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.

January 7, 1977

The Hockey News January 7, 1977

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011098/4194292-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="447" height="445"></div>&bull; WASHINGTON CAPITALS&rsquo; newcomer Bryan Watson expressed a liking for Capital Centre, but not its telescreen feature (four large TV screens that hang above the ice). Could he be thinking of replays of his penalties? Watson came to Washington 82 minutes short of the 2.000 mark in penalty minutes&hellip;Al Arbour was so dismayed at the Islanders&rsquo; lack of shooting accuracy that he had them fire over 1,000 pucks each in practice. The extra work paid off as the Isles bombed Pittsburgh and Chicago on successive nights. They followed it up with a 3-0 shutout over Boston. The Islanders are starting to play great hockey. In fact they broke their all-time club record when they shot 53 pucks at Tony Esposito one night recently. The previous high was 52 against Buffalo&hellip;Pat Hawkins, Western Canada s sports authority, says: &rsquo; Actually, the biggest sport throughout Canada and the United States right now is athlete-chasing-money"&hellip;Phil Roberto, who was released by the Colorado Rockies, has bounced back with Cleveland Barons for another NHL chance&hellip; Vic Hadfield, veteran member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, will have to undergo surgery for his knee and it&rsquo;s not likely he&rsquo;ll be back in the lineup this season&hellip;Scotty Bowman has been very critical of NHL officiating this season&hellip; The Bobby Orrs are expecting their second child. Son Darren is 2.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021053/4194285-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="309" height="464"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Watson</figcaption></div>&bull; BALANCE AND EXPERIENCE make the Houston Aeros the team to beat in the Western Division of the World Hockey Association. That&rsquo;s what many of the experts think&hellip; Ray Kroc, wealthy owner of the San Diego Mariners, means business when he says he&rsquo;ll move his club to Seattle if the city of San Diego doesn&rsquo;t get rid of Peter Graham, operator of the San Diego International Sports Arena. Seattle would welcome the Mariners with open arms. Kroc is probably the wealthiest owner in pro hockey today&hellip;Rumors are flying in Minnesota that both general manager Jackie Gordon and coach Ted Harris are on their way out. Billy Reay&rsquo;s dismissal as coach of the Chicago Black Hawks was no surprise to insiders. Reay was said to have lost interest in the job&hellip; Carol Vadnais has been playing great defence for the surprising New York Rangers. General manager-coach John Ferguson has done an outstanding job in turning the listless Broadway Blueshirts around&hellip;Don McNaughton, president and chief executive officer. Canadian Schenley Distilleries Ltd., is an enthusiastic booster of most worthwhile sports projects in Canada. Don has some ambitious plans in the works for this upcoming football season when the Canadian Schenley Football Awards celebrate their 25th anniversary&hellip; Ralph Mellanby and Frank Selke Jr. did an outstanding job producing the 25th anniversary Hockey Night in Canada telecast from Toronto recently&hellip;Orland Kurtenbach, Vancouver&rsquo;s new coach, was known as &ldquo;The Enforcer&rdquo; during his NHL playing days. He was one of the quietest players to ever lace on a skate&hellip;Canadiens average 40 shots on goal at home and 34 a game on the road&hellip;Scotty Bowman would like to see the NHL adopt a 10-minute overtime period to cut down on tie games and give the fans more for their money.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03948/4194278-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="296" height="464"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don McNaughtor</figcaption></div>&bull; PAT KELLY, coach of the Birmingham Bulls and one of hockey&rsquo;s better young coaches, was a teammate of Bobby Hull in junior hockey with St. Catharines. Coach of the team was Rudy Pilous, general manager of the Winnipeg Jets&hellip; Buffalo Sabres won&rsquo;t play the French Connection forward line much any more. The club feels they will get better scoring balance by spreading the trio over three different lines&hellip;Everyone saddened to hear about the untimely death of Sid Payne, veteran hockey writer who covered the New York Islanders for the Long Island Press and was a former Eastern Hockey League correspondent for THE HOCKEY NEWS. Sid died suddenly last week after filing his copy from the pressbox at Atlanta. He was only 49&hellip; Likeable Ralph Backstrom of the New England Whalers wants to coach when his playing days are over&hellip;Ron Andruff blames his disappointing start with Colorado this way: &ldquo;I was used to playing as many as 45 minutes in the minors. I&rsquo;m only getting a couple of shifts a period here. I need to play more to get my game together.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04846/4194271-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="315" height="463"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ralph Backstrom</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03184/4195926-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Minor League Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY LARRY BORTSTEIN</div>DENVER&mdash;It looked like a heck of a way for the Rockies to mark the 30th game in their first National Hockey League season.Chuck Arnason. whistled a 40-footer past Bunny Larocque late in the first period of the Colorado-Montreal game here on Wednesday night, Dec. 15, and when the whistle signaled the first intermission the Rockies still led by that single goal.The beauty of the moment was not. however, to last. The Canadiens, who had been skating as if asleep during the first 20 minutes&mdash;allowing the Rockies all manner of liberties in both ends of the ice&mdash;awoke with a start in the second period. They blitzed Michel Plasse for four goals in each of the two concluding periods and skated away with an easy 8-2 verdict.It was the Canadiens&rsquo; 24th victory of the season, and left Colorado with an 8-17-5 mark in its first 30 outings. The crowd of 13.738 at McNichols Sports Arena had to feel disappointed at the one-sided loss, in as much as the Rockies had held Montreal to a stunning 3-3 tie at the Forum several weeks earlier.But the Rockies&rsquo; faithful could take some consolation in the fact that the Colorado club was one of the last teams in the league to fall before the Montreal juggernaut this season. After the Canadiens&rsquo; victory here, the only two teams that had not been beaten by Montreal yet in 1976-77 were Atlanta, which had played to a tie in its first game with the Habs. and Boston, which had handed Montreal two of its five defeats through 33 games.Looking back one year to an analagous time in the Kansas City Scouts&rsquo; 1975-76 season&mdash;the Scouts are now the Rockies&mdash;one can see some parallels. After 30 outings last season, the Scouts were 7-19-4 Three points worse than this year&rsquo;s bunch.One of Kansas City&rsquo;s victories, in early December, was a 6-5 effort over Montreal. But the Scouts proceeded to drop their next six, bringing them to the 30-game mark. They followed with consecutive victories over Vancouver and Detroit to raise their record to 9-19-4. Respectable enough for a second-year outfit.That, of course, is when the roof caved in but good. The Scouts proceeded to win but three of their final 48 games, tying eight, and producing only 14 points over the span. They didn&rsquo;t taste victory in their concluding 27 starts, losing 21 and tying six.The Rockies of 1976-77 had one more victory, one more tie, and two fewer losses at the 30-game mark than the Scouts at a comparable stage a season ago. Can negative history repeat itself? Will the Rockies collapse over the remaining five-eighths of the schedule the way Kansas City did last year?Very unlikely. These Rockies are not just the Kansas City Scouts wearing different uniforms and playing on different home ice. There is good talent and hustle here, and Johnny Wilson has been patient with his men, many of whom are young and getting their first prolonged exposure to extended play in the big league.Wilson and his players were subdued after their loss to Montreal, but they couldn&rsquo;t feel that badly about playing a flat final two periods against the best team in hockey.&ldquo;We kind of expected them to come out flat in the second period, after we took the lead,&rdquo; Barry Dea was saying of the Canadiens. &ldquo;But instead they started doing everything right.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s why the Canadiens are the Canadiens and the Rockies are the Rockies. The gap between the teams may be considerable, but the Coloradans keep inching closer and closer to respectability all the time. Unlike the Scouts of 1975-76, this team won&rsquo;t finish with a 12-56-12 record. You can count on that. How about 20-25 wins as a reasonable target to shoot for?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011037/4194712-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="569" height="720"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICHEL PLASSE &hellip; Blitzed By Habs</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Wilson Remains Patient With Rockies

<div class="byline">BY NORMAN MacLEAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01776/4194953-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="591" height="1006"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON MURDOCH &hellip; Keeps Club Alive</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;The last time Don Murdoch played in Vancouver his father was on hand, after driving 350 miles from Cranbrook, British Columbia with some of Donnie&rsquo;s friends and neighbors. Mom stayed home&mdash;she had to work&mdash;but the Murdoch clan went home happy as Donnie scored on a penalty shot, the first successful penalty shot in 10 years by a Ranger.The next time &ldquo;Murder&rdquo; Murdoch will play in Vancouver is Jan. 23. The Rangers hope he stays over and plays on Jan. 25, in the annual All Star extravaganza.&ldquo;It would be extra special to play in the All Star game in Vancouver because it is like going home,&rdquo; said Donnie. &ldquo;My father, who had suffered a couple of heart attacks, is feeling super now. I hope that my play and those goals that Bob (older brother Bob, a right wing with Cleveland) have been getting is the reason.&rdquo;One player who thinks that Murdoch is the reason the Rangers are alive and well at mid-season is right wing Rod Gilbert, who is Donnie&rsquo;s main competition amongst right wings in the Campbell Conference.Gilbert, in second place in the NHL point parade, at press time noted, &ldquo;Getting Murdoch is the reason we are here. He helped the power play and picks up the entire attack with key goals. He has made a better and more confident player, once more, of Walter Tkaczuk. Donnie plays the wrong side when we want him to&mdash;and plays left wing on the power play. No matter where he plays, he scores&mdash;and that&rsquo;s what keeps us going. Those two goals against the Islanders, when we got that 4-4 tie with them, were very big for us.&rdquo;Donnie put a power-play thrust behind Chico Resch in the second period&mdash;and with one second remaining in that frame, beat Resch again with a long shot from forty feet out, which threaded the needle inside the post.&ldquo;That was a big help to us,&rdquo; said Murdoch. &ldquo;It cut their lead to 4-3 and gave us a big lift going into the dressing room. On the first goal, he gave me nothing to shoot at, so I did the only thing I thought might work&mdash;let it go between his legs. It went in. On the second one, he gave me about half a foot, and I put it right there.&rdquo;The above treatise sounds like a text book description on how to score goals&mdash;except that most NHL gunners don&rsquo;t do the things Murdoch does, more or less matter of factly. He scored on his first shot in the NHL, scored two goals in his first game, and scored five goals against Minnesota, Oct. 12, to become the only rookie in history to attain that feat. At mid-season he was leading the league in power-play goals with 10 and was tied for the lead in game winners with six. He had scored 25 times. 12 times more than his brother Bob, and was tied with Guy Lafleur in that department, in the runnerup spot in the NHL.John Ferguson, the Rangers&rsquo; general manager-coach, observed, the reasons for Murdoch&rsquo;s scoring ability are many, but a salient reason is his quick release. When he gets the puck he goes to the net. He&rsquo;s a natural scorer.&rdquo;The Rangers&rsquo; first draft pick last June, Murdoch is a baby faced 20-year-old who has not let New York faze him. He has been featured in People Magazine, Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine as well as THE HOCKEY NEWS and The Sporting News, but still seems to be just a nice Canadian kid from the West. He is also featured on the cover of the upcoming February issue of the HOCKEY PICTORIALWORLD magazine.&ldquo;Doc&rdquo; is the Rangers&rsquo; dressing-room nickname for Murdoch, whose house all has made the New York power play the best in the NHL through Christmas, and whose office on the Tkaczuk line gives the Rangers three potent offensive threats.&ldquo;The Rangers can score,&rdquo; analyzed Scotty Bowman of Montreal. &ldquo;Only we have more goals. All three lines score. The new guy Murdoch is always shooting. He seems to be for real.&rdquo;Murdoch may be cool with the puck in the slot, but when he scores, everyone in the Garden knows of his exaltation.<h2>Looking At NHL Goalers</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02626/4194946-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="614" height="2268"></div><h2>Team Penalties</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03465/4194939-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="589" height="799"></div> &#9632;

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Rangers Touting Rookie Murdoch For NHL All Star Team Selection

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011040/4194157-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Veteran John Bucyk of the Bruins moved into the 4th spot on the all-time NHL scoring list ahead of the Maurice Richard when he scored his 545th career goal. The Rocket quit with 544 goals. Only Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull and Phil Esposito have scored more goals than the 41-year-old captain of the Bruins. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div><h2>QMHL BEATS SOVIETS</h2>EDMONTON&mdash;The Quebec Major Hockey League All Stars flexed their muscles for the visiting Soviet Union&rsquo;s crack junior ice squad and came away with a Labatt Cup opening tournament win over the Russian side.Coming up with three unanswered second-period goals the Quebecers skated over the Soviets 7-4 in the start of the four-team round robin tourney. In the other game, the Western Canada League All Stars beat the Kingston Canadians 6-5 in their c bombarded two Soviet goalers with 49 shots and only some brilliant netminding by Dmitri Kuroshun kept the score down. Brian Hill led the WCHL All Stars to their win with three goals. The Soviets face Kingston, the OHA&rsquo;s representative, in round two while the two Canadian giants, the WCHL and QMHL, square off.<h2>OHA FINCUPS ROMP</h2>PRAGUE&mdash;The St. Catharines Fincups, Canada&rsquo;s representative in the World Junior Hockey Championships, are showing some of the best junior ice performers ever assembled on a European ice surface that they&rsquo;ll be a team to be reckoned with when it comes down to crowning the world champion.The Fincups, who stomped the Polish Juniors 14-0 on a four-goal outburst by Dale McCourt, came back to tie Czechoslovakia 4-4 and then proceeded to defeat Finland 6-4 giving Canada two wins and a tie in three starts. McCourt scored three of St. Catharines&rsquo; four goals against the Czechs to keep Canada undefeated. In other games the Czechs beat West Germany 8-2, the Soviets topped Sweden 4-2 and the U.S.A, tied Poland 2-2. In earlier round games, Finland defeated West Germany 4-1, the Soviets trampled Poland 10-1 and the United States won 8-5 over Sweden.<h2>CAT SHUFFLES BLUES</h2>ST. LOUIS&mdash;The St.Louis Blues are leading the NHL&rsquo;s Smythe Division but the performance of the Blues isn&rsquo;t good enough in the opinion of manager-coach Emile Francis. The Cat was so disturbed that he decided to shake the team up and promised there&rsquo;d be more if things didn&rsquo;t change.Francis dealt Rick Smith off to the Bruins for Joe Zanussi, dumped defenseman Bob Hess down on the farm at Kansas City along with rookie Brian Sutter and summoned two of the CHL Blues&rsquo; top productive forwards, Bernie Federko and Rick Bourbonnais. The Cat figures his seven-point cushion over Chicago isn&rsquo;t enough and he wants a few of the Blues to start putting out. The threats must have had the desired effect. The Blues went out and beat Colorado 2-1 and Vancouver 4-2.<h2>WHA WANTS SOVIETS</h2>TORONTO&mdash;If Ben Hatskin has his way the Soviet Union&rsquo;s national team will become a regular part of the WHA&rsquo;s regular schedule next season. Hatskin, in an attempt to upstage the NHL, said he is working on arrangements to put the Soviets into the WHA schedule for one game in each league rink in 1977-78, and the games will count as league matches.Hatskin, the WHA&rsquo;s board chairman and its most lively manipulator, picked up the idea when the NHL reportedly dropped the plan as unworkable. The NHL has decided to bypass the top European teams for this season fearing over exposure for future confrontations between the two world hockey powers.<h2>WHERE YOU&rsquo;LL FIND IT ALL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02943/4194150-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="615" height="2500"></div> &#9632;

