.&ldquo;The league is bound to an agreement with the Seals that give Mr. Swig a two-year period during which to make a decision to either re-sell the franchise or transfer it to another city, if he so decides. That decision may be made anytime up until June 1,1978.&ldquo;In order to be able to exercise that option, if and when the need arose, Mr. Swig had to give written notice to the NHL before May 15. If he had not given notice, he would have lost the right to re-sell. By sending the letter, Mr. Swig was merely exercising his right to keep his options open. The letter has absolutely nothing to do with his intended direction for his franchise, and no intention to move the club was either suggested or implied. Remember, we still have two years left on our contract with the Oakland Coliseum.&rdquo;The Seals&rsquo; President also declared that &ldquo;there is absolutely no deadline for Mr. Swig to keep the Seals in the Bay Area.&rdquo; He called a reference in the story to a Saturday, May 15 deadline for Swig &ldquo;To reach some decision on the future of his franchise&rdquo; as having no substance whatever.Although noting that Swig was &ldquo;extremely disappointed&rdquo; by the actions of San Francisco mayor George Moscone&rsquo;s special committee on Yerba Buena in voting 13-3 to keep the new&rsquo; sports arena under study, Munson Campbell stressed that &ldquo;Mel Swig has not given up on the operation of the Seals in the Bay Area, nor has he given up on the proposed building of the new sports arena at Yerba Buena Center. He does feel that the vote is an indication of the disinterest by politicians in the city for the arena. On the other hand, we know there are cities that have expressed a strong interest in obtaining this franchise.&rdquo;The Seals&rsquo; president went on to explain that Swig felt compelled to file his letter with the NHL because of the repeated delays in the finalization of plans for the Yerba Buena arena by the San Francisco city government. &ldquo;All he&rsquo;s doing is protecting his rights in the eventuality that Yerba Buena does not become a reality.&rdquo; &#9632;

Swig Says Seals Not Leaving Bay Area

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01727/3625830-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">When Fred Shero, left, hired Danny Nykoluk as his assistant coach two years ago it was the best move the Philadelphia head man ever made. Nykoluk, Barry Ashbee, another assistant, and Shero together have molded the Flyers into one of the NHL&rsquo;s best hockey clubs.</figcaption></div>LIUISVILIE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaPHILADELPHIA&mdash;With the demise of the Philadelphia Flyers as Stanley Cup champions, the longevity of the Flyers&rsquo; coaching triumvirate became an intriguing question.Despite the set back at the hands of the Canadiens no signs of dissension prompted interest in the futures of Fred Shero. Mike Nykoluk and Barry Ashbee. The three co-exist remarkably well.Shero keeps an almost invisible but firm hand on the ship&rsquo;s wheel while delegating considerable authority to his two aides. Many times, even during the playoffs, Shero would open practices at the University of Pennsylvania rink, then suddenly pull his famous &ldquo;phantom&rdquo; disappearing act to study game films at the Spectrum screening room.Nykoluk, at 41 nine years younger than Shero, has received deserved credit for the Flyers&rsquo; successful strategies and the improvement of young players such as Orest Kindrachuk and Don Saleski.When Nykoluk was mentioned as the next New York Rangers&rsquo; coach, Shero was asked if the easygoing, cigar-smoking Nykoluk could handle the New York pressure: the city, fans, the taperecorder armies who invade the dressing room.Shero nodded affirmatively, then said, &ldquo;Mike&rsquo;s tougher on the players than lam.&rdquo;As recently as a year ago, it was thought Nykoluk wasn&rsquo;t interested in a head coaching job in Philadelphia, New York or anywhere. The long-time Hershey Bears center had a virtual paradise: the prestige and financial rewards of working with a Stanley Cup Winner but with little pressure.Nykoluk hasn&rsquo;t campaigned for any chief supervisor jobs, but he has shown he is capable of handling such posts. And make no mistake about it: Nykoluk is qualified. Ashbee&rsquo;s adjustment to coaching has been much slower than his former Hershey teammate&rsquo;s. If it weren&rsquo;t for that tragic eye injury suffered in the 1974 Stanley Cup semi-finals, Ashbee, 36, would still be one of the NHL&rsquo;s premier defensemen.Even before his first season as Shero&rsquo;s assistant, Ashbee wanted to quit hockey. He saw no future for himself as a coach. What the 1974 second team NHL All Star didn&rsquo;t realize was the tremendous respect the Flyers&rsquo; players have for him. By the end of last season, Ashbee had settled into an important role in the Flyers&rsquo; scheme. The development of young defensemen such as Larry Goodenough, Tom Bladon and Jack Mcllhargey is largely the result of Ashbee&rsquo;s tutelage.Ashbee has progressed to the point he admits an interest in a head coaching job. But, he insists he&rsquo;s a year or two away from serious consideration of a top post. He&rsquo;s also very qualified.Which brings us to the master. Even though they gave up the Stanley Cup to Montreal, Shero and his associates turned in a superb coaching effort. Without Bernie Parent for nearly the entire season, without Rick MacLeish for the final 28 games plus playoffs, the Flyers still finished runner-up to Montreal in victories and total points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02625/3625823-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="550" height="835"><figcaption class="caption-body">BARRY ASHBEE &hellip; Head Coaching Job</figcaption></div>After the Canadiens had stunned nearly everyone, especially the Flyers, in sweeping the championship series, it was evident MacLeish&rsquo;s absence and Montreal&rsquo;s depth were too much for Philadelphia&rsquo;s grip on the cup.Shero was running out of tricks, but not ambition. He was expected to accept the Team U.S.A, coaching assignment for the Canada Cup world tournament. He planned a trip to Sweden to conduct clinics and. of course, learn new methods.Surely, Shero would continue leading the Flyers. The challenge of regaining their prominent position as NHL champions is what motivates the man. Something else prods him into the long hours of frequent agony that a coach endures.&ldquo;I think I enjoy suffering,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

f0016-01

Flyer Coaching Staff Co-Existing In Harmony

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01624/3625861-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">JUHA WIDING&hellip; Likely To Go In Trade</figcaption></div>LOSANGELES&mdash;Late in the season I did a story on Gene Carr, who was out of the Kings&rsquo; lineup from the first of this year on with a back injury. Because he was in the hospital recovering from surgery, we used some old quotes of his that he was &ldquo;psyched out&rdquo; and &ldquo;frustrated&rdquo; by his failure to score in the majors.When these sentiments were headlined, Gene and his wife Kathy were disheartened. &ldquo;That may be the way I felt a year or so back, but it is not the way I feel now,&rdquo; he said. Carr said he felt I should have checked the quotes out with him at the time of the story and he is right. So, how does he feel now?A sensitive soul, a reader and a poet who always found a lot in life away from arenas, Carr says, &ldquo;I never realized how much the game meant to me until I was forced out of it. I&rsquo;m frustrated now only by not being able to play.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not psyched out at all. I&rsquo;m psyched up. I believe I was just beginning to find myself when I got hurt. I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;ll come back next season, and I feel like my best years in the game are all in front of me.&rdquo;Carr is only 24. He is one of the swiftest skaters in this sport. He is a good defensive forward. He was considered a prime prospect as an amateur, but has averaged only seven goals over five seasons as a major leaguer and been bounced from St. Louis to New York to L. A.A broken collarbone, a head injury and now this back ailment have made him miss many games. He scored only seven goals while playing all 80 games last season, but had eight in 38 games before being hurt this season.He says, &ldquo;I lost my touch in New York where I rusted away. I was getting it back in L.A. when I was switched from center to left wing. I think I had it back this season and theen I got hurt.&ldquo;I think I can score 20 to 25 goals a season and with the other things I can contribute to a club that should be enough.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m one of those players who doesn&rsquo;t appreciate the game until it&rsquo;s taken away from him.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been going crazy not playing. I read a lot and go to the beach a lot, but I don&rsquo;t swim. Not because of my back, because of &ldquo;Jaws&rdquo; I keep thinking of shark Don&rsquo;t you?&ldquo;Anyway, all those things I alwaysliked to do outside of hockey aren&rsquo;t enough for me now. Maybe later in my life. Right now hockey is my life.&ldquo;Kathy is with me all the way. She keeps my spirits up. She&rsquo;s a good hockey wife.&ldquo;When I went into surgery I knew if it wasn&rsquo;t successful I might not walk again. I was scared but all I worried about was playing hockey again.&rdquo;The injury was a ruptured disc which leaked fluid, formed a knot on the spinal nerve, and affected his left leg.He says, &ldquo;The leg hurt a lot before surgery, but only a little since. I&rsquo;m a little stiff, but loosening up. I&rsquo;ll start to skate soon. The season has just ended, but I can&rsquo;t wait for next season. All I ask is the chance to win my job back in training camp. I belong at center, but I&rsquo;ll play anywhere they want me just so I play.&rdquo;There may be openings at both center and left wing, pending deals.Marcel Dionne and Butch Goring are set at center, but Vic Venasky could be vulnerable and Juha Widing could be leaving.Wasted two and a half years, Mike Corrigan came through after being given a left-wing slot on Dionne&rsquo;s line, but Tom Williams, slowed by a back injury, did not approach his potential as a scorer, while Bob Berry may be outward bound.The right-handed Williams loses time turning around to slapshoot and probably would be better on right wing.Here, Mike Murphy and Don Kozak are incumbents, but not above being beaten out. Aging Bob Nevin no longer should be asked to take a regular shift and kill penalties, too.At 32 and 28, respectively, Berry and Widing went into this past season as the team&rsquo;s all-time leaders in goals and points. Each had averaged 25 goals for five prior seasons but both slowed and slipped. Widing was not even dressed during the playoffs. They still have hockey left in them, but it may be played elsewhere.Add Sheldon Kannegiesser to those two and goaler Gary Edwards as Kings who will be offered in trade. Balance is badly needed on the back-line where Bob Murdoch is the only right-handed defenseman, while the only hitters, Dave Hutchison did not prove he could play and Gary Sargent did not get much chance to play, none at all in the playoffs.Sargent could become a star, but the feeling is if Pulford does not agree to play him full-time next season the youngster should be used in trade to one of several teams which want him. One might be Boston where he would be part payment for Bobby Orr, who wants to come to L.A.Manager Jack Milford wants muscle up front, but owner Jack Kent Cooke wants genius on the back-line. Cooke will start trying to satisfy Orr&rsquo;s agent Alan Eagleson on June 1, but it will be a big gamble if he has to give up top talent to satisfy the Bruins. Orr&rsquo;s talent is tops and combined with Dionne and goaler Rogie Vachon would make this club a contender. However, a fellow who hurts his knee walking through hotel lobbies is not a real good bet.One would hate to see this team stripped of its most promising players with such a wager at a time it is starting to be a team, together and improving.Gene Carr is not the only King wondering what this summerand next winter will bring. &#9632;

f0017-01

Carr Among Many Kings Hoping, Looking Ahead

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01635/3625983-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="748" height="942"></div>Warning: Health and Welfare Canada advises that danger to health increases with amount smoked - avoid inhaling. Av. per cigarette: Regular: 16mg. &ldquo;tar l.2mg. nicotine. King: 18mg. tar 1.4mg. nicotine.<h2>SERIES &lsquo;A&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02512/3625976-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="579" height="77"></div>(Buffalo wins best-of-three series 2-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. April 6Buffalo 2 at St. Louis 5Thu. April 8St. Louis 2 at Buffalo 3Fri. April 9St. Louis 1 at Buffalo 2<h2>SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03384/3625969-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="575" height="80"></div>(Islanders wins best-of-three series 2-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 6Vancouver 3 at N.Y. Islanders 5Thu. April 8N.Y. Islanders 3 at Vancouver 1<h2>SERIES &lsquo;C&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04284/3625962-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="578" height="76"></div>(Los Angeles wins best-of-three series 2-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 6Atlanta 1 at Los Angeles 2Thu. April 8Los Angeles 1 at Atlanta 0<h2>SERIES &lsquo;D&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05215/3625955-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="577" height="78"></div>(Toronto wins best-of-three series 2-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 6Pittsburgh 1 at Toronto 4Thu. April 8Toronto 0 at Pittsburgh 2Fri. April 9Pittsbirgh 0 at Toronto 4<h2>SERIES &lsquo;E&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06176/3625948-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="582" height="76"></div>(Montreal wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETE</h3>Sun. April 11Chicago 0 at Montreal 4Tue. April 13Chicago 1 at Montreal 3Thu. April 15Montreal 2 gt Chicago 1Sun. April 18Montreal 4 at Chicooo 1<h2>Series &lsquo;F&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07151/3625941-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="579" height="76"></div>(Philadelphia wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Man. April 12Toronto 1 at Philadelphia 4Tue. April 13Toronto 1 at Philadelphia 3Thu. April 15Philadelphia 4 at Toronto 5Sat. April 17Philadelphia 3 at Toronto 4Tue. April 20Toronto 1 at Philadelphia 7Thu. April 22Philadelphia 5 at Toronto 8Sun. April 25Toronto 3 at Philadelphia 7<h2>SERIES &lsquo;G&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-08126/3625934-1-eng-US/f0018-082.jpg" title="f0018-08" width="577" height="76"></div>(Boston wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. April 11Los Angeles 0 at Boston 4Tue. April 13Los Angeles 3 at Boston 2Thu. April 15Boston 4 at Los Angeles 6Sat. April 17Boston 3 at Los Angeles 0Tue. April 20Los Angeles 1 at Boston 7Thu. April 22Boston 3 at Los Angeles 4Sun. April 25Los Angeles 0 at Boston 3<h2>SERIES &lsquo;H&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-09107/3625927-1-eng-US/f0018-092.jpg" title="f0018-09" width="583" height="84"></div>(Islanders win best-of-seven series 4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. April 11Islanders 3 at Buffalo 5Tue. April 13Islanders 2 at Buffalo 3Thu. April 15Buffalo 3 at Islanders 5Sat. April 17Buffalo 2 at Islanders 4Tue. April 20Islanders 4 at Buffalo 3Thu. April 22Buffalo 2 at Islanders 3<h2>SERIES &lsquo;I&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1094/3625920-1-eng-US/f0018-102.jpg" title="f0018-10" width="583" height="76"></div>(Montreal wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 27Islanders 2 at Montreal 3Thu. April 29Islanders 3 at Montreal 4Sat. May 1Montreal 3 at Islanders 2Tue. May 4Montreal 2at Islanders 5Thu. May 6Islanders 2 at Montreal 5<h2>SERIES &lsquo;J&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1190/3625913-1-eng-US/f0018-112.jpg" title="f0018-11" width="578" height="81"></div>(Philadelphia wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 27Boston 4 at Philadelphia 2Thu. April 29Boston 1 at Philadelphia 2Sun. May 2Philadelphia 5 at Boston 2Tue. May 4Philadelphia 4 at Boston 2Thu. May 6Boston 3 at Philadelphia 6<h2>SERIES &lsquo;K&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1282/3625906-1-eng-US/f0018-122.jpg" title="f0018-12" width="576" height="80"></div>(Montreal wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. May 9Philadelphia 3at Montreal 4Tue. May 11Philadelphia 1 at Montreal 2Thu. May 13Montreal 3 at Philadelphia 2Sun. May 16Montreal 5 at Philadelphia 3<h2>FINAL PLAYOFF SCORING</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1465/3625899-1-eng-US/f0018-142.jpg" title="f0018-14" width="573" height="2118"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1370/3625892-1-eng-US/f0018-132.jpg" title="f0018-13" width="1780" height="1969"><figcaption class="caption-body">Reg Leach of the Flyers climaxed a brilliant hockey season winning the Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the 1976 Stanley Cup playoffs. Leach scored a record 19 goals in 16 series games and coupled with his 61 regular season goals, gave him an overall total of 80 &mdash; another NHL mark.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

