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.

October 22, 1976

The Hockey News October 22, 1976

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05643/3949786-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2>Detroit Missed Boat Passing Up Schultz</h2>I would really like to know where Alex Delvecchio was when Dave &ldquo;The Hammer&rdquo; Schultz was put on the &ldquo;no longer required list&rdquo; of the Philadelphia Flyers.With a nucleus consisting of rugged, respectable players such as Dan Maloney, Dennis Hextall, Brian Watson. Mike Bloom and young Dennis Polonich, how could anyone not attempt to add Schultz to the present aggressive list?The Wings are starting to build up a good, fearsome squad and the services Schultz would have rendered to Detroit would be appreciated a lot more than what he&rsquo;ll give to Los Angeles.Besides having Dave Hutchison and now Schultz, a more appropriate name for the team should be Queens rather than Kings.Come one, Alex. Have an eye open for big things.JIM BLOTSKY, Montreal, Canada<h2>Wallets Not Filled Way They Once Were</h2>I read with interest Bobby Orr&rsquo;s plea to hockey fans that he hopes we will realize that he cannot perform the same way he used to when his knees were equipped with cartilages.I can sympathize with anyone having a physical disability but it seems that we have a special case here.I would only ask Mr. Orr to realize (at contract time) that we fans (most of us) list cannot perform the same way at the ticket office as we used to when our wallets were equipped with money.This is not intended as a criticism of Bobby&rsquo;s play or his value to a team, although I do seem to remember he and his attorney at the forefront of the contract escalation.It has come to the point where some franchises cannot survive without sellout crowds, even in 20.000-seat arenas. I will be the first to agree that being the finest spectator sport in the world, there is no good reason why every game of each team should not be sold out. No reason except the price of a ticket!Here in Rochester, our auditorium would be out of business if it weren&rsquo;t for the Amerks. If franchises seem to be in trouble for other reasons, it is probably because someone is trying to promote a major league franchise with minor league talent and finding that people won&rsquo;t pay Montreal or Philadelphia prices.Or, maybe charging an outrageous amount for a seat 20 miles from the ice when a better view can be had on television.Salaries are the key to future success of pro hockey. I don&rsquo;t buy the alibi that hockey is a dying sport but it sure seems to be doing a good job of trying to kill itself.R. LANG,<h2>Hindsight Easier Than Foresight</h2>This letter is sort of a protest to that written by Bernard Alpern in the September issue of The Hockey News. In his letter, he stated that players such as Rogatien Vachon, Denis Potvin, Darryl Sittler, Gilbert Perreault, Larry Robinson and Marcel Dionne were &ldquo;all good ones, but were made from a viewpoint of individual ability and reputation rather than the specific needs of Team Canada.&rdquo;Naturally, hindsight is easier than foresight, but of these players, Rogatien Vachon was named most valuable player of the tournament.Denis Potvin was a plus 10 (tops in the tournament). And, Darryl Sittier was a plus six, best for Team Canada forwards, and he scored the winning goal in the final game.Also, Marcel Dionne, a normal center, willingly switched positions for the Canada Cup, as did Darryl Sittier.I have been a Darryl Sittier fan since his first year, probably his only fan as he only got 10 goals and eight assists, and am now, as all Maple Leaf fans are, extremely proud of our captain.Now acclaimed as one of the best players in the world as his selection as a Canada Cup All-Star attests. I also thought it was interesting that the great Guy Lafleur, despite playing on all power plays and a regular shift, could only muster one goal. A fine clutch player. I must admit.WILLIAM BLACKMORE. Regina, Sask.<h2>NHL Has Only Five Contenders For Cup</h2>I am in complete agreement with Don Chapman of Torrance. Calif., (Sept, issue, Hockey News). I have heard phrases such as &ldquo;contender", &ldquo;almost there", &ldquo;one player away&rdquo; etc. used continually by management and coaches of lower-echelon teams. You know the ones I mean.Now I would like to ask Cliff Fletcher. Phil Maloney, Cat Francis. Jack Kent Cooke et al: &ldquo;Contenders for what? Almost where?&rdquo; Certainly nowhere near the Stanley Cup.In this era of inflated hockey, we can no longer say. as we did in the old six-team days, that every team has some chance of taking that Cup.Looking at the upcoming season. I would say that there are about four or five teams which can be rated genuine Stanley Cup possibilities. With a ridiculous 12 teams making the playoffs, the early rounds mean almost nothing.I enjoy today&rsquo;s hockey immensely. There are many truly enjoyable games played between any two teams you can name, and the league is getting stronger every season.But. I do not think it is fair to the fans of these teams for &ldquo;expert&rdquo; front-office personnel to delude them into expecting their favorites to come within Champagne-sipping distance of the Stanley Cup.MILES DURRIE, &#9632;

f0004-05

IN THIS ISSUE

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01999/3950103-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEN HODGE &hellip; Deal Means Vote Of Confidence (Photo by Rich Pilling)</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;It happened at 10:28 of the second period of Ken Hodge&rsquo;s first game in Madison Square Garden as a New York Ranger. He scored with assists being credited to Phil Esposito and Pat Hickey. It made the score Boston 4. New York 3. The Rangers were climbing back from a 4-1 deficit, in their first pre-season game, on the way to a 7-5 win. The crowd loved it and let Hodge know it.&ldquo;How about that, they cheered for me,&rdquo; grinned the personable 32-year-old six-foot-two-inch. 216-pound right wing. &ldquo;And they gave me Vic Hadfield s number. 11. &ldquo;When a reporter mentions a player as being personable, he usually is just filling space, but in Kenny&rsquo;s case it&rsquo;s true. The memory of Hodge standing in the exit of the Boston Garden last year, while benched by the Bruins and coach Don Cherry, left one with the impression of a very bitter, but smiling young man. Kenny kibitzed with the fans, and traded quips with Esposito, when he skated by in his new Ranger uniform.&ldquo;You know I&rsquo;ll try extra hard against the Bruins.&rdquo; said Kenny. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to say anything more about Cherry or Harry Sinden (the Bruins GM). I decided to pass off what Cherry said about me.&rdquo;Underneath there has to be a smoldering resentment. In 11 years Hodge has 305 goals. 427 assists. 732 points, one 50-goal season, one 62-assist season, two 105-point seasons and the last two years on the bench much of the time, and in the Boston dog house.Nine of those seasons were spent with the Bruins, after both he and Esposito, along with Fred Stanfield came to Boston from the Chicago Black Hawks in the infamous deal in which Gilles Marotte. Jack Norris and Pit Martin became Black Hawks. If the Hawks don&rsquo;t compensate the Bruins in the Bobby Orr caper, they will have done nothing more than evened the score.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe I have to prove anything. I proved a lot over the years and I owe John Ferguson and the Rangers something. They wanted me and went out and got me. That&rsquo;s a large vote of confidence, right there.&rdquo;Hodge and Esposito are happy together, again, even if left winger Wayne Cashman didn&rsquo;t come from Boston with them. They have played together since their junior days, were on the same Black Hawk team before the trade to Boston, and now are reunited with New York.&ldquo;This Ranger team is similar to the Bruins in 1967-68. Despite having Orr the year before, the Bruins didn&rsquo;t make the playoffs.&rdquo; remembered Kenny, &ldquo;we created an unbelievable image in Boston. We can do the same thing here. Fergy is cleaning house, building his kind of team. It will be an aggressive team. We will have the right attitude to wipe the slate clean, and go out and prove something this year".Hodge feels the Rangers players have to get more involved in selling the team to the fans and not take the paying guests for granted.&ldquo;We gotta get involved, stop taking from the fans and give the fans what they want, a team that works hard, a winner. We gotta stop taking from the fans and start giving. &ldquo;said Kenny.Hodge may be the key to the revival of Esposito, who along with second year man Pat Hickey comprises the Rangers&rsquo; top line at present.Phil&rsquo;s new wife. Donna (married Aug. 7) met the press, or some of them anyway, at the Rangers&rsquo; preseason gala on Sept. 20 in the Hall of Fame at the Garden. Both looked happy, which bodes well for Phil&rsquo;s tranquility and peace of mind. That means he can devote his energy to the task of putting points on the board for the Rangers.Ferguson means business. In early pre-season games he played six rookies. Nick Fotiu, Mark Heaslip, That was quite a junior team that Jos played on. He was with the Montreal Junior Canadiens from 1967-70.From that team the first year he played, 14 of the 20 members are pro players, including Guevremont&rsquo;s present teammates Martin and Perreault.ICE CHIPS: Perreault started rather slowly in the exhibition schedule but he had a big night in the Sabres&rsquo; first game against the Boston Bruins, a 5-2 win. Gil was in on four of the five goals. He scored one and another came on his rebound after he skated the length of the ice to shoot.A player from the San Diego Mariners of the World Hockey Association, Alex Tidey, teamed with Martin and Perreault in that game because Rene Robert, their usual right winger on the French Connection, was injured. Tidey fitted in well and scored a goal after a pretty passing play with his two linemates.With the exhibition schedule coming to a close, coach Floyd Smith still was having a difficult time figuring which of his four goalies was looking the best. Gerry Desjardins, the top netminder of 1975-76, looked strong against the Bruins but Al Smith and the two rookies, Bob Sauve and Don Edwards, also had turned in impressive performances.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a problem but a pleasant one,&rdquo; said Smitty&hellip;Roger Crozier, who retired again last season after another bout with pancreatitis, showed up at practice one day and gave rise to rumors he might make another goaltending comeback. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m retired,&rdquo; said Roger. &#9632;

f0011-01

Hodge Seen Key Figure In Revival Of Esposito

<div class="byline">BY LARRY BORTSTEIN</div>DENVER&mdash;&ldquo;We stressed skating today.&rdquo; &ldquo;We tried to get everyone loosened up for the weekend series.&rdquo; &ldquo;We were pleased with the workouts this morning.&rdquo; The sounds of the Colorado Rockies&rsquo; first National Hockey League training camp aren&rsquo;t any different from the sounds at other NHL camps.Johnny Wilson, coach of the Rockies, was running two-a-day practices here for nine straight days, and the predominant sound among many of his players was that of heavy breathing.Following the nine consecutive two-a-days, Wilson gave his charges one Wednesday afternoon off in late September, a day he looked back on the following afternoon as having been &ldquo;most beneficial to everyone. &ldquo;Apparently. The Rockies played their second exhibition game at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs and won their second straight, topping the tough New York Islanders. 2-1. in a game which saw all three scores registered in the first period of action.Chuck Arnason and Ron Andruff scored for Colorado, while Dave Lewis tallied for New York. Doug Favell was exceptional in goal while playing the first two periods, and could easily have played shutout hockey during his stay in the nets. Lewis&rsquo; goal came on a rebound with Favell on the opposite side of the cage.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01713/3950506-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="595" height="783"><figcaption class="caption-body">RON ANDRUFF &hellip; Scores Once</figcaption></div>Everything the Rockies do constitutes NHL history in these parts, of course, so it s worth noting the names of the first 10 players reassigned by the club as it made its first roster trim and scaled the roster to 28 players a few days before the regular season opener.Most notable among the men who were sent to the minors were first-round draft choice Paul Gardner, a center, and third-round draftee Mike Kitchen. They were sent to the Providence-based Rhode Island Reds of the AHL. Terry McDonald, a second year defenseman. also was sent to Rhode Island.Goalkeeper Jim Corsi.defenseman-wing Tim Lawson, and centerman Rick McIntyre were sent to the Flint Generals of the IHL. Port Huron of the IHL received defenseman Reid Bailey. Bob Bilodeau, a defenseman. was released and reported to the Hershey Bears of the AHL. Center Joe Fortunato was returned to the Islander organization, and veteran NHLer Brian Lavender was released outright.Gary Croteau, the Rockies&rsquo; solid left wing vet, liked the fact that Colorado played two diammetrically opposite kind of teams in their first two exhibition encounters - and outplayed both. The Rockies beat Pittsburgh. 6-4, in their opening preseason tilt.&ldquo;The Penguins are offense-minded. and the Islanders are good defensively,&rdquo; Croteau said. &ldquo;We played them both tough. We never let the Islanders get a two-one-one break against us.&rdquo;PEBBLES: As the Oct. 5 season-opener against Toronto approached, Rockies&rsquo; season ticket sales were approaching the 2,000 mark. &ldquo;We were shooting for between 2,000 and 3,000,&rdquo; said chairman of the board Jack Vickers, &ldquo;and 1 think we&rsquo;re right in line for the short period we&rsquo;ve had.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;The Rockies will give away more than $275,000 in cash and tickets in the early weeks of the 197677 campaign to help introduce the NHL to Denver. In a promotion the club is calling &ldquo;Puck Bucks,&rdquo; 4,000,: 000 cards featuring photos of Colorado players are being distributed. If someone gets a card with two pictures of the same player on it, he receives a pair of tickets. A total of 30,000 tickets, worth more than $200,000, will be dispensed starting Oct. 20. In addition, at the Rockies&rsquo; first 15 games, cash prizes are being awarded between periods. There will be one $1,000 winner, three $500 winners, six $250 winners, and 10 $100 winners at each game, $5.000 given away in all for 15 games or a total of $75,000. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to give the impression we&rsquo;re running a Las Vegas sideshow,&rdquo; Vickers said. &ldquo;This is just another means by which we can expose the people of this area to hockey.&rdquo; Vickers, chairman of the board of the oil company which bears his name, says all games, both home and away, are being broadcast here, with weekday games starting at 7:30, even road games that normally would start earlier because of regional time differences, e.g., a game starting in New York at 7:30 would actually be starting at 5:30 Mountain Time. But the club plans to go on the air for these games via tape-delay to catch the maximum audience. &ldquo;We want to establish 7:30 as Hockey Time&rsquo; in Denver,&rdquo; said president Munson Campbell in explaining the move. &#9632;

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Hockey No Different In Colorado

<div class="byline">&#x2013; BY BILL MAKI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03179/3950924-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">"&hellip;That Way&hellip; First Door On The Right&hellip;"</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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CARTOON CORNER

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01977/3949634-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goaler Denis Herron of the Penguins had the misfortune of becoming the first major casualty of the NHL season. Herron broke his arm and will be sidelined for a least four months.</figcaption></div><h2>GOALER BREAKS ARM</h2>PITTSBURGH&mdash;The injury jinx that has dogged the Pittsburgh Penguins this season reached its climax in the first game of the 1976-77 season when the Pensxs&rsquo; No. 1 net-minder, Denis Herron, sustained a broken arm that threw the Pittsburgh goaling situation into a muddle and desposited Herron on the sidelines for at least the next four months.The Penguins had already lost Vic Hadfield and Lowell MacDonald, two of their veteran standbys, when Herron was injured in the NHL opener against Vancouver. The Pens rushed in rookie Gord Laxton and the roof fell in on the youngster. He gave up 21 goals in three games for a 7.24 average and was charged with two Pittsburgh losses. To offset the loss of Herron, the Pens went out and purchased well-travelled goaler Dune Wilson in the hope he can ease the situation.<h2>RANGERS MAKE HISTORY</h2>NEW YORK&mdash;Hockey fans probably never dreamed that someday they&rsquo;d see players skating around the ice wearing such football-type sweater numerals as 77 and 88. But it has happened. The New York Rangers are making NHL history this season by allowing three of their players &mdash; Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and goaler John Davidson to wear the uncoventional hockey digits on their sweaters.The Rangers as the result have the highest numbers &mdash; Esposito will be 77 and Hodge 88 &mdash; and the lowest &mdash; Davidson will wear 00 on the back of his jersey. Strangely the number worn by Esposito won&rsquo;t be a first for the NHL. Roger Jenkins of the 1930 Montreal Canadiens wore 88 when high numbers were constantly worn by NHL players. And speaking of odd numbers, the Cleveland Barons new defenseman, Bjorn Johansson is sporting No. 13 on his sweater. He says in Europe, 13 means good luck. He&rsquo;s the second to wear the number. Robin Bums of Colorado Rockies also wears No. 13.<h2>GUIDOLIN WIELDING AXE</h2>EDMONTON-Bep Guidolin of the Edmonton Oilers says he didn&rsquo;t intend it that way but he&rsquo;s unwittingly become a hatchet man since taking over the WHA club as GM and coach. Guidolin never did play favorites and he says he isn&rsquo;t going to start with the Oilers.Guidolin had the Edmonton fans muttering when he released Bruce MacGregor, the veteran right winger. Then he lopped off the two McAneeley brothers, Bob and Ted, two of Edmonton&rsquo;s most publicized acquisitions. Guidolin said none of the players he cut &ldquo;could play here.&rdquo; Guidolin also chopped regular goaler Chris Worthy, who said he would quit before accepting demotion to Baltimore of the SHL. He also dropped ex-Whaler Paul Hurley who just arrived in camp. Guidolin said he must rebuild and if he has to step on people&rsquo;s toes to do it, that&rsquo;s the way it&rsquo;s going to be. &ldquo;Our aim is to get this club into the playoffs,&rdquo; said Guidolin.<h2>BLUES MAKE CHANGES</h2>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Things are changing rapidly in old St. Louis. The Cat is sweeping the house clean and changing the face of the Blues. First Barclay Plager was retired as an NHLer to become a playing coach in the minors and then Red Berenson was promoted to assistant coach. Francis later named &lsquo;Iron Man&rsquo; Garry Unger to replace Berenson as captain.Francis said the appointment to Berenson will not reduce his time on the ice. The Cat said he was merely hoping to capitalize on Berenson&rsquo;s leadership qualities to stimulate the players-and-team. &#9632;

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DEADLINE STOPPERS

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Jack Kent Cooke never is farther away from a big deal than the nearest telephone, and when the dynamic Cooke makes a move it often is a blockbuster bringing in the likes of Marcel Dionne or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to bolster one of his teams. The owner&rsquo;s deal with Philadelphia bringing Dave Schultz to the Kings was nowhere near that level, but was a surprise.The most surprised were manager Jake Milford and coach Bob Pulford. Pully said, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s on the team, that&rsquo;s all I know.&rdquo; Milford said, &ldquo;He can help the team if he can stay out of the penalty box.&rdquo;This doesn&rsquo;t seem likely.As a minor leaguer. Schultz set the Eastern League record in penalty minutes at 356, went on to set the American League record at 382, then surpassed it the following season at 392.As a major leaguer, &ldquo;The Hammer&rdquo; broke in modestly at a league-leading 259, then set the National League record at 348 and moved it up to a staggering 472 the following season. He also set a league record of 132 minutes in a single season&rsquo;s playoffs, spanning 17 games. The Flyers won those playoffs.He is bound to be big at the box office.He got his nickname after he broke Keith Magnuson&rsquo;s jaw with a blow. Schultz was the clean-up hitter in Philly&rsquo;s &ldquo;Murderers&rsquo; Row&rdquo; line-up of villains, the key to coach Fred Shero&rsquo;s campaign of violence and intimidation which carried the Flyers to the top, and more than any other player was responsible for their reputation as &ldquo;The Broad Street Bullies.&rdquo;However, Shero felt the Flyers had the other teams off balance by last season and no longer needed such extreme measures to triumph. Wearying of Schultz&rsquo;s sometimes senseless assaults and the burden of constantly killing off penalties, Shero benched Dave and made him a part-time player last season. Accordingly. his penalty minutes dropped to a disgracefully meagre 307, a mere third in the circuit.Perhaps significantly, the Flyers Were swept out of the playoff finals by a faster, smoother Montreal team.In the wake of off-ice legal action against violence in this sport, the NHL has introduced new rules this season which Philly felt would finish Schultz. At the discretion of the referees, game misconduct penalties are to be given to players who try to intimidate rivals by starting fights or continuing them beyond reason. The first three of these and each following one are to bring one-game suspensions and $1,000 fines.However, it remains to be seen if the refs enforce this rule against the misuse of fists. They have not enforced similar rules against the far more dangerous misuse of sticks.Still league-president-Glarence-Campbell has twice suspended Dave Hutchison for his use of his stick. Combine Hutch&rsquo;s use of his stick and new King Schultz&rsquo;s use of his fists and the Los Angeles team could indeed intimidate rivals and along the way set a new all-time two-man mark for penalties and suspensions. And they are starting out with new penalty-killing duos because Bob Nevin was unsigned and Butch Goring was ill as the season approached.Hutchison also can use his fists. He didn&rsquo;t want to fight Danny Maloney, his former teammate and forever friend, but was willing to take on anyone else. Schultz was one of the few willing to take on Maloney. He couldn&rsquo;t fight like Dan. but he did hold him to a draw in one bout.The Kings have spent the summer unsuccessfully seeking an aggressive, powerful forward to replace the departed Danny to dig into corners because they offered only players others did not want. Taking matters in his own hands, owner Cooke, temporarily in residence in Las Vegas, swung the dramatic deal for Schultz in exchange for the forever-famous &ldquo;future considerations.&rdquo;In keeping with their policy of trading amateur draft choices for veterans, the club reportedly surrendered next summer&rsquo;s second and fourth-round picks. Mr. Cooke wants to win now. He has constructed a club which is coming on now and he is determined to go all the way with it. He is an extraordinary man who will not settle for the ordinary.His deal for Dionne made this an explosive squad. He has spoken against violence, but resented the way little Marcel was set upon by thugs last season. Accordingly, he has acted, rather than sit idly by and see nothing done to provide protection for his stars. A proud man, he proved his critics wrong in the Dionne deal and expects to do so again in adding Dave Schultz.It is unlikely Schultz will play left wing on Dionne&rsquo;s line because his penalties would sweep Dionne off the ice, but. Dave does play defense and does give an added dimension to this club as it starts its 10th season.At the age of 27 he is entering his fifth year in the majors and already ranks ninth all-time in NHL penalty minutes. He did score 20 goals, including hat-tricks in consecutive games, three seasons back and says he can play as well as fight.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do anything I can to help my new team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I hate leaving Philly, but I love landing in L A. I&rsquo;d like to make this club a champion, too.&rdquo;<h2>Unhappy Pulford Chicago Bound?</h2>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Rumors are-flying around Jack Kent Cooke&rsquo;s Forum in suburban Inglewood that Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; coach Bob Pulford is on his way to another National Hockey League team at the end of the 1976-77 season.The latest word is that Pulford is heading for the Chicago Black Hawks as coach with Billy Reay, the dean of NHL coaches, moving upstairs to a front office position.Although Pulford has denied that he has agreed to join the Chicago organization at the end of this season, the idea doesn&rsquo;t seem out of line.Pulford worked closely with Black Hawks&rsquo; general manager Tommy Ivan while the two were associated with Team United States in the Canada Cup series.Pulford coached the American team and Ivan was the general manager.Earlier, rumors were circulating that Pulford was headed to the Detroit Red Wings as coach.It was reported that he was unhappy over the trade that brought center Marcel Dionne here and sent Dan Maloney and Terry Harper to the Red Wings.Pulford even appeared to be caught by surprise by the Kings&rsquo; latest player transaction&mdash;the acquisition of Dave Shultz from the Philadelphia Flyers for future draft choices.<h2>WHERE YOU&rsquo;LL FIND IT ALL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02888/3949665-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="641" height="2899"></div> &#9632;