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DEADLINE STOPPERS

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div>CHICAGO-There are probably several teams in the National Hockey League who could afford to let Darcy Rota roam here, there and everywhere in pursuit of the puck.The Black Hawks are not one of them, and Darcy Rota discovered that as soon as he encountered coach Billy Reay.&ldquo;In junior hockey, I scored a lot and I got the label as only an offensive player and a bad defensive player,&rdquo; the bright-eyed left wing was saying the other day.&ldquo;It was my game-scoring. But I thought maybe it was a little overdone. How many players who get a lot of goals in junior come out as great checkers?&ldquo;Anyway, when I came up to the NHL, Billy impressed on me that I had to skate my wing. And when I didn&rsquo;t he sat me down for a shift or a few shifts or sometimes most of a game. It got frustrating at times, but it was good for me. It was all worthwhile. I think it&rsquo;s made me a better hockey player.&rdquo;Rota still is not a Golden Glover when it comes to defense, but there is no doubt he has assimilated much advice and has come through a period of adjustment with a quality missing in too many other NHL mercenaries&mdash;enthusiasm.The guy loves the game, loves playing it, loves watching it, loves being a part of it. If there&rsquo;s a hockey game within a few miles of Darcy Rota, and he&rsquo;s got the night off, he&rsquo;s in his seat early.On ice with Chicago, that verve is manifested in a precocious style of attack that sometimes verges on the overzealous.&ldquo;Just the other day, Billy came to me and told me that I was being a little overanxious at times,&rdquo; said Rota. &ldquo;I was forcing the play too much, forcing offsides, rather than laying back a little.&rdquo;Despite this, despite the occasional defensive malfunctions, and despite pennance served on the bench. Rota has shown evidence of being a prolific scorer with Chicago ever since day one.His nose for the net produced 21 goals in his rookie season, 1973-74, 22 the year after, and 20 last season. This year, he was off to his best pace yet and led an admittedly modest Black Hawk offense in goals.No surprise there. He amassed 43, 51 and 73 goals in three winters with the Edmonton Oil Kings, from whom the Black Hawks drafted him No. 1 in the 1973 amateur draft.The Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association were wooing him at the time, but there seemed little question that Rota&rsquo;s signature would go the NHL way. Just as there seems little question now that his upcoming contract will be with Chicago, though he&rsquo;s got an antenna out to entertain a better offer.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve really enjoyed Chicago&hellip;love it,&rdquo; said Rota. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been lucky to play with great people here. When I first came up, I skated with Stan Mikita and Cliff Koroll, then Dale Talion and Chico Maki.&ldquo;Naturally, I&rsquo;d like to have done better than I have. But Billy Reay has a reputation for bringing young players along slowly, and I&rsquo;m kind of glad it&rsquo;s worked out that way. You look at a player like Don Murdoch of the Rangers.&ldquo;He has 25 goals in less than half a season, his first season. That&rsquo;s great, but he&rsquo;s going to be under a lot of pressure if he doesn&rsquo;t keep it up.I&rsquo;ve gotten a little more ice time this year, the puck seems to be bouncing a little better for me, and I&rsquo;m a little more confident. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m playing that great&mdash;I&rsquo;d like to do better.&ldquo;I think our team will, too. We&rsquo;ve just had so many injuries. When we get everybody back, we&rsquo;ll be better. We&rsquo;ve got practically the same club as last year, plus we&rsquo;ve added two great players&mdash;Bobby Orr and Jim Harrison.&rdquo;Plus an improved Darcy Rota.HAWK TALK: Ex-Hawk Eric Nesterenko paid a recent visit to Chicago Stadium and was guest color commentator with Lou Angotti on the Black Hawk radio broadcast over WMAQ radio&hellip;Keith Magnuson, who had been wearing a helmet since returning from his broken jaw, has shed the headgear&hellip;Defenseman Dave Logan, playing aggressively since recalled from Dallas, registered his first NHL point Dec. 18 against the New York Rangers&mdash;an assist&hellip;Goalie Michel Dumas in the same game was credited with his first NHL assist&mdash;he had five in the Central League&hellip;Don Murphy, Black Hawk publicist, figured out that the Hawks had lost 88 man-games through injury by mid-December. &#9632;

Rota’s Passion For Hockey Has Him Off To Good Start

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011047/4194240-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div>CHICAGO&mdash;The heads of National Hockey League coaches rolled last week with two of the league&rsquo;s 18 teams turning out old hands for younger blood.The most startling change occurred in Chicago where the Black Hawks ended the 13-year reign of Bill Reay, who had become the dean of major league hockey coaches. The downtrodden Hawks, suffering badly at the gate and on the ice, decided to entrust the interim coaching job to a triumvirate of players headed by veteran defenseman Bill White.Owner Bill Wirtz, a long-time friend of Reay&rsquo;s, made the emotional decision to replace Reay when the Hawks came up flat with a 10-19-5 record in a division they normally dominate. The Hawks slipped well below last year&rsquo;s pace and it showed at the box office where attendance shrunk from a game average of 17,000 to less than 10,000 even with Bobby Orr.Wirtz named Orr and team captain Stan Mikita as assistants to White in an attempt to get the Hawks moving again.In the other NHL coaching changeover, Orland Kurtenbach returns to the Vancouver Canucks as head coach after a successful two-year sojourn in the Central League as coach of the Tulsa Oilers. Big Kurt, a popular figure with Vancouver fans, replaces Phil Maloney who has been carrying the double portfolio of coach and general manager with the NHL club. Maloney will stay on as GM.The dismissal of Reay had been rumored since the start of the season. In fact there were reports he would step down last year and move up to the GM role with the Hawks elevating Tommy Ivan to the Chicago board. But it never came off and apparently isn&rsquo;t going to happen now.Wirtz was visibly moved in announcing Reay&rsquo;s removal. &ldquo;It was traumatic for me because we have a great personal relationship. But I had to separate my personal self from my business self and do it,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Wirtz.Ivan said the decision to relieve Reay of his duties was Wirtz&rsquo;s. Ivan had been asked to name a replacement for Reay but hesitated because the man he was interested in were all presently engaged with other NHL teams. White&rsquo;s effectiveness will be reviewed at the end of the season when Wirtz will decide on a permanent coach raising speculation that he is possibly waiting for Bob Pulford of the Los Angeles Kings to terminate his contract to offer him the Chicago job.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02901/4194233-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="587" height="1799"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03610/4194226-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="603" height="1800"><figcaption class="caption-body">Central figures in the Chicago coaching shakeup that saw the dean of NHL coaches, Billy Reay, left, ousted after 13 seasons were veteran defenseman Bill White, right, who was named interim coach with Bobby Orr, center, and team captain Stan Mikita acting as assistants to White, whose NHL playing career was ended this year by a painful back injury.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-05206/4194219-1-eng-US/f0003-052.jpg" title="f0003-05" width="584" height="1398"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04365/4194212-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="570" height="841"><figcaption class="caption-body">ORLAND KURTENBACH &hellip; Returns As Coach</figcaption></div>The situation differed with Vancouver where Maloney, the general manager, was considering firing himself, the coach. The Vancouver correspondent for THE HOCKEY NEWS, Tony Gallagher, took a look at the Canucks&rsquo; situation and here&rsquo;s how he say it with the fiery Coley Hall playing a leading role in the coaching changeover.As general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. Phil Maloney was considering firing himself, the coach.He did it so that Phil Maloney the GM could stay.It&rsquo;s not so much that he wanted to give up some of his salary to a replacement coach, it&rsquo;s just that it was becoming increasingly obvious that something had to stop the Canucks&rsquo; slide before it was too late, even though that time might not be until April the way the rest of the teams in the Conn Smithe Division are going.Maloney had reportedly been told by the Canucks&rsquo; board of directors that the job was still his and that nobody in the organization was going to panic. That is by everybody but Coley Hall, a member of the club&rsquo;s management committee, but more about that later.&ldquo;I may have to fire the coach,&rdquo; Maloney said, after his club had just been drubbed 7-3 by the Detroit Red Wings, a game which started a brief but crucial road trip which also included a stop in Minnesota.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a crucial four-point game coming up with the North Stars, and after that I will probably make a decision on the coaching.&rdquo; said Maloney. &ldquo;This can&rsquo;t go on.&rdquo;Of the loss to Detroit. Maloney said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how much to blame on fatigue and how much to blame the coaching.&ldquo;Our plane out of Vancouver was delayed 11 hours, we fly all night and get to the hotel five hours before the game, and exhaustion could be some excuse. But it&rsquo;s been happening all year. We&rsquo;re making the same mistakes over and over again.&rdquo; &#9632;

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CHICAGO REPLACES REAY WITH WHITE; CANUCKS PIN HOPES ON KURTENBACH

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05707/4194323-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2>Defending Location Of Cleveland Coliseum</h2>In the Nov. 26 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, Frank Orr made the statement. No one has explained satisfactorily just why in heck the Cleveland Coliseum is located away out in the middle of nowhere.First of all Nick Miletti, the man who made it all possible, had no choice but to build it outside the confines of the greater Cleveland area.No one really wanted it built, nor did they believe that Miletti was going to fulfill his dream and bring the best facility to the Cleveland fans.Nick Miletti was the best thing that ever happened to the area. As far as the building being located in the middle of nowhere, what difference does it make if the professional sports team that plays in it are losers?This town will not support a loser. Last year when the Cavaliers were the toast of the town, people flocked to the Coliseum in droves to see them play.There were frequent sellouts for an exciting, winning team. Last year during the NBA playoffs, the Cavs continuously drew crowds over 21,000. All it takes is a winner to make people come out and watch Cleveland sports teams.Hopefully, the Cleveland Barons will continue to improve and be an exciting, good drawing team. If that happens, the team would draw if it played anywhere.The Barons really deserve good support from the hockey fans in the Cleveland and surrounding area.ROBERT PIECHOWSKI, Cleveland<h2>Watered-Down Complaints Are Becoming Tiresome</h2>I am sick of hearing people complaining about the talent in the National Hockey League.Sure the teams aren&rsquo;t as strong as they were in the six-team days, but the Caps aren&rsquo;t as lowly and the Rockies aren&rsquo;t as ridiculous as many people say.Both teams as well as other &ldquo;watered-down&rdquo; clubs have good young talent, and more excellent talent is coming out of junior ranks as well as colleges in the United States than the six-team days because of better amateur programs developing.One just has to look into the farm systems to see the wealth. Montreal has players such as Mike Polich, Dave Elenbaas, Rod Schutt, Gord MacTavish and many others. They may all be unheard of, but all are fine hockey players.Instead of knocking the most exciting group of athletes in the world, let&rsquo;s get behind them.An interesting note aside: Former NHLer Jean-Guy Gratton is terrorizing Switzerland. In 11 games, JeanGuy has 25 goals and 15 assists for an amazing 40 points.DAVE McKINTY, Vallorbe, Switzerland.<h2>Islander Patriots Should Wake Up</h2>I would like to tell you about a terrible thing that happened to my team, the New York Islanders.With the score 5-1 in favor of the Montreal Canadiens late in the third period, the fans started booing the hometown Islanders and started yelling for their team to wake up.I think the fans should wake up. In the first 20 games, they only have three losses. How can the fans be this way?I feel they are doing better than I ever expected, considering their tough scheduling. In order for the fans to be completely satisfied, their team must go undefeated through the whole season.They wouldn&rsquo;t give Montreal any credit for playing better and leaving it at that. I know that when you pay for a ticket, you are supposedly entitled to say what you want but I feel that the team doesn&rsquo;t deserve any of it.My final words to my own fans are that they should wake up.ROBERT GOLDMAN, Jackson Heights, N.Y.<h2>Chicago&rsquo;s Magnuson Is Not An Angel</h2>Having read your great paper since 1951 and having been a long-time fan of professional hockey, we felt compelled to write to you regarding a story out of Chicago by columist Bob Verdi.His story consists mainly of a so-called cheap shot Bryan Watson took at Keith Magnuson (quite possibly it was). We certainly don&rsquo;t condone what Watson did.However, my co-workers and myself were slightly amused by the picture the columist painted of Magnuson The press releases that were read in Canada stated that Watson had hit Magnuson with his fists, no mention of a stick attack.What does Verdi call a guy like Magnuson, who a year or two ago broke the jaw of Vancouver&rsquo;s Chris Oddleifson by hitting him while he had a cast on his fist.Another story, possibly it was as accurate as Verdi&rsquo;s, claims Magnuson smiled at Bloom after highsticking him.F.R. SCHMIDT, Rutland. B.C.<h2>Canucks Turning Over A New Year&rsquo;s Leaf</h2>I think Phil Maloney did a smart thing by resigning as coach of the Vancouver Canucks and remaining with the club as general manager.By giving the coaching duties to Orland Kurtenbach, it will allow Maloney to give his undivided attention to acquiring some solid talent so that the Canucks can return to division contenders instead of being pretenders.I was happy with the news that Kurtenbach will coach the Canucks.GERALD FISHER, Vancouver &#9632;

f0004-05

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011129/4194402-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY DORNHOEFER&hellip; Well-Deserved Ovation (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;An interesting combination, these three men who form one of the Flyers&rsquo; most consistent lines.Rick MacLeish attracts the most attention for he is one of hockey&rsquo;s most talented players. The Flyers will concede that Guy Lafleur, Marcel Dionne and Gil Perreault are very good, but they&rsquo;ll take MacLeish.When the Flyers were winning consecutive Stanley Cups. MacLeish led all playoff scorers, but barely received a vote for the Conn Smythe Trophy. Such is life on a team with Bobby Clarke and Bernie Parent.On MacLeish&rsquo;s left is Ross Lonsberry. He will turn 30 on Feb. 7. but the Flyers still trust him to function as one of hockey&rsquo;s most efficient checkers and cornermen. A quiet sort.&rsquo;&rsquo;Roscoe&rdquo; is one of the Philadelphia press&rsquo; favorites when a perceptive analysis of the game is required.Chuck Newman, who is no longer on the hockey beat, nicknamed Lonsberry the &ldquo;team recluse.&rdquo; Lack of attention never seems to bother the reliable left winger. Last season, when he carred a 22-game goal-less burden into the playoffs, he wasn&rsquo;t skewered by the media because they recognized his other contributions.&ldquo;Shows you how popular I am.&rdquo; Lonsberry said, smiling.Lonsberry understands why other players appeal more to the fans and media.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not an exciting player to watch,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I was the leading scorer in junior hockey, but since then. I&rsquo;ve always played on teams that had more exciting guys.&rdquo;In his own way. Gary Dornhoefer, the right-hand man on this line, is exciting. Not to goaltenders, but to people who appreciate a grinder, a man who makes up in determination what he lacks in natural talent.Dornhoefer will be 34 on Feb. 2. He sometimes feels like 54, but, he usually plays like a 24-year-old. Crashing into the corners with elbows high, or hurling his bruised body at an opponent when many other players would merely skate by is &ldquo;Dorny&rsquo;s&rdquo; act. When he needs a rest, he simply leans against the opposing goaltender.He is an original Flyer, completing his 10th season in Philadelphia. Playing 10 years for the Flyers has been his wish. His contract expires after this season and management hasn&rsquo;t overwhelmed him with a new offer yet.While Dornhoefer has never scored in the Clarke-MacLeish class, the Spectrum&rsquo;s faithful have appreciated his reckless devotion to duty. When the message board flashed the news of his 300th career assist, the crowd responded with a standing ovation. Enticed by the message-board manipulators in recent seasons, the Spectrum crowd has been rising for everything but announcements that a car owner left his lights on in the parking lot. Dornhoefer&rsquo;s ovation was deserved, however, as he stands for everything the Flyers have meant to Philadelphia.&ldquo;I was on the bench at the time and Roscoe was kidding me&mdash;he said I should take a skate around the ice. I appreciated what the fans did How many times does a man get a standing ovation in his life?&rdquo;Dornhoefer&rsquo;s serious mood quickly vanished and he said. &ldquo;It took me 10 years to get 300 assists. It takes some players about three years.&rdquo;Meanwhile, back at center. MacLeish was offering signs of another 50-goal season. He hit the 20-goal level in Philadelphia&rsquo;s 31st game. When he became the youngest NHL player to hit 50, during the 1972-73 season. MacLeish didn&rsquo;t reach the 20 mark until the 44th game.Should the player known as &ldquo;Hawk,&rdquo; for his dead-end kid style nose, even cruise near the 50 vicinity, it will be a remarkable achievement. In February last season he underwent serious knee surgery. &#9632;

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Lonsberry, Dornhoefer Overshadowed But Are Consistent Duo For Flyers

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>ST. LOUIS &mdash; Rick Smith, defenseman. recalled from Kansas City of CHL and traded to Boston in exchange for Joe Zanussi, defenseman. Bob Hess, defenseman. and Brian Sutter, forward, assigned to Kansas City. Bernie Federko and Rick Bourbonnais, forwards, recalled from Kansas City.CLEVELAND &mdash; Phil Roberto, forward, signed as free agent, after release by Colorado.TORONTO &mdash; Randy Carlyle, defenseman, recalled from Dallas of CHL.N.Y. RANGERS &mdash; John Davidson, gaoler, placed on disabled list for two months after undergoing knee surgery.DETROIT &mdash; Dan Maloney, forward, placed on disabled list indefinitely after breaking shoulder Mike Wong, forward, recalled from Kalamazoo of IHL and sent to Rhode Island of AHL on loan.VANCOUVER - Bruce Bullock, goaler, recalled from Tulsa of CHL and later returned to Tulsa.ATLANTA &mdash; Lorne Molleken, goaler, recalled from Philadelphia of NAHL and reassigned to Tulsa of CHL.BUFFALO &mdash; Robert Sauve, goaler, recalled from Hershey of AHLPITTSBURGH &mdash; Mario Faubert, defenseman. and Gord Laxton, gaoler, assigned to Hershey of AHL. Faubert recalled again. Vic Had field, forward. returned to disabled list indefinitely after undergoing knee surgery again.MONTREAL - Kelly Greenbank, forward, recalled from Nova Scotia of AHL and reassigned to Rhode Island of AHL. Ken Dryden, gaoler, returned to active roster from injury list. Dave Elenbaas, gaoler, returned to Nova Scotia after standing by for Dryden.N.Y. ISLANDERS - Walt Ledingham, forward, returned to Rhode Island of AHL.<h2>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</h2>BIRMINGHAM - John C. Stewart, forward, signed as free agent after release by Minnesota. Paul Heaver. defenseman, recalled from Charlotte of SHL.HOUSTON - Frank Hughes and Andre Hinse, forwards, traded to San Phoenix in exchange for Al McLeod, defenseman, John Gray and Neil Lyseng, forwards. Lyseng reported from Oklahoma City of CHL. Don Larway, forward, recalled from Oklahoma City. Dwayne Pentland, defenseman and Gary Donaldson, forward, recalled from Oklahoma City and later returned.PHOENIX - Mike Hobin, forward, recalled from Oklahoma City of CHL.QUEBEC - Michel Dubois, defenseman, recalled from Maine of NAHL.CINCINNATI - Dan Justin, defenseman, returned by Springfield of AHL and placed on voluntary retiree list at player&rsquo;s own request.SAN DIEGO &mdash; Brad Rhiness, forward, assigned to Oklahoma City of CHL and later recalled. Pete McNa mee, defenseman, recalled from Ti dewater of SHL.NEW ENGLAND - Doug Roberts, defenseman, and Jim Troy, forward, recalled from Rhode Island of AHL<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>RHODE ISLAND &mdash; Dennis Patterson, defenseman, signed as free agent after release by Edmonton Oilers. Doug Horbul, forward, given outright release.ROCHESTER &mdash; Billy Yeo, goaler. returned to Columbus of IHL.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>DALLAS &mdash; Blair Mackasey, defeseman, placed on disabled list for rest of season after undergoing back fusion operation. &#9632;

Hockey Players On The Move…

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011007/4194433-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BUTCH GORING&hellip; Not Trying To Top Anyone (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Early this season, the Kings had just tied Detroit and had a face-off in the Red Wing end in the last minute. Butch Goring, good at face-offs, was about to duel Dennis Hextall. Suddenly, he called time and called Marcel Dionne into the circle.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t won one from this guy all night.&rdquo; admitted Goring. &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you try him?&rdquo;Dionne shrugged, stepped in. squared off. swept the face-off from Hextall to Tommy Williams, who fired in the game-winner with 11 seconds left on the clock.Later, Marce said. &ldquo;It is that sort of unselfishness that marks Butch. He didn&rsquo;t want to be the hero. He just wanted to win.&rdquo;&ldquo;Anything to win.&rdquo; Butch admitted in the dressing room. &ldquo;Why should I be afraid to admit I&rsquo;d been having trouble with the guy? When you have someone like Dionne on your team, you&rsquo;re dumb if you don&rsquo;t use him. I&rsquo;m not trying to top him. I&rsquo;m trying to work with him.&rsquo;&rsquo;Goring has been overshadowed by Dionne. Both are little centers and Dionne is the bigger scorer. Marcel is a marvel. But Butch is something special, too. You wonder sometimes if the people around this league realize how good this little guy really is. You know his foes do.Butch bedevils them. Although not a heavy hitter, he may be the pestiest forechecker in the game. Quick and agile, he hops about keeping pressure on opponents with the puck, stealing it from them or hounding them into bad passes. He never stops and wears&rsquo;foes out. He is one of the super penalty-killers in the game.Goring is a good puck-handler and shooter. The team&rsquo;s all-time leader in goals and points, he is good for close to 30 goals a season. Last season, he had 33. This season he had only 11 in 33 games, but he missed the first four games recovering from pnuemonia which sidelined him the entire pre-season practice period.He has been more than making up for it with his playmaking. He creates opportunities for teammates. He could come close to 100 scoring points this season.He centers a line with Tom Williams and Mike Murphy on the wings, which also plays up front on power-plays, with Dionne and Gary Sargent on the points. In the 11th week-of the 26week season, Williams had 21 goals, Murphy 13, most set up by Butch. Dionne and Sargent had poured in power-play goals set up by Butch.It has been a hard season for the Kings, marked by a recent 11-game winless string, but Butch never has stopped hustling.He is in his eighth season in Los Angeles, which makes him the senior player on the team although he is only 27. Married, he and his Cathy Love have a 1 1/2-year-old daughter, Shannon. Matured, he is not the same flaky kid who came up in 1969.&ldquo;I guess I&rsquo;ve got to learn something somewhere along the line,&rdquo; he grins.Although he has never won it, he is an annual contender for the Lady Byng award. Otherwise, he attracts little attention. This is sad because he is one of the great all-around players in the league and should be regarded as a super star.KINGS THINGS: Following their 11-game drought, the Kings had a stretch in mid-December when they lost only once in six starts, and won two in a row on the road, one in Atlanta where the Flames had not lost in 10 starts and were on an eight-game unbeaten-streak over-all. Goring had six assists in the six games, plus two goals: Earlier this season he tied the team record with goals in five straight games.Williams, who scored only 19 goals all last season, is on another tear with four goals the last three games. Earlier, he had six goals in three games&hellip;Sargent has seven goals and is playing the point well, although the young defenseman may be trying to steal the puck too often and is letting too many rivals get around him to go in on goal on breakaways. &#9632;

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Kings’ Goring Overlooked As Big League Super Star

<div class="byline">&#x2014; BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011120/4194471-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="434" height="478"></div><h2>A Pattern Player</h2>I BEFORE EVERY BUFFALO game, Craig | Ramsey takes off his civies and puts on his uniform I piece by piece in unvarying order. He does not pull I on his jersey until the coach comes into the room. When the players leave the room, Craig is next-to-last out&mdash;not last, but next-to-last.If his line is not starting the game, it leaves the ice before the national anthem is played. Ramsey makes I sure he is the last player through the gate to the bench&mdash;not the next-to-last, but the last. If it is&rsquo; starting the game, it faces the visitors&rsquo; goal, as all do, during the anthem. However, halfway through it, Ramsey swings around to face his own bench.Why? &ldquo;I guess I got a goal or we did good one time I when I did it that way,&rdquo; Craig confesses. No disrespect meant, he points out. It&rsquo;s just that he&rsquo;s superstitious. &ldquo;Well, not exactly superstitious,&rdquo; he insists. &ldquo;The things I do are all part of a pattern. I want to be, consistent and it helps if I have a set routine to follow. Just say I&rsquo;m a pattern player.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021009/4194464-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="836" height="1391"><figcaption class="caption-body">Craig Ramsay of the Buffalo Sabres refuses to accept the notion that he is a superstitious hockey player. He prefers to be recognized as a pattern player.</figcaption></div>He says he&rsquo;s not as bad as he used to be. I can&rsquo;t imagine how he was then. He says, &ldquo;If I had a really good game and couldn&rsquo;t remember the exact pattern of the things I had done before and during the game I&rsquo;d get really upset. I decided I was being ridiculous. So I picked out a few things I did most of the time, a few basic superstitions, and fit them into a pattern, and I try to let it go at that. If I forget one of them, it bothers me.&rdquo;He admits, &ldquo;I believe in luck. I believe in ability and hard work, too. I don&rsquo;t have as much ability as some players, but I try to use the best I have the best I can. I try to work as hard as anyone. After that, I think chance enters into it. There are such things as breaks, the bounce of the puck. If I can give Lady Luck a helping hand, maybe she&rsquo;ll help me.&rdquo;CRAIG IS NEITHER a child, nor a fool. He is one of many players in sports who were not blessed with brilliance and who have had to struggle for success, and one of many who won&rsquo;t take any chances of lengthening the odds against them by tempting fate. He was still young as a boy back in Toronto when his father warned him if he wanted to play as much as the next boy he&rsquo;d have to work harder.&ldquo;I was never the best player on my team, much less a star in any league I ever played in,&rdquo; Craig says. &ldquo;I had a coach from midget through peewee, Bert Turney, who drilled us on details because we weren&rsquo;t the best. He taught me to fore check and back check or I would be back home now instead of in the big leagues.&rdquo;At 25 the left-handed left-winger, slightly built, but tough, has become a superb penalty-killer and defensive specialist who is good for more than 20 goals and 40 assists a season. A couple of seasons back he scored seven shorthanded goals, but he has become conservative because he was burned a few times and decided his main job was to stop the other side from scoring.He is an all-around performer who will never be a star, but may be more valuable to his team than some stars. Although the goals have been coming slow so far this season, he is the sort who can make up for it in many ways.&ldquo;This is my sixth year in the league and I guess I&rsquo;ve learned a lot.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I suppose I&rsquo;m smarter. I play my position easier than I used to. I don&rsquo;t run around as much. I don&rsquo;t waste as much energy. I don&rsquo;t dwell on the ups and downs as much as 1 used to. I don&rsquo;t let myself get too high at times, so I won&rsquo;t get too low other times.&rdquo;HE HASN&rsquo;T HAD A lot of stories written about him, but says it doesn&rsquo;t bother him. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t score 50 goals and I don&rsquo;t get into fights and I&rsquo;m not flashy, so no one notices me much.&rdquo; he shrugs.l&rsquo;ve seen guys who get down because their name isn&rsquo;t in the paper. And I&rsquo;ve seen them get big heads because it&rsquo;s in there too much. I don&rsquo;t expect it, so I don&rsquo;t miss it.&ldquo;If I got to thinking I was great. I wouldn&rsquo;t work as hard as I do. And if I didn&rsquo;t, I&rsquo; wouldn&rsquo;t be here because I don&rsquo;t have outstanding talent,&rdquo; he concludes.&rdquo;Craig and his wife Susan have a two-year-old son, Travis. They have a house in the Buffalo suburb of Williamsville in season and summer at a river cottage in Peterborough. He says, &ldquo;Hockey takes up so much time in season that I try to make it up to my wife and son in the off-season. We have a boat and water-ski a lot. We have a good life.&rdquo;He tries to lead a well-ordered life. &ldquo;When I&rsquo;m home I play with the baby a lot so my wife can have some time to herself,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s a very good hockey wife. She sees when I don&rsquo;t want to talk and picks her spots. My game-day meal is ready about three. She never misses a home game, but doesn&rsquo;t second-guess my games. My life centers around hockey right now, of course, but my family comes first. I regard myself as a lucky guy to have what I have in my life.&rdquo;One other superstition he sticks to, he kisses his wife when he leaves the house. You make your own luck, you know. &#9632;

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY RON WEBER</div>WASHINGTON&mdash;Bryan Watson pondered the matter for about an hour. Later he was apologetic over letting that hour slip by.But who could blame him? He had just been told he had been traded from the Red Wings to a team even below them in the standings, the Capitals. From Detroit, a town that knew and accepted him, to that new group in Washington.The uncalled-for apology by Watson was over the fact that the &ldquo;wasted&rdquo; hour, after Wing GM Alex Delvecchio&rsquo;s call, cost him a chance to fly to Washington for a game that night against Pittsburgh. &ldquo;I would have liked to have played. Why not? I&rsquo;m part of the team,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;But it was physically impossible by the time I called Mr. McNab (Caps GM).&rdquo;The Capitals won that night without Watson, then lost with him the next evening. But, with Bryan getting a regular shift the team then went unbeaten the next three.Watson immediately cottoned to his new coach and the way Tom McVie likes to alternate three set pairings on defense. &ldquo;Knowing what to expect makes the game simple,&rdquo; says Bryan.He had no inkling of the trade in which the Red Wings obtained young defenseman Greg Joly. &ldquo;Everything was going well for me in Detroit,&rdquo; he continued with no reference to the 10-game suspension dropped on him by president Clarence Campbell. Bryan was back for only four contests before the swap.&ldquo;I feel a trade is a promotion&mdash;that it wasn&rsquo;t that Detroit didn&rsquo;t want me, but Washington did,&rdquo; says the 34-year-old veteran of six NHL clubs (not counting two stops in Montreal and Detroit). &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an adjustment but I came here to win.&ldquo;The hardest part of a trade is your family. I can just pack my bag and go and play.&rdquo; Bryan and his wife Lindy have two children, Stevie and Linda. The parents have been involved with retarded children since his days in Pittsburgh, through the Kennedy Foundation.The two were named honorary coaches for the Michigan Special Olympics, an athletic program for retarded children, Mrs. Watson being the first woman so honored there. Bryan was one of three finalists for hockey&rsquo;s Charlie Conacher award, annually given to an NHL player who makes the greatest public service contribution in his spare time.For those of us who find that incongrous with Watson&rsquo;s abrasive playing style he explains. &ldquo;Playing the physical way has always been my game. I first came up with the Canadiens when they needed the physical stuff and John Ferguson and I gave it to them. I&rsquo;ll do anything to win and my friends realize that and respect me for it.&rdquo;More than once Watson has pounded on some opponent during a game, then had a friendly chat afterwards. As he says&rsquo;, &ldquo;Off the ice I&rsquo;m a completely different person &ldquo;Gordie Howe and Andy Bathgate gave him the name &ldquo;Bugsy&rdquo; (he bugged them with locker room chatter) and former Penguin announcer Jim Forney popularized it. Understandably he doesn&rsquo;t really like it much prefering Bryan.He&rsquo;d much prefer being bigger, too. When you&rsquo;re pugnacious enough to approach the 2,000-minute mark in penalties every extra pound and inch would help. Even when it&rsquo;s not fight time being taller helps. He points out, &ldquo;With my height, five-foot-ten-1/2 inches (the NHL guide lists him at five-foot-ten, the Hockey Register at five-foot-nine) and the type of game I play I get a lot of stick cuts in the head. The six-foot-three guys gets hit in the chest, with me it&rsquo;s the face.&rdquo; &#9632;

Caps’ Newcomer Treats A Trade As A Promotion

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011080/4194526-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRYAN TROTTIER&hellip; Looking Better Statistically (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;It didn&rsquo;t take long for the news to circulate among the NHL goaltenders union, and it was bad news at that. For early in December the word got around that Bryan Trottier was back in form.Last year produced the best of all possible worlds for the then-19-year-old wunderkind from Val Marie, Saskatchewan. He collected 32 goals and 63 assists for 95 points and a cakewalk to the Calder Trophy.But this year had been something else. Right off the bat, Trottier received a momentary sidetrack when he was shelved with a slight knee sprain in training camp. Rather than rush him back into the lineup, the Islanders elected to keep him out of their first four regular season games, with Bob Bourne taking his place on the number one line with Clark Gillies and Billy Harris.Trottier finally returned on Oct. 16, and was immediately reunited with his old mates. But the magic which acclaimed the unit as the &ldquo;Long Island Lightning Company&rdquo; last season, was slow in coming.Through his first 12 games. Bryan had managed only three assists before cracking the ice on Nov. 13. Then came some slow progress, but the line and the Islanders didn&rsquo;t appear to be filling the net as they seemed to last year.Despite the line&rsquo;s early slump, coach Al Arbour was reluctant to switch things around, and for one simple reason. The team was streaking from the opening gun. and had opened up some daylight in the Patrick Division race. But then came a drought which saw the Isles drop five of six, and a subsequent shake-up which launched a new winning streak.The most drastic move was dismantling&mdash;for the time being, at least&mdash;the Lightning Company, with Trottier moving between Eddie Westfall on the right side, and Bill MacMillan&mdash;who had been spending considerable time on the bench and in the press box&mdash;on the left.Suddenly everything happened. Westfall, who went through one stretch where he failed to record a point in seven straight games, went on a skein in which he notched six points in three games. MacMillan added four points over the same span, but it was Trottier who made the big news.Bryan hit the net four times and assisted on two others to pace the Islanders to victories over Buffalo, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh. But more important, he looked like the Calder winner once again, skating strongly, checking tenaciously, and winning faceoffs.&ldquo;Things have been looking better statistically, but sometimes looks can be deceiving,&rdquo; said the pleased Trottier after the Pittsburgh encounter. &ldquo;I really didn&rsquo;t think I was playing all that badly, it&rsquo;s just that for the last couple of games the puck has been going in.&ldquo;Physically, I&rsquo;ve been feeling fine ever since I came back into the lineup, not just now. The only other difference is that the team is working harder. When that happens, we all start scoring more goals.&rdquo;Although Trottier knew Gillies and Harris like a book after their year-long stint in &rsquo;75-76, Bryan adjusted quickly to his new linemates, MacMillan and Westfall.&ldquo;Bill and Eddie are such smart hockey players that they make it easy,&rdquo; Bryan continued.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re strong in the corners, strong in the slot. They&rsquo;re always working, and as a unit, we&rsquo;ve begun to click. We&rsquo;ve got the communication going and were skating hard with it.&rdquo;The return of Trottier to top form had done wonders to bring the Islanders and their fans out of their temporary doldrums. The rest of the league would just rather not know. &#9632;

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Isles’ Sensation Trottier Is Back And In True Form

<div class="byline">&#x2014; BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011107/4194557-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="357" height="482"></div><h2>New Year&rsquo;s Resolutions</h2>SOME WISE GUY once said that New Year&rsquo;s resolutions are worth no more than the paper they&rsquo;re written on. That wise guy was pretty wise. So. for six bits, we hereby impose our jaundiced imagination on how hockey luminaries will attempt to reach heaven in &rsquo;77. Ready or not:The Smythe Family&mdash;We will ask that our name be removed from the most comical division in professional sports, the Conn Smythe.Clarence Campbell&mdash;I will learn to coast through life a little more, like many players do.John Ferguson&mdash;I will continue doing whatever I&rsquo;m doing with the New York Rangers, because I must be doing something right.Oakland hockey fans&mdash;We will continue to grin at what our one-time Seals are now drawing in Akron.Denis Potvin&mdash;I will try to make people happy bykeeping my diaries private.Bobby Clarke&mdash;I will try to make people listen by continuing to say what I think in public.Peter Mahovlich&mdash;I will demand that all my roommates drink from paper cups.Red Fisher&mdash;If I become president of the NHL, I will make Brian O&rsquo;Neill my right-hand man.Brian O&rsquo;Neill&mdash;If I become president of the NHL, I will make Red Fisher my right-hand man.Ray Kroc&mdash;I will admit I laid an Egg McMuffin by trying to keep a hockey team in San Diego.Don Cherry&mdash;I will not be so surprised when I win NHL coach of the year again.Bobby Kromm&mdash;I will invite Marc Boileau and Bep Guidolin to my next Christmas party, and I will not serve punch.Mark Howe&mdash;I will start developing a taste for clam chowder.Bobby Orr&mdash;I will give it at least one more try, because the sport needs me more than ever.Gerry Cheevers&mdash;I will flip a coin, not my lid, if the Bruins have a playoff game the same day as the Kentucky Derby.Sid Salomon The Third&mdash;I will not fire Emile Francis as Blues&rsquo; coach because he wins only 18 games in his first season at St. Louis.Sid Salomon The Third&mdash;1 will not fire him because 18 wins will mean first place in the Smythe Division, which, according to THE HOCKEY NEWS, soon will be renamed.Rodney Dangerfield&mdash; I will donate my name to the one-time Smythe Division because neither of us gets no respect.Sam Pollock&mdash;I will think ahead and send Darren Orr a nice present for his third birthday.Darren Orr&mdash;I will make sure that the gift goes through my new attorney, Uncle Al Eagleson.Future Considerations&mdash;I will demand one-tenth salary from all the Montreal players I.ve been traded for. I will then retire.Bryan Watson&mdash;I will stop insisting that the punch I hit Keith Magnuson with was clean as a whistle.The National Hockey League&mdash;We will again remind people that we do have national TV exposure every day. The show is called &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve Got A Secret.&rsquo;&rsquo;Bobby Hull&mdash;I will gladly await my next transplant, and I don&rsquo;t mean hair.Scotty Bowman&mdash;I will not be too upset when we lose our tenth game. If we do.Boom Boom Geoffrion&mdash;I will remain hockey&rsquo;s most colorful color man, carrying on a bilingual French English commentary at the same time.Pierre Larouche&mdash;I will be thankful that I&rsquo;m not playing hockey in Montreal. After all, if I can&rsquo;t get enough sleep in Pittsburgh&hellip;Bill Torrey&mdash;I will not laugh as loudly at those who once laughed at my team and me.Foster Hewitt&mdash;I will continue to await Yvan Cournoyer&rsquo;s retirement.John Van Boxmeer&mdash;I will be glad that I&rsquo;m playing hockey again, even if my name doesn&rsquo;t appear on the Stanley Cup for the second straight year.Billy Dea&mdash;I will not worry about being fired as Red Wings&rsquo; coach at season&rsquo;s end because I was fired at season&rsquo;s beginning.Fred Shero&mdash;I will try to eliminate my nickname of &ldquo;The Fog&rdquo; as soon as the new year starts, whenever that i. &#9632;

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HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;The St. Louis Blues, traditionally among the most penalized in the National Hockey League, are near the bottom this season in penalty-minute total among NHL teams.Even though players and coaches have changed rapidly over the years, the Blues stayed near the top of the league in penalties. The reversal this season is remarkable and somewhat puzzling.Emile Francis, the new general manager and coach, says he hasn&rsquo;t started any campaign to cut the number of penalties, and his players acknowledge Francis seldom mentions penalties.&ldquo;The only reminders I&rsquo;ve given are about bad penalties,&rsquo;&rsquo; Francis said. &ldquo;Usually the misconduct penalties just hurt the team. Those are the penalties which boost the penalty-minute totals.&rdquo;The penalty totals for the league as a whole are lower this season because referees are calling fewer game-slowing minor penalties and because players are unsure about how much disruption they can cause before being tossed out of the game or suspended.The fact the Blues have dropped so much more than other teams in penalty totals must be because they are exercising caution to an even greater degree.Bob Gassoff, the Blues&rsquo; most penalized player, says, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not that much fighting going on this year. I&rsquo;ve had three fights, and Jerry Butler has had one in 30 games. The rules are pretty strict, so we watch we don&rsquo;t get kicked out of games.&rdquo;Gassoff, solidly built and tough, is not sure the decline in fighting is progress.&ldquo;Fighting adds to the excitement of the game,&rdquo; he said.Gassoff, the fourth-most-penalized player in the league last season, also gives a sombre reason as to why the Blues&rsquo; fights arid penalty minutes are down.&ldquo;The referees are watching me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Our whole team has had the reputation of drawing penalties. Of course, we&rsquo;ve also been in some close hockey games this season, when we couldn&rsquo;t afford to take foolish penalties.&rdquo;Garry Unger, the Blues&rsquo; most penalized forward, also cited the league&rsquo;s new. vague strictness in calling major penalties.&ldquo;Guys are afraid to do things because not only will they get thrown out of a game but they&rsquo;ll get suspended,&rdquo; said Unger. &ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s in my mind.&rdquo;Unger, who breaks his own NHL record for consecutive games every time he plays, says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d hate to miss a game because of suspension.&rdquo;The Blues&rsquo; playing assistant coach, Red Berenson, usually low in penalties, believes a team&rsquo;s total depends mainly on its personnel. However, the Blues haven&rsquo;t changed much in personnel from last season when they still were high in the league in penalties.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s anything you can put your finger on to explain the lower penalty totals.&rdquo; added Berenson. &ldquo;I kill penalties, and to me it seems like we still get plenty of them.&rdquo;Indeed Berenson, who recently celebrated his 37th birthday and is the Blues&rsquo; second-oldest player next to goalie Eddie Johnston, has a heavy work load with centering a regular line, playing the point on some power plays and killing penalties.But 23-year-old Larry Patey, the team&rsquo;s youngest center who sees only spot duty in addition to killing penalties, jokes that he is frustrated by the Blues&rsquo; taking fewer penalties.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02892/4194588-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="580" height="730"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB GASSOFF &hellip; Fewer Fights</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Blues Down In Penalties But Excitement Missing

<div class="byline">BY BILL HEUFELDER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011059/4194619-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">JEAN PRONOVOST&hellip; Responds To Switch (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Despite a rash of injuries, the Pittsburgh Penguins continue to improve their new defensive style in the hope of slipping past second-place Los Angeles in the Norris Division.Baz Bastien, the club&rsquo;s assistant general manager, admitted he was in the market for a left winger, the most troublesome position for the Penguins this season.As Pittsburgh applied the pressure to the skidding Kings, only one left winger. Mike Corrigan, was healthy. Ironically, Corrigan arrived from LA earlier this season.Coach Ken Schinkel was forced to shift Jean Pronovost to the left side temporarily and the veteran right winger responded with a goal as the Penguins battled from behind three times to dump St. Louis, 5-3.They cracked but once recently when the New York Islanders, breaking out a slump and smarting from a 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh the previous week, hammered out a 6-3 triumph after a scoreless first period.The Penguins produced their comeback over the Blues the following night, despite being without five regulars plus Pierre Larouche, who played one brief shift.In addition to Pronovost&rsquo;s aid on left wing, Dune Wilson returned from a five-game absence due to a muscle pull and gave a solid performance. Surprisingly, Schinkel announced that he&rsquo;ll alternate Denis Herron and Wilson now that both goaltenders are healthy.With Dennis Owchar forced out of the lineup with an injured elbow, Pittsburgh recalled Mario Faubert, who responded well. A smooth puckhandler, the 22-year-old defenseman produced a goal in the St. Louis victory and performed so capably that the Penguins may feel compelled to keep him on the big club later in the season.When Owchar returned after missing three games. Faubert was returned to the Bears, along with goalie Gordie Laxton.Rookie Russ Anderson also gave considerable support in the crisis: Although prone to make scattered mistakes that prove costly, he has demonstrated an ability to hit and handle his position cooly.Despite the injuries, the future looks bright for the Penguins, who must play only four games away from the Civic Arena next month. The most encouraging aspect of the campaign thus far is that Wilson, with his improved goaltending as he played himself into shape, kept Pittsburgh close to the Kings. Herron recovered from a broken arm.Together, the two netminders have reduced the team&rsquo;s goals against average to 3.33. ninth best in the league. In addition, Schinkel&rsquo;s four-man rotation on defense is working. Don Awrey has paired with Ron Stackhouse, while Dave Burrows and either of the younger defenseman skated together &#9632;

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Pens Hope Defensive Style Will Help Overhaul Kings

<div class="byline">Bill Fleischman&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011081/4194650-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="298" height="467"></div><h2>Some New Year&rsquo;s Wishes</h2>WHILE OTHERS ARE making (and breaking) New Year&rsquo;s resolutions, let&rsquo;s try a few New Year&rsquo;s fantasies and wishes.My best fantasy would be seeing Bill Veeck buy the Chicago Balck Hawks. Baseball&rsquo;s liveliest owner, this side of Charlie Finley, may be the only man who could make the Black Hawks an entertaining team again.With Veeck wheeling and dealing on W. Madison St., imagine blue ice, a red puck, a midget in goal, new uniforms featuring see-through sweaters (for the ladies), intermission scrimmages between Playmates and Penthouse pets (for the gentlemen) and an exploding penalty box. Veeck might even put enthusiasm back in the Chicago players, but meanwhile, who would notice with all the other excitement?Fantasy No. 2 is seeing Sam Pollock resigning as Montreal&rsquo;s general manager to accept a similar job with the Detroit Red Wings.&ldquo;Having all this talent and future draft choices and winning isn&rsquo;t fun anymore,&rdquo; Pollock would say. &ldquo;I need a new challenge and I can&rsquo;t think of a greater one than the Red Wings.&rdquo;<h2>Help For The Canucks</h2>FANTASY NO. 3 is seeing the Vancouver Canucks, the NHL&rsquo;s answer to Air Force duty in Greenland, actually get some help from the league. Some new teams within reasonable travelling distance would be nice. If teams in Seattle, Edmonton and Calgary aren&rsquo;t possible, why not limit the Canucks&rsquo; far Eastern excursions per season? Fans in Boston, New York, Philadelphia. Washington, Pittsburgh and Buffalo wouldn&rsquo;t violently protest only one visit by the Canucks.Most far-out fantasy: hearing an angry Red Kelly rave and rant in a foul-mouthed tirade. Hang it, it&rsquo;ll just never happen. Which, really, is fine. The Toronto coach&rsquo;s aversion to swearing is something more of us should practice.Final fantasy: learning that the NHL committee assigned to find a successor to Clarence Campbell has actually succeeded. There is a committee, isn&rsquo;t there? When Campbell does step aside as NHL president, let&rsquo;s all hope he remains involved in hockey for as long as he wishes.Speaking of wishes&hellip;Here&rsquo;s hoping the Flames, North Stars. Capitals, Barons and other NHL clubs with attendance problems can attract new fans. In most cases, the struggling teams have competent, hard-working people in their front offices. If they can convince their players to give maximum effort every game and add some appealing promotions, the fans will support teams. Lower ticket prices, so hockey doesn&rsquo;t become entirely a sport for the martini-and-mink set, wouldn&rsquo;t hurt either.<h2>Referees Have Tough Job</h2>I ALSO WISH:&bull; That Phil Russell finds a team he can devote his competitiveness to before his fire is doused by Chicago&rsquo;s decaying atmosphere.&bull; That Ed Giacomin continues to enjoy the game and play as well as he has.&bull; That coaches who lose a game by one goal not blame the referee.&bull; That fans understand that a hockey referee has one of the toughest jobs in sports and not demand the man be virtually lynched when he calls a penalty against the home team. The NHL desperately needs people such as Bruce Hood, Ron Wicks. Wally Harris. Dave Newell. Bryan Lewis, John McCauley and Andy Van Hellemond. Don&rsquo;t drive them out of hockey by creating unbearable mental pressures. &#9632;

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HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02918/4194681-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">TIM YOUNG&hellip; Misunderstanding Cleared Up (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>TWIN CITIES&mdash;Oft-times, the strangest of circumstances serve to turn a hockey team, or individual, back on course.The Minnesota North Stars would like to think as much, in both cases, after sinking to the worst record in the NHL in early December.Individually, Minnesota&rsquo;s leading scorer, Tim Young, was singing the frustration blues by going through seven straight games without a goal while the losses mounted up.He was at the point that even coach Ted Harris ordered him off the ice during a practice session for not following instructions.Then the Philadelphia Flyers came to Minnesota&rsquo;s Met Sports Center (Dec. 14) and promptly scored an early goal, short-handed at that, when Young circled behind his own net and dropped the puck off to no one but Flyer forward Bill Barber who centered out for Bobby Clarke for a gift score.By the time the scoreboard clock was ticking down to its final two minutes, the Flyers led by a 3-1 count (Young was on the ice during the second Philly goal) and it appeared the North Stars were headed for another setback.For no apparent reason. Young turned himself, and maybe even the Stars around. He scored his 12th goal of the season with 1:51 showing to cut the lead to a single goal.Young wasn&rsquo;t finished, When goalie Pete LoPresti skated off to put a sixth attacker in the Flyer zone. Harris tapped Young on the shoulder to join in a desperation effort to tie.Young&rsquo;s slap shot with 19 seconds remaining gave the North Stars a 3-3 deadlock, their third straight tie after a series of demoralizing losses.&rsquo;&rsquo;l&rsquo;ve always gotten off to a pretty good start during my hockey career as a pro and junior player,&rdquo; said the 21-year-old sophomore center.&rsquo;&rsquo;I&rsquo;ve never been down on myself before. Never. Never. This was, really, the first slump that ever got to me. I&rsquo;ll admit that I was hurting myself and hurting the team. Ted and I had a misunderstanding in practice Monday, but we cleared things up.&rdquo;&ldquo;It was no big deal.&rdquo; added Harris. &ldquo;I asked for something to be done and it wasn&rsquo;t. When that happens you&rsquo;ve got to get the situation straightened out right away, and we did. Words don&rsquo;t bring a guy out of a slump. He has to do it by himself with hard work. He can&rsquo;t ever give up on himself.&rdquo;The same could be said on a team level. After the North Stars lost by scores of 11-4 to the Rangers, 6-2 to Pittsburgh and 5-0 to Atlanta. Harris called a team meeting and made some changes in personnel deployments and strategy.First, Harris went back to using six defensemen with pairs hitting the ice on a regular basis with the same offensive trio. Also, the Stars went back to simpler theory of tight checking.The coach also changed a few forward spots. Roland Eriksson went from left wing to center and Glen Sharpley from center to right wing on the same line.Harris also put hard-checking Alex Pirus at right wing on a line with Bill Hogaboam at center and Richard Nantais on the left.Pirus, one of seven rookies on the team, responded with some jarring checks and two goals within an 11-second span in the 3-3 tie against Atlanta.Eriksson, the Swedish rookie, scored the tying goals against Atlanta and against St. Louis, 1-1, with Hogaboam picked up two assists against the Flyers. &#9632;

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‘Hat Trick’ Allows Young To Escape Stars Doghouse

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT-The Detroit Red Wings continue to plod along&hellip;as unpredictable as the Michigan weather.Going into the last game of a six-game road trip, the Red Wings had visions of an even split. They won in Vancouver (5-2) and Boston (5-3) while losing in Buffalo, Los Angeles and Montreal.The finale of the 18-day trip was in Cleveland against the Barons, Detroit&rsquo;s first visit to that city. The Wings, naturally, figured they could whip the Barons.For the Wings, a club with only two road victories going into the extended excursion, a 3-3 record would have been like, well, like Santa Claus making a surprise early visit.The Wings were confident because they were coming off a victory over the tough Bruins in Boston Garden, with Dennis Hextall producing a pair of goals and setting up two others for his most productive day of the season.And, you ask, what followed the Boston game? An atrocious performance in a 7-3 walloping at the hands of the Barons. It was in fight terms, a TKO. The Wings simply had nothing&hellip;no life, no spark, no skating, no checking, nothing. The performance left general manager Alex Delvecchio, coach Billy Dea and many of the players just shaking their heads in disgust&mdash;and puzzlement.Against the Bruins, Delvecchio was behind the bench for the first time in nearly a year, filling m for Dea, who was suffering from a toothache. Dea took over the coaching reins from Delvecchio on New Year&rsquo;s Eve. 1975.&ldquo;The guys were determined to play a helluva hockey game, and they did,&rdquo; Delvecchio said.&rsquo;&rsquo;Sometimes they try to finesse but against Boston they worked hard and got some goals for a change.&ldquo;And we got three power play goals, which gave us a lift.&rdquo;The Wings have had a woeful power play this season and that&rsquo;s not too surprising since their offense as a whole has been bad. The club was sliding toward the bottom of the league in goal production and held the 17th spot in December.The lack of scoring has been a problem all season and most observers could see that in training camp. But, Delvecchio has not been able to find a solution and so everybody is trying to ride out the storm. But if the Wings are to go anyplace at all, they must find some offensive punch somewhere.One hopeful sign has been the play of newly-acquired defenseman Greg Joly. He was outstanding against the Bruins, setting up a pair of goals with his skating and work at the right point.&ldquo;The kid has puck sense,&rdquo; Delvecchio said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got good moves and real ability. He fit right in.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s given us insurance back there (on defense). When he gets the puck, we&rsquo;re coming out (of our zone). He gets it out. He accomplishes things. &rsquo;&rsquo; &#9632;

Detroit’s Lack Of Goal Scoring Still A Problem

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>Maloney had set up one last test, a win one for the present coach night in Minnesota. The Canucks responded 3-1. But some of that response was generated by Hall, who came in from his permanent home in Hawaii just in time to upset the applecart of the whole club.After president Bill Hughes had said that the club was comtemplating no changes and that Maloney had the full faith of everyone on the club, in comes Hall, and on the first day in town starts upstaging Hughes.&rsquo;&rsquo;I think the job of general manager and coach is too much for one man, I always have,&rdquo; said Hall.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to recommend to the directors that they look into hiring of a coach. I think Phil has been doing a fine job and he&rsquo;s been good for the city of Vancouver, but it&rsquo;s just too much.Kurtenbach, meanwhile, had made no bones about the fact that he wanted the job.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve been doing down here,&rsquo;&rsquo; said the former Canucks and Ranger star. &ldquo;Trying to learn how to coach the Oilers, and if you ask me whether I&rsquo;d be interested in coaching in Vancouver, I can very definitely answer that I am.&rdquo;So the next move was up to Maloney, unless he waits too long and foreces the directors into making the move for him which they did, led by the fiery Hall.The club meanwhile continues to play what must certainly be it&rsquo; s worst hockey since it joined the league in 1970. Even goalie Curt Ridley, whom the Canucks gave up their first draft choice for last year to Atlanta to obtain, has been cracking under the strain of having to play every game since Cesare Maniago was injured. Ridley has been making some fine saves, but at the same time letting in more than the usual quota of soft goals, and Maloney even became so frustrated he pulled him against Detroit even though he only had Bruce Bullock to throw in. But why pick on the goaltending. Every other part of the club&rsquo;s anatomy is aching. Defensemen repeatedly are being caught up ice, the forwards, with the exception of Rick Blight, are not scoring, and according to Maloney, that&rsquo;s where much of the Canucks&rsquo; troubles lie. &#9632;

Maloney Couldn’t Handle Both Jobs Says Fiery Canuck Director

CLEVELAND-It&rsquo;s not often that you see wholesale changes at one position in the middle of the National Hockey League season. However, the Cleveland Barons suddenly found themselves short three right wingers as the New Year began.Hit heavily by injuries to two right wingers and the sudden retirement of another veteran right winger, Jim Pappin, the Barons were forced to scalp the ranks of the Salt Lake City Golden Eagles of the Central Hockey League.The Barons moved quickly to fill the positions left vacant by injuries to Fred Ahem and Gary Sabourin. They called up Ken Kuzyk and Frank Spring.Pappin, retiring for the second time in his NHL career, was replaced by Brent Meeke, called up earlier in the week. Earlier this season, the Barons recalled rookies Paul Gardner and Mike Fidler from their Salt Lake affiliate and the move paid off as both youngsters injected some new life into the team. Perhaps the latest additions to the team will help improve the club&rsquo;s sagging goal production.Ahern is expected to miss the next two months due to a broken arm. Sabourin, not a flashy goal scorer but an extremely hard worker, is out indefinitely with a knee injury.Pappin, a veteran of 13 seasons in the NHL, told general manager Bill McCreary that his retirement was effective immediately. The two scheduled a meeting at a later date to work out details.Pappin, a native of Sudbury, Ont., began his NHL career with the Toronto Maple Leafs and was subsequently traded to the Chicago Black Hawks.Pappin was then traded by the Hawks to the California Seals for Joey Johnston in June of 1975. After balking at the trade and reporting late, he played 32 games for the Seals, scoring six goals and 13 assists before a back injury shelved him for the balance of the season. He finished out the season on scouting assignments for California.Playing in 24 of the Barons&rsquo; 30 games this season, Pappin scored two goals, had eight assists and eight penalty minutes. Two years ago, in his last season with Chicago, he scored 36 goals and had the second-best shooting percentage in the NHL, 22.8.Kuzyk, like Barons&rsquo; rookie Mike Fidler, is an ex-Boston University star. The 6-0, 185-pounder played on the same forward line with Fidler during the past two seasons at Boston University. He scored 15 goals in 27 college games last season. The 23-year-old Toronto-born Kuzyk was the leading goal-scorer currently in the Salt Lake lineup with 10 goals in 26 games. He also had five assists for a total of 15 points. Two of his goals were shorthanded efforts.Spring, who missed seven games earlier in the season with a shoulder separation, played 19 games for the Eagles and had eight goals and 10 assists. In one recent stretch, he scored six goals in four games.At Salt Lake last year, Spring scored at close to a point-a-game clip (73 points in 75 games on 44 goals and 29 assists), and the 44 goals were a club record. He played two exhibition games for the Barons this season and scored two goals. &#9632;

Barons Summon Top Farmhands To Boost Club

<div class="byline">BY GARY McCarthy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011020/4194815-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">YVAN COURNOYER&hellip; Painful Groin Injury (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>MONTREAL-The Canadiens embarked on their longest layoff of the National Hockey League season as Santa Claus paid his annual visit and it couldn&rsquo;t have come at a more needed time.After a four-game road trip that took them to New York, Colorado, Los Angeles and Vancouver, the Canadiens had one week off from the schedule makers and it was probably the best Christmas present the team could have received.The Canadiens were hoping that the time would play in their favor so that four members of the team could recover from varying injuries that had kept them on the sidelines.Montreal started out the four-game road trip without the services of captain Yvan Cournoyer. He made part of the trip without suiting up and was sent back home for treatment of a groin injury.Then, an injury struck big defenseman Larry Robinson. He suffered a fracture in the lower part of his back against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden and he also was sent home to undergo treatment.Next came an unfortunate accident that saw goaltender Ken Dryden sidelined, forcing Michel (Bunny) Larocque into full-time action with Dave Elenbaas occupying a spot on the bench after being recalled from the Nova Scotia Voyageurs of the American Hockey League.Dryden suffered a fracture of the big toe on his left foot after stopping a shot during a morning workout on the day of the game against the Kings in L.A.Dryden had to be used as the backup goaltender for the game against the Kings because Elenbaas couldn&rsquo;t be flown to Los Angeles in time for the game.Larocque stopped 18 shots from the hapless Kings, backstopping the Canadiens to a 2-0 triumph, his second shutout since returning from a hand injury. Larocque like Dryden, was injured during practice, which indicates that the Habs are doing more damage to themselves than most of the opposition.After the L.A. game, the Canadiens took their road show to Vancouver, where they won 5-4 in a game that wasn&rsquo;t that close. Again, they were hit with another injury.Veteran right winger-defenseman Jimmy Roberts suffered a groin injury only 10 days after returning to the lineup. He had been out earlier this season with pulled groin and stomach muscle injuries.So, it was easy to see why the Canadiens welcomed the week-long layoff provided by the NHL schedule-maker. Of the four injured players, only Dryden hoped to be back in action soon.The lanky goaltender, sporting a 2.23 goals-against average with three shutouts in 26 of the Canadiens&rsquo; 32 games, was to be fitted with a special cast and skate so that he would be available for duty if needed.Despite the mounting injuries, the Canadiens won three of the four games. They dropped a 5-2 decision to the Rangers on Rod Gilbert Night at Madison Square Garden, but then went on to beat the Rockies 8-2, shutout the Kings 2-0 and then dumped the Canucks 5-4.Needless to say, the Canadiens were glad to be back in Montreal after completing the swing.&rsquo;&rsquo;We&rsquo;ve been away from home for more than a week and some of us are getting tired,&rdquo; said defenseman Serge Savard after the Vancouver game.Probably the toughest game, aside from the loss to the Rangers, that the Canadiens had on the road swing, was the victory over the Kings, who now are 24 points behind the Canadiens in the Norris Division standings.The Habs were thwarted several times by goaltender Rogatien Vachon, notably in the second period when they had 16 shots at the little L.A. netminder and only Guy Lafleur managed a goal. Doug Jarvis scored into an empty net in the last minute of play.Lafleur, held off the scoreboard as far as goals were concerned in the first two games of the road trip, came back with a goal against the &rsquo; Kings and the Canucks, giving him 26 for the season.Lafleur has also moved seven points ahead of teammate Steve Shutt, Marcel Dionne of the Kings and Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the individual scoring race. Lafleur has 26 goals and 29 assists for 55 points.Shutt has been stymied for the last few games, but continues to lead the league in goal scoring with 29.HABS NOTES: Doug Jarvis, used more as a defensive specialist and a key face-off man by coach Scotty Bowman, scored twice during the road trip to raise his season total to nine. Last year, he scored five during the 80-game schedule&hellip; &#9632;

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Habs Welcome Week Layoff As Injury Bug Hits Hard

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01867/4194846-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY ALAN TRUEX</div>ATLANTA-There is a general feeling across the National Hockey League that a team cannot win with more than two or three rookies in the lineup.David Shand, a rookie defenceman for the Atlanta Flames, is aware of the theory. &ldquo;A lot of coaches say that if you play a lot of rookies, they make too many mistakes, and you can&rsquo;t win,&rdquo; he admits.But Shand argues, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s cost us anything so far.&rdquo;The record supports his contention. The Flames, with six rookies on their roster, have had their best half-season ever. And such first-year players as Shand, Richard Mulhern, Willi Plett and Guy Chouinard were major contributors.Flames general manager Cliff Fletcher and coach Fred Creighton are among those who doubted the team would depend so heavily on the rookies.&ldquo;We never thought,&rdquo; Fletcher said, &ldquo;that there would be six on the roster this time of year. We felt two or three on the outside. There certainly have been some surprises.&rdquo;One surprise is Shand, one of the few defencemen stepping out of junior hockey and playing in the NHL in his first pro season.Fletcher attributes Shand&rsquo;s quick transition to the coaching of Roger Neilson. &ldquo;Dave played on the only remaining junior hockey club in Canada still stressing defence,&rdquo; Fletcher says.Neilson&rsquo;s team. Peterborough, had few good players, which meant Shand got special attention. &ldquo;About mid-season,&rdquo; Shand recalls, &ldquo;the coach decided he would just push the players who were draftable. I usually played 55 or 60 minutes a game. The only time I could come off the ice was when he said so.&ldquo;I thought for a while it would backfire, I was so tired. But as I got into better and better shape, it worked out well.&rdquo;With that kind of background, Shand finishes a game almost as fresh as he starts it.And he has other assets besides stamina.St. Louis Blues coach Emile Francis recently watched Shand skate through his team and marvelled. &ldquo;The kid has a lot of poise. He carries the puck really well. Even when he does make a mistake, he has the ability to recover.&ldquo;And he has that good right-handed shot that&rsquo;s hard to find,&rdquo; Francis said, referring to the phenomenon that most hockey players shoot left.Shand is aggressive, though at six-foot-two and just 185 pounds, he is no muscleman. &ldquo;I came to camp at 195,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But with all the traveling I don&rsquo;t get a chance to eat the proper food. I&rsquo;m always eating at waffle houses.&rdquo;In Shand and Mulhern, Fletcher feels he has two of the three best rookie defencemen in the league, the other being Washington&rsquo;s Rick Green.Mulhern and Shand are both valued for their ability to break out of their end. &ldquo;Davey drags the puck more than I do,&rdquo; Mulhern says. &ldquo;Both of us like to go up front. And we get caught up ice too much.&rdquo;They learned their puck-hogging tendencies in the Ontario Hockey Association, and Creighton is trying to modify those tendencies.<h2>NHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01759/4194877-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="611" height="945"></div> &#9632;

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Flames Prove Rookies Can Turn Team Around

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;Jim Schoenfeld came back, Danny Gare came back, coach Floyd Smith realigned his forwards, and the Buffalo Sabres began playing great hockey.Maybe it won&rsquo;t last, but for the first three games under the new set-up the Sabres looked like the Buffalo club of 1974-75 that went to the Stanley Cup finals.Smitty&rsquo;s skaters traveled to the West Coast and won two games, over Los Angeles, 4-2, and over Vancouver, 6-3, for four straight victories on the two western trips in the 1976 portion of the schedule. Then they returned home and thrashed the New York Rangers, 7-2.Going into the game, the Rangers had lost only once in their last 12 games. They had the best power play in the league. And their rookie phenom. Don Murdoch, had 25 goals in 32 starts.Murdoch didn&rsquo;t get a shot on goal. The New York power play didn&rsquo;t manage a shot on goalie Gerry Desjardins in its three opportunties when the Sabres were shorthanded.Gil Perreault staged a sensational show, finishing with two goals and an assist and controlling the puck when he was on the ice on regular shifts, the power play and killing penalties. Rick Martin, no longer Gil&rsquo;s left winger, scored his second hat trick of the season.Gare opened the scoring and added an assist for three goals and five assists in the four games he had played since returning from resting an ailing back. Schoenfeld, who gave Perreault a lead pass for a breakaway goal and played a fine defensive game, received the third star for the game. Perreault and Martin got one and two.The Rangers, who went into the game as the second-highest-scoring team in the National Hockey League, were outshot 15-3 in the first period when the Sabres built up a 3-0 lead. The Sabres put 13 straight shots on goal without the Rangers getting one.Perreault and Martin started slowly this season but their performances in the Ranger game gave them these figures:Martin&mdash;12 goals and five assists in his last 11 games.Parreault&mdash;16 goals and eight assists in his last 18 games. Each had at least one point in 16 of their last 18 games.Martin was taken off Perreault&rsquo;s line for the first time this season when the French Connection was broken up prior to the West Coast trip. Rick had played both left and right wing for Perreault.Coach Smith put another Martin, Terry, a rookie, on Perreault&rsquo;s left wing and had Gare on the right side.Rick Martin played left wing for Andre Savard, with Jim Lorentz on the right side. Rene Robert went to right wing with Don Luce and Craig Ramsay, with whom he had teamed when the Connection was broken up earlier.&ldquo;Every line now is a good mixture,&rdquo; Rick Martin pointed out. &ldquo;A scorer, a checker and a digger.&rdquo;Gare noted, &ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t so much pressure on one line. Everybody on each line complements each other.&rdquo;Added Martin, &ldquo;We have three balanced lines. But the big thing is &mdash; everybody is skating.&rdquo;ICE CHIPS: Desjardins started his 24th straight game when the Sabres played the Rangers. He set a club record when he started No. 22 in Los Angeles. Roger Crozier started 21 straight in 1971-72. Desi was the league-leading goalie with a 2.11 goals-against average going into the game. Only Michel Larocque of Montreal had a better average. 1.83, and he had played in only six games.The Sabres led the league in penalty-killing at the time of the three straight wins. After the Ranger game they had allowed only 12 power-play goals in 106 times shorthanded.Although they have not played together much since the 13th game of the season, Richard, Perreault and Robert still are the club&rsquo;s three top scorers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02643/4194908-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="566" height="1199"><figcaption class="caption-body">GILBERT PERREAULT &hellip; Turning It On</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-02

Streaking Sabres Playing Like The Good Old Days

Goalers are a lonely breed among hockey players. They rarely get a chance to grab the spotlight but this week there is no denying Gerry Desjardins of the Buffalo Sabres.The veteran netminder is the story behind the rise of the Sabres to first place in the NHL&rsquo;s Adams Division race. Desjardins has started and completed the last 29 games for the Sabres, lowering his goals-against average to 2.2 per game by allowing only 55 goals to get by him in Buffalo&rsquo;s past 25 starts.Desjardins, who came back to the NHL after a brief whirl in the WHA, has found new success with Buffalo. This year he has accounted for all 49 points the Sabres have acculumated, winning 23 games and tieing three others. With two shutouts to his credit, the portly Sabre goaler is No. 2 behind Michel Larocque of Montreal in GAA. Larocque is 1.89 and Desjardins 2.05. He is also the big reason Buffalo is back in the Vezina Trophy race.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04327/4194984-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="523" height="512"><figcaption class="caption-body">GERRY DESJARDINS &hellip; Buffalo Sabres</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-04

NHL’S… Player of the Week

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01742/4195015-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">IAN TURNBULL&hellip; Emerging As Defensive Star (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>TORONTO-Ian Turnbull&rsquo;s lot on hockey life has been to work in the shadows cast by two great players.In his concluding season of junior hockey with the Ottawa 67s, Turnbull shared a blueline with Denis Potvin, the most publicized&mdash;and best&mdash;junior of the era.When he moved into the National Hockey League with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Turnbull joined forces with Borje Salming, the solemn Swede who now is one of the best half dozen hockey players on the globe.This season, Salming is playing superbly, challenging Larry Robinson of the Montreal Canadiens for the spot as the NHL&rsquo;s highest scoring defenseman.But not even the gigantic silhouette cast by Salming can obliterate Turnbull&rsquo;s performance. Through the first 28 games of the &rsquo;76-77 schedule. Turnbull had produced an 8-23-31 point total and accumulated a plus-33, a splendid figure on a team which isn&rsquo;t one of the NHL&rsquo;s defensive leaders.And, at 23, Turnbull is one of the bright young stars who give the Leafs some sort of hope for the future. He always was a powerful attacker but this season, he&rsquo;s added defensive poise to his other skill. He&rsquo;s not exactly the stay-at-home, mind-the-store style of backliner. Turnbull is the thoroughly modern defenseman who can play it both ways.&ldquo;Ian has had, well, an impulse to wheel on the attack with the puck,&rdquo; said Leaf coach Red Kelly. &ldquo;Sometimes, he just did it too often. But this season, he&rsquo;s balancing that urge with poise in our zone.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d trade Salming and Turnbull for any other defense pair in the league. They&rsquo;re young (Salming is 25) and have so much talent.&rdquo;If working in the shadow of two great players bothers Turnbull, he hides it well.&ldquo;How many guys have the chance to play with two players who are as good as Salming and Potvin?&rdquo; he said.An independent young man. Turnbull has butted heads a few times with Kelly during his first three big league seasons. But that relationship has smoothed out considerably.Turnbull has assorted outside interests. He&rsquo;s studied music and is an accomplished guitarist. In fact, he says that being a pro musician is the lifestyle he&rsquo;d pick if he weren&rsquo;t playing hockey for a living. He purchased a vintage Rolls-Royce in England which he&rsquo;s having refurbished and. recently, he&rsquo;s helped some friends set up a restaurant in Toronto.&ldquo;The reason our team has had some success this year is the fact that we have a really good attitude among the players,&rdquo; Turnbull said. &ldquo;Personal accomplishments are great, of course, because the individual needs them but they mean nothing if the team isn&rsquo;t winning.&ldquo;But the players on a team spend an incredible amount of time together during a season. That&rsquo;s why I like to have friends from other areas of endeavor&mdash;to supply the change of pace you need in your life.&ldquo;My friends are working on the restaurant, for instance, which is much removed from the hockey world. It&rsquo;s been fun&mdash;and a good learning experience&mdash;to be involved in the various aspects of it&mdash;menu, licensing, decor and advertising &ldquo;.Salming and Turnbull have worked together from their first training camp. Kelly has tried them both with assorted other partners but always winds up with them together.&ldquo;We just seem to fit and now we don&rsquo;t do much planning about what we&rsquo;ll do on the ice,&rdquo; Turn-bull said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t even talk about it very often.&rdquo;NOTES: Leafs&rsquo; rookie goalie Mike Palmateer was expected to miss a week of action with an eye injury, sustained in a game against New York Rangers at Toronto. During a scramble in front of the Leaf net. the tip of the blade of the stick of Rangers Nick Fotiu entered the eye opening in Palmateer s mask, causing a small hemhorrage and blurry vision. &#9632;

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Leafs Turnbull Is Owner Of A Brilliant Plus-33

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01577/4195053-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"></div><h2>Where NHL Teams Play</h2><h2>The NHL Scoreboard</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01426/4195046-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="643" height="2141"></div> &#9632;

f0020-01

National League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY JACK McCARTHY</div>BOSTON&mdash;The Bruins, life and death to hold off Buffalo for the lead in the Adams Division of the NHL&rsquo;s Wales Conference, began showing some signs of coming out of a really bad slump that had them 0-4-1 and 2-9. And they were getting aid from some unexpected places.Terry O&rsquo;Reilly of course, is not what you would call unexpected, but breaking a drought that had him scoreless in 19 games was more like it. Hank Nowak, who had been idled with a deep bruise and had played in only 19 of 33 games, returned with two goals and two assists as the Bruins belted Pittsburgh; And, Earl Anderson, idled much of last year after an operation for calcium deposits, returned from a stint in Rochester to score a goal against the Penguins, and stake a claim on a steady job.Anderson, a right winger, out of the University of North Dakota, was sent to Rochester to play himself into shape. He was 19-14-33 in 32 games with Rochester, and when Bobby Schmautz was hit in his bad knee again and also picked up the flu, Anderson returned.Said GM Harry Sinden, &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t too keen about sending Earl out in the first place, but we felt he needed the work.&rsquo;&rsquo; Caoch Don Cherry said of Anderson: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s smart and he really moves. Notice how he&rsquo;s in on top of the defensemen, forechecking.&rdquo;Forechecking was one of the deficiencies, alongside a sputtering power play, which had led the Bruins into their valley in the first place. Play became hesitant instead of natural, and all sorts of foul-ups were resulting.Cherry told his lads to stop freezing the puck so much and to keep it moving. He also installed a new forechecking system, and it helped the Bruins to wins over St. Louis and Pittsburgh.Still to come, however, in the opinion of many, was some action on the trade market by Sinden, although he said that many clubs will not even talk to him about the subject.And, as the Bruins embarked on a long road trip with the Ice Capades coming into Boston Garden, there was also speculation about how long Cherry would stick with his goaltender rotation plans, as Gilles Gilbert was not playing as well as he should. Cherry would not say if he was changing or not. Time will tell.Cherry was also tinkering with the defense, which has been suspect, and hurt, since training camp. Darryl Edestrand, who appeared to be in the dog-house permanently and rumored as trade-bait all along, was dressed for several games, and did all right when he was out there. Darryl is a hitter and a rusher.Cherry has taken to sitting down defensemen who were not playing well in a couple of games, and then inserting them back into the lineup when another faltered. All except wheelhorse Brad Park, this is. Dallas Smith sat out, and then returned while Mike Milbury rode the pine. Anything to shake the staggers.O&rsquo;Reilly, meanwhile, was doing everything to shake his scoring slump, although there was no question of taking him out of the lineup, due to his aggressive, hustling, banging play.Said Terry after finally scoring two goals against the Blues: &ldquo;Yes. I&rsquo;ve tried a different stick-several. I tried a different model, a different lie, and I even ate lasagna for supper before the game. This may cut down considerably on the steak consumption around here.&rsquo;&rsquo;Terry almost won a moist smooch, also. Said Cherry: &ldquo;When he scored his second goal against St. Louis. I could have kissed him.&ldquo;He came to me and asked if I was discouraged about his play. I told him I wasn&rsquo;t and to just keep on doing what he was doing.&rdquo;Said Terry: &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t discouraged when the team was playing well, but once we started to lose, I got a little down&mdash;especially over the last couple of weeks.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02278/4195084-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="570" height="943"><figcaption class="caption-body">TERRY O&rsquo;REILLY &hellip; Lasagna Diet</figcaption></div>That is apparently over and now the only concern is whether O&rsquo;Reilly will put on weight with the lasagna diet.BOSTON BEANS: To show what Park means to Boston on defense, take these figures&mdash;against Pittsburgh he was on the ice for 34 minutes and 51 seconds, and the statisticians say that Bobby Orr, at his peak, wasn&rsquo;t out for that many minutes, although it seemed like 60 some nights&hellip;By periods, Park went&mdash;11:07; 12:21 and 11:23. Whew.Bruins power play was still sagging, with only five goals in 33 chances, while, on the other hand, the Boston penalty-killing ranked right up there over the same stretch&hellip; &#9632;

f0021-02

Unexpected Sources Help Bruins Put Halt To Skid

MONTREAL-It&rsquo;s taken them almost half the season to accomplish, but Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; relentless pursuit and consistent play has finally carried them past the Boston Bruins and into the Adams Division lead of the National Hockey League race.Boston seized the lead in the first week of the schedule while Buffalo entrenched itself in second a week later, a position it held for the next 12 weeks, or until Dec. 23 when Sabres at last pulled ahead of the Bruins with a 4-2 victory over Toronto.Illustrating Sabres&rsquo; consistency are the following facts: they have lost only one of their last 15 games at home (a 2-1 decision versus Pittsburgh. Dec. 9) while winning 11 and tying three: they have lost just two of their last 12 road games, winning the other 10; they have the best penalty-killing record in the league, having given up only 13 power-play goals during 125 times shorthanded. Five of those goals were allowed in Buffalo&rsquo;s first three games. That means Sabres have given up only eight in their last 31 games. Their most recent penalty-killing performance has seen them completely shut off opposition power-plays in their last five games.The individual most instrumental in Buffalo&rsquo;s surge has to be goaltender Gerry Desjardins. He has started and completed Sabres&rsquo; last 29 games while being relieved for 18 minutes by Al Smith 26 games ago. Over the past 25 games Desjardins has given up 55 goals, an average of 2.2 per game and the major reason Sabres are vying for Vezina Trophy honours with Montreal Canadiens. Canadiens currently lead Buffalo by .15 goals per game, 2.17 to 2.32. Desjardins has figured in every one of Sabres&rsquo; 49 points, having won 23 games (the most by any goalie), and tied three. His over-all average of 2.05 is second among individuals to Montreal&rsquo;s Michel Larocque who leads with 1.89. Desjardins, who has not allowed more than three goals against in any of his last 15 games and not more than two in his last six, also has two shutouts.Sabres have two players among the leading scorers. Center Gilbert Perreault has 20 goals and 24 assists for 44 points and shares sixth place while left winger Rick Martin has 22 goals, 21 assists and 43 points, good for eighth position. It&rsquo;s the sixth time in seven seasons that Perreault has reached the 20-goal plateau. He would surely have reached it in the other season (1973-74) also had he not missed 23 games with a broken leg. He finished with 18 goals that season. For Martin, it is his sixth consecutive season with more than 20 goals; in fact he has never finished with fewer than 37.Meanwhile, Guy Lafleur of Montreal maintained his lead atop the scoring parade with 55 points, five more than Marcel Dionne of Los Angeles with 50.Tied for third with 49 points apiece are Rod Gilbert of New York Rangers and Darryl Sittler of Toronto. Steve Shutt of Canadiens is fifth with 48 points and still leads in goals with 29 despite going scoreless for the last four games. Toronto defenseman Borje Salming. 10th in scoring with 42 points, leads in assists with 37. His personal high was 41 in 78 games last season.Elsewhere, veteran John Bucyk of Boston moved into fourth place in the NHL s all-time goal-scoring list when he scored his 545th during Bruins&rsquo; 6-3 win over Cleveland. The three players ahead of him are Gordie Howe (786), Bobby Hull (604) and Phil Esposito (578). &#9632;

Streaking Sabres Overhaul Bruins For First

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE BILYCH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01463/4195146-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">RUSTY PATENAUDE&hellip; Trade Rumors Persist</figcaption></div>CALGARY-A year ago Joe Crozier was being hailed as a magician of sort as he steered the Calgary Cowboys to a strong third-place finish in the Canadian Division before springing the surprise of the playoffs in eliminating the Quebec Nordiques in the semi-finals.Most pre-season pollsters had predicted the Cowboys would be locked with the Edmonton Oilers in a battle for last place. But Crozier, through a series of shrewd trades and late-season player acquisitions, managed to surprise most of the experts.Nine months later, things have changed drastically for Crozier and the Cowboys. With the club wallowing in the Western Division basement through most of the opening two months, Crozier has promised a shake-up of personnel.That was three weeks ago. Since then, nothing has happened.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried, Lord knows how I&rsquo;ve tried,&rdquo; said Crozier in one of his happier moments after the Cowboys had dropped the Quebec Nordiques 4-2 at the Calgary Corral. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s a general manager in hockey I haven&rsquo;t contacted in the past couple of weeks. Most of them seem eager to talk but we haven&rsquo;t been able to put anything together. When you&rsquo;re losing all the time there doesn&rsquo;t seem to be anybody willing to help you.&rdquo;Crozier feels he has several marketable players amongst his Cowboys but he adds, &ldquo;Anytime we talk trade it appears that all they want to do is pick my bones.&rdquo;So Crozier has embarked on another tact. He dipped into his Tidewater (Southern League) farm, bringing up goaltender Ed Mio and wingers Doug Lindskog and Jim Mayer.&ldquo;We are in the midst of important times right now,&rdquo; suggests Crozier. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t afford to fool around any longer. We have games in hand over Phoenix and Edmonton but we have to start marking tracks. I suppose if we can get our heads up above water, possibly some of these other clubs will want to talk to us again.&rdquo;Crozier feels all three of his minor league chattels hold considerable promise. Mio drew All-American acclaim last season and was a stick-out in pre-season play at the Cowboys&rsquo; camp.&ldquo;The only reason he wound up in the minors was so he could get the opportunity to play regularly,&rdquo; stated Crozier. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be an excellent pro someday. My reports on Lindskog and Mayer indicate they&rsquo;ve been making good progress, too. Our future rests with the development of these kids.&rdquo;EDMONTON: Coach Bep Guidolin has transformed the Oilers into the surprise package of the WHA. The team that couldn&rsquo;t win for losing in the opening weeks has suddenly solidified and was solidly entrenched in fourth place as the teams headed for the Christmas break.The Oilers have been doing it mostly with veterans and with a defense that Edmontonians believe could be the strongest unit in the league. Their newest acquisition, Bill (Cowboy) Flett, scored twice in his first start and then provided the goal in a 1-0 victory in Phoenix in the game that gave the Oilers fourth place.Guidolin reduced the Edmonton roster to 21 with the sale of defenseman Dennis Patterson and forward Butch Williams to Providence of the American League. Patterson played for Guidolin last season in Kansas City but had seen only spot duty with the Oilers. Williams, a member of Team USA in Canada Cup play in September, also had been used sparingly. Rumors continue to persist that Rusty Patenaude, one of the few remaining Oilers&rsquo; originals, was on the trade block as well.WINNIPEG: The Jets, who were having their troubles in Moscow while trying to keep their heads up in the Izvestia tournament, saw their problems compounded when San Diego finally displaced them at the head of the Western Division. It was the first time the Jets had been anywhere but in first place since midway through last season.With only a tie against Sweden to show in their first three games in Moscow, it appeared the best the Jets could hope for was a fourth-place finish ahead of Finland. And they needed a win against the Finns in their final start to accomplish that.Coach Bobby Kromm was decrying that his Jets were less than hungry in the one-goal loss to Czechoslovakia and the come-from-behind tie with the Swedes. Undoubtedly there will be a lot of soul-searching among North American pros concerning the merits of sending anything less than an All Star combination in future hockey commitments abroad.<h2>WHA Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02363/4195139-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="587" height="932"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

Teams Unwilling To Make Deals With Cowboys

Real Cloutier has been in something of a scoring slump in the past three or four games but he broke out of it with a flourish and the Winnipeg Jets wished he hadn&rsquo;t.The fast-skating Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; right winger blasted three goals and helped set up four others for a seven-point performance to spark the Nords as they bombed the Jets 12-3 on their North American return from the Moscow Izvestia Tournament.Cloutier figured in five of Quebec&rsquo;s first period goals and ended up counting three times to become the WHA&rsquo;s second 30-goal scorer this season. The seven-point splurge at the expense of the travel-weary Jets allowed Cloutier to take over the individual WHA scoring lead from Winnipeg&rsquo;s Anders Hedberg, who had been out of the country all week. Cloutier has 63 points to lead Hedberg by three.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03295/4195177-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="526" height="660"><figcaption class="caption-body">REAL CLOUTIER &hellip; Quebec Nordiques.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-03

WHA’S… Player of the Week

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02333/4195222-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc Tardif, left, and hot scoring Real Cloutier of the Quebec Nordiques are among the Eastern starters for the WHA All Star game Jan. 18 at Hartford.</figcaption></div>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;The Indianapolis Racers put the frosting on the cake for the rest of the World Hockey Association in their series with touring Czechoslovakian team and while the margin of victory was small, it nevertheless augered well for the WHA in their quest for world hockey recognition.The Racers turned back the Czechs 3-2 in Indianapolis in the sixth and windup game of the European team&rsquo;s tour through the WHA cities and only a clean-cut victory in this one kept the Czechs from going home with a series split. The New England Whalers had faltered two nights earlier 4-1 to enable the Czechs to close to the gap to 3-2 in the series before the teams went to Indianapolis to conclude the six-game affair.The WHA had posted wins through Winnipeg 6-5 in the series opener and Edmonton 5-4 before the Czechs got untracked in game three at the expense of the Calgary Cowboys 5-4. But then the Minnesota Fighting Saints took the Czechs over the coals at St. Paul 3-2 on an overtime-period goal by Mike Antonovich. But the Czechs, who were outscored only 2322 by the WHA teams, fought back and won easily over the Whalers.The Racers had to pull out all stops to win the sixth game over the Czechs as Hugh Harris and Rosaire Paiement, with a pair of third period goals, provided Indianapolis with its margin of victory.While the WHA fared well on the home front, the Winnipeg Jets limped back from Moscow with a win and a tie in four starts in the Izvestia Cup Tournament. The Soviet Union, with a perfect 4-0 record, won it all for the eighth time with Winnipeg finishing fourth behind the Soviets, Czechs and Swedes. The Soviet team beat the Jets 6-4 in their only meeting with the Jets scoring their only victory over the winless Finns, 2-1, on the last day.Meanwhile, the WHA announced its two division All Star teams and it wasn&rsquo;t surprising that the Quebec Nordiques will provide the scoring power with the naming of Marc Tardif, Real Cloutier and Serge Bernier as a line to head the Eastern Division team.The three Quebec players, who had scored 81 goals up to Dec. 26, were among the first 12 players chosen for the East squad in a vote by reporters covering the league. Remaining players on the team for game Jan. 18 in Hartford, will be selected later by coach Jacques Demers of Indianapolis Racers, who was chosen to lead the Eastern squad.The first 12 on the West team were announced earlier. The remaining players will be picked by Bob Kromm of Winnipeg Jets.Right winger Cloutier has scored 30 goals. Tardif, on the left, has scored 24 goals, and Bernier accounted for another 27 at centre.Joining the Quebec line on the team are defensemen Ron Plumb of Cincinnati and Pat Stapleton of Indianapolis and goalie Lou Levasseur of Minnesota.The second East team has goalie John Garrett of Birmingham, defensemen J.C. Tremblay of Quebec and Rick Ley of New England, left winger Hugh Harris of Indianapolis, center Rich Leduc of Cincinnati and right wing Mark Napier of Birmingham.The Western Division first team has Mark Howe at left wing with center Ulf Nilsson and right wing Anders Hedberg. both of Winnipeg. On defense are Paul Shmyr of San Diego and Lars-Erik Sjoberg of Winnipeg, with Wayne Rutledge of Houston in goal.The Western second team has Winnipeg&rsquo;s Joe Daley in goal, Houston&rsquo;s Paul Popiel and San Diego&rsquo;s Kevin Morrison on defense, Del Hall of Phoenix on left wing, Robbie Ftorek of Phoenix at center and Willy Lindstrom of Winnipeg on right wing.<h2>How WHA Teams Did</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01439/4195215-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="595" height="2489"></div><h2>WHA-Czech Summaries</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03247/4195208-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="1237" height="773"></div> &#9632;

f0023-02

WHA Completes Domination Of Czechs; Nordiques’ Hot Line Heads All Stars

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01453/4195260-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="952" height="772"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02360/4195253-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="2440" height="3172"></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

WHA SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03251/4195291-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="575" height="963"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERNIE WAKELY &hellip;Eyeing Goalie Lead</figcaption></div>SAN DIEGO&mdash;Ernie Wakely entered the World Hockey Association record books and the San Diego Mariners took over first place in the Western Divison with a 3-0 victory over Edmonton.The shutout was Wakely&rsquo;s third of the season and the 14th of his WHA career, tying him for the lead with departed Gerry Cheevers.The Mariner goaltender blocked just 11 shots by Edmonton, tying a WHA record set by Indianapolis against Phoenix in 1975. He reduced his goals against average to 2.56, creeping up on leader Wayne Rutledge of Houston, 2.41.Joe Noris scored on both the power play and while killing a penalty against Edmonton in front of a crowd of 6.503 on what was billed as &ldquo;Kip Hayes Night.&rdquo;The Mariners donated $1 from every ticket sold to help defray the medical expenses of the injured high school football player. The Mariners, now unbeaten in a record 11 consecutive home-ice appearances, figure to improve on their 18-12-2 record with five of their next six games coming in front of the friendly home folks.Two nights earlier, Noris and Don Burgess had scored two goals apiece to whip the Oilers 6-1 in Edmonton.That followed a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Fighting Saints in St. Paul and a 3-2 loss to the Racers in Indianapolis.Pete McNamee, freshly signed from Tidewater of the Southern League, and defenseman Paul Shmyr scored third-period goals in the Saints second loss in 10 games.The Racers&rsquo; victory was their sixth straight but their first in 14 tries against Wakely. There have been 13 ties in the 13-game winless streak against the Mariner netminder. &#9632;

f0024-03

Wakely Guides Mariners To Top

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNELL</div>PHOENIX&mdash;&ldquo;To get something of quality, you have to give up quality and we gave up two good players, Al McLeod, our captain and a dependable defenseman, and John Gray,&rdquo; said Phoenix Roadrunners coach Al Rollins.The &ldquo;quality&rdquo; the Roadrunners received Rollins termed &ldquo;two-thirds of one of the best lines in World Hockey Association history.&rdquo;Andre Hinse, 31. and Frank Hughes, 27, returned to Phoenix where they first formed the Go Go Line in 1969 with the Roadrunners in the old Western Hockey League.&ldquo;We had to find more scoring punch to get the pressure off Robbie Ftorek and Del Hall, our only consistent scorers.&rdquo; said Rollins.The Houston Aeros also obtained minor league right wing Neil Lyseng.President Brian O&rsquo;Neill, who rides herd on the Phoenix player budget, called the deal &ldquo;a wash&rdquo; with the three-for-two almost cancelling out in salaries. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a difference of $2,000.&rdquo;The Aeros&rsquo; agreement to resume responsibility on the two remaining years of Hughes&rsquo; and Hinse&rsquo;s contracts, should there be no franchise in, Phoenix after this season, finalized the deal.All Roadrunner players agreed at the season&rsquo;s outset to having salaries stretched over a 12-month period and chairman of the board Karl Eller gave each a personal written guarantee of the money.Rollins planned to team Hughes and Hinse with center Tom Huston, who he said, &ldquo;plays the same style as Lund.&rdquo;Rollins added he would bring defenseman Duane Bray up from Oklahoma City to replace McLeod, but probably not until after Christmas. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to move a forward out to bring him in.&rdquo;Hughes and Hinse, off to a slow, injury-hampered start, had combined for only five goals this season, but Rollins looked over that to their track records.Hughes was Houston&rsquo;s all-time WHA scoring leader with 144 goals in four seasons with a high of 48 in 1974-75 and was second by one playoff goal to Mark Howe&rsquo;s total of 24.The flashy right wing with the booming shot should help the Roadrunners&rsquo; anemic power play. He was Houston&rsquo;s all-time leader with 44 in four seasons and holds the team&rsquo;s single season record of 15.Hinse, who remained with the WHL Roadrunners for one season after Lund and Hughes had left to become Aero originals, scored 98 goals in three seasons at Houston.He was runnerup as most valuable player in the 1975 All Star game at Edmonton, scoring two goals for the winning West. He also shares the WHA record of five goals in a single game.Hinse, a sturdy five-foot nine, 175 pounds, has been described by opposition goaltenders as the worst pest in the league in front of the net and his Willingness to dig the puck out of the corners stated many of the Go Go Line&rsquo;s scoring plays.Gray, 27, had scored 35 goals in each of the Runners&rsquo; two seasons in the WHA and had 10 this season, although twice knocked out of the lineup with a virus. His weight dropped from 185 to 176.&ldquo;That may be a help,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I play better at 179, anyway.l&rsquo;ve been prepared to move,&rdquo; admitted Gray. &ldquo;I had been negotiating with a National League team in case this team folded.&ldquo;If I have to go. Houston has a good climate, a good organization and a good future.&ldquo;I think the thing Phoenix will miss is Al&rsquo;s leadership.&rdquo;Team president Brian O&rsquo;Neill agrees.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re giving up a great team captain and leader,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good man and I wish him a lot of luck. This is the tough part of this business.&rdquo;Rollins said he did not plan to name another captain immediately and may add another alternate instead. Ftorek is an alternate and the team&rsquo;s unofficial leader.&rsquo;Tve been going around in a daze,&rdquo; said McLeod. l&rsquo;ve never been traded before. I don&rsquo;t know what to think except I&rsquo;ve been talking to Bill Dineen (Houston coach and general manager) and he says he wants me. They&rsquo;ve only got four defensemen playing now.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not bitter about it. This is a super town and everybody&rsquo;s been good about it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01389/4195322-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="582" height="750"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDRE HINSE &hellip; Slow Start</figcaption></div>Meanwhile, Liddington, obtained in a pre-season trade from Houston, broke out of a 17-game scoring slump with a pair of goals as the Roadrunners outlasted the Birmingham Bulls to end an eight-game losing streak.Juhani Tamminen also halted a 14-game scoreless streak and goaltender Gary Kurt made his second start in 19 games for his first victory since Oct. 24.The game wasn&rsquo;t as close as the final score with Tim Sheehy and Jim Turkiewicz scoring late goals on long shots against Kurt, who admitted he was exhausted from the lack of work and practice. &#9632;

f0025-01

Hinse, Hughes Return To Phoenix

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01403/4195353-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"></div><h2>Where WHA Teams Play The WHA Scoreboard &#9632;</h2>

f0026-01

World Hockey Association Summaries

<div class="byline">BY CHARLEY HALLMAN</div>ST. PAUL&mdash;Ray McKay knows about hockey&rsquo;s &ldquo;revolving door.&rdquo;In fact, the Minnesota Fighting Saints&rsquo; defenseman knows about the &ldquo;revolving door&rdquo; as well as anyone&mdash;at the age of 30. McKay has played with six different major league teams and countless others in the minors.Despite his frequent arrivals and departures, McKay is always wellknown in the places he plays. He&rsquo;s hard to miss-until Pete McNab&rsquo;s brother Dave (who&rsquo;s currently at the University of Wisconsin) arrives in the majors, McKay and Peter Mahovlich of Montreal are said to be the tallest players in hockey at six-foot-five. (Dave McNab, a goalie, is nearly six-foot-eight).Who&rsquo;s bigger. Mahovlich or McKay? McKay doesn&rsquo;t know&mdash;but Saints&rsquo; trainer Glenn Gostick thinks Ray may be an inch or so taller than Mahovlich.&ldquo;He tries to disguise just how tall he really is,&rdquo; Gostick says of McKay. Listed as being six-foot-four in most hockey guides. McKay is nearly six-foot-six.Any wonder Jack Norris, the ex-goaltender, once hung the nickname of &ldquo;Spider&rdquo; on McKay&mdash;the nickname, by the way, has followed McKay everywhere.Fighting Saints&rsquo; fans have begun calling McKay &ldquo;Spiderman&rdquo; because of his unbelievably-long reach. McKay is off to one of his best starts as a pro and is using that reach this season to excellent advantage.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know what to expect when I came to the Saints this fall.&rsquo;&rsquo; McKay said recently. &ldquo;I was optimistic. I figured I&rsquo;d give it my best shot. Last year in Cleveland. I didn&rsquo;t play very much until the last month of the season when Paul Shmyr was hurt&mdash;then I played very well.&rsquo;&rsquo;That McKay comments on his &ldquo;playing very well&rdquo; is a bit surprising&mdash;but that goes back to his being involved in the &ldquo;revolving door.&rdquo; McKay has set himself up as a one-man jury to decide on his abilities " from day to day.&ldquo;I know when I&rsquo;m playing well or not so well,&rdquo; said McKay. &ldquo;No one has to tell me. Unless I get a lot of ice time, I don&rsquo;t play well. And that doesn&rsquo;t apply to just me&mdash;I think that&rsquo;s true of everyone.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to sit on the bench because when you sit down for a period or two, you&rsquo;re cold&mdash;it&rsquo;s hard to get into the game if you do start playing.&rsquo;&rsquo;In the National Hockey League, McKay played for Chicago, Buffalo and California. He enjoyed his turn in Buffalo the best. California? Ray describes the Seals of 1973-74 as being &ldquo;one of the all-time worst teams. Every time we played that season there was no question of winning&mdash;it was how bad would we lose that night. The attitude of management and players was terrible.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s why the WHA came into McKay&rsquo;s life. Faced with another year in California, Ray opted for greener pastures with Edmonton.&ldquo;I think I played as well as I ever have that year in Edmonton,&rdquo; said McKay, who was the Eddie Shore award winner in the AHL in 1972-73 when he played for the title-winning swords. &ldquo;We had a good team with the Oilers until Bill Hunter (then president and general manager) fired our coach. Brian Shaw, near the end of the season. I had played for Shaw in both juvenile and junior and Hunter sort of resented that so before the next season began, he told me I was going to sit or be traded.&rdquo;McKay liked Edmonton and had a no-trade clause but didn&rsquo;t want to sit on the bench. Thus, he went to Cleveland. And with the demise of the Crusaders&rsquo; franchise, he became a member of the Saints.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been following McKay since that year in Cincinnati,&rdquo; said Minnesota general manager-coach Glen Sonmor. &ldquo;I was impressed with him then and had tried to get him from Edmonton when Hunter made him available.&ldquo;When the Spider has confidence, he plays this game extremely well,&rdquo; Sonmor adds. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s done a heckuva job for us. He takes command on the ice.&rdquo;Says McKay, &ldquo;People have to realize I&rsquo;m not much of a hitter. I&rsquo;m also not a finesse player. I consider myself a very defensive-minded player. I can stop the other team from scoring by taking the puck away in our zone. My experience helps me out.and so does the ability to anticipate.&rdquo;About the Saints, McKay says, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re proving we have the ability to play with the best teams in our league. Were kind of underdogs and we&rsquo;re proving something to everyone.&rdquo;One thing McKay would like to clarify. He&rsquo;s not a vegetarian as some have reported. &ldquo;If I didn&rsquo;t eat meat. I&rsquo;d weigh about 150 pounds,&rdquo; Ray laughs. &ldquo;As it is, I find it hard keeping my weight above 190.&rdquo;NEW ENGLAND WHALERS: Coach Harry Neale lashed out at his players&rsquo; lack of courage after a recent loss to the Saints, saying bravery &ldquo;was something this hockey team has always lacked since it was born five years ago.&rdquo;To shore up the Whalers&rsquo; courage, Neale got general manager Ron Ryan to obtain toughie Dale Smed smo, the Roseau. Minn., native from the Cincinnati Stingers.One player Neale has to be pleased with, however, is Alan Hangsleben, another Minnesota native, Hangsleben comes from Warroad, about 30 miles from Roseau in the state&rsquo;s northwest corