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.

December 3, 1976

The Hockey News December 3, 1976

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01350/3975866-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"></div>The WHA ScoreboardWhere WHA Teams Play &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

World Hockey Association Summaries

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div>CHICAGO-If it isn&rsquo;t a pain here it&rsquo;s an ache there, and the constant run of problems in recent seasons no doubt makes Stan Mikita feel older than his 36 years.You start thinking when it becomes one thing after another. &ldquo; the Black Hawk captain was saying the other day. &ldquo;You begin to think maybe you re becoming a little brittle The injuries come more often, and the healing takes just a little longer.&rdquo;Mikita. who played his first game for the Chicagoans during the 1958-59 season, will participate in his 1.200th National Hockey League contest this winter. But it will be a while. His career, which has featured a cast of casts, now has been stalled again by an injury to his right leg.It came in a game at Minnesota Oct. 23. It looked bad at the outset, turned out to be not so bad. but still he&rsquo;ll miss not less than one month because of stretched ligaments. There was a fear that he&rsquo;d need surgery. but an Orr-ish type arthroscopy examination rendered that unnecessary.Still, he commenced November as a member in wounded standing, among other Chicago employees:Bobby Orr&mdash;resting his recently- probed left knee.Bill White&mdash;still recuperating from a severe injury to his neck that resulted in nerve damage, some loss of feeling, maybe loss of career.Keith Magnuson&mdash;broken jaw. courtesy of Bugsy Watson.Darcy Rota&mdash;out three weeks with a leg injury after colliding with teammate Grant Mulvey At first, it looked like just a Charley horse, but the Hawks don&rsquo;t escape that easily lately.Mikita s absence was no less galling than the rest. Not only because the Black Hawks offense is no bargain even when he is around to provide a little creativity, but because there seems to be a pattern forming here.In the past couple seasons, he&rsquo;s been bedeviled by an assortment of problems, not the least of which was a cranky back.&ldquo;Then last year, second game of the season. I got that arm injury.&rdquo; said Mikita. &ldquo;It was a torn tricep muscle in the right arm. The doctors say it was ripped from the bone, and ran up the arm like a rolled up window shade. They had to go in there to fish it out. then it took a while to heal. Wasn&rsquo;t right until about the first of the year.&rdquo;As a result. Mikita played in only 48 regular season games.The frustrations are compounded because the team hasn&rsquo;t won much of anything the last two seasons. The jury is still out this year, of course, and it may remain that way until a more accurate reading is achieved on the long-term Orr prognosis.&ldquo;If he can stay healthy and play a number of games, it should help us a lot.&rdquo; said Mikita Look what he&rsquo;ll mean to our power play alone. He II take a lot of pressure off a lot of people, because he&rsquo;s such a great player.&rdquo;So great, that Mikita seems resigned&mdash;but not bitter&mdash;to the fact that No. 4 is undeniably the hot new act in town.&ldquo;Am I No. 2 now?&rsquo; The Unecheckable Czech quizzed rhetorically. &ldquo;Look I&rsquo;ve never been a draw. When Bobby Hull was here, he was the guy most people talked about. Then when he left. Tony Esposito attracted a lot of attention Now it s Orr. Doesn&rsquo;t bother me. I&rsquo;ve gotten my share of recognition Maybe more than my share.&ldquo;If anything bothers me. it&rsquo;s how guys like Kenny Wharram and Chico Maki never got the ink they deserved when Bobby Hull and I were the so- called 1-2 punch. They were gr&eacute;&acirc;t hockey players, but never were appreciated the way they should have been.&ldquo;Now. it doesn&rsquo;t bother me that everybody talks about Orr And. heck, it&rsquo;s most of the single guys who everybody wants autographs from Darcy Rota. Grant Mulvey. Phil Russell The only people that want my autograph are the Geritol setHAWK TALK: When D&eacute;troits Watson got suspended 10 games for breaking Magnuson s jaw. the Hawks defenseman said. It&rsquo;s fair&hellip;it&rsquo;s enough. You don&rsquo;t want to see a guy&rsquo;s career ruined over one incident I play the game rough and so does he. even though I don&rsquo;t agree with what he did&rsquo; ..Strapped for bodies, the Hawks summoned left wing Ted Bulley from the Flint Generals of the International League. He&rsquo;s big (six-foot-two. 195). young (21) and still technically an amateur&hellip;Hawks are impressed with another lad they brought up from the same club, center Kirk Bowman. &#9632;

Injuries Occur More Often For Hawks’ Mikita

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02600/3975549-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg"></div>Where NHL Teams PlayThe NHL Scoreboard<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01273/3975542-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="3382" height="1871"></div> &#9632;

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National League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY&#x2019;</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03810/3975101-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARCEL DIONNE&hellip; Happy When Team Wins (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>LOS ANGELES-Marcel Dionne is a marvellous hockey player.Short, but stocky, he can be knocked down, but he bounces back Quick and smart, he makes great plays and shots.In troubled Detroit, he was troubled. In sunny southern California. dark clouds have been burned away.He came here at the cost of popular players and with a bad reputation. Here, he had a good, if not great season, and proved himself a team man to the other players, the press, and the public.Marcel is a good guy and a great talent. Accepted here, he has started to relax, and seems well on his way to his greatest season.This will take some doing since he three times in five previous professional seasons scored 40 or more goals, and one season totalled 121 scoring points.But. in the first five weeks of this 26-week season, he had 11 goals and 24 points, which put him on a pace to produce more than 50 goals and 125 points.And he normally is a slow starter.Marcel has picked up where he left off in the playoffs last season when he twice pulled the Kings from behind Boston with explosive sprees.For the second time in two seasons he got goals in five straight games, tying the team record.I&rsquo; he Kings were trailing 4-0 in Toronto when Marcel blasted two shots by Gordie McRae midway in the last period to get his side going toward an eventual tie.He drove in his second of the night in Washington to put the Kings in front of the Caps with only 1:05 to play, though this, too. ended all even.At home, the Kings had tied Detroit with just 1:41 left and- Dionne won a faceoff and fed Tommy Williams a perfect pass for the goal that won the game with 0:11 to go.The Rangers arrived and led 3-2 for 25 minutes until with less than seven minutes left . Marcel took a forceful feed from Gary Sargent and wristed it home to produce a tie.The Kings seldom are so far out of a game Dionne can&rsquo;t get them back into it. He&rsquo;s always a threat to do it. even if he doesn&rsquo;t always do it.Because Team Canada had more centers than right-wingers. Dionne was played at right wing in the Canada Cup and did well. Because the Kings also have more centers than right-wingers, he is being played at right wing here this season, and is doing dandy.He might score more goals from right wing, where foes find it more difficult to double-team him. but he probably would produce more goals for the team at center where his play-making would be more effectiveAccordingly, coach Bob Bulford probably should shift him back before long, but Dionne has not complained. He is a professional who acts as well as plays like one. He has a quick mind and an impish wit. and is a delight to interviewAsked if he now feels more at home in Pully&rsquo;s conservative system. Marcel laughs. He says. &ldquo;The only system I know is to go out and play the only way I know. If I play well.we get goals. It doesn&rsquo;t matter who gets them, me or a teammate. If I play well, I help the team. If the team wins. I&rsquo;m happy.&ldquo;I never had a coach that didn&rsquo;t want me to check, too. I was brought here because of my offense, not my defense, but I&rsquo;m not going to dog it on defense. I&rsquo;m no big guy who can knock people around, but I watch my man. I watch for the puck, and I steal it. When we have it. they&rsquo;re the ones that have to play defense.&rdquo;He set a league record with 10 shorthanded goals two seasons back, but does not often kill penalties now and when he does he has been asked by Pully to think defense. Marcel says. &ldquo; Before. I got burned a lot. Now. if I get the puck in the open. I&rsquo;ll go. but I won&rsquo;t take chances. It&rsquo;s no good if I score 10 and give up 20.&rdquo;Playing the point, he is helping the King power-play tremendously. He says. Whatever the coach wants me to play&mdash;power-play. penalty-killer, right wing, center. I&rsquo;ll play".The Kings first line of Butch Goring. Tom Williams and Mike Murphy is sparking the team. Dionne is the only other forward producing. The little French- Canadian is carrying the rest of the club. The Kings hoped to get a good shooter and corner-man to team with him. but have not come up with one. Marvellous Marcel is on his own and making magic.At 25. the young man from Drummondville. Quebec, has matured. He has a wife. Carole, a daughter. Lisa. and a home near the ocean. He says. &ldquo;We are happy in this area. I am happy on this team. We are together. And we are becoming better. Life is looking up".And his dark, bulldog face glows with a grin. &#9632;

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’Marvelous’ Marcel Key To Kings Hopes

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01984/3974732-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Veterans like Wayne Cashman are blending in nicely with Boston&rsquo;s new young stars and it is a situation that is reminding Bruins&rsquo; fans of the good old days again around the Boston Garden. For details see page 10. (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div><h2>HATSKIN APPREHENSIVE</h2>TORONTO&mdash;The WHA&rsquo;s chairman of the board, Ben Hatskin, is concerned about the league&rsquo;s financial stability and said he hopes the teams can iron out their problems at a special meeting called for the end of the month at Houston.Hatskin said the WHA&rsquo;s financial problems have reached the crisis stage and he is particularly worried about Minnesota and Phoenix. He said the WHA would match some of the NHL team losses this year, which he stated would reach $7 million. Another WHA official. Gordon Robson of Edmonton Oilers, blasted Bobby Hull for his statements that the WHA will fold it negotiations for a merger with the NHL are not successful. Robson called Hull&rsquo;s remarks &ldquo;irresponsible.&rdquo; He said repeated criticism of the WHA by Hull and others was totally unfair to the league.<h2>FLYER GOALER RETIRES</h2>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Wayne Stephenson, the little goaler who was so sensational in last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs for the Philadelphia Flyers, is quitting hockey.Stephenson, who has been at odds with the Flyers this season over a new contract. missed all of training camp and did not appear in a regular league game this year after the Flyers suspended him for not showing up at practice. Stephenson has quit with two years remaining on his three-year disputed contract. Flyers&rsquo; GM Keith Allen said he regretted Stephenson s decision but said the club would still be willing to talk to the goaler. Close associates of Stephenson said they expect he&rsquo;ll sit out the year, become a free agent and return to hockey next year with another club.<h2>PILOUS WANTS LEAFS</h2>WINNIPEG&mdash;Winnipeg general manager Rudy Pilous said his Jets would play the .Toronto Maple Leafs for the &ldquo;money, marbles or beer&rdquo; if he could arrange a meeting between the WHA and NHL teams.Pilous said he informed Leafs&rsquo; King Clancy that the Jets would come to Maple Leaf Gardens anytime to play his club. Pilous contends that only the Montreal Canadiens, with their great depth, would be too strong for his Win nipeg aggregation. Pilous said the Jets toyed with both Pittsburgh and St. Louis in exhibition games and that two other NHL teams&mdash;Minnesota and Detroit&mdash;found excuses to avoid playing against the WHA champions.<h2>REF GAINS MILESTONE</h2>TORONTO&mdash;Neil Armstrong, the iron man of NHL referees, said he is not thinking about retiring after officiating in his 1.600th big league hockey game.The 43-year-old Armstrong, who is in his 19th season, says that everyone has to retire some day and when the time comes for him to hang up his whistle, he&rsquo;ll be ready. Armstrong and some friends purchased a semi-private golf club and he said he expects to spend more of his time with the club once he quits refereeing. He is the second oldest NHL official from point of service. Matt Pavelich is in his 21st year but Army has appeared in more games. Pavelich has 1,480 games to his credit. &#9632;

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DEADLINE STOPPERS

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div>NEW YOHK&mdash;Panic, desperation, depression and just plain fear seems to have gripped the New York Hangers on their home ice at Madison Square Garden. Seven losses in a row. a record, at home, says it all. The Garden is now a house of horrors for the home side.The newest Hanger. Bill Goldsworthy, even missed a penalty shot on Nov. 14. as the Penguins blew the Hangers out 5-1.&ldquo;I guess Goldy had more pressure on him than 1 did,&rdquo; said Dune Wilson, the Pittsburgh goalie, and an ex-Hanger.I just wanted to get it up a little high, put it over his pad.&rdquo; said the 32-year-old winger. &rsquo;He made a good save.&rdquo;John Ferguson, the rookie general manager-coach, placed Goldsworthy at left wing in the Nov. 13 6-2 loss to Buffalo, benching Pat Hickey and putting his new man with Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge. The catch is, Goldsworthy is a right wing, and was trying to play out of position. He did make a smooth backhand pass to Esposito one goal, but the next day. it was Don Murdoch, also a right wing, playing the port side on the Esposito line.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do anything to win.&rdquo; said Ferguson T was just trying to shake them up.&rdquo;Ferguson, having trouble rallying his youthful team, complained bitterly that he was being victimized by referee Bob Meyers, in the Penguin game, saying It was brutal. He missed three tripping calls, then called one on us and ruined the game.&rdquo;In the first ten games at home, the Garden House of Horrors had produced a 2-8 record, with 33 goals for and 50 against. On the road, the Hangers were playing at .500. 4-4-2 with 36 goals for and 24 against.The trade of Fairbairn, a defensive forward, and the non-playing Nich Beverley, the Hangers, only defensive defenseman. is open to doubt With defense the priority, why a trade for a goal scorer, which Goldsworthy unquestionably is?&ldquo;If they need checking I can play that way,&rdquo; said. Goldy. Obviously. Bill needed a change in scenery&mdash;and perhaps so did Fairbairn and Beverley, whose delicate . skills weren&rsquo;t appreciated by Ferguson.Since this is a year and a couple of weeks past the giant house cleaning of 1975. an analysis of The Trade is in order. It is fair to remember that the departed Emile Francis, and not Ferguson, swapped Jean Ratelle and Brad Park to Boston for Esposito and Carol Vadnais. At this time. Boston has the edge, with Ratelle playing back to his skill of former years, and Park reviving under coach Don Cherry.Ratelle must have taken it easy in his last three seasons as a Hanger.&rdquo; said a rival NHL general manager. &ldquo;Park definitely isa better player than Vadnais. Boston got the edge in the trade.&rdquo;Hanger fans are still bitter over the cashiering of Derek Sanderson. Eddie Giacomin and Gilles Villemure all within a week&rsquo;s time Giacomin. who has been made into a folk hero, is still better than either Gilles Gratton or John Davidson, the current incumbents, but if New York had stood pat with Eddie, they would have been accused of going with a goalie who was 36. and had never won the big oneThe &ldquo;Eddie. Eddie. Eddie. &ldquo; cult amongst Hanger fans should read Hugh Delano&rsquo;s book. Eddie, a Goalies Story&rdquo; and then forget Giacomin. Never has so much been said, or written about a non-winner. At no time in his Hanger career was Eddie the best goalie in the NHL. He was a made goaltender, the product of his own and Francis&rsquo; hard work and patience. Hanger fans stopped believing when New York lost to the Flyers in 1973-74 in a seven-game semi-final. Prior to that, the Black Hawks and Tony Esposito decision- ed New York in five games in 1973. and the Bruins whipped the Hangers in a six-game final in 1972. with Gerry Cheevers besting Giacomin.Inside word is that Giacomin was given away for the $2.500 waiver price, not the usual $30.000 waiver price. The lower figure is the courtesy price when a fading veteran is being placed somewhere in the NHL.Selling Sanderson was caused by considerations other than value received on the ice&mdash;and was a mistake. It will be interesting to see if the Turk survives in St. Louis under Francis.Villemure is the forgotten man in the Chicago goaling situation which is exactly what happened to him in New York after a contract squabble with Francis.<h2>NHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02893/3974770-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="600" height="2670"></div><h2>WHERE YOU&rsquo;LL FIND IT ALL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03667/3974763-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="635" height="956"></div> &#9632;

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Panic Hits Young Rangers After Record Losing Streak

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01991/3974808-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Red Wings say there is more than meets the eye when it comes to handing out penalties to Detroit players. Wings allege Bryan Watson, top inset, Dan Maloney, left and Dennis Polonich are being discriminated against by NHL referees because they are too aggressive. The Wings have appealed to NHL referee-in-chief Scotty Morrison to investiage the situation. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>DETROIT&mdash;The Detroit Red Wings continue to roll up the penalty minutes and club officials insist there&rsquo;s more to it than meets the eye.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got four guys that are marked,&rsquo;&rsquo; general manager Alex Delvecchio said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why. but they are. What can you do about it?&rdquo;The fact is. the Wings are trying to do something about the situation.Concerned over what they think is the special attention they are receiving from National Hockey League game officials, the club, according to vice-president John Ziegler, has been in &ldquo;constant contact&rdquo; this season with referee-in-chief Scotty Morrison regarding the situation.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been in contact since the exhibition games and we&rsquo;re continuing to talk to him,&rdquo; Ziegler said.Ziegler would not comment when asked if he thought the Wings were being treated unfairly.&ldquo;If 1 comment on the record I get fined,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been at the games, what do you think?&rdquo;&ldquo;It has come to be recognized by officials that Detroit has built itself an aggressive club and that possibly could make us a target.&rdquo;Delvecchio said the four marked players are Bryan Watson. Dennis Polonich. Dan Maloney and Dennis Hextall.Detroit is the most penalized team in the NHL this season, after finishing second behind Philadelphia in that category in 1975-76.Watson set a Red Wing club record last season with 322 minutes in penalties. He is the NHL&rsquo;s all-time leader in penalty minutes. Polonich had 302 minutes in only 57 games. Maloney had 203 minutes and Hex- tall had 71 minutes in 17 games with Detroit and a total of 164 minutes (with Minnesota and Detroit).Campbell said the league is concerned over a handful of players who he said were responsible for most of the trouble in the league last season.&ldquo;Last year, nine players&mdash;two percent of all the players in the league&mdash;had 12 percent of the penalties.&rdquo; Campbell said &ldquo;Those nine players had over 200 minutes each.&rsquo;&ldquo;We have no reason to watch the Red Wings more than any other club,&rdquo; NHL president Clarence Campbell said. &ldquo;Except that they have some players who are included in that two percent.&rdquo;Watson. Polonich and Maloney all fall into that category and Hextall&rsquo;s penalty totals, projected over a full season, would also grant him entry.As for this season. Campbell said the new rules instituted to discourage fighting &ldquo;seem to be curbing&rdquo; the violence.The penalty figures aren&rsquo;t the only thing bothering the Wings these days.Capt. Danny Grant, once an NHL iron man. suffered his second injury of the season in the 12th game and was sidelined again. Grant missed the first two games with a groin injury and he was shelved indefinitely when he took a hard check in a game against Atlanta. Grant suffered a severe charley-horse and stretched ligaments in his left knee.A cast was placed on the knee to immobilize it and the extent of the damage wasn&rsquo;t immediately known.The last thing the Wings can afford is to lose Grant, one of their few legitimate scoring threats. The Wings called up veteran obby Sheehan to fill in for Grant.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02855/3974801-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="628" height="1982"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENNIS HEXTALL &hellip; Target Of Referees (Photo by Rich Pilling)</figcaption></div>The club has been mired in a season-long scoring slump and Delvecchio has been searching for a solution. A trade is a possibility, but it&rsquo;s difficult to imagine them getting what they want for what they have to offer.MOTOR CITY SHORTS: Congratulations to Dan and Suzanne Maloney on the birth of their son. Thomas Daniel, a 10-pound. four oz. left winger, born Friday. Nov. 5. The Maloneys also have a daughter. Shelly&hellip;Mike Bloom reached the 100-game milestone as a Red Wing&hellip;Brian McCutcheon was called up from Kansas City to replace Bill Lochead&hellip;Eddie Giacomin posted his third shutout of the season in eight games in the rare scoreless tie against Atlanta at Olympia. Phil Myre was the opposing goalie. I&rsquo;ve never had three shutouts so early in the season.&rdquo; said Eddie, a 12-year NHL veteran. &#9632;