f0002-02

Schultz Deal Surprise Even To Coach Pulford

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01983/3949703-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY ORR &hellip;Caught Up In Controversy</figcaption></div>Special To The Hockey NewsCHICAGO-The Boston Bruins, threatening to sue to get compensation for super star Bobby Orr, have been rebuffed by the National Hockey League in their efforts to keep Orr off the ice until the matter is settled.NHL president Clarence Campbell has ruled that Orr will continue to perform with the Black Hawks. Campbell said &ldquo;there is no reason in the world why Orr shouldn&rsquo;t play for Chicago,&rdquo; in rejecting the Bruins&rsquo; demands to suspend the former Boston defenseman.The Bruins announced through club president Paul A. Mooney that the NHL club had filed suit in U.S. District Court for an injunction restraining Orr from playing with the Black Hawks until the Bruins received &ldquo;adequate&rdquo; compensation from Chicago.Campbell said he found it &ldquo;regrettable&rdquo; that the Boston team should think of going to the courts to settle the affair. The Hawks were so infuriated by the whole mess that playing members of the Hawks declared they would strike if the Bruins succeeded in keeping Orr off the ice with a court order.Orr became a free agent June 1 and signed a multi-year, $3 million contract with Chicago. Alan Eagleson, Orr&rsquo;s lawyer, said both Chicago and Boston agreed to waive compensation before Orr signed his contract with the Hawks.Under a section of the NHL bylaws, the Bruins would normally be entitled to compensation &mdash; in either money or players &mdash; for the loss of Orr. Campbell said, however, that the Boston club waived arbitration on the compensation issue June 7, noting that they &ldquo;thought they had a good enough team without Orr. I guess they miscalculated.&rdquo;Since Orr&rsquo;s departure from Boston, the Bruins had lost an average of 5,000 paying customers per game, Campbell said.After Orr&rsquo;s operation, the Bruins made another contract offer which was substantially less than their initial offer, Campbell said, it was rejected by Orr and Eagleson.&ldquo;Later, when they (the Bruins) realized their offer lessened substantially the equalization payment they might get from another club they tried to reopen negotiations, but Eagleson and Orr told them to go to hell,&rdquo; Campbell said.&ldquo;That will give you some idea of the bitterness between Orr and the Boston club.&rdquo;Orr, the only defenceman ever to lead the NHL in scoring, a feat he accomplished twice, turned in an impressive performance in the Canada Cup tournament prior to the opening of the NHL&rsquo;s training camps.Arthur Wirtz, chairman of the Black Hawks board, said he &ldquo;used every care to straighten out this&rdquo; before he signed Orr. He speculated that the Bruins&rsquo; management filed the suit because &ldquo;their faces are red&rdquo; as a result of Orr&rsquo;s return to form in spite of his serious knee injuries.Wirtz said he phoned the Jacobs family of Buffalo, N.Y., which owns the Boston club before he signed Orr.&ldquo;I called Jerry Jacobs,&rdquo; Wirtz said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been friends with the family since 1931 &mdash; what&rsquo;s that, 44 years? And I said to him that On June 1, Orr will become a free agent&hellip; and we do not want to step on your toes, but if you don&rsquo;t sign him, we&rsquo;ll try to.&rsquo; Jerry Jacobs said. &rsquo;If we can&rsquo;t sign him, we&rsquo;ll waive any rights as to equalization.&rsquo;&ldquo;And we signed Orr&hellip; and I have that understanding with the Jacobs.&rdquo;Wirtz also said the Boston club sent a telegram to the league confirming the no-compensation inssue and that there was a &ldquo;clear understanding between the players&rsquo; association, the National Hockey League owners and Campbell.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02847/3949696-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="513" height="734"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLARENCE CAMPBELL</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I imagine their faces are red.&rdquo; he was quoted as saying. &ldquo;When the club was sold to the Jacobs, they promised to sign Orr (which previous owner Storer Broadcasting refused to do). But for some reason or another they didn&rsquo;t, and he became a free agent.&ldquo;Considering the huge bidding for Orr&rsquo;s services by several major clubs, I can&rsquo;t understand why the management didn&rsquo;t sign him.&rdquo;The Hawks originally offered the Bruins a player for Orr &mdash; J.P. Bordeleau &mdash; but were turned down. The Bruins are in a public relations bind for not signing Orr and feared more adverse reaction if they took a lesser player as compensation.Harry Sinden, the Bruins&rsquo; general manager, said: &ldquo;There are only six players on the Black Hawks we would take. We want a package of at least two of them.&ldquo;Bill Wirtz stood up and gave a number of speeches about the great collective bargaining agreement and compensation. After that you wouldn&rsquo;t think he would renege on it.&rdquo;Eagleson also took an opportunity to say &ldquo;I told you so.&rdquo;&ldquo;I told Bill Wirtz that I thought what I said originally was borne out by what has happened &mdash; a lawsuit. He had always told me that their families were old friends and could be trusted. I said that I didn&rsquo;t think the Jacobses&rsquo; word meant anything. Now look who&rsquo;s suing who.&ldquo;This is all a smoke screen to satisfy the people in Boston. It&rsquo;s PR because they&rsquo;re getting heat wish we could have gone to arbitration because of the way the Bruins treated Orr and their horsebleep offers to him would have worked against them once the arbitrator looked at the situation.&rdquo;&ldquo;I really can&rsquo;t comment on this,&rdquo; said Billy Wirtz. &ldquo;Any statements I make will have to be made in court. As yet. we haven&rsquo;t been served papers.&rdquo;&rsquo;&rsquo;Bobby will play unless he is restrained by a federal judge. &ldquo;The Hawks&rsquo; president was informed of Eagleson&rsquo;s strong statement. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not named in the lawsuits but I am.&rdquo; Wirtz responded. &ldquo;I was on the board of directors of the NHL for several years and consequently I have a lot of expertise in lawsuits.&ldquo;There are things you want to say but I&rsquo;ve learned you just can&rsquo;t say them because of the legal ramifications. &ldquo;Campbell was somewhat annoyed that his game was going back to the courtroom. &ldquo;We need another lawsuit like a hole in the head,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I suppose it could be within a judge&rsquo;s jurisdiction to stop Orr from playing, or maybe just stop him from playing in Boston.&ldquo;A lawsuit is a lawsuit, and since they&rsquo;ve started it, they&rsquo;ll probably want to finish it,&rdquo; Campbell said, adding that even if the Bruins were entitled to compensation, their seeking it might be &ldquo;premature.&rsquo;&rsquo;And it&rsquo;s unlikely that the Bruins, with their other public relations woes, will enjoin the popular Orr from playing in his old home town. Exactly one Bruins&rsquo; game has been sold out in advance this season.On Nov. 4 the Bruins entertain the Black Hawks in the Boston Garden and No. 4 will be there &mdash; with the Hawks. You can expect the ovations to be thunderous for one Robert Gordon Orr.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;The Bruins, as per the agreement, are entitled to nothing for Bobby Orr &hellip; There is a clause in Bobby&rsquo;s Chicago contract that if any players change hands &hellip; he will immediately become a free agent and leave the Black Hawks.&rdquo; &mdash;Alan Eagleson, Orr&rsquo;s agent</blockquote> &#9632;

f0003-01

NHL STOPS MOVE TO BAR ORR

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011034/3949755-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="503" height="497"></div>&bull;BOSTON HOCKEY fans are showing their contempt for the Bruins and the trade of Bobby Orr to Chicago Black Hawks by staying away from the team&rsquo;s Boston Garden games. One of the strongholds of the NHL down through the years, Boston is experiencing trying times without Orr and new owners. Bruin fans are infuriated to think Boston won&rsquo;t get any player remuneration for Orr from the Hawks&hellip; The real reason behind the trade of Dave Schultz to the Kings was the sparkling training camp performance of some of the Flyers&rsquo; young draft choices. They literally pushed the Philly &lsquo;Bad Man&rsquo; off the club. Also the fact sophomore center Mel Bridgman has developed quicker than the Flyers had expected, allowing Rick MacLeish to be moved to left wing and making Schultz expendable&hellip; The Washington Caps have to be one of the early surprises of the NHL season. They did very well in the pre-season games and have a win and a tie in their first three games. Pierce Gardner, who is doing a fantastic job as the Caps&rsquo; PR man. says the players are really eager to do well this year&hellip; Hal Laycoe, first coach of the Vancouver Canucks in expansion, has gone to Holland to coach hockey&hellip; Roger Naples informs that the Boston Gallery Gods lost their seats at the Garden when the new owners decided to put in new, expensive plush box seats.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02989/3949748-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="316" height="500"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Schultz</figcaption></div>&bull; WHEN THE VANCOUVER Canucks acquired Ralph Stewart from the New York Islanders recently, it marked the return of Vancouver&rsquo;s 10th choice in the 197&rdquo; expansion draft. There are no other players still with the Canucks from that original 1970-71 vancouver team.. Yvan Cournoyer&rsquo;s two goals in Montreal&rsquo;s 10-1 opening-game victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins tied him with former NHL star Ted Lindsay on the all-time goal-scoring Ji t. That gave Cournoyer 379 goals and he and Lindsay are tied for 13th place&hellip; Jean Potvin of the New York Islanders is not the only defenseman who is being converted to a forward this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03884/3949741-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="321" height="510"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ralph Stewart</figcaption></div>Coach Red Kelly of the Toronto Maple Leafs has big plans to use Jim McKenny at right wing during the 1975-7C season&hellip; Alan Eagleson. executive director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association and the man who helped put the Canada Cup tournament together, says the six-nation tournament that was held in September netted a profit of $2.2 million during the two weeks of action&hellip; Anyone who was concerned about Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s efforts in the Canada Cup series can relax. He&rsquo;s off to a good start with the Canadiens this year&hellip; The Pittsburgh Penguins have been hit hard with injuries early in the season. Veterans Lowell MacDonald and Vic Hadfield are both sidelined with similar knee injuries and the Penguins lost the services of goalie Denis Herron six minutes after their regular season started when he suffered a fractured arm&hellip; Former National Hockey League goaltending great Jacques Plante is working for a Montreal-based catering company. Plante&rsquo;s primary concern is the concession stands at the new Olympic Stadium&hellip;&bull; THE AGENT FOR netminder Wayne Stephenson says the goalie is a free agent. Mark Stewart, who * represents Stephenson, says the goalie is free 8 because the Philadelphia Flyers have refused to renegotiate his contract as had been promised. Stephenson was thrust into heavy duty last season with the neck injury and subsequent surgery that Bernie Parent underwent. Meanwhile, Flyers GM Keith Allen has placed Stephenson on the suspended list&hellip; Serge Savard, star defenseman for the Canadiens, says it may be difficult for Montreal to be as good as last year, but he believes that the Canadiens are an even better club that the one that captured the Stanley Cup last spring. Jean Beliveau returned to Montreal in time for the Canadiens home opener. He had been vacationing in Copenhagen&hellip; Blair Chapman looks like he&rsquo;ll be a real help to the Penguins. The youngster has some beautiful moves&hellip; Denis Dejordy, one-time Vezina Trophy winner and now coach of Laval in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, has been spending every minute of his spare time looking after his huge apple orchard at his home near Montreal&hellip; Three players have scored three goals or more in one game so far this season and all three are right wingers. But, they have something else in common as well. All three have the same first name &mdash; Rick. They are Rick Middleton of Boston. Rick Kehoe of Pittsburgh and Rick Blight of Vancouver. Incidentally, Blight scored four goals in one game to tie a Vancouver record. Rosaire Paiement and Bobby Schmautz were the previous fourgoal scorers for the Canucks. Schmautz, now with Boston, did it twice in the same season&hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04782/3949734-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="305" height="474"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Allen</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY JACK McCARTHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011066/3949841-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DALLAS SMITH&hellip; Agrees To New Contract (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>BOSTON-Any team that loses Bobby Orr will, of course, wish it hadn&rsquo;t, but coach Don Cherry of the Bruins would just as soon forget it, and hope that his players can forget it. and all the controversy surrounding it.That is not to say that Cherry doesn&rsquo;t hope for some kind of meaningful contribution from the Black Hawks for Orr&mdash;or, as they say down at the Garden, &ldquo;Compensation.&rdquo;As the exhibition season was ending, and no sign of any breakthrough in the compensation area, Cherry said, &ldquo;I think that this controversy over the Orr deal could be having some effect on the team. I think some of the younger players are a little bewildered by it all. But it&rsquo;s my job to straighten them out.&ldquo;If we&rsquo;re going to start dwelling on the loss of Orr, we&rsquo;ll be in deep trouble. We&rsquo;ve just got to pick up from here and go on and forget it.&rdquo;Asked what he would like in the way of players in the deal, Cherry said. &ldquo;Well, I think we deserve at least Phil Russell to start with.&ldquo;If Marcel Dionne can bring Dan Maloney and Terry Harper. Orr should certainly be able to bring something&hellip;&rdquo; And, then, shaking his head, &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m the guy who didn&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;d leave. That shows you how much I know.&rdquo;Cherry&rsquo;s main worry this year is injuries, especially on the back line, where Orr left and Dallas Smith has still, at this writing, not come to terms. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have great depth,&rdquo;Cherry said, &ldquo;and injuries will be the key to the season.&rdquo;Bright spot, of course, is the goalkeeping, with Gerry Cheevers and Gilles Gilbert.Says Cherry, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to rotate them. I don&rsquo;t think any other team in the league does that with its goalies, but we&rsquo;ve got two good ones and I&rsquo;m going to start by rotating them and do it for a while and see how it works.&rdquo;SCRAPING THE ICE: The Bruins finished up the exhibition season at 2-6-2. not great, but Cherry says, &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t get a look at these kids now, when are you going to see them?&rdquo;It appeared that Stan Jonathan, the Indian from Six Nations, Ont., a left winger, and Matti Hagman of Helsinki, Finland, a center-wing, had a great chance of surviving the final cut before the season got underway.Said Harry Sinden, the GM: &ldquo;Stan looked pretty good in the training games. He&rsquo;s a hard worker, a digger.&rdquo; He was the fourth-round pick in the 1975 amateur draft out of Peterborough, and played mostly at Dayton of the IHL in his first pro season; spent some time at AHL Rochester, and had a one-game twirl with the big club last season.He is not afraid to go into the corners and likes to mix it. He is five-foot-eight, 175-pound, and he can score. He was a training camp &ldquo;darkhorse.&rdquo;Hagman, six-foot-one. 184-pound, was a high-round draft choice in 1975. He was the best Finn in the Canada Cup play, and he can skate.He&rsquo;s the lad who had the go-round with Orr. remember?As the Bruins prepared to open against Minnesota, with Toronto, Cleveland and New York following swiftly, there was some concern over Brad Park&rsquo;s Charlie horse, said not to be related at all to his knee injury which forced an operation last season. He was due to be held out of the early action until he was completely ready. Boston would miss him badly, all around and on the power play. &#9632;

f0006-01

Cherry Claims Controversial Deal Having Its Affect On Young Bruins

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:NATIONAL LEAGUERANGERS - Dune Wilson, goaler. traded to Pittsburgh for cash and future considerations. Greg Hickey, Ed Johnstone and Larry Huras, forwards. Dale Lewis and Dave Nowlan, defensemen assigned to New Haven of AHL.ISLANDERS - Ralph Stewart, forward, traded to Vancouver for future considerations. Dave Miglia and Bob Lorimer, defensemen, Mike Kaszycki and Richie Hansen, forwards, sent to Fort Worth of CHL.ATLANTA - Larry Carriere, defenseman. recalled from Tulsa of CHL. Cam Botting and Bill Plett, forwards, assigned to Tulsa.PHILADELPHIA Terry Crisp, forward, assigned to Springfield of AHL as interim coach replacing John Hanna, who is hospitalized. Jerome Mrazek, goaler, recalled from Springfield. Wayne Stephenson, goaler. placed on club&rsquo;s suspended list. Mark Suzor and Dave Short, defensemen. Al Hill and Dave Kelly, forwards. assigned to Springfield.BUFFALO - Alex Tidey, forward, jumped WHA to sign NHL contract with NHL team. Sabres assigned him to Hershey of AHL.TORONTO - Mike Palmateer, goaler. Blair Mackasey, defenseman. Greg Hubick, Tim Williams, Don Morris and Don Ashby, forwards, assigned to Dallas of CHL. Pierre Hamel, goaler, assigned to Oklahoma City of CHL on loan.CHICAGO - Duane Wylie, Greg Vaydik and Jeff McDill, forwards, assigned to Dallas of CHL. Joey Johnston, forward, released outright.COLORADO - Rick McIntyre, forward, sent to Flint of IHL. Reid Bailey, forward, sent to Port Huron of IHL.BOSTON - Al Sims and Doug Halward, defensemen. and Earl Anderson, forward, assigned to Rochester of AHL.PITTSBURGH-Greg Redquist, goaler. recalled from Hershey as standby after Denis Herron placed on disabled list indefinitely after breaking his arm. Jacques Cossette, forward, recalled from Hershey of AHLVANCOUVER - Dan Brady and Bruce Bullock, goalers. Mike Will, Rob Flockhart and Elmer Ray, forwards, sent to Tulsa of CHL.LOS ANGELES - Jim Witherspoon, defenseman, and Mike Usitalo, forward, sent to Fort Worth of CHLCLEVELAND - Jim Warden, Larry Hendrick and Ray Martyniuk, goalers. Glen Patrick, Tom Price, Brent Meeke and Darcy Seiger, defensemen. Lyle Bradley, Frank Spring, Wayne King, Denis Meloche, Vern Stenlund, Rick Shinske, Angie Moretto, Bobby Geoffrion and John Martin, forwards, assigned to Salt Lake of CHL.WASHINGTON - Brian Kinsella, forward, and Pete Scamurra, defenseman. sent to Springfield of AHL.MINNESOTA - Bryan Hextall, forward, placed on voluntary retired list. Paul Harrison and Brian Holderness, goalers. Jerry Engele, defenseman. and Dave Cressman, forward, sent to New Haven of AHL.David Legree, goaler, Dave Moms and Ron Zanussi, forwards, sent to Fort Wayne of IHL. Kim McDougall, Ron Ashton and Mike Hoberg, forwards, dropped from roster and waiting for assignment. Joe Nathe, forward, sent to Toledo of IHL but refused to report. Joined Tulsa of CHL as free agent after one-day trial with Minnesota of WHA.WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.PHOENIX - Roger Swanson, goaler, Duane Bray and Blair Davidson, defensemen, Neil Lyseng, Danny Mandryk and Mike Hobin, forwards, sent to Oklahoma City of CHL.HOUSTON - Dwayne Pentland, Mike Fedorka and Jan Kascak, defensemen, Mike Sleep, Steve West and Ron Hansis, forwards, sent to Oklahoma City of CHL.NEW ENGLAND - Cap Raeder, goaler, Ron Climie and Gary Swain, forwards, assigned to Rhode Island of AHL.SAN DIEGO - Archie King, forward, sent to Binghamton of NAHL. Jim Stanfield and Per Karlsson, forwards, released outright.EDMONTON - Chris Worthy, goaler, assigned to Baltimore of SHL. Dave Kryskow, forward, released outright.INDIANAPOLIS - Bob Sicinski, forward, released.AMERICAN LEAGUERHODE ISLAND - Bobby Sheehan, forward, signed as free agent after release by Pittsburgh.HERSHEY - Bob Bilodeau, defenseman, signed as free agent. &#9632;

Hockey Players On The Move…

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01952/3949872-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM HARRISON &hellip; Adds Muscle Up Front</figcaption></div>CHICAGO&mdash;It really hasn&rsquo;t been that long since the Black Hawks owned a sinewy center who could not only score but, like a toll booth, also seemed to thrive on traffic.Phil Esposito, Chicago class of &rsquo;67, meet Jim Harrison, class of &rsquo;76.Not even Harrison expects to be for the Black Hawks what Esposito might have been before he was dealt to the Boston Bruins, but if the 29-year-old double jumper from the World Hockey Association can pocket the occasional goal while performing the occasional bump-and-run routine, well then&hellip;&ldquo;Then he could be just what we need &mdash; a little more muscle up front, said Black Hawk coach Billy Reay shortly after Harrison was declared a free agent in September, quickly to sign a one-year contract with the Chicagoans.The Hawk offer ended a four-year WHA tour for Harrison, who started his NHL career with the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs before he became one of the first mortals to see the World back in the spring of 1972.&ldquo;I signed even before Bobby Hull did,&rdquo; said Harrison, who skated into Chicago Stadium carrying 195 pounds. &ldquo;I went to the Alberta (now Edmonton) Oilers on a four-year contract and got about $50.000 a season.&ldquo;With the Leafs. I was arguing about $500. I think I wanted about $18.500 and they wanted to give me about $18.000. So. financially it was great thing for me &mdash; and a lot of other players &mdash; that the WHA came into being.&ldquo;It also gave me a chance to get ice time that I wouldn&rsquo;t have gotten in Toronto. It gave me the opportunity to become a better player, which I think I became.Heck, there were times 1 played forward, defense. 50 minutes a game in the WHA.&rdquo;&ldquo;But, while I&rsquo;m not sorry about going to the WHA. I&rsquo;m glad to be back in the NHL. It&rsquo;s still the only place to play and I&rsquo;ll bet that three-quarters of the guys in the WHA wish they were back here.&ldquo;Even from the first day I jumped. 1 had it in the back of my mind that I would come back to the NHL. Last summer, the opportunity came up. and my agent (Alan Eagleson) said three clubs were interested in me &mdash; Boston, the Rangers and Chicago.I talked to Bobby Orr over the summer when 1 worked at his hockey camp. He got me thinking about Chicago, and I&rsquo;m just glad things worked out so 1 could be here.&rdquo;Harrison scored 117 goals in four WHA seasons with the Oilers, then the Cleveland Crusaders. He collected 34 last year, but then the merry-go-round began. The Crusaders moved to St. Paul, where they became the Fighting Saints II. and Harrison was traded to the Calgary Cowboys, to whom he never reported.&ldquo;It was not only a breach of contract because I had a no-trade clause.&rdquo; Harrison explained, &ldquo;but they also owed me money. About $20.000 which I&rsquo;ll never see. I was making about $150.000 in the WHA. and I can tell you that my Chicago salary is much, much less than that.But I don&rsquo;t care. The NHL is where I want to be. After the top few players in the WHA. there&rsquo;s a big dropoff. There are a lot of head-hunters, a lot of shanky organizations, and the refereeing is terrible. There&rsquo;s just not enough good hockey people over there.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind playing a physical game-in fact, that&rsquo;s my style. But over there, it seemed like every time you turned around, you were getting a stick over the head. There&rsquo;s a big difference between that and playing the body.&rdquo;Harrison&rsquo;s body has incurred some injuries in the past&mdash;first a disc, then a knee&mdash;but he is a sturdy sort who. along with Ivan Boldirev, provides the Hawks more brawn in the middle than they&rsquo;ve enjoyed for some time.&ldquo;Plus, it allows me to put Pit Martin back on right wing.&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s where I&rsquo;ve wanted him all along.&rdquo;HAWK TALK: After trying to make a comeback in training camp, left wing Joey Johnston was placed on waivers and released by the Black Hawks. The popular Johnston never could recover fully his reflexes following a near-fatal automobile accident in Peterborough. Ont., in August of 1975&hellip;Former Black Hawk super-sub Lou Angotti will be given a shot as-color commentator for the Chicago radio broadcasts on WMAQ Radio. Jim West will be handling the play-by-play&hellip;Boldirev experimented wearing a helmet in training camp, but dropped the idea&hellip;Grant Mulvey continues trying it. however&hellip;Black Hawk players will submit to a celebrity &ldquo;roast&rdquo; Nov 8 in Skokie, a suburb of Chicago. &#9632;

f0007-01

Harrison Viewed As Definite Plus For Black Hawks

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02781/3949903-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE SCHULTZ&hellip; Saw Trade Coming</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;The news produced front-page banner headlines in late editions of Philadelphia&rsquo;s afternoon newspaper.No. Mayor Frank Rizzo hadn&rsquo;t resigned.What caused the stir, both in print and among Flyers&rsquo; faithful, was the trade of Dave Schultz to the Los Angeles Kings for a second-round draft choice next year and a fourth-round selection in 1978.Dave Schultz, the man who more than anyone had given the Flyers their brawling. Broad Street Bullies reputation, would now be wearing the Kings&rsquo; purple-and-gold. The thought was too much for some to bear.&ldquo;Roses are red, violets are black, the Flyers have stabbed Dave Schultz in the back. &ldquo;read one Spectrum banner at the exhibition game the day after the deal. As the game, a second consecutive eight to two thumping by Stanley Cup-champion Montreal, plodded into its final minutes, the fans began chanting &ldquo;We want Schultz.&rdquo; When the &ldquo;Hammer&rdquo; was spotted leaving the Spectrum super box on his way to the Flyers&rsquo; dressing room for final farewells, fans ignored the game and gave him a standing ovationSchultz, who off the ice is a much more thoughtful, gentle man than Fiyers-haters could ever imagine, accepted the stunning news without bitterness. A closeness exists among the Flyers that most teams envy, thereby making forced exits by players dreaded.I&rsquo;d heard rumors about me being traded for a long time. &rsquo;said the NHL&rsquo;s season (472 minutes) and playoff (139) penalty record-holder &ldquo;I was looking over our roster a couple days ago and knew they had to do something There&rsquo;s so much talent here.&ldquo;I guess the new rules have a lot to do with the trade If they didn&rsquo;t want me to play hockey, then I had no purpose here anymore. &ldquo;The &ldquo;Hammer&rdquo; hit the reasons for the trade as squarely as he has hit his many fighting opponents. With Rick MacLeish evidently recovered from last season&rsquo;s knee injury and second-year center Mel Bridgman too talented not to play regularly, someone had to go. Schultz was the designated traveller.The Flyers&rsquo; three forward lines are expected to line up this way: the record-setting Bobby Clarke-Bill Barber-Reg Leach intact; MacLeish moving to left wing with Bridgman at center and Gary Dornhoefer still at right wing; Ross Lonsberry shifts to Schultz&rsquo;s spot on the Orest Kindrachuk-Don Saleski line.The NHL&rsquo;s new legislation aimed at reducing fighting and delays over prolonged bickering also made Schultz expendable. Schultz, who will be 27 on Oct. 14. is a capable hockey player, but GM Keith Allen and aides believe younger players such as Paul Holmgren. John Paddock and Dave Hynek are more skilled &mdash; and almost as tough.Before Schultz headed west, the deserved tributes were issued by his teammates.&ldquo;Next to Bernie (Parent), Davey might be the most important acquisition the Flyers had in the last few years,&rdquo; said captain Bobby Clarke. &ldquo;He gave us a personality. We went from an ordinary team to a battling team".Some follow, others show the way,&rdquo; said Joe Watson. &ldquo;Davey showed the way. He was a leader, a force in the dressing room.&rdquo;&ldquo;I guess most people just think of Davey as a fighter. Said Kindrachuk. &ldquo;But he did a good job for us overall. He scored a lot of big goals for us.&rdquo;Perhaps the most touching tribute came from coach Fred Shero. The man who several years ago hailed Schultz as &ldquo;the player who gave us courage on the road.&rdquo; Schultz has won a place in Shero&rsquo;s heart.&ldquo;I never forget the guys who&rsquo;ve won for me,&rdquo; said Shero. &ldquo;The losers, you forget them. The guys who&rsquo;ve won. they become like sons. And I will never forget Dave Schultz".Time will heal the wound felt by Flyers&rsquo; faithful. But. despite his too frequent tantrums. Schultz has won a permanent place in Philadelphis&rsquo;s sports scrapbook, &#9632;

f0007-02

Fans Show Disapproval In Trading Of Schultz

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03803/3949972-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB BOURNE&hellip; Scores Three In Spot Duty (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Although coach Al Arbour promised a wide open training camp last month where jobs were going to be won and lost, most observers figured it was just a stock line On the surface it appears that with the possible exception of defenseman Pat Price, an outsider would have as much chance of cracking the New York line-up as Dean Martin at a teetotalers convention.Goaltending, with Glenn Resch and Bill Smith, was set. as was the defense, even with Jean Potvin moving up to right wing to free a position for Price. The three lines would be the same as last year, save for a little juggling, and even reserves such as Lorne Henning. Bill MacMillan, and Ralph Stewart were almost assured of positions.The only thing is that no one bothered to tell the rookies. They all played as if the Islanders were an expansion team once again where everything was up for grabs.&ldquo;All the kids did very well. &ldquo;complimented Arbour. &ldquo;They all showed us something, and we know what they can do. Fellows like Alex McKendry the Isles&rsquo; number one amateur draft pick). Brad Anderson, and Richie Hansen (the first true, native Long Islander) &mdash; they want to come back.&rdquo;Even after the first cuts were made, there were still some who stuck around for an even longer peak. Topping this list was center Bob Bourne, who has a taste of what it&rsquo;s like to play in the NHL.Bourne came up as a 21-year-old rookie in 1974. and totaled 16 goals and 23 assists. But it was his amazing speed that caused perhaps a premature prediction of imminent stardom. Islanders fans won&rsquo;t forget how he burst through two Atlanta defenders to score the winning goal with seconds remaining in an early season contest that year.But Bob caught a virus at training camp last year, and never reached peak condition. Since Bourne is not hefty to begin with, the loss of weight which accompanied the infection made him look like a tall Camille Henry.Bob spent most of last season at Fort Worth in the CHL where he finished among the league&rsquo;s leading scorers with 29 goals and 44 assists for 73 points in only 62 games.This year though, he&rsquo;s stronger than he&rsquo;s ever been &mdash; and playing perhaps his best hockey as well. Through seven pre-season games, he had notched three goals and an assist in spot duty, including two tallies against the Flyers at the Nassau Coliseum on Sept. 29.&ldquo;The whole thing is conditioning.&rdquo; said Bourne afterward. &ldquo;Stamina has always been my problem, but I think I&rsquo;ve licked it. In the past I&rsquo;d give a couple of strong line shifts, and then conk out. This year I think it&rsquo;s different.&rdquo;&rsquo;There&rsquo;s no question that Bob s stamina is better.&rdquo; added coach Arbour. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s more aggressive now going after the puck, and all-around he&rsquo;s playing better. I&rsquo;m pleased.&rdquo;Another rookie who&rsquo;s playing as if he already has won a job is defenseman Bob Lorimer, who has surfaced out of nowhere to join the scrap for a blueline spot. The six-foot. 200-pound Toronto native played for Muskegon in the International League last season, and was the talk of camp in September.&ldquo;He has the poise, the size, and ability to make it.&rdquo; said Arbour. &ldquo;He controls the puck well, and throws his weight around.He picked up his first goal as an Islander in the Flyer game, a blistering drive from the right point that eluded Bernie Parent.One veteran who has looked extraimpressive has been Bob Nystrom, who has scored 71 goals over the past three campaigns. The blond right winger had six goals through five pre-season tilts, including a hat trick.ISLAND SOUNDS: Center Andre St. Laurent missed more than a week with a pulled groin muscle. Ed Westfall suffered from the same malady, but didn&rsquo;t miss much skating time&hellip;Coach Arbour is pleased with the way the Jean Potvin - right wing experiment has been going&hellip;The Islanders are televising a record 25 games on WOR-TV this year&hellip;Arbour changed many positions early in camp, including trying Calder winner Bryan Trottier at left wing. &#9632;

f0008-03

Islanders’ Bourne Licks Conditioning Difficulties

<div class="byline">&#x2014; BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011056/3949941-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="467" height="517"></div><h2>Sam The Ice Man&hellip;</h2>THIS WAS THE SUMMER the Olympics were in Montreal. They were playing basketball instead of hockey in the fabled Forum. The night earlier, the crowd coming out of the Metro at Atwater was swarming onto St Catherine&rsquo;s on its way to watch the tiny teen-ager Nadia Comenici perform to perfection her gymnastics routines instead of Ken Dryden doing goal mouth acrobatics.Now. up a side stairs and in the small, modest offices of the Montreal Canadiens, short, stocky Sam Pollock, who had come in from his vacation in the country to meet with a visitor, sat behind his desk and discussed his incredible career and his incomparable clubBy the time you survive another season, to say nothing of the bitter winter we must endure here, you are ready for a rest. But there is never a time I am not thinking hockey.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The job is always as close to me as the telephone at my side".<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02950/3949934-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="919" height="1209"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sam Pollock is the man who has built the Canadiens into their present day dynasty. His player moves have been unparalleled in the NHL and Canadiens should remain a force for some time.</figcaption></div>Which may be why he has managed as many Stanley Cup champions as any man and more than any Montreal manager ever. Montreal&rsquo;s triumph in the playoffs of 1976 was its 18th in 58 seasons and Sam Pollock&rsquo;s seventh in 12 years since he became manager. Jack Adams and Conn Smythe also won seven and Frank Selke won six. They all are in the Hockey Hall of Fame, as Sam will be. Selke held the record for the Canadiens until Sam came along. And 8 where did Sam come from?Of the several really successful men in this sport. Sam Pollock is the most respected and least known He may be the most powerful person and influential individual in the game, but he operates behind the scenes, seldom giving interviews, avoiding attention.&ldquo;I do not need to be noticed to be driven. &ldquo;he says. &ldquo;My personal pride spurs me on I am aware of my accomplishments. That is sufficient for me. I am aware I would do nothing without the help of others. especially players. The spotlight belongs on the players.&rdquo;It may be that no man ever rose to his heights with less of a background in his business.He admits. &ldquo;I never really was a hockey player. As a kid. I was more interested in baseball. In my teens. I ran a fastball club here. Several of the Canadiens played on the team One. Wilf Cude. asked me to help him with the Junior Canadiens in the winter of 1945 and 46 So. it started. &ldquo;When Cude left. Montreal manager Tom Gorman tapped Pollock to take over the team. Frank Curry became coach When Gorman left. Frank Selke became manager and took Curry to build a farm system. &ldquo;Although my actual ability had to be in doubt. I became coach in 1947.&rdquo; Sam smiles. He won his first Memorial Cup championship in his third year and developed some of the best amateur teams everFor 10 years then he managed Montreal&rsquo;s minor league operations and player personnel. He moved in as manager of Hull-Ottawa in the Eastern Professional League, then of Houston in the Central League. When Selke retired on May 5. 1964. Pollock became manager of the most prestigious operation in this sport.Sam says. &ldquo;Although I had been with the organization about 20 years. I never dreamed I&rsquo;d become manager of the big team. I had no such goal in mind I just did the best I could wherever I was sent. I started with no knowledge of this sport, but I kept my eyes and ears open and learned from the smartest, most talented guys in the game.&rdquo;HE IS CALLED the smartest, toughest, hardest-working guy in the game. He says, &ldquo;I am flattered; when someone praises my mind, but I have no illusions about my intelligence. I am smart enough to know that success stems from a willingness to work hard. I try to plan properly and organize my operation so it functions smoothly. I do demand dedication and discipline.&ldquo;I surround myself with the top people and depend on them enormously. I never was afraid of working long and hard and it has paid off. I am still learning, working long, hard hours, trying to stay ahead of the competition in a business that is growing more competitive and complex yearly.&rdquo;There was a day when Canadiens dominated hockey because most French-Canadian youngsters wanted to play for them and signed with them. The club built tremendous depth of talent which provided fresh replacements as its stars faded.With expansion and the introduction of the amateur draft, the Canadian dynasty seemed doomed. But Pollock devised a strategy of trading veteran stars he could spare for the new teams top draft choices, who became the game&rsquo;s new stars and have kept Canadians in contention for laurels annually.&ldquo;My basic philosophy has been to keep consistent an effective system of play and to develop talent in our own system. &ldquo;Pollock points out. &ldquo;We bring in few veterans in trades. We have a tremendous tradition and most of our players grow up in this inspirational atmosphere.&rdquo;Although depicted otherwise, he is tough, but not ruthless. He has moved men around, but kept good men. He points with pride to the fact that in his regime four coaches have captured the cup and all are still in his organization&mdash;Toe Blake. Al MacNeil. Claude Ruel and Scotty Bowman.Blake helps out in public relations. MacNeil coaches the top farm club in Nova Scotia. Ruel is director of player development and travelling aide to coach Bowman. Floyd Curry and Ron Caron are assistants to manager Pollock. Sam says. &ldquo;Everyone has his say. I have the final say. I find it difficult to delegate authority, but I know enough to listen to others.&rdquo;DURING A FEW YEARS in which Fred Shero fashioned championship teams in Philadelphia with a strategy of muscle and intimidation. Pollock stuck to his belief in speed and skating, and his swift team swept the Flyers last spring to reclaim the championship.Afterwards. Montreal columnist Red Fisher congratulated Sam&rsquo;s wife. Mimi.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s seven for Sam. Is that a record?&rdquo; she asked.&ldquo;Conn Smythe had seven. Sam had six.&rdquo; she was told.&ldquo;Seven.&rdquo; she insited.&ldquo;Are you sure?&rdquo;&ldquo;I should know. I&rsquo;ve lived through all of them. &ldquo;she said.Sam married Mimi late, when he was 37 in 1962. He and she who was from Ottawa, have been married 14 years and have three children - Mary. 13; Sam. Jr., 10; and Rachel. 3. When they were married, they bought a home in the West End and still live there. Later, they purchased a house by a lake 80 miles east of Montreal as a retreat.Speaking with a warmth that would surprise those who think him cold, Sam says. &ldquo;Marrying my wife and having children were the wisest moves of my life. &ldquo;Dressed in sports clothes, relaxed, smiling a lot. Sam betrayed his soft spot. &ldquo;Being dedicated to your profession is one thing, but being alone is another.&ldquo;One needs love and a place to escape the pressures of your profession. My family and my home are the answers to my needs. I don&rsquo;t play golf or curl. I go home. When I&rsquo;m home. I&rsquo;m home. We eat. We talk. We get to know one another. We read. We watch television. I follow all sports. But we don&rsquo;t go out much.&ldquo;When we go out. we go to galleries. I believe in beauty and relax in the company of fine paintings. 1 collect Canadian artists. It is sound investment, but I do not have a lot to spend and do not do it on the prospect of profit. My art makes a lovely home even lovelier&ldquo;I am not home as much as I would like to be. I do not share with my wife what I should. Our children are growing up and I am not with them as much as I should be. A man in sports cheats his family and I want to be fair to mine. Also. I do not think I can continue my present pace forever. I am not considering retirement right now. but something will have to change soon.&rdquo;At age 50. his eye seems set on a day that is dawning not far away. For now. the present pressed in on him. Conducting Team Canada&rsquo;s triumphant hosting of the Canada Cup tournament shortened his summer and started his season earlier than ever.&ldquo;I am home more than some managers because I seldom fly these days.&rdquo; he conceded. &ldquo;It is true I do not like to fly. but I flew 250 times a year a few years ago. Since Scotty came in. I have not had to fly because he can handle managerial road duties, as can Claude.&ldquo;MY PRESENCE IS NEEDED now in our office. Club and league business have become complex and demand constant attention. Also. I am a vice-president of our team and play a part in our ownership&rsquo;s varied activities. I have hockey or other business on my mind 24 hours a day. seven days a week.&ldquo;When I entered hockey about 30 years ago. there were six teams in the National League Now there are three times that many and instead of being in the east, more or less, they are coast to coast. New franchises had to be formed and now some have had to be moved. Distributing talent fairly poses problems. It is easy to say you should make new clubs competitive but it is hard to strip teams of talent they have spent a lot of time and money developing. Simply scheduling games is complicated today.&ldquo;Doing away with the reserve clause and the development of the collective bargaining agreement have increased managerial responsibilities tremendously. The arrival of the amateur draft has altered all operations. Simply signing players is time-consuming and difficult. The arrival of the World Hockey Association created competition for players and drove their salaries past reason. All costs are rising. This remains a business, but keeping it profitable is almost impossible.&ldquo;Yet. the sport is bigger and better than ever When I arrived in the game about 30 years ago there were three or four rinks in Montreal. Now there are 70 or 80. There now are major league teams in parts of the United States that did not know how hockey was played at that time. International competition has contributed enormously to the growth of our game.&rdquo;Now that the new season is underway. Pollock finds his side favored as usual. As he spoke of it. one sensed the ordeal this strong man must endure. He said, &ldquo;The pressure of producing a winner in Montreal is constant. I feel it. My wife feels it. It is not the God-given right of every citizen of this community to have a champion every year, yet you would think so.&ldquo;Well. I want to win as much as anyone, as much as I ever did. but I cannot make miracles. The challenge is greater than ever because the talent is spread thinner than ever. I believe the days of dynasties are done. But if working harder at it than the next man will do the job we will get it done. &#9632;

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div>TWIN CITIES&mdash;One pleasant aspect about rebuilding a hockey team is looking at the good, young players pounce on the opportunity to show their stuff like, right away on the Minnesota North Stars.The North Stars started their 10th National Hockey League season this month with a number of rookies and one. two or three-year veterans.That is probably one of the reasons why 22-year-old Swedish import Roland Eriksson looks so impressive for a North Star team which has missed the playoffs three years in a row and won only 20 games last season.The six-foot-two, 195-pound Swede, a member of his country&rsquo;s team that played in the Canada Cup series and was a factor in the victory over Czechoslovakia and the tie against Russia, is a quiet and unassuming young man at present.&ldquo;The book on him is that he is a quiet type of individual, and I don t think that will ever change.&rdquo; remarked coach Ted Harris. &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t say he is shy. All the guys have accepted him. and there is no problem in understanding each other.&rdquo;The big impression is what Eriksson can do on skates and with his stick. In one comparison. Harris said the slender youngster reminded him at times of a gentleman by the name of Jean Beliveau, the former Canadien&rsquo;s great.&ldquo;Those are awful big skates to fill.&rdquo; admitted Harris. &ldquo;If he is anywhere near Beliveau&rsquo;s category, he will be a fine, fine hockey player. Right now. from his size and some of the things he does with the puck, he reminds me a little of Jean.&rdquo;Eriksson signed a contract with the North Stars in July after scoring 10 goals in 10 world tournament games last spring for the Swedish national team. North Star scout John Mariucci and assistant coach Andre Beaulieu came back home with nothing but high praise for Eriksson.The North Stars had already known about the youngster after a couple of European scouting trips. Three years ago, chief scout Ted O&rsquo;Connor and former GM Wren Blair were looking over another prospect.&ldquo;We saw him play in a junior game in one of those arenas with a bubble over it.&rdquo; recalled O&rsquo;Connor &ldquo;The next year, (current GM) Jack Gordon and I went to see him play and Roland was on Sweden&rsquo;s top team.&rdquo;The North Stars took Eriksson or the eighth round of the 1974 amateur draft.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011021/3950010-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="634" height="498"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL GOLDSWORTHY &hellip; Eriksson&rsquo;s Linemate.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We had seen a Toronto scout in Europe.&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Connor, &ldquo;and when the Leafs took a Swedish player just before our turn came up. we thought we&rsquo;d better put the lock on him.&rdquo;Harris has liked what he has seen of Eriksson so much that he put him at center with the team&rsquo;s all-time leading goal scorer. Bill Goldsworthy, at right wing and rookie Steve Jensen on the left side.&ldquo;Roland is really slick with the puck.&rdquo; explained Harris. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not about to try to change his game I&rsquo;ve even asked Goldy and Steve to build the line around him.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s one road to rebuilding.STAR DUST: The North Stars staged one of their most intense training camps ever, as far as the battles for position went&hellip;The early survivors included a batch of youthful players after the likes of Bryan Hextall. Graig Cameron and Doug Rombough were sent out &hellip;The North Stars said they would file retirement papers on Hextall if he so desired while Cameron and Rombough joined goalies Paul Harrison and Brian Holderness.center Dave Cressman and Jerry Engele in heading toward New Haven of the American League&hellip;Wingers Dave Norris and Ron Zanussi and goalie David Legree were placed on Fort Wayne&rsquo;s International League roster, and defensemen Kim MacDougall and Ron Ashton and forward Mike Hoberg were not assigned &hellip; Right winger Joe Na the was asked to go to Toledo, but he balked and decided to try out at Tulsa after a one-day practice with the Fighting Saints of the WHA.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02880/3950003-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="664" height="854"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRYAN HEXTALL &hellip;May Retire</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-01

North Stars Rebuilding Around Eriksson

<div class="byline">BY GARY McCarthy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011043/3950041-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETE MAHOVLICH&hellip; Off To Fast Start</figcaption></div>There is an old saying that the only way to get to a man&rsquo;s heart is through his stomach. Jn hockey, the only way to the Stanley Cup is through the Vezina Trophy.Last season, the Montreal Canadiens set out to cut down on their goals against. The thinking was. the least amount of goals given up would eventually produce a Stanley Cup for this city.The Canadiens defied the law of averages, percentages and tradition History has recorded that the Canadiens cut down on their goals against, won the Vezina Trophy and then swept to the cherished Stanley Cup in one game more than the allowable minimum.The Canadiens have set the Vezina Trophy as their target once again this year and if their opening game of the 1976-77 season is any indication, then the National Hockey League officials can begin engraving the names of the Canadiens players on the Stanley Cup right away.The Canadiens thrashed the Pittsburgh Penguins 10-1 in their home opener The Pittsburgh goal came on a power play early in the second period after Montreal had built up a 4-0 first-period lead.Peter Mahovlich. the man they call the leader here, guided the Montreal attack with four assists. The line of Mahovlich. Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt accounted for nine points with Shutt and Lafleur scoring two goals apiece.&ldquo;You take a look over the last four or five years and you&rsquo;ll see that the team that won the Vezina Trophy went on to win the Stanley Cup &ldquo;said Mahovlich &ldquo;Certainly, the last four years anyway.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the secret to the Cup. &rsquo;says Mahovlich &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to win that Vezina.&rdquo;Coach Scotty Bowman feels the same way. He put that plan into operation and convinced the players and the tans it would work.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re hoping we can keep the goals against down again this year.&rsquo; said Bowman after the Pittsburgh game and just a couple of days after wife Suella had given birth to twins.&ldquo;Of course, a lot depends on how we play in the other teams end and how we play in our own end. There are a lot of factors.&rdquo;An indication of how much the Canadiens want to keep the goals-against down may have come in that opening game. Even the high-scoring line of Mahovlich. Shutt and Lafleur backchecked all night and left little skating room for the Penguins.&ldquo;Last year. I was on the ice for 40 goals against and that was down from 60 from the season before. If I and my line can cut back a few more goals again this years, it should be a help to the team and we should do all right.&ldquo;I figure if we give up around 160 to 170 goals this season, we&rsquo;ll be in great shape &ldquo;That would average out to around two goals against a game and would certainly put the Canadiens head and shoulders above the rest of the teams in the league.The Canadiens have awesome talent. Unless that talent falters badly, the Canadiens are a shoo-in once again this year when it comes time to distribute all the hardware.It may be tough to come up with a season similar to last year, but the Canadiens will certainly give it a try.But, when a team loses only 11 of 80 games from the autumn to the next spring&mdash;12 of 93 if you count the playoffs, how do you improve?&ldquo;I really believe we have to improve,&rdquo; says general manager Sam Pollock, the man who has built up the talent both in Montreal and with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs of the American Hockey League.&ldquo;I feel other teams are going to improve so we have to keep pace. We can do this because we have basically a young club, or we have young players with their best years ahead of them.&ldquo;We only lost 11 games last year, but a lot of those games were very close. That situation could change. It&rsquo;s like in baseball, winning lots of one-run games. If your pitching doesn&rsquo;t hold up, you don&rsquo;t win as many.&rdquo;ICICLES: Bowman&rsquo;s wife gave birth to a seven-pound, four-ounce girl and a seven-pound, two-ounce boy. Mom, Dad and the children are doing fine&hellip; John Van Boxmeer says he&rsquo;s waiting to be traded by the Canadiens. But, a trade will have to wait for a while because his value isn&rsquo;t too high right now. Van Boxmeer is sporting a cast on his right wrist. &#9632;

f0010-01

Vezina Only Route To Stanley Cup Says Mahovlich

<div class="byline">BY BILL HEUFELDER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02845/3950072-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">PIERRE LAROUCHE&hellip; Led Exhibition Offense (Photo By Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH-As the National Hockey League season opened, the Pittsburgh Penguins found themselves listing on the left side where two dependable veterans were hurting.Coach Ken Schinkel was forced to make adjustments in anticipation of beginning the campaign at home against Vancouver without either Vic Hadfield or Lowell MacDonald.Hadfield, slow to recover from offseason knee surgery, had played only two games of the club&rsquo;s extensive road swing that, in effect, was a traveling training camp. The 36-year-old left winger is beginning his third season with the Penguins and was a 30-goal scorer for them last year.MacDonald injured his left knee in a collision with a goalpost against the Colorado Rockies early in the exhibition schedule and later returned to Pittsburgh for an examination. Diagnosed as a muscle tear, the knee was placed in a cast to immobilize it for a few days.Fortunately for MacDonald and the Penguins, the damage is unrelated to past miseries when he missed two seasons and required four operations on the knee.A member of the Penguin&rsquo;s No. 1 line and another of the five 30-goal men on the club. MacDonald will be out indefinitely.With their absences. Schinkel has received a good look at No. 2 draft choice Greg Malone, whose versatility could land him a berth on the big club. Malone, a center in juniors, has been tried in the middle and on the left side, doing nothing to discourage Schinkel about his chances to play in the NHL this season in addition to Malone, the Penguins were getting strong support from left winger Stan Gilbertson. who scored four goals in seven games.As a precautionary measure, the Penguins also recalled Jacques Cossette from Hershey. Rated a solid challenger for a big-league job this year. Cossette reported overweight to training camp and was soon dispatched to the Bears.While Malone was impressive with his overall play. Blair Chapman. Pittsburgh&rsquo;s highly-regarded No. 1 amateur choice, displayed a blazing wrist shot, which was instrumental in his five goals, the best production on the club after seven games.Chapman delivered the fastest hat trick in Penguin history, firing the three goals in a three-minute. 23-second span that rallied Pittsburgh from a 2-1 deficit and on the road to a 7-3 victory over EdmontonHe also scored the insurance goal in a 3-1 triumph against the Oil Kings, who. ironically, made Chapman their top selection in the World Hockey Association draft.On defense, the Penguins were able to stay healthy with the exception of Don Awrey. who sustained a pulled groin Schinkel continued to be pleased with the progress of hard-hitting rookie Russ Anderson, who was making a determined bid to stick with the club.A sturdy six-foot-three and 210-pounds. Anderson was signed last spring out of the University of Minnesota after helping the Gophers to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA final He spent the remainder of the campaign practicing with Hershey, not playing in any games.PENGUIN NOTES: Pierre Larouche. the club s leading scorer with 111 points a year ago. led the team through seven games of the exhibition season with 10 points, including four goals&hellip;Rick Kehoe also notched four goals&hellip;Bobby Sheehan, a free agent after spending last season with the Chicago Black Hawks, was with the Penguins on a try out basis. &#9632;

f0010-02

Injuries Force Schinkel Into Early-Season Shuffle

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO-Jocelyn Guevremont had his best season as a professional hockey player in 1975-76 but he expects this season to be even better.&ldquo;I got a lesson from last year.&rdquo; the big defenseman said one day. between the two-a-day practice sessions at the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; training camp. &ldquo;I think most of the guys on the team did. When you&rsquo;re winning. things seem easy and you think they are easier than they really are.&rdquo;&ldquo;Two years ago. everything worked for us and I guess we thought it would always go like that. Last season we found out that they won&rsquo;t. I think it will be better with our club this year.&rdquo;Guevremont was Buffalo&rsquo;s highest-scoring defenseman with 52 points on 12 goals and 40 assists. That was one point more than he had his first pro season, with Vancouver, when he tied a league scoring record for first-year defensemen.The figure which pleased Jos more than his point total last season, however, was his plus-minus. He had the best plus-minus rating on the club, plus-47. 12th in the National Hockey League.&ldquo;That really made me feel good.&rdquo; the 202-pound Montreal native emphasized. &ldquo;When I came to Buffalo everybody wrote and said I was no good defensively.&ldquo;They said I was just an offensive defenseman. I was really proud about my plus-minus. But I know I still have to improve defensively. The better you are defensively, the less you have to worry about losing the puck in your own end&rdquo;One of the aspects of the game Guevremont is best at. actually, is moving the puck out of Buffalo&rsquo;s end. He is good at getting the disc to his forwards and starting a play.&ldquo;It took me about two years to learn what each of our forwards does when you give him the puck.&rdquo; Jos pointed out. &ldquo;But now I know what to expect when I pass the puck to anybody on the team. You play a certain way with some lines and another way with other lines.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02847/3950134-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="664" height="1472"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOCELYN GUEVREMONT &hellip; Top Playmaker</figcaption></div>Guevremont has one of the best shots from the point among the league&rsquo;s defensemen. It is low and hard and if it doesn&rsquo;t go in, it sets up rebounds for the forwards to score on.In the Sabres&rsquo; first seven preseason games this year. Guevremont picked up five points, on a goal and four assists. He was the team&rsquo;s third-leading scorer, after Gil Perreault and Rick Martin&ldquo;I always practiced shooting a lot.&rdquo; Jos mentioned. &ldquo;When I was 12 or 13 I would practice by the hour. Then, when I was in junior. Rick Martin and I would go out a half hour before practice to shoot and we&rsquo;d stay a half hour after practice, shooting some more.&rdquo;Dave Farrish, Mike McEwen, Barry Scully and Gilles Gratton. Forward Billy Fairbairn and defensemen Nick Beverley and Gilles Marotte are in obvious jeopardy. Doug Jarrett has already been sent out to New Haven.Fotiu, the Staten Islander who played in the NY Metro League, made an unbelieveable debut in MSG when he scored the winner in the Sept. 23 pre-season opener against the Bruins. Nick batted home a rebound with assists being given to Heaslip and Pete Stemkowski.The first native born New Yorker ever to play for the Rangers, Fotiu picked up the rebound after Gerry Cheevers had dumped Heaslip&rsquo;s shot in the faceoff circle. Fotiu, who used to pay his way into the balcony seat: in the old Garden and the mezzanine in the new to watch the Ranger: with buddies from New Dorp High School had only one regret.&ldquo;I wished I could have been in the seats to watch my first goal with some of my buddies,&rdquo; grinned the, big six-foot-two, 210-pound left wing He also challenged Boston&rsquo;s Terr O&rsquo;Reilly and the Garden fan cheered him to the penalty box, after a mini-glaring session in which O&rsquo;Reilly didn&rsquo;t drop his stick, but Nick dropped his.BLUE CHIPS: Don Murdoch made his MSG debut Sept. 27 with two goals, including the game tie against Philadelphia in a 3-3 saw off Don had missed the first three preseason games because of a 37 stitch &ldquo;head cut which he acquired in camp&hellip;John Ferguson sent Jerry Byers. Ken Gassoff, Greg HickeyLarry Huras, Ed Johnstone, Dale Lewis, Dave Nowlan, Claude Periard, Doug Soetaert, Bud Stefanski, Jim Setters and Ed Smith to the New Haven Night Hawks. Smith, like Fotiu is another graduate of the NY Met Loop&hellip;After the Flyers game of Sept. 27 he dispatched defensemen Jarrett and Paul Stenant, forwards Bill Collins, Jerry Holland, Doug Caines, Barry Scully and Remi Levesque, to New Haven as well. &#9632;

f0011-02

Guevremont Predicts Sabres Will Enjoy A Winning Season

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011017/3950172-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2>The Canadien &ldquo;Problem&rdquo;</h2>THE ANSWER TO THE problem which the National Hockey League laces in handling the Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens started as a pressbox gag. It was suggested that the Canadiens and all the players in their farm system, notably the American League champion Nova Scotia Voyageurs, be divided into two teams, both of which would play in the NHLNow. that sounds mighty absurd. doesn&rsquo;t it? It was even noted that the two teams likely would meet in the Stanley Cup final next spring Maybe that was going a bit far&mdash;but not by much!When the list of players under the Canadien umbrella is divided into two teams, the idea becomes much less ridiculous. The Canadiens do have that much talent.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02858/3950165-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="653" height="702"><figcaption class="caption-body">JEAN BELIVEAU</figcaption></div>To produce the two teams. which shall hereafter be called the Canadiens and Voyageurs, the tour players dispatched to other clubs this season&mdash;defenseman Don Awrey. forwards Glenn Goldup. Ron Andruff and Sean Shanahan-will be retained.Here&rsquo;s that division of Habitant talent into two clubs.CANADIENS: Goal - Ken Dryden. Ed Walsh; Defense &ndash; Larry Robinson. Pierre Bouchard. Rick Chartraw. Brian Engblom. John Van Boxmeer. Don Awrey; Centerpete Mahovlich. Doug Jarvis. Paul Woods. Gord McTavish; Right Wing - Yvan Cournoyer. Rejean Houle. Sean Shanahan. Don Howse. Bruce Baker; Left Wing - Bob Gainey. Murray Wilson. Mike Polich. John Tavella.VOYAGEURS: Goal - Michel Larocque. Dave Elenbaas; Defense-Guy Lapointe. Serge Savard. Bill Nyrop. Chuck Luckas. Gilles Lupien. Jim Roberts: Center - Jacques Lemaire. Doug Risebrough. Pierre Mondou. Ron Andruff; Right Wing - Guy Lafleur. Mario Tremblay, Glenn Gold-up. Peter Lee: Left Wing - Steve Shutt. Yvon Lambert, Rod Schutt. Ron Wilson.Those are two sound hockey teams, perhaps not really Stanley Cup contenders, but not far from it. The Canadiens even have a few other lads in their chain who could supply reserve strength.<h2>The Men For All Jobs THE CANADIENS, TOO. have the men to fill the administration positions on the two teams&mdash;and fill them well.</h2>he front office of the Canadiens would have Sam Pollock as general manager. Al MacNeil as coach with Claude Ruel as assistant coach and director of personnel. Floyd Curry would be the Voyageur GM with Scotty Bowman as coach and Ron Caron as assistant and director of personnel.Claude Mouton and Alain Chantelais. those efficient, obliging chaps who handle public relations and publicity for the Canadiens, would till that role for the two teams. I What this bit of fanciful silliness does is point out why the NHL&rsquo;s No. 1 organization holds that position. The Canadiens are an organization with no weaknesses. Several NHL organizations have plenty of people around who never seem to do much.The Canadiens make the best possible use of the folks in their organization. For instance, chaps such as Jean Beliveau and Toe Blake, two of hockey&rsquo;s wisest operators, are an important part of the operation.<h2>"Class&rdquo; Of Big-League Hockey</h2>THE CANADIENS, in short, do everything with a touch of class. A whole list of little things go together to make them the champions of the NHL. Some NHL teams on the road resemble unmade beds in the way they dress, the leftovers from a Salvation Army rummage sale. Canadien players never appear in public in anything but collars and ties. A minor point&rsquo;&rsquo; Perhaps, but it indicates the discipline which runs through the organization from top to bottomThere are those in the NHL&mdash;mostly the losers&mdash;who claim that the Canadiens have created an unhealthy situation by growing into such a powerhouse. Maybe they could bring parity much closer by unloading all their players except the top 25. But it isn&rsquo;t Sam Pollock s fault it he&rsquo;s just a little sharper than most of his peers.The Canadiens are healthy for hockey. They supply the standard against which all clubs can be measured. &#9632;

f0012-01

FRANK ORR SAYS

<div class="byline">BY RON WEBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03656/3950203-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">RON LALONDE&hellip; Full-Time Centre Spot (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>WASHINGTON-For the world&rsquo;s fastest team sport, this is the time of the year for questions Especially for a team as questionable as the Washington Capitals So here&rsquo;s a sample:Can the Caps win as many in their third season as they did in their first two combined (19)?Can they move out of the league cellar to be at. least the 17th best club?Can they move up in their division to the giddy heights of fourth place? Can long losing streaks be avoided?Can skipper Tom (Simon Legree) McVie keep the Capital ship from running aground, as they continually tack into the wind?Can Mac McNab general manage another quality hockey player or two from his rivals, as he has done in obtaining Gerry Meehan. Jean Lemieux and Guy Charron?Can Meehan continue his point-a-game pace he exhibited through the last half of last season?Can Mike Lampman approach his goal-a-game performance he produced through the first week of exhibitions? (How about a goal every other game?)Can Charron be &ldquo;another Meehan &ldquo;in Capital livery?Can Harvey Bennett find happiness at left wing?Can winger Tony White come up with another pair of hat tricks?Can Rick Bragnalo prove that 5-8 and 160 is big enough to play center in the NHL?Can winger Blair Stewart find a little finesse to go with his strong. aggressive play?Can Ron Lalonde finally convince a coach he can play center regularly before Thanksgiving just as well as after?Can Greg Joly cut the mustard at center&hellip;and should he be crossed off as a defenseman?Will Hartland Monahan&rsquo;s determination to shoot more result in more goals for himself and his line?Can Bob Sirois recapture the brilliance of his debut game with the Capitals?Rick Green as good as he&rsquo;s looked in the exhibitions, as bad as he appeared at times in London, or somewhere in between?Can defenseman Gordie Lane play it tough in the NHL without getting caught out of position and without taking stupid penalties?Has Gordie Smith finally made the leap from AHL star to NHL regular?Can Yvon Labre continue to prove that enthusiam and dedication are as important as talent in playing defense in the big time?Can Lemieux. Jack Lynch and Green get their checking to be as punishing as their slap shots?Can netminder Ron Low reverse the rising trend in his goals against average?Do the Caps have a capable backup goalie in the minors for the inevitable day one of their regulars is injured?End of questionnaire. McVie. McNab, and the players would answer all those queries affirmatively. So would any other club. But we don&rsquo;t need to ask. October is here. A little patience and a lot of watching and we can see the answers for ourselves.Of course, reporters have feelings, too. And here are some replies in advance. to those questions I feel more definite about:The Caps will equal the combined win total of their first two years &mdash; maybe a little more. They will move ahead of the Rockies in the overall standings, but are probably one more good player away from passing Detroit in the Norris standings.McVie will run a happy, or at least contented ship as the victories come closer together. Losing streak, there will be but they should not reach double figures.ICE CAPS: Going into the final exhibition weekend all the pre-season Capitals games were decided by one goal. Lampman had two game winners, Lalonde the other. The narrow losses were to Toronto and Detroit&hellip;When Lampman reached five goals, rookie winger Steve Self was his only teammate with as many as two scores&hellip;Wolfe looked good in the nets and&rsquo; Low even: betterRockie targets Dale Rideout and Jim Bedard acquitted themselves well, too&hellip;A couple of surprise demotions to Springfield: RW Brian Kinsella (because he was playing so well) and defender Pete Scamurra (because he was a no-show for a practice game). &#9632;

f0012-03

Capitals Should Win More Than Two Previous Seasons

<div class="byline">BY ALAN TRUEX</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01980/3950234-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY CHOUINARD&hellip; Great Minor League Statistics (Photo by Bruce Bonnett)</figcaption></div>ATLANTA-When the Atlanta Flames drafted Guy Chouinard in 1974, they were making a future investment. He was only 17, the youngest player ever drafted by the National Hockey League.The Flames thought he might be ready for the NHL last season. He wasn&rsquo;t. They are convinced he is ready now.By releasing 23-goal scorer Claude St. Sauveur, the Flames created a vacancy at center which they expect Chouinard (pronounced Schwee-nard) to fill.Yet there remains some question about Chouinard, at 19 the youngest player on the Flames&rsquo; roster.The doubts first occurred in training camp two years ago. Chouinard, a second-round selection, was completely unimpressive. The Flames&rsquo; coach at the time, Bernie Geoffrion, branded him &ldquo;yellow".Chouinard went to the Central Hockey League, where he scored 68 points and was named rookie of the year. The next season, the Flames&rsquo; general manager Cliff Fletcher was hoping Chouinard could play in the NHL. Butanother disappointing training camp showed that Chouinard needed another minor league season to improve his skating and forechecking.Last year, the teenager scored 40 goals and 80 points for Nova Scotia.Most of the scouting reports on him were glorious.David Poile, who manages the Flames&rsquo; minor league operations, said, &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have anyone in the organization who passes the puck as well as he does. He passes as well as any of the centers in the NHL.&rdquo;But Noel Price, who played and coached in Nova Scotia last year, is not sure Chouinard will be a big scorer in his rookie year in the NHL.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say if he scores 15 or 20 goals and 30 assists it would be a good year for him,&rdquo; Price said, cautioning that management may be expecting too much.&ldquo;His forechecking did improve,&rdquo; Price said, &ldquo;but maybe not enough for the National Hockey League.&rdquo;&ldquo;The main thing he has to spruce up is his consistency of effort. He might have to learn to play a little harder each game.&rdquo;There are also questions about Chouinard&rsquo;s defensive play. However, as Poile notes, &ldquo;When it comes to hockey sense, there are few players who would rate higher.&rdquo;Price said, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a puncher or a checker, but he plays his position. He&rsquo;s maybe looking for the puck instead of playing the man.&rdquo;Chouinard is a courteous, honest young man who recognizes his shortcomings.&rsquo;&rsquo;My skating needs improvement,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;I need to work on faceoffs and defense.&rdquo;As for his failures in prior training camps, he attributes them to jittery nerves.&ldquo;My first year I was more nervous than anything. The pro surroundings and everything&mdash;it was a little too much for me.&rdquo;&ldquo;Last year the trouble was probably in my mind. Last year I was so nervous I&rsquo;d do anything wrong. I had the feeling maybe I was too young.&rdquo;In the exhibition season this year, though, he showed no signs of nervousness. With Chouinard and another rookie. Rich Mulhern, playing the points, the Flames for the first time in their history have presented a serious power play.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m more confident this year than the last two years,&rdquo; Chouinard says. &ldquo;I know what to do. I have the experience now. They say there&rsquo;s a big difference up here, but I think you just have to do things a little quicker.&ldquo;They know what I can do to help this team. They&rsquo;ve been waiting two years. It seems this year&rsquo;s the year.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-01

Flames Convinced Chouinard Ready For NHL This Season

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01998/3950272-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="330" height="512"></div>ADD DAVE SCHULTZ to Jack Kent Cooke s lineup of Hollywood box-office attractions.A year ago the flamboyant owner, who usually gets what he wants, obtained Marcel Dionne for the Los Angeles Kings and Karem Abdul-Jabbar for his basketball Lakers. Now Schultz is switching from the Philadelphia Flyers, where he spent four turbulent. penalty-idled seasons, to the Kings.However, unlike Dionne and Jabbar. Schultz didn&rsquo;t seek employment with a Cooke club. &ldquo;The Hammer &rsquo; was content, as most players are. to stay in Philadelphia where he was popular. well paid, and part of a winner. The reason he was traded was a combination of the Flyers not needing his unique and. until lately, highly successful intimidation techniques coupled with the new NHL rules aimed at reducing i the need for fighting.With the NHL&rsquo;s Era of Terror evidently fading out. the Schultz. Durbano. Gassoff. Hutchison type player must play hockey first. Schultz has proven he can be an effective checking winger, but his problem in Philadelphia was a collection of more talented playersOne irony of the Schultz deal is Bob Kelly, who lost his regular spot when Schultz arrived, still remains Flyers&rsquo; GM Keith Allen said the Flyers believe Kelly can be more productive as a part-timer than Schultz could have.THE FLYERS&rsquo; Thinking Dept has always adapted well to trends. Obviously. Allen and aides believe the necessity for a Schultz in the new peace-loving. look-Roy - McMurtry-we&rsquo;re-cleaning-up NHL isn&rsquo;t as important as it once was. The Flyers, who have also drafted as well as any team, especially in lower rounds, expect the second-round 1977 choice and the fourth-rounder in 1978 to produce quality Philadelphia players. As any scout will tell you. the next two amateur drafts are filled with enough talent to make Shrewd Sam Pollock do somersaults down Ste. Catherine St.When the Schultz trade was announced. he and many Flyers&rsquo; fans had the same thought: two draft choices aren&rsquo;t much for such an established, colorful player. Allen disregarded the complaints, insisting that few teams had shown much interest in &ldquo;The Hammer &ldquo;.One hockey authority who liked the deal was Scotty Bowman. If the Montreal coach was thinking that Schultz will no longer be around to pester his players during another Canadiens-Flyers playoff series, he wasn&rsquo;t saying. What Bowman said was. &ldquo;People forget that draft choices are hockey players. &rsquo;In other words, the draftees aren&rsquo;t here right now. but the way Philadelphia drafts, it should get two goodyoung players for Schultz.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02832/3950265-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="1175" height="1271"><figcaption class="caption-body">Despite the new anti-violence rules, the Flyers have managed to hang onto free-wheeling Bob Kelly. The Flyers feel he can be a more productive part-time player. (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>Reaction from two rivals was a near-unanimous opinion that Schultz will be missed by the Flyers more than they think&ldquo;HE (SCHULTZ) DOESN&rsquo;T have all that much talent. &ldquo;said Norris Trophy-winner Denis Potvin. &ldquo;but he was able to inspire the Flyers with his desire.&rdquo;&ldquo;The Flyers won&rsquo;t be the same without him&rdquo; said Garry Howatt. Potvin&rsquo;s Islanders&rsquo; teammate and Schultz&rsquo;s frequent punching partner. &ldquo;They probably have three or four other intimidators coming up. but nobody can intimidate like Schultzie.&rdquo;&rsquo;The general feeling on our team is the same as the Islanders.&rsquo; said Ken Dryden. Montreal&rsquo;s all-star goalie, after an eight to two exhibition rout of the Fivers. &ldquo;We were wondering who they still have who can fight 1&rsquo;hen in the second period I realized they have a few others who can. &ldquo;(Jack Mcllhargey had out-punched Doug Risebrough).&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure the Flyers feel that their style, which Schultz was a part of. Won&rsquo;t win a Stanley Cup again&rdquo; continued Dryden. &ldquo;They have other players who aren&rsquo;t as aggressive as Schultz was. but they can do other things".Trading him is a difficult move to make, but obviously the Flyers don&rsquo;t feel that last year (losing the Stanley Cup to Montreal) just happened and they&rsquo;ll come back with the same team They are trying to improve their team.&rdquo;Improving the Flyers by subtracting Dave Schultz: two years ago the thought was unimaginable But. the times are a-changing. &#9632;

f0014-01

HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div>TORONTO&mdash;As testimony to their upward mobility in the National Hockey League, the Toronto Maple Leafs are enjoying the luxuries of the affluent-competition for jobs through some depth of playing talent, a few players in the trade-bait category and an advantageous position in amateur draft selections.During the past few seasons, the Leaf cutdown for the opening of the NIR, season was the same as slicing the end off a Joaf of stale bread. It was a question of what mediocrity the team would retain on the varsity roster.This season, though, the Leaf administration had some hard decisions to make &mdash; not quite as many as. say. the Montreal Canadiens &mdash; when it came time to trim to the 20 players for the season&rsquo;s opener.The Leafs played soundly in the pre-season period, using close to 30 players in compiling a 5-3-2 won-lost-tied record. They played especially well in a pair of games against the Canadiens, losing 6-4 and earning a 3-3 tie in two dandy bits of entertainment.We were able to have some serious competition for jobs and that&rsquo;s a sign that our over-all strength has increased, said Leaf coach Red Kelly. &ldquo;We had a good camp because of it Some of the kids we had on hand really took a shot at first-string jobs.One kid who earned a starting post with the Leafs was defenseman Randy Carlyle, a draft choice from Sudbury Wolves acquired by the Leafs under rather strange circumstances.Just before last spring&rsquo;s draft. Carlyle s agent told the NHL that his young client was unavailable because he had signed with Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association.The Leafs didn&rsquo;t have a first-round selection this year, having sacrificed it to Montreal in the deal which brought goalie Wayne Thomas to Toronto. When their second-round choice came up the 30th pick Carlyle was available and the Leafs claimed him. figuring that he&rsquo;d give them future insurance when his WHA contract expired.Well, it turned out that Carlyle had signed only a letter of intent with Cincinnati, not a contract. The Leafs signed him immediately. That gave them a first-round pick.The Cincinnati team threatened to take the matter to court but when the Leafs took defenseman Mike Peiyk, who defected to Stingers two years ago. and his gigantic contract off the Cincinnati team&rsquo;s hands, the Stingers agreed not to raise a fuss about Carlyle.Both Peiyk and Carlyle will open the season With the Leafs, the only new players to earn spots on the Toronto side. &#9632;

Carlyle Earns Leafs’ Berth

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Security has a way of rearing its ugly head in National Hockey League training camps, and it has done just that to the Vancouver Canucks so far in the exhibition schedule.And it has coach and general manager Phil Maloney more than just a little worried.The fact is that many members of the Canucks are not really having to fight for their jobs this season. That fact is creating some rather embarrassing situations. Take the nine to one defeat at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The worst part of the debacle was that it came right in front of the home fans at the Pacific Coliseum, and there weren&rsquo;t more than 5.000 around at the end of the nightmare.&ldquo;It could have been worse. &ldquo;said Maloney after the slaughter, the second straight loss to the Leafs in successive nights at the Coliseum. &rsquo;It could have been a league game. I know it was only an exhibition game, but I don&rsquo;t like to see us get blown out of the rink like that. And I don&rsquo;t like to see us become so disorganized.&rdquo;The Leafs, stacked with players battling for jobs, are a stark contrast to the Canucks, who really have all but one or two spots on the roster sewn up by veterans. They are in need of a defenseman and possibly another center, depending on how quickly Jim Wiley can recover from his separated shoulder and get into playing condition.But the club is not about to hit the panic button until losses like that start occurring during the regular season.&rsquo;Remember. said left side defenseman Harold Snepsts. who suffered through the nine to one thrashing with the rest of the fans because of pulled groin muscles, &ldquo;this is only the grapefruit league. We ll be in it when we start hitting. &ldquo;Regardless of Snepsts&rsquo; confidence, Maloney has already started to juggle the lines he&rsquo;s had together for the first four games, breaking up his second line of Chris Oddleifson. John Gould and Ron Sedlbauer. He intends, for the moment, to keep Mike Walton together with Don Lever and Rick Blights, but if their production doesn&rsquo;t pick up. they&rsquo;ll likely be seeing new linemates.In gaining consecutive ties with the Los Angeles Kings and the two losses to the Leafs, the Canucks have scored only nine goals and that isn&rsquo;t enough goal production under any circumstances.&ldquo;They (the Leafs) were playing their eighth game and we were in our fourth, and that makes a difference at this time of the year.&rdquo; said Maloney in some explanation of the Canucks progress to date. &rsquo;We&rsquo;ll know better how we stack up when we go against the Kings again.&rdquo;Regardless of how the club does against LA in their few remaining exhibition games, the slow start already has Maloney wondering whether he and aide Larry Popein shouldn&rsquo;t switch their preparation strategy for next year&ldquo;Maybe we should have a shorter training camp and play 10 exhibition games.&rdquo; said Maloney. &ldquo;Were not as far along as Toronto at this stage that&rsquo;s pretty obvious.&rdquo;One of the main reasons why the club does not schedule as many exhibitions as the other clubs in the NHL is simple geography, common sense and economics. They are so far away from everyone else in the league (some Canuck directors are still mifted Seatie didn&rsquo;t get the California Seals) and it costs money to schedule games with clubs all over the continent.Further, it doesn&rsquo;t make sense to have the players begin the murderous travel schedule they must endure (72.000 miles over a season) any sooner than is absolutely necessary. And when that good horse sense is combined with the fact that eight of the Canucks first 10 games are on the road, it makes a solid argument for staying close to home.Meanwhile, Maloney is also slightly miffed at the way compensation from the Chicago Black Hawks to the Boston Bruins for Bobby Orr has been delayed.&ldquo;We put in a claim for two of three Boston players who were on waivers with the right of recall,&rdquo; said Maloney. &ldquo;The names were withdrawn after our claims. That is done all the time and we don&rsquo;t usually talk about it, but we&rsquo;re trying to get some help.One of the players Maloney wouldn&rsquo;t mind grabbing is 35-year-old veteran defender Dallas Smith, assuming the price was right. Smith would be a perfect combination with youngsters Snepsts and Bob Manno on the left side, he being able to show them a few things.CANUCK NOTES: Oddleifson. the only man ever to sign a five-year contract with the club, was, as expected, appointed captain of the club by Maloney. &ldquo;Any one of five or six guys could have taken the job.&rdquo; Maloney said&hellip;Center Sid Veysey and left winger Glen Richardson have been assigned to the Tulsa Oilers in the Central league to start the season while Andy Spruce and Manno remain in Vancouver&hellip;Veysey was one of the surprises of training camp and indeed the exhibition schedule, scoring two two of the club&rsquo;s nine goals in their first four games. He really wasn&rsquo;t expected to make Tulsa, but the way things look now, he&rsquo;ll be quite an asset to Orland Kurtenbach and the Oilers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03629/3950334-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="611" height="852"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHRIS ODDLEIFSON &hellip;Named New Captain</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01306/3950327-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="2693" height="1195"><figcaption class="caption-body">Yardley of London was the official supplier of toiletries for Team Canada during the recent Canada Cup series. Here&rsquo;s Yardley marketing vice-president Colin Lorimer, shown in center, making presentation of kits to some members of the Team Canada team. From the left are Steve Shutt, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago&rsquo;s Bobby Orr, Guy Lafleur, also of the Canadiens, and Islanders&rsquo; Denis Potvin.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0014-03

Canucks’ Complacency Worries Maloney

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01962/3950365-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rookie Fred Williams has been tabbed as an all-around player by the Detroid Red Wings&rsquo; management. Here Williams poses between a couple of happy people, general manager Alex Delvecchio, left, and Detroit owner Bruce Norris.</figcaption></div>DETROIT-Detroit&rsquo;s 2-1 victory over the transplanted California Seals to Cleveland Barons (Richfield, Ohio) was the first test of NHL competition for Fred Williams. In fact, it was the first live NHL game - pre-season or otherwise - that Freddie has ever seen.Williams, a five-foot-10, 180-pound centerman, was Detroit&rsquo;s No. 1 draft choice in this year&rsquo;s amateur draft of the top juniors in Canada and United States.Center ice was given a priority by the Detroit scouting staff: &ldquo;We have to get some strength at center; you&rsquo;re only as strong as your strength down the middle.&rdquo; said general manager Alex Delvecchio.&ldquo;We wanted an all-around player, not just a goal scorer or &lsquo;Fancy Dan&rsquo;. We could have drafted Bernie Federko (WCHL&rsquo;s leading scorer last season), but we felt from watching Freddie that he was the kind of a guy we wanted - a better all-around player.&rdquo; (Federko was drafted in the first round by St. Louis.)Williams had pretty much played in the shadow of Federko all through his junior days. Federko was always handed the high scoring wingers. the guys with the big shots. But Williams, a real workhorse, earned his points with hard work and desire. He didn&rsquo;t have the big wingers to make him look good.Williams was impressive in camp. One thing that catches your attention right away is his modesty - something quite uncommon for a 20-year-old kid from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan who has just been handed a lucrative contract by the Wings&rsquo; brass.Fred&rsquo;s father works in crane rentals and his mother as a jewelry store clerk in Saskatoon.Williams&rsquo; scouting report reads: &ldquo;A very good skater who makes good plays; excellent forechecker; good shot: good penalty killer: consistent player plays point on the power play quiet personality; great anticipation and hockey sense.&rdquo;Most important over all of these facts when selecting an individual that you hope to build a contender around is that Free Williams wants to play.Williams, modest and deeply concerned with his own game doesn&rsquo;t feel that he has played that well so far. However, Delvecchio and other visiting scouts feel differently.&ldquo;He shows a lot of poise for a rookie,&rdquo; stated Bob Davidson, head scout for the Toronto Maple Leafs. &ldquo;And he doesn&rsquo;t throw the puck away.&rdquo;Delvecchio is not concerned with Fred&rsquo;s game. &ldquo;We drafted him because of the kind of all-around games we saw him play. We&rsquo;re not going to force him into trying to play a different game.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-01

Rookie Center Williams Draws Raves From Wings

DETROIT-Contrary to most conversations in recent months, Dennis Hextall likes the idea of being in Detroit and being a part of the Detroit Red Wings. Hextall, his wife Becky and family are one of 11 players in this year&rsquo;s starting line-up who have purchased homes in the Detroit area, and who expect to live here pretty much on a year-round basis.Hextall came from Minnesota to Detroit last Feb. 27 in a controversial trade for Bill Hogaboam. Hogaboam was 27 and Hextall 32; age appeared to be creating the controversy.The doubts however, are over as Hextall, a proven play-maker (60 assists per year for three years), came to Detroit ready to play. He had missed only three games in three seasons with Minnesota - due not to injuries, but conflicts with the Minnesota management. In any case, that&rsquo;s over.A minus-22 hockey player when he left Minnesota last season. Hextall became a plus-four player by the end of the season with the Wings.For those who do not know what a &ldquo;plus and minus player&rdquo; is, here&rsquo;s a brief explanation: A player receives a &ldquo;plus&rdquo; while on the ice when their team scores a goal: and a &ldquo;minus&rdquo; while on the ice for an opposing goal. Power play goals and short-handed goals not included.&ldquo;I think it was just getting out of Minnesota and getting in Detroit that caused my play to improve,&rdquo; said Hextall, a veteran of nine NHL seasons.&ldquo;Detroit was playing quite well and playing my style of hockey. It had a big effect on my attitude towards the game.&rdquo;Hextall feels that if the team can get off to a good start and get some confidence in themselves that they can beat out either Los Angeles or Pittsburgh for that third playoff spot&ndash;and even give Montreal a run for the division.&ldquo;On our ice, we have a tough team, a big team; and in Detroit the clubs coming in here realize that we are not going to waltz around anymore. If we play that way. we are &ldquo;going to be tough to beat.Winning is a tradition at Northland It&rsquo;s a tradition we build into every stickPick up a Northland Feel the stick that has been raised in victory more than any other Feel the spirit the goals, the assists (maybe even the hat trick)Feel the stick that&rsquo;s been used by more than half of the top pros who have more than 300 career goals The winning feeling The Northland feeling!Get that Northland feeling! &#9632;

Hextall Ready For Big Season

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01804/3950420-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

&hellip;In ReviewMONTREAL-Minnesota North Star sophomore center Tim Young emerged from the National Hockey League&rsquo;s first week of the 1976-77 season as the individual points leader.The 21-year-old native of Scarborough, Ont., averaged three points a game in leading all players as he scored four goals and five assists for nine points during North Stars&rsquo; three games &mdash; one victory and two losses. More important, he gained a point in all but two of the team&rsquo;s scoring plays.Young was Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; first choice and 16th overall in the 1975 amateur draft but never played for Los Angeles. He was traded to Minnesota two months later for North Stars&rsquo; second-round choice in the 1976 draft. That choice was Steve Clip-pingdale. In his first season with Minnesota. Young scored 18 goals and 51 points in 63 games.As usual this early in the season, there are a few unfamiliar names scattered among the leading pointmen. A veteran of New York Rangers, however, is second. Right winger Rod Gilbert, now in his 15th season, collected eight points, all assists (including five in Rangers&rsquo; 5-3 win at Denver), in the three games last week. The five assists equalled the club record set by Walt Tkaczuk. Feb. 12, 1972, and then tied by Gilbert twice two seasons ago &mdash; March 2 and March 30,1975.There is a five-way tie for third place, each player having six points. They are Hartland Monahan of Washington, Stan Mikita of Chicago. Jean Ratelle of Boston. Pete Mahovlich of Montreal and Bobby Orr of Chicago.Mikita. incidentally, became only the third player in NHL history, to pass the 1.300-point mark with his three goals and three assists. He now has 486 goals, 817 assists and 1.303 points. All-time leader is Gordie Howe, who recorded 1,809 points during 25 seasons with Detroit. Runner-up is John Bucyk of Boston, now with 531 goals. 781 assists and 1,312 points.In three games last week. Washington Capitals played 500 hockey, winning one game, tying another and losing their third. A year ago they played 10 games before recording their third point. Only one team. Vancouver Canucks, failed to gain a point in the standings as they lost all three starts. And only two teams have not lost a game &mdash; Detroit Red Wings, with a win and a tie; and New York Islanders, with two victories and only one goal against. Goaltender Glen Resh played both games and Islanders have the best goals-against average (0.50). &#9632;

NHL WEEK

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY HUGH DELANO</div>THERE ONCE WAS a time, not so very long ago, when NHL management people opened their newspapers to the sports pages, searched for hockey box scores and studied the small type listing goals, assists, penalties and shots on goal.Now that has changed.&ldquo;The first thing a lot of general managers and owners look for now is that little line of type at the bottom that tells you the attendance,&rdquo; s said Bill Torrey.The Islanders&rsquo; general manager does not have to worry about attendance at Nassau Coliseum. The Islanders are the hot item among hockey fans in the burgeoning Metropolitan New York area once dominated by the Rangers. Their appealing style of play and success on the ice has been matched at the box office. They enjoyed the league&rsquo;s biggest attendance increase (more than 30.000) last season and season tickets were sold out long before the 1976-77 season opened.That is not the case generally throughout the NHL. Attendance is down and dropping in many NHL cities. Eleven of 18 teams attracted fewer people to their games than during the 1974-75 season. Even some teams accustomed to automatic sellouts had to prod season ticket subscribers to renew before 1976-77.League and team officials are starting to sweat it out.For example&hellip;THE MINNESOTA NORTH STARS once filled the 15,184-capacity Met Center. Attendance dropped by more than 130,000 last season. Four years ago the North &hellip; Stars had 12,000 season ticket-holders. That figure dropped to 7-600 last season. It was down to 5-500 on the eve of the 1976-77 season. The plunge of the North Stars in the standings and the drop in ticket sales were simultaneous.Boston, like Minnesota a hotbed of hockey interest, also has critical attendance problems but partially for a different reason: a fan backlash at the Bruins&rsquo; new absentee owners who allowed Bobby Orr to go to Chicago with no apparent compensation for the Bruins.Attendance dropped at Boston Garden last season and remarkably&mdash;the first-place Bruins failed to sell out during the playoffs. Although pre-season exhibition games are not truly indicative, they are a barometer. The Bruins attracted surprisingly sparse crowds of 6.400, 7,222 and 7,307 when the highly popular Flyers.Canadiens and Rangers visited Boston Garden. Increased ticket prices haven&rsquo;t helped, either.Having sold only 8,500 season tickets (they used to sell 13,000 before the season), the Bruins were doing something they had not needed to do in years: run game advertisements in the newspapers.The Rangers, often accused of taking their fans for granted, were so alarmed by the failure of many season ticket-holders to renew that they and the basketball Knicks paid $26,000 for full-page newspaper advertisements announcing a pre-season telephone campaign to sell tickets. The opening exhibition game with the Bruins produced many empty seats (a crowd of 14.320 in the 17.500-seat Madison Square Garden).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01695/3950475-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="389" height="582"><figcaption class="caption-body">HOCKEY BEAT</figcaption></div>The California Golden Seals showed a slight attendance increase in their final season in Oakland before becoming the Cleveland Barons. They now play in a gorgeous 18.554-seat arena four miles from Akron but 30 miles from Cleveland. Team officials are concerned. They have sold only 2.000 season tickets and their first two pre-season games against Detroit and the Rangers attracted crowds of only 2.268 and 2,017 and they were outdrawn by local high school football.THE KANSAS CITY SCOUTS franchise was a bummer. The team 5 averaged only 7.000 fans last s season, lost a reported $5 million and moved to Denver to become the Colorado Rockies. So far only 1.600 season tickets have been sold but there are encouraging signs a crowd of 13,435 turned out for the Rockies&rsquo; first exhibition game in the 16.401 capacity arena.Obviously, attendance is no problem in such cities as Buffalo, Montreal. Philadelphia. Toronto, and Vancouver or with the Islanders and Rangers, and Chicago. Detroit and Los Angeles are expected to hold their own. But the attendance figures may not always be pleasing to management in such places as Minnesota.) Boston. St. Louis. Atlanta, Washington and Pittsburgh. Only time will tell in Cleveland and Colorado.Why the downward trend in NHL attendance?Blame it on rising ticket prices. Blame it on the high cost of living, Blame it on a more discerning breed of hockey fan who knows) watered-down talent when he sees it and will gladly pay to see the Canadiens or Flyers but couldn&rsquo;t care less about some of the weak expansion teams. Blame it on a hockey season which extends from October to May.Some NHL people bury their heads in the sand and pretend the league does not have a problem attracting fans to games. Brian O&rsquo;Neill, one of the bright chaps in hockey, recognizes the attendance problem He knows the day of the often automatic sell out is dead in many cities.&ldquo;I DON&rsquo;T SEE reason to panic or be over-concerned about attendance in some cities, but I do think there is a need for awareness.&rdquo; said the NHL executive director.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s inbred in some hockey people that hockey is the best game but sometimes perhaps too many of us refuse to accept the fact that some other people don&rsquo;t think the game is as good as we think it is.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t sit on our butts. We have to have more promotion of hockey. We never really had to market it before but now we do. We have to enter into much stronger marketing of hockey. We have to spread the gospel and entice people to come to our games".Obviously, the lack of a national TV contract hurts the NHL.&ldquo;Obviously.&rsquo;&rsquo; said O&rsquo;Neill. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to get back on TV to market our game. That&rsquo;s the most crucial thing there is for getting the exposure that hockey needsMeanwhile, the attendance figure in the newspaper hockey box score may attract as much attention than goals, assists, penalties and shots on goal. &#9632;

f0017-01

Attendance Drop Concern ToNHL Owners

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div>CLEVELAND-How well the Barons perform this season, will to a large degree, depend on how well they stay away from injuries.And based on pre-season and post-season surgeries, that might not be very well.Last season, the old California Golden Seals were hurt most when they lost their veteran defensemen at various periods during the season. Even a move to Cleveland hasn&rsquo;t helped that.Rearguards Jim Neilson. Bob Stewart and Len Frig underwent off-season knee surgeries and all. at one time or another, have been hurting. Only Frig, in fact, has been able to play.But the fourth-year backliner&rsquo;s knee has been acting up and his status is somewhat shaky.Neilson and Stewart did not play in any of the Baron&rsquo;s six exhibition games, although Stewart did participate in a couple of intra-squad scrimmages.Neilson reported to the Barons training camp with the diameter of his operated-on knee almost an inch smaller than his other. The victim of a Hilliard Graves hip check last November. Neilson doesn&rsquo;t have the recuperative powers he once possessed.While they don&rsquo;t show outward concern, coach Jack Evans and general manager Bill McCreary worry about their situation behind the blue line They realize the loss of a couple of veterans can be costly to their young club.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02574/3950537-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="576" height="987"><figcaption class="caption-body">BJORN JOHANSSON &hellip; Makes Impression</figcaption></div>With Neilson and Stewart doubtful for at least the opening weekend, the Barons are forced to go with a few youngsters who ordinarily would be learning more down on the farm at Salt Lake City.The kids have responded extremely well during the exhibition season to the surprise of Evans and McCreary, who faced a difficult roster problem until the injuries came up.Showing well have been rookies Bjorn Johansson and Greg Smith and second-year skater Tim Jacobs. Along with Frig. Mike Christie and Rick Hampton, they have moved in and solidified the blue line.Johansson, the Barons&rsquo; top pick in the amateur draft last June, has shown a willingness to throw his 195-pounds around. After a slow start in training camp, he has come on strong.Smith has been the biggest surprise, however. Fresh out of Colorado College, the 190-pounder first caught Evans&rsquo; eye in training camp and the coach hasn&rsquo;t stopped looking yet.Smith has shown equal ability-on offense and defense. Evans has installed him on the left point on the power play and he has responded well as the Cleveland power play has shown improvement over last season.Jacobs, who is paired with Johansson, does not have the tools the others have, but makes up for it by playing a hustling game. And that impresses Evans and McCreary.Otherwise, the Barons are well set. Up front, they have their top three lines returning from last season. The only injuries here during camp were groin pulls to left winger Jim Moxey and center Dave Gardner, but they should be ready for the season opener. &#9632;

f0018-02

Injuries Will Play A Monumental Part In Barons’ Success

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01684/3950568-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRUCE AFFLECK&hellip; He&rsquo;s An Outdoors Man</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Bruce Affleck&rsquo;s eventful summer included two operations and a month of campaigning for his father-in-law in a US Senate race in Hawaii. He also squeezed in a camping trip in Canada and buying a new house in St. Louis.Now that the season has started Affleck is ready to devote full time to hockey. And the 1976-77 season should be a fine one for the steadily improving Affleck, who in some games last season was the Blues&rsquo; best defenseman on the ice.Affleck would have preferred to have avoided the two operations, but neither should hamper his career. Shortly after last season ended and after Bruce and his wife, Cecily, visited some friends in Denver, where the Afflecks once attended Denver University, the first operation was performed for removal of a bursa from Bruce&rsquo;s elbow. He had fallen on the elbow on the ice during the season, and the surgery was performed after the elbow swelled.Then came the camping trip to Canada and the month of campaigning in Hawaii for William F. Quinn in the Senate race.&ldquo;I gave out phamphlets and did anything else that needed doing,&rdquo; Affleck said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a Republican in a Democratic state, and we worked hard.&rdquo;Before training camp began the Afflecks moved into their new home, the first they&rsquo;ve owned.&ldquo;I made about 10 or 12 trips to the hardware store the first few days we were in the house,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There were a lot of little things that needed to be done.&rdquo;In some previous seasons Affleck has battled a weight problem during the off-season but this year he stayed at his normal weight and appeared in good shape for the opening of camp. However, the night before camp began he couldn&rsquo;t sleep because of pains in his abdomen. After a couple of days of camp Affleck had some nausea, and trainer Tommy Woodcock sent him from the rink to the hospital, where Affleck had an appendectomy.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still catching up from that,&rdquo; said Affleck. &ldquo;I feel good but I&rsquo;m not in as good shape as I should be because I missed the exhibition games. &ldquo;But Affleck takes his place in a well balanced defense that could prove to be the Blues&rsquo; strong point this season. Affleck, Bob Hess and Bob Gassoff are three experienced youngsters blended into the defensive corps with veterans Rod Seiling, Rick Smith and Bob Plager.&rsquo;&rsquo;It&rsquo;s a good blend,&rdquo; said Affleck. &ldquo;Our defense is definitely improved over last year.&rdquo;Affleck is a big part of that defense and he says, &ldquo;I have high hopes for myself after last year. I think I&rsquo;m being more steady and learning how to get the puck out of our end. I came in very confident this year and very excited about Emile Francis being with the team.&rdquo;Affleck quickly has learned to respect the Blues&rsquo; new coachgeneral manager, who has taken firm control of the Blues&rsquo; operation. As coach, Francis conducted a rigorous training camp and set a pace that left some players panting. He let it be known those players who could meet his high standards would be the only ones on his team.&ldquo;He has a big heart for a small man,&rdquo; said Affleck with admiration. &ldquo;He talks like a man six-foot-four and he lets everyone know who is boss. That&rsquo;s what we needed.&rdquo;Affleck&rsquo;s recuperation from his appendectomy gave a solid chance to Jamie Masters to make the team, but Masters eventually was sent to the Kansas City farm team. Making the trip with Masters were two players who were hampered by injuries, center Bernie Federdo, the Blues&rsquo; top draft choice, who broke his foot, and goalie Yves Belanger, who suffered a head injury when hit by a puck.The departure of Belanger, who played 31 games last season, left the Blues with a goaltending corps of Eddie Johnston, Doug Grant and Ed Staniowski. &#9632;

f0019-01

Hockey May Seem A Breeze Compared To Hectic Summer

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01529/3950634-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01371/3950627-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="1322" height="2316"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK BLIGHT &hellip;Four-goal bow with Canucks (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02246/3950620-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="1375" height="908"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03162/3950613-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="1368" height="3351"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04124/3950606-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="626" height="754"><figcaption class="caption-body">TIM YOUNG</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-05105/3950599-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="675" height="1004"></div> &#9632;

f0020-01

National Hockey League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE BILYCH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01403/3950672-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GLEN SATHER &hellip; Gets Dual Role With Oilers</figcaption></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;It didn&rsquo;t take long &mdash; the second game of the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; exhibition season &mdash; for coach Bobby Kromm to revert to form. And understandably so.Bobby Hull, the showcase of the WHA. was rendered hors de combat with a fracture-dislocation of the left wrist until some time in early November following a collision with Bob Gassoff of the St. Louis Blues. Though, undoubtedly, it was a painful experience for the Golden Jets the hurt figures to be felt, too, at the various box-offices throughout the league while the Jets perform without their starry left winger.Through all of last season Kromm had unleashed verbal attacks aimed at opposing hockey players who employed rough-house tactics against the European-oriented Jets. For his part. Hull himself sat out a game early in the season as a protest against violence in the league.It figured, then, that when the Blues tried to bully the WHA champion Jets, there&rsquo;d be the standard reaction from Kromm. When Hull went out. this became a certainty.&ldquo;I expected that of him (Gassoff). &ldquo;spat out Kromm vehemently. &rsquo;He couldn&rsquo;t play in the Central League with Denver and he certainly can&rsquo;t play up here. And he&rsquo;s not the only one. There were some others out there who were out to intimidate us. That&rsquo;s some representative of the National Hockey League! &ldquo;Charges of what Winnipeggers like to refer to as &ldquo;goon hockey&rdquo; have been prevalent since the go-go Jets became a WHA force a year ago. Many coaches contend that the route to beating the Jets is by being physical.Some coaches, such as Calgary&rsquo;s Joe Crozier, believe that the bleatings by Kromm and members of the Jets&rsquo; elite is nothing more than a ploy to condition officials working games involving the Jets.&ldquo;It seems that when you play in Winnipeg, hockey suddenly is supposed to become a non-body contact sport.&rdquo; complained Crozier one evening last winter after his Cowboys had drawn the big bulk of penalties against the Jets.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough enough to play against these guys but when you know you&rsquo;re liable to get a penalty any time you brush one of their people, it makes it just that much tougher.&rdquo;Crozier re-echoed the sentiment just last week when he saw the Cowboys play two men short against the Jets on no fewer than three occasions in an exhibition game in Brandon. The Jets scored twice during those situations en route to an easy 7-1 victory.Despite Kromm&rsquo;s verbal attack on Gassoff as a result of the injury to Hull, most people agreed there was nothing wrong with the check. Referee Bob Kolari did not issue a penalty on the play and Dennis Ball, assistant GM of the Blues, said he couldn&rsquo;t understand why Kromm was heard complaining.&ldquo;It was just one of those plays that happen every once in a while,&rdquo; said Ball. &ldquo;Hull had his hand tucked into his body when he was hit from behind by Gassoff and something had to give. I&rsquo;m sure if you asked Bobby (Hull) he&rsquo;d be the first to tell you there was nothing vicious about the check. &rsquo;Meanwhile, even without Hull, Thommie Bergman and Don Labraaten. the Jets appeared allpowerful as they streaked to three easy pre-season victories before coming up short against Edmonton. There seems to be little argument they again will be the team to beat for all the WHA marbles.In Calgary, the Cowboys&rsquo; search for a high-scoring forward hit a snag when Jim Harrison was declared a free agent by the courts.The Cowboys had obtained Harrison&rsquo;s WHA rights in a trade which saw them send Butch Dead-marsh. Mike Antonovich and Jack Carlson to the Minnesota Fighting Saints. But Harrison refused to report, contending that a no-trade clause in his contract has been breached and that he, in affect, was a free agent. The courts agreed.For their part, the Cowboys did not appeal the decision but. instead, have asked Minnesota for compensation. It figures to wind up with WHA president Bill MacFarland ruling on what the compensation will consist of.&ldquo;Naturally we&rsquo;re disappointed. &ldquo;said Crozier, &ldquo;but I figure if Harrison had wanted to play for us he&rsquo;d be here. It&rsquo;s tough enough building a contender without having to deal with players who are unhappy with their situation.&rdquo;The Cowboys split two exhibitions against NHL competition (they lost 7-3 to Pittsburgh before snubbing St. Louis 4-1) but Crozier was more concerned by the lack of attendance. Fewer than 8.000 fans in total witnessed the two games.In Edmonton, general manager - coach Bep Guidolin created quite a furore when he cut local favorite Bruce MacGregor and then dispatched him to Beauce of the North American League.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02310/3950665-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="632" height="1173"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOE CROZIER &hellip; Unhappy With Tactics</figcaption></div>MacGregor, who reportedly has two years remaining on a $125,000 per year contract, has been getting considerable sympathy from the Edmonton media. They are not suggesting he shouldn&rsquo;t have been cut but, instead, are questioning the lack of class in the Oilers&rsquo; organization for the manner in which they&rsquo;ve banished MacGregor to the Quebec hinterlands.While the Oilers have dropped all three of their exhibition games to the NHL clubs, it&rsquo;s the first bit of heat Guidolin has felt in his new job.Guidolin dropped a couple of other pros in the same wave, sending goalie Chris Worthy to Baltimore while handing Dave Kryskow an outright release. Worthy got the pink slip the day after he was victimized for five goals in one period by the Pittsburgh Penguins.One veteran who&rsquo;s in good standing is Glen Sather. Besides taking on the captaincy he&rsquo;s also been designated as Guidolin&rsquo;s assistant coach. &#9632;

f0022-01

Kromm Blast A Ploy Says Crozier As WHA Coaches Sound Off Early

<div class="byline">BY GREG NOBLE</div>CINCINNATI&mdash;&ldquo;The beaches in Italy are something else&hellip;they&rsquo;re out of this world,&rdquo; he says.He found Thailand &ldquo;exotic and sensuous.&rdquo; Martinque. he says, is a Sportman&rsquo;s paradise. He went scuba diving there, and snorkeling and water skiing.In Switzerland he skied down the Alps. He was delighted by the Cantonese food in Hong Kong and fascinated by the Acropolis in Greece.In a word. Richie Leduc is an adventurer.Between hockey seasons you never know&rsquo; where in the world the 25-year-old French Canadian might be.I love to travel.&rdquo; says the Cincinnati Stingers&rsquo; new center. &ldquo;When I die I want to be able to say I lived 100 miles per hour. &ldquo;This past summer Leduc, one of the leading goal scorers in the WHA the last two seasons, spent a month in the Far East and three weeks in the Carribbean. In two previous summers he visited parts of Europe He thinks he&rsquo;ll take a safari in Africa next year.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy I can play hockey. Hockey can provide me with this kind of pleasure.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Some guys buy big cars. This is my fun &mdash; travelling.&rdquo;Since he was growing up in Quebec. Leduc has been fascinated by other people and their cultures.I like to communicate with people from other countries.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I like to see their traditions and learn their history.&ldquo;When I was in school history and geography were always my favorite subjects,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;I like to know how other people speak, what they do, what they eat. how the; dress.&rdquo;In Europe he was fascinated by ancient buildings like the Acropolis in Greece and the Colosseum in Rome. &ldquo;All that history.&rdquo; he ex claims.He was also thrilled at attending Mass by the Pope at the Vatican.This past summer Leduc traveller through Japan. Hong Kong ant Thailand. He got quite a scare from the border guards when he entered Thailand.&ldquo;They made me strip. They were looking for drugs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;At the time I had long hair and a heavy mustache. They were very polite about it but it was scary. &ldquo;Another reason Leduc likes to travel: he loves skiing, tennis and water sports, and good food and discotheques.His favorite country is Italy. &ldquo;It has beautiful beaches,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re like California but they&rsquo;re more sober and much less crowded. And there are good ski resorts in the north.&rdquo;On Martinique, a small island south of Puerto Rico. Leduc spent a week at an unusual resort called the Mediterranean Club. &ldquo;You pay a flat fee for the week and they have scuba diving, snorkeling, water skiing, tennis, yoga and everything. You eat and eat and exercise,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my kind of thing.&rdquo;Leduc scored 70 goals over the last two seasons with the Cleveland Crusaders. Obviously he&rsquo;s a valuable addition for the Stingers. He quickly won the favor of Stingers&rsquo; fans, scoring three goals in three pre-season games.&ldquo;I play an aggressive game,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I try to work hard and I dig in the corners. I try to be where the action is.&rdquo;That goes for the off-season as well.The Stingers didn&rsquo;t show much offense in pre-season play losing all three games and scoring just six goals. But coach Terry Slater wasn&rsquo;t alarmed.I told the players after the last game, it&rsquo;s just a matter of time before we break out. We ran into some hot goaltending in two of the games,&rdquo; Slater said. &ldquo;We have a lot of big shooters. Nobody&rsquo;s going to keep them from scoring.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03220/3950717-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="620" height="1118"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICH LEDUC &hellip; An Adventurer</figcaption></div>INDIANAPOLIS: T don&rsquo;t see us scoring many goals.&rdquo; says Racers&rsquo; coach Jacques Demers.Of course that doesn&rsquo;t mean the Racers won&rsquo;t win games this season. It only means Demers doesn&rsquo;t plan to make any changes from last season in the style of hockey his team plays.&ldquo;Our real strength is between the goalposts and on defense.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way I as a coach like to see it. If you&rsquo;re strong back there, what you can pick up out front is a plus.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll play a tight checking game and try to play good positional hockey. That&rsquo;s what won the Eastern Division title last year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It seemed to entertain people and I was happy with the way our players responded to that style.&rdquo;The Racers were slow out of the gate in pre-season, losing their first two games; to Washington 2-1, and Pittsburgh 6-4. They blew a 4-1 lead in the final period against Pittsburgh, after a controversial goal fired up the Penguins.Center Gary MacGregor, obtained during the exhibition season from Minnesota, seemed to fit right into the Racers&rsquo; scheme. He operated well in pre-season on a line with Mark Lomenda and Hugh Harris.Demers also matched Michel Parizeau with Renald Leclerc and Francois Rachon, and Bryan Campbell with Nick Harbaruk and Reg Thomas. Veteran Bob Sicinski was cut.BIRMINGHAM: Unlike last year, the Bulls should not need seven or eight goals to win games this season. With help from a stronger defense, No. 1 goaltender John Garrett and backup Wayne Wood will keep the Bulls in low-scoring games.That was made clear in the Bulls&rsquo; final exhibition game.With Garrett in the net, the Bulls edged the Cincinnati Stingers 2-1 despite the Stingers&rsquo; 33-17 advantage in shots. &ldquo;We bombed them with shots but we couldn&rsquo;t beat them. Garrett was unbelievable,&rdquo; said Stingers coach Terry Slater.The Bulls will surely lower last year&rsquo;s 4.81 goals against average. They finished 2-2 in pre-season. Two games at Birmingham drew excited crowds of 9,000 and 10,500.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01378/3950710-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="1311" height="1209"><figcaption class="caption-body">HERB BROOKS &hellip; Stays With Gophers</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re young but I always like to think we can field a pretty good team.&rdquo; understates Brooks.Youthful the Gophers may be, but there is definitely enough there to work with and Brooks&rsquo; decision to spurn the often fickle pros may have been a wise one.&ldquo;Hey, I&rsquo;m not looking for a long-term contract,&rdquo; says Brooks, who has two years remaining on his contract with Minnesota. &ldquo;If I wanted security I&rsquo;d get a civil service job.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02292/3950703-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="1249" height="1248"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Cincinnati Stingers expect big things from their young players this season. With a year or two of pro hockey under their belts performers like Jacques Locas, above, and defenseman John Hughes, below, will become assets to the Stingers this season.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0023-03

Stingers’ Leduc Enjoys Good Life; Racers Pinning Hopes On Defense

<div class="byline">by Doug McConnell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02307/3950748-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDRE LACROIX &hellip; Mariners&rsquo; New Captain</figcaption></div>PHOENIX&mdash;The Roadrunners had heard about home town referees in Europe but weren&rsquo;t prepared for what they met in an eight-game tour of Finland.They were called for 162 minutes (56 minors and five misconducts) while the Finnish teams were assessed 20 minutes (10 minors) plus a penalty shot.Coach Al Rollins wanted to work on the teams&rsquo; penalty killing, the worst in the World Hockey Association last season, and had plenty of opportunity. He had to be pleased with the results.The Roadrunners allowed six goals in 54 shorthanded situations and twice turned the tables for goals. I hey had five power play opportunities of their own but failed to scoreThe Roadrunners won four, tied three and lost one while outscoring the Finnish teams 38-27 but the bottom line was written as the result of the one-sided officiating.I think, &ldquo;said team captain Al McLeod, &ldquo;that just served to pull the team closer together Now we&rsquo;re laughing about the officiating, rather than getting angry.&rsquo;&rsquo;It reached its most ridiculous point in a game against an All Star team made up from three teams around Tampere, their training base.The Roadrunners jumped into a 31 lead but wound up playing 18 of the last 20 minutes shorthanded and getting a 4-4 tie.&ldquo;I thought nothing could be worse than what we&rsquo;ve had.&rsquo;&rsquo; said Hollins, &ldquo;but again I was wrong. We got up on the. 3-1 and the picture changed completely.&ldquo;There was a sort of comical part to it when he (the referee) called the penalty shot against them and we scored on it.&ldquo;That was the first call against the Finnish club in six games. They were going to pull the team off the ice.&rdquo;Defenseman Garry Lariviere was tripped on a breakaway and scored on the surprising penalty shot callMike Hobin, the young redhead who was expected to be assigned to Oklahoma City, was the surprise preseason scoring leader. He had six goals and two assists in seven games, followed by Seppo Repo 4-3-7; Pekka Rautakallio 3-2-5; Dan Mandryk 2-3-5; Juhani Tamminen 14-5. &rsquo;Michel Cormier, recovering from knee surgery, scored twice in the wrapup game, a 7-3 decision over Karpat at Oulu, for a total of three points in four games.Veteran Gary Kurt allowed seven goals in 180 minutes for a 2.33 goals against average. Koger Swanson was 2.77 in 130 minutes and Clay Hebenton 4.58 in 170 minutes and Hollins seems pleased with his goaltending.SAN DIEGO: The San Diego Mariners scheduled only two preseason games but the players and their coach were looking forward to the two-game swing into Trail. BC. and Spokane, Wash&ldquo;The players are getting anxious to work against another team. &ldquo;said coach Hon Ingram. &ldquo;Both Spokane and Trail are clubs that skate well and they&rsquo;ll give us all we can handle.&rdquo;Meanwhile. Andre Lecroix. the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s all-time scoring leader, was named to replace Norm Ferguson as team captain. Ferguson, who had been the team&rsquo;s captain through several changes of ownership, cities and names, had asked to be relieved of his duties.Lacroix is also president of the WHA Players Association.Kevin Devine, the fiesty little left wing who led the Mariners in penalty minutes (102) last season, missed the first week and a half of training camp because of corrective eye surgery. &#9632;

f0024-02

Roadrunners Get Chances To Improve Penalty Killing

HOUSTON&mdash;Gordie Howe announced his retirement, although he&rsquo;s not ready to start doing Mr. Coffee commercials.The retirement is as president of the Houston Aeros. The 48-year-old living legend will play at least one more year.&rsquo;I made the decision based on my needs and the needs of the club,&rdquo; he said. T want to limit myself to just one job and that&rsquo;s skating. I therefore am relieving myself of the job of president.&ldquo;I want to have the best year I can. so I am going to concentrate on just playing. After the year is overwe will sit down and talk things over.&rdquo;Howe was named club president when the Aeros were purchased by a group of investors headed by Houston rancher and realter George K Bolin in June, 1975.Howe, however, unretired last season to lead the team in scoring with 102 points and raise his all-time leading career total to 2,110 points.Originally, he had signed to play one season with his sons Marty and Mark, but has kept changing his mind about retirement.&ldquo;The happiest years of my life have been these last three as an Aero.&rdquo; said Howe. &ldquo;It has given me a pretty good handle on the longevity record. That&rsquo;s one record I really wanted &mdash; even more than the goals.&rdquo;&ldquo;I am elated he will continue to play,&rdquo; said Bolin. &ldquo;Nobody likes to see Gordie on the ice more than I do and I hope he keeps making these one-year decisions for a long time to come.&ldquo;Gordie has had a dual responsibility and a dual burden and this (resignation) was his compromise We haven&rsquo;t accepted it yet however.&rdquo;Harrison Vickers, the club&rsquo;s ex executive vice-president and genera counsel, is the club&rsquo;s acting president.Howe&rsquo;s decision was surrounded by some controversy.Colleen Howe. Gordie&rsquo;s wife and the family financial overseer, charged the last week that the Aeros owed them overdue bonuses and playoff money from last season. Mrs. Howe said that future contracts for Mark and Marty could be muddled by Aeros&rsquo; foot-dragging.The Aeros&rsquo; stated position is that they have kept up to date on a schedule of payments of the moneys agreed to by all the players.<h2>Where WHA Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01391/3950779-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="667" height="1685"></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

Howe Quit Aeros’ Presidency Feeling He Was Needed On Ice

QUEBEC CITY&mdash;The Quebec Nordiques are not wasting any time showing their heels to the rest of the revamped Eastern Division of the World Hockey Association. The offensive-minded Nords broke from the starting blocks with a pair of home ice victories to grab the early lead.Newcomer Paulin Bordeleau, who joined the Nordiques a few weeks into training camp along with Andre Boudrias from the NHL Vancouver Canucks, paid a quick dividend for the Nordiques. Bordeleau scored the game-winning goal as the Quebecers edged Birmingham Bulls 4-3 in overtime with 8,757 fans looking on.With injured Marc Tardif making a spectacular return to the lineup after it was believed he possibly wouldn&rsquo;t play again, the Nordiques rallied behind their WHA scoring champion to defeat Calgary 5-2 in a game that produced none of the violence of last spring&rsquo;s Avco Trophy playoff confrontation that sent Tardif to hospital with a serious head injury. The teams stuck to hockey and the powerful Nordiques showed they are still a team to be feared when they have the puck in the defensive end of the rink. A crowd of 10,616 was on hand for the visit of the Cowboys. Veteran Serge Bernier broke the game wide open with a pair of third-period goals. Richard Grenier, Real Cloutier and Paulin Bordeleau again provided the other Quebec scoring.NEW ENGLAND: The Whalers came out of the starting gate without their shooting irons and were 0-2 after the opening weekend. Lack of offense hurt the Whalers in their opening 2-0 loss in Edmonton and 5-2 setback in Winnipeg against the powerful Jets, who won without Bobby Hull. Dan Labraaten and Thommie Bergman in the lineup because of injuries.The Whalers dropped goaler Cap Raeder and two forwards Gary Swain and Ron Climie to make way for new faces. Raeder&rsquo;s demotion was a surprise to say the least.Raeder had been expected to oust one of the Whalers other two net-minders. Crister Abrahamsson or Bruce Landon, but his performance in training camp since returning from Team U.S.A, had not been what the club was hoping for. Manager-coach Harry Neale decided to stick with his two veterans and shipped Raeder out to Rhode Island B of the AHL along with Swain and Climie, neither of whom figured in the club&rsquo;s plans.Dan Bolduc and Rosaire Paiement accounted for the Whalers&rsquo; goals on. their losing road trip. The New Englanders were eager to get back home for their Oct. 16 opener against Quebec to start the team moving in 1 the Eastern Division race.MINNESOTA: After dropping their first two starts, Glen Sonmor&rsquo;s. Fighting Saints put it all together intheir home rink beating Indianapolis 4-2 after losing to the Racers 4-3 the night before on a Pat Stapleton slap shot in the final minutes of the game with the score tied at 3-3 and overtime staring both teams in the face.The Saints have assembled a pretty fair scoring unit in veterans Dave Keon and John McKenzie with Mike Antonovich on the left side. The trio accounted for both goals in the 7-2 drubbing at the hands of the Cincinnati Stingers and scored all three goals in the 4-3 loss at Indianapolis. Mike Curran and Pierre Levasseur worked the club&rsquo;s first two games in goal on a rotation basis.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01332/3950824-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="633" height="643"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARC TARDIF &hellip; Spectacular Return</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02243/3950817-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="693" height="3482"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03169/3950810-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="1311" height="710"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM DOREY &hellip; Remains Nordiques&rsquo; Property</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-01

Nordiques Win Home Starts; Whalers, Saints Sag On Road

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01342/3950855-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

World Hockey Association Summaries

<div class="byline">BY TOM OSENTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01324/3950893-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="436" height="591"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02250/3950886-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="231" height="262"></div><h2>Hall Of Fame</h2>The annual enshrinement ceremonies for the United States Hockey Hall of Fame are slated for Oct. 16. The 1976 enshrinees include Billy Cleary, John Mayasich and Bob Ridder.Cleary, hockey coach at Harvard University since 1971, was a member of two Olympic Teams (&rsquo;56 and 60) and two U.S. National Teams (&rsquo;57 and&rsquo;59). Cleary. a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, led the 1960 U.S. Olympic Team in scoring en route to a gold medal as well as a silver medal during the 1956 Olympics Mayasich, the &ldquo;iron man", played on six U.S. National teams and two Olympic teams, collecting one silver and one gold Olympic medal during his stretch of playing years. He also coached the 1969 U.S. National team while still a player.Ridder managed the 1952 and 1956 U.S. Olympic teams and earned a silver medal during each Olympics Ridder&rsquo;s top-notch organization of the Olympic teams helped pave the way to silver.The ceremony is scheduled for the Eleveth, Minnesota, site, followed by a banquet and an evening hockey game in which defending NCAA champion University of Minnesota will take on the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD).<h2>Junior Tourney</h2>Marshall Johnston will coach and Art Berglund will manage the United States National Junior Team that will compete in the first International Ice Hockey Federation (UHF) world championships for juniors to be held at the Banska Bystrica and Zvolen Ice Halls in Czechoslovakia from Dec. 23 - Jan. 2. 1977Johnston is currently the assistant coach at the University of Denver and Berglund is the assistant manager of the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs.Johnston coached the California Golden Seals (NHL) for one season before returning to his alma mater to coach. Johnston played hockey at the University of Denver from 1959 to 1963 and played professionally with California and Minnesota of the National Hockey League.Berglund is a veteran manager of both U.S. National teams and U.S. Olympic teams. He worked as manager of the 1974 and 1975 U.S. National teams and I managed the 1976 U.S. Olympic team in the XII Winter Olympic Games in I Innsbruck. Austria.The U.S. National Junior team will be comprised of players 19 years of age or younger as of Dec 31. 1976. The team will fly to Czechoslovakia on Dec. 18 and play two exhibition games before their first game against West Germany on Dec. 23.Other competing nations include the host Czechoslovakia, USSR. Canada, Finland. Poland and Sweden.<h2>Mariucci Named</h2>While on the subject of U.S. National teams, veteran U.S National coach John Mariucci will lead the United States into the 1977 world championships in Vienna, Austria Apr. 21 - May 8.Mariucci coached the U.S. National team to an impressive fourth place in the 1976 world championships in Katowice, Poland and also coached the 1956 U.S. Olympic team to a silver medal in Cortina. Italy.Manager of the 1977 U.S. National team will be veteran Frank Gallagher. 3 Gallagher will join Mariucci for the second consecutive year in the world championships. Gallagher is currently the executive director of the Flint Generals of the International Hockey League (IHL) and is a vice-president of the AHAUS. The eight &ldquo;A&rdquo; group teams will compete according to their final standing in B the 1976 world championships in Poland. East Germany and Poland will drop B out of the &ldquo;A&rdquo; group for the 1977 championships and will be replaced by Romania and Canada. Romania was the winner of the 1976 &ldquo;B&rdquo; group championship and will therefore replace Poland. Canada returns to the world championships after an eight-year absence.<h2>From The Districts</h2>John Crerar, district No. 5 (Southeastern) registrar reports that their mini one-on-one competition will begin in the middle of November. Players will p compete at the Capital Center, home of the Washington Capitals (NHL) and prior to Capital home games.Crerar also says that this could be the Southeastern district&rsquo;s year in terms of registration&ldquo;This could be our biggest year yet,&rdquo; says Crerar. Particularly in the south. including the Atlanta. Georgia program and Winston-Salem and Chapel Hill programs where they are experiencing tremendous growth".Speaking of mini one-on-ones. Henry Correia district No. 1 (New England) registrar says that they are gearing up for another year of mini one-on-ones at the Boston Garden. The event, in its third season, is seen on Channel 38 in Boston. The telecasts have proven so successful that TV 38 will sponsor the &ldquo;showdowns&rdquo; for the upcoming season. The competitors will be shown in 8 between periods of Boston Bruin telecasts with four classifications: squirts, pee wees, bantams and girls&hellip; The competitors represent the many hockey programs throughout New England.Carl Schwarz, district No. 6 (Michigan) registrar reports that the third annual world midget tournament will be held in Suburban Detroit arenas Dec 27-Jan. 3. Competing countries include the USA. Canada. Sweden and Finland. &#9632;

f0027-01

The U.S. AHA SCENE

<div class="byline">JOHN ARNOLD&#x2019;S</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01265/3950955-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

Special To The Hockey NewsPROVIDENCE&mdash;Although most of the American Hockey League teams are striving to become more independent of the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association, it still is a fact that all of the teams will depend a great deal on player talent supplied by their parent teams.With this in mind many AHL owners are considering starting the 1977-78 season a little later in October. The reason for this thinking is simply that on this year&rsquo;s opening date, Oct. 6. many of the AHL teams still did not have a full complement of players from their major league affiliates.The NHL and WHA teams, of course, want to wait until the last minute to make their final cuts. This means that AHL coaches must be content to sit around during training camp and play some exhibition games with obscure players who very well might not be around when the actual schedule opens.Hershey and Rochester will have several players under AHL contract this season as in the past. Providence and New Haven have taken a big step towards independence this year and will also have several skaters signed to contracts. But it is still difficult to mold a team and have it ready for the first league game when a team doesn&rsquo;t know what players it will have coming down. As the result the governors are pondering a later opener next season.While the AHL clubs awaited the arrival of big league cuts, the six teams were busily engaged in pre-season exhibition play. Nova Scotia Voyageurs, who could very well be the team to beat again, rumbled past Rochester 6-3 and 5-4 in exhibitions and played a 5-5 tie with the Amerks in another game. New Haven downed Springfield twice 3-2 and 6-2 but lost a 2-1 decision to Rochester and took it on the chin against the New York Rangers 5-2 in the NHL club&rsquo;s windup exhibition.Springfield took two from Rhode Island 4-1 and 3-2 as the Reds continued to sort out arriving player talent. The Reds brought NHL free agent Bobby Sheehan into camp for the new season and signed him to a playing contract. He had been released by Pittsburgh and Chicago both.Hershey Bears got their feet wet when they dropped a 4-2 exhibition to Washington Caps and the Bears look like they&rsquo;ll be a tough club with so many new faces coming down from Buffalo and Pittsburgh.The New England Whalers of the WHA gave Rhode Island a shot in the arm by sending goaler Cap Raeder, the young man who was the hero of the Whalers&rsquo; WHA playoff games last spring and who was chosen to play for Team U.S.A, in the recent Canada Cup series. The Whalers also sent forwards Ron Climie and Gary Swain to the Reds on assignment.Three former AHL rookies of the year have returned to the league for another season. Montreal sent Pierre Mondou back to Nova Scotia, Rangers returned Gerry Holland and Greg Holst to the AHL, both with New Haven.Look for the Nightawks to be the most improved team in the AHL this season. They have secured Doug Soetart and Paul Harrison for goal, Jerry Engele, Chris Ahrens and former NHL veteran Doug Jarrett for defense, Holst. Holland, Dale Lewis. Jerry Byers, Alain Langlais, Ed Johnstone, Doug Rom-bough. Craig Cameron and Scot MacPhail are a few of their attackers.The NHL Flyers assigned two of their top draft picks, defensemen Mark Suzor and Drew Callander to the Indians and also sent along Dave Short and two forwards, Al Hill and Dave Kelly. Goaler Jerome Mrazek is back from Philly after being recalled.The Boston Bruins dropped defensmen Al Sims and Doug Halward and forward Earl Anderson down to the Americans in their final NHL cuts giving the Rochester team some much welcome strength.Washington assigned defenseman Pete Scamurra and forward Brian Kinsella to Springfield.In Providence the Reds were keyed up over getting three players from the Whalers. It is the result of a new working agreement between the two teams.Raeder, at 6&rsquo;1", 180 lbs. is an impressive sight in goal. The 23-year-old former University of New Hampshire star led the Whalers to the semi-finals of the playoffs last year. In 14 post season encounters Cap had the best average in the WHA with a sparkling 2.27 GAA with two shutouts. Although he played in only two regular season games with New England. Cap did see action in 21 games with Cape Cod in the NAHL and had a 4.00 average. He also is a native New Englander born in Needham Mass.Climie is a five year veteran of the WHA and former All-Star selection as well. He is 5&rsquo;11 &ldquo;, 180 lbs., 27 years old and gained his best year in pro hockey with the Edmonton Oilers in 73-74 when he totaled 38 goals and 36 assists for 74 points. Ron also set a WHA record with five goals in one game with the Oilers against New York in the 1974 season. He is a native of Hamilton Ontario and can also play center. Last year with the Whalers Ron had 25 goals and 20 assists for 45 points in 65 games.Swain is one of the better penalty killers in the game. A hard-nosed center at only 5 9 &ldquo;. 165 lbs., Gary isn&rsquo;t afraid of the corners. Together with teammate Tom Earl they paced the WHA in penalty-killing efficiency percentage in 74-75 with an 85.5 mark plus gaining six shorthanded goals in the act. In 79 WHA games last year Gary had 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points and 46 penalty minutes. A golf pro during the off-season, Gary is 29 years old and a native of Well and, Ontario.&ldquo;All three players from New England should help us very much. Cap is a fine young goaltender. Ron is a proven goal scorer, and Gary is all hustle and kills penalties very well. Things are looking up for us.&rdquo; commented the Reds General manager-coach John Muckler.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01302/3950993-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="585" height="1271"><figcaption class="caption-body">CAP RAEDER &hellip; Joins Reds</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02239/3950986-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="644" height="1341"><figcaption class="caption-body">TERRY CRISP &hellip; Just Filling In</figcaption></div><h2>Flyers&rsquo; Crisp Indians&rsquo; New</h2>Interim CoachPHILADELPHIA&mdash;The Flyers have assigned veteran center Terry Crisp to the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League to serve as coach while John Hanna recuperates from injuries sufferend in an accident last week.Hanna, who suffered a broken hip, is expected to be sidelined for about two months. Upon his return. Crisp will rejoin the parent club.&ldquo;Although he as never coached before. I feel Terry will do an excellent job.&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; general manager Keith Allen. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been an excellent team man and has made a study of the game. He knows our system and many of our young players on the Springfield roster&rsquo;&rdquo;Flyers&rsquo; coach Fred Shero was of the same opinion.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always considered him another coach on the bench,&rdquo; Shero said.Crisp, a solid contributor to the Flyers&rsquo; two Stanley Cup championships, said the prospect of working with young players appealed to him.&ldquo;I ve always liked working with kids and I&rsquo;ve often thought that someday I&rsquo;d like to be a coach,&rdquo; Terry said. &ldquo;This will give me a chance to experience it first-hand.&rdquo;Crisp, who saw service with the Boston Bruins. St. Louis Blues and New York Islanders, joined the Flyers late in the 1972-73 season. He was obtained from the Islanders in exchange for Jean Potvin.An excellent penalty killer. Crisp appeared in 38 games last season, scoring six goals and nine assists.The Flyers also announced that they had sent six players to Springfield. They are goaltender, Jerome Mrazek, defensemen Mark Suzor and Steve Short and forwards Al Hill, Steve Coates and Dave Kelly. &#9632;

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AHL Pondering Later Season Opener With Parent Clubs Holding Back Cuts

<div class="byline">BY SCOTT HERRON</div>MINNEAPOLIS&mdash;The pros have made a habit of raiding the University of Minnesota hockey team in recent years, enticing members of the defending national champion to curtail their collegiate careers for the big leagues.But they haven&rsquo;t always been successful. Reed Larson, the Gophers&rsquo; talented junior defenseman. has spumed the offers of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Detroit Red Wings and the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s Minnesota Fighting Saints to return to school this year.And not to be missed. Minnesota coach Herb Brooks has said no to the pros, too. Brooks, beginning his fifth season as the Gophers&rsquo; head coach, turned down the job offered by the Minnesota Fighting Saints and began preparing the Gophers for the upcoming Western Collegiate Hockey Association season Sept. 28 at Augsburg College.&ldquo;It was a tough decision for me to make and it was very flattering in many ways,&rdquo; says Brooks. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve been happy at the University of Minnesota and have been treated well on all accounts. And I feel in many ways the ideal coaching and teaching situation lies with the college athlete rather than the pro athlete.&rdquo;Brooks&rsquo; pioneer spirit almost influenced him enough to throw out his reasons for staying with the Gophers and accepting the Saints&rsquo; offer.&ldquo;Opportunities in the pros for a college coach and an American on top of it don&rsquo;t come along that often,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;And it might not come around again. It would be a nice financial opportunity, too, although at the time there was a question in my mind whether the Saints could make it financially. I hope they will make it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not closing the door,&rdquo; Brooks says of coaching professional hockey. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had a few feelers the last couple years. But for right now I&rsquo;m going to stay at the University.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s understandable that Brooks has drawn the attention of the pros. In his four years at Minnesota, he has guided teams to two national championships (1974 and 1976), a WCHA title (1975) and a second place in the nation (1975). His record is an enviable 96-52-12.Brooks&rsquo; decision to stay at Minnesota may be because he covets a third NCAA championship. Although he claims he has &ldquo;the youngest team I can remember,&rdquo; with only three seniors, he has 15 lettermen back from last year&rsquo;s club.Leading the way is Larson, possibly the most desireable pro prospect playing college hockey, and senior defenseman Joe Micheletti of Hibbing from Minnesota&rsquo;s Iron Range which produces many of the WCHA&rsquo;s best players. Also back is senior center Tom Vannelli, last year&rsquo;s most valuable player in the national tournament.Other key players back include senior goalie Jeff Tscheme, junior forwards Dan Bonk, Mark Lambert, Bruce Lind and Ken Yackel and junior defenseman Bill Baker and forwards Bob Fish, Tom Gorence and Phil Verchota.Added to those veterans are Brooks&rsquo; usual crop of blue-chip freshmen recruited naturally out of the Gophers&rsquo; own back yard. Brooks went after almost all forwards last spring, signing to letters-of-intent Steve Crisoff, Richfield; Tim Harrer. Bloomington; Rob McClanahan, St Paul; Don Micheletti (Joe&rsquo;s brother), Hibbing; John Meridith, Minneapolis and Eric Strobel, Rochester. Others include defenseman Peter Hayek, Robbinsdale and goalie Paul Joswiak, Mahtomedi.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01279/3951024-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="649" height="883"><figcaption class="caption-body">HERB BROOKS &hellip; Stays With Gophers</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Brooks Keeps Pros From Champion Gophers

<div class="byline">BY BILL ADLER</div>FORT WORTH&mdash;That old nemesis, injury, has been plaguing the Central Hockey League coaches even before the regular season began Many of these injuries have created problems with the parent teams that have delayed a final determination of the CHL rosters for the new season.Both Brad Gassoff (knee surgery) and Jim Wiley (separated shoulder) have created problems leaving rookie Ft. Worth goaltender Mario Lessard in Los Angeles as the number two netminder behind Rogatien VachonThe Toronto Maple Leafs have a pair of outstanding forwards currently nursing shoulder injuries. Scott Garland and Bruce Boudreau Garland suffered a severe bruise while Boudreau dislocated Ins shoulder and will be out of action for three weeks.The St. Louis Blues, who are handling the franchise in Kansas City, have been plagued by a rash of physical problems. Goaltender Yves Belanger was hit in the eye by a puck during a practice session sidelining him but the doctors do not believe the injury to be serious. Doug Palazzari cracked a bone in his hand during an inter-squad game but Kansas City coach Barclay Plager hopes to have this scrappy little forward ready for action by the first week of the season. Defenseman Bruce Affleck is currently recovering from an appendectomy which has caused a reshuffling of the defense corps in St Louis.Unfortunately these injuries are all part of the game and a coach learns to make the necessary adjustments. With a great deal of outstanding young talent in the Central Hockey League sometimes one person s misfortune is another&rsquo;s golden opportunity.The Fort Worth Texans returned from their training camp in Muskegon with their lineup still in question With his inexperienced squad Coach John Choyce and the Tecans battled the Houston Aeros in their final pre-season tune up. dropping a close-checking 2-1 game in front of 3.6000 Texans&rsquo; fans. Gordie Howe, beginning his 29th season of professional hockey, set up both goals for the Aeros. one for son MarkChoyce is still awaiting news from the New York Islanders and the Los Angeles Kings about the transfer of some veteran talent to Ft. Worth. With the arrival of Dave Schultz in Los Angeles from Philadelphia, two veteran defensemen who could find their way to Ft. Worth this season are Ab DeMarco (Los Angeles) and Dave Fortier (New York-Islanders).Defensemen already in Ft. Worth are veterans Bart Crashley. Neil Nicholson and Jim Witherspoon. Rookies Dave Miglia and Bob Lorimer have been playing well and will be given a shot at the blueline positionChoyce had to restructure his goaltending plans due to the injury to Edwards in Los Angeles. With the Kings keeping Lessard, the goaltending chores in Ft. Worth have been left to third-year professional Bill Hughes and rookie Donald Cutts who was first team All Star. in the International Hockey League las year while playing for Muskegon Both of these goalies played well in the defeat to the Aeros.With his forward lines still unsettled. Choyce has been juggling his lines. Teaming with last year&rsquo;s rookie sensation Dave Salvian are a pair of big strong rookies, center Mike Kaszycki and right-winger Alex McKendry. Veteran center and team captain Frank St. Marseille has been centering a second line with wingers Mike Usitalo and Richie HansenCenter Brad Anderson, beginning his third season in Ft. Worth, has been anchoring the Texans&rsquo; muscle line. Flanking Anderson on the wings are forwards Glenn Johnson and Alf Handrahan. two of the CHL s premier tough guys.DALLAS: Coach Roger Neilson returned to Dallas with his team after the Hawks had played 12 exhibition games in 14 nights, winning nine, tieing two and losing only one. A firm believer in physical conditioning. Neilson was pleased with his team&rsquo;s performance during this rigorous grind.All Star goalie Mike Veisor looked extremely sharp in net as he prepared for his fourth professional season, third in Dallas. Bob Volpe, who shared the duties with Veisor in Dallas last year, has been reassigned to Flint (1HL) by the Chicago Black Hawks.The other goaltending position goes to Mike Palmateer (Toronto Maple Leafs). With both Palmateer and Pierre Hamel returning the Maple Leafs were faced with a major decision since they could only place one goaltender in Dallas. With this thought in mind. Maple Leaf general manager Jim Gregory has loaned the popular Hamel to the Oklahoma City Blazers for the 1976-77 seasonDefensively the Black Hawks look sound despite the loss of tough guy Dave Logan who remains with the-Chicago team. On the backline are veterans Ian McKegney. Randy Holt and Mike O&rsquo;Connell who all played in Dallas last year. Toronto has assigned second-year defenseman Bob Warner and rookie Blair Mackasey to Dallas Mackasey has been most impressive in the Dallas camp and should be a pleasant addition to the defense corps. Toronto has also sent another pair of rookies to Dallas for 10-game amateur try outs as both Tim Williams and Don Morris have impressed during the exhibition games.At the center position coach Neilson has some pretty sound skaters Along with the quick and very agile Boudreau (when he returns from the shoulder injury) are Greg Vaydik. Duane Wylie and Don Ashby. Vaydik. Chicago&rsquo;s number one draft selection in 1975. played only ten games last year before knee surgery sidelined him for the balance of the season The Black Hawks are looking for big things from a healthy center who played for the Medicine Hat Tigers during his junior days.Michel Archambault and Dan Hilton who both played in Dallas last season will join Paul Evans and Greg Hubick on the left side. Evans, a rookie last year, played in Oklahoma City for the Maple Leafs while Hubick played with the Leafs in Toronto last year.The Hawks seem most questionable on the right side. Depending on the speed of recovery of a bruised shoulder by Garland, the Hawks will go with three rookies on the right side. Toronto&rsquo;s number two draft selection Alain Belanger (Sherbrooke. (QMHL) and the Maple Leafs&rsquo; third choice GaryMcFayden (Hull QMHL) join Chicago&rsquo;s second round selection Jeff McDill (Victoria. WCHL) on the Dallas side.SALT LAKE: An old face has resurfaced in Salt Lake City as goaltender Ray Martyniuk returns to Salt Lake City after leaving the team early last season Marty played in Tucson following his sudden departure from the Golden Eagles last year before quitting the Mavs in late February Coach Marv Edwards notes. &ldquo;Marty is most concerned about working hard toward returning to his top form. You cannot worry about the past in this business and everyone knows that Marty has the ability to be an outstanding goaltender.&rsquo;&rsquo; Two years ago Martyniuk spearheaded the Golden Eagle attack that brought the first hockey championship to Salt Lake City.Edwards is also pleased to have Mar-tyniuk in Salt Lake for his experience will add greatly to the other two goalies on the roster. Rookies Jim Warden and Larry&rsquo;Hendrick will battle early for the number two goaltending spot in Salt Lake.Up front Marv is considering one major change early in. the season, moving veteran center Lyle Bradley to right-wing. A veteran of eight seasons Lyle has the ability to make a quick adjustment to the new position Much of the motivation for this move stems from a dearth of right-wingers at the present time in Salt Lake Only Frank Spring, the CHL&rsquo;s top goal-scorer last year and Wayne King hold down spots on the right side.Besides Bradley at center. Denis Meloche returns to his familiar center ice position for his third season in Salt Lake Joining these two centers are three rookies. Vern Stenlund. a second-round draft selection from London (OHA). Rick Shinske who scored 52 goals for New Westminister (WCHL) last year and Angie Moretts.Mike Fidler (Boston University) leads the list of left-wingers, followed by John Martin and Bob Geoffrion. Edwards is hoping to obtain either or both Gary Holt and Jim Moxey from the Cleveland Barons to help strengthen the left sideOn defense Golden Eagle fans received some bad news but good news for the fans in Cleveland. Rookie Greg Smith from Colorado College has been so impressive during the exhibition season that he may have earned himself a big-league job already. Despite the loss of the burly Smith, the Golden Eagle defense looks strong Glenn Patrick. Brent Meeke and Tom Price all bring a wealth of experience to the blueline. Joining these veterans is rookie Darcy Reiger from Lethbridge (WCHL).TULSA: Coach Orland Kurtenbach is feeling the pain of the injury jinx that has hit so sharply early in the season With both Gassoff and Wiley presently sidelined indefinitely. Vancouver first kept forwards Glen Richardson. Andy Spruce and Syd Veysey in their camp. However, both Richardson and Veysey joined the Oilers before the start of the regular season.With this shortage of experienced forwards Kurt has had to juggle his lines but this proved quite successful as the Oilers captured a pair of exhibition contests from the Kansas City Blues 3-2 and 2-0. Rookie Joe Nathe (Toledo & Muskegon IHL) scored the game-winning goal when he broke a 2-2 tie in the first game. Another rookie Mike Bradbury registered the game-winning goal in the second contest in which veteran Dan Brady recorded the shutout However, in this game Bradbury received a concussion from a hard fall to the ice and was forced to the hospital.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01282/3951062-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="629" height="665"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICHIE HANSEN &hellip; Joins Texans</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02213/3951055-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="636" height="656"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE PALMATEER &hellip; Dallas Goaler</figcaption></div>In working with his youthful talent Kurt had established one forward line with all rookies who combined for 140 goals in the Western Canada Hockey League last year Joining Bradbury (46 goals) was his teammate from the Brandon Jrs. Dale McMullin (56 goals) along with Mike Will (38 goals) who played with Victoria last seasonVeteran center Dan Gloor has been anchoring another line with a pair of rookies. Flanking Gloor are Robert Flockhart (Kamloops. WCHL). and Nathe.A third Tulsa trio combines two holdovers from last season with still another rookie Joining first-year professional Elmer Ray (Calgary. WCHL) are Cam Botting (22 goals last season for the Oilers) and a thirty-goal scorer from last year&rsquo;s championship Oiler team. Bill Plett. Plett&rsquo;s return to Tulsa will be welcomed all around as this popular young blond impressed everyone with hi; hard, aggressive hockey style A young man with a future.Atlanta still has eight defensemen in their midst but Kurt is hoping for some reinforcements to help his young defense crew Pat Ribble along with rookie Dave Shand (Peterborough. OHA) are possible candidates for a trip to Tulsa. Currently the defense has two veterans Glen Surbey and Murray Anderson (acquired from Washington) while two rookies: Rick Hodgson (Calgary. WCHL) and Greg Fox (Michigan University! are battling to re-main with the OilersIf the Oilers are to have an early season strong point it should rest in goal. Both Bruce Bullock and Brady are back The two netminders combined for a solid effort in the Oilers drive to the Adams Cup last year and both have looked sharp in the exhibition games.KANSAS CITY: &ldquo;It is still too early to fully evaluate the team, but I know that I am hopeful of getting Palazzari back into the lineup as quickly as possible.&rsquo; notes coach Barclay Plager as he evaluates the start of his new career.In referring to Palazzari. who broke a bone in his hand. Plager adds. &ldquo;The little guy gives the team the fire-power that it needs. He is a tough little competitor The American born Palazzari (Eveleth. Minnesota) played for Colorado College before joining St. Louis three years ago. At five-foot-five. 170 pounds, this center iceman is one of the smallest players in hockey but one of the hardest workers.The injury to Belanger has caused a change in the goaltending situation Peter McDuffe had been backed up by a rookie Jim Bales from Denver University. but the arrival of Doug Grant and Belanger when given a clean bill of health by the doctors, will solidify the Blues netminding.Larry Giroux has been performing well for coach Plager and adds some needed experience to the backline Two rookies. Jim Kirkpatrick (Toronto. OHA) and Frank Bathe (Port Huron. IHL&gt; and a third-year pro Jim Nahrgang complete the defense for the Blues.All three of St Louis top draft selections have been sent to K.C Bernie Federko. Brian Sutter and John Smrke have all shown signs of early maturity as professionals.Plager has been using veterans Mitch Babin. Ken Richardson. Mike Korney and Don Martineau with a sprinkling of rookies along the forward linesOKLAHOMA CITY: After playing an exhibition contest in the Myriad, the two major parent teams, the Houston Aeros and the Phoenix Roadrunners left the nucleus of the Blazers team in Oklahoma City In that contest Blazer Neil Lyseng scored for the Roadrunners to give them a 3-2 overtime victory,Other Phoenix players assigned to Oklahoma City are goaltender Roger Swanson, defensemen Duane Bray and Blair Davidson along with forwards Dan Mandryk and Mike Hobin All of these players performed in Tucson last year with Hobin the leading scorer for that team.Houston deposited three veterans along with three rookies in Oklahoma City. Mike Sleep, one of the most improved players in the Central League last season. Steve West and Dwayne Pentland (D) who played in Providence last year have joined Oklahoma City The rookies, included two defensemen. Mike Eedorko (Hamilton College) and Jan Kascak (St. Louis University) and right-winger Ron Hansis (Concordia).During the Houston-Phoenix contest general manager and coach Murray Davison was most pleased to announce that the Blazers had completed negotiations to obtain goaltender Pierre Hamel from Toronto Acquiring the popular goaltender on loan from the Maple Leafs will be a big plus for the Blazers as they prepare to start the season. &#9632;

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Injury Bug Among Squads In NHL Creates Problems For CHL Entries

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div>LONDON&mdash;Through the first week of the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A schedule. St. Catharines Fincups and Kingston Canadians had established themselves as the favorites for the trip to the World Junior Championship in Czechoslovakia.The team with the most points over all in the two-division league will go to the world championship in Prague. Dec. 2330.The team with the next highest total will play in the Western Canada Hockey League&rsquo;s Christmas tournament in Winnipeg. Dec. 26 - Jan. 2.The Fincups. who won their first four games, were tied for top spot in the Emms Division with London, which was 4-1. but the Knights&rsquo; one loss had come at the hands of the Fincups in LondonThe Canadians led the Leyden Division with three wins and a tie in their first four starts, two points better than Ottawa 67&rsquo;s. who were 2-1-1 with their loss coming in Kingston. 6-4.Each club plays the other teams in its own division twice, home-and-home. to decide the teams which will represent the league in the international tournaments.KINGSTON: Mike Crombeen led Canadians to Leyden Division lead with six goals in the club&rsquo;s four games. Crombeen scored three times, once on a penalty shot, in Canadians&rsquo; 6-4 home ice win over Ottawa. He scored twice in 5-4 win in Sudbury and once in 7-7 tie with Wolves in Kingston Captain Tony McKegney also producing with five goals, including three in 6-1 victory in Sault Ste. Marie.OTTAWA: While by no means out of the running for the international tournament. the 67 s cannot afford another loss at the rate the Canadians are going&hellip;Important game will be Kingston&rsquo;s visit to Ottawa in mid October. 67s took two of three points from Peterborough in home-and-home series. Jim Higgins and Shan Pearsall scored for Ottawa in 2-2 tie in Peterborough while John Wilson scored twice in 4-0 blanking of Petes in Ottawa Bob 1 Daly recorded the shutout&hellip; Behn Wilson scored twice in 5-2 home-ice win over Sault Ste. Marie.SAULT STE MARIE: Greyhounds were playing 500 hockey. 2-2. with both wins coming against Oshawa. Brian Gualazzi&rsquo;s goal with just over five minutes left in the game gave Hounds 3-2 win over Generals in Sault. In Oshawa Tony Cuomo scored twice to pace Greyhounds&rsquo; 4-3 victory&hellip;Loses were 6-1 to Kingston and 5-2 in Ottawa.PETERBOROUGH: Petes had a win and a tie in three games.. Ron Mason scored twice to lead Petes to 6-3 home-ice victory over Sudbury. Ed Saffrey and Bob Schnurr were Peterborough scorers in 2-2 tie with Ottawa Petes&rsquo; loss was in Ottawa. 4-0. as they failed to score despite having 33 shots on 67 s goaltender Bob Daly.SUDBURY: Wolves have to be surprise team of early going Picked by many to repeat as Leyden Division champions. they have a win and a tie in four games.. The line of Dave Hunter. Mike McFarland and Randy Pierce led Wolves to 10-3 romp over Oshawa Pierce and Dan McCarthy had two goals apiece as Wolves tied Canadians 7-7 in Kingston Losses were 5-4 at home to Kingston and 6-3 in Peterborough.OSHAWA: New coach Sherry Bassin is in for a long season with his inexperienced Generals&hellip;Goaltender Warren Skinner became a member of the Generals when general manager Gus Bodnar acquired him from Kitchener for future considerations.. On the ice the Generals weren&rsquo;t as fortunate in their dealings as they lost their first three games Two of those defeats were to Sault Ste. Marie. 32 in Sault and 4-3 in Oshawa Other setback was 10-3 thumping in Sudbury.ST. CATHARINES; Defending Memorial Cup champions got off to fast start with four consecutive victories. Biggest tests were in Brantford against Toronto and in London against the Knights. Dennis Houle was key mar for Fincups in 6-5 win over Marlboro: with three goals&hellip;Al Secord scored twice in 4-3 win over London Other victories were 9-3 over Windsor and 6-2 against Niagara Falls, both at home.LONDON: Although tied with the Fin cups for top spot in the Emms Division the Knights faced the unenviable task of having to win in St. Catharines to draw even with the Fincups in battle for spot in international tournaments&hellip;The Knights have allowed just nine goals in five games on the strength of the net minding of Barry Heard and Pat Riggin.. Heard blocked 17 shots in blanking Niagara Falls 5-0&hellip;Other London victories were against Kitchener 9-1, Windsor 6-3 and Niagara Falls 2-1.KITCHENER: Rangers were only one point back of Knights and Fincups but have only played one game against either of top two dubs, a 9-1 humbling in London Rangers have scored the most goals in the league. 28. but have allowed 26. Wins were 9-5 over Windsor. 4-3 against Toronto and 8-3 against Niagara Falls. Rangers also tied Spitfires 6-6 in Windsor.TORONTO: Marlboros have one win in three outings, a 7-1 shellacking of Spitfires in Windsor John Anderson and Lynn Jorgenson scored two goals apiece to lead the Marlies attack.. Losses were 4-3 in Kitchener and 6-5 to Fincups in Marlies&rsquo; home away from home. Brantford.WINDSOR: Spitfires only point in five games came on 6-6 tie with Kitchener in home opener&hellip;The Spitfires trailed 5-1 early in the second period but fought - back to tie the game 5-5 in the third. Brian Ellacott&rsquo;s second goal of the game with less than five minutes remaining tied the game for the final time Losses were 9-5 in Kitchener. 9-3 in St Catherines. 7-1 to Toronto in Windsor and 6-3 to London on home ice.NIAGARA FALLS: Flyers having problems putting puck in the net as they have scored just six goals in four games, all losses Two of the defeats were in home-and-home series with London. 2-1 at home and 5-0 in London Other losses were 8-3 in Kitchener and 6-2 in St. Catharines.<h2>When OHA Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01252/3951093-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="677" height="2985"></div> &#9632;

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St Catharines, Kingston Early Favorites For World Junior Hockey Championships

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>PORT HURON&mdash;Speculation over where Len Fontaine, the International Hockey League s scoring champion last season, would ply his trade in the coming campaign has ended. The five-foot-eight 170-pound star will play the next two season&rsquo;s in Port Huron, where he skated during his entire IHL careerPort Huron general manager Norris Snider announced Fontaine has signed a two-year contract to perform for the Flags. Snider said this is the first two-year pact he has completed.The announcement followed a series of meetings between the 28-year-old Fontaine and Snider during which there was considerable speculation Fontaine might play elsewhere.That possibility was confirmed when Morris said: &ldquo;Len s a dedicated player with a lot of pride. That, combined with his major-league playing ability, naturally prompts interest from other teams in other leagues. We were not alone in competing for his services.&rsquo;&rsquo;There were rumors last season Fontaine might wind up playing for his old coach. Ted Garvin, in Toledo this season.Garvin coached at Port Huron prior to going to Toledo Fontaine was quoted in the Toledo Blade last year as saying he wouldn&rsquo;t mind playing in Toledo for Garvin againFontaine, who was also voted the IHL&rsquo;s most valuable player last season, scored 53 goals and had 59 assists in regular season competition for the Flags last year and added 10 goals and nine assists in the playoffs.He has had pro tours with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League and the Michigan Stags of the World Hockey Association.During his IHL career at Port Huron. Fontaine has won the Gatschene trophy (sportsmanship and playing ability) twice, the Lamoureaux Trophy for the scoring championship and has been named to the All Star team twice.He was also named a forward on the all-time Port Huron All Star team, picked by the Port Huron fans last season.MUSKEGON: A lot of new faces will feature the Mohawk training camp and a lot of familiar ones will be missing when Muskegon opens its 1976-77 IHL season.General manager Moose Lallo has announced that due to several retirements and the opportunity for others to move to higher echelons of hockey he will have to almost rebuild the Mohawks this season Players who are expected to move up include Bob Lorimer, turned pro with an excellent chance of making the Fort Worth Texans: Donn Cutts. Carlo Torresan. Mike Usital and Steve Miskiewicz. all vying for spots within the New York Islanders&rsquo; organization.Certain not to return are Pat DeMarchi and Carlo Ugolini who are going to play in Italy and Murray Flegel and Briar Derksen. both of whom have retired Flegel will be general manager and coach of the Kimberley Dynamiters of the Western International Hockey League while Derksen is returning to schoolOne of the most popular Mohawks ever, hard-nosed defenseman Lynn Margarit. has announced he definitely will not play this season because of health reasons and may decide to make the retirement stick.Other players who have retired include Mike Kennedy. Larry Gibbons and Gary Winchester Earlier. Gary Ford decided to leave the Mohawks to be player and assistant coach of the Grands Rapids Blades of the United States Hockey League.FLINT: Flint&rsquo;s hopes of making a run for the North Division title got a shot in the arm recently when it was learned goalie Bob Volpe has been assigned to the Generals for the coming season by the parent Chicago Blackhawks.Volpe, a 22-year-old goalie, posted the best goals against average in the IHL during the 1974-75 season&mdash;2.67 for 42 games. Last season Volpe spent the season in Dallas of the CHL. where he played behind Mike Veisor for the first half of the season. He appeared in 17 games and had a 2.15 average.Other Flint players who will be in camp are defensemen Bob Hoffmeyer. defenseman Mike St. Cyr. defenseman Brian McBratney and winger Clyde Simon.KALAMAZOO: The K-Wings got some bad news recently when goalie Merlin Jenner announced his retirement. Jenner has played five seasons in the IHL. four with Flint and last season with the K-Wings. In informing coach-general manager Bob Lemieux of his decision. Jenner said: T feel that it is in my best interest to retire from hockey.&rsquo;&rsquo;Commenting on Jenner&rsquo;s decision. Lemieux said: &ldquo;Jenner definitely has made a hole in the back end of our team with the announcement of his retirement. It will be extremely tough to replace a player of Jenner&rsquo;s experience who helped propel us in the Turner Cup playoffs last season.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01274/3951131-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="635" height="992"><figcaption class="caption-body">LEN FONTAINE &hellip; Ends Speculation</figcaption></div>SAGINAW: The Gears are expecting considerable help from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Some has already arrived. The Gears will welcome Mike Ruest. a rugged defenseman who has played four years in the Central League. Ruest. who is 25. is a right-hand shot and will be a big addition to our camp.&rdquo; said coach-general manager Don Perry.Other players owned by Toronto who could be in the Gear camp are Kevin Kemp. Gary McFayden. Tim Williams and Dan Djakalovic. Kemp was with the Gears two seasons ago The other are Toronto draft selections.FORT WAYNE: Komet coach Ralph Keller is expecting about 33 candidates in the Komet camp. Players who were with the K&rsquo;s last season and expected to return include Bob McNeice. Ken Wright. Brian Shmyr. Robbie Laird and Terry McDougall. Also. Brian Walker who as with the K&rsquo;s Turner Cup champions in 1973. is also expected to be back. Walker played in Sweden last year.Missing will be Sid Veysey. the IHL&rsquo;s rookie of the year last season Veysey is still with the &ldquo;Big Club &ldquo;&mdash;the Vancouver Canucks&mdash;and reportedly had an outstanding training campDAYTON: Two former collegiate standouts who are the property of the Atlanta Flames of the NHL have been invited to the Gem camp The two are Peter Brown, who served as co-captain of the Boston University team last season, and Tom Lindskog. captain of the University of Michigan squad.TOLEDO: General manager Ted Garvin is expecting some 35 players on the Goaldigger camp and is determined to make the Diggers a strong title contender again. After winning the Turner Cup in 1975. the Diggers slipped to a third-place finish in the South Division last season and were eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs in four straight by Fort Wayne.COLUMBUS: New coach Ron Ullyot. son of Fort Wayne general manager Ken Ullyot. has returned from the Boston Bruin training camp with an optimistic outlook for his first coaching assignment Ullyot. who played for seven years in Fort Wayne, has replaced Moe Bartoli as coach of the Owls. Bartoll will devote all his time to his duties as general manager.<h2>Where IHL Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02218/3951124-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="652" height="1817"></div> &#9632;

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Flags Sign Veteran Fontaine For Two Years

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div>CALGARY&mdash;The Western Canada Hockey League is hardly out of the 1976-77 starting blocks and already, Calgary Centennials have established themselves as the 12-team league&rsquo;s most improved franchise.The Centennials, with a fine blend of youth and experience up front, a capable defense and outstanding goaltending by Jerry Price and Gerry Perreault, vaulted into Central Division contention early with two wins in their first three starts.When general-manager Jack Tennant began making plans for this season, he didn&rsquo;t necessarily look over scoring statistics in determining which kids he wanted for his Centennials, the worst team in the Western Division last year, with just 22 victories in 72 games.&ldquo;We spent the off-season recruiting for attitude,&rdquo; Tennant said. &ldquo;We wanted hungry kids. Guys who want to win and I think we&rsquo;ve got the type of player we set out to get.&rdquo;Besides returning goal-scoring sensations like Paul Enquist, Clint Eccles, 17-year-old Perry Turnbull (still eligible for the rookie award) and over-age winger Gary Rissling, coach Fred Hilts had veteran defensemen Brady Mayson and Graig Topolnisky to build his blueline brigade around.So. Tennant set out to find some heart.He got a winner early in scrappy right-winger Grant Morin, whose face. hit-almost every Western Canadian newspaper last spring after he was involved with his Spruce Grove Mets in a benchclearing brawl during a Tier If playoff game. A photographer caught the half-dressed Morin on the way to the penalty box. a weird grin covering his battered face.Morin began last season with Saskatoon Blades, and averaged a point a game before packing it up voluntarily and finishing the year with the Mets.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a tough kid, but the thing is&hellip;he wants to win,&rdquo; Tennant said. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s what this team wants.&rdquo;Tennant figured he&rsquo;d have a contending team in Calgary just by checking over his list of returnees.&ldquo;People say that to be successful, a hockey team has to be strong down the middle,&rdquo; Tennant said. &ldquo;And I believe we&rsquo;re the only team in the league with both goalies and all our centermen returning.&rdquo;The centers are Enquist. Eccles, sophomore Roy Sommer and Turnbull, who had five goals, second-best in the league, after Calgary&rsquo;s first four games.Hilts should find the sledding a bit easier this year than his predecessors experienced last season. Dave Amadio started the season and was relieved in January. Bert Olmstead took over and quit with just two games to go. Hilts finished the regular schedule with a win and tie and said he was looking forward to next year.&ldquo;Next year&rdquo; is now here, and it&rsquo;s easy to see why Hilts was so optimistic.LETHBRIDGE: Mike Fynn has accomplished in the first two Bronco games what some players go a whole season without doing. Two game-winning goals. Bang-bang. He opened the year with the winner in a 6-5 win over Calgary, his old team, and then sniped the seventh goal as the Broncos spoiled Medicine Hat s home debut with a 7-6 decision. Rookies Mike Schneider and Rocky Saganiuk each scored twice in the latter victory.MEDICINE HAT: The Tigers didn&rsquo;t exactly roar out of the starting gate, losing twice to open the seasons. 4-2 in Calgary and 7-6 at home against Lethbridge. Brian Hill hit for the hat trick in the loss to the Broncos while rookies Merlin Malinowski and Ken Stroud scored in Calgary.KAMLOOPS: A labor dispute shut down the Kamloops arena and postponed the Chiefs&rsquo; home opener with New Westminster Finally getting some action, veteran Reggie Kerr had four assists in a 6-1 Kamloops win over Portland, which was marred by a third-period brawl Sophomore Ryan Walter and rookie Errol Rausse each scored twice in that game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01265/3951183-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="628" height="902"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRIAN HILL &hellip; Fired Hat Trick</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02219/3951176-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="643" height="2976"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03163/3951169-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="666" height="3594"></div>NEW WESTMINSTER: Somebody foolishly suggested that the Bruins had lost most of their scoring punch, the bi shooters who accounted for New Wes&rsquo;s lofty 6 1/2-goal-a-game average last year So what happens? Mark Lofthouse, a 61 goal man of last year, snipes three in Bruins&rsquo; opener at home as they blaster Portland 10-3, overcoming a 1-0 first period deficit with seven goals in the second period. Three rookies - Dou Derkson, Carl Van Harrewyn and Dav Orleski&mdash;got one goal each.VICTORIA: Rookie Gary Lupul notch ed the winner in the Cougars &rsquo; horn opener. 4-3 over Portland. Then, in the first of a 12-game road trip. Cougar blasted Regina 9-2 behind the five-point performances of Curt Fraser and Greg Anderson, the two veterans expected ti carry most of the offensive load for Path Ginnell&rsquo;s Cougars this season.PORTLAND: What has happened to the Winter Hawks? Coach Ken Hodge ha the most talent returning of any WCHI team, yet the US entry stumbled with three straight losses to start the season One answer may be that forwards Dou, Lecuyer and Paul Mulvey, a couple of tough scorers, sat out the opening three games with suspensions incurred in the exhibition season. As well, goaltending troubles are evident, with neither Tin Thomlison or Brad Hall having much luck so far. The Winter Hawks have sold nearly 2.000 season tickets and 6,000 seats have been sold for their home opener Oct. 10 with New Westminster, so that aspect of the operation is healthy, indeedREGINA: &ldquo;Well just have to be patient.&rdquo; says coach Bob Turner, whose Pats are one of the youngest teams in the league. True enough. Regina opened with two home-ice defeats. 7-6 to Calgary and 9-2 to Victoria. Rookie Dirk Graham es tablished some hope for the future with two goals in the Calgary game, but it was veterans Gerry Minor and Greg Ing who tallied against Victoria.SASKATOON: Following the Blades second and third straight road losses which started the season, rookie Bill McNaught fired the hat trick in a 9-E home-ice win over the Centennials Another rookie, big 16-year-old Brent Ashton, had two goals in that game Coach Jackie McLeod may not threaten this year, but it appears as if another powerhouse is in the construction stages.BRANDON: The Wheat Kings, on the strength of goalie Glen Hanlon, who has allowed just five goals in four games, and plenty of goals from rooks and vets alike, opened with a flurry of four straight wins. Over-age Danny Bonar sniped four times in an 11-1 thrashing of Flin Flon. while 17-year-old sophomore Ray Allison had a pair in a 4-2 win over Saskatoon. Allison leads the league with six goals. Second-year man Dick Kerr, last year predominantly a fighter who had only eight goals all season, has turned scorer, with three in four games.WINNIPEG: After a tight loss to Brandon in their first game, the Monarchs have rebounded to record three straight wins. Dave Stekler, who played 38 games last year and had nine goals, got successive hat tricks in 10-5 and 8-3 victories over Flin Flon. Superstar defenseman Kevin McCarthy, held pointless against Brandon, picked up 10 assists in the two games with Flin Flon and a 7-2 decision over Saskatoon. Veteran Tom Roulston also got off to a hot start, with three goals and seven assists in the four games as the Monarchs led the Central Division.FLIN FLON: The only ray of light for coach Mickey Keating was veteran winger Kim Davis, who averaged a goal a game in the Bombers&rsquo; first three outings But&hellip;three losses and 29 goals against turned Keating sour. &ldquo;The future looks good, though.&rdquo; Keating said. &ldquo;There were many 15 and 16-year-olds who were so close to making this club. It&rsquo;s just that people in the past didn&rsquo;t do their homework properly.&rdquo; and left the Bombers with a weak base.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04132/3951162-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="667" height="3552"></div> &#9632;

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Off-Season Recruiting Pays Off As Calgary Moves Into Contention

BUFFALO&mdash;The North American Hockey League begins another season Oct. 22 and it appears they&rsquo;ll all be chasing the Philadelphia Firebirds, who will open the defense of their 1976 Lockhart Cup with many of last year&rsquo;s old faces back in the fold.General manager and coach Gregg Pilling said his team will have some old faces back and some new ones that are not really new to the NAHL but will be making their debut in Firebird jerseys.Pilling said to offset the loss of such players as Doug Ferguson. Pierre Henry, Tom Young and goaler Roger Kosar, he secured veterans George Swarbrick and Galen Head and picked up defensemen Marty Gateman and Rick Fraser.The Firebirds&rsquo;, all-time point scoring leader Bob Collyard is back as well as Randy Osburn and team captain Dean Boylan. Pilling welcomed forward Les Crozier back from the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; training camp to give the club a little more muscle.Pilling figures Collyard and Osburn will bear the brunt of the Philadelphia offense. Collyard has the background. He&rsquo;s the club&rsquo;s top point man (274 in two years) and is a two-time All Star.Collyard. 26. paced all Firebirds in scoring in 1975-76 during both the regular season (45-83-128) and the Lockhart Cup playoffs (12-25-37). including two goals and an assist in the Birds Cup-clinching 5-2 victory over the Beauce Jaros before a standing-room-only crowd of 9.227 at the Civic Center last Apr. 14.I feel I&rsquo;m just about in my best preseason shape ever.&rsquo;&rsquo; the two-time Colorado College All-American had said from his home in Hibbing. Minn &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve worked outdoors (as a roofer), and played softball in a recreational league. And our team won the Minnesota state championship &ldquo;Bobby was drafted by the NHL St. Louis Blues in 1969. and played briefly for the Blues in 1973-74. He was assigned to the Firebirds in 1974 by the Washington Capitals who had acquired him from St. Louis in the expansion draftWinger Randy Osburn (29-39-68 last year), another member of last year&rsquo;s championship team, is also skating for the Firebirds again this season on assignment from the NHL Flyers.Osburn. 24. was acquired by the Flyers two years ago from the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of the Bill Flett trade. He played 26 games with the Leafs in the 1972-73 season, and was the leading goal scorer (37) for the CHL Oklahoma City Blazers in 1973-74.Both Collyard and-Osburn will be with the Birds when they open the 1976-77 NAHL schedule at home against the Maine Nordiques Oct. 22.In other NAHL developments, the San Diego Mariners optioned forward Archie King to the Binghamton Dusters after they closed their WHA training camp workouts. King helped the Hamilton Fincups win the Canadian national major junior hockey championship last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01240/3951214-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="703" height="2415"></div> &#9632;

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Firebirds Start With Old Faces

<div class="byline">BY GARY McCARTHY</div>SHERBROOKE&mdash;There are just no two ways about it e Sherbrooke Beavers have to be condered the class of the Quebec Major junior Hockey LeagueLast season, the Beavers got off to a it start in the West Division standings, en. they had three weeks off to play in world junior hockey championships Sweden, where they finished second d brought home a silver medalWhen the Beavers left, they were in top of in their division When they got back me. they still found themselves at the in the standings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01214/3951252-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="625" height="1305"><figcaption class="caption-body">JERE GILLIS &hellip; Leads In Assists</figcaption></div>While they are not running away from s rest of the pack this year, they haveved notice that they are going to be solid contenders during the 1976-77 campaignThe Beavers have lost such talented players as Richard Mulhern. Claude Larose. Peter Marsh and Robert Simpson to the professional ranksNormally, a team that loses that kind of quality usually rolls over and dies for one. maybe two years It&rsquo;s a lot harder to get to the top in junior hockey than it is to dive into the basement.But. a big factor in favor of the Beavers is their scouting staff It&rsquo;s probably one of the best in junior hockey in Canada The scouts search the country for talent and this year is no exceptionThe Beavers&rsquo; pride and joy this year is 17-year-old Rick Vaive who just happens to be a native of Charlottetown. Prince Edward Island.What Vaive has meant to the Beavers so far in the QMJHL is unbelievable. In eight games, he has managed 14 goals and eight assists. That gives him 22 points and a hold on first place in the individual scoring race.Montreal&rsquo;s Forum is generally regarded as the House of Hockey but it didn&rsquo;t bother Vaive one bit on his first-ever visit to the building that has made hockey history since the National Hockey League startedAll Vaive did was score three goals and add one assist as the Beavers defeated the Montreal Juniors 9-3That was Sherbrooke&rsquo;s sixth win in eight starts and left them tied for first place in the West Division standings with the Cornwall RoyalsAnother player who has made the Beavers because of their scouting system is Ray Roy. a native of Berlin. New Hampshire.With that wide a scope, it&rsquo;s easy to see how the Beavers can remain contenders each year in the league, no matter how many players they lose to over-ageCORNWALL: The City of Cornwall is making a lot of festive plans for the opening of the new sports complex that will be the winter home of the Royals The official opening is planned lor Oct. 3T The Royals were undefeated in their first six games. They had scored 26 goals but had given up a mere 12 for a 2 00 goals-against average per game. The Royals after six games, still didn&rsquo;t have a scorer in the leagues&rsquo; top 10SHERBROOKE: The Beavers were the top club offensively in their first eight games of the 1976-77 season, having scored 55 goals while allowing 32. While Rick Vaive was making the headlines with his league-leading 14 goals, the Beavers had a few others players they could count on as well. Jere Gillis, a Montreal native who is the first English speaking captain in Sherbrooke&rsquo;s junior history, was third in the scoring race with six goals and a league-leading 13 assists. Next came Mike Green with six goals and 11 assists.MONTREAL: The Juniors, under coach Jacques Laperriere. continued their slide at home This was evident in the way they were handled by Sherbrooke at the Forum. The Juniors fell behind 6-0 &ldquo;before getting a goal Robert Picard continued as the club&rsquo;s leading scorer with five goals and 11 assists. Kevin Reeves, a second-year man. had five goals and 10 assists after seven games, in which the Juniors had won four and lost threeLAVAL: Coach Denis Dejordy had trouble getting his team on the winning track In eight games, the National had two wins and two ties. No member of the Nationals managed to make it into the league&rsquo;s top 10 scorers.HULL: Marcel Pronovost is another coach who may find the season getting long After five games, the Olympics had just two wins to show for their efforts The club had scored 20 goals and given up 21 The team is lacking a leader that could help this team make a climb into fourth place.QUEBEC: The Remparts were having trouble shaking Trois-Rivieres for first place in the East Division The Remparts had four wins and a tie in their first seven games. Denis Turcotte was the club&rsquo;s top player offensively with six goals and eight assists A lot of returning players, such as Vai James, were having trouble breaking through.TROIS-RIVIERES: The Draveurs lodged a protest with the QMJHL before a game against the Montreal Juniors last week. Michel Bergeron, general manager of Trois-Rivieres. was protesting that the name of Dave Stymiest of the Juniors was not listed on the starting lineup, although he played. No ruling had been made by early this week. The Draveurs lost the game 3-2. missing out on a chance to overhaul Quebec for first place in the division Trois-Rivieres and Quebec were tied for first, but the Draveurs had played one more game Richard Dalpe stayed right on Rick Vaive s heels in the individual scoring race. After eight games. Dalpe had 10 goals and 11 assists Yves Richer and Rick David were next with six goals and 10 assists eachCHICOUTIMI: The Sagueneens were the leaders in the second section of the East Division They had won two and lost four in their first six games and trailed Quebec and Trois-Rivieres by five points.SOREL: The Black Hawks, despite the efforts of Guy Parenteau. were saddled with five losses, a win and a tie in their first seven games this season Parenteau. meanwhile, ranked among the top 10 scorers with five goals and nine assists.SHA WINIGAN: The Dynamos were obviously the weak link in the Quebec-Major League after two weeks of action They were still looking for their first win and had only one tie to show for their efforts in their first six games. The Dynamos had managed only 10 goals for in those first six games and had given up 41. That averages out to almost seven goals against per game.<h2>When QMJHL Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02160/3951245-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="1293" height="1673"></div> &#9632;

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Scouting Makes Sherbrooke Contender

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD POLLAK</div>RICHMOND&mdash;As a player, Forbes Kennedy always gave 200%. He relied on a lot of hustle and aggressiveness as a National Hockey League performer with the Philadelphia Flyers and the Toronto Maple Leafs.Forbes also was a showman, one of the all-time favorites throughout the NHL.Last season. Kennedy turned to coaching and he brought his show to Winston-Salem. The Polar Twins were plagued with injuries all season long; many nights they could only dress 14 or 15 players. But Kennedy led them to respectability and a playoff spot.Although he was thrown out of many games because of his aggressive coaching style, his showmanship inspired the Polar Twins to pass Greensboro and Tidewater to gain the last playoff spot, and they almost caught Roanoke for thirdAnd now the show comes to Richmond Richmond is a great hockey town and a great town for Forbes Kennedy He knows the tough challenge ahead of him as Richmond makes the transition from the American Hockey League to the Southern Hockey LeagueThe people in Tidewater will agree on how hard it is to make the transition, but Richmond should have it a little easier now that Tidewater has broken the ice and joined the SHL. Baltimore will have a tough time also, but with Tidewater joining last year and Baltimore and Richmond this year, the transition should be more fluid, at least that is how Kennedy pictures it.Forbes is really keying in on the SHL as the league of the future. &ldquo;The NHL should open up to the Southern Hockey League in the near future and have everyone working with an NHL club Not that the WHA hasn&rsquo;t helped like in Tidewater with Calgary and Hampton with Cincinnati And Forbes sees the SHL taking over much of the priority the AHL has held for years.Forbes has personally taken it upon himself to help promote the SHL with numerous speaking engagements and special game night promotions where he is going to have demonstrations of the basic rules between periods of home games in Richmond.The new Wildcat leader has also been hard at work with his first priority &mdash; building a contending hockey club from scratch.Along with GM Charlie Newsome, the Wildcats are looking for the same type of aggressive and hustling players as their coach &ldquo;The fans in Richmond are really going to be in for a treat with Forbes behind their home team bench.&rdquo; remark ed an SHL spokesmanSpeaking of aggressiveness, the Wild cats have already filled the bill in big. tough defensemen Jim McCrimmon and Ralph MacSweyn. who have both agreed to terms with the Wildcats.Kennedy is expecting help from the New York Rangers with the likes of center Pat Hickey, winger Remi Leves que. and centers Barry Scully. Ed Smith and Claude Periard. all junior draft pick: this season The St. Louis Blues are already committed to at least two player for Richmond, but have not yet disclosed their names to the Wildcats.From all indications, the stage is set and the show is about to begin&mdash;step aside. Ringling Brothers, the new (ice) &rsquo;rink master Forbes Kennedy&rsquo; is about to start the show.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02195/3951297-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="651" height="1083"><figcaption class="caption-body">TED SCHARF &hellip; Back With Hampton</figcaption></div>TIDEWATER: The Sharks have completed the first phase of their training camp in Calgary and the players reported to the Scope Arena to complete training camp the first week of OctoberNetminder Yves Archambault has inked a contract to play in Tidewater this season The young veteran has seen action in the WHA with the Philadelphia-Vancouver Blazers and led the Roanoke Rebels to the SHI. crown three seasons ago.. Last season, Archambault led Beauce (NAHL) to a first place finish and runner-up in the championship finals.Defenseman Jean Landry, acquired from Roanoke in the dispersal draft, has also agreed to report to the Sharks after a tryout with the St Louis Blues.GREENSBORO: GM John Voss heading for the Gens&rsquo; Niagara Falls training camp inked right-winger Alan Young, who has spent the last few seasons in the Central League with Omaha and Tulsa. According to Voss: &ldquo;Young is a solid hockey player who has consistently scored in the 20 goal range in the CHL.&rdquo;Returnees from last year&rsquo;s roster should include Doug Kerslake, Allie Sutherland (26-21-47). Howie Heggedal (24-17-41) and veteran center Wally Sprange who was the third leading scorer in the SHL last season (22-59-81).The Generals will have at least two or three scrimmages with the Polar Twins at their Ontario training camp.WINSTON-SALEM: The Polar Twins have acquired the services of goalie Jim Watt (from Tidewater). Watt has spent the last few seasons in the St. Louis Blues organization. Last season Watt appeared in 55 games for the Tidewater Sharks (the most game appearances of any SHL goalie), and had a 3.28 goals against average.Coach Ron Anderson expects the Polar Twins&rsquo; two leading scorers from last season to return, namely John Campbell (33-59-92) and Ken Gassoff (3649-85). Both played center and are expected to again lead the P-T&rsquo;s on offense.Anderson, who plans on playing a regular shift on defense for Winston-Salem. will do so at least until the SHL rosters are reduced on Dey. 1 from 17 to (16; players Veteran BoblChampaux will also return to the P-T&rsquo;s in goal.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03144/3951290-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="1296" height="1402"><figcaption class="caption-body">JEAN LANDRY &hellip; Signs With Sharks</figcaption></div>CHARLOTTE: GM-coach Pat Kelly is expected to return to the Checkers with a handful of players from his training camp visit to the Birmingham Bulls (WHA). Kelly led much of the training camp practices for the south&rsquo;s newest sports enterprise.Already assigned from the Bulls are defenseman Gerard Gibbons and right winger Steve Atkinson Gibbons appeared in five games for the Toronto Toros (now Birmingham) scoring one goal and accumulating seven penalty minutes. Atkinson (who has performed in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres) last year played in 37 games for the Buffalo Norsemen (NAHL) and scored 30 goals and 31 assists for 61 points with 38 penalty minutes before being signed to a WHA contract with Toronto With the Toros. Atkinson dressed for 52 games (2-6-8) with 22 penalty minutes. A veteran forward, Atkinson is the kind of player SHL fans are accustomed to seeing in a Charlotte uniform The past few seasons, it has been the veterans who have led the Checkers to two straight Jim Crockett Cups, emblematic of the SHL championshipHAMPTON: The Gulls training camp in Cincinnati has already been very productive. The parent Stingers have assigned netminder John Kiely to Hampton. Last year in Hampton Kiely appeared in 13 games with a 3 42 average and one shutout before being called up to Cincinnati for the remainder of the season In Cincinnati. Kiely appeared in 22 games with a 4.31 average. Kiely resolved the Hampton problem in goal when they learned of Rich Coutu&rsquo;s retirement. University of New Hampshire All American Jamie Hislip has also been assigned to the GullsGM-coach John Brophy signed Frank &ldquo;the Beater&rdquo; Beaton and Ted Scharf to SHL contracts Beaton played in Hampton for 45 games (17-14-41) with 2 penalty minutes before being called up Cincinnati for the remainder of the season In Cincinnati. Beaton appeared 29 games (2-3-5) with 61 penalty minute According to Brophy. &ldquo;Beaton has be very impressive in training camp Brophy thought that he would start t season in Cincinnati, but he&rsquo;s a favorite and is very glad to have him be in Hampton Scharf has spent the four years in the WHA. last year with dianapolis (74 games. 7-14-21, 56 penal minutes).Junior defensemen Ted Long a Terry Balling all, attending the Cincilns training camp, have been assigned John Brophy Long was a mainstay the Memorial Cup champ Hamilton Fi cups defense and Balling all, according Hampton sources, accumulated over 3 penalty minutes with Flin Elon and considered a defensive defenseman.BALTIMORE: Larry Wilson&rsquo;s Clippor will open training camp with a number Edmonton Oiler properties. Edmont has assigned goalie Frank Turnbu center Gord Blumenscheim and rig wing Steve McKnight.Baltimore will also be taking a de look at Guy Bouchard, a goaltender a brother of Atlanta&rsquo;s Dan (who recent participated with Team Canada).Former Richmond Robin Nor Barnes, will again be playing for his coach on defense and Ron Serafini saw action with the Hampton Gulls year, will be performing on defense I BaltimoreRounding out training camp I Baltimore will be Dan Blockquer center Murray Beck from Butt in t SWHL and forwards Bruce LaHue a Bill Nagele.The Clippers have arranged 20 spec promotional nights starting with a still night on their home opener again Winstop-salem on oct 16<h2>When SHL Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01247/3951283-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="716" height="3545"></div> &#9632;

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Kennedy Sees SHL Taking Over AHL Priority

<div class="byline">&#x2014; By Bill Hilts</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01232/3951328-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="421" height="479"></div>New England LeagueCharlie Scoggins PR director for the New England Junior Hockey League sends word that five new head coaches - three of whom played professional hockey made their debuts, when the NEJHL opened its fourth season the first weekend in OctoberNew to the NEJHL coaching fraternity are Tom Williams at Tri-Valley. Boh McKenna at South Shore Glenn Hunter at Great Bay Jeff Kravitz at Springfield and Jean Guy Gagnon at Eitchburg. In addition. Alex Kolger will coach owner Richard &ldquo;Bud&rsquo;&rsquo; Terrio&rsquo;s Cape Cod Cubs, who will play an all-exhibition schedule against NEJHL clubs during the 1976-77 season and then enter the league officially next year The only returning coach is Tyngsboro&rsquo;s Bob Dupuis, who will guide the Huskies for the third time1&rsquo;here will be six teams in the circuit this year, and each will play a 50-game regular season schedule, plus playoffs and exhibition contests. The teams include the US National Junior &ldquo;B&rdquo; Champion, two-time Wallace Cup playoff champion and regular season titlists. Springfield Olympics, the Fitchburg (Wallace) Wallopers, the Tyngsboro (Skate 3i Huskies, the Great Bay (N.H.) Vikings, the South Shore (Rockland, Braves and the Tri-Valley (Millis) SquiresThe NEJHL. which is the only junior league in the region recognized by the Amateur Hockey Assn of the United States, was elevated to Junior &ldquo;A &ldquo;status at AHAUS&rsquo; national meeting held in Colorado Springs during the summer The NEJHL thus becomes only the third Junior A &ldquo;loop in the entire US. which reflects the rapid strides the league has made in the quality of its play in just three years of existence The other two American Junior &ldquo;A &ldquo;leagues are the Midwest and Great Lakes Junior Hockey Leagues.Springfield s Kravitz. 25 takes over the coaching reins from former NHL er Gary Dineen who coached the Olympics to one regular season title, two Wallace Cup playoff championships and the National Junior &ldquo;B&rdquo; title in his three year tenure Kravitz, a Springfield native, previously coached two years at Western New England College, where he was also a goaltender in his playing days, instructed goalies at the Leksand Hockey School in Sweden and served as assistant coach of the Olympics for three seasons The Pics were 30-12-6 last seasonFitchburg&rsquo;s Gagnon. 29 moves up from the assistant s ranks A native of Grand Mere. Quebec. Gagnon played his junior hockey with Trois-Rivieres. played senior hockey with Lae St Jean in the Loup de la Tourque. and also played semi-pro hockey in the old New England League with the Nashua Maple Leafs. Fitchburg Hornets. Lowell Chiefs and Manchester Monarchs The Wallopers were 2715-6 last seasonDupuis, who is now the dean of NEJHL coaches, guided the Tyngsboro Huskies to a 27-20-1 record and a fourth-place finish in the 1975-76 season A former all-American defenseman at Boston University. Dupuis also played on the U.S National Team and was a member of the squad which stunned the sporting world by taking the gold metal in the 1960 Olympics at Squaw ValleyGreat Bay&rsquo;s Hunter. 22. graduated in 1975 from the University of New Hampshire where he was assistant captain of the hockey team. He signed with the Los Angeles Kings and played last season with Columbus of the IHL A native of Boston, the Vikings. 19-21-6 last season, will be his first coaching jobSouth Shores McKenna. 25. also has a professional background A native of Charlottetown. PEI. McKenna played his junior hockey with the St John&rsquo;s Schooners of the Maritime Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; League and played one year with Boston University before signing with the CaliforniaGolden Seals. He played with Columbus of the IHL. Baltimore of the AHL. Winston-Salem of the SHL before a slipped disc ended his playing career. The Braves. 14-31-1 last year, will be his first coaching assignmentTri-Valley s Williams really needs no introduction One of the first American-born players to make it in the NHL. the Minnesota native turns to coaching after 15 years as a professional in the NHL and WHA. Williams was a team mate of Dupuis on the I960 Olympic team, and in fact, they were roommates. He signed with the Boston Bruins and played several seasons with them before moving on The Squires. 6-36-6 last season, will be his first coaching jobCape Cod&rsquo;s Kolger. 24, a native of Lethbridge. Alberta, also comes from the ranks of the pros. Kolger played his Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; hockey with the Calgary Centennials and New Westminster Bruins of the Western Canada Hockey League and signed with the New York Rangers. He played with the Cape Cod Cubs and in Port Huron. The Cubs will also be his first coaching job.N.Y. &mdash; Penn LeagueAndy Laing&rsquo;s Rochester Monarchs have started off the pre-season exhibition schedule on the right foot by dumping the NY-Penn League&rsquo;s newest entry, the Binghamton Barons 7-2. then playing the Niagara Falls Mangs Sharks to a 4-4 tie in the Cataract City. Andy says he utilized his rookies primarily during both contests. So when he picks out the cream of the crop and mixes them with his returning veterans, the Monarchs will once again be a contenderAl Kalter of the Binghamton team tells us that the Barons will be playing at the Chenango Valley Country Club ice rink this seasonBaron coach Wayne Kitchingman announced the signing s of Ron Kurtz, which brings to six the number of players under contract to the newly formed club The 16-year-old right winger joins Clinton native Ken Grabeldinger. Long Islander Bill Grogan and defenseman Bobby Castro of Staten Island. Brooklynite Mike ladanza and goaltender Ron Basile from Atlantic City. NJ. as &ldquo;confirmed Barons to date.In Binghamton&rsquo;s exhibition opener at Rochester. Jim s Gobany did the honors of scoring the Barons first goal in their short history It came at 7:10 of the opening period. with assists to Grabeldinger and Tom Stryjewski. Paul Iskayan had the Barons second score.in the Rochester-Niagara Falls match, they played to a tie. Both teams used primarily rookies, with Sharks coach Chet Kaifas dressing some 25 players for the contest. There was a scattering of vets in the lineup to help back up the younger players, but for the most part it belonged to the kids. Despite the earliness in the season for the contest, the game was a good one.Sharks veteran Sam Grogan scored the Sharks first tally of the season on a pass from Mike Andrejcak. Then new-comer George Bartha made it 2-0 for the Niagara Falls skaters with an unassisted markerIn the second stanza. Rochester popped three goals in a row. one by Terry Wilson Then rookie Joe Barrick. a flashy center, got his first of two goals to tie it up again before the period ended. In the final period. Rochester again scored I early, with Barrick notching his second of the night about a minute later, which proved to be the tying counter Rochester outshot the Falls icers 42 to 30 and 42 minor penalties were handed out by the officialsRay Cotter GM of the defending league and state champion Amherst Knights sends word that three of his All Star players from last season - All-American defenseman Jack Clifford, along with Jeff Brownschidle and Mike Denk. have been released from the Knights and will skate this is season for the Well and Sabres in the OHA. &#9632;

f0039-01

JUNIOR JOTTINGS

<div class="byline">BY MIKE LYNCH</div>TRAIL&mdash;The Trail Smoke Eaters came up with a new coach before the Western international League hockey schedule even got underway, and Nelson&rsquo;s Maple Leafs discovered they had several, past and present, on hand in their training campOn the eve of the early-October season opener. Trail replaced Norm Dennis with John Van Horlick. a rugged defenseman who will operate as the playing coach Dennis was obliged to resign because of off-the job comfliets.In Nelson the Maple Leafs have three former coaches on the players&rsquo; roster and Marsh Severyn, the current coach, had an earlier shot at the job himself, a successful tenure in the early 1970s.Forward Mike Laughton and Ed Hatoum are former coaches of the recent past as is defenseman Gary Kilpatrick. Yet another ex-coach, forward Ted Hargreaves, is in Nelson, but not playing this season because of teaching conflicts.Van Horlick. from Williams Lake. B.C.. played last season in the North American League and spent earlier seasons in the Western League at Portland and in the Central League at Omaha.Van Horlick has a reputation as a tough, capable defenseman. He&rsquo;ll have a couple of holes to fill, one most notable in the absense of veteran John Thompson. like Dennis obliged to sit out because of a job conflict.The Smokies still have the majority of the skaters from last season&rsquo;s contending club and they&rsquo;ve added center John Horkoff. a local product by way of Selkirk College and the University of Alberta.NELSON: Meanwhile Severyn had only five holdovers from last season s club which finished fifth and out of the playoffs. Severyn obviously had a rebuilding job in his training camp.Hargreaves, a big man at center, is missing and veteran defenseman Hugh Hooker has retired Forward Glenn Ing and goalie Eric Hedwall are playing in Germany.KIMBERLEY: Murray Flegel, the new playing coach-defenseman of the Dynamiters, appeared moderately pleased with his club&rsquo;s training camp progress. Flegel was reportedly looking for a couple of physical defenseman. however.The Dynamiters opened up with solid goaltending, an improved defense with Flegel s addition alone, and an impressive attack Dave Lee. Len Hicks and Ken Ireland all Kimberley vets were. joined at center by Jimmy Cruize, a Winnipeg product, giving Kimberley plenty of quality up the middle.CRANBROOK: The defending league champions will have a familiar look with perhaps only four changes overall. Coach Cohn Patterson will attempt to fit new comers into spots vacated by retirement.SPOKANE: The defending Allan Cup champs were a bit behind with their reason opener a week later and the first home game deep into October The nucleus of last year&rsquo;s club was on hand in (raining, but coach Tom Hodges was delaying some decisions because several 975-76 standouts were in pro camps. &#9632;

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October 22, 1976

FAN FORUM

Hodge Seen Key Figure In Revival Of Esposito

Hockey No Different In Colorado

CARTOON CORNER