Final Stanley Cup Playoff Picture

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01456/3626028-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="508" height="454"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02340/3626021-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="463" height="463"></div>KANSAS CITY&mdash;The Kansas City Scouts appeared to have played their last game of major league hockey in this city after a last-ditch effort by the pro basketball team to save the club fell through.The Kansas City.Kings of the National Basketball Association had come to the rescue of the hockey Kings but were unable to win a compromise with city officials on a lease for Kemper Arena, where both the Scouts and Kings perform. As a result the Kings dropped out of the bidding for the National Hockey League franchise, which has been plagued with financial problems from the start.William E. Clarkson, a representative of the mayor&rsquo;s office, said the decision effectively killed hopes of keeping the two-year-old Scouts in Kansas City.The Kings had requested the city to include in the hockey rental agreement for the arena a contingency clause. This allowed the hockey club to break its lease for a $130,000 payment if the club operated at a loss of $75,000 in any two of three years or a $250,000 loss in any one of those vears.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03280/3626014-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="1174" height="1501"><figcaption class="caption-body">THE SUPER CHIEF: You may not recognize him as one of your ordinary NHL super stars but movie actor Paul Newman shows off his best skating form as a member of the &lsquo;Chiefs&rsquo; during the recent filming of the hockey oriented movie &lsquo;Slap Shot&rsquo; in which Newman plays the lead role of a veteran hockey player. The film, produced by Universal Studios, was filmed in Johnstown, Pa., and features many past and active members of the Johnstown Jets of the North American Hockey League. Newman, a non-skater, perfected his ice skating technique through hours of patient practice sessions for the movie.</figcaption></div>City officials, who earlier agreed to drop a clause that would have made the hockey club responsible for the balance of a $10-million bond issue to finance the arena if it left the city, refused to meet the Kings&rsquo; final demand, which came the day before the proposed sale had been scheduled to go before the NHL board of governors.&ldquo;I feel like I have been hit over the head with a ball bat,&rdquo; said Clarkson. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see any way hockey can be saved for Kansas City. I think it is over with. It is so late to try and save it at this time.&rdquo;Sources close to the NHL said the Kings were turned down by the NHL. The source said the Kings had offered to assume only 50 cents of each dollar of the deficit.Kings&rsquo; president Joe Axelson said in assuming the operations of the Scouts, which lost more than $5-million in two years, the owners of the basketball club wanted to feel free to dispose of the franchise if they were unable to turn the hockey club into a successful venture.&ldquo;This is the last thing the Kings&rsquo; group would do, but it is a contingency against which the group had to protect its investors and lenders,&rdquo; Axelson said.There has been speculation the Scouts will be moved to some other city by the NHL. The California Seals appear to have decided to remain in the Bay Area and the way could be opened to shift the Scouts to Denver, which wanted the Seals in the first place. &#9632;

f0020-01

K.C. Kings Drop Bid On Hockey Scouts

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01300/3626090-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="576" height="734"></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

How Capitals Finished Year

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01326/3626121-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">One of the big pluses for GM-coach Phil Maloney this past season was luring John Gould away from the WHA and back to the Canucks. Gould turned up as a 32-qoal scorer for the club.</figcaption></div>VANCOUVER &mdash;Vancouver Canucks may not have advanced past the first round of the National Hockey League playoffs, but that is not to say they didn&rsquo;t have a most successful season where it counts.Where it counts is the bottom line, or the balance sheet of one of the soundest franchises in the league.The Canucks made money this past season as opposed to the year previous, when, although they had packed houses at every game and standing room tickets sold for most, they lost money on what has to be the highest travel budget in the league and their minor league operation in Seattle.The Canucks lost over $500,000 in one year&rsquo;s operation in Seattle last year, a situation they rectified this year by operating in Tulsa of the Central League. The fact that the Oilers, co-operated with the Atlanta Flames, won the Central League title didn&rsquo;t hurt the Canucks balance sheet any either.Other main factors in a better economic year for the club were higher ticket prices and fewer players under contract over the season. The 72,000 miles travelled by the West Coast club still takes the largest chunk out of the budget besides players salaries, and that is something that cannot be helped unless someone plans on drawing a new map of the North American continent.Ticket prices were upped $2 across the board to a tops of $10 for all red seats, a factor which upped revenues close to 20 percent over the previous season.Figures released for the first six months Feb. 28, by the club showed a net earnings position of $600,000 based on revenues of $5.5 million. The operating expenses of which travel certainly takes the most brutal chunk along with today&rsquo;s bloated salaries covered $4.3 million. Interest income was $.2 million and earnings before taxes were 1.3 million. Taxes took .7 million and left the club in the position of having made their .6 million profit. The second six months should be considerably more encouraging.For next season, the club is close to signing a television deal with the Canadian Television Network to have some games home and away, telecast on Wednesday evenings a move which should generate further revenue in addition to what the team gets out of Hockey Night in Canada.And it is expected that last season&rsquo;s success and prospects for increased revenue will affect the club&rsquo;s policy for pursuing players that can help the team on the ice.Meanwhile, rumor has it in Vancouver that Orland Kurtenbach, Tulsa&rsquo;s coach the last season, may accept the job as coach with the Canucks, with Phil Maloney remaining on as general manager.Although the idea has considerable merit in that Maloney is a good friend of Kurtenbach&rsquo;s and the two would undoubtedly be able to work well together, it remains strictly rumor at this point.Kurtenbach, who remained in Tulsa well after the season was over to let his children finish school where they began the term, would probably love to coach in the NHL, but Vancouver is not too likely in that Maloney has done an extremely creditable job.Further, he has made it quite clear that he would prefer to have Kurtenbach stay another year with the team in Tulsa if he is to stay in the Vancouver organization. At the same time though, he has said that he does not intend to stay in Kurtenbach&rsquo;s way if indeed another NHL coaching job comes along from another city.Maloney has also made it quite clear that he enjoys the position of general manager and coach in Vancouver even though the work load is considerable and the dual role does have its special problems.Maloney, who has an Irish temper which can be lit by a short fuse, seems to have the ability to motivate most of the players and it&rsquo;s unlikely the board of directors will go for the idea of a new coach. Why should they? It would mean another salary and Kurtenbach has not yet proved he can coach in the NHL whereas Maloney has been the most successful coach in the team&rsquo;s six-year NHL history&mdash;a history which has had more than a few changes. &#9632;

f0022-01

Canucks’ Financial Success Now Something To Bank On

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01307/3626159-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BREAK FOR TEE-TIME: Seals&rsquo; center Dave Gardner, right, greets Stanford University football coach Jack Christiansen during recent 8th annual Palo Alto celebrity golf tournament in California. Gardner, with a seven handicap, finished third in large field with a net 71. He is key pivot on Seals&rsquo; power play during hockey season.</figcaption></div>OAKLAND&mdash;The man who figured in no less than a half-dozen repords for the California Seals this season promises to be right back in the spotlight when the curtain goes up on the 1976-77 National Hockey League campaign.Little Dennis Maruk, the 5-8, 165 pound buzzsaw pivot who jumped right from junior ranks to center the highest scoring line in Seals&rsquo; history, hopes to be a key figure as California sets out to build upon the solid base of improvement it displayed in its recordbreaking 1975-76 campaign.Diminutive Dennis, along with wingers Al MacAdam and Bob Murdoch, spearheaded the offensive drive that helped the team become the highest-scoring California squad in history. The 3M-Line tallied 84 goals, one-third of the club&rsquo;s entire production of 250 scores. Of that total, Maruk collected 30 goals, while MacAdam had 32 and Murdoch 22.&ldquo;Heck, I&rsquo;ll probably score 100 goals next year!&rdquo; kidded Dennis as he thought about his great rookie season. &ldquo;Seriously, it was a big thrill for me to score 30 goals in the NHL. Back at training camp last fall, I thought that if I was lucky. I might score 20 goals. That&rsquo;s a target many rookies shoot for and I thought I might make that.&rdquo;Why did things go so much better for Dennis than he had hoped? &ldquo;Well, there were a lot of reasons.&rdquo; he reports. &ldquo;First of all, I had a lot of help out there. Al and Bob are great on the wings and once we got a system going, everything started to fall into place. When we first got together last fall, everybody was sort of playing for themselves, but then Jack (coach Jack Evans) got us playing a solid system and that&rsquo;s when we clicked.&rdquo;The 3M line &ldquo;clicked&rdquo; to the extent of becoming a consistent threat around the enemy nets. The unit notched 24 power play goals (over one-third of the team&rsquo;s clubrecord total of 71); 11 game-winning goals and nine shorthanded goals. MacAdam led the Seals in game-winning markers with five. Maruk and Murdoch had three apiece, while Murdoch led the club in power play tallies with nine. MacAdam had eight and Maruk seven.The 20-year-old Maruk is often compared to brilliant Marcel Dionne because of the latter&rsquo;s size, 5-9, 170 and because he broke Dionne&rsquo;s scoring records while on his way to being named the most valuable player in the Ontario Hockey Association&rsquo;s Major Junior circuit. Maruk harvested 66 goals and added 79 assists for 145 points with the London Knights in 1974-75. Dionne&rsquo;s single-season high in the same league was 6281&mdash;143. In his rookie NHL season with Detroit, Dionne scored 28 goals.Of the four club records he owns outright, Dennis is probably proudest of his five shorthanded tallies, an NHL record for rookies. His other all-time team marks include: most points by a rookie (62); most assists by a rookie (32); and most goals by a center (30). He shares the record for most goals in one game (4) with three other players, including Gary Sabourin from this year&rsquo;s club.Maruk, the Seals&rsquo; second-round draft choice in 1975, figures that next season will be even better. &ldquo;We know we can score goals and win games,&rdquo; said Dennis, who was voted the team&rsquo;s &ldquo;Most Popular Player&rdquo;, &ldquo;so now it&rsquo;s just a case of sticking to our system and getting the experience we need.&ldquo;As for myself&mdash;I&rsquo;ve always dreamed of scoring 50 goals in one season in the NHL. It might take me a couple of years to correct some of the mistakes I&rsquo;m still making, but I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s beyond my reach. I like to gamble too much. If I play a little steadier, I could score 50 goals,&rdquo;Centering the best line in the nine-year history of the club has helped Dennis to mature quickly. &ldquo;A lot of things have helped me.&rdquo; he relates. &ldquo;The rest of the team would always keep me calmed down when I got moody and, of course, the coach has really helped me a lot. He&rsquo;s great and he&rsquo;s really pulled this club together. We have confidence in ourselves now.&rdquo;In other club developments, two veteran members of the Seals are recovering from successful operations. Defenseman-captain Bob Stewart, and right winger Gary Sabourin entered Merritt Hospital in Oakland to correct nagging ailments.Dr. Tom Richmond, Seals&rsquo; team physician, revealed that Stewart had surgery to remove a damaged cartilage from his right knee, the same knee that was operated on last summer to mend a torn ligament.&ldquo;Bob was bothered near the end of the season when the cartilage injury became aggravated,&rdquo; said Dr. Richmond. &ldquo;The ligament was in good shape. He&rsquo;ll need about a month of reconditioning and rehabilitation.&rdquo;Sabourin, who enjoyed his best NHL campaign in his first season as a Seal, suffered a bothersome ailment that called for the removal of a neuroma, or growth on a nerve, on his foot. It was the second trip to, the hospital in less than two months for Sabourin, who underwent an appendectomy during the last week of the regular schedule.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02241/3626152-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="1171" height="1027"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENNIS MARUK&hellip; Little Man With Big Scoring Punch</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0023-01

Seals’ Hot Scoring Maruk Confident Of Future

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div>LIUISVILIE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & 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/f0024-01313/3626197-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="550" height="1228"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAT STAPLETON&hellip;Thinking It Over</figcaption></div>HARTFORD&mdash;The New England Whalers began the 1975-76 World Hockey Association season with questionable goaltending.Al Smith, who had guided them to three straight East Division championships and one World Trophy title, was excused by coach and general manager Jack Kelley after a contract squabbleThat left the work up to Christer Abrahamsson and Bruce Landon. The Whalers, to shorten a longstory, wound up in third place behind Indianapolis and Cleveland in the East this season.The goaltending was not the main reason as the Whalers suffered more than their fair share of injuries. But the netminding was not what it had been in the previous three campaigns.Thus, it was logical to assume the Whalers would not get very far in the playoffs this season. After all, one of the essential ingredients of a championship team is strong goaltending.And to make matters worse, the Whalers lost their top two goalies, Abrahamsson and Landon, to injuries entering the second round of post-season action. Tube time for the Whalers, eh?Uh-uh, brother. Just the opposite.Enter Robert (Cap) Raeder, a 22-year-old young man from the Boston suburb of Needham. After three seasons of stopping pucks for the University of New Hampshire, Raeder turned pro and put in a season in the-North American Hockey League.This 6-0, 180-pounder stepped between the pipes under the greatest of pressure when New England took on the Indianapolis Racers after disposing of Cleveland in the opening round.The Harpoonists squeezed by the Racers with Raeder racking up two shutouts. Then he took on the defending champion Houston Aeros and stopped them in the first game of their semi-final round series.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the storv of the playoffs,&rdquo; declared New England general manager Ron Ryan. &ldquo;He has been outstanding. We think he&rsquo;s going to be a great one in the future.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s very quick and very, very cool. He just doesn&rsquo;t get-flustered. He&rsquo;s been under oa tremendous amount of pressure and has handled it well. That year in the NAHL did a lot of good,&rdquo; continued Ryan.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s getting the chance to prove himself. And don&rsquo;t forget the guys are playing good defense for him. We had to tighten up a lot.&rdquo;Added coach Harrv Neale, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a cocky kid, but He&rsquo;s also a hard worker in practice. The other guys respect him. There isn&rsquo;t a player on the team who doesn&rsquo;t believe in him. You have to the way he&rsquo;s come through.&rdquo;The Aeros came back to win game two in Houston and the two teams split here before Houston won game five back in the Texas city.And even though the Whalers appeared on the brink of elimination, Ryan is extremely satisfied with his club&rsquo;s performance. &ldquo;We have come together well for the playoffs,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;We had so many injuries all vear long. This has been a very hectic year. We had a coach and general manager (Kelley) leave. Then we had another coaching change (when Neale succeeded Don Blackburn). But we never lost faith in the guys. When they were healthy, we knew we had a strong team.&rdquo;Neale, who began the season with the now defunct Minnesota Fighting Saints, took over under adverse circumstances - Blackburn was very popular here &mdash; and has done a fine job.Ryan thinks so, too. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be with us next year,&rdquo; the GM said, adding that Neale has signed a multi-year contract. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s done a great job. He&rsquo;s been a key factor in putting the team together.Things are definitely on the upswing with the Whalers, no matter what happens in the playoffs.INDIANAPOLIS: The Racers supposedly received a letter of retirement from ace defenseman Whitey Stapleton on May 12 according to general manager Jim Browitt.&ldquo;Pat Stapleton has advised us by letter of his intent to retire,&rdquo; Browitt said. &ldquo;Naturally, we&rsquo;re going to try and persuade him otherwise, but his communication would indicate he has finalized his plans. There is no dispute. The decision rested solely with Pat. We greatly regret his leaving the organization.&rdquo;The only problem with all this is that someone failed to mention it to Stapleton. When informed he had retired, Stapleton was as surprised as anybody. He did not say he would be back, either.The tow-headed defenseman has all summer to think about his immediate future. If he decides io retire, the Racers will miss him sorely. He was I he stabilizing force the Indiana skaters needed in back of the blueline.CLEVELAND: Crusaders&rsquo; owner Jay Morre was slapped with a couple of tax liens by the Internal Revenue Service totalling $355,000 on May 3. The liens were for failure to pay and withholding Social Security and unemployment taxes for part of 1975 and the first quarter of 1976.Moore also tookout a second mortgage on his $150,000 home in Shaker Heights for the purpose of securing two promissory notes from the Crusaders totalling slightly over $2.5 million.Moore is also seeking fresh working capital for the 1976-77 season, but has not been successful to date. He is looking for six investors to help him run the club, which he purchased from Nick Mileti a year ago last March.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02243/3626190-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="556" height="682"><figcaption class="caption-body">HARRY NEALE &hellip; Many Obstacles</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