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RED WINGS ALLEGE FOUR PLAYERS TREATED AS ’MARKED MEN’ BY REFS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011042/3974860-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="480" height="487"></div>&bull; PAUL GARDNER, who has been playing so sensationally for the Colorado Rockies ot late, is the son of Cal Gardner, former NHL star and younger brother of Dave, a center with the Cleveland Barons.. Indianapolis tracers won their fifth straight WHA game the other night and are packing them in at their home games&hellip;Cat Francis appears to have St. Louis Blues moving in their NHL division. Did you know that Francis was fired as coach of the New York Rangers three different times during his 12 years with the club?&hellip; Philadelphia Flyers will keep Terry Crisp on their playing roster, but he&rsquo;ll probably spend the season as a radio-TV analyst, assisting Gene Hart and Don Earle. Crisp is the second Flyer to turn broadcaster Former goalie Bobby Taylor works with Hugh Gannon on the Spectrum telecasts&hellip;Toronto&rsquo;s Jack Valiquette says he gets one of his biggest kicks beating teammate Tiger Williams at ping pong. Valiquette also disclosed that he never knows what the daily newspapers are saying about him as he&rsquo;s made it a point not to read them. Boston Bruins have played 10 consecutive games without a loss&hellip;Detroit Red Wings are expected to lose $1 million again this year&hellip;Bryan Trottier established an NHL record for most points by a rookie with 95 last season, but it took the New York Islander 15 games before he scored his first goal this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02997/3974853-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="322" height="476"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jack Valiquette</figcaption></div>&bull; WHEN THE N.Y. Islanders downed Los Angeles. 3-1. recently it was a portrait in contrasts Here were the Islanders, undefeated in nine NHL games, playing the Kings, winless in seven Ron Greschner. Rangers promising young defenseman. needed 15 stitches to close a nasty cut when his ear was ripped open during a scramble for the puck against Chicago. The gritty youngster from Goodoil. Sask., will wear a helmet with a protective shield Mike Palmateer of the Toronto Maple Leafs became the first goalie to shut out the Canadiens since Bruce Gamble did it on Dec. 9. 1970. when the Toronto rookie blanked the Habs on Nov. 17. 1-0 ..New Haven Nighthawks of the AHL are pleased with their blueline duo of Larry Sacharuk and John Bednarski Both belong to the Rangers and both will be back with them soon&hellip;The New York ad agency of Ribaudo & Schaefer reports that JOFA is having great success with its newly launched International Sports Club&hellip;Clint Benedict, last of the great stand-up goalies, died recently in Ottawa at the age of 85. He played for three Stanley Cup winners in Ottawa and one with Montreal Maroons&hellip;After spending half of his 35 years as a hockey trainer. Ken Carson is quitting the Pittsburgh Penguins to take over as trainer of the Toronto Blue Jays in the American Baseball League&hellip;Johnny Bassett, owner of the WHA Birmingham Bulls, is trying to ignite a fire under Vaclav Nedomansky. who doesn&rsquo;t play rough enough&hellip;Coach Al Arbour is worried about his Islanders&rsquo; poor power play. After producing a record-tying 92 goals last season, the Isles have fallen far off the pace this year. In fact, they only had nine after 13 games&hellip;Art Skov, who retired last year after 19 years as an NHL referee, is the new supervisor of offcials of the World Hockey Association. Skov. 48. will study the performance of WHA referees and linesmen and offer recommendations and guidance where needed.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03892/3974846-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="339" height="550"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Greschner</figcaption></div>&bull; STEVE SHUTT, first player to score 20 goals in the NHL this season, has one of the choppiest skating styles of any player in pro hockey. The Montreal winger looks less like a major league star than most of the performers around today&hellip;When Harry Neale, coach of the New England Whalers, was asked what he thought about the New York Rangers after playing a 2-2 tie with the Rangers in an exhibition game, he answered: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to see them in our division&rsquo;&hellip;A Christmas gift every hockey fan appreciates is a copy of THE HOCKEY NEWS 1977 Yearbook It&rsquo;s a MUST for the real fan and covers both the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association in great depth .Bill Long is doing everything possible to make the Greensboro Generals a success in the Southern Hockey League, but he and his associates are finding it the toughest task they&rsquo;ve ever had facing them&hellip;Los Angeles Kings are grumbling about the extra travel this season since the California Seals were moved from Oakland to Cleveland&hellip;Punch Imlach would like to make a trade for Jacques Richard but there aren t any clubs interested in the left winger ..Rod Gilbert will play his 1.000th game for the Rangers on Dec. 12. They will have a special night honoring him in New York in early March.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04790/3974839-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="325" height="525"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harry Neale</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05651/3974891-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2>Too Much Pressure On Maple Leafs</h2>The trouble with the Toronto Maple Leafs is that too much pressure has been placed on them to win the Stanley Cup.They have an excellent team, but are not yet ready to think about the Cup.While trying to look fancy, they have given up the puck too often and this frequently results in a goal.Wayne Thomas is still a star, but is very nervous too. The Leafs should get back to their un-fancy style of hockey and start winning again.JOHN CUNNINGHAM, Brampton, Ont.<h2>Capitals Being Built Into Respectable Club</h2>I think someone ought to give credit where credit is due. Max McNab and Tom McVie have built the Washington Capitals into a respectable club this year.Max McNab has made several key acquisitions, which include Gerry Meehan and Guy Charron. Tom McVie has built the Caps on the ice without a great amount of talent&mdash; just plain old hard work.Evidence of the Caps&rsquo; marked improvement is the recent span from Oct. 21 to Nov. 9. Over that period, the Caps were a much improved 3-41.Besides winning three, they were successful in tying a playoff contender, Los Angeles, and of the four losses, two were to Buffalo and one to Chicago, both of whom are playoff teams.That&rsquo;s quite an improvement from the old scores of 11-0 and 9-0. Mr. McNab and Mr. McVie will be part of a Stanley Cup in the future.BILL OLEVITCH, Dayton. Ohio<h2>Cincinnati Fans Want New Members</h2>As the fans in Cincinnati, we are extremely pleased with the exciting coverage of the World Hockey Association by THE HOCKEY NEWS.Since your services also include Fan Forum, we would like anyone wishing to join an exclusive WHA fan club to write: Tim Gall, 5-2079 Meadowbrook Rd.. Burlington. Ontario. Canada.Again, we feel THE HOCKEY NEWS is super.TIM GALL, Burlington. Ont.<h2>Isles&rsquo; Fans Fortunate To Have Resch, Smith</h2>I have been a New York Islanders&rsquo; fan since they first started out. Seeing them come up as far as they have makes me really proud of them. I want to comment on the fans&rsquo; attitude toward our two fine goalies.Glenn Resch and Billy Smith are two of the best goaltenders in the National Hockey League. Now that Glenn has made a name for himself, it seems everyone is forgetting about Billy Smith.People seem to forget that before Resch came along, it was Smith who did all the fine work It was his fine goaltending that got them up the ladder. .It&rsquo;s a disgrace the way people boo him when he makes a mistake. Is that the thanks he gets? All professional athletes need the fan support&mdash;not the booing.I think the fans should be grateful for the two fine goaltenders we have.KATHY JAISLI, New Hyde Park. N.Y.<h2>Is Boston A Real Hockey Town?</h2>I&rsquo;ve been a Bruin fan for many years now. but with the loss of Bobby Orr last June, there is something I am not quite sure of.Is the city of Boston a real hockey town like Montreal or Toronto?Before Mr. Orr arrived, the Bruins did not draw very well at all. But as soon as Orr established himself as a superstar, not just any superstar but a defenseman called by the experts as the greatest player of all time, people flocked from all over to watch the wonder boy perform.The Boston Garden was sold out for practically every game when Orr showed the people of Boston exactly who he was.During the 1975-76 season, the Bruins sold out a mere five or six times when teams like Montreal or Philly came to town.They did not sell out a single game for the quarter-finals against L A.This season, the Bruins are off to a flying start and they are averaging about 10,500 a game.Did the people of Boston pack the Garden for those seven or eight years to watch the greatest player of all time play or to watch the Bruins romp to another one-sided victory? I think the latter is questionable.DAVID ISOTTI. Sudbury, Ont.<h2>Schultz Is Acting Like A Big Baby</h2>I am writing this letter about the article in the Nov. 5. 1976 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS regarding the trade of Dave Schultz in Frank Orr&rsquo;s column.I think that Schultz was totally wrong about the things he said&mdash;such as &ldquo;they go hunting in packs.&rdquo; &ldquo;they start fights deliberately.&rdquo; and &ldquo;they will team up on an opponent three on one.&rdquo;None of these are true except the one that they start fights deliberately. Schultz was the only one who would start a fight for no reason.Schultz also said that he was glad to leave the Flyers to protect his reputation. The only reputation that he has is to be a dirty player.I think Fred Shero did a smart thing throwing Schultz away. He should have done it long ago. 1 also think that Dave Schultz was mad over the trade, but just isn&rsquo;t man enough to admit it.When the Flyers and the Kings meet again. I hope the Flyers do just what Schultz said they do. Schultz is acting like a big baby and not like the Hammer he used to be.SAM McCAULEY, Marietta. Ohio &#9632;

f0004-05

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01903/3974922-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GIL PERREAULT&hellip; Gets New Left Winger</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;Don&rsquo;t look now. but the French Connection has been disconnected again.Since the 1972-73 season. Gil Perreault. Kick Martin and Rene Robert have been the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; most successful and widely-publicized forward line. The trio actually got together near the end of the 1971-72 campaign. shortly after Robert was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade for Eddie Shack.Each season, the Connection was broken up for some length of time, usually only a few games.Last season, however, the disconnection last longer. From Dec. 18 until Feb. 26, Martin was playing on a different line from Perreault and Robert. For a short time. Gil and Rene were broken up, too. All three were on different lines.Martin switched from left wing, where he won National Hockey League All Star honors, to right wing during the long separation. He did quite well, at first. Fourteen goals in his first nine games on the wrong side.But later on. neither line did so well and coach Floyd Smith reconnected the Connection for a strong finish.Before this season started, members of the Connection, denying rumors of dissension among them for the nth time, said they hoped to play together for many years to come.When the schedule began, however, they weren&rsquo;t performing with their former verve. The entire team wasn&rsquo;t doing so hot. in fact. Gil. Rick and Rene were just part of the crowd that couldn&rsquo;t seem to put things together. Passes just weren&rsquo;t connecting and every player seemed to be trying to do it all by himself.Coach Smith finally decided it was time to break up the Connection again. Part of the reason probably^ was the injury to Danny Gare, right winger on the strong two-way line centered by Don Luce, with Craig Ramsay on the left side.Gare, bothered by back trouble since being hurt in Team Canada training camp, finally was told by Sabre brass to take some time off to recuperate and went home to Nelson, B.C.Smitty moved Robert to Gare s spot with Luce and Ramsay (Ramsay immediately got hurt, himself, but he was back in action the next game, extending his club consecutive-game record which is now in the mid-200s).Martin went over to the right side and Joe Kowal, Buffalo&rsquo;s No. 1 draft pick, was called up from Hershey in the American League, and installed as the left winger for Gil and Rick.Jacques Richard and Gary McAdam also filled in with the two scoring stars and Martin switched from right wing to left wing, depending upon whom he and Gil were teaming with.The first game under the new setup was a huge success. The Sabres defeated the Philadelphia Flyers for the first time in a regular season game since March 28. L973. Robert sent Luce a pass for the first goal of the game and Don ended up with two goals. Perreault got one.In the next game, a 5-0 triumph over the St. Louis Blues. Martin scored twice including the first goal of the game at the 30-second mark, and Perreault got one. his 200th in the NHL. Kowal assisted on Gil s goal for the rookie s first NHL point. &#9632;

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Sabres’Smith Disconnects French Connection Again

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>COLORADO&mdash;Mike Kitchen, defenseman. recalled from Rhode Island of AHL. Jim McElmury, defenseman. and Dave Hudson, forward. sent to Rhode Island.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Russ Walker, forward. sent to Fort Worth of CHL.MINNESOTA&mdash;Chris Ahrens, defenseman. sent to New Haven of AHL.Dennis Giannini, forward, recalled from Rhode Island of AHL and reassigned to Baltimore of SHL.VANCOUVER&mdash;Bob Murray, defenseman. and Brad Gassoff. forward, assigned to Tulsa of CHLJim Wiley, forward, recalled from Tulsa.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Wayne Stephenson, goaler, placed on voluntary retired list at own request.MONTREAL&mdash;Dave Elenbaas, goaler. sent to Nova Scotia of AHL.Michel Larocque, goaler. returned to active roster from injury list.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Rick Bourbonnais, forward, sent to Kansas City of CHL.WASHINGTON&mdash;Larry Bolonchuk, defenseman, Alex Forsythe andBrian Kinsella, forwards, returned to Springfield of AHL.DETROIT&mdash;Jim Nahrgang, defenseman. recalled from Kalamazoo of IHL.ATLANTA&mdash;Greg Fox, forward, recalled from Tulsa of CHL and reassigned to Greensboro of SHL.<h2>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</h2>BIRMINGHAM&mdash;Gilles Bilodeau, forward, recalled from Charlotte of SHL.Dave Syvret, forward, released as free agent.Paul Heaver, defenseman. returned to Charlotte.CALGARY&mdash;Rick Jodzio, forward, recalled from Tidewater of SHL.Claude St. Sauveur, forward, andGeorge Pesut, defenseman, sent to Tidewater.Bernie Lukowich, forward, cleared WHA waivers and assigned to Tidewater.INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Mike Zuke, forward, recalled from Mohawk Valley of NAHL for two games and returnedNick Harbaruk, forward, sent to Oklahoma City of CHL.Bob O&rsquo;Reilly, defenseman. returned to Mohawk Valley.QUEBEC&mdash;Pierre Roy, defenseman. sent to Maine of NAHL.SAN DIEGO&mdash;Bob Dobek, forward, recalled from Charlotte of SHL.Tony Cassolato, forward, sent to Charlotte as replacement.PHOENIX&mdash;Duane Bray, forward, returned to Oklahoma City of CHL.EDMONTON&mdash;Paul Stewart, forward, released as free agent.CINCINNATI&mdash;Jamie Hislop, forward, recalled from Hampton of SHL Dale Smedsmo, forward, sent to Hampton as replacement.Brian Melrose andDan Justin, defensemen, assigned to Springfield of AHL on loan. &#9632;

Hockey Players On The Move…

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011073/3974977-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRED AHERN&hellip; Started Win Over Rockies (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>CLEVELAND&mdash;To most hockey teams, the road is not the friendliest place to play a game of shinny.But home &hellip;aaah. the friendliness of the home rink. Knowing the little nuances and intracacies of the old home pad makes all the difference in the world.Worth at least one goal, that&rsquo;s what playing at home means. Someone had better tell that to the Cleveland Barons.The Cleveland icers are having a few problems getting untracked at home this season. They played 10 of their first 14 games at home and had hoped to jump out of the box on the right foot because of it.Forget it. After the first 10 games, the Barons are 4-4-2 and still trying to get used to the strange boards at the Richfield Coliseum. Soft ice has also posed somewhat of a problem for the speedy Cleveland skaters.Now for the road record. Doesn&rsquo;t look at all impressive at 1-3-2 in the first six games, but there wasn&rsquo;t a bad performance among them.It could very easily be 6-0-0 with a bounce here or there. The losses have been by 4-3 in Boston. 3-1 (open net goal) in Vancouver, and 4-3 in Los Angeles.The two ties have come in New York against the Islanders and in Atlanta against the Flames. The lone victory was a 2-1 effort in Colorado against the Rockies.Cleveland coach Jack Evans was more concerned with his team&rsquo;s record at home than he was with a six-game trip in early and mid-November.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll do all right on the road,&rdquo; he said shortly before departing on the journey. The victory in Denver and tie in Colorado proved him correct to that point.Those three points helped the Barons stretch their unbeaten streak to four games after snapping a five- game losing skein with a 6-4 triumph over Philadelphia. A 2-2 tie with Pittsburgh helped it along.Cleveland general manager Bill McCreary is of the belief that certain members of his team produce better on the road than at home.&rsquo;Some of the guys try to get a little extra fancy when they play before the home folks.&rdquo; theorizes McCreary, who showed a lot of patience during the five-game skid.&rsquo;When they get on the road, all they have to worry about is putting the puck in the net. Guys like Fred Ahern. Wayne Merrick and Gary Sabourin score well on the road.&rdquo;Ahern then proceeded to score the opening goal in the Colorado victory and Merrick blinked the red lamp in the draw with Atlanta.So while playing at home does have its advantages, playing on the road hasn&rsquo;t been so bad for the Barons this season. So far. that is. &#9632;

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Barons Having Trouble On Home Ice

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE PARRISH</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;The thick mane of grey hair and the bearing suggest a man of worldly sophistication, but Phil Maloney must be feeling more like an acne- covered teenager at his first dance these days.The man is persistent enough, even downright pushy at times, but while the rest of the National Hockey League s general managers will flirt with him from time to time, they keep rejecting his trade advances.Maloney, you see. has spent a good part of this season with a phone stuck in one ear and his pencil hovering over a list of GM numbers: But so far. he&rsquo;s come up virtually empty- handed.That&rsquo;s not to completely dismiss the acquisition of center Ralph Stewart and defenseman Dave Fortier from the New York Islanders a month ago. Truth is. though, that Stewart is now busy doing his thing for the Canucks&rsquo; Central League farm club in Tulsa and. despite the addition of Fortier, the Vancouver defense is still tripping all over itself en route to forging the worst goals against record in the entire league.Maloney. like a lot of other people, insists that what the Canucks really need is a major deal to shake the .club out of its advanced state of lethargy.&ldquo;Our trouble has been that some of the guys who should be leading the team aren&rsquo;t producing the kind of performances we expected, he readily admits. &ldquo;Some of them seem glassy-eyed on the bench and in a daze on the ice.&rdquo;While Maloney isn&rsquo;t in the habit of dropping names. Mike Walton. Dennis Ververgaert and Bob Dailey are being fingered as the prime culprits for the Canucks&rsquo; shabby 5-12-1 record.Walton has managed just two goals. Ververgaert has eight but isn&rsquo;t burning opposition goaltenders the-way a lot of people think he can and Dailey has been the biggest disappointment on a defense that spends much of its time on the horizontal.Maloney had one deal worked out with Cleveland Barons, only to have it fall through after the Barons beat Philadelphia Flyers and tied Pittsburgh Penguins.He talked with Boston general manager Harry Sinden when the Canucks opened a three-game, three- loss road trip against the Bruins recently, but came away snarling that &ldquo;he wanted to give us two guys he can&rsquo;t use for one of our players he could use.&rdquo;That last road show was a total flop, including an embarassing first for the Canucks&mdash;a 4-2 loss to the rejuvenated Washington Capitals&mdash;as well as a 3-1 setback in Boston and a 6-4 loss in Philadelphia.While he is getting a mite desperate to swing some kind of deal. Maloney won&rsquo;t jump at just anything.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no sense in making a crap-for-crap deal.&rdquo; he spat following the Philadelphia game, one in which three goals were direct results of defensive miscues.Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; boss Red Kelly sees the problem from a different perspective.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re offering canoes for battleships.&rdquo; he smiled when queried as to the Canucks&rsquo; difficulties in the trading market.If the Canucks are canoes, then it follows that most of them have spent this season up a creek without their paddles.One individual who doesn&rsquo;t fall into that category, though, is youthful Andy Spruce, a 22-year-old winger up from Tulsa this season.An excellent digger, his rambunctiousness and enthusiasm have made him one of the few bright rays shining through a thus-far dreary season.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a guy we didn&rsquo;t even expect to be on the team.&rdquo; marvels Maloney. &ldquo;He gives maximum effort every time he&rsquo;s on the ice. Some of our guys should take a lesson from him. &ldquo;Spruce already has four goals to his credit, more than several of his more-ballyhooed teammates.Still, if some other team displayed an overwhelming desire for his services. it could probably be arranged.But then, with the possible exceptions of goaltenders Curt Ridley and Cesare Maniago. defenseman Harry Snepsts and forwards Rick Blight and Chris Oddleifson. that could be said of just about anyone. &#9632;

Maloney Admits Canucks Need Trade To Shake Club

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01958/3975032-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DEREK SANDERSON&hellip; Not 100 Per Cent Yet.</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;The St. Louis Blues, slipping into a losing streak for the first time under Emile Francis. were in need of some improvements in the health of their top line of 1975-76.Derek Sanderson missed five games with a wrist injury, then played with a sore wrist. Chuck Lefley missed two games and was limited to spot duty in three or four others because of a broken rib. Claude Larose had some knee problems but stayed in the lineup&mdash;sometimes on a makeshift line with Larry Patey at center and either Floyd Thomson or Dave Hrechkosy on left wing.Sanderson said. &ldquo;Rosie&rsquo;s playing at about 80 per cent, and I&rsquo;m at about&hellip;well, among the three of us we&rsquo;re playing at about 230 percent.&rdquo;The line&rsquo;s scoring production was down 37 per cent as compared to last season when Sanderson. Lefley and Larose finished with a line production of 190 points. Fortunately for the Blues the line of Garry Unger, Bob MacMillan and Pierre Plante was on a scoring binge, and the excellent play of Red Berenson was helping linemates Ted Irvine and Jerry Butler to respectable scoring production.&ldquo;You always want the start of the season to be better than it is.&rdquo; said Lefley. &ldquo;but these injuries on our line have really been a problem. Turk got hurt pretty early, and we&rsquo;re just getting the line together.&rdquo;Sanderson credited St. Louis trainer Tommy Woodcock with some astute taping in his efforts to piece the line together.&ldquo;Tommy Woodcock is the best trainer in the business,&rdquo; said Sanderson. &ldquo;He knows how to tape, and not many guys know how to do that. He doesn&rsquo;t make dumb mistakes as some other trainers do.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a statistic that&rsquo;s very important, the number of manpower games lost to a team,&rdquo; added Sanderson, &ldquo;and the Blues must have the lowest number in the league. Tommy gets you back into the lineup about 30 percent faster than any other trainer.&rdquo;Sanderson returned to the lineup after missing five games and scored a goal on his second shift. Danny Bouchard was hugging the post of the Atlanta goal, but Sanderson somehow squeezed the-puck through a tiny opening to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.Sanderson. Lefley and Larose were flying in the first period of their first game together in a couple of weeks, but then the soreness of those nagging injuries slowed their pace.The Blues lost to the Flames. 53. for their third straight loss. They were beaten soundly twice previously in the same week, 5-0 by the Buffalo Sabres and 8-1 by the Montreal Canadiens.The loss to the Canadiens prevented the Blues from setting a team record with a seventh consecutive victory at home. The Blues have won a sixth straight game at home on five occasions.With Sanderson and Lefley out of the lineup briefly Francis had called Rick Bourbonnais from the Blues&rsquo; Kansas City farm club. However, Bourbonnais saw little action.The Blues were carrying three more players than they could dress, and the most regular member of the nonplaying crew was Bob Plager. the only member of the team who has been with the Blues since their first game in the National Hockey League in 1967. The Blues were carrying seven defensemen. and Plager appeared to be the odd man out. Francis used a six- defenseman system but said he wanted to settle eventually on five defensemen. Rick Smith also was sitting out some games, while Bob Gassoff was the fifth man in some games. Bob Hess. Bruce Affleck and newcomers Rod Seiling and Gilles Marotte were playing regularly for the Blues. &#9632;

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Sanderson Praises Trainer In Holding Blues Together

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011064/3975070-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="447" height="506"></div>Angelic Assassin&hellip;&ldquo;BABY FACE, YOU&rsquo;VE got the cutest little baby face&hellip;&rdquo;He looks like the kid that got his hand caught in the cookie jar, and when a teammate who looks like he got his face shaped by a hockey stick and his profile sharpened on the blade of a skate croons this song to him. he shudders. &ldquo;Maybe 1 should get my nose broken.&rsquo;&rdquo; he wonders. After winning the rookie award in the National League last season, he was subjected to a series of stories like the one in Sport Magazine that was headlined. &ldquo;Bryan Trottier Looks Like An Angel and Plays Like The Devil.&rdquo;Well, he is just going to have to learn to live with his handicap, like the rest of us short, fat. homely lads do with ours. He has had a lot of adjustments to make since moving from Val Marie. Saskatchewan population 250. to Long Island. New York, population 2.5 million.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02957/3975063-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="849" height="1129"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Trottier of the New York Islanders claims he is the most mixed-up person on earth. But, he gets himself straightened around when it&rsquo;s time to play hockey.</figcaption></div>Bryan was raised with four brothers and sisters on a cattle ranch. Although he had a French name, only one of his grandparents was French. His mother is Irish and his father is Chippewa-Cree Indian. His father went to work in road construction in Montana and Wyoming for a few years, but moved his family back to the ranch when Bryan was six.Bryan took care of the cows and horses and hefted hay in-between sessions in school. He was not given time off to get into organized hockey until he was almost 10, by which time most kids figure they&rsquo;re ready for the majors. &ldquo;My dad told me what to do. and if I didn&rsquo;t do it, I got my butt kicked.&rdquo; comments the young Trottier. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have a lot. but we had each other, and we had happiness.&rdquo;He wasn&rsquo;t ready for the majors until he was 17. when he fired in 41 goals for the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Canada League. Surprised he lasted until the 22nd pick of the 1974 draft of unerage amateurs, the New York Islanders grabbed him. Rather than rush him. they returned him to the same junior loop, where he fired in 46 goals for Lethbridge the following season.At 19. he made the big move right into the National League last season, breaking in with three goals and two assists for a team record five points his first game in his new home. Nassau Coliseum, Pressured by publicity after that, he cooled off only slightly, concluding his first big time campaign with 32 goals and league rookie records of 63 assists and 95 points, helping turn the expansion Islanders into a serious threat to the establishment. The spotlight s shone on him, bright and hot, and he could hear the cheers in his head.NOT BIG OR exceptionally fast, he is. smart. strong and quick. Always on the move, he has a keen sense of anticipation, hustles, digs the puck out of the corners, makes clever passes, and has an accurate shot. Comments manager Bill Torrey. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t teach his natural instincts.&rdquo; Adds coach Al Arbour. &ldquo;He works hard, has great reflexes, makes fewer mistakes and has less to learn than most youngsters.&rdquo;Bryan shrugs and says. &ldquo;I feel sloppy out there. like I&rsquo;m falling over my own feet and beating up the puck.&rdquo;&ldquo;He sets high standards for himself.&rdquo; says Tiger Williams, who teamed with him in junior ranks &ldquo;You take a kid from the middle of Saskatchewan and dump him in The Big Town and he bound to be unsure of himself.&rdquo;Rather than find a fancy apartment for himself. Trottier roomed with an older couple. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re super. They make me make my bed and clear the dishes off the table,&rdquo; the kid grinned.He did date, but said. &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t marry until I find the right one. So far. It&rsquo;s find one. lose one. find another. She doesn&rsquo;t have to like hockey, just me. and I&rsquo;m a hard bugger to get along with &rsquo;He said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;m doing. I don&rsquo;t plan ahead. I just get up and go.I don&rsquo;t think things through, because if I did. I wouldn&rsquo;t know what to do.&ldquo;The only thing I want to do for sure is go back to the ranch this summer and settle there some day. I like the life. Hard work and long hours, but open air and three good meals a day.&ldquo;I feel like you have to give all of yourself to make it in anything. When I quit school for hockey. I was scared. Money made the choice for me. I like money. But 1 don&rsquo;t know what to do with it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;M THE MOST mixed-up person on earth Everyone&rsquo;s telling me what to do with my money, my time, and my future. I guess it will work out.&rdquo;By the time he turned 20 last July he was piling trophies on top of each other. And as ladies are able to do, one had made up his mind for him she was the right one for him. He married Laura Lynn Theis of Sayville. New York, and they moved into a new home on Long Island&rsquo;s North Shore.This season started more slowly for him than last season, but the signs are his star will continue to shine. Tin more sure of myself and my ability than I was.&rdquo; he says. He teases his teammates as much as they tease him now. Seeing a teammate walk past, he calls him back to ask him. &ldquo;How far do you think you&rsquo;d have gotten if I hadn&rsquo;t called you back?&rdquo;His father taught the rest of the family to play guitar, and they play club dates, dances and weddings. &ldquo;We make music, not money.&rdquo; Bryan laughs. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re very good, but we keep getting asked back. We try to sing. too. Sad songs, like country songs are. All broken romances and busted dreams.&rdquo;But for Bryan Trottier right now. life is like a good dream, whole, and fresh with young love. And the crowd is cheering. &#9632;