Whalers Experienced Troubled Year But Rookie Raeder Proved Big Find

TORONTO&mdash;The Toros are dead in Toronto but there is renewed hope the WHA club will relocate elsewhere for the 1976-77 season.Latest report has owner John Bassett reducing his search for a prospective new home to two cities&mdash;Birmingham, Ala., and St. Paul, Minn.Bassett said he will make the decision on the Toros new home by June 17 but he said he already has a preference to locate in Birmingham because the city of St. Paul has too much sports competition during the hockey season.The Minnesota Fighting Saints, who folded their tent during the past WHA season, were located in a new arena in St. Paul and for a time were providing severe opposition to the NHL Minnesota North Stars in nearby Bloomington but the Saints failed to keep up their financial obligations and when player payrolls stopped coming, the Saints went marching out of St. Paul.Bassett said he would like to &lsquo;make a clean start for the Toros in &lsquo;Birmingham with a new 17,000 seat coliseum due to open in the fall. The Toros dropped a cool $4 million in their three-year operation in Toronto and Bassett decided to pull out of Maple Leaf Gardens where the club played this past season. &#9632;

Birmingham Or St. Paul New Home For Toros?

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01260/3626252-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Racers were both amazing and surprising this season as they won the East Division title and gave a good account of themselves in the playoffs. Some of the team stars&rsquo; goaler Michel Dion, helmeted Kim Clackson, Brian McDonald, Hugh Harris and Ted Scharf enjoy a moment of ecstasy after one of their many key victories in the tense stretch drive.</figcaption></div>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Sellout crowds of 16,040, a playoff attendance average of 12,199 and a seasonal average of nearly 9,000.Hockey indeed, has captured the citizenry of Indiana where the second year Racers today stand on the threshold of emerging the most viable franchise in the World Hockey Association.&ldquo;The season far exceeded our expectations,&rdquo; confessed president-general manager-James Browitt who, mindful of deficiencies. rebuilt the team midway through the campaign. &ldquo;We faced some critical junctures. but in the end the moves paid dividends.&rdquo;Those dividends came in the form of an eastern division championship, a first-ever achievement for a second-year expansion team that captured the heart of Indianapolis to the extent of a four-minute standing ovation in the final game of the season.That the final game was a seventh game 6-0 playoff def eat to New England mattered little to the Indianapolis fans. Their unique outpouring of faith in the Racers apparently was an expression ot appreciation that left coach Jacques Demers and his players thoroughly shaken with emotion&ldquo;It was an experience I&rsquo;ll never forget,&rdquo; said Demers, who. less than 24 hours later, signed a new multi-year contract with the Racers. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know there were hockey fans like this. We&rsquo;ve just blown the seventh game of the series we should have won and these people are standing behind us all the way? It was incredible.&rdquo;Reflecting on a year that saw the Racers capture 35 games as against a mere 18 in their baptismal season, Browitt&mdash;formerly executive director of the WHA&mdash;labeled the Indianapolis market area of one million plus as one of the most desirable in the country.&ldquo;The Racers proved conclusively that Indianapolis is major league,&rdquo; said Browitt. &ldquo;All indications are we&rsquo;ll more than double our season ticket sales.&rdquo;Majority owner and chairman of the board Paul H. Deneau, a WHA original who launched the Houston Aeros. is firm in his belief that the Indianapolis franchise has as much potential as any in hockey.&ldquo;Our gains, both in interest and attendance, over the first season clearly indicate the vitality of Indianapolis as a pro sports market.&rdquo; said Deneau.&ldquo;Involvement of local partners on the ownership level has cultivated community identity. The fans have demonstrated their preference and the players have responded accordingly.&rdquo;Demers, looking to next season, says Racers needs are minimal in light of the many acquistions made during the course of the recent campaign.&ldquo;We became noticeably stronger as the season progressed,&rdquo; said Demers, pointing to the likes of Davey Keon, Ronald Leclerc, Michel Parizeau, Bryon Baltimore, Darryl Maggs, Mark Lomenda, Francois Rochon, Jim Park, Hugh Harris, and Blair MacDonald.&ldquo;If we had started the season with the team that finished it, there is not doubt in my mind we would have won the division by 15 points.&rdquo;Few people in the WHA would dispute that claim. The Racers&mdash;in their final 20 games&mdash;went a remarkable 124-4, a finishing kick that lifted them from last to first in the WHA&rsquo;s only interesting race.&ldquo;Reassembling this club at training camp in September will be very interesting,&rdquo; added Demers. &ldquo;We now have the ingredients of a fine hockey club, one that most definitely is on the upswing.&rdquo;One concludes that recruitment of fresh talent is not one of Demers&rsquo; foremost worries.&ldquo;We have the nucleus,&rdquo; he matter-of-factly states. &ldquo;Sure we can use some strengthening. Who can&rsquo;t? A big high-scoring center is still our major need. Beyond that, we&rsquo;re in pretty good shape, particularly if we sign our No. 1 draft choice.&rdquo;That would be 20-year-old Bob Simpson, a left wing-center who delivered 56 goals and 77 assists last season for Sherbrooke in the Quebec Junior Hockey League. Simpson, a half inch shy of six feet and 190 pounds, is described by Demers as a good skater with a heavy shot.Three other draft picks&mdash;left wing Alex McKendry (Sudbury) defenseman Dave Dornseif (Providence College) and defenseman Jean Gagnon (Quebec Remparts) &mdash; also rank high in the potential department.Of concern to Demers, certainly, is the status of second team All Star Pat Stapleton. who advised the Racers through his agent that he has elected to exercise an option in his contract that provides for him not to play next season. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re hoping Pat will change his mind,&rdquo; offered Demers. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great defenseman.&rdquo;One area of little or no concern to Demers is goaltendingThe Racers, who gave up the fewest goals in the WHA last season, own no fewer than four on the parent roster&mdash;Michel Dion, Ed Dyck, who served last season in Europe, and Randy Burchell, who toiled in Mohawk Valley this past season.Dion, of course, and over the protest of Winnipeg coach Bobby Kromm, emerged the WHA&rsquo;s goaltender of the Year with a 2.74 average, as opposed to the Jets&rsquo; Joe Daley who finished up at 2.84.Dion, 22, in the opinion of many, should have been the WHA&rsquo;s rookie of the year. The fact that he wasn&rsquo;t certified as the goaltender of the year until a month after the season ended doubtless was a factor in the rookie balloting inasmuch as he finished second to Toronto&rsquo;s Mark Napier.&ldquo;Dion proved conclusively he&rsquo;s the best goaltender in the league,&rdquo; said Demers. &ldquo;With a power team like the Jets, he would have won 50 games. Every game with us was a pressure game. There were no laughers.&rdquo;It remained for big Jim Park, however &mdash; a late call-up from Mohawk Valley &mdash; to steal much of the goaltending thunder down the stretch and in the Racers&rsquo; seven-game series with New England.Park, who wound up working in 11 regular season games, went 6-4-0 with a goals against average of 2.41 and posted two shutouts in the playoffs.&ldquo;There is little doubt that Dion and Park are superstar material,&rdquo; said Browitt. &ldquo;Goaltending and defense will remain our strong points next season &mdash; and if we can get a 50-goal centerman we&rsquo;ll have the ingredients for a real fine hockey team.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0025-01

Club Exceeded Expectations On Ice, At Gate

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01265/3626381-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDERS HEDBERG&hellip; Has 10 Playoff Goals</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02212/3626374-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="1090" height="1178"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARTY HOWE&hellip; Two-Goal Performance</figcaption></div><h2>SERIES &lsquo;A&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03175/3626367-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="587" height="75"></div>(Winnipeg wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 9Edmonton 3 at Winnipeg 7Sun. April 11Edmonton 4 at Winnipeg 5Wed. April 14Winnipeg 3 at Edmonto 2Fri. April 16Winnipeg 7 at Edmonton 2<h2>SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04134/3626360-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="586" height="78"></div>(Calgary wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. April 10Calgary 3 at Quebec 1Sun. April 11Calgary 8 at Quebec 4Wad. April 14Quebec 2 at Calgory 3Fri. April 16Quebec 4 at Calgory 3Sun. April 18Calgary 6 at Quebec 4<h2>SERIES &lsquo;C&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05107/3626353-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="586" height="76"></div>(New England wins best-of-five series 3-0)Sat. April 10New England 6 at Cleveland 1Sun. April 11Now England 3 at Cleveland 2<h2>SERIES &lsquo;D&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0684/3626346-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="584" height="77"></div>(San Diego wins best-of-five series 3-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 9San Diego 2 at Phoenix 3Sat. April 10Phoenix 2 at Son Diego 4Tue. April 13San Diego 4 at Phoenix 6Thu. April 15Phoenix 1 at San Diego 5Sat. April 17San Diego 2 at Phoenix 1<h2>SERIES &lsquo;E&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0773/3626339-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="589" height="75"></div>(New England wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 16New England 4 at Indianapolis 1Sat. April 17New England 0 at Indianapolis 4Wed. April 21Indianapolis 0 at New England 3Fri. April 23Indianapolis 1 at New England 2Sat. April 24New England 0 at Indianapolis 4Tue. April 27Indianapolis 5 at New England 3Thu. April 29New England 6 at Indianapolis 0<h2>SERIES &lsquo;F&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0864/3626332-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="583" height="75"></div>(Houston wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 21San Diego 6 at Houston 8Fri. April 23San Diego 1 at Houston 3Sun. April 25Houston 8 at Son Diego 5Tue. April 27Houston 2 at San Diego 3Wed. April 28San Diego 3 at Houston 2Fri. April 30Houston 3 at San Diego 2<h2>SERIES &lsquo;G&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0958/3626325-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="588" height="77"></div>(Winnipeg wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 23Calgary 1 at Winnipeg 6Sun. April 25Calgary 2 at Winnipeg 3Wed. April 28Winnipeg 6 at Calgary 3Fri. April 30Winnipeg 3 at Calgary 7Sun. May 2Calgary 0 at Winnipeg 4<h2>SERIES &lsquo;H&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1055/3626318-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="590" height="77"></div>(Houston wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. May 5New England 4 at Houston 2Fri. May 7New England 2 at Houston 5Sun. May 9Houston 1 at New England 4Tue. May 11Houston 4 at New England 3Thu. May 13New England 2 at Houston 4Sat. May 15Houston 1 at New England 6Sun. May 16New England 0 at Houston 2<h2>SERIES &lsquo;I&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1152/3626311-1-eng-US/f0026-112.jpg" title="f0026-11" width="585" height="79"></div>(Winnipeg loods best-of-seven series 2-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. May 20Winnipeg 4, at Houston 3Sun. Moy 23Winnipeg 5, at Houston 4GAMES TO COMETue. May 25Houston at WinnipegThu. May 27Houston at WinnipegFri. May 28Winnipeg at HoustonSun. May 30Houston at WinnipegTue. June 1Winnipeg at Houston<h2>PLAYOFF SCORING</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1246/3626304-1-eng-US/f0026-122.jpg" title="f0026-12" width="586" height="309"></div><h2>SERIES &lsquo;I&rsquo;</h2>Thu. May 20WINNIPEG 4, HOUSTON 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1346/3626297-1-eng-US/f0026-132.jpg" title="f0026-13" width="587" height="423"></div>(Winnipeg leads best-of-seven series 1-0)Sun. May 23WINNIPEG 5, HOUSTON 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1442/3626290-1-eng-US/f0026-142.jpg" title="f0026-14" width="586" height="477"></div>(Winnipeg leads best-of-seven series 2-0).<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1539/3626283-1-eng-US/f0026-152.jpg" title="f0026-15" width="1198" height="892"><figcaption class="caption-body">ULF NILSSON&hellip; Leads Playoff Scorers</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

Avco Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02197/3626412-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY HULL&hellip; Man Of The Hour For Jets.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01248/3626419-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="122" height="337"></div>HOUSTON&mdash;The Houston Aeros might have thought they had been hit by a tornado but really the blow that knocked them reeling was delivered by one Robert Marvin Hull.The Golden Jet singlehandedlv put the defending Avco World Trophy champions solidly behind the eight ball in their best-of-seven championship final series by scoring the winning goal not once&mdash;but twice in the first two games of the series.Hull struck for the winner in game one at 16:43 of the third period as the Jets won 4-3 and hit again at 18:06 of the final period of the second game as Winnipeg emerged with a 5-4 decision.The twist of fate against the Aeros was such that they had to return to Winnipeg for games three and four of the final series trailing the Jets 2-0 making their task of holding on to their WHA title all the more difficult.The Aeros entered the series possibly odds-on-favorites to defeat the Jets because they were fresh from previous competition while the Jets had been sittinq idle in Winnipeg for more than two weeks awaiting the winner of the Houston-New England U.S. final series.Everyone was convinced the layoff would be critical for the Jets with the first two games on Houston&rsquo;s home ice. It seems the Jets had other ideas and instead of running away and hiding while they collected their skating legs again, they went on the offensive and won twice to the chagrin of over 30,000 Houston fans.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>The Jets began the series by forcing the Aeros to play catch up hockey as 14,794 spectators looked on. Twice Winnipeg went into leads of 2-1 and 3-2 only to have the Aeros battle back. Then in stepped Mr. Hull with game one deadlocked at 3-3 to notch the first of his winning goals on a setup play with Ulf Nilsson. The end came at 16:43 for the Aeros, who twice got come-from-behind goals from Mark Howe to send the teams into the dying minutes deadlocked.Frank Hughes scored the other Houston goal. Anders Hedberg counted twice and Duke Asmundson once for the Winnipeg scoring.If the Aeros thought the Jets might have merely got lucky in the first game they found out otherwise in the second game with an overflow crowd of 15,256 on hand urging the reigning WHA champs to go on and tie up the series before heading to Winnipeg and the next two games.But the Jets took the play to the Aeros and again Houston was looking up at deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before the tide turned temporarily for the home club. The Aeros blitzed the Jets at the start of the third period with Terry Ruskowski and Marty Howe, with his second goal of the game, sending Houston ahead for the first time but again the Aeros overlooked a fellow named Hull.Houston fans probably never thought that lightning would strike twice but it was Hull who came back to score the game winner with less than two minutes of regulation play left and overtime imminent after defenseman Thommie Bergman pumped a shot past Houston goaler Ron Grahame at 5:19 of the third period. Again the teams were tied on the scoreboard and again it was Hull who settled the decision with his 11th playoff goal. Bergman and Hedberg had a helping hand in Hull&rsquo;s goal and you could have cut the gloom in the Houston rink with a knife.Hedberg. with his 10th of the playoffs, Willy Lindstrom and Asmundson were the other Winnipeg scorers in the second game. Gordie Howe got the other Houston goal in addition to the two by son Marty and one by Ruskowski.The series swings back to Winnipeg for the next two games and Houston fans can only hope that the Aeros could pull off some sort of a miracle and bring the teams back to Houston for game five.No one was ready to predict a Winnipeg sweep but some Houston fans left the rink with the feeling that just maybe they had seen the last of their beloved Aeros for this season.Aeros&rsquo; coach Bill Dineen didn&rsquo;t think the series was over by a long shot. He admitted his club was weary from previous playoff action but was confident the team would put it together the rest of the way.Dineen contended the Aeros had been down before and come back. The Aeros had gone into the WHA finals against Winnipeg still a little surprised by the play of rookie goalkeeper Cap Raeder of the New England Whalers. To a man, the Aeros had nothing but admiration for the way the youngster performed against them in the league semi-finals.&ldquo;If we&rsquo;d been up against a normal goalie, we&rsquo;d have had at least a half dozen goals, but that Raeder is just amazing,&rdquo; said veteran Gord Labossiere after the Aeros stopped the Whalers 2-0 here in the deciding game of the best-of-seven U.S. finals. &ldquo;I think we had one of our better games ever but we only had two goals to show for it.&rdquo;Ron Grahame was in the Aeros&rsquo; nets to record his first shutout of this year&rsquo;s playoffs, but joined in the admiration for the young goaltender.&ldquo;He kept making those great saves and I knew I had to buckle down to do my best,&rdquo; said Grahame. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;ve been in a more tense game than this one.&rdquo;Grahame had a comparatively easytime, making 21 stops to 35 by Raeder. Raeder turned back 16 shots in the second period while Grahame handled only five.Poul Popiel and Mark Howe scored the Houston goals, Popiel getting the only one the Aeros needed at 7:49 of the first period. Gordie Howe assisted on both.Mark set up Popeil for a 25-foot slapshot and with 1:39 remaining, triggered the insurance goal. He raced the length of the ice, following a faceoff beside the Houston net, and slapped the puck past Raeder.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been down before, but in the last three years we&rsquo;ve always come up with the big game when we need it,&rdquo; said coach Bill Dineen. &ldquo;And they don&rsquo;t get much bigger than this one.&rdquo;After playing one of their worst playoff games in losing, 6-1 at Hartford the night before, the Aeros rebounded for one of their best.&ldquo;They were laughing at us at the end,&rdquo; said Grahame of the rout in Hartford. &ldquo;We knew we didn&rsquo;t work hard up there and we decided to give our best shot here.&rdquo;Raeder was again the single out - standing player as the Whalers took the sixth game to tie the series. He made 39 saves while Grahame stopped 22 and the Whalers scored three goals in the first five minutes. Tommy Webster scored his ninth and 10th goals of the playoffs. Don Larway spoiled Raeder&rsquo;s shutout with 6:30 left.The Popiel brothers did it for the Aeros in a 4-3 victory to tie the series at 2-2. Poul scored two power play goals and Jan took advantage of playing in his first game in almost three weeks for his playoff goal.The Aeros&rsquo; high scoring &ldquo;Go Go Line&rdquo; of Larry Lund, Frank Hughes and Andre Hinse was broken up anyway when Lund suffered a shoulder separation in the third game. &#9632;

f0027-02

Hull Scores Winner Twice As Jets Grab 2-0 Cup Lead On Houston Ice

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNELL</div>PHOENIX&mdash;The Roadrunners didn&rsquo;t have a pick in the first three rounds of the World Hockey Association draft of 20-vear-olds but director of player personnel Al Rollins declared: &ldquo;We got what we wanted.&rdquo;A pair of 20-year-old Finnish players were the top names on the Roadrunners&rsquo; list and they landed both.Kari Makkonen; 6-0, 183 pound left wing, and oluhani Wallenius, 6-1, 198-pound center, were selected in the fourth and fifth rounds on a conference telephone call hookup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01236/3626450-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="560" height="598"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDRE HINSE&hellip;Hot For Aeros</figcaption></div>The draft continues, picking up in the sixth round at Winnipeg later in the month and with Rollins declaring: &ldquo;There are some good hockey players left.&rdquo;Several, not drafted in the first five rounds, are rated among the top 10 at their positions by the Roadrunner scout ing system.&ldquo;Makkonen could step in and play in our league right now,&rdquo; Rollins said, &ldquo;where most of these kids coming out of the Canadian junior leagues can&rsquo;t. He was the outstanding player on the Finnish team in the recent world tournament at Poland. Indianapolis had him on their negotiation list last year but he was too young and the league made them take him off.&rdquo;The Roadrunners are training in Finland and playing a series of six pre-season games there in September.The Roadrunners had traded their first and third round choices to Edmonton for Barry Dean&rsquo;s rights last year and the second round choice to Winnipeg last year.Rollins had been working on several deals to acquire a first or second round choice but the hasty decision to hold the draft early, leaving five days to prepare, did not allow the Roadrunner personnel director enough time.Houston couldn&rsquo;t understand the hurry-up scheduling of the 20-year old draft by the World Hockey Association, but president Gordie Howe, coach and general manager Bill Dineen and assistant general manager Jack Stanfield prepared for it as best they could.They huddled over scouting reports on board an airplane to Hart - ford. Conn., for the sixth game of the U.S. finals.The Aeros, the New England Whalers and the Winnipeg Jets were more concerned with the playoffs than the draft.Having been penalized a first round pick by signing John Tonelli, 18, last year, the Aeros made Morris Lukowich, a right wing from Medicine Hat, their first choice in the second round. The 5-8, 165-pound winger scored 6575&mdash;140 totals in 72 games with 195 penalty minutes.Their other choices: Jim Roberts, left wing. Ottawa, 6-0, 195, 27-56&mdash;83 with 62 PIM in 64 games: Mike Fedorko, left defense, 6-0. 185, Hamilton. 019&mdash;19 with 96 PIM in 65 games; Larry Skinner, center, 5-11, 185, Ottawa, 37-78&mdash;115 with eight PIM in 58 games.The Aeros top awards for the regular season went to captain Ted Taylor and left wing Andre Hinse.Taylor won the William J. Godfred Memorial Awardasthe player who best exemplifies the spirit of the Aeros. Former winners were Larry Hale and Gordie Howe.Hinse was named the playmaker of the year, the guy who makes things happen when he comes on the ice. &#9632;

f0028-01

Runners Grab Finns Among 20-Year Olds In Draft By WHA

<h2>FIRST ROUND</h2>1. Toronto, forfeited. 2. Edmonton, Blair Chapman, Saskatoon Blades, WCHL. 3. Cincinnati Peter Marsh, Sherbrooke Beavers, QMHL. 4. New England forfeited. 5. Cleveland, Glen Sharpley, Hull Festivals, QMJHL. 6. Indianapolis, Robert Simpson, Sherbrooke. 7. San Diego, David Farrish, Sudbury Wolves, OHA. 8. Edmonton rereived from Phoenix, Bernie Fedorko, Saskatoon. 9. Cincinnati received from Calgary, Randy Carlyle, Sudbury. 10. Toronto received from Quebec Bjorn Johanson, Sweden. 11. Winnipeg, Thomas Gradin, Sweden. 12. Houston forfeited.<h2>SECOND ROUND</h2>1. Quebec received from Toronto, Rick Green, London Knights, OHA. 2. Toronto, received from Edmonton, Kent Nilsson, Sweden. 3. Cincinnati, Don Murdoch, Medicine Hat Tigers, WCHL. 4. New England, Mike Fidler, Boston University. 5. Cleveland, Rod Schutt, Sudbury. 6. Indinapolis, Alex McKendry, Sudbury. 7. Cincinnati received from New England, received from San Diego, Greg Carroll, Medicine Hat. 8. Winnipeg received from Phoenix, Clayton Pachal, New Westminster Bruins, WCHL. 9. Calgary, David Shand, Peterborough Petes, OHA. 10. Quebec, Robert Manno, St. Catharines Block Hawks, OHA. 11. Winnipeg, Tom Rowe, London. 12. Toronto received from Houston, Peter Lee, Ottawa 67s, OHA. 13. Houston received from Minnesota Fighting Saints-disbanded, Morris Lukowich, Medicine Hat. 14. San Diego received from Edmonton, Romano Cariucci, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHA.<h2>THIRD ROUND</h2>1. Toronto, Paul Gardner, Oshawa Generals, OHA. 2. San Diego received from Cincinnati, Mark Suzor, Kingston Canadians, OHA. 3. New England, Fred Williams, Saskatoon. 4. Cleveland, Jeff McDill, Victoria Cougars, WCHL. 5. Edmonton received from Indianapolis, Harold Phillipoff, New Westminster. 6. San Diego, Tony Horvath, Sault Ste. Marie. 7. Edmonton received from Phoenix, Drew Callander, Regina Pats, WCHL. 8. New England received from Colgary, Dave Debol, University of Michigan. 9. Quebec Harold Glen-denning, Calgary Centennials, WCHL. 10. Winnipeg, Steve Clippingdale, New Westminster. 11. Houston, Jim Roberts, Ottawa.<h2>FOURTH ROUND</h2>1. Toronto. Donald Lemieux, Trois-Rivieres, QMJHL. 2. Edmonton, Brian Gualazzi, Sault Ste, Marie 3. Cincinnati, Barry Melrose, Kamloops Chiefs, WCHL. 4. New England, Mike Kaszycki, Sault Ste, Marie. 5. Cleveland, Henry Maze, Edmonton Oil Kings, WCHL. 6. Indianapolis, David Dornseif, Providence College. 7. San Diego, John Smerke, Toronto Madboros, OHA. 8. Phoenix, Kari Makkonen, Finland. 9. Calgary, Alain Belanger, Sherbrooke. 10. Quebec, Maurice Barette, Quebec. 11. Winnipeg, Goran Lindblim, Sweden. 12. Houston, Mike Fedorko, Hamilton Fincups, OHA.<h2>FIFTH ROUND</h2>1. Cleveland received from Toronto, Vern Stenlund, London. 2. Edmonton, Yvon Vautour, Laval, QMJHL. 3. New England received from Cincinnati, Bill Barber, University of Minnesota. 4. New England, Michael Liut, Bowling Green University. 5. Cleveland, Bob Miller, U.S. Olympic team 6. Indianapolis, Jean Gagnon, Quebec Remparts, QMJHL. 7. San Diego, Archie King, Hamilton. 8. Phoenix, Juhani Wallenius, Finland. 9. Calgary, Bruce Baker, Ottawa. 10. Quebec, Garth MacGuigan, Montreal, QMJHL. 11. Winnipeg, Douglas Johnson, Lethbridge. 12. Houston, Lorry Skinner, Ottawa. &#9632;

How WHA Drafted

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02165/3626581-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg"></div><h2>REGULAR SEASON GAMES</h2><h2>PLAYOFF GAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03113/3626574-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="947" height="649"></div> &#9632;

f0029-02

Legend Of Reg Leach

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01201/3626543-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">REG LEACH&hellip; Set New Scoring Standards</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA &mdash;National Hockey League netminders wake up screaming when they think back on the &lsquo;Legend of Reggie Leach&rsquo;, the 80-goal documentary to the hard shooting right winger of the Philadelphia Flyers.The 1975-76 season will be remembered as the year Leach became the NHL&rsquo;s greatest single season goal getter of all time and the most prolific playoff scorer in the loop&rsquo;s 59-year history.Leach did it all this season with a 61-goal performance during the regular 80-game schedule to lead the NHL and continued the tempo into the post-season playoff round with a fantastic 19 goals in 16 games to win the top playoff prize&mdash;the SmytheTrophy.Along the way Leach left opposing NHL netminders with shattered nerves as he became only the second player in the league to score 60 or more goals in one regular season and the first ever to count 80 goals in one professional year. At his best Phil Esposito, then with the Bruins, had 76 in league play during 1970-71 and three in the playoffs for a 79-goal year.Some of the highlights of Leach&rsquo;s overall season performance included the fact he scored in 53 of Philadelphia&rsquo;s 91 games, counted 37 away from the Spectrum and 34 at home. Oddly, Leach had only one hat trick during the course of 61-goal season on Jan. 22 against Atlanta but he turned in 16 two-goal games. Leach&rsquo;s Flyer linemates, center Bobby Clarke, assisted on 28 of his goals and left winger Bill Barber helped on 33.During the year, Leach had seven first goals, 10 power play goals, four tying goals but most significantly, he blasted the winning goal into the net 11 times and only once into the unguarded goal in the final minute of play.The men who undoubtedly hated io see the blistering Leach shot comeat them were the goalers and some more than others were victimized by the Fiver&rsquo;s rifle-like drives. Both Phil Myre and Dan Bouchard of Atlanta won&rsquo;t forget Leach in a hurry nor will Wayne Thomas of the Leafs, Montreal&rsquo;s Ken Dryden and particularly Gilles Gilbert of Boston Bruins, Against Gilbert this past season, Leach scored a total of nine times, including seven in six playoff games and five in one game to tie a 33-year-old playoff game record.No NHL team escaped Leach&rsquo;s wrath this season. He scored against all 17 rival clubs and was especially hard on Atlanta beating Myre six times and Bouchard four.In the playoffs, Leach got to Thomas five times in the Toronto series, Dryden four times in the cup finals and hit for seven against Gilbert in the semi-final round with the Bruins.Leach counted five each against Washington, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Minnesota and the Rangers. He beat Vancouver for four, Boston, Buffalo, Toronto, Los Angeles and Kansas City for three each. Leach got two each in games with California and the Islanders but only scored one goal against Montreal, Chicago and Detroit.Coalers John Davidson of the Rangers and Yves Belanger of St. Louis were nicked for four goals each during the regular season games when they encountered the sharp-shooting Leach.In a seasonal breakdown, the Flyers&rsquo; scoring ace counted five goals in his first eight games, 15 in 27 games, had 29 at the midway 40-game mark, spurted to score 34 in his first 45 games and ended the year by registering a brilliant 32 goals in his last 39 games and six in his final five schedule starts to finish with a league leading 61.<h2>NHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0485/3626536-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="508" height="337"></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

Leach Used Every Team In Record Scoring Year

LIUISVILIE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaSPRINGFIELD&mdash;To the surprise of absolutely no one who follows the American Hockey League, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, Calder Cup winners for 1976, dominated the league&rsquo;s All Star team and individual awards just as they had done to the competition in the AHL playoffs.Led by the ageless Noel Price and young goaltending sensation Dave Elenbaas, the Voyageurs placed five players on the official AHL All Star teams, as selected by the players and media of the eight franchises.This marks the second time that the Voyageurs have had five players on the AHL &ldquo;dream teams.&rdquo;They accomplished the same feat afterthe 1972-73 season. Joining Price and Elenbaas on the first All Star team are right winger Ron Andruff, while Guy Chouinard and Glenn Goldup were chosen for the second team.Completing the first team were defenseman Terry Murray of Richmond, center Jean-Guy Gratton of Her-shey and left winger Dave Hynes of Rochester.Second team selections were led by Richmond defenseman Gordie Smith, a former winner of the Eddie Shore Trophy, two rookies. Nova Scotia center Chouinard and Hershey goaler Don Edwards, plus defenseman Al Simmons, who played for both Rochester and Providence, right wing Gordie Clark of Rochester and Goldup on left wing.Price, at the age of 40, is the first three-time winner (including this year) of the Eddie Shore Trophy as the league&rsquo;s top defenseman. He trailed only Murray (by one point) in the All Star voting for defensemen. marking the third time he has been selected to the AHL&rsquo;s first All Star team. In all, he has made the All Star team four times, twice with Springfield (Kings) and once with Quebec (Aces).After 20 years as a professional, Price has spent time with more than a dozen teams, including such AHL squads as the Rochester Americans, for whom he played his first professional game, the Quebec Aces, the Springfield Indians and Kings, Baltimore Clippers and the Nova Scotia Voyageurs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01232/3626633-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="568" height="895"><figcaption class="caption-body">JEAN-GUY GRATTON &hellip; First Team All Star</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02177/3626626-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="2440" height="1450"><figcaption class="caption-body">Calder Cup Champs &mdash; Nova Scotia VoyageursThe Nova Scotia Voyageurs completed both a league and playoff double when they captured the Calder Cup this season from Hershey. The Vees also led in points, wins and scored the most goals in the AHL Front row, from the left, DAVE ELENBAAS, DON HOWSE, Dr. WILLIAM KINGSTON, team physician, NOEL PRICE, AL MacNEIL, GM and coach, RON ANDRUFF, MIKE KELLY, team publicist, GUY CHOUINARD and ED WALSH. Second row, KELLY GREENBANK, GILLES LUPIEN, JIM CAHOON, SEAN SHANAHAN, CHUCK LUKSA, BRIAN ENGBLOM, GLEN GOLDUP, MIKE BUSNIUK, TOM McCLUSKEY, asst, trainer. Back row, FRED VOELTZ, trainer, RICH LEMIEUX, MIKE POLICH, MIKE WOODS, GORD MeTAVISH, PIERRE MONDOU, GARY GELDART and LIONEL JACKSON, asst, trainer.</figcaption></div>He&rsquo;s also been with Toronto Maple Leafs (one game), New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings and the Atlanta Flames.Price is a former student of the man whose name appears on his trophy, Eddie Shore. During the 1959-60 season. Price played in 31 regular season games under Shore and then helped the Indians to win their first of three successive Calder Cups.In 75 regular season games played in the AHL, Price has compiled a total of 378 points, plus 39 points in 59 playoff games.Teammate Elenbaas was the closest to a unanimous selection as he polled 61 of a possible 65 votes (Richmond players did not vote) after winning the &lsquo;Hap&rsquo; Holmes Award for the third consecutive year. Two years ago he combined with Jim Shaw for the trophy. During the last two seasons Ed Walsh has been his backup netminder.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0763/3626619-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="562" height="1116"><figcaption class="caption-body">NOEL PRICE &hellip; Best Defenseman</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0856/3626612-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="562" height="868"><figcaption class="caption-body">RONANDRUFF &hellip;Wins MVP Award</figcaption></div>Elenbaas had a 2.79 goals against average and was voted to the All Star team for the first time.Continuing with the Nova Scotia awards show, Andruff, the Voyageurs&rsquo; leading scorer with 88 points was second in the AHL to Hershey&rsquo;s Gratton, who had 93.He also contributed 13 points in the playoffs, placing him third behind teammates Chouinard (15) and Richard Lemieux (14). He easily outdistanced Gratton for the league&rsquo;s most valuable player award.Andruff, at 22, and the captain of the Voyageurs garnered 49 votes for the MVP award, 20 more than Gratton. He was Montreal&rsquo;s fourth draft pick in 1973 and has spent his three years of pro hockey with the Voyageurs.After a rookie year in which he claimed 38 points in 72 games, Andruff broke loose for 30 goals and 31 assists last year. This year he continued his rapid upsurge with an exemplary year. In three AHL years, he has amassed 187 points in 221 games, plus another 35 points in 21 playoff contests.Nova Scotia was forced to share another major award - the Dudley Garrett Trophy for the rookie of the year as Pierre Mondou of the Voyageurs and Providence&rsquo;s Greg Holst each received 49 points to tie in the balloting.And not only were their point totals the same, but the breakdown in voting showed that both players had six first-place votes, six second-place votes and one vote for third place. It is the first time in the 29-year history of the Garrett Trophy that a tie has taken place.Holst, under contract to the New York Rangers, finished third in the regular season scoring with 81 points, on 37 goals, 44 assists in 69 games, as he also saw some service with the parent club.Mondou played exclusively for the Voyageurs, scoring 77 points, including 34 goals, and 43 assists and placed sixth in league scoring. Oddly enough, neither of these fine first-year players were recognized for either of the All Star teams, as each one finished third in the voting.This year marks the third in a row that a member of a Providence team has won the Garrett Trophy. Two years ago Rick Middleton won the award, while last year, Jerry Holland received the honor. Mondou became the first Nova Scotia player to win the Garrett award, although Jude Drouin won in 1969-70 when the Voyageurs played out of Montreal. &#9632;

f0030-01

Champion Voyageurs Dominate AHL Awards

<h2>Playoff Scoring</h2><h3>NOVA SCOTIA</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01212/3626699-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="580" height="498"></div><h3>HERSHEY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02168/3626692-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="577" height="556"></div><h3>RICHMOND</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03141/3626685-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="581" height="458"></div><h3>ROCHESTER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04113/3626678-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="576" height="554"></div><h3>PROVIDENCE</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0599/3626671-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="577" height="500"></div><h3>NEW HAVEN</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0675/3626664-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="576" height="449"></div> &#9632;

f0031-01

Voyageurs’ Andruff, Price Top Performers In AHL

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-09" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0944/3626730-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg"></div>Most Valuable Player-Ron Andruff, Nova Scotia.Best Defenseman-Noel Price, Nova Scotia.Rookie of year &mdash; Greg Holst, Providence, and Pierre Mondou, Nova Scotia (tied). &#9632;

f0031-09

AHL All Star Teams

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01211/3626761-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adams Cup Champs&mdash;Tulsa OilersThe Tulsa Oilers were the class of the Central League this season right Second row, MAX FISHER, sales manager, HAL O&rsquo;ALLORAN, team from the start and they carried it through the playoffs as well publicist, FRANK DeMARCO, CAM BOTTING, BILL PLETT, PAT RIBBLE, completing a championship double by grabbing the CHL pennant GLEN RICHARDSON, JIM WILEY, LARRY MclNTYRE, LEN IRCANDIA and the Adams Cup in the five-game final playoffs with Dallas. Front and DAVE KEY, assst. trainer. Back row, RICK BOWNESS, BILL row, from the left, BRUCE BULLOCK, BOBBY GILBERT, general HARWELL, trainer, DANNY GLOOR, BRAD GASSOFF, ANDY SPRUCE, manager, DANNY SEGUIN, CURT RIDLEY, ORLAND KURTENBACH, BARRY WILCOX, GLEN SURBEY, BOB BILODEAU, RICHARD coach, DAVID POILE, director player personnel and DAN BRADY. MULHERN, STEVE ENLOW, asst, trainer, and LEON ROCHEFORT.</figcaption></div>LIUISVILIE SLUG6ERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaDALLAS&mdash;An all-out season ticket drive in May, meeting with success, quieted rumors that the Dallas Black Hawks would not continue to operate in the Central League in 1976-77. Four veteran Hawk forwards&mdash;Gary Donaldson, Rob Palmer, Terry Smith and Duane Wylie&mdash;were taking an active part in the season-ticket push, and the Hawks had already sold more than 400, and were aiming at topping the club&rsquo;s all-time record of 850.Five innovations were helping the sale. Two of these were four-seat package deals, which also offered membership in the Teepee Club on game nights at the Coliseum Ice Arena. Four box seats and private club membership were offered for $400, four center section seats with the same privilege for $300.An &ldquo;early bird&rdquo; discount offered 25 cents off per game for fans who paid for their season tickets completely by Sept. 1. Corner seats were offered for $2 per game, a saving of $9.50 for the season. And for the first time, the Hawks were offering a &ldquo;pay as you go&rdquo; plan for season tickets. After a deposit, the customers were to pay $11 a month, with no carrying charge.Charles S. Morris Jr., longtime vice-president and secretary of the Hawks, moved into an active front-office role, following the resignation of Frank Filesi, public relations director and broadcaster.Filesi, a native of Pennsylvania but a Dallas resident since 1960, had been associated with the Black Hawks since the Chicago Hawks moved their CHL franchise from St. Louis to Dallas in 1967-68. Frank originally was the public address announcer, as well as radio and television broadcaster for the club. He became public relations director in 1971.Filesi announced his resignation to go into investment counseling shortly after the Adams Cup finals, in which the Hawks bowed to the Tulsa Oilers, four games to one. Frank also told the press he hoped to head up a group which would bring local ownership for Dallas hockey, but there was no further news on this plan.The season-ticket activity began after many informed sources had hinted the Dallas and Oklahoma City CHL clubs would be merged into a joint farm operation by the Chicago Hawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs, leaving one of the CHL cities without a team.Almost at the same time the Dallas ticket drive began, OC general manager-coach Ray Miron began season ticket sales for the Blazers. This apparently disproved the rumor of a joint Chicago-Toronto CHL operation.But there was still the possibility one city or the other might lose its present National League parent club, with the vacated city immediately getting backing from another NHL source (or sources).The Salt Lake Golden Eagles also started season ticket sales for next season, beginning by offering renewals for 1975-76 customers. Rumors that the parent California Seals might be moved from the Bay Area by new owner Mel Swig had Eagle officials concerned as to how such a move might affect Salt Lake.Meanwhile Eagle owner Art Teece and his staff were thrilled by the early success of his baseball Gulls in the Pacific Coast League. Art was hoping his baseball team could provide the championship his hockey club failed to bring home, after the Eagles won the CHL championship in their first season a year ago.Tucson&rsquo;s hopes for a second CHL season were hanging on several developments, but president Bill MacFarland of the parent WHA Phoenix Roadrunners was optimistic.&ldquo;We want to operate in Tucson again,&rdquo; Bill said shortly after completing the WHA amateur draft by telephone, &ldquo;but we hope to have a better arrangement for players and a working agreement with different people in Tucson.&rdquo;MacFarland indicated the local owners in Tucson had failed to live up to terms of their financial agreement with the Runners. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s now reached the point where our attorneys are talking with their attorneys,&rdquo; he pointed out.As to a player arrangement for the Tucson farm, MacFarland said, &ldquo;We hope we can get an NHL club to go in with us on this operation. Working with other WHA clubs the past two years just hasn&rsquo;t been successful, because WHA teams don&rsquo;t have the player reserves the NHL teams have. After their first 18 players, the quality of personnel on WHA clubs drops off drastically. I think an arrangement with an NHL team would be a much better deal, since all the other Central League clubs are backed by NHL clubs.&rdquo;MacFarland didn&rsquo;t specify an NHL partner, but rumors abound that the New York Rangers are the most likely to join Phoenix in a CHL operation.The Roadrunners have had two dismal CHL teams since being granted a franchise in 1974. The WHA&rsquo;s first venture in the NHL backed league was at Tulsa (tied for seventh over-all in the eightteam league) in partnership with the Vancouver Blazers (now the Calgary Cowboys).The past season the Phoenix farm in Tucson was to have help from the Houston Aeros, San Diego Mariners and the Denver Spurs (who expired in mid-season). Such player help was scarce, and often withdrawn by the parent clubs. The Roadrunners had to go begging for players from both the WHA and NHL. Tucson finished last in the six-team circuit.The possibility of a joint CHL entry by the NHL Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals was depending on a decision by operators of the American League club at Richmond, where the Flyers and Caps had players the past season.Former CHL president Max McNab, now Washington general manager, said no decision was reached at a mid-May AHL meeting, and several clubs wanted to wait until the NHL&rsquo;s June meeting in Montreal to firm up plans for next season. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll continue with Richmond, if that club operates,&rdquo; he said.Announcements at that Montreal meeting should decide the future of most Central League entries for next season.The one CHL team which isn&rsquo;t concerned over a possible shift is Tulsa. Owner-general manager Bobby Gilbert revealed the champion Oilers had sold 3,582 season tickets&mdash;only 12 short of their alltime record of 3,600 for last season.The Oilers, who finished first in the regular campaign and won the Adams Cup playoff title with eight victories in nine starts, drew an all-time club record of 181,019 for 38 home games in the regular schedule, and another 21,136 for five playoff dates. It was their first year of working with the NHL Vancouver Canucks and Atlanta Flames.Final CHL statistics showed Oiler Rookie-of-the-Year Brad Gassoff benefitted most from opposing coaches&rsquo;pulling goalkeepers in the waning moments. Brad, who was the CHL&rsquo;s most accurate shooter, found the empty net for three of his 36 goals. Goalies were lifted 72 times in the CHL season, but only six goals were scored with the resulting manpower advantage, and the strategy resulted in 25 empty-net goals.Gassoff also shared the GASP (goals against while serving penalties-leadership. He and Tucson&rsquo;s Duane Bray each sat in the penalty box while foes scored 13 power play goals. &#9632;

f0032-01

Dallas, O.C. Fans Get Behind Drive To Save Teams

OTTAWA &mdash;The first man to score six goals in a National Hockey League game is dead at the age of 64. Syd Howe, no relation to Gordie Howe, died in this city after a long illness.Howe, who ironically played for the Detroit Red Wings, played in the NHL 16 years for the old Ottawa Senators and Detroit. He scored 237 career goals, played on three Stanley Cup teams and became the first player to fire six pucks into a net during a 1944 NHL game.Since then Red Berenson of St. Louis did it in 1968 and Darryl Sittler of the Leafs achieved the feat this past season. &#9632;

First 6-Goal NHL Scorer, Syd Howe Dies

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>LIUISVILIE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & 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/f0034-01206/3626816-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="564" height="730"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL BEAGAN &hellip; Confirms Pro Tie-up</figcaption></div>WINDSOR&mdash;The International Hockey League just completed another successful season&mdash;its 31st consecutive year of operation and Commissioner Bill Beagan is already looking ahead to a successful 1976-77 campaign.&ldquo;I am confident we will operate with the same nine clubs next season,&rdquo; Beagan said. He hinted there was a &ldquo;slim chance a 10th franchise would be added next season also.&rdquo;Members of the league this past season were Port Huron, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Flint and Saginaw in Michigan: Columbus, Toledo and Dayton, Ohio; and Fort Wayne, Ind.Total attendance for the league&rsquo;s 78-game season went over the million mark for the fourth straight year. The actual paid attendance was 1,207,988. The 35 post-season playoff games drew a total of 114,988, according to Beagan.Commenting on the league&rsquo;s longevity record, Beagan said: &ldquo;The primary reasons are our history, stability and the viability of the league. And this results from the efforts of the people involved in our franchises. We have professional people who have sound hockey backgrounds. They know how to promote the game. We put on a good show.&rdquo;Beagan also reported the IHL&rsquo;s strong ties with the National Hockey League would continue. &ldquo;Some of our board members and myself have meetings scheduled with NHL representatives in the near future. Our pro agreement and officials agreement has already be conf irmed for 1976-77.All nine IHL clubs have working agreements with at least one NHL club. A number have agreements with more than one. In regards to the officials, Beagan pointed out that NHL officials worked a total of 81 IHL games last season and 12 of the 35 playoff games.On the matter of expansion, Beagan confirmed Grand Rapids is the next likely addition.&rdquo;But we currently are involved in some litigation there which we want to resolve before we move in.&rdquo;The litigation involves Jerry DeLise, former owner of the Muskegon franchise. &ldquo;When the current owners purchased the Muskegon franchise from DeLise terms of the agreement stipulated the new owners would not interfere with any plans DeLise might have for activating a franchise in Grand Rapids,&rdquo; Beagan pointed out. &ldquo;It was not a league matter. The deal was between DeLise and the new Muskegon owners. But we want to clear the deck so to speak before we grant the city a franchise.&rdquo;Beagan said the league wants a declaratory judgement. &ldquo;We are scheduled for a hearing on July 26,&rdquo; Beagan said.Because of the late hearing date, Beagan is. doubtful if Grand Rapids will join the IHL family by the 1976-77 campaign. &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t say it won&rsquo;t happen but chances are extremely slim. We are already at work on our schedule,&rdquo;Grand Rapids is a former IHL city. The city joined the league for the 1950-51 season and remained active through the 1955-56 campaign. The playing site for the new team would be the same as that which housed the previous club but considerable remodeling has been scheduled&mdash;some of which has already been completed. &#9632;

f0034-01

Beagan Cites Reasons For IHL’s Success

<h2>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02154/3626854-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="586" height="324"></div><h2>GOALING RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03113/3626847-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="586" height="303"></div> &#9632;

f0034-02

Playoff Scoring

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0477/3626885-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">IHL All Star Teams</figcaption></div>Most Valuable Player &mdash; Len Fontaine, Port Huron.Outstanding Defenseman &mdash; Murray Flegel, Muskegon. &#9632;

f0034-04

IHL All Star Teams

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01195/3627161-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="583" height="329"></div>(* Awarded second plece for playoffs.)<h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02161/3627154-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="577" height="81"></div>(Nova Scotia wins best-of-seven series 4-1<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 21Hershey 3 at Nova Scotia 6Fri. April 23Hershey 2 at Nova Scotia 8Sat. April 24Nova Scotia 1 at Hershey 5Mon. April 26Nova Scotia 4 at Hershey 2Wed. April 26Hershey 4 at Nova Scotia 5<h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03120/3627147-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="575" height="76"></div>(Nova Scotia wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. April 12Rochester 2 at Nova Scotia 6Wed. April 14Rochester 3 at Nova Scotia 5Fri. April 16Nova Scotia 5 at Rochester 1Sun. April 18Nova Scotia 6 at Rochester 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0497/3627140-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="578" height="82"></div>(Hershey wins best-of-seven series 4-11<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. April 10Richmond 4 at Hershey 2Sun. April 11Hershey 4 at Richmond 3Tue April 13Richmond 1 at Hershey 3Fri. April 16Hershey 7 at Richmond 5Sat April 17Richmond 1 at Hershey 2<h3>Quarter-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0575/3627133-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="583" height="80"></div>(Rochester wins best-of-five series 3-0)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0659/3627126-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="582" height="80"></div>(Richmond wins best-of-five series 3-0)<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0751/3627119-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="583" height="184"></div>(*&mdash; Awarded fourth place for playoffs because of more wins.)<h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0837/3627112-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="577" height="76"></div>(Tulsa wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 16Dallas 2 at Tuba 4Sat. April 17Dallas 4 at Tulia 3Tue. April 20Tulsa 3 at Dallas 2Thu. April 22Tulsa 2 at Dallas 1Fri. April 23Dallas 3 at Tuba 7<h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0935/3627105-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="577" height="78"></div>(Tulsa wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 7Oklahoma City 2 atTuba 5Fri. April 9Oklahoma City 3 at Tuba 5Sat. April 10Tulsa 3 at Oklahoma City 0Wed. April 14Tulsa 4 at Oklahoma City 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1028/3627098-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="580" height="78"></div>(Dallas wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wod. April 7Salt Lake 1 at Dalles 3Fri. April 9Salt Lake 1 at Dallas 4Sat. April 10Dallas 6 at Salt Lake 7Mon. April 12Dallas 4 at Salt Lake 2Wed. April 14Sait Lake 0 at Dallas 5<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1124/3627091-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="579" height="346"></div><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1217/3627084-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="578" height="81"></div>(Dayton wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. April 25Port Huron 2 at Doyton 7Tue. April 27Port Huron 4 at Dayton 8Fri. April 30Doyton 5 at Port Huron 3Sat. May 1Dayton 5 at Port Huron 2<h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1314/3627077-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="582" height="76"></div>(Pert Huron wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. April 10Port Huron 3 at Saginaw 2Sun. April 11Port Huron 3 at Saginaw 1Wed. April 14Soginaw 4 at Port Huron 3Sat. April 17Saginaw 3 at Port Huron 2Sun. April 18Soginaw 3 at Port Huron 4Tue. April 20Port Huron 1 at Saginaw 3Fri. April 23Port Huron 4 at Soginaw 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1414/3627070-1-eng-US/f0035-142.jpg" title="f0035-14" width="583" height="79"></div>(Dayton wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. April 10Fort Wayne 2 at Dayton 5Wed. April 14Dayton 5 at Fort Wayne 2Fri. April 16Fort Wayne 4 at Dayton 10Sat. April 17Dayton 5 at Fort WayneWed. April 21Fort Wayne 4 at Doyton 9<h3>Quarter-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1512/3627063-1-eng-US/f0035-152.jpg" title="f0035-15" width="576" height="76"></div>(Saginaw wins best-of-seven series 4-1).<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 30Saginaw 3 at Muskegpn 4Fri. April 2Muskegon 3 at Soginaw 7Sat. April 3Soginaw 4 at Muskegon 0Sun. April 4Muskegon 1 at Saginaw 5Wed. April 7Muskegon 3 at Saginaw 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1611/3627056-1-eng-US/f0035-162.jpg" title="f0035-16" width="586" height="74"></div>(Dayton wins best-of-seven series 4-2).<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 30Kalamazoo 2 at Dayton 3Fri. April 2Dayton 4 at Kolomozoo 6Sat April 3Kalamazoo 0 at Doyton 4Tue. April 6Dayton 3 at Kalamazoo 2Wed. April 7Kalamazoo 3 at Dayton 0Thu. April 8Doyton 4 at Kalamazoo 3Sat. April 3Flint 1 at Port Huron 3Sun. April 4Port Huron 6 at Flint 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-179/3627049-1-eng-US/f0035-172.jpg" title="f0035-17" width="579" height="79"></div>(Port Huron wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. March 31Flint 2 at Port Huron 5Fri. April 2Port Huron 6 at Flint 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-188/3627042-1-eng-US/f0035-182.jpg" title="f0035-18" width="578" height="77"></div>(Fort Wayne wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h2>NORTH AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-197/3627035-1-eng-US/f0035-192.jpg" title="f0035-19" width="578" height="356"></div><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Quarter-finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-207/3627028-1-eng-US/f0035-202.jpg" title="f0035-20" width="578" height="82"></div>(Beauce wins best-of-five series 3-1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-213/3627021-1-eng-US/f0035-212.jpg" title="f0035-21" width="579" height="76"></div>(Syracuse wins best-of-five series 3-1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-22/3627014-1-eng-US/f0035-222.jpg" title="f0035-22" width="580" height="76"></div>(Johnstown wins best-of-five series 3-2)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-23/3627007-1-eng-US/f0035-232.jpg" title="f0035-23" width="586" height="77"></div>(Philadelphia wins best-of-five series 3-2)<h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-24/3627000-1-eng-US/f0035-242.jpg" title="f0035-24" width="580" height="76"></div>(Beauce wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. March 26Syracuse 4 at Beauce 5.Sun. March 28Syracuse 7 at Beauce 10.Tue. March 30Beauce 6 at Syrocuse 4Thu. April 1Beauce 6 at Syrocuse<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-25/3626993-1-eng-US/f0035-252.jpg" title="f0035-25" width="586" height="77"></div>(Philadelphia wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. March 28Johnstown 4 at Philadelphia 5Mon. March 29Philadelphia 3 at Johnstown 6.Tue. March 30Johnstown 5 at Philadelphia 7.Thu. April 1Philadelphia 4 at Johnstown 3Fri. April 2Johnstown 10 at Philadelphia 14<h3>Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-26/3626986-1-eng-US/f0035-262.jpg" title="f0035-26" width="578" height="76"></div>(Philadelphia wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 6Philadelphia 7 at Beauce 5Wed. April 7Philadelphia 4 at Beauce 7Fri. April 9Beauce 1 at Philadelphia 6Sat. April 10Beauce 7 at Philadelphia 6Mon. April 12Philadelphia 6 at Beauce 4Wed. April 14Beauce 2 at Philadelphia 5<h2>SOUTHERN LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-27/3626979-1-eng-US/f0035-272.jpg" title="f0035-27" width="582" height="173"></div><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-28/3626972-1-eng-US/f0035-282.jpg" title="f0035-28" width="580" height="75"></div>(Charlotte wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>Semi Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-29/3626965-1-eng-US/f0035-292.jpg" title="f0035-29" width="577" height="79"></div>(Charlotte wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-30/3626958-1-eng-US/f0035-302.jpg" title="f0035-30" width="580" height="80"></div>(Hampton wins best-of-seven serie 4-0)<h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-31/3626951-1-eng-US/f0035-312.jpg" title="f0035-31" width="575" height="294"></div><h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-32/3626944-1-eng-US/f0035-322.jpg" title="f0035-32" width="577" height="78"></div>(Green Bay wins best-of-five series 3-2)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-33/3626937-1-eng-US/f0035-332.jpg" title="f0035-33" width="578" height="79"></div>(Milwaukee wins best-of-throe series 2-0)<h3>Quarter-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-34/3626930-1-eng-US/f0035-342.jpg" title="f0035-34" width="577" height="78"></div>(Milwaukee wins best-of-three series 2-0)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-35/3626923-1-eng-US/f0035-352.jpg" title="f0035-35" width="580" height="74"></div>(Traverse Oty wins best-of-three series 2-0)<h3>Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-36/3626916-1-eng-US/f0035-362.jpg" title="f0035-36" width="580" height="79"></div>(Milwaukee wins best-of-five series 3-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Milwaukee 7, Green Bay 0Milwaukee 5, Green Bay 4Milwaukee 6, Green Bay 4 &#9632;

f0035-01

HOW THE MINOR LEAGUE RACES FINISHED

NHL: 1&mdash; Montreal. 2&mdash;Detroit. 3&mdash;Boston 4&mdash;N.Y. Rangers. 5&mdash;Chicago. 6&mdash;Toronto. 7&mdash;Los Angeles. 8&mdash;Pittsburgh. 9&mdash;Californio. 10&mdash;Philadelphia. 11&mdash;Minnesota. 12&mdash;St Louis. 13&mdash;Vancouver. 14&mdash;Buffalo. 15&mdash;N.Y Islanders. 16&mdash;Atlanto. 17&mdash;Kansas City. 18&mdash;Washington WHA: 19&mdash;Calgory. 20&mdash;Cincinnati. 21&mdash;Cleveland. 22&mdash;Denver. 23&mdash;Edmonton. 24&mdash;Houston. 25&mdash;Indianapolis. 26&mdash;Minnesota. 27&mdash;New England. 28&mdash;Phoenix. 29&mdash;Quebec. 30&mdash;Son Diego 31&mdash;Toronto. 32&mdash;Winnipeg Inter-League: 33&mdash;N Y. Rangers (NHL) & St. Louis (NHL). 34&mdash;Montreal (NHL) A Atlanta&rsquo;(NHL) 36&mdash;Pittsburgh (NHL) & Buffalo (NHL) 37&mdash;New England (WHA) & Washington (NHL) 38&mdash;Detroit (NHL) 4 Minnesota (NHL) 39&mdash;Atlanto (NHL) & Vancouver (NHL) 40&mdash;Phoenix, Houston & San Diego (WHA) 41&mdash; Los Angeles (NHL) & N.Y. Islanders (NHL) 43&mdash;Kanas City (NHL) A N.Y Rangers (NHL). 44&mdash;Boston (NHL) & Washington NHL) 45&mdash;Minnesota (NHL) & Vancouver (NHL) 46&mdash;Calgary (WHA), Kansas City (NHL) & Minnesota (WHA). 47&mdash;Philodephio (NHL) & Washington (NHL). 50&mdash; Bostonr(NHL) Son Diego (WHA). 51&mdash;Buffolo (NHL) A Toronto (WHA). 52&mdash;Montreal (NHL) A Toronto (WHA). 55&mdash;Buffalo (NHL)&mdash; A Calgary (WHA) 56&mdash;Buffalo (NHL) A Cleveland (WHA). 57&mdash;N.Y Rangers (NHL) A St. Louis (NHL). 58&mdash;Detroit (NHL A Edmonton (WHA). &#9632;

Minor League Affiliations

<div class="byline">BY GARY CLARK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01174/3627216-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lockhart Cup Champs - Philadelphia FirebirdsIt isn&rsquo;t too often a team finishes second in the league and comes on to win the playoff championship. The Philadelphia Firebirds did it this season when they upset the favorite Beauce Jaros in the NAHL final to capture the Lockhart Cup in a thrilling six-game series. Front row, from the left, REJEAN LEMELIN, GEORGE PISZEK, president, BOB COLLYARD, EDWARD PISZEK, chairman, GREGG PILLING, GM and coach, DEAN BOYLAN, FRANK KEENAN, executive vice-president, HOWIE HEGGEDAL and ROGER KOSAR. Second row, JERRE LIEBERMAN, vice-president, PIERRE HENRY, RICHARD CAMPEAU, LEE CROZIER, RAY SCHULTZ, MARK BOUSQUET, MIKE PENASSE, RANDY OSBURN, GAYE COOLEY and FRANK THOMAS, business manager. Back row, SUDSY SETTLEMYRE, trainer, DENIS PATRY, DOUG FERGUSON, TOM YOUNG, LES CROZIER, PETER CAHILL, MICHEL PLANTE, GORDIE BROOKS, and JIMMY EVERS, stick boy.</figcaption></div>LIUISVILIE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLEWISTON&mdash;The Maine Nordiques have named a new coach for 1976-77. Actually he is a new &ldquo;old&rdquo; coach. Jean Charles Gravel has been hired as a replacement for last season&rsquo;s coach, Bobby Leduc. Leduc had been a replacement for the 1974-75 coach, you guessed it, Jean Charles Gravel.Gravel, 36 years old on June 24, has a career background in hockey at the university level, both as a player and coach. His one season in the pros was a successful one. In 1974-75 he inherited a Nordiques club that had lost its first 16 games and made them competitive almost immediately. Under Gravel the Nordiques finished 27-30-1.Nevertheless Gravel did not return to Maine Last season. Leduc was loaned to Maine by the Toronto Toros as player-coach. Explains general manager Maurice Ducharme, &ldquo;When the Toros offered us Bobby, who had both played and coached in the WHA, we felt that we could not turn down someone with his background.&rdquo;Bobby&rsquo;s contract with Toronto expired at the end of the season, so we had to make another decision about our coach. We feel that Gravel gives us exactly the qualities that we need for our situation.&rdquo;Those qualities include an ability to work with youngsters adapted to successfully. He worked constantly with people like Jean Bernier and Bernie Wolfe, helping to make major leaguers out of both.&rdquo;Gravel will be under contract directly to Maine and will be available immediately, and that will be a plus too. In his previous term Gravel was the employee of the Quebec Nordiques. Leduc, of course, belonged toToronto.The day after the announcement of Gravel&rsquo;s appointment, the former Laval University coach was scheduled to sit down with Ducharme to evaluate players. Decisions will have to be made on last year&rsquo;s Nordiques. Lists will have to be combed for players who might be available to them this season.If Gravel does as well in his second trip with the Nords as he did in his first, they won&rsquo;t regret the coaching change.Coaching turnover is nothing new to the North American Hockey League. If you are a hockey coach looking for a permanent home, odds are that you shouldn&rsquo;t be looking at the NAHL. On the other hand if you are more interested in finding a job where your hat won&rsquo;t become a part of its hanger at least one other team is once again in the market for a new bench boss.The Mohawk Valley Comets are looking for a successor to Ted McCaskill, whose contract has expired at Indianapolis and who apparently will not be returning to Utica.One possible candidate for the vacant Mohawk Valley job is Bobby Jones, the NAHL&rsquo;s leading scorer two seasons ago and the Comets&rsquo; top scorer last season. Like McCaskill, Jones is coming off a one year contract with Indy and might be interested in signing with the Comets as a player-coach.Set to return for 1976-77 are Larry Kish at Binghamton, Joe Hardy at Beauce, Guy Trottier at Buffalo, Nick Polano at Erie, Danny Belisle at Syracuse, and Jim Cardiff at Johnstown.Gregg Pilling, the NAHL general manager of the year, has not yet signed a new contract with the Philadelphia Firebirds. After winning two minor league championships in the last three years, Pilling would undoubtedly entertain major league offers. Should none materialize Gregg should return for his third straight year with the Birds. He is the only coach that they have ever had.The same cannot be said for the other NAHL franchises. As mentioned before, coaching turnover is nothing new to the NAHL. In three seasons, 24 different people have held coaching positions. Two of those have held two jobs each. You could add two more names to the list by counting Rod Bloomfield and Maurice Ducharme, who each coached on an interim basis for a handful of games.Remember, the NAHL was a seven team league in 1973-74, expanded to eight teams in 1974-75, then started with 10 teams in 1975-76 before reverting to nine. Added up that gives you 24 team-seasons during which there have been 26 different coaching changes, better than one per team per season.For the trivia buffs, here is a list of every coach during the first three seasons of NAHL history:Beauce: Marc Picard, Joe Hardy.Binghamton: Wayne Kitchingman, Ron Orr, Wayne Clairmont, Larry Kish.Buffalo: Guy Trottier.Cape Cod: Bronco Horvath, Mike DeMarco, Nick Polano, Larry Kish.Long Island-Erie: John Brophy, Ron Racette, Nick Polano.Johnston: Galen Head, Dick Roberge, Jim Cardiff.Maine: Michel Harvey, Jean Charles Gravel, Bobby Leduc.Mohawk Valley: Brian Conacher, Ted McCaskill.Syracuse: Ron Ingram, Garry Peters. Danny Belisle.Thus Gravel has the honor of becoming number 27. When the Comets name a new coach he will be number 28. There will be others. &#9632;

f0036-01

Comets Hunting Coach To Replace McCaskill

<div class="byline">BY JOHN ARNOLD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01160/3627247-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="949" height="1261"></div>SOLUTION IN JULY ISSUE<h2>ACROSS</h2>1. Former teams of pictured player.5. One of the Flames, (init)6. Denotes scoreless tie.7. Former Penguin forward.12. Lafleur recently won this trophy.13. One of the Bruins, (init)14. A New England defense man.16. Montreal recently did this.17. Washington finished here.18. One of the L.A. Kings, (init)19. Former goalie Binkley answers to this.20. Only lost one game in the recent NHL playoffs, (abbr)22. A Philly center, (init)23. 21st and 23rd letters of the alphabet.24. Former Ranger center.27. High scoring Penguin forward.29. One of the Islanders answers to this.30. Marcel Dionne won the trophy in 1974-75.31. Nickname of a NHL team.<h2>DOWN</h2>1. Montreal recently won this.2. Number worn by Bridgman.3. Nickname of former Bruin line.4. Every goaltender likes this. (Init)8. One of the Habs.9. Same as 13 across.10. Recently chosen as the SHL MVP. (init)11. Reg Leach recently won this trophy.13. Pictured player.15. Initials of a former Black Hawk winger.21. A Montreal defenseman.24. Recently won the Masterton trophy (first name)25. 15th and 22nd letters of the alphabet.26. First name of Price of Nova Scotia.28. Negative, (abbr.)<h2>ANSWERS FOR MAY 28 ISSUE</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1. NORRIS5. EGAN.7. GERALD.10. TALBOT.12. N.S.14. E.T.A.15. CAL.16. RAN.17. 10.18. E.N.19. U.S.A.20. NAP.21. K.S.22. POILE.26. VAN IMPE.27. MATT.28. GIL.29. ANDY.<h3>DOWN</h3>1. NESTERENKO.2. RAGLAN.3. SEAT.4. VADNAIS.6. G.L.8. E.B.9. R.O.11. ATANAS.13. SLOAN.19. ULLMAN.22. PAT.23. ONT.24. 11.25. E.P.27. M.l. &#9632;

f0037-01

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01188/3627278-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Crockett Cup Champs &mdash; Charlotte CheckersThe Charlotte Checkers successfully defended their Southern Hockey MORRISON, TERRY MARTIN, and GAYE COOLEY. Second row, PAT League championship this season and for the second straight year KELLY, GM and coach, GRANT ROWE, FRANK GOLEMBROSKY, GARY dominated both the league and the playoffs. But the big question WOOD, BOB SMULDERS, BARRY BURNETT, BOB LAMBERT, trainer, now is will the Checkers be around next season to make it three in a and AL MANCH, president. Back row, DON BRENNAN, GUY row? Here are this year&rsquo;s champions, front row, from the left, BOB BURROWES, NEIL KORZACK, MIKE KEELER, JACK SURBEY and JACK SAUVE, WAYNE CHRYSLER, YVON DUPUIS, MIKE ROULEAU, JOHN WELLS.</figcaption></div>LIUISVILIE SLUG6ERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD. Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaCHARLOTTE&mdash;The Charlotte Checkers are still a team without an owner or a home for the next Southern Hockey League season and like other league members are playing a waiting game.The Checkers are facing new rental ice guarantees that threaten the very existence of the club. Al Manch and his group have let go of the SHL champions and Bill McDermott, a hockey afficionado, is reportedly ready to step in but as the summer hockey meetings approached there was still no concrete word on who would or would not operate the Checkers next season&mdash;if at all.The Checkers may be up in the air as to ownership but they had both their feet on the ground when it came around to the post-season league All Star teams and individual awards. And the same could be said of the Hampton Gulls, who helped Charlotte dominate the 1975-76 All Star team selections and players honors.The Checkers put three players on the first All Star team and one on the second. Hampton placed three on the second and walked off with the most valuable player award as well.Led by goaler Gaye Cooley, the Checkers went all the wav to the Southern League title this season and Cooley was picked for his brilliant goaling job over Hampton rookie Normand Lapointe, who was a top draft pick of the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA.Along with Cooley on the first team from Charlotte were defenseman Mike Keeler and left wing Neil Korzack. The Checkers&rsquo; other left winger, Yvon Dupuis, was placed on the second team.Making up the first SHL team were Cooley, Keeler and Ron Anderson of Winston-Salem on defense, John Campbell, also of Winston-Salem at center. John Raynak of Roanoke at right wing and Korzack at left wing.On the second All Star team were Lapointe in goal, Normand Martel of Hampton and Tidewater&rsquo;s Butch Barber on defense, Art Stratton, also of Hampton, at center, and Billv Steele of Tidewater at right wing and Dupuis on the left side. Stratton came away with a double honor capturing the most valuable player award as well.In the other individual award, Tidewater&rsquo;s John Hanna, who has since quit his post with the Sharks, was selected as the coach of the year.While the post-season awards didn&rsquo;t really provide too many surprises, some of the steps the league has planned for next year to insure their survival, have. New owner Jim Crockett of Winston-Salem is one person who insists the SHL must change its ways if it wants to stay in business.Crockett feels there must be a limit on salaries among his many demands for tighter finances, and widespread use of junior players next season.Crockett and Greensboro owner Gene Johnston share many opinions on what the SHL needs. Both have been campaigning for lower budgets. The league has set a limit of $125,000 per club. Johnson wanted $100,000.Crockett said he would want some sound financial setup before committing himself to operate in 1976-77. These are problems the league will have to resolve before too long to find out where the SHL is headed for next year.The SHL limped home with five teams at the close of the regular schedule after Greensboro players voted to forfeit their final game. Charlotte went into the playoffs as the league champion and defending titleholder and came home in front under Pat Kelly&rsquo;s handling. But Kelly is reportedly job hunting now and the Checkers&rsquo; owners announced they were dissolving the club right after the team won the championship. That&rsquo;s how it stands today.Commissioner Jack Riley has said the league will operate and he is in favor of expansion but admits he has to clear up the present problems facing the league like escalating budgets and higher rink rentals before thin king of taking in new teams. The SHL will meet after the American Hockey League convenes and there is growing talk that Richmond, Va., will eventually become part of the SHL because of high budget costs in the AHL,Riley is awaiting firm financial commitments from all league teams, assurances from rink owners and an answer to the Richmond question before he can determine where the SHL is headed. &#9632;

f0038-01

Checkers, Gulls Dominate All Stars, Awards

<h2>MEMORIALCUP</h2>Round-Robin<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01171/3627508-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="581" height="106"></div>(Hamilton wins tournament)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. May 9Quebec 4, Hamilton 3Mon. May 10New Westminster 4, Quebec 2Wed. May 12Hamilton 8, New Westminster 4Fri. May 14New Westminster 10, Quebec 3<h3>CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL</h3>Sun. May 16Hamilton 5, New Westminster 2<h2>CENTENNIAL CUP</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02124/3627501-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="583" height="77"></div>(Rockland wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Rockland 9, Spruce Grove 4Rockland 7, Spruce Grove 1Rockland 5, Spruce Grove 3Spruce Grove 4, Rockland 3Rockland 7, Spruce Grove 3<h3>Eastern Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0396/3627494-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="586" height="79"></div>(Rockland wins best-4-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Rockland 7, Charlottetown 4Rockland 5, Charlottetown 4Rockland 3, Charlottetown 2<h3>Western Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0480/3627487-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="583" height="82"></div>(Spruce Grove wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>Eastern Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0564/3627480-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="586" height="78"></div>(Rockland wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<h2>ALLAN CUP</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0653/3627473-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="583" height="79"></div>(Spokane wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Spokane 9, Barrie 4Spokane 4, Barrie 1Spokane 7, Barrie 4Spokane 8, Barrie 2<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0745/3627466-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="583" height="377"></div><h3>Eastern Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0839/3627459-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="583" height="80"></div>(Barrio wins best-of-five series 3-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Barrie 11, Gatineau 7Barrie 6, Gatineau 3Gatineau 5, Barrie 3Barrie 6, Gatineau 3Barrie 4, Gatineau 3<h3>Western Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0933/3627452-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="580" height="77"></div>(Spokane wins best-of-five series 3-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Spokane 8, St. Boniface 3<h2>SOUTH WEST LEAGUE</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1029/3627445-1-eng-US/f0039-102.jpg" title="f0039-10" width="580" height="82"></div>(Amarillo wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Amarillo 3, Albuquerque 1Amarillo 6, Albuquerque 3Amarillo 6, Albuquerque 5Amarillo 3, Albuquerque 2<h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1127/3627438-1-eng-US/f0039-112.jpg" title="f0039-11" width="580" height="82"></div>(Amarillo wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Amarillo 9, Minot 1Amarillo 8, Minot 0Amarillo 7, Minot 4Amarillo 8, Minot 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1224/3627431-1-eng-US/f0039-122.jpg" title="f0039-12" width="583" height="74"></div>(Albuquerque wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Albuquerque 7, Billings 4Billings 9, Albuquerque 3Albuqueraue 8, Billings 3Billings 5, Albuquerque 3Albuquerque 5, Billings 1Billings 7, Albuquerque 4Albuqueraue 5 Billings 4<h2>NEW ENGLAND LEAGUE</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1320/3627424-1-eng-US/f0039-132.jpg" title="f0039-13" width="579" height="79"></div>(Springfield wins best-of-five series 3-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Springfield 11, Berlin 3Berlin 4, Springfield 3Springfield 3, Beilin 2Berlin 7, Springfield 4Springfield 10, Berlin 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1417/3627417-1-eng-US/f0039-142.jpg" title="f0039-14" width="579" height="80"></div>(Springfield wins best-of-three series 2-0)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1516/3627410-1-eng-US/f0039-152.jpg" title="f0039-15" width="579" height="77"></div>(Berlin wins best-of-three series 2-0)<h2>MIDWEST JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1615/3627403-1-eng-US/f0039-162.jpg" title="f0039-16" width="578" height="82"></div>(St. Paul wins best-of-five series 3-1)<h2>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1713/3627396-1-eng-US/f0039-172.jpg" title="f0039-17" width="581" height="76"></div>(Quebec wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Quebec 3, Sherbrooke 2Quebec 7, Sherbrooke 2Sherbrooke 8. Quebec 3Quebec 4, Sherbrooke 2Sherbrooke 6, Quebec 3Quebec 5, Sherbrooke 1<h3>Final Playoff leaders</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1810/3627389-1-eng-US/f0039-182.jpg" title="f0039-18" width="582" height="151"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-198/3627382-1-eng-US/f0039-192.jpg" title="f0039-19" width="581" height="157"></div><h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-207/3627375-1-eng-US/f0039-202.jpg" title="f0039-20" width="581" height="81"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sherbrooke 10, Trois-Rivieres 5Sherbrooke 8, Trois-Rivieres 6Sherbrooke 7, Trois-Rivieres 4Trois-Rivieres 7, Sherbrooke 6Sherbrooke 9, Trois-Rivieres 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-217/3627368-1-eng-US/f0039-212.jpg" title="f0039-21" width="578" height="73"></div>(Quebec wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>Quarter-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-226/3627361-1-eng-US/f0039-222.jpg" title="f0039-22" width="575" height="83"></div>(Sherbrooke wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-236/3627354-1-eng-US/f0039-232.jpg" title="f0039-23" width="530" height="78"></div>(Cornwall wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-245/3627347-1-eng-US/f0039-242.jpg" title="f0039-24" width="529" height="86"></div>(Trois-Rivieres wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-255/3627340-1-eng-US/f0039-252.jpg" title="f0039-25" width="527" height="75"></div>(Quebec wins best-of-seven series 4-1) &#9632;