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Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY LARRY BORTSTEIN</div>DENVER-Michel Plasse figures it&rsquo;s about time he became more than just an answer to a trivia question.Since Feb. 21. 1971, Michel, who likes to be called Mike, has supplied the answer to the query: &ldquo;Who is the only goalie in professional hockey history to score a goal in a regulation game?&rdquo; On that night almost six years ago, while playing for the Kansas City Blues of the American Hockey League. Plasse sent a rink- length pass into the open cage of the Oklahoma City Blazers and sent himself into the record books.&ldquo;That was great, &ldquo; says the 28- year-old Montreal native who has been playing superbly in the nets for the Colorado Rockies. &ldquo;Really nice. But it was a freakish thing. It could never happen again. I want people to recognize my work as a goalie. I&rsquo;m not here to score goals. I&rsquo;m here to stop them, or at least try to stop them.&rdquo;Sometimes, with a young bunch like the Rockies, it isn&rsquo;t easy. Michel was particularly rankled after one especially poor performance by his teammates and vented his displeasure in the post-game locker room. Since Doug Favell went on the shelf with a knee injury on Oct. 15. Plasse has played nearly every game in the Colorado nets. In his first nine games between the pipes, during which he won one. tied one. and lost seven, the punchless Rockies scored only 15 goals while Plasse was yielding just 27.Without Mike&rsquo;s heroic work night after night, the enemy goal harvest could have been much higher. &ldquo;If we keep letting them get shot after shot, &ldquo; he said this particular night, &ldquo;some of them are going to go in. No one can stop all those shots and rebounds of shots.&rdquo;But all was sweetness and light in Colorado&rsquo;s locker room following the Rockies&rsquo; game against the Black Hawks in Chicago Stadium on Sunday night. Nov. 7. The Denver sextet won it. 3-2. their first road victory of the season.The three goals by Colorado were especially heady since the Rockies had managed only a singleton in each of their four previous games before beating Chicago.&ldquo;This was our best all-round effort of the season.&rdquo; coach Johnny. Wilson crowed, and there was no argument forthcoming.&ldquo;Were not gonna get a lot of goals.&rdquo; said Plasse, &ldquo;but we have to take advantage of the scoring opportunities we do get. Tonight we did that. It really helps the goalie when his team can get at least three goals. For a young team we&rsquo;re very respectable defensively, but our offense still has to come along. &ldquo;Plasse&rsquo;s heavy workload in Favell&rsquo;s absence doesn&rsquo;t bother him. When this season began Favell and Plasse were alternating in the Rocky cage, although not always one game for Doug, another for Michel. For example. Favell played Colorado&rsquo;s first two games. Plasse the next two.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way Johnny told us it would be most of the year.&rdquo; says Mike. &ldquo;It would be nice having two good goalies here to split the work and I think when Doug is back, that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ll have. But I don&rsquo;t mind playing every game for a while. You know. I played 55 games for Pittsburgh last season.&rdquo; And quite well, too. Plasse posted a 24-19-10 record with two shutouts and a 3.45goals- against average for the Pens.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011029/3975139-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="627" height="900"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICHEL PLASSE &hellip; Handles Workload Well.</figcaption></div>Plasse, who saw his first NHL action when he played one game for the St. Louis Blues in 1970-71. and later spent the 1973 and 1974 campaigns with the Canadiens, twice has been involved in trades in which Denis Herron also changed uniforms.Mike went to the first-year Kansas City Scouts in the 1975 expansion draft, and after appearing in 24 games for K.C. was dealt to Pittsburgh for Jean-Guy Legace and Herron on Jan. 10. 1975. Now Plasse is with the Rockies by virtue of a deal last Aug. 7. which followed Herron s signing a Pittsburgh contract as a free agent.In late October Plasse discarded I his old conventional-style mask and has been wearing the more open Russian-style headgear. &ldquo;I can see better with it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And you don&rsquo;t sweat as much with it on. It&rsquo;s not as close to your face as the regular mask. I asked our trainer to get me this new mask, and I&rsquo;m happy with it. I won&rsquo;t say it has I anything to do with how I&rsquo;m playing I still have to go out and play, and the mask can&rsquo;t win any games for me.&rdquo;The Rockies&rsquo; trainer, incidentally. Toby Wilson, no relation to the Colorado coach, is the lone holdover from last year&rsquo;s World Hockey Association Spurs in the current organization of Denver s NHL team.Recalling his tour of duty with Pittsburgh last year. Plasse says he prefers the close-to-the-vest style of play favored by the Rockies &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t play wide open like Pittsburgh because we haven&rsquo;t got the scorers.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;d rather be in games where the final score is 2-1 instead of 8-6. Of course, if we win. it doesn&rsquo;t matter to me what the score is. But I really think it&rsquo;s a better game all-round, for the fans and everything, when the score is low&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02884/3975132-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="1306" height="1460"><figcaption class="caption-body">WILF PAIEMENT&hellip; Shares Rockies&rsquo; Scoring Lead (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Plasse More Than Answer To Trivia Question

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY HUGH DELANO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011051/3975170-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="364" height="551"></div><h2>Hadfield&rsquo;s Knee Problem</h2>HE IS 36 YEARS old and in his 16th NHL season He has just had one knee operation. He may need another. He must sit and watch in- stead of playing. He is worried about his career He wonders about his future.&ldquo;May be I&rsquo;ll start a new career in pro football. Vic Hadfield, tongue in cheek, said by telephone from his home in Upper St Clair. Pa.Even when the going gets rough, the Pittsburgh Penguins blond left wing retains his wry. self-deprecating sense of humor.Vic had just returned home after working out with the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers in their weight and conditioning room in Three Rivers Stadium.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to be home with the wife and kids for a change bin to tell the truth. I wish I could be with the team and play hockey.&rsquo; he said.Suddenly the snappy sense of humor had vanished There was a somber tinge of gloom in Hadfield&rsquo;s monotone voice.&ldquo;This damned knee,&rdquo; he said, spitting out the words.Hadfield has tried to play twice this season His surgically repaired right knee has failed to hold up. Now he wonders when he will play again. If he will play again.&ldquo;I played two periods in Chicago (Oct. 13) and the knee gave out on me. &ldquo; he said. &ldquo;Then I played three more games and the knee still wasn&rsquo;t right.&rdquo;He sighed.&ldquo;I hope I don&rsquo;t have to gel cut again, he said<h2>May Need More Surgery</h2>VIC UNDERWENT SURGERY after last season. It was supposed to be a simple operation: repair torn ligaments and a capsule in the back of the knee. He missed most of the exhibition season but expected his knee would respond for him to play full-time during the 1976-77 season.&ldquo;They&rsquo;d fixed the capsule but they found they hadn&rsquo;t fixed the torn ligaments.&rdquo; he said.Hadfield now must continue to rest his delicate knee He must undergo strenuous therapy tor two or three weeks. Doctors then will reexamine the wounded knee. They don&rsquo;t want to operate again but it may be the only alternative.Hadfield, in New York recently to be fitted with a knee brace al Lenox Hill Hospital, injured his knee last February when he slid into a goal-post.&ldquo;My knee flexed and it absorbed the whole blow, said the man who spent the first 13 of 16 NHL seasons&rsquo; as a Ranger before being traded to Pittsburgh for defenseman Nick Beverley after the 1973-74 season.Some Ranger people bad-mouthed Vic. They said he was washed up He proved them wrong: 31 goals. 73 points in his first season as a Penguin. 30 goals. 65 points last season. He helped the young players He was a spirited team leader.&ldquo;I never felt I had to prove myself after the Rangers unloaded me I. think my record speaks for itself. But it has been satisfying to still be able to produce after a team you&rsquo;ve been with for a long time gives up on you.&rdquo; he said.<h2>Misses Ranger Mates</h2>ODDLY. THE DREADFULLY weak last-place Rangers now could use a healthy Hadfield. John Ferguson still has not found an ideal left wing to play on the line with Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge Beverley. the player for whom Vic was traded, recently was traded to Minnesota with Bill Fairbairn for Bill Goldsworthy.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy in Pittsburgh but I&rsquo;ll always wish I&rsquo;d been able to finish my career in New York with Rod and Ratty.&rdquo; said HadfieldHe referred to Rod Gilbert and Jean R&acirc;telle. They were Ranger teammates from 1961 to 1974. They were linemates for nine years They formed the most awesome line the Rangers have had in recent seasons.&ldquo;It seems strange to see Ratty in a Boston uniform, me playing for Pittsburgh and Rod the only one of us left in New York, said Vie Like Hadfield. R&acirc;telle has proved Ranger management made a mistake trading him to Boston last year. He and Brad Park helped the Bruins win a division championship last season. They are helping keep the Bruins in first place this season. Esposito and Carol Vadnais. for whom they were traded, have been unable to lift the deteriorating Rangers from last place.If Hadfield s playing future were not in doubt, he and his former Ranger linemates all would probably reach the 1.000-game career level this season. Gilbert, highest scorer in New York history, entered the season with 969 games played. He will reach 1.000 on Dec .12 &#9632;

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HOCKEY BEAT

<div class="byline">BY JACK MCCARTHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02853/3975201-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GERRY CHEEVERS&hellip; Wins Count Over Average.</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;The Bruins were scurrying along atop the Adams Division of the Wales Conference with one of the best records in hockey, and now they are getting analyzed. How? Why? Who?But coach Don Cherry, who picked up more from the Russians during the Team Canada series than any espionage agent, has some ideas of who. what, when and why. to wit and whereas:&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say this club is a throwback to the old days. It reminds me of the way it was in the late 40s and early 50s. They are a together bunch&ldquo;They go out together: hang around together, play together and help one another all the time That has an awful lot to do with the way we have been playing&ldquo;I think the only guy we have in the top 10 in scoring is Peter McNab (17 goals in 17 games), and 1 don&rsquo;t think our goalkeepers are in the lop 10&ldquo;Every game we work hard We have to. It&rsquo;s like the seventh game of the Stanley Cup every night. We never have a laugher. I&rsquo;m exhausted after many games.&ldquo;But these guys will listen to you when you try to get a point across to them. They listen. I know it may sound corny in this day and age. but I really believe that the spirit is the thing. This team has good spirit and they want to win.&ldquo;We have the best record in the league right now. and usually when this is the case, the goaltending is at. or near, the top in the figures. Ours is not. but the goals-against records don&rsquo;t concern me.&ldquo;One reason is that when we get up three or four goals. I fool around a little and sometimes we get caught, like in Detroit.&ldquo;But. we haven&rsquo;t finished one game with the lines the same as when we started. All of our wingers can shift from side to side. This can come in mighty handy in case of injuries.I watched the Russians do this. They even shifted from side to side on faceoffs. So. I asked myself. Why can&rsquo;t we do this?&rsquo; So now we can do it.&ldquo;Dave Forbes. Don Marcotte and Bobby Schmautz. all wings, have all played center at one time or another. I think it gives the guys a different perspective to know how a centerman feels, to know how a wing feels. It helps their game all-around, and of course, it can be a life-saver when you get the injuries.&rdquo;To go back to the goaltending situation for a moment. Gerry Cheevers and Gilles Gilbert may not have the real low numbers in the goals-against. but. as this was written. Cheevers was 8-1-0. and had five straight wins. Gilles Gilbert was 5-2-1. Which points up what Cherry said about his non-concern on the averages. They win the games.If memory serves correctly, the last Bruins team or teams that had this togetherness that Cherry likes were the last Stanley Cup teams of Orr. Espos. Cheevers. McKenzie. Johnston. Cashman. Sanderson, etc.This was really a hell-for-leather group, and they were all for one and one for all. In those days before the &ldquo;third-man-in&rdquo; rule, when it started out there, you got the whole Bruins team into it.I spent three years with this gang, and they had the spirit, and were truly, if a sports team can be called this correctly, &ldquo;a family.&rdquo;But that was long ago and far away, and now Cherry senses the same sort of thing with his gang, and is pleased by it.BOSTON BEANS: Rick Middleton missed two weeks with a bruised left shoulder and Hank Nowak missed a half-dozen games with a bruised knee&hellip;The Bruins, like those Cup winners, had one stretch at home of 7-0-1 in Boston Garden&hellip;McNab, hottest of the hot. had 17 goals in 17 games, no less&hellip; &#9632;

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Togetherness Has Bruins Riding High In Standings

<div class="byline">BY ALAN TRUEX</div>ATLANTA-Bill Plett did not take the conventional route to the National Hockey League. He was born in Paraguay, and while he grew up in Canada, he may have been better at lacrosse.The Atlanta Flames drafted Plett almost as an afterthought: the fifth round, 80th player chosen in 1975.But he may turn out to be what the club has always needed, a right winger who is big, powerful and belligerent and who scores goals on more than a monthly basis.At least, he scored them in the minor leagues. In his first professional season. 1975-76, he had 30 goals for Tulsa. Scouts rated his shot the best on the team.Plett&rsquo;s value rose so much that Flames general manager Cliff Fletcher has turned down offers of a first-round draft choice for him.When the Flames recalled Plett from Tulsa in mid-November, he was leading the Central Hockey League in goals, with eight in 14 games.He was also leading in penalty minutes, with 68.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a super-aggressive player,&rdquo; Flames assistant GM David Poile said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the kind of guy who gets things going.&rdquo;Plett is six-foot-three, 210 pounds, and. he says, he plays aggressively &ldquo;because that&rsquo;s the way I have to Play&rdquo;In his first NHL game this season. Plett demonstrated his style by body checking Montreal defenseman Larry Robinson to the ice.&ldquo;One thing I like about him,&rdquo; Poile said of Plett, &ldquo;is that when a defenseman makes a pass, he will take him out of the play.&ldquo;He has big hands, and he has the ability to hang onto the puck into the middle.&rdquo;Poile sees substantial improvement in Plett now as compared to his brief appearance in the NHL last season.&ldquo;Last year when we brought him up, and in training camp this year,&rdquo; Poile said, &ldquo;he wasn&rsquo;t up with the tempo of the game. Offensively and defensively, he seemed to be a stride off.&ldquo;Like a lot of big kids, it may take him a while to get going.&rdquo;Plett admits, &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have a very good camp. Things just weren&rsquo;t going my way, I guess. I had a slow start in Tulsa, too. I didn&rsquo;t have any points in the first four games, and then I started scoring.&rdquo;Poile feels Plett can become a consistent scorer in the NHL &ldquo;if he can get his shot away a little faster. In the minors, he had a lot of time to wind up, but here, you have to whip it in a hurry.&rdquo;The blond-haired Plett was born in South America, where his father emigrated from Russia. &ldquo;During the war,&rdquo; Plett explained, &ldquo;he moved around a lot. I only lived there a year and a half.&rdquo;As a. teenager. Plett developed into a superb lacrosse player, and he was a member of Canada&rsquo;s championship team in 1974.But last summer he gave up lacrosse to concentrate exclusively on hockey.His advance in hockey was plodding at times. He played only 20 games on the Junior A level. Poile says, &ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t understand why he was only playing Tier 2. We took him because we were going for big kids.&rdquo;Plett claims. &ldquo;I was a pretty good juniors player, but I just didn&rsquo;t get a chance to play. I didn&rsquo;t get along with the coach.&rdquo;With the Flames. Plett is likely to get plenty of chances to play, although his arrival presented a confusing situation at right wing. The team already had a right winger of similar name, Bill Flett.But the Flames are figuring that in due time. Bill Plett will make a name for himself.NOTES: Defenseman David Shand was called up from Halifax a few days after he rented a house in Nova Scotia. He didn&rsquo;t even have time to take his clothes off the line before reporting to the Flames. &ldquo;I guess they&rsquo;re frozen now,&rdquo; Shand says&hellip;Flames farmed out right wing Rick Bowness. to Tulsa.Randy Manery was out three weeks with a separated shoulder, and Ed Kea missed four weeks with a broken bone in his ankle.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011006/3975232-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="620" height="800"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL PLETT &hellip; Value Rises</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Plett Fills Flames’ Requirements

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011025/3975270-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2>Scotty Likes New Rules</h2>ALTHOUGH 100 GAMES hardly represent enough time for the definitive test of new hockey rules. National Hockey League referee in-chief Scotty Morrison is satisfied that the legislation introduced this season to penalize heavily the instigators of fisticuffs is working wellThe new law. No. 54A. gives the referee power to hand out at his discretion, major or game misconduct penalties to players who deliberately initiate fights for the purpose of intimidation or punishment.The rule, which had the backing of the NHL Players Association, was designed (a) to combat the growing trend in which fights appeared to be started deliberately as part of some teams&rsquo; tactics, and (b) shake off the back of the NHL a few critics who claimed that the league was doing nothing to cope with the violent aspects of the game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02866/3975263-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="559" height="580"><figcaption class="caption-body">SCOTTY MORRISON</figcaption></div>There have been some rumbles from NHL owners that the new rules have reduced the number of fights and. thus, contributed to the puny attendance figures in several cities.That&rsquo;s about the same as an arms manufacturer saying that sales are down because there are no good big wars on right now If hockey is a sport which can survive only through fights in some cities, then those towns should pass from the scene.I&rsquo;m satisfied that rule 54A has accomplished what it was intended to do. &ldquo; Morrison said &ldquo;It has reduced the number of fights which were, or appeared to be. started deliberately.Morrison then listed penalty statistics from the first 10 games of the 1976-77 NHL season to back up his claim.1. A 20 percent decrease in the number of minor penalties.2 A decrease of ten&mdash;from 97 to 87&mdash;in the number of fighting majors in the first 100 games over a corresponding &rsquo;75-76 period3. A decrease by five in the number of misconducts but an increase by five in game misconducts, undoubtedly because of the instigator law.4 Nine situations in which the aggressor in a fight received the. heavier sentence for originating the mayhem.<h2>No Change Possible Now</h2>MORRISON WAS TO appear at a late November meeting of the NHL governors in Florida to discuss the instigator rules and explain their interpretation plus his view of how the rule had worked to date.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no possibility of the rule being changed because the NHL can&rsquo;t change rules in the middle of a season. Morrison said &ldquo;That can be done only by the rules committee at the annual meeting in June.&ldquo;There had been some concern expressed to me by governors of the league that there was a danger of a player receiving a heavier penalty simply because he won a fight which he didn&rsquo;t instigate I just wanted to clear up the way our people were calling the rule&ldquo;In five of the nine instances in which the instigator rule was called during the first 100 games, a supervisor of officials was in attendance at the game&mdash;and agreed with the call.&rdquo;<h2>Backing From Ballard</h2>IN THE PAST, Harold Ballard, the gregarious owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, often has sounded off strongly against those who criticized hockey violence. But on the matter of the instigator rule. Ballard was a backer.&ldquo;Look, understand that I don t think fighting in hockey should be eliminated because a good, quick flare-up can clear the air between players,&rdquo; Ballard said. &ldquo;Besides, no one gets hurt in a fight, or very seldom anyway.&ldquo;Some owners are a bit concerned that the new rule has reduced the number of fights, which the fans like in some cities, and some might even want it changed.&ldquo;But I think it&rsquo;s good that a player who deliberately stalls a fight gets the heave-ho. I&rsquo;m against a goon on one team who can&rsquo;t play hockey deliberately starting a fight with a star on another team and taking him off the ice.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

FRANK ORR SAYS

<div class="byline">BY BILL HEUFELDER</div>PITTSBUKGH-&rsquo;Leading the National Hockey League in tie games can leave a dub&hellip;well, fit to be tied.The Penguins waded through five deadlocked games in their first 16 encounters and found themselves slipping in the Norris Division where they were given a chance to challenge the Los Angeles Kings for second place.However, there have been problems, the latest being the disciplinary action taken against high- scoring Pierre Larouche. Able to handle the puck much better than he could handle himself. Larouche appeared more than a half-hour late for practice and was ordered to Hershey.Accustomed to bending the rules on the club. Larouche balked at reporting. As a result, he was suspended for two games, the punishment finally lifted after a deep discussion with coach Ken Schinkel.Schinkel reinstated Larouche. a 53-goal scorer last season, saying he was satisfied the 21-year-old center would adhere to team policy.The turmoil aside, the Penguins have shown signs of life, principally due to the steady, often brilliant, work of Dune Wilson. Through a five-game stretch, the well-traveled goaltender had allowed only nine goals, dropping his overall average to 3.08.Wilson, after a lengthy stretch of inactivity while the property of the New York Rangers, has been forced to play himself into shape as a replacement for Denis Herron, who suffered a broken arm in the Pittsburgh opener.In his workhorse role. Wilson would have owned a sparkling 2.54 average over the same stretch by sweeping aside the eight goals he surrendered in an appearance against the powerful Montreal Canadiens.Indicative of Wilson&rsquo;s play is the fact that the Penguins allowed 32 goals in 11 games after surrendering 28 in their first five appearances.So Wilson is coming on strong, but the report is not as encouraging on veteran left winger Vic Hadfield. Testing a special brace to support an ailing knee. Hadfield played three games before being sidelined again. He has managed to play four games this season, contributing two assists.Syl Apps and Jean Pronovost, in addition to their customary productiveness on the same line, have combined to be effective penalty killers. Their efficiency has cut into another problem that haunted the Penguins earlier.Through their first tour games, the club gave up seven power-play goals, killing but four penalties. With Apps and Pronovost tightening the checking, the opposition managed but four goals in the next 36 powerplay opportunities.In another defensive measure. Schinkel has brought Ed Van Impe back into the picture to team with another veteran, Don Awrey, as the Penguins began relying on six defensemen.Dennis Owchar, although missing one game due to a broken thumb, remained paired with Dave Burrows, and rookie Russ Anderson continued playing alongside Ron Stackhouse.PENGUIN NOTES: Ken Carson, the popular trainer of the Penguins, resigned to take a similar position with the Toronto Blue Jays, the city&rsquo;s new American League baseball team&hellip; Carson was with the Penguins since their inception in 1967&hellip;He has been replaced by 24- year-old John Doolan. once an assistant under Carson&hellip;Mike Corrigan, handling left wing on the Apps line, registered two goals and four assists in his first nine games since arriving from the Los Angeles Kings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03661/3975301-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="610" height="1253"><figcaption class="caption-body">VIC HADFIELD &hellip; Career In Jeopardy</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Wilson Coming On Strong As Pens Show Some Life

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;He is a Paul Bunyan-sized young man at six-foot-three. 215 pounds. When he collides with an opponent, the teeth-loosening effect is the same as a Dick Butkus tackle.The difference is that when Paul Holmgren hits someone, there&rsquo;s none of the extracurricular activity Butkus was known for (biting, gouging, etc.). A Holmgren check often measures on the Richter Scale and leaves press-box observers wincing, but in his short stay in Philadelphia no one can remember anything but clean hits.Holmgren, the first American to play for the Flyers, almost had a one-game career in the NHL. He was drafted by Philadelphia on the fifth-round in 1975, but had already been signed by the WHA Minnesota Fighting Saints. When the original Saints folded last season, the Flyers were knocking at Holmgren&rsquo;s door, checkbook in hand.After appearing in six games for Richmond (AHL). Holmgren was promoted to the Flyers. Playing against the New York Rangers, Holmgren was impressive. Two days later, he was in a Boston hospital where he (1) almost lost his life during surgery and (2) almost lost sight in his right eye.&ldquo;Things happened so fast last season that my head was spinning.&rdquo; the soft-spoken St. Paul. Minn., native said. &ldquo;From the WHA to the American League to here, and then the hospital.&rdquo;Cause of Holmgren&rsquo;s eye problems was a scratched cornea he suffered during an AHL fight. He. and Flyers&rsquo; personnel, maintain Holmgren didn&rsquo;t receive proper medical attention at several AHL stops.There were no complaints about his care at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. If it weren&rsquo;t for the excellent treatment he received there. Holmgren wouldn&rsquo;t be taking the first solid steps of a promising Flyers&rsquo; career.Holmgren&rsquo;s sight has been pronounced good enough to play hockey, providing he wears a protective shield or goggles. Thus far. the center-right winger hasn&rsquo;t found comfortable goggles so he continues to wear a shield attached to his helmet.You&rsquo;d think hockey players, seeing Holmgren&rsquo;s size and willingness to give and take body contact, would understand why he wears protective facial gear. Evidently that hasn&rsquo;t been the case because several opponents, starting with short-time teammate Dave Schultz, have provoked fights with Holmgren. Needless to say. Holmgren&rsquo;s size, strength and courage have discouraged the opponents from trying him again.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure the word will get around that he&rsquo;s not the easiest guy to take on.&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; GM Keith Allen &ldquo;When he gets hit. he comes back. He really crunches people. &ldquo;Both Allen and Flyers&rsquo; board chairman Ed Snider have cautioned Holmgren about removing his helmet and thereby inviting further damage to his eyes. One report had the Flyers fining their outstanding prospect $100 every time he doffed his hat. but both Allen and Snider deny such a levy exits.Holmgren. 20. discourages talk about his eyes. He prefers to be noticed for his hockey skills, which are considerable. Earlier, he played primarily at right wing when coach Fred Shero chose to flank Bobby Clarke with Bob Kelly on the left side for part-time duty. When defensemen Andre Dupont (strained back ligaments) and Terry Murray (infected right elbow) were sidelined, the Flyers relied on five defenders and Holmgren shifted to center, between Kelly and veteran Bill Collins.Wherever he plays he is useful. He is also happy to be in Philadelphia, even though he must wear headgear. As a youth. Holmgren played all sports. He never thought much about pro hockey until he visited Russia with a United States junior team and then attended the University of Minnesota for one year.Some Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; officials considered him too slow for the NHL so he accepted a less than overwhelming Fighting Saints contract&mdash;$10,000 to sign. $20,000 annually.&ldquo;It was awfully discouraging with the Saints.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I used to think putting on my Minnesota jersey with the big M&rsquo; meant a lot to me. When 1 got here though, putting on the Flyers&rsquo; jersey meant a lot more because it showed I had made it.&rdquo;After the terrifying moments Paul Holmgren has endured, he deserves to be around a long time.FLYERS FACTS: After three straight road losses, Shero juggled the forward lines: Rick MacLeish joined the Bobby Clarke-Reg Leach line: Bill Barber moved to left wing with Orest Kindrachuk and Don Saleski: and Mel Bridgman returned to centering Ross Lonsberry and Gary Dornhoefer..Jimmy Watson was growing a beard which he says he won&rsquo;t shave off until the Flyers are in first place. Somebody said Watson may qualify to play Santa Claus.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01987/3975332-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="621" height="1579"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAUL HOLMGREN &hellip;No Easy Mark</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Rookie Holmgren Gives Flyers Life With Teeth-Loosening Body Checks

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011006/3975363-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="304" height="482"></div><h2>Where Are The Fans ?</h2>A TUESDAY NIGHT in St. Louis. The revitalized Blues, under Emile Francis. are leading the NHL&rsquo;s Smythe Division The visitors to St. Louis Arena this night are the Montreal Canadiens, the best team in hockey.Yet. only 14,820 attend the game in the 18.000-seat arena Maybe it&rsquo;s the economy. Maybe the St. Louis sports fan is interested in other pastimes this time of year. Whatever the reason, people remember only a few years ago when fans filled St. Louis Arena for almost every game.A few nights later, the Canadiens play the Flames before 11,235 in the 15.191-seat Atlanta Omni. The Chicago Black Hawks, even when Bobby Orr is able to play, consistently draw only 10.000-to-)2.000 Because the Bruins blundered and failed to receive players from the Black Hawks when they signed Orr. once-loyal fans are staying away from Boston Garden where the Bruins are solidly atop the Adams Division.Teams such as Atlanta. Pittsburgh. Detroit and Minnesota are in an attendance rut. The North Stars, once one of the NHL&rsquo;s best franchises, react as if they&rsquo;ve sold out the Met Center when more than 10.000 show up. Atlanta. Pittsburgh and Detroit attract their regular 9.000-10.000. but are struggling to interest new customersIn other words, folks, the NHL. which not long ago smugly pointed to frequent sellouts in many buildings, is in big trouble at the gate Besides an economy that prohibits the average working man from affording many hockey games, there are other obvious reasons for the NHL&rsquo;s popularity dip.<h2>New Rules May Be Hurting</h2>SOME THINK THE new anti-violence rules are keeping people away. If that&rsquo;s true, the game is an innocent victim. Hockey is too good an attraction to be cluttered by brawls and goons. Once NHL referees consistently interpret the new rules, the quality should be betterPublic and press relations of many teams are disaster areas Some teams with mediocre attendance act as if promotion is a new word in their vocabularies. Small newspaper ads reminding fans of your games aren&rsquo;t enough, guys.From a purely personal standpoint, it&rsquo;s a disgrace that at this stage of the season my colleagues and I haven&rsquo;t received half the team press guides. Unless I&rsquo;m mistaken, major league baseball teams have their guides in the writers&rsquo; hands by training camp.At a time when NHL teams desperately need the media s help, there are teams that still treat writers and cassette carriers like the enemy Is it too much to expect a final scoresheet, containing scoring, penalties, plus-minus readings and attendance? If I owned a club. I&rsquo;d want my press relations staff to concentrate on meeting the media&rsquo;s needs&mdash;before, during and after games.Satisfying the media&rsquo;s needs doesn&rsquo;t start and end with a pre-game meal. Such a gesture is appreciated, but after a game, when you&rsquo;re trying to confirm some statistics or beg a taxi company to service a deserted arena, a handy press relations person is needed, not a fresh salad.<h2>Campbell Needs Help</h2>THE MAJOR OBSTACLE to the media&rsquo;s needs and a league-wide concern for its own product is the NHL&rsquo;s administration Clarence Campbell is one of my favorite people. No professional sports leader is more accessible, but he has tried supervising everything, and I mean everything, connected with the NHL for too long.Several years ago. Ed Snider, the Philadelphia Flyers progressive board chairman, noted that the NHL&rsquo;s staff is pitifully small The league has since increased the size of its New York office stall, but it hasn&rsquo;t been enough.Bob Casey, the league&rsquo;s hard-working public relations director, combines effectively with his Montreal office counterparts. Ron Andrews and Norm Jewison. But Casey&rsquo;s authority is limited: all he can do when a team is inexcusably late releasing its press guide is continuity remind them to shape up. Why doesn t the league set a deadline for such matters? If a team is late, it is fined heavily.I&rsquo;ve said for 10 years that our league lacks structure.&rdquo; says Snider &ldquo;Clarence Campbell should have retired years ago He&rsquo;s a fine man. but he can&rsquo;t do it alone. He&rsquo;s in his 70s. but I&rsquo;ll bet you could call him right now (7:30 p.m. on a Thursday) and he&rsquo;d be in his office That&rsquo;s ridiculous.&ldquo;The league needs more people&mdash;counsel, administrators, researchers. We play many more games than the NFL. we have minor leagues to worry about, a war with another league, yet we have about two percent of the NFL&rsquo;s staff.&ldquo;This league is in the dark ages. It had better wake up soon. &#9632;

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HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02839/3975394-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLARK GILLIES&hellip; More Shooting And Playing (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;One thing about hockey players; it&rsquo;s very easy to tell when they are in a slump.They&rsquo;re the ones in a winning locker room with the forced smiles. And the ones whose general topic of conversation ranges from the weather, to politics, to other sports. In other words, anything but hockey.Through the first full month of the season, there was very little a hockey writer could quote of Clark Gillies, the left winger with the big shot and bigger muscles. His &ldquo;goals&rdquo; column stood in the anemic range, and believe it or not. his &ldquo;assists&rdquo; were even worse.Ever since he came to the Islanders by way of the Regina Pats in 1974. Gillies has been somewhat of a slow starter. But he had never been as depressed as this season.Through the first nine games of the &rsquo;75-&rsquo;76 campaign. Clark had posted 2 goals and 7 assists for a point-a-game average. This year at the same point, though, his figures stood at 1 goal and 1 assist. And that was with a regular shift and power play duty to boot.But Gillies wasn&rsquo;t the only Islander suffering, even though the team was off and running to the top of the Patrick Division. Center Bryan Trottier missed the first four games of the season with a knee injury. and then waited ten games before registering his first goal. Billy Harris, the right wing on the number one trio, scored four goals in his first five games, and that was it until the leaves had completely fallen from the trees.But Gillies was the Islanders&rsquo; big &ldquo;gunner&rdquo; last year with 34 goals, and his slump could prove most costly to the club&rsquo;s chances.&ldquo;The team was going well, so maybe I wasn&rsquo;t feeling as badly as I might have,&rdquo; said Gillies. &ldquo;But I was pressing, and so were Billy and Trots. All the time we were telling ourselves we&rsquo;d snap out of it. But that didn&rsquo;t make the goals come any quicker.&rdquo;Clark finally began to snap out of the doldrums on Oct. 28 when his second goal of the season proved decisive as the Isles downed St. Louis. 5-2. Two games later he notched another game-winner, this time at Vancouver, and followed it up the next night with a two-goal performance at Colorado. Two games later it was a goal and two assists as New York bombed Detroit. 8-1.&ldquo;I think the one big difference is that now I&rsquo;m doing more playing and shooting, and less thinking and waiting.&rdquo; continued Gillies. &ldquo;Take the goal tonight (against Detroit). I got the puck, and just wound up and fired it. A couple of weeks ago I probably would have passed it.&rdquo;Clark Gillies coming out of a scoring slump spells bad news for the rest of the NHL. And even more bad news is that Gillies has decided to be a bit more physical with his six-foot- three. 220pound frame than he has been in the past.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m a little more conscious of hitting this season.&rdquo; added the huskey Moose Jaw. Sask, product. &ldquo;The only problem is that I&rsquo;ve been picking up some more penalties, too.&rdquo;Now that Gillies has dumped the monkey on his back, the Islanders are waiting for Trottier and Harris to follow suit. Trots broke his year-long goose egg string with a power play goal early in the Detroit game, and was later robbed twice by Eddie Giacomin.&ldquo;I was kind of glad to see that one finally go in.&rdquo; said Bryan. &ldquo;It was a relief. But if you work hard, things will start to go your way. and we&rsquo;ve been working hard all along.&ldquo;But now we can see that we&rsquo;re throwing the puck around better, especially on the power play. We&rsquo;re moving into position better, and things are starting to click.&rdquo;With only two losses in the club&rsquo;s first 15 games, it&rsquo;s hard to imagine a slump by the squad s top line. Coach Al Arbour smiles when he thinks of what will happen when they really break loose.ISLAND SOUNDS: A rash of minor injuries hit the Islanders in early November as both Bert Marshall and Bill MacMillan missed games with pulled muscles&hellip;Denis Potvin began shooting more, and his record showed it. During one stretch he scored two goals twice in three games&hellip;Center Bob Bourne is looking better and better. He was rewarded for his fine play by getting the permanent assignment as center of the Garry Howatt-Bob Nystrom line, replacing Andre St. Laurent&hellip; Penalty killer-utilityman Lorne Henning is off to a fast start. He had three goals in the first month (two short-handed) compared with 7 for all of last year. &#9632;

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Gillies Breaks Doldrums As Isles Snap Goal Slump

<div class="byline">BY RON WEBER</div>WASHINGTON-Nov. 7 began the most newsworthy week in the history of the Washington Capitals.The headline story was the consecutive beatings administered to the North Stars. Canucks and Rangers. For a club that had never won even two in a row heretofore, it was heady stuff indeed.But there were many other aspects to the sixth week of the third year, some good, some bad. To itemize:The surge pulled them out of the Norris cellar with a record better than four other teams, and with four fewer losses than one of them (Vancouver).They played shorthanded for eight consecutive minutes against the Canucks&mdash;and without giving up a goal.The 40 shots on goal in the 7-5 rallying win over the Rangers was a club high, as was the 22 in one period (the second).Blair Stewart suffered a broken leg against Minnesota, probably sidelining him until January.Ron Lalonde sustained an eye injury that turned out less serious than feared at first.Harvey Bennett escaped injury when Chris Oddleifson&rsquo;s swinging stick caught him in the shoulder.Pete Scamurra wrenched his back and skated just one shift in the following game.Tony White was suspended when his thrown stick (in preparing to fight Mike Walton) struck the Canuck in the face.Bernie Wolfe returned to practice after an illness of several weeks.Forwards Brian Kinsella and Alex Forsyth were called up from Springfield in time for the Ranger game, but they did not play.And Mike Lampman broke his scoring slump with three goals in two games.Twenty times the Capitals had won a game but followed with a tie or loss (one other time was at the end of the season). So when the Capitals began the-week-that-was with a 4-1 drubbing of the Stars there was a feeling of &rsquo;we&rsquo;ve been here before.&rdquo;But they staked out virgin territory two nights later in another Capital Center game by beating Vancouver 4-3. Voila&mdash;the Caps, after 174 games, had put victories back-to- back. In addition, the wins were over two teams they had never conquered previously.Each contest took its toll, however, with a forward lost both times. In the match with the Minnesotans. Stewart took a standup check at their blue line and by the time he coasted to a crouching stop in their faceoff circle his right leg had twisted and the smaller bone in his limb just above the ankle had broken.It bore eerie similarity to a mishap sustained by then-Caps defenseman Willie Brossart two Novembers ago in Minneapolis. Both were checked in the same place on the ice in the third period by the same player, the unpenalized Fred Barrett. Actually. Barrett isn&rsquo;t a cheap shot artist and is probably as mystified as anybody why a forearm to Brossart&rsquo;s chops or a push in Stewart&rsquo;s face should result in serious leg injuries.In the Canucks contest, emotions were wrenched in different directions even harder. On the good side, rookie right wing Doug Patey scored his first NHL goal; Mike Lampman lit that elusive first lamp after being blanked since a six-goals-in-seven- games exhibition performance; and Guy Charron hit the ten-goal level with as good a solo effort as seen at Capital Center.The bad news was headed by &ldquo;News". Ron (Newsy) Lalonde caught the tip of Vancouver defenseman Dave Fortier&rsquo;s stick on the left eyeball late in the first period. Before the night was out he was bandaged into darkness in a nearby hospital hearing words about possible surgery and saving his sight and admitted to being very scared.Happily, though the pressure from hemorrhaging was initially as great as sustained by referee Ron Wicks several weeks before. Lalonde&rsquo;s condition improved dramatically. The eye cover was off in 36 hours, and a day later he left the hospital with projections about his return running around ten days to two weeks.In the same game Scamurra threw his back out&mdash;and Tony White was suspended.White pointed out, &ldquo; When you&rsquo;re about to fight, you throw away your stick and gloves without watching where they&rsquo;re going.&rdquo; However, his suspension was extended through five games.Referee Bob Myers had ruled out White for the rest of the game, citing a deliberate attempt to injure match penalty infraction. The upshot of this and other penalties was that for eight long minutes of the middle period. Washington was shorthanded&mdash;and Vancouver did not score.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01970/3975425-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="623" height="799"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY CHARRON &hellip; Scores 10th Goal</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Caps Vacate Basement With Streak

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01812/3975456-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

&hellip;In ReviewMONTREAL&mdash;Buffalo Sabres, backed by Gerry Desjardins&rsquo; &rsquo;outstanding goaltending, have quietly moved into a challenging position among the leaders in the National Hockey League as the 1976-77 seasons enters its second quarter.After dropping four of their first seven games, the Sabres lost only one of their last 11 starts, winning eight and tying two for 18 of a possible 22 points. Only Boston Bruins, with 19 points in their last 11 games&mdash;nine wins, one loss and one tie&mdash;have a better record. Unfortunately for Buffalo, it is the Bruins they must catch if they want to finish first in the Adams Division. Boston, which has played two games more than Buffalo, has 33 points and a nine-point lead over Sabres, who. in turn, lead Toronto by four points.Sabres main strength during the 11-game period has been their defense. Desjardins has the second-lowest goals-against average&mdash;1.90. based on 28 goals against during 882 minutes played. Glenn Resch of New York Islanders, who have matched Buffalo&rsquo;s 18 points in their last 11 games, leads individual goaltenders with 1.82 and Resch and Billy Smith have combined to give Islanders the team lead with a combined 2 11 average.Montreal Canadiens, winners of 16 points in their last 11 games, are second in team goals-against averages with 2.30 but Buffalo has closed in and is third with a 2.44 average. Canadiens, incidentally. have a 12-point lead over second-place Los Angeles Kings in the Norris Division, the biggest margin any divisional leader has at the moment.The importance of Sabres strong defense is emphasized in some offensive figures. Their leading point man is Gilbert Perreault with 10. including 11 goals. Only Philadelphia. Pittsburgh and Vancouver join Buffalo as the teams without at least one player with more than 26 points. And. Perreault&rsquo;s team leading 11 goals rank him 11th in the over-all goal-scoring list. Sabres, who started last season with an eight-game winning streak and had a 14-3-1 record after 18 games, have scored 61 goals in 18 games. 22 fewer than in the same number of games a year ago. But Desjardins has had only 25 goals against in his last 11 starts. Islanders have allowed one goal fewer than that in their last 11 games; Montreal 28 goals in its last 11 games; and Boston 30 goals in the same number of games. &#9632;

NHL WEEK

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div>TORONTO-Not since Ken Dryden burst upon the National Hockey League scene in the 1971 Stanley Cup playoffs when with only six games oi major league experience, he supplied superior goaltending to carry the Montreal Canadiens to the title, has a rookie goalie made such a big splash as Mike Palmateer.Palmateer, 22, was called up to the Toronto Maple Leafs from the Dallas Black Hawks of the Central League in late October when the Leafs were floundering and incumbents Wayne Thomas and Gord McRae couldn&rsquo;t supply the goaltending the team needed.Palmateer played eight games, seven of them on the road, up to press-time and (a) won five, lost two and tied one; (b) compiled a 2.25 goals-against average by surrendering only 18 goals in eight games; (c) yielded more than three goals in only one game, a 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues in his only home-ice appearance at Maple Leaf Gardens which, subtracted from his total. gave him a 1.71 average in his other seven games.It&rsquo;s been like a big dream for me and 1 sometimes think that I&rsquo;ll wake up and find out that it hasn&rsquo;t really happened. &ldquo; Palmateer said. &rsquo;But the big thing has been how well the team has played in front of me. It&rsquo;s difficult to imagine a goalie getting better support than I&rsquo;ve had in the first eight games. The guys have been playing a very relaxed, disciplined defensive game with good checking and clearing on the road.&rsquo;Palmateer capped his eight-game debut with a 3-0 shutout of the Canucks at Vancouver, where his work impressed Canuck managercoach Phil Maloney.He&rsquo;s a gutsy little guy and he is very quick. &ldquo; Maloney said. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t do everything right, but he makes up for it with agility and those good reflexes &ldquo;The good play on the road reversed the Leafs&rsquo; slow start to a season in which they were expected&mdash;and they expected&mdash;to do big things In their first 10 road games, the Leafs had a 5-4-1 mark but in seven games at the Gardens, they had only one win and three ties.The Leaf players claimed that they were able to play relaxed hockey on the road but they couldn&rsquo;t duplicate that approach at home. The Toronto fans, once the most reserved in the NHL. have become demonstrative and noisy, frequently climbing on the Leafs&rsquo; back when the team played tight, controlled but dull hockey.In a 4-2 win at Atlanta, the Leafs iced the puck repeatedly late in the game to protect their margin when they were floundering in their own zone in the face of some stout Flame forechecking tactics.We probably wouldn&rsquo;t have iced the puck so much at home because after about the second time the fans would have booed us. &ldquo; said defenseman Borje Salming. who played to his All Star form on the road trip&ldquo;The Toronto fans seem to want us to play wide-open, attacking hockey and that&rsquo;s not our style We&rsquo;re just not a fancy team and when we try that style, we get into trouble.&rdquo;NOTES: The Leafs continued to be plagued by injuries. Winger Errol Thompson broke his wrist in the third game of the season and probably won&rsquo;t play again until January ..Center George Ferguson wrecked his knee in a game at St. Louis and will be sidelined two months while another pivot. Stan Weir, is plagued by a bruised heel&hellip; Defenseman Claire Alexander returned to the line-up after three weeks out with a knee injury.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01703/3975511-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="624" height="849"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE PALMATEER &hellip;Unbelievable Debut</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Palmateer Making Gigantic Waves In Reversing Toronto’s Slow Start

<div class="byline">BY GARY MCCARTHY</div>MONTREAL&mdash;The Montreal Canadiens have discovered in their last few games what it is like to live on the other side of the fence. What they have found out, no doubt, is that they like the color of the grass on their own property.It was just a few short years ago that the Canadiens went against the percentages and threw a tall net- minder by the name of Ken Dryden into the pressure cooker that is playoff hockey.He responded well. He left a lot of teams shaking their heads at his miraculous saves. That was back in 1971 and Dryden, who instantly became one of the hottest commodities in the National Hockey League, backstopped the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup that year.Lately, the Canadiens have found out why players from other teams were shaking their heads and skated around with a frustrated look. The Canadiens have run into some unexpected hot goaltending from NHL opposition.The Colorado Rockies, who many will say should not be on the same ice with the Canadiens, threw Michel Plasse out onto the ice at the Forum last Saturday night.He faced a total of 50 shots, including 20 in the third period, and held the Canadiens to a 3-3 deadlock. . After the Canadiens went out and beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 two nights later, they ran into another sharp young netminder by the name of Mike Palmateer. who has been Toronto&rsquo;s guiding force lately.Palmateer made 39 saves, including 16 in the final period, and shutout (that&rsquo;s right) the Habs 1-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens. You get an idea of how big that shutout means when you glance back and discover that it was the first time in 192 NHL games that the Canadiens had been blanked by anyoneThe Canadiens, almost every one of them, had praise for Palmateer&rsquo;s work.&ldquo;There were a lot of serambly type plays that he had to be very quick on and he was. &ldquo; offered Ken Dryden, who was just as sharp himself.&ldquo;Sure he was good.&rsquo;&rsquo; said Steve Shutt, who quickly added, &rsquo; but a lot of the times, we made him look good either by missing the net or shooting the puck into his pads &rsquo;&ldquo;Some nights, you try everything and it just doesn&rsquo;t go in.&rdquo; said Rejean Houle. &ldquo;But, that&rsquo;s why they call it sports,&rdquo; he added with a laugh.With a win. a tie and a loss in their last three outings, that left the Canadiens with a won-lost-tied record of 14-4-3 over their first 21 games.It also left them eight points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings in the Norris Division standings and four points ahead of Boston and the New York Islanders in the over-all league standings.Dryden may be able to get a rest in the near future. The Habs&rsquo; outstanding netminder has played in every game since Michel Larocque suffered a broken finger during a practice early in the season.However, Larocque is back practising with the team and Dave Elenbaas. who sat on the bench while Dryden went to work every game, has been farmed out to the Nova Scotia Voyageurs of the American Hockey League.The Canadiens aren&rsquo;t likely to rush Larocque back into action until they are absolutely sure that he is healthy enough and is back in top physical shape.The Canadiens still have a couple of players sidelined with injuries.Jacques Lemaire is still being treated for a mysterious skin rash that has covered his entire body and Jim Roberts has been watching the games from the press box while he recuperates from a groin and stomach muscle pull.John Van Boxmeer. who saw his first action when Roberts was injured. played in four games for the Habs but was suddenly benched for the game against the Maple Leafs in Toronto.Being left on the sidelines made the young right winger-defenseman upset and he couldn&rsquo;t figure out why the club had made the move.&ldquo;The thing that&rsquo;s so maddening is 1 know I can play defense for several NHL teams.&rdquo; said Van Boxmeer. who came back to action after recuperating from a fractured wrist suffered in Montreal&rsquo;s second-to-last exhibition game.&ldquo;You mean to tell me I&rsquo;m not good enough to play for Colorado&rsquo;&rsquo; he asked, referring to talk that he may be dealt off to the Rockies in the near future. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m not. I should try something else.&rdquo;HABS NOTES: Dryden has played in 19 games and has allowed 38 goals for a 2.00 goals-against average&hellip;Guy Lefleur is still producing at a torrid pace. In 21 games, he had 17 goals and 16 assists&hellip;Steve Shutt continues to lead the Canadiens in goal-scoring with 19 and he only trails Lafleur by one point in the scoring race&hellip;Lafleur has pulled away in the voting for the first round of the Molson Cup standings, based on the three-star selections at the end of each game. Lafleur has 40 points in the standings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01720/3975587-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="616" height="1133"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEN DRYDEN &hellip;Played 19 Games</figcaption></div><h2>Looking At NHL Goalers</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03434/3975580-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="685" height="2281"></div> &#9632;

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Dryden’s Deserved Rest May Be Near As Larocque Rejoins League Leaders

<h2>Looking At NHL Goalers</h2>Steve Shutt of the Canadiens continued his fantastic goal-a-game pace with the Canadiens last week improving his personal scoring record to a league-leading 23 goals as he tallied five times.Shutt and linemate Guy Lafleur continued to share the NHL individual scoring lead as both players ended the week with 37 points.Shutt, who scored a hat trick against Toronto in the Habs&rsquo; 9-5 whomping of the Leafs, now has scored 23 times in 23 games, has had two three-goal games this season and has scored at least one goal in 15 of the Canadiens&rsquo; 23 games this year.With 23 goals Shutt is well ahead of his 1975-76 production. He scored his 23rd goal last year in his 45th game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02578/3975618-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="576" height="758"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE SHUTT &hellip; Montreal Canadiens</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NHL’S… Player of the Week

<div class="byline">BY GREG NOBLE</div>CINCINNATI-Bill DeWitt Jr.. executive vice-president of the Cincinnati Stingers, has taken up the cause of promoting some cooperative action. &rsquo; possibly even merger, between the World Hockey Association and the National Hockey League.DeWitt and Howard Baldwin, managing partner of the New England Whalers, met recently with Alan Eagleson. director of the NHL Players Association, in Toronto.&ldquo;We talked about some of the problems in major league hockey.&rdquo; DeWitt said. &ldquo;Our concept is that the two leagues should do something together to help solve the problem. He (Eagleson) said he would be willing to sit down with members of both leagues to try to work out some solutions.&rdquo;The meeting touched off speculation again that the two leagues might be negotiating a merger But NHL president Clarence Campbell, as always, scoffed at the possibility.&rsquo;There are a number of possibilities besides merger.&rdquo; DeWitt said. Some WHA teams, in the end. might be absorbed into the NHL. But first the two leagues might try to negotiate a common draft, inter-league play or a combined championship series.&ldquo;Major league hockey has a lot of problems.&rdquo; said DeWitt. &ldquo;Attendance is hurting in the NHL and some of our teams are down too. Over the summer, franchises had to be moved, and there&rsquo;s a possibility more will be moved, and some might fold.&ldquo;Look at other sports. You don&rsquo;t see two separate leagues at odds with each other forever.&rdquo; DeWitt said &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to create more interest and provide overall stability to major league hockey.&rdquo;Owners and players from both leagues have shown interest in a merger or some common agreement. However, one major obstacle to a merger is the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the players association, which has five years to run. It would be declared void in case of a merger.I don&rsquo;t know if any of these things we&rsquo;re talking about would be possible by next season.&rdquo; DeWitt said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s got to be a willingness on all sides. It&rsquo;s a complex thing to work out.&ldquo;The only thing concrete that came from our meeting.&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;is the fact that Eagleson said he would be willing to sit down with all the other parties involved I&rsquo;d like to see that kind of meeting take place.&rdquo;CINCINNATI: The Stingers were enjoying incredible success on the ice and at the gate Coach Terry Slater&rsquo;s club tied Quebec for first place in the Eastern Division with a 10-4-2 record. They stayed undefeated at home, winning their first seven games at Riverfront Coliseum. And the Stingers also moved into the lead in attendance in the WHA Their average crowd after seven home games was 10.324.Billy Steele scored a shorthanded goal to spark a 4-2 victory over Edmonton. and the LSD line (Richie Leduc, Blaine Stoughton and Rick Dudley) accounted for five goals in a 7-3 victory over Indianapolis. Stoughton had 13 goals in 16 games. Leduc 11 and Jacques Locas 10.Besides being the top scoring team in the league, the Stingers&rsquo; defense and goaltender Norm Lapointe also played superbly. With Paul Hoganson sidelined two weeks with a broken finger. Lapointe turned in three straight victories and lowered his GAA to 3.02. Barry Legge, who joined the Stingers five games into the season, proved to be a valuable addition on defense. After Legge joined the club the Stingers won nine of 11 games.Defenseman Dave Inkpen picked up his first goal of the season against the Racers. The only Stingers&rsquo; skater without a goal was defenseman Ron Plumb, who had 16 assists.BIRMINGHAM: The Bulls suffered a cruel blow with the loss of Erank Mahovlich. The club&rsquo;s leader and top scorer. Mahovlich tore ligaments in his right knee and was expected to be sidelined for two months.Owner John Bassett ordered his players to play one game without pay after a 3-2 loss to Edmonton. Two days earlier. Bassett gave the team a tongue-lashing after a 3-2 loss to San Diego, their eighth one-goal setback of the year, and promised fans who turned out for the Edmonton game a free ticket for the next home game if the Bulls lost to the Oilers.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m the nicest guy in professional sports. I&rsquo;m sick and tired of being nice.&rdquo; Bassett told the team. He said his club has the highest payroll in the WHA. $150.000 more than the next highest club and $600.000 more than some others. He praised the team&rsquo;s fans and said facilities there were the best in the league, but he was unsettled by the team&rsquo;s performance.Later, Bassett announced an incentive plan for his players He promised them a two-day vacation in Las Vegas if they could pick up 20 points by Dec. 12.INDIANAPOLIS: The defending Eastern Division champions managed just five victories in their first 16 games. Trying to stop the skid, the Racers made another trade, sending center Gary MacGregor to New England for center Rosaire Paiement. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the kind of deal that can help both dubs.&rdquo; said coach Jacques Demers. &ldquo;MacGregor wasn&rsquo;t doing it for us, and Paiement wasn&rsquo;t himself this season in New England. Paiement gives us experience and desire. We need more consistency in our attack and Paiement s the kind of player that can provide it.&rdquo;The Racers needed more scoring. They were averaging less than three goals per game. To make matters worse, injuries started mounting. Brian McDonald, the team&rsquo;s best checking center, was expected to miss six weeks after tearing ligaments in his right knee. And Mark Lomenda would be sidelined 10 days with a hip injury. The club recalled veteran Bob Sicinski from Oklahoma City.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01411/3975680-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="615" height="973"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL DeWITT &hellip; Discusses Problems</figcaption></div>Renald Leclerc finally broke into the scoring column with a hat trick against Cincinnati. He&rsquo;d played 11 games without a goal.<h2>WHA Leaders</h2><h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03262/3975673-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="650" height="1254"></div> &#9632;

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Merger Among Matters Discussed

The Winnipeg Jets played four games last week producing a total of 21 goals as their star right winger Anders Hedberg personally contributed six and helped set up four others for a 10-point week.Hedberg raised his league leading point total from 32 to 42 as he moved ahead of Quebec&rsquo;s pursuing twin scoring terrors, Real Cloutier and Serge Bernier, in the individual point race.Hedberg&rsquo;s week included a five-point game as the Jets walloped Quebec 8-4 and two power play goals to help overpower New England 7-3. He also scored once in each of the Jets&rsquo; two losses.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02318/3975711-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="559" height="639"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDERS HEDBERG &hellip; Winnipeg Jets</figcaption></div>Quebec&rsquo;s Marc Tardif gave Hedberg a run for the week&rsquo;s high point honors with eight including a four-goal game, while Hedberg&rsquo;s line mate, Ulf Nilsson, also had an eight-point week. &#9632;

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WHA’S… Player of the Week

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE BILYCH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01385/3975742-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">NEARS MILESTONE: Danny Lawson, captain of the Calgary Cowboys, is nearing a WHA milestone. Lawson has scored 196 goals since he joined the league and he needs just four more to reach the 200-goal plateau in four seasons of WHA play.</figcaption></div>EDMONTON-The Howe sweepstakes, thought originally to be a private little affair featuring the New England Whalers. San Diego Mariners and, of course, the Houston Aeros. shows signs of eventually blossoming into a full-scale tug-o-war. The Calgary Cowboys and the Edmonton Oilers are the latest to show interest in acquiring the signatures of the Howe clan on their respective contracts.The Aeros. through president George Bolin, have said the Howes are available. The Whalers promptly stepped into the picture but early negotiations have proved fruitless. Where the Howe dealings are concerned the Aeros have established a priority list with definite deadlines for negotiations. The Whalers are No. 1. followed by San Diego. Calgary and Edmonton in that order.While the Oilers may be running fourth, they are making loud noises.&ldquo;We want them&hellip; regard less of the cost.&rdquo; said Edmonton assistant general manager Gord Robson when announcing that Edmonton was entering the bidding war. Acting for co-owner Nelson Skalbania. Robson added &ldquo;Nelson is willing to talk to the Howes any time, any place.&rdquo;The Oilers say they have touched all the proper bases, informing WHA president Bill Mac Far land. the Aeros and Colleen Howe of their intentions. But even Robson admitted it might take more than money to get the Howes to Edmonton.&ldquo;It will be pretty hard to outbid life insurance companies (New England, and Ray Kroc (the McDonald man). But we&rsquo;re prepared to make our pitch to the Howes, said Robson.The Oilers have put themselves in the hunt for a couple of very good reasons. Firstly, they can certainly use the talent. More important, possibly, is the magic of the Howe name at the box office.The Oilers haven&rsquo;t been burning em up in either department in the early season. They find themselves mired in the Western Division basement with little apparent hope of escape. And the fans haven&rsquo;t cottoned to the checking style of hockey employed by coach Bep GuidolinThe Oilers won three of their first five starts at home but then proceeded to lose seven of their next 10. Guidolin realizes the Oilers need an infusion of new talent. Quickly.Bep has come to the realization you can&rsquo;t do much business in the way of acquiring talent by merely using the phone either. He&rsquo;s suggested he may leave the team in the hands of injured right winger Bob Nevin after the Oilers return from their five-game road trip while he personally heads out on a talent-finding mission.&ldquo;I want to see the American League fully&mdash;see the players with my own eyes. 1 don&rsquo;t want to be sold a bill of goods by any agent.&rdquo; offered Guidolin.CALGARY: The Cowboys won seven staight in the course of an eight-game home stand but they still find themselves chasing rainbows. The Western Division leaders were all winning at the same time and all the torrid skein accomplished was to bring them within three points of the fourth-place Mariners.&ldquo;This division is going just about the way most people had it figured.&rdquo; said coach Joe Crozier glumly after the Cowboys closed out their home stand with a 2-0 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. &ldquo;Here we are, playing .500 hockey and we&rsquo;re in fifth place. To get in the playoffs in this division you&rsquo;re going to have to win your share on the road.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s something the Cowboys were unable to do in their first six starts. But with eight of their next 10 starts slated for foreign rinks, the pattern is going to have to change if the Cowboys hope to stay in the thick of the fight.While the Cowboys have been an artistic success at home, it hasn&rsquo;t carried through to the box-office. They&rsquo;ve averaged 4.792 in nine home appearances and neither of their two games against the Jets reached sellout proportions. Last year only one of their eight games against Winnipeg didn&rsquo;t result in a sellout.Left winger George Morrison was knocked out of the line-up for a period of 10 days by virtue of a couple of cracked ribs. Usually a prolific scorer. Morrison is off to his slowest start ever with only one goal in 13 games. He was hampered earlier in the schedule by a wonky knee.Crozier recalled Rick Jodzio from the Tidewater (Southern League) farm to fill the void but he insists the top priority on his shopping list is a physical defenseman.&ldquo;We have to earn more respect in our back end.&rdquo; suggests The Crow. &ldquo;It seems that type of defenseman is an endangered species. I just can&rsquo;t seem to find one.&rdquo;WINNIPEG: Coach Bobby Krom keeps working on his cigar and the Winnipeg Jets keep winning the big games. In that respect, nothing seems to change.Kromm threatened a shake-up of personnel, suggesting a good number of them weren&rsquo;t earning their keep after the Jets blew a 3-1 lead and eventually wound up losing 7-5 to the Cowboys.Winnipeg&rsquo;s fourth straight defeat on the road didn&rsquo;t sit well with Kromm and he didn&rsquo;t mince words in saying so.&ldquo;This is a well paid hockey club, but there are some guys who aren&rsquo;t earning their money.&rdquo; Stated Kromm flatly. &ldquo;When I get home I want to convince my directors to get some new young talent that wants to bite the bullet. All I&rsquo;m asking for is guys who want to play. Two hours a night is all I ask.&rdquo;Kromms rhetroic brought the desired results. Three nights later Joe Daley recorded Winnipeg s first shutout of the season, a 2-0 job against the same Cowboys. And Bobby Kromm was back to smoking instead of chewing on his cigar.&ldquo;Very simple.&rdquo; analysed Kromm. &ldquo;We got back to playing disciplined hockey. You get tired of entertaining people all the time. Some times you have to check, too.&rdquo;The Jets lost forward Peter Sullivan for 10 days with a bruised shoulder in a freak accident when he was hit by a shot from teammate Hexi Riihiranta. . &#9632;

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Cowboys, Oilers Interested In Acquiring Howe Family

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01399/3975780-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02313/3975773-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="2642" height="3417"></div> &#9632;

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WHA SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

&hellip; In ReviewWINNIPEG&mdash;The Western Division race in the World Hockey Association is as tight as you please&mdash;the six teams being separated by only ten points after the games of Sunday. Nov. 14. But it could have been tighter still had the streaking Calgary Cowboys not run afoul of Winnipeg Jets and their &ldquo;stopper". Joe Daley. Cowboys were the hottest team in the WHA. winning seven consecutive games and tying one other for an eight-game undefeated streak. Jets were well aware of the Cow- boys&rsquo; streak as they were victims of win number seven by the Cow- boys.Enter Daley, who had been rested m the previous game against Calgary backup Curt Larsson. Result. 31 Cowboys shots.31 Daley saves, and one Daley shutout, the ninth of his WHA career. The upstart Cowboys, who with a win would have been within three points of the division lead, are now seven points behind and face five of their next six games on the road.Daley&rsquo;s ninth shutout elevated him into a tie for third place on the all-time WHA shutout ladder with Houston&rsquo;s Ron Grahame. Immediately ahead is Daley&rsquo;s former Winnipeg teammate Ernie Wakely. who has 12 career shutouts. Wakely. who posted his most recent zero a week ago. Had six shutouts while with the Jets and has added six more since joining his current team. San Diego Mariners.Daley, Wakely and Calgary&rsquo;s Don McLeod are all among the WHA&rsquo;s current top five goaltenders, and all have a winning won-lost-tied record. So does Wayne Rutledge, who for the second consecutive week leads the goals-against average race. Daley, in fact, leads in victories with nine.Many have said and continue to say that the WHA would never have realized the light of day without the signing of stars like Bobby Hull. Maybe so. but a glance at the WHA scoring list shows that the torch is being taken up by others Real Cloutier and Mark Napier, home-grown WHA superstars both, lead the WHA in goal scoring with 18 and 16 respectively. Hull has yet Io play in his first 1976-77 game. Now he has been joined on the in- jury list by another of the greatest goal scorers in major league history. Erank Mahovlich The &ldquo;Big M&rdquo; will be out eight to 10 weeks after knee surgery. Both Hull and Mahovlich will be back, and both should score many more WHA goals. So should Cloutier and Napier. &#9632;

WHA WEEK

Special To The Hockey NewsHARTFORD&mdash;The New England Whalers continued to take one step forward and two backwards as they struggled to challenge the leaders in the Eastern Division of the World Hockey Association.The Whalers, battling to overtake Indianapolis for third place, lost ground to the Racers as they managed a split with the Birmingham Bulls in a home-and-home series but lost 7-3 at home to the Winnipeg Jets and had to settle for a 3-3 tie with Minnesota after going on top by two goals early in the second period with a crowd of 9,912 on hand for the game at Hartford.It was a tough week for Harry Neale&rsquo;s skaters particularly after the Indy Racers skated off with three straight victories against Cincinnati, Birmingham and finally 8-4 over the powerful Winnipeg Jets. The sweep pushed the Racers one point up on New England.However, with a game in hand on the Racers the Whalers still were not that far off the pace although both leading Quebec and Cincinnati were reluctant to slow down their fast early season pace to allow the Whalers to catch up.Neale realizes the Whalers need a little more offense to put the club in a contending position to challenge the Nordiques and Stingers. Their 59-goal production ranks them only 10th in the 12-team WHA and Neale is attempting to rectify the situation. The Whalers are showing some signs they are on the right track after outshooting Minnesota 43-31 before settling for a tie.QUEBEC: The Nordiques are still a hot commodity with a 12-8 record in their first 20 starts. The team has been getting the scoring but on the other hand the Nords have been guilty of giving up too many goals. They are the third highest scoring team in the league but they are ninth in defense in the league. Last week in four starts the Quebecers scored 19 times but they yielded 23 goals against in the process.Real Cloutier, Serge Bernier and Marc Tardif continue to propel the Nordiques. All three are flying with Cloutier the No. 1 sniper in the WHA with 20 goals while Bernier has 16 and Tardif, after a late start, has shot 15. He scored four goals in one game last week as the Nordiques beat Minnesota 9-5.MINNESOTA: After considerable player juggling to put some scoring punch into the club, the Fighting Saints went out and scored 13 times in three games but someone overlooked the defense and the club gave up an equal number of goals as they ended the week with a 1-1-1 record.With only four wins in 19 starts, the Saints are still not a threat to anyone and it appears that more player changes will have to be made by GM Glen Sonmor to get the club moving. The Mike Antonovich-Dave Keon-John McKenzie line continues to be the Saints&rsquo; bread-and-butter combination.Antonovich scored twice, his eighth and ninth of the year, to help get a tie with the Whalers. But beyond this line, the Fighting Saints are not producing enough as far as Sonmor is concerned.<h2>Looking At WHA Goalers</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01339/3975835-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="693" height="1423"></div> &#9632;

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Whalers Falter In Battle To Overtake Racers

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01332/3975897-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg"></div>PHOENIX&mdash;When rookie Clay Hebenton made 32 saves and Phoenix took a 3-1 victory from Minnesota at St. Paul, it was-the first time in 14 games this season the Roadrunners had allowed fewer than three goals in a game.Hebenton was back in the nets for a 3-3 tie with Indianapolis and won first game star honors, (as he had atMinnesota) for a 3-1 34-save victory over New England.The son of former National League Lady Byng Trophy winner Andy Hebenton lowered his goals against average to 3.34 for eight appearances.Meanwhile. when the Roadrunners came home from a 24-day absence from their home-ice. they were in fourth place in the WHA&rsquo;s Western Division with a 7-7 record, but coach Al Rollins pointed out that meant they were right in the thick of the race.They had won four and lost six in a 10-game road trip in a league which at the time had seen the visiting team win just 19 times in 82 games.We&rsquo;ve played more road games than any other team.&rdquo; he declared, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ve won more.&rdquo;The Runners were returning for an eight-game home stand that Rollins expected to lift them several rungs up the Western Division ladder.The marquee in front of the veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix simply stated the Roadrunners were playing Indianapolis in the first game of that stand.With any imagination at all. it could have read like a drive-in movie billboard:&ldquo;Bionic Bimbo Meets The Bare- Faced Goalie.&rdquo;The bare-faced goalie, of course, is Andy Brown, who played the last few minutes of regulation plus the overtime when Racer starter Michel Dion was injured.Garry Lariviere has always been known to his teammates as &ldquo;Bimbo&rdquo; and they tacked the &ldquo; Bionic&rdquo; on during the last couple of games of the road trip.An electrical device treated a severely bruised instep during the game and allowed him to return to a regular shift.The wiring was done by team doctor Eli Krigsten and each time the young defenseman returned to the bench, he was plugged into a battery pack by trainer Jack Curran, relieving the pain. .Lariviere moved up to right wing late in the game with Indianapolis and scored the tying goal.Coach Rollins, unhappy with his right wingers, who have produced only a total of 10 goals in 18 games&rsquo;, said he would likely keep inserting &ldquo; Bimbo&rdquo; at a right wing spot until his right wingers &ldquo;wake up &ldquo;<h2>WHA Rosters</h2>C&mdash;Captain *&mdash;Rookie &#9632;

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Runners’ Goalie Hebenton Keeps Club In Contention

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div>HOUSTON&mdash;The Howes may be moving but the Houston Aeros are still rolling.George Bolin, chairman of the board of the Aeros. said he had given the New England Whalers permission to talk to the Howe family and later said he had given the San Diego Mariners permission.The Howes&mdash;Gordie. Mark and Marty&mdash;have a no-trade clause written into their contract with the Aeros and could not be traded or sold without permission.Hon Ryan, general manager of the Whalers, was in Houston to discuss a possible contract with the Howes.World Hockey Association president Bill Mac Far land and Ryan said they would like to keep the Howes in the WHA.The Howes have made it clear, mostly through Gordie&rsquo;s wife and the family&rsquo;s business agent. Colleen. that they will not return to Houston next season. .Bolin worked out a four-for-four exchange with New England and offered the Howes the choice of signing new contracts or being traded, but they pointed out their contracts have no-trade clauses.Houston coach Bill Dineen has been quoted as saying. If the Howes are back in the World Hockey Association next year. I would guess it would be in San Diego.&rdquo;&ldquo;We would be more interested in making a deal for them right now. if we get the chance.&rdquo; said San Diego general manager Ballard Smith. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d be interested in making a fair exchange for them although, obviously. Houston can&rsquo;t expect to get full value for them under the circumstances. If they can&rsquo;t trade them, they lose them at the end oi the year and get nothing in return at all.&rdquo;On the ice. where some of the Houston hockey action is still going on. the Aeros scored five times in the third period to sink the Indianapolis Racers 7-2. Rich Preston scored twice and so did Don Larway for the Aeros.Cam Connor fired his fifth and sixth of the season in a 4-1 victory over the San Diego Mariners which was Houston&rsquo;s fifth win in six games and moved the Aeros into a Western Division first place tie with Winnipeg.The Aeros have, says Dineen, been outstanding in penalty killing, defense and goaltending.&ldquo;Were more aggressive this season, so we are going to draw our share of penalties. &ldquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s important not to give up any goals when we&rsquo;re shorthanded. We&rsquo;ve used a lot of combinations to kill penalties and everybody has been doing the job in that area.&rdquo;Houston currently has a club record streak of 34 consecutive penalties killed.&ldquo;Our wings are coming back and pick up well.&rdquo; said Dineen, &ldquo;so our defensemen are able to stand up to meet the rush at the blueline. When the opposition gets a shot, we aren t allowing second shots, either. That helps our goaltenders. They know if they make the first save somebody is going to clear the puck.&rdquo;Wayne Rutledge owns a2.28 goals- against average with a 4-2-2 record. Ron Grahame has a 3.22 mark with a 5-4-0 record.Meanwhile, the loss to the Aeros ended a four-game San Diego winning streak, which included a 3-2 victory at Birmingham on Norm Ferguson&rsquo;s third period goal, and Ernie Wakely&rsquo;s 12th career shutout in a 3-0 win over Indianapolis. Gerry Cheevers set the WHA record with 13 career shutouts.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01314/3975935-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="483" height="759"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICH PRESTON &hellip; Big Scorer</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02228/3975928-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="593" height="653"><figcaption class="caption-body">NORM FERGUSON &hellip; Scores Winner</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Aeros Take Penalties But Still Rolling Along

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03171/3975966-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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HOCKEY CROSSWORD

Special To The Hockey NewsHALIFAX&mdash;During the late stages of the 1975-76 season many hockey people felt the Nova Scotia Voyageurs were the best professional hockey team outside of the National Hockey League. The Vees proved themselves worthy of this honor by sweeping through the Calder Cup playoffs winning the coveted cup for the second time in only seven years in the AHLCoach Al MacNeil is certainly not one to toot his own horn and warned his players at the start that the AHL would be a tougher place to live with only six teams.So far this season the Vees have known only first place and those same observers are again chanting the praises of the Vees and MacNeil claiming the Halifax representative as the best outside of the NHL and may be even better than some in the NHL.Success this season has not been easy for the Vees They started the season with only one goalie, an inexperienced draft choice in Maurice Barrette, fresh out of Quebec where he had played with the Rem parts in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The diminutive Barrette, who has since left the Vees under rather mysterious circumstances, quickly proved himself able and willing to handle the goaltending chores as he moved through his first seven games with two shutouts and a very respectable average of 2.96. Only once in nine games did he get over the three-goal average mark.At the same time the Vees had Pierre Mondou. Paul Woods and Eddie Walsh on the sidelines with injuries. Atlanta recalled Dave Shand and Hal Phillipoff to add to MacNeil&rsquo;s already depleted ranks. Despite having only one goaltender and less than the maximum players available the Vees continued to win both at home and on the road.Rookie talent in the shape of Peter Lee. Cliff Cox. Rod Schutt. Kon Wilson. Pat Hughes. Bruce Baker and of course Barrette proved the major factors in the Vees success over the first month and a half of the very tough schedule. Schutt has been among the leading scorers in the AHL since the start Cox and Lee have also been on that list from week to week.Well. Walsh is back and so is Dave Elenbaas. Mondou is also back and Woods will be ready in December so it&rsquo;s not going to be an easy task to unseat the Vees.NEW HAVEN: The Nighthawks have been the chief competitor for I he defending champion Voyageurs Larry Sacharuk. Dave Cressman. Jerry Byers. Jerry Holland. Blake Dunlop and Eddie Johnstone have been providing the Hawks with the scoring punch Io keep them close behind the Vees while in the nets it has been the outstanding work of Paul Harrison.HERSHEY: The Bears got a big boost in their efforts to get untracked when they went into Providence and beat the Reds. 3-2 for their second road victory The victory however, failed to get the Bears up and out of the cellar and they remained two points behind the Springfield Indians. Terry Martin was recalled by Buffalo on an emergency basis so he should be ready to return soon. Buffalo in the meantime helped the Bears&rsquo; problem in goaltending by loaning them Bob Sauve. Sauve was in Buffalo as the third goalie. He played briefly in Providence last season and although he lost his first start in the AHL he should be a big help to the Bears as the season progresses.RHODE ISLAND: The Reds continued their efforts to become more independent last week by signing veteran forward Grant Erickson.The Reds were subjected to several player recalls and subsequent loans by Detroit and Colorado and although they lost some promising talent the Reds gained the services of some veteran talent in the exchanges. Colorado assigned defenseman Koger Lemelin to the Reds after recalling Jim McElmury. Lemelin and fellow defenseman Ken Murray were last teamed together in Springfield when the Indians last won the Calder Cup.The Rockies also recalled rookies Mike Kitchen and Paul Gardner and Detroit pulled up Bobby Sheehan The loss of Sheehan and Gardner hurt the Reds at first as both were among the leading scorers, however, the acquisition of Erickson and Fred Williams from Detroit should prove an asset to the Reds Erickson will remain with the Reds for the entire season and Williams should prove as effective a scorer as Sheehan or Gardner.ROCHESTER: Doug Gibson continued his hot hand in the scoring race collecting five goals, including a &ldquo;hat trick last week as the Amerks came away without a defeat in two games Joining Gibson in the scoring race are Gordie Clark. Earl Anderson and Kon Garwasiuk Dave Reece held the Vees to three goals in an overtime thriller and Jim Pettie stopped the Springfield Indians at one goal while his mates banged home eight big ones The Amerks drew 4.754 for that game against the VeesSPRINGFIELD: The Indians managed two home wins before losing to the Amerks.The Indians went into Rochester on Sunday, tired after playing Friday and Saturday at home while the Amerks were resting up after their tie with the Vees on Friday night. In fact the Indians were playing their ninth game in 11 nights and just couldn&rsquo;t muster the power to handle the Amerks. Andre Peloffy collected three goals last week and moved up in the scoring race.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03186/3976011-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="595" height="860"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG GIBSON &hellip; Fired Hat Trick</figcaption></div>AHL NOTES: The American Hockey League board of governors met in Springfield. One of the major topics on the agenda was the 1976-77 playoff plan&hellip;Six players including Dave Hynek. Mike Marson and Steve Coates each have been assessed two game misconducts. Graig Hammer also has two misconducts but is no longer on the Springfield roster. John Wensink of Rochester received two game misconducts in the 3-3 tie with Nova Scotia and Larry Bignell has two for Hershey.<h2>AHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02246/3976004-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="638" height="881"></div><h2>Where AHL Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01310/3975997-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="608" height="969"></div> &#9632;

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Leading Voyageurs Play Up To Form; Nighthawks’ Offense Keeps ’Em Close

<div class="byline">BY BILL BROPHY</div>GRAND FORKS&mdash;The Western Collegiate Hockey Association prides itself in being the best college hockey loop in North America. Freshmen have a tough time breaking into the league, coaches will tell you It&rsquo;s a big adjustment, so the line goes.You&rsquo;ll have to pardon a rowdy bunch of North Dakota University hockey fans it they scoff at those claims because a trio of freshmen speedsters called the &rsquo;Canadian Connection&rsquo; have the Winter Sports Center in this town jumping.Two months ago. Rick Zaparniuk. Dave Colborne and Erwin Martens had never met one another today they are the highest-scoring line in the WCHA and have sparked North Dakota into first place for the first time since 1968&ldquo;That freshmen line makes this team go.&rdquo; said UMD coach Gus Hendrickson after watching the Canadian Connection score seven goals to lead the Sioux Io a sweep over Hendrickson s club. &ldquo; Those guys can really motor. They pick the whole team up by the way they move the puck.&rsquo;Zaparniuk. a diminutive centerman from Edmonton. Alta . makes the line go by feeding the speedy Colborne. a five- foot-eight. 165 pounder who played with the Calgary Continentals last year, and Martens, a five-foot-eight. 170-pound wing from Cartwright. ManZaparniuk has only scored one goal but is well on his way to breaking I he Sioux single-season record of 36 assists in once year held by Dennis Hextall.He already has 11 assists and that doesn&rsquo;t come as &agrave; surprise to Zaparniuk who had 108 assists to go with 57 goals last year while helping his team to the title in the Alberta Junior League last year.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always had more assists than goals. &rsquo;said Zaparniuk. I just try to set up the plays It bothers me a bit that I haven&rsquo;t scored more but as long as my wings are scoring, it&rsquo;s all right.And Martens and Colborne have scored a lot. Colborne has scored five goals while Martens is leading the league with nine goals, including five in the sweep over UMD.Watching the Canadian Connection in action. North Dakota tans&mdash;who are filling the Sports Center this year with the arrival of a winning team&mdash;are amazed that the trio is playing together for the first time.&ldquo;I just put them together the first day of practice.&rdquo; said Sioux coach Rube Bjorkman. &ldquo; They are awful quick, aren t they?&rdquo;Their quickness has North Dakota thinking of a high finish in the WCHA after some lean years. The Sioux have a solid veteran unit to go with the freshmen. Roger Lamoureaux centers an effective line with Brad Becker and another Canadian freshman Mark Taylor, the grandson of NHL great Fred &ldquo;Cyclone&rdquo; Taylor.Goalies Bill Stankoven and Peter Waselovich have been steady in the early going to add to the Sioux optimism and if a questionable defense can hold up through the rigors of WCHA play, the Sioux freshmen may refute the claim that a rookie line can&rsquo;t carry a team in this league.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t stand to lose.&rdquo; said Zaparniuk &ldquo;Winning is the only way to play and I can&rsquo;t see why we can&rsquo;t keep on winning I don&rsquo;t know if my line is on a hot streak or what, but I hope we can keep it up.<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01286/3976042-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="643" height="707"></div> &#9632;

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Canadian Trio Puts North Dakota On Top

<div class="byline">BY MIKE LYNCH</div>KIMBERLEY-Reports on the hockey season s progress are starting to sound like a broken record:Kimberley&rsquo;s got the hottest team Kimberley&rsquo;s got the hottest team&hellip;and so on.They may be getting a bit tiresome for supporters of the Western International League s other four clubs.However. Kimberley&rsquo;s boosters can&rsquo;t get enough of a good thing and their club continues to provide one success after another.&ldquo;It looks like the rest of us are in the second division, the start that Kimberley got. &ldquo; said Tom Hodges. Spokane coach and general manager, as the league entered its second month of play.Certainly. Kimberley&rsquo;s Dynamiters, under playing coach Murray Flegel, have made the league appear sort of two-divisional, moving into a distant leadThe Dynamiters won 12 of their first 14 games and that included a 10- game winning streak extending into the first weeks of November.Flegel cautioned his players earlier about playing consistent hockey, noting that poor performances on the road would likely lead to inactivity.The coach got the desired results. After losing their first two games on the road, the Nitros reeled off five straight wins on foreign ice.Kimberley&rsquo;s improved defense is getting most of the credit for the club&rsquo;s success and Flegel is probably primarily responsible However. Kimberley has a balanced offense up front and some solid goaltending in Wayne Bell and Barrie MacKay.The Nitros have also demonstrated ability to delight any coach&mdash;they win the close ones. Five of their wins have been by one goal, four of them in a row.&ldquo;Certainly. Kimberley is going to be in contention all the way. after the sort of start the club has had But I can&rsquo;t count our club out and I don&rsquo;t think Cranbrook is going to be out of it next spring.&rdquo; said Hodges, coach of Spokane&rsquo;s defending Allan Cup champions.Spokane moved into second place with a three-game weekend sweep to start November, just two points ahead of Cranbrook. last season s league champion.The Flyers turned on some offense and scored 20 goals in the three wins Spokane has been concerned about the defense, but Hodges set a new tone when he instructed his players to quit putting the rap on the defense and start playing hockey.&rdquo;Hodges opined that the league&rsquo;s other clubs did not necessarily have super defensive corps, but rather had some forwards who were working on backchecking. The extra work, as a result, pushed Spokane&rsquo;s early record to 7-6.Cranbrook managed just six wins in its first 13 games, mostly the result of early season injuries, but the picture is brighter. Forwards Marv Ferg. Jim Miller, and Chris Becker, in and out of the lineup, seem ready for regular duty.All Star goaltender Leo Karchie. sidelined with an ankle injury for several weeks, has returned and so has veteran forward Gerry Goyer. back on skates with rapidity after pre-season knee surgery.Nelson, victimized in recent action by a couple of those one-goal Kimberley wins including one in overtime. skated to a 4-8-1 mark in October and early-November. playing more competitive hockey as the season wore on.Trail, struggling to 3-9-1. lost four straight and dropped seven of eight at one stage Coach John Van Horlick apparently needs goaltending and defensive aid for what appears a solid nucleus. &#9632;

Kimberley Making WIHL A Two-Division Battle

<div class="byline">BY BILL ADLER</div>DALLAS&mdash;The penalty records for the first month of Central- Hockey League action (39 games) indicate a slight drop in the total number of penalty minutes assessed from last season. This year there have been 1607 penalty minutes assessed compared to 1.666 minutes in the same number of games last year (3.5% decrease). The major decrease has been in the number of &rsquo; major&rsquo;&rsquo; penalties assessed.This season the officials have assessed 63 major penalties compared to 80 in the comparable number of games This represents a decrease of 21.3%. There has also been a drastic drop in the number of 10-minute misconduct penalties from the 75-76 season to this year with only four misconducts being assessed so far this year while there were 17 at the same time last season.However, there has been almost a 100% increase in the number of game misconduct penalties over last year as the referees have handed out 25 game misconducts compared to only 14 at the same time period last season. This can be attributed to the new &rsquo;aggressor&rsquo;&rsquo; fighting rule that has been adopted to eliminate the violent element in the game of hockey.KANSAS CITY: Cor the second consecutive week, the Blues captured their only game scheduled and coach Barclay Plager&rsquo;s charges look tougher and tougher each game. On Nov. 12. the Blues traveled to Dallas for the first time this season and they used a four-goal explosion in the final period to take a 5-3 victory over the Hawks.Bill Lochead and Mike Korney scored a pair of goals only twelve seconds apart late in the final period to snap a 3-3 tie. giving goalie Doug Grant his third consecutive victory. Lochead scored earlier in the period along with Ken Richardson while Mitch Babin had opened the scoring in the game with a goal early in the second period.Much of the action in the game, though, centered around the veteran Plager. whose checking kept the Black Hawk offense off-balance all night. The nine-year NHL veteran shows no sign of carrying around a 35-year-old body as he has truly become the team leader as well as the coach.SALT LAKE: The Golden Eagles return home with the dubious distinction of having scored only one goal in each of their last four games, recording three losses and a tie in that stretch. Two key players who had sparked the offense through the first three weeks of the season are no longer available to the club, but coach Marv Edwards hopes that returning to the friendly confines of the Salt Palace will be the remedy for his offensive woes.Mike Fidler. who had been carrying the bulk of the Salt Lake City offense, is now doing an outstanding job for the parent Cleveland Barons. The other key loss to the Golden Eagle offense came when high-scoring right-winger Frank Spring suffered a shoulder separation ten days ago. Spring, who scored 44 goals last year to lead the league, has one of the hardest shots in hockey, and his absence has been severely felt. However, he has begun to skate with the team, and there is reason to believe that he will be back in the lineup within two weeks.Defensively, the team remains solid with Glenn Patrick. Tim Jacobs. Tom Price. Brent Meeke and rookie Darcy Regier providing excellent support for the strong goaltending of Ray Martyniuk and rookie Jim WardenEORT WORTH: The Texans gave coach John Choyce their best showing in recent weeks as they tied the Dallas Black Hawks 3-3 in Dallas on November 13th in their only action of the week. The Texans had managed to score only once in each of their three previous games, but against Dallas they showed a potent offense.Rookie defenseman Dave Miglia notched his first professional goal when his shot from the point went in off Hawk goalie Gord McRae&rsquo;s glove. The Texans took a 2-1 lead on Dave Salvian&rsquo;s goal, then fell behind 3-2. But Steve Clippingdale scored the tying goal late in the second period, making the final 3-3 as the teams battled through a scoreless third period. Goalie Don Cutts preserved the tie for Port Worth with an outstanding performance in goal as the Hawks outshot the Texans 46 to 29Texan goalie Bill Hughes was in uniform tor the first time since opening night in this game. He had broken his hand during a melee in Fort Worth against the Hawks. Coach Choyce is pleased to see the return of the veteran goaltender.Because of schedule conflicts. Fort Worth will have played only three games in 18 days before returning home Nov. 18 to host the Tulsa Oilers. However, in the following 10 days the Texans will see plenty of action as they have seven games scheduled. It will be a most welcome return to action for the club, since all injured players except defenseman Bob Lorimer are now fit for full-time duty.OKLAHOMA CITY: Much of the action in Oklahoma City has taken place off the ice in recent days. During the Blazers last visit to Tulsa on Nov. 5. coach Murray Davison tangled with some Tulsa fans after the game. He later described the fans in luisa as &ldquo;animalistic", and hired a bodyguard for future appearances in Tulsa.That next appearance came quickly on Nov. 13 as the Blazers dropped a tough 65 decision to the Oilers. Steve West provided most of the Blazer offensive production with three goals, while Mike Stevens and Jan Popiel added the other Blazer tallies.Perhaps one of the major disappointments of the season for the Blazers as well as the entire CHL has been the poor showing of Pierre Hamel The former All Star goalie was rocked tor all six Oiler goals, which brought his goals- against average for the season to 6 16. Hamel, on loan to Oklahoma City from Toronto, was expected to provide the Blazers with strong goaltending, but has not so far this year. Coach Davison hopes Hamel will quickly return to the form he displayed during his past two years in the CHL.League-leading scorer Bob Sicinski has been recalled on an emergency basis by the Indianapolis Racers of the WHA. but the center continues to lead all CHL scorers with 22 points.TULSA: Despite several personnel changes, the Oilers continue to perform in very fluid-like fashion as they have taken over the top spot in the league standings Bobby Lalonde. Brad Gassoff and Jim Wiley have all moved on to Vancouver while Bill Plett. the aggressive young winger, has joined the Atlanta Flames. Returning to Tulsa from Vancouver were Ron Sedlbauer and Ralph Stewart while joining them from Atlanta were Rick Bowness and Michel Belhumeur.The Oilers have been almost two different teams so far this season, winning nine and tieing two of twelve home games this season. However, on the road the Oilers are winless in five contests this season.In last week&rsquo;s action, the Oilers extended their winning streak to five games (all at home) by sweeping three games Second period goals by Alain Langlais. Bowness and Wiley (playing his last game before departing for Vancouver) paced the Oilers to an easy 5-1 victory over Salt Lake City on Nov. 9.Two goals each by Sedlbauer and rookie Kob Elockhart along with one each by Langlais and Cam Botting enabled the Oilers to gain a hard-fought 6-5 victory over Oklahoma City on Nov. 13 before 5.579 delighted Oiler fans.The very next evening Glen Richardson opened the scoring for the Oilers. All four of Richardson&rsquo;s goals this season have been the first-goal-of-game tallies. However, it was a shorthanded goal by Stewart early in the second period that snapped a 1-1 tie and the Oilers were never headed.DALLAS: Perhaps the best word to describe the situation in Dallas these days would be &ldquo;struggling". The Hawks and their rookie coach Koger Neilson are really having a difficult time putting everything together in the early going. Fortunately for the Hawks, they have been receiving excellent goaltending from young Mike Veisor but the offense has not been able to provide enough support.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01289/3976104-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="611" height="805"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE WEST &hellip; Three-Goal Game</figcaption></div>Adding to the woes of the rookie coach is the latest injury that will sideline Kandy Holt for at least six weeks. The All Star detenseman was cheeked hard to the ice by Barclay Plager on Nov 12 and tore some ligaments in his right knee. The next evening forward Greg Hubick stopped a puck on his right ankle and was removed from the game. Early indications did not reveal any fracture and the outstanding penalty-killer should be back in the Hawk lineup within the next few days.<h2>Where CHL Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02221/3976097-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="620" height="917"></div> &#9632;

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CHL Feeling Anti-Violence Rules; Recalls Keep Eagles, Oilers Moving

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div>OSHAWA-Remember those days when no matter what you did nothing seemed to go right?Sherry Bassin does.Bassin, coach of Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; series, would like to forget those kind of days but he&rsquo;s had so many of them lately he can&rsquo;t erase them from his memory.And odds are Bassin is going to experience another one each time the Generals step on the ice for a game.Through the first six weeks of the regular season the Generals had compiled a 0-15-1 won-lost-tied record, by far the worst mark in the entire league.The only ray of light which broke through the overcast tor the Generals was a 5-5 home ice tie against Niagara Falls Fivers, the team with the second- worst record in the league, and Bassin had to wait until the season s tilth week for that.Then in the seventh week the Generals did something they hadn&rsquo;t done all season. They won.For Bassin the sun was still shining at midnight as his Generals defeated London Knights, the team with the second-best record in the league. 5-3 at the Oshawa Civic Auditorium.But anyone who thought that win could have been a turning point for the Generals was proved wrong as the duh went back to its losing ways, dropping three straight road games to end the week.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d think we&rsquo;d won the Stanley Cup.&rdquo; Bassin said of his team&rsquo;s first win of the season.I thought we likely caught them (the Knights) down. But maybe we played so well they looked so bad.One of the Generals big problems this season has been putting the puck in the net as was evidenced by their latest road trip where they scored two goals in three games.To try and beef up their scoring statistics the Generals obtained high-scoring center Kevin Street from Kitchener Rangers in a complicated deal which also involved Peterborough.The Generals also received forward Bob Dolman and defenseman Ray Irwin from the Rangers.Oshawa sent last-year junior Brian Drumm and Rob Mierkalns to the Petes in exchange.But the Generals main problem is inexperience.The Generals are in the position they are because of poor management and inefficient scouting and Bassin is bearing the brunt of those groups errors.Yet. the Oshawa coach manages to retain his optimism.&rsquo;&rsquo;When I look at the clock I think that someday it (lopsided score) is going to be on the other side.&rdquo;Yet there is one fact that would be enough to make most other men pack it in.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t play for next year.&rdquo; said Bassin, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve got to play the games this year.&rdquo;KINGSTON: Canadians won three straight to move back into first-place tie in Leyden Division with Ottawa. Tom Bailey scored three goals and added an assist as Canadians defeated Niagara Falls 7-1. Ken Linesman scored three times and had one assist in 7-4 win over Sault Ste. Mane while Tony McKegney had a-goal and two assists.OTTAWA: &rsquo;67s tied with Kingston after winning twice and losing equal number ..Peter Cain and Ron Davidson scored two goals apiece as &rsquo;67s defeated Sault Ste Mane 9-1&hellip;Other win was also over Sault. 7-4 ..Losses were in Sudbury 10-1 and in London 6-3.PETERBOROUGH: Petes fell back to third place after earning a tie in two games. Ron Mason. Bob Schnurr. John Thompson. Roger Fife and Bob Atwell scored for Petes in 5-5 tie in Windsor Mark Kirton scored twice as Petes lost first home game of the season. 4-3 to London.SUDBURY: Wolves improved record to 500 with 10-1 shellacking of Ottawa&hellip;Paul Mancini had hat trick to lead Wolves past 67s. Wolves, defending Leyden Division champs, are nine points behind Canadians and &rsquo;67s.SAULT STE, MARIE: Greyhounds fell four points back of fourth-place Wolves after suffering four straight defeats . Brian Gualazzi scored twice in 10-5 loss in Kitchener&hellip;Other setbacks were 7-4 and 9-1 to Ottawa and 7-4 in Kingston.ST. CATHARINES: Fincups picked up three out of a possible four points with 44tie in Brantford against Toronto and 123 home ice win over Kitchener Mike Keating scored twice in tie with Marlboros . Keating then came right back and scored five times and added an assist in win over Rangers&hellip;Keating&rsquo;s five goals were the most scored by any Fincup player in one game since the team was founded in Hamilton three years ago&hellip; .LONDON: Knights moved to within three points of Emms Division-leading Fincups with three wins in four games Steve Stockman scored four goals to lead Knights to 10-1 win over Generals, who had beaten Knights 5-3 earlier in week.KITCHENER: Rangers moved two points ahead of Toronto into third place with 6-5 win. over Marlboros in Kitchener Dwight Foster scored twice to lead the Rangers . Red Laurence became the first player in the league to reach the 50-point plateau with four goals and three assists in 10-5 win over Sault St. Marie&hellip; Rangers were thumped 12-3 in St. Catharines&hellip; Rangers acquired Paul Reinhart from Peterborough on loan for a pair of draft picks and three players Reinhart, the Petes first round draft pick last summer, was loaned until May 31. 1977. After that date the league will consider him traded to the Rangers&hellip;TORONTO: Marlboros salvaged one point in two games &hellip;Gary Dillons goal with 3:15 left in the game gave Marlies 44 tie against St. Catharines . Lyn Jorgenson scored twice in 6-5 loss to Rangers in Kitchener.WINDSOR: Spitfires won one and tied one&hellip;Brian Ellaeott&rsquo;s third goal of the game with 1:26 remaining gave the Spits a 5-5 tie with Peterborough. Joel Quenneville had hat trick and Charlie Sk- jodt scored twice as Spitfires defeated Oshawa 7-1.NIAGARA FALLS: Flyers won once in three games&hellip;Both losses were to Kingston. 7-1 and 3-2 Mike Gartner scored twice as Flyers defeated Oshawa 5-0&hellip;Bob Froese registered his second shutout of the season. .<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01259/3976135-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="658" height="1623"></div> &#9632;

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Win Fails To Turn Generals Around; Kingston Rejoins Ottawa In First

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>FLINT&mdash;The Flint Generals are making a habit of falling behind but winding up ahead. And while coach Doug Carpenter (isn&rsquo;t exactly fond of the pattern, he won&rsquo;t knock the results.Enjoying their best week of the young season, the Generals won three of four games&mdash;including a tough road test&mdash;and leap-froged into first place in the North Division. The Flint record. 5-5-3. doesn&rsquo;t reflect a winner but the 13 points is more than any North Division rival has been able to produce. Part of the Flint advantage comes from the fact the Generals have played two more games than Kalamazoo, currently sharing second with Muskegon.The Generals launched the week with a 3-2 triumph at Columbus, their first road success of the season. And it was another first which triggered the triumph&mdash;Mike Clarke&rsquo;s first goal of the season which pulled Flint even at 2-2 just before time ran out in the second period Flint had trailed. 2-0. earlier. Clyde Simon got the winner.Subsequently. Flint whipped Dayton at home. 6-4. lost at Muskegon. 5-2. and blitzed Kalamazoo with a four-goal final period to cap the week with a 6-4 triumph at home before 3.199 fans.In each of those last four games. Flint sank behind by 2-0 margins. First-period statistics haven t been the kind of which first place is made. The Generals were outshot. 52-32. in the first 20 minutes of the four games.Carpenter&rsquo;s reaction to the first-period blahs&rsquo;.&rsquo; &ldquo;We just aren t ready. We get out there in the first period and figure we can give up a couple of goals and bounce back Well, we&rsquo;ve taken the law of averages as far as it can go. One of these nights we won&rsquo;t be able to come back.The Flint coach also revealed he had planned to fine his club had defeat been the end result of the slow start against Kalamazoo. &ldquo;They would have been fifty bucks poorer if they had lost tonight That&rsquo;s a lot of money in this league but they must learn to be ready, especially when the game meant so much If they want to get warmed up. they&rsquo;ll get a chance in the next game I&rsquo;ll have a hundred bucks on the ice for warmups Flint&rsquo;s first-place position will get a severe test in the next three games&mdash;all on the road. It ends with a rematch against the K-Wings in Kalamazoo.KALAMAZOO: The K-Wings are finding other rinks in the IHL most unfriendly. Playing three of four games on foreign ice. Kalamazoo dropped all three of the road tests to slip behind Flint into second place in the North Division, l he road jaunt started with an 8-5 loss at Saginaw which happened to be the Gears first home success of the season Other road defeats came at Port Huron (6-21 and at Flint (6-4).A 6-4 win over the Flags at home averted a complete shutout A crowd of 4.556 witnessed the victory over Port Huron which came on Kenny Mann&rsquo;s breakaway goal. Al Genovy iced the decision with an empty-net goal just 39 seconds from the finish.MUSKEGON: The Mohawks are getting a lot of mileage out of led Tucker, a goalie who couldn&rsquo;t stick with the Toledo Goaldiggers and has been sent to Muskegon on loan In the first meeting with his old teammates. Tucker was the difference as the Mohawks skated to a 5-3 triumph which launched a near-perfect. 3-1-0 week.Tucker kicked out a total of 31 shots in repelling the Goaldiggers, including 11 in the final period when Toledo made a strong bid to pull out a victory.Tucker was even more impressive in a 4-2 Muskegon victory at Saginaw Saginaw outshot Muskegon. 14-2. in the first period but Tucker&rsquo;s stellar performance preserved a scoreless, tie after the 20 minutes of action.Offensively. Muskegon is flying chiefly on the scoring outburst of rookie Garth MacGuigan. MacGuigan scored two goals in the win at Saginaw, boosting his league-leading total to 15 He also leads in points with 26.PORT HURON: The hustle of Jim Gustafson has been one of the highlights of the Flags recent play Record-wise, the Flags slumped to a 1-2-0 performance. Two of the reverses were on the road&mdash;a 6-3 thumping at Fort Wayne and a 6-4 defeat in Kalamazoo But the Hags bounced back against the Wings at home. 6-2.The hustle of Gustafson in the 6-2 romp over Kalamazoo prompted Flag coach Bob McCammong to say He only knows one way to play Remember he scored 140 points in the Western Canadian League last year. He hasn&rsquo;t scored as much as we expected but with veterans like Larry Gould and Len Chalmers on his line, he should do better Chalmers, who reported late, made his first start in the game at Fort Wayne.SAGINAW: Despite a series of meetings with each of his players&mdash;and several among the players themselves&mdash;the Gears continue to flounder at the bottom of the North Division The immediate effect of the meetings was successful&mdash;but not sustaining. The Gears ended a four-game winless streak with their first home victory of the season, an 8-5 slugfest with Kalamazoo. A 6-6 tie on the road followed but the Gears then dropped a 6-4 decision at Dayton (alter leading. 4-2) and were bombed at home by Toledo and Muskegon.TOLEDO: The Goaldiggers moved ahead of the class in the South with a 2-10 performance during the week It was climaxed by a 6-2 romp over the suddenly inept Columbus Owls in Columbus. 6-2 The victory was the Diggers&rsquo; sixth against three losses and a tie for a 13-point total This is one ahead of the Fort Wayne Komets.A key cog in the Diggers&rsquo; climb to the top has been the play of veteran Juri Kudrasovs. There was some doubt Kudrasovs would ever play again following serious injury in an auto accident last January Kudrasovs suffered a fractured pelvis. But Kudrasovs&rsquo; recovery appears complete as he has scored three goals and has been credited with eight assists in II games.FORT WAYNE: The Komets five- game winning streak came to an end in Dayton. 6-3. The streak reached five the night before as the Komets spoiled Ron Ullyot&rsquo;s return as coach of the Columbus Owls. 6-2. A crowd of 6.090&mdash;largest in two years&mdash;showed up at the Memorial Coliseum and were rewarded with a spirited contest.The Owls got off to a 2-0 lead by Dave Norris and rookie Ron Zanussi sparked the Komet comeback. It was Zanussi&rsquo;s short-handed goal which snapped a 2-2 tie and gave the Komets the lead for good Norris scored the three-goal hat trick, first for a Komet player this season.Coach Ralph Keller was displeased with the Komets performance in the loss at Dayton. When you are on a winning streak and fighting for first place you have to play 100 percent We didn&rsquo;t play 100 percent.&rdquo;COLUMBUS: The Owls, who got off to their best start in history, have suddenly lost their touch. A 6-2 loss to Toledo al home was the club s fifth game without a victory The home record shows just one victory, three losses and two ties.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03168/3976180-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="608" height="709"><figcaption class="caption-body">TED TUCKER &hellip; Beats Ex-Mates.</figcaption></div>The slump has brought a warning from young coach Ron Ullyot. &ldquo;&rsquo;They&rsquo;re going to have to start playing the way we want them to or we II get new players.DAYTON: There are signs the defending champion Gems are ready to make their bid to escape the South Division cellar The Gems put together two home wins in a row. beating Saginaw. 6-4. and Fort Wayne. 6-3.<h2>IHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02225/3976173-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="642" height="743"></div><h2>Where IHL Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01282/3976166-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="605" height="1138"></div> &#9632;

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League-Leading Generals Beat Law Of Averages

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div>REGINA&mdash;The most promising aspect of the 197677 Western Canada Hockey League season is the balance among the 12 teams There is more equality this year than in any other recent campaignUnfortunately, this doesn&rsquo;t include Regina Pats, who yearn for the glory days of three seasons back when they won the Memorial Cup. but instead see nothing but dust and smog on their horizon.The Pats and Elin Elon Bombers are in a class by themselves&hellip;at the bottom. Brandon Wheat Kings, it appears, are alone among the true powers. The other nine? That&rsquo;s where the balance comes in Eight points separate the nine &ldquo;mediums &ldquo;&hellip;Calgary with 23 points at the top of the group, and Medicine Hat with 15 at the bottom.The Wheat Kings, with just three losses in 22 games, have 36 points. The Bombers and Pats, meanwhile, have just six.With just two wins and two ties in 17 games. Pats&rsquo; coach Bob Turner is at a loss for his next move. The situation is so grave, in fact, that his next move may be his last as the Regina boss.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been fired in my life. Turner says, adding that he is &ldquo;the same coach who has been to two Memorial Cup finals.&rdquo;The Regina problem is glaring: the team cannot score enough goals to be competitive Other than a 9-4 upset win over Brandon (&ldquo;I wish I knew what happened that night. Turner says) and a 7-6 opening-night loss to Calgary, the Pats have averaged a microscopic 2 0 goals per game.Gerry Minor. Pats&rsquo; best forward, has been out most of the season with a slight tear in his knee cartilage, and Turner has done as much juggling with his players as possible.But there&rsquo;s another problem. Some bodies who could possibly spruce up the anemic Pat attack haven&rsquo;t been made available to Turner.General-manager Del Wilson, who is reportedly ready to shake up the Pats in his disgust with the way this season is progressing, is the man responsible for supplying Turner with players.We&rsquo;ve got a guy who should be playing with us.&rdquo; Turner says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a 15- year-old named Doug Wickenheiser. &ldquo; adding that &ldquo;he&rsquo;s better than Sobchuk (Dennis) was at the same age.But how can I do anything? Turner laments. &ldquo;1 don&rsquo;t have the power to say who comes up and who goes down.Part of the problem is the youth of the Pats Five regular forwards&mdash;Hon Parent. Murray Flegel. Dirk Graham. Earl Ingarfield. Jr., and Rick Odegarde&mdash;are fuzzy-cheeked 17-year- olds. &ldquo;I don t think all of them are ready for this league. &ldquo; Turner says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to give a kid hell for not producing if he&rsquo;s trying his best. &ldquo;Despite the lack of scoring punch. Turner figures the Pats&rsquo; biggest problem has been goaltending Rookie Pat Ansell has seemed to stabilize the situation since taking over after eight games, but Turner went through four goalies in the first two weeks of the season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve lost maybe four games at home because of bad goaltending.&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;lf we had those four wins, we&rsquo;d be right up there.&rdquo;Veteran Saskatoon goalie Handy- Ireland. on the trading block earlier this season, almost wound up with the Pats, but eventually went to Portland for a cash settlement.That would have helped us&hellip;il we&rsquo;d got Ireland. Turner says.What was offered for him?How do 1 know?&rdquo; Turner said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t made the trades You II have to ask Del Wilson.&rdquo;On more than one occasion. Turner says, quitting has entered his mind This season s been hard on the nerves. &ldquo; he says. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t sleep anymore I wake up having nightmares. My wife doesn&rsquo;t want to go to the rink anymore. Sometimes I don&rsquo;t even want to go down there.But I keep changing my mind when I think about quitting.&rdquo; the former Montreal Canadiens defenseman says I don&rsquo;t really know why. But sometime soon, everything just might come out in the wash.SASKATOON: After a 4-2 loss at home to Brandon. Blades&rsquo; coach Jackie McLeod said: &rsquo;That&rsquo;s how we&rsquo;ll improve&mdash;playing good teams like that &ldquo; Saskatoon is a young club and destined for stardom Rookies Bill MacNaught (18) and Brent Ashton (16) along with veteran Ron Birns are tied for the team s scoring lead with 22 points. In sixth place is rookie Ken Federko. with 20 points. Now. that s balance. Veteran Bruce.FLIN FLON: The Bombers lost three straight on the road to stay tied with Regina in the basement of the East. Rookie Ray Markham has been a steady scorer and Ralph Bradbury, facing a virtual volley of shots, has performed as many miracles as humanly possible, albeit unsuccessfully.WINNIPEG: The schedule-makers, playing tricks on the Monarchs, forced Winnipeg to be inactive for two full weeks, then play seven road games in eight nights. They split the first four, as Dave Stekler had six goals in the span, and Guy Lash picked up four goals and five assists to move into filth spot in the WCHL scoring race. A surprise? Star defenseman Kevin McCarthy had one point, a goal, as the Monarchs scored 17 times in three games.BRANDON: The Wheat Kings frolicked to a 17-point lead over runner-up Saskatoon in the East with three straight wins, as goalie Glen Hanlon, last year&rsquo;s league All Star, posted two straight shutouts In his last six games, five on the road, the 19-year-old veteran has allowed but seven goals. Brandon concluded its eight-game west-coast swing with a 7-0 win in Kamloops despite being outshot 48-36. then blanked Regina at home 4-0 before a record crowd of 5.635.MEDICINE HAT: After allowing 16 goals in two road losses&mdash;7-4 in Victoria and 9-1 in New Westminster&mdash;the Tigers went home and split, and allowed 14 goals in games against Flin Flon and Winnipeg. Pierre Lamoureaux got the call against Winnipeg, replacing regulars Pete Peeters and Darryl Furmanek. but lost his debut 9-4. One bright light was sophomore Hon Areshenkoff. who returned from an injury and picked up seven points in the tour games.LETHBRIDGE: After two victories over Flin Flon. 7-2 and 3-1, the Broncos attracted more than 4.200 people to a battle for the Central Division lead with Calgary. But Broncos lost 5-4 Whillie Desjardins hit for the hat trick in the 7-2 win over the Bombers, and in addition to consistent scorers Rocky Saganiuk and Steve Tambellini. rookie Dean Solheim was hot. picking up three goals and three assists in the trio of games last week.CALGARY: Cents haven&rsquo;t lost since the big trade with Portland, which sent rookie Perry Turnbull south in exchange for veterans Doug Lecuyer and Dave Morrow Victories over Winnipeg and Lethbridge, both by 5-4 counts, made it 10 unbeaten games in a row for Calgary, it&rsquo;s a total team effort, with goalies Jerry Price and Gerry Perreault being sharp, a heady defense led by Morrow and Kevin McClosky and productive scoring from the likes of Lecuyer. Paul Enquist. Glenn Wylie. Gary Kissling and Doug Robb.PORTLAND: The Winter Hawks, with just one loss at home, had more than 5.100 people on hand to watch them down Victoria 4-3. as Brent Peterson got the winner with less than three minutes left Tony Currie broke out of a minor slump with two goals vs. Victoria as the Winter Hawks, just one game shy of 500 after seven straight losses at the start, closed the gap in the West Division.KAMLOOPS: Injuries have struck the Chiefs. Defenseman Dan Clark and forwards Allan Young and Clint Eccles were hobbling, and the Chiefs managed only a tie&mdash;and five goals&mdash;in three games. Ryan Walter s goal with two seconds showing on the clock earned Kamloops a 3-3 tie with New Westminster. Another tough game was against Brandon, where Chiefs fired 48 shots, but came up with no goals in a 7-0 loss. There is talk of the Chiefs being sold, or moved Edmonton is the likely locale, if it happens.NEW WESTMINSTER: Bruins showed signs of power in 8-2 and 9-1 wins (over Kamloops and Medicine Hat respectively) but their offense slowed somewhat in a 3-3 tie against Kamloops and then stopped in a 3-0 loss in Victoria Rookie John-Paul Kelly got his first WCHL hat trick against Kamloops and vs. The Hat. it was four-point outings by Don Hobbins and Stan Smyl providing the spark.VICTORIA: Goalie Murray Bannerman came up with a rare accomplishment. a shutout over New Westminster. 3-0. A 32-stop performance was the key. as the Cougars stayed close to first place in the West. Rookie Gary Lupul continued his hot scoring with two goals in a 7-4 win over Medicine Hat. and the Cougars nearly pulled out a tie in Portland, before losing 4-3 on a late goal.<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01273/3976211-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="643" height="731"></div> &#9632;

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Pats Coach’s Future Gets Cloudy; Brandon Pulls A wav In East Section

CALGARY-Game dates have been finalized tor the forthcoming Labatt&rsquo;s Cup international major junior hockey tournament between teams from the Quebec. Ontario and Western Canada Major Leagues as well as a select Russian junior hockey squad. Game times have not been decided.Here are the dates:Sun. Dec. 26Russia vs Quebec at Edmonton. WCHL vs Ontario at Medicine Hat.Mon. Dec. 27Russia vs Ontario at Calgary. WCHL vs Quebec at Lethbridge.Wed. Dec. 29WCHL vs Ontario at Calgary. Russia vs Quebec at Medicine Hat.Thu. Dec. 30WCHL vs Russia at Calgary . Ontario vs Quebec at Edmonton.Sat. Jan. 1WCHL vs Quebec at Edmonton.Russia vs Ontario at Lethbridge.Sun. Jan. 2Ontario vs Quebec at Calgary . WCHL vs Russia at Edmonton. &#9632;

Labatt’s Cup Game Dates Set

MOHAWK VALLEY&mdash;While the Mohawk Valley Comets are still searching for a general manager to replace Brian Conacher. the Binghamton Dusters have added John Mitchell to their hierarchy.Mitchell, former executive director of the Johnstown Jets, has been hired as vice-president and consultant to the Dusters, according to Duster president Jim Matthews.Mitchell had been with the Johnstown Jets from 1966 until he was &ldquo;deprived of my duties.&rdquo; at the end of last season in which the injury- riddled Jets were bumped from the playoffs by the Philadelphia Firebirds who eventually won the Lockhart Cup.The 35-year-old Conacher also moved to a new team, but his jump was to the big leagues with the WHA Indianapolis Racers, parent team of the MV Comets where Conacher was GM since the team began to play in the NAHL.&ldquo;My primary responsibility will be the administration and promotional side of the operation, said Conacher who will begin his new chores Dec. 1.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t anticipate getting involved in the player situation until next spring.&rdquo; said Conacher. a former player with Detroit and Toronto in the NHL And the move certainly had Conacher in good spirits, for. when asked about his NHL playing days and the position he played, he said. &ldquo;Primarily on the bench and secondarily on left wing.&rdquo;At Indianapolis. Conacher succeeds fired Jim Browitt and will work closely with coach Jacques Demers.&ldquo;His role will be that of an administrator.&rdquo; said Harold DuCote. Racers&rsquo; president, of the ap pointment. &ldquo;Jacques Demers will continue to be in complete charge of the hockey operation, serving as coach and director of player personnel.&rdquo;Conacher is the son of former NHLer Lionel Conacher and newphew of Hall of Famer Charley Conacher.Mitchell, in his 70s. has served in the capacity of general manager and sometimes coach for minor league teams in Pittsburgh St. Louis. Springfield and Providence.He&rsquo;s a former chief scout with Toronto and Detroit of the NHL. the latter where he was also an assistant general manager in the Sid Abel regime. &#9632;

Mitchell Joins Dusters In Executive Capacity

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE JAWORSKI</div>BINGHAMTON&mdash;The night of Nov. 7 here was more than a battle of two old rivals, the Syracuse Blazers and the Binghamton Dusters, before yet another sellout of 4.855 fans in the Broome County Arena.It was a faceoff of early-season power between the league s two top scorers and the two top teams.And. it ended up in a 4-4 tie that had to satisfy both Syracuse coach Dan Belisle and Duster coach Larry Kish as the teams remained tied atop the NAHL with 6-2-1 records.The Blazers had bus breakdown problems and were stranded in Allentown. Ph., en route from Philadelphia where they lost a 6-3 Saturday night affair to the Firebirds. Not only that, they played Friday night in Johnstown and won their second straight road game in overtime.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01248/3976273-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="621" height="815"><figcaption class="caption-body">JERRY METHE &hellip; Hot Scorer</figcaption></div>Belisle was happy to get the tie despite blowing a 4-1 lead in the third period, for it meant his Blazers had picked up five of a possible eight points midway through a seven-game road trip. That ain&rsquo;t too shaby.Kish could be happy because of the Dusters&rsquo; rally, defenseman Gerry Methe&rsquo;s fluke goal on a deflection salvaging the tie with just 52 seconds left in regulation. It was the 24-year-old&rsquo;s fourth goal in six games, and he also assisted on the other three goals in helping to set a team record by going unbeaten in five games.Another Duster who got three assists was Rod Bloomfield who won the crucial faceoff that produced the tie. Bloomfield leading the Dusters in scoring is nothing new&mdash;but the pace at which he&rsquo;s doing it is.After the first three weeks of play, the 18-year-old Duster captain is off to his best start and led the NAHL in scoring with six goals and 18 assists&mdash;half of his goal output game-winnersHis play certainly has been a big factor in the rejuvenated Duster attack which is making the loyal Binghamton fans quickly forget the dismal 1975-76 season&mdash;worst in the club&rsquo;s short history in the four-year-old league.While Bloomfield&rsquo;s play has not been too great a surprise, the play of goalie Ken Holland is.The 21-year-old youngster from Vernon. B.C.. won his first pro starting assignment against Beauce. and though the score was 7-6 in overtime, he has shown a great deal of improvement and has impressed his teammates with his coolness.But he&rsquo;s done more than that, because no team has managed to hand the five- foot-eight. 154-pound youngster his first pro loss.While Holland s splash of success is in the minors, his former roommate last season at Medicine Hat is taking the other part of New York by storm&mdash;that&rsquo;s Don Murdoch who&rsquo;s ripping up NHL nets with the Hangers.Fans are continuing to flock in to see their Dusters, and through the first five games Bloomfield & Co. have played to an average of 4.807 fans in a new building that seats 4.855. Two seasons ago. the Broome County Arena had 19 regular-season Duster sellouts, last season it had 25 and if the current winning trend continues. topping 30 sellouts is possible Why. in just over three seasons, the Dusters have drawn over a half-million to regular-season games in an area where the Dusters introduced pro hockey.And though most of those fans were less than appreciative, they still must have been impressed by the play of Syracuse&rsquo;s 22-year-old Stewart who had a goal and two assists and goalie Jacques Caron who was outstanding.The Stewart vs. Bloomfield showdown also ended in a tie. three points each.ERIE: Billy Plager didn&rsquo;t take long to get warmed up. The 31-year-old defenseman scored a goal in his debut in a Blades&rsquo; jersey. Not only that, it was his first shot on goal. Billy, the youngest of the three Plager brothers, agreed to terms after being one of the last player cuts in St. Louis Blues training camp And. coach Nick Polano got an unexpected dividend by Plager&rsquo;s arrival In an experiment, he moved defenseman Gregg Neeld to left wing, and while Plager got the first goal. Neeld got the next two in a 3-2 win over Johnstown. Not only that. Neeld made the winning play the night before in a 5-4 win over Maine by setting up Steve Atkinson for the decisive goalMAINE: The_great start by the Nordiques nearly reached a standstill by losing four of five games. A four-game road trip was the culprit, coach J.C. Gravel s club losing three of them only to return home and lose to Mohawk Valley. 7-3. after taking a 2-zip lead. Bus legs may have been the problem in the team&rsquo;s worst showing of the season, for in four successive nights they hopped from Johnstown. Pa., to Utica; N.Y.. to Erie. Pa.. and back home to Lewiston. Me.PHILADELPHIA: the &ldquo;NHL Line&rdquo; of Gord Brooks. Bob Collyard and Randy Osburn is creating havoc with enemy net- minders. accounting for 17 of the team&rsquo;s first 38 goals. Coach Gregg Pilling was handed a two-game suspension for berating the referee after a 4-3 loss in the Civic Center to the Broome DustersBEAUCE: Defenseman Richie Hart has been lost for at least five weeks! his knee&rsquo;s in a cast The Jaros claimed Yves Preston on waivers from Maine and also picked up goalie Ed Humphreys who last season had a fine 2.54 goals-against average with Roanoke of the SHL. There he had the winningest percentage of five goalies used by the club.MOHAWK VALLEY: Despite losing Brian Conacher who took the GM job with Indianapolis, there was good news for Comets fans as Brian Coates was sent down from the Racers New coach Bob Woytowich only hopes Coates can pick up where he left off. five goals and six assists in three games before the callup Rookie goalie Dan Stergiou. out of Ohio State, is getting a look-see.JOHNSTOWN: Hank Taylor, last season s NAHL rookie of the year, and John Hammond were the early scoring leaders&mdash;but they only had eight points each in seven games Jean Tetreault made his presence felt his first game back, scoring four times in the 8-5 win over Maine Defenseman Don McLean has been shelved by a recurring back problem.<h2>Where NAHL Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02187/3976266-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="653" height="1024"></div> &#9632;

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Blazers, Dusters Continue Torrid Fight For First

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03138/3976328-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Minor League Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY GARY MCCARTHY</div>SOREL&mdash;It is becoming increasingly apparent that junior hockey players did not take much time out to watch the six-nation Canada Cup series that was held across Canada and in some parts of the United States in early September.Had they bothered to watch the skills of the big names in European hockey, plus those of National Hockey League and World Hockey Association players, they would have discovered that there is more to the game than fighting.They would have learned that hockey can be a game of skating, passing, stickhandling and goal-scoring. They would have realized that, with these ingredients. hockey can get along just nicely without the dirty tactics that we in North America are becoming accustomed to.Junior hockey players are becoming the guilty parties whenever the subject of hockey violence is brought up The Sorel Black Hawks are one junior team that appears to have an affinity for trouble in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.Daniel St Laurent. Sorel s tough guy. is the latest player to be paraded before league president Aime Constantin because of his on-ice conduct in a recent game.Constantin handed St Laurent an indefinite suspension after the Sorel player allegedly speared Chicoutimi forward Gervais Munger in the stomach during a game.The Chicoutimi-Sorel encounter was called off with about three minutes still remaining in the game when the Chicoutimi fans got into the act by pelting the Sorel bench with debris.&ldquo;We were like Christians in the lions&rsquo; den. moaned Rodrigue Lemoyne, coach and general manager of the Black Hawks.A week before the Sorel-Chicoutimi incident. the Black Hawks and the Montreal Juniors became involved in a brawl that prompted Montreal coach Jacques Lape mere to resign as coach. Five players were handed suspensions for their part in that fiasco.The danger of some of these battles is that they spill over and the spectators become involved. Then, security forces can&rsquo;t handle these situations and invariably they get out of hand.Constantin has had his hands full since taking over from Art Lessard as president of the league just before the start of the season.Hardly a week goes by where he isn&rsquo;t called on to rule on incidents that have occurred in the league One thing is definite. He&rsquo;s earning the money he&rsquo;s being paid to tackle the job.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02163/3976366-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="631" height="1649"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROGER BEDARD &hellip; Becomes Interim Coach.</figcaption></div>QUEBEC: The Remparts have taken over first place in the Frank Dilio Division. They lead Chicoutimi by one point in the division standings The Rem parts walloped the Sherbrooke Beavers 83 to climb into first, In that game. Jean Savard scored four goals and added two assists to move out in front in the individual scoring race. Savard has 32 goals and 29 assists for 61 points.CHICOUTIMI: The Sagueneens stayed a point behind the Remparts in the division standings by beating the Shawinigan Dynamos 5-2 last Week. Sylvain Locas had a goal and an assist in the game, but he dropped to second place in the scoring race after Savard s brilliant, single-game effort. Locas has 24 goals and 34 assists for 58 points.TKOIS-RIVIERES: After setting a blistering pace early in the season, the Draveurs have fallen off lately They were beaten 6-4 by the Cornwall Royals last week and dropped into third place in the Dilio Division with 26 points, tour behind Quebec&rsquo;s division-leading pace The top 10 scoring list, dominated earlier in the season by the Draveurs. now finds only two players listed&mdash;Richard Dalpe and Yves Richer. Dalpe is the dub leader with 23 goals and 29 assists Richer has 13 goals and 31 assists.SOREL: The Black Hawks. finding themselves in trouble with the league, are still running into trouble on the ice too. They had 56 shots at Laval goalie Richard Sirois and came away with another loss&mdash;this time by a 6-4 score The Black Hawks have only five wins and four ties in 25 games this season.SHAWINIGAN: The Dynamos haven&rsquo;t been able to put much together al all this year In most games, they fall behind early and the game is over before it gets under way In the 5-2 loss to Chicoutimi, they fell behind 5-0 before getting goals from Michel Comtois and Gilles Hebert in the third period They have won only three and tied four in 22 starts this year and are averaging just a shade over three goals a game. But. the goals-against average is more than six per game.SHERBROOKE: the Beavers, a highly-touted team at the beginning of the season, were beaten 8-3 by the Quebec Remparts, but they still managed to hold onto first place in the Robert LeBel Division standings Sherbrooke s production has fallen off lately Ray Carter has taken over as the dub s scoring leader with a league-leading 34 goals and 15 assists Captain Jere Gillis has tallen oft lately 3s well and is lar down in the scoring race with 17 goals and 28 assists.CORNWALL: The Royals, who were setting a torrid pace at the beginning of the year and then hit a slump, appear to have rebounded. They downed Trois- Rivi&egrave;res 6-4 by scoring four goals in the third period. Gord Botting led the Cornwall attack in that one with three goals. The Royals still have the best goals-against average in the league After 23 games, they had given up 93 goals.MONTREAL: Roger Bedard is still coaching the Juniors on an interim basis following Jacques Laperriere&rsquo;s walkout last week The Juniors earned a 2-2 lie against Hull last week, overcoming a two- goal deficit with a pair of markers in the third period Normand Dupont is still the top sniper on the dub with 24 goals and 26 assists. He ranks fourth in the league with Ins 50 points.HULL: Playing a 2-2 tie against Montreal had to be somewhat of a disappointment for Marcel Pronovost&rsquo;s team Denis Pomerleau and Jeff Allan had staked the Olympics to a 2-0 first-period lead The Olympics are still only two points away from the Juniors in the standings and they also own a game in hand over Montreal.LAVAL: Rumors floating around say there are a few teams, notably the Sherbrooke Beavers, who are interested in acquiring Nationals goalie Richard Sirois. He was outstanding in backstopping the Nationals to a 6-4 win over Sorel, lacing 56 shots in the game There are also rumors that Michel Bossy may be traded by the Nationals. While the rumors circulate, the club is struggling on the ice. Laval has won nine and tied four in 24 games, but they are only three points behind Montreal and six behind Cornwall in the division standings.<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01219/3976359-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="709" height="4004"></div> &#9632;

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St. Laurent Suspended Indefinitely; Quebec Star Enjoys Seven-Point Game

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD POLLAK</div>HAMPTON-After an exciting 7-6 victory over their northern Virginia rivals. GM-coach John trophy was quoted as saying. &ldquo;One of these days I&rsquo;m going to wake up 120 years old. &ldquo; Life in the SHL this season has been crying on the Gulls hockey commander. All game long both clubs kept skating lack and forth, back and forth. Seemed like everyone was scoring goals all night. The defensive-minded clubs had let all guards down and it was exciting SHL action.This was just a typical night of hockey or John Brophy. His hard work in lulling together one of the most exciting hockey clubs in minor hockey has really p aid off and Hampton currently leads the NHL in attendance.But the life as head of a hockey operation is not always that easy. The Gulls coach had to find replacements for two of his key personnel, namely Frank Beaton and Ted Scharf, when his parent club in Cincinnati sold their rights to another WHA club.The Gulls&rsquo; coach will be the first to step forward and say. &ldquo;I would never .land-in the way of a hockey player making a move to improve himself (by moving up to a better league).&rdquo;There was not much that Brophy could to, although both players were strictly m SHL contracts and only their WHA playing rights belonged to Cincinnati. A working agreement has many pluses and minuses and hopefully the minor league club will be getting more pluses with the hockey talent that they receive to develop for the big club.On the other hand. Hampton Gulls owner and president Charles Wornom was investigating the possibility of improving on the SHL contracts for the league s benefit.According to SHL league president Jack Kiley, he Riley, was willing to do everything within his power to clarify the situation had the Gulls requested for assistance.One of the few weaknesses in the SHL is the fact that its league contracts are not recognized by other professional hockey leagues. A roadblock which the SHL and Jack Kiley are working on and which can only be removed with the recognition of the league as a legitimate development league. A fact which major league clubs are starting to recognize.For John Brophy, it is always hard to lose two hockey players, the talents of Frank Beaton and Ted Scharf.HAMPTON: Since the loss of Frank Beaton and Ted Scharf, the former US Olympic star Buzz Schneider has been a more than adequate replacement Schneider teaming with center Dan Djaklovic and Jamie Hislop have been working extremely well together and coach John Brophy will keep that line as one unit The goaltending combination of John Kiely and Kick Szabo has been working well&mdash;although no set rotation system is being used by Brophy, it seems the right goaltender is selected to start the right night.CHARLOTTE: Retired goalie Gaye Cooley is now the Checkers PA announcer. LW Gilles Bilodeau, who has been tearing up the league in penalty minutes has been recalled to Birmingham (WHA). Goalie Dave Tataryn has been the most impressive Checker and led Charlotte to a 6-1 home victory over Tidewater.RICHMOND: Coach Forbes Kennedy served a one-game suspension. Last season Kennedy led all coaches in the SHL in suspensions Bill Goldthorpe and Keith Kokola have been two pleasant acquisitions for the Wildcats. Goldthorpe. never known for his scoring, notched two goals in a 7-6 loss to HamptonBALTIMORE: The Clippers continue their hot streak now at five consecutive victories close on the tails of the league leading Tidewater Sharks. A three game series between the two league leaders is coming up and there could be a change in the SHL stands. Coach Larry Wilson continues to be successful with youth. Wilson added two more youngsters in KW Kay Delorme and defenseman Murray Cawker. The six-foot-one. 200-pound defenseman comes to Baltimore from the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL. Cawker played last season at St. Lawrence University.WINSTON-SALEM: Kon Anderson has been replaced by the director of player personnel Gordie Tottle as coach Anderson who was recovering from a leg injury is back in the Polar-Twins lineup strictly as a player. Goalie Brian Cousineau. who proved himself a top-rate SHL netminder but who got shuffled around this season has found a home with the Polar- Twins. Cousineau recorded the Winston-Salem Polar-Twins first victory over the first-place Sharks. But he was injured in a game against Baltimore and had to be replaced by veteran Bob Champoux.GREENSBORO: According to GM- coach John Voss, the Generals&rsquo; problem has not been scoring but stopping the other team. After a few defensive changes goalie Ernie Miller turned in a spectacular performance in a 3-1 victory over Richmond. The Generals have improved their penalty killing which has been costly. The Gens killed six straight minor penalties in the third period victory over Richmond. Alan Young, who did not play last year, has been hot for the Gens scoring.TIDEWATER: Center Claude St Sauveur, who suffered a shoulder injury in a car accident this summer has been sent to the Sharks from Calgary. Kick Jodzio returned to Tidewater after a pretrial in Quebec and another hearing has been set for December. Jodzio s attorneys indicated that the hearing went very well in his favor. Goalie Ed Mio suffered what was first diagnosed as a broken neck from a jarring body check by Gilles Bilodeau in the Sharks&rsquo; first road loss of the season in Charlotte 6-1. Sharks doctors have now reevaluated the injury as only a severe strain and Mio should return to the Sharks nets in two weeks. Yves Archambault who has been splitting the net tending assignments with Mio will work the entire schedule until Mio&rsquo;s return. &ldquo;Archie&rdquo; as the little French net-minder is known by his teammates has been sensational for the Sharks and is undefeated so far this season. Look for Calgary to call up some of their Sharks youngsters in the near future. Tom and Doug Lindskog. playing their first professional season with the Sharks, have been very impressive and. although raw talent, are counted highly in the Calgary future. Team captain Tom Serviss and NHL veteran Dave Kryskow have been combining well along with second-year man Dave Given or newly acquired KW Bernie Lukowich. a former Pittsburgh Pengum on the newly named pro line Serviss leads the club in empty net goals with two and almost scored his third in a 3-2 victory over Winston-Salem.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03149/3976411-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="630" height="724"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERNIE MILLER &hellip; Changes Helped</figcaption></div><h2>SHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01255/3976404-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="644" height="892"></div><h2>Where SHL Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02201/3976397-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="637" height="1139"></div> &#9632;

f0038-03

SHL Seeking Better Contract System After Gulls Lose Too Stars To WHA

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02176/3976442-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg"></div>Be a Quick PasserHow quickly can you pass ? You&rsquo;ll do it much faster if you keep the top hand on your stick away from your body.If you keep your top hand and arm close to your body you&rsquo;re all tied up. You lose strength and the stick blade moves in an arc rather than square to the direction of the pass.Keep your head up, too. A good stick man can control the puck by feel alone so he can watch for a body checking opponent. &#9632;

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Minor Hockey Tips

<div class="byline">&#x2014; By Bill Hilts</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01240/3976473-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="370" height="457"></div><h2>N.Y.-Penn League</h2>Wavne Kitchingman&rsquo;s Binghamton Barons recorded their first win of the season&mdash;and first ever in New York-Penn Jr Hockey League competition by dumping the Niagara Falls Mangs Sharks 7-4 Playing before 1.067 fans. Carlos Rossell led the way with a hat trick, coupled with a pair by Jay Wall. Mike Tollner and Bill Grogan notched the odd scores for the Barons Going into the final stanza the Barons led the Sharks 6-0. when coach Chet Kaifas finally got his young leers untracked and the Mang Jrs. notched tour quick goals by Joe Barrick, Jim Richard. Jon Universal and Rick Hilts, but the rally fell short&hellip;The previous night, the Syracuse Stars registered their second win by dropping the same Sharks 3-1. Star goals were netted by Joe Indivero. Jim MacCollum and Andy Zachman. Dennis Gruarin fired the lone Falls score.<h2>Alberta League</h2>The Red Deer Rustlers are currently setting the pace in the Alberta Jr. Hockey League with 22 points, but the Taber Golden Suns are close behind with 19 points Spruce Grove Mets and Fort Saskatchewan Traders are tied for third with 15 points each Darryl Sutter of Red Deer and Marty Achtymichuk of Fort Saskatchewan are in a dead heat for the scoring lead with Sutter posting 41 points on 17 goals and 24 assists Achtymichuk has 14 goals and 26 assists for 40 points. His teammate John Ewasiuk is tied with Sutter for goals scored at 17. combined with an equal number of assists for 34 points Rustler players hold the next three scoring spots&mdash;Bruce Small-31 points. Doug Palamarchuk-26 points and Dale McMullen-24 points In the goaltending category. Pierre Lamoureux of the Mets has a 3 53 GA average with 187 minutes in het; Darcy Way of the Traders has a 3.49 GA average with 334 minutes. Darrell Morin of the Rustlers has a 3.98 GA average with 226 minutes.<h2>West Coast League</h2>Seattle&rsquo;s Northwest Americans crunched North Shore s Flames, after drawing a cancelled game at Chilliwack due to ice arena construction in the West Coast Jr Hockey League Scoring for Seattle in the 9-2 spree were Joe Malecki with a pair. Gary Finnestad. Skeet Flake. Greg Morehouse, Brad Rinker. Jim Richstein and Brent Chornos, The following night the Amerks buried the Surrey-Newton Rangers 11-3 at the Newton arena, for their fifth consecutive road victory.<h2>New Brunswick League</h2>Gerry Marsh sends along word that the New Brunswick Jr. Hockey League season got underway the first week in November for their fifth season This year they have a live- team circuit and will play an 80-game schedule&mdash;16 at home and 16 away. The five teams operating are last year&rsquo;s champions. Saint John 77 s. coached again by Le Roy Hatfield; Moncton Alpine Beavers, with new coach Gerry Caron; Cap Pele Fishermen with same coach. Paul &ldquo;Tubby&rdquo; Melan-son; University of Moncton Jayvees. coached by Paul Cormier; and under new management. Fredericton Red Wings along with same coach Doug Cain. Marsh speculates that it looks like an exciting year, as all teams look stronger than last season.<h2>New England League</h2>Steve Palazzis seventh goal of the season with 4:30 left to play gave the Springfield Olympics a 2-2 deadlock with the Fitchburg Wallopers and enabled the Pics to remain within three points to the front-running Wallopers Palazzi s clutch goal came just 1:56 after Fitchburg defenseman Craig Boutilier had put the Wallopers on top with a fluke rink-length goal Fitchburg had run its winning streak to six by burying Tri- Valley Squires 14-0 behind the shutout goaltending of Don Leger. It was Fitchburg s third shutout in 10 games this year Mickey Rego fired in four goals to pace the onslaught, while Tom O&rsquo;Neil, the NEJHL&rsquo;s leading scorer (14-13-27). lit the red light three times and passed out three assists. Mark Lavasseur pumped in three goals and defenseman Billy Orr had a goal and 4 assists. Springfield kept pace by nipping the Tyngsboro Huskies 6-5 on defenseman Scott Brown&rsquo;s goal at 7 20 of the final period Tyngsboro goalie Jim Browder had his 10game regular season winning skein and 14-game unbeaten streak (13-0-11 snapped despite 34 saves The South Shore Braves won twice to move into fourth place Frank Silva gunned in five goals and Tom Colbert netted three as the Braves downed Tri-Valley 9-3&hellip;The Braves then broke open a close game against Great Bay by erupting for four answered goals in a span of 1 23 in the third period for a 7-2 triumph.<h2>U.S.A. League</h2>According to Ken Parsons the Chicopee Pioneers played .Marlboro in .Marlboro. Mass, in a USA Jr. Hockey League, game and won 6-4 With 51 shots on goal. Jim Finn. Peter Alberg, Rich Kulas. Billy Anderson. Ward Turner and Mark Pellegrino each scored.<h2>British Columbia League</h2>The Penticton Vees lead the Interior Division of the British Columbia Jr. A Hockey League with a 10-3-1 record for 21 points The Kelowna Buckaroos are second with 93-1 tor 19 points ..Bellingham Blazers lead the Coastal Division with a 9-5-0 record and 18 points The Langley Lords are tied with the Blazers with a 9-7-0 mark and 19 points Keven Maxwell of Penticton is the leading BCJHL scorer with 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points. The Lords sharpshooting Lan Lavik is in second spot with 31 points John McKerrow of Kelowna leads the goaltenders with 374 minutes in nets and a 3.52 GA average.<h2>Great Lakes League</h2>In the A&rsquo; Division. Paddock Pool Saints lead the pack with a 10-0-1 record for 21 points, followed by Detroit Jr Wings who are 9-2-0 for &Iacute;8 points. Leading point getter to date is Paul Gottwald (16-201 with 36 points, followed by the Wings Dave Gandini with 32 points Jack McKinch of the Saints is the top goal scorer with 17 Dave Tardish of the Saints leads the puck-stoppers with a 2 07 GA average Frank Van Biesbrouck from the same team is close behind with a 2.59 GA average. George Mimikos scored midway through the final period for his third game-winning goal of the season as the Highlanders edged Wayne 4-3 Wayne could have easily scored many goals had it not been for the super goaltending of Steve Falcone who turned aside 48 shots in backstopping the win tor Fraser.IN B&rsquo; Division play, by tallying four goals in the second period Flint Icelanders got by Lansing Dukes 4-3 The leading scorer in the B circuit Jim Depp had two goals for Flint as well as an assist Lansing scored in each period and it wasn&rsquo;t enough to overcome the second period by the uprising Dukes. Tim Doxtater was outstanding in goal for Flint as he stopped 56 of 59 shots. Flint skated by Berkley Bruins in a penalty-filled game by the score of 7-5. Berkley- had command at the end of the first period 3-1 only to see Flint get three unanswered markers in the middle period Mark Santi a newcomer to the Flint roster had two goals and an assist. &#9632;

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JUNIOR JOTTINGS

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01159/3976504-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg"></div>TWIN CITIES&mdash;Who pulled the heist in the Bill Goldsworthy deal?The North Stars peddled their all-time leading goal scorer (273) and top salary (six figures) to the New York Rangers for less spectacular, but touted consistency in the persons of right wing Bill Fairbairn and defenseman Nick Beverley.Lou Nanne. on Goldsworthy&rsquo;s departure, became the senior member of the team in terms of North Star longevity and. naturally, the most obvious to seek out for comment on Goldy&rsquo;s trek to Broadway.It&rsquo;s a good deal only if it works for both teams,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Nanne. who signed with the team late in their expansion season of 1967-68. (Goldy was the last of the original expansion draftees on the team after Cesare Maniago was dealt to Vancouver for Gary Smith in an exchange of goalies.&ldquo;We hate to see Goldy go&mdash;he was a big part of this team for so many years.&rdquo; Nanne continued. He should be a hit with the Rangers. Maybe this is what he needed to get going. Fairbairn and Beverley should be able to help us&mdash;I hope so.&rdquo;Goldsworthy, truthfully, was unhappy about his slow start of two goals in 16 games this year with the Stars and very unhappy about not taking a turn on the team&rsquo;s power play, a regular assignment when he was scoring 30 or more goals (48 tops in &rsquo;73-74) for five of the last nine seasons.A change of scenery and the opportunity to play with Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge could very well bring the 32-year-old Goldy back in tune on his drive to reach 300 goals this season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never played left wing before.&rdquo; Said the big blond, &ldquo;and it&rsquo;s going to take some adjustment, but I look forward to my association with the Rangers. I honestly hope the trade will benefit both clubs. I can&rsquo;t say I was really shocked by the trade. There had been talk about a deal off and on since June.&rdquo;In return, the North Stars hoped they received two durable two-way players.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been looking for another defenseman all year.&rdquo; said coach Ted Harris. &ldquo;Beverley handles himself quite well and he can handle the puck I know Fairbairn is hardnosed. I remember him from the corners&mdash;if you gave him a shot, he&rsquo;d give you one back.&rdquo;The two 29-year-old ex-Rangers had been used sparingly in New- York. Beverley had not scored in the nine games he appeared and Fairbairn had only one goal and two assists in his nine Fairbairn was put at right wing on the North Stars with rookies Glen Sharpley at center and Steve Jensen on the left side.Beverley was assigned a right defense with Doug Hicks on his left.Fairbairn brought career totals of 138 goals and 224 assists in seven full seasons in New York and parts of others. Beverley, who came out of the Boston system and also played for Pittsburgh before the Vic Hadfield trade, brought career figures of seven goals and 47 assists.Goldy was all-everything in Minnesota with team record for goals, assists, points (506 as a North Start and penalty minutes. He missed 12 games last season with knee and ankle sprains as his goal production dipped from 37 to 24. &#9632;

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December 3, 1976

World Hockey Association Summaries

Injuries Occur More Often For Hawks’ Mikita

National League Summaries

’Marvelous’ Marcel Key To Kings Hopes