f0039-01

HOW THEY STAND

<div class="byline">By Bill Hilts</div><h2>Great Lakes League</h2>Little Caesars won it all in the &ldquo;A&rdquo; Division of the Great Lakes Junior League by edging the Detroit Jr. Wings by the closest of margins &mdash; a single point &mdash; 72 to 71 points. Scoring leaders and vital statistics by GLJHL teams were as follows for regular season play.For the Little Caesars, Tom Michalek lead the team in goals scored as well as assists, compiling 92 points on 35 goals and 57 assists. During that time he received just 14 minutes in penalties. Dean Turner followed with 68 points, Tom Manning - 66 points, Don Waddell - 52 points and Dave Ross 47 points. Jim Nista logged a glossy 3.34 GA average in 26 games in goal, totaling 1,453 minutes. Greg Kwiatkowski had a 4.30 GA average in 15 games.For the Jr. Wings, Darryl DiPace led the team scoring in both goals&rsquo;and assists with 89 points on 37 goals and 52 assists. Dave Humphreys followed with 54 points Bryan Cammett - 54 points, Dave Gandini - 51 points, Dave Guertin - 44 points, Pete Wenzell compiled a 3.94 GA average tn 14 games in net. He also recorded a shutout. Larry Suarez played 18 games and posted a 4.09 GA average.For the Paddock Pools Saints, Joe McClellan ended up high scorer with 40 points on 19 goals and 21 assists. Bob Peterson followed him with 34 points, Mike Lackie - 33 points, Jack McKinch 31 points and Tom Nicholson - 30 points, In 24 games Frank Van Biesbrouck compiled a 5.17 GA average in goal and Keith Bullard had a 5.45 GA average for 21 games.Rodger Moy led the Oakland Chiefs with 81 points on 31 goals and 50 assists. His closest competitor was Ed Turner with 27 points. Ron Andrzejewski had 26 points, Matt Brooks - 26 points and Pete Poirier - 18. In 24 games in goal. Rudy Varvari came in with a 6.33 GA average and Doug Ross had a 6.35 GA average for 21 games.<h2>Manitoba League</h2>Scoring leaders and vital stats for each of the teams in the Manitoba Jr. League are as follows for the past regular season. Assiniboine Park Monarchs were led by Eugene O&rsquo;Sullivan with 74 points on 40 goals and 34 assists. He was followed by Dave Morrison with 65 points. Brad Thiessen 61 points, Hugh Ellis - 50 points and Dale Baumgartner - 48 points. During 31 games in goal Ron Nemetchuk compiled a 4.47 GA average and in eight games Murray Bannerman had a 2.75 GA average, while Paul Howes played 15 games and posted a 5.79 GA average.Brett Vincent led the Brandon Travellers with 30 goals and 57 assists for 87 points, He was followed by Paul Murray with 67 points, Simon Sochatsky - 66 points, Brent Donnelly - 51 points and Randy Markewich - 51 points. In 21 games in the nets Robin Frost came in with a 4.81 GA average and Kerry Seman had a 4.46 GA average in 37 games.The Dauphin Kings were led by Jim Misener with 40 goals and 58 assists for 98 points. Owen Connolly was next with 63 points, Lyle Stokotelny - 61 points, Greg McPhee - 56 points and Doug Affleck - 49 points. Jim Tkachyk logged a 4.98 GA average in goal for 32 games and Lawrence Grodecki played 29 games for a 5:30 GA average.Gilles Begin led the Kenora Thistles with 71 points on 32 goals and 39 assists. Bob Nault had 66 point, Kim Marchuk - 59 points, Ted Nolan - 56 points and Marty Hancock - 55 points. In 33 games Terry Wright had a 6.32 GA average and Tony Thiel posted a 5.64 GA average in 32 games.The Portage Terriers were led by Ray Creasy with 85 points on 39 goals and 46 assists. Next was Chuck Naish - 57 points, Brad Harding - 55 points, Darryl Henry - 49 points and Dave McDonald - 46 points. Bob Rookes came in with a 5.19 GA average in 23 games in the nets while Ralph Shettler played 30 games for a 4.50 GA average.Jim and Malazdrewicz led the Saints scoring &mdash; Jim netting 35 goals and collecting 36 as assists for 71 points. He edged out Bill by a single point, who came in with 70 on 23 goals and 47 assists. Ray Savard had 60 points, Dan Isherwood - 59 and Rick Leob - 53 points. Ken Coey had 4.28 GA average in goal for 19 games and Bruce Friesen posted an impressive 3.80 GA average in 36 games.Tome Legge led the St. James Canadians with 84 points on 40 goals and 44 assists. Next was Brian Thomas with 59 points. Darryl Sutton - 48 points, Bruce Hudson - 48 points and Paul Charles - 47 points. In 15 games Dale Charles posted a 5.54 GA average in net and Phil Campeau had a respectable 4.17 GA average for 44 games.Ken Krentz led the league champion Selkirk Steelers with 109 points on 45 goals and 64 assists. He was followed by Dale Maksymyk - 72 points, Darryl Einarson - 71 points, Rob Martens - 70 points and Barry Cyr - 58 points. In 37 games in goal Brian Geard had a 5.02 GA average and Dale Emmelkamp posted a 5.29 GA average in 19 games.The Thompson King Miners were led by Wayne McLellan with 22 goals and 34 assists for 56 points. Chris Jette had 54 points. Kelly Petalik - 51 pbints, Roger Katchmar 39 points and Barry Marcheschuk - 29 points. In 28 games in net Dan Mowatt posted a 5.69 GA average and Paul Klyne had a 5.76 GA average for 28 games.Anthony Gurniak led the West Kildonan North Stars with 91 points on 36 goals and 55 assists. Rick Peters had 83 points, Lance Kapusta - 54 points. Jim Flett 51 points and John Corrigal - 49 points. In 38 games, goalie Jerry Caputo logged a 4.50 GA average and Karl Friesen came up with a 4.01 GA average in 11 games.<h2>New England League</h2>The Springfield Olympics won it all this season &mdash; the New England Jr. Hockey League regular season crown, the playoff title and the AHAUS National Jr. &lsquo;B &ldquo;Title.Bernie Croteau, the Olympics classy center led the team scoring with an even 100 points on 52 goals and 48 assists. He was followed by Dan Ferioli - 76 points. Jeff Cristina - 73 points, Ed Malone - 60 points and Dean Lombardi - 54 points. Bill Derosia posteda league-leading 4.11 GA average for the 39 games he played. Steve Czepiel had a 5.71 GA average for 27 games.The runnerup Berlin Maroons were led by the NEJHL all-time champ John Normand who compiled an amazing 153 points on 79 goals and 74 assists in just 48 games. Gerry Gingras finished with 56 goals and 64 assists for 120 points. Butch Poirier - 97 points, Mike Smith - 78 points and Joe Martin - 43 points. Ron Roberge played 35 games in goal and posted a 6.42 GA average. In 30 games Mike Shevlin had a 6.96 GA average.Chuck Pappas led the Fitchburg Wallopers with 67 goals and 41 assists for 108 points. Mickey Rego had .106 points. Kevin Lawler - 105 points, Brian Fitzpatrick 78 points and Ron Hakala - 65 points. In 30 games Don Leger posteda 4.72 GA average in nets. Dave Shirley for seven games had a 5.09 GA average; Pete MacKay for 10 games had a 5.48 GA average and Jim Gillis in 11 games had a 5.74 GA average.The Tyngsboro Huskies were led by Kenny Girouard with 45 goals and 54 assists for 99 points. Chip Bettencourt had 87 points, Jim Collins 65 points, Bob MacLeod - 49 points and Dale Metzler - 48 points. Jim Browder played 2,309 minutes in nets during 40 games and posted in impressive 4.63 GA average. Chris Leng played 10 games fora 6.87 GA average.Bob Francis led the Berwick Vikings with 136 points on 62 goals and 74 assists. Rich Campisi was right on his heels with 134 points on 66 goalsand 68 assists, followed by Andy Crowther 64 points, Dana Mullarky - 62 points and Mike Dobie - 45 points. In 13 games John Spinney had a 5.93 GA average in goal. Brian Sullivan in 30 games had a 6.84 GA average and Jim Gillis played 13 games for a 7.70 GA average.The South Shore Braves were led by Charlie Ryan with 60 points on 28 goals and 32 assists. Jim Quirk had 52 points, Steve Hennessey - 49 points, Jack Gatie - 34 points and Zapper Manning - 29 points. In six games in goal Dave Field had a 6.15 GA average; Dan Regan in 10 games posted a 6.16 GA average; in 15 games Dave Field had a 6.15 GA average; Dan Regan in 10 games posted a 6.16 GA average; in 15 games Bob Clark had a 6.43 GA average and Scott Callan in .30 games compiled a 6.62 GA average.Scott Huna Led the Tri-Valley Squires with 39 goals and 27 assists for 66 points. Joel Procaccini had 53 points. Bob Volpicelli - 49 points, Rick Cavallaro - 48 points and Kirk Morgan 45 points. Mark Hansen came up with a 6.94 GA average for the 39 games he played in goal. Jim Skillings played five games for a 7.59 GA average and Brian Hopkins had a 8.50 GA average for 12 games.<h2>New York-Penn League</h2>The top five scorers for the NY-Penn Jr. Hockey League champion Amherst Knights were Leo Lynett with 34 goals and 50 assists for 84 points &mdash; second best in the league &mdash; along with his linemates Greg Jantzi and Stu Campbell who had 66 and 61 points respectively. Also defenseman Jeff Brownschidle with 57 points and Dale Guynn with 51 points.Dave Golda led the Buffalo Blades with 33 goals and 37 assists for 70 points. &#9632;

JUNIOR JOTTINGS

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01133/3627570-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM SCHOENFELD&hellip; Played Hurt</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;When you hear about the Buffalo Sabres you think French Connection or Danny Gare and Craig Ramsay and Don Luce. Buffalo is known as an offensive team.You don&rsquo;t hear much about the defense. And, during the playoffs, the backliners came in for considerable criticism from the fans. But, said coach Floyd Smith and general manager Punch Imlach, it wasn&rsquo;t the defensemen&rsquo;s fault the Sabres were eliminated by the New York Islanders in the quarterfinals. It was the lack of defense on the part of the entire team. The forwards weren&rsquo;t doing their share.Certainly the defense had a lot with getting the Sabres into the playoffs and into fourth place in the National Hockey League final standings.There were the two guys with the moustaches who did the shooting from the blueline, Jerry Korab and Josh Guevremont. And the &lsquo;defenseman&rsquo;s defenseman&rsquo;, Bill Hajt. And the big redhead, who blocked so many shots and who played hurt throughout the playoffs and is the team captain, Jim Schoenfeld. And the new guy who is coming along fast and taught the NHL to respect his toughness, Lee Fogolin.And there was Paul McIntosh, too. McIntosh didn&rsquo;t play much but when he was needed when both Schoenfeld and Korab were hurt at the same time, the rookie filled in very well.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0286/3627563-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="1182" height="1083"><figcaption class="caption-body">JERRY KORAB&hellip; Came Back Strong</figcaption></div>Korab and Guevremont meant a good deal to the Sabres because of their offensive ability. Until Imlach traded for them, the Sabres didn&rsquo;t have defensemen who were big and could carry the puck and shoot from the point.Guevremont, Vancouver&rsquo;s first choice and third pick overall in the 1971 draft, had his best season ever in 1975-76. Josh scored more goals while with the Canucks than his 12 of this season but his 52 points were the most he ever accumulated in five NHL seasons, one more than he got when he set a rookie record for defensemen in 1971-72.He once was known as an offensive defenseman who was somewhat weak defensively. Now he&rsquo;s an all-around performer. He led the Sabres this season in plusminus ratings.Korab, big, burly &lsquo;King Kong&rsquo; of the Buffalo defense has a strong shot from the point as has Guevremont. Korab worked on it with Bobby Hull when the two played together with the Chicago Black Hawks a few years ago. On occasion, &lsquo;Kong&rsquo; carries the puck like a forward which he sometimes was with Chicago and Vancouver.Korab missed 15 games this season because of a nose injury which developed complications, but he came back strong. His six-foot-three, 215 pound frame is enough to intimidate opposing forwards, just as is Schoenfeld&rsquo;s six-foot-two, 205 pounds.&lsquo;Schony&rsquo; was ill and injured much of the last campaign, yet he was a dominant performer on the club. He returned prematurely from a bout with mononucleosis and played every game after the Montreal contest Feb. 22 when he brought a big cheer from the crowd by marking a surprise appearance on the ice with the Sabres.Schoenfeld played until the final game of the playoffs when a broken bone in his left foot, a sprained right wrist and a broken right elbow, kept him out of action.Throughout the playoffs, Schoenfeld missed practice because of the foot injury, which the club called a bruise but actually was a broken bone. That did not come until the Sabres were eliminated. Just having Schoenfeld on the ice seemed to help the club.Strong, silent cowboy Hajt, from Western Canada, plays as he lives, quietly and efficiently. He played every game for the Sabres, regular season and playoffs. So inconspicuously does he perform his duties on the ice he often is overlooked.Hajt figures his job is defense and he does it very well. Rarely out of position, he forces opposing forwards outside and keeps them from getting off a good shot. When necessary, he uses his six-foot-three, 200-pound body to keep the opposition from getting rambunctious.Fogolin, who played little as a rookie in 1974-75, went down to the minors early this season and then returned when Schoenfeld fell ill. Lee played a regular shift and held his own. He won the award as the most improved player on the Sabres. And anyone who tested him found out that Fogolin knows how to handle his fists. &#9632;

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June 1, 1976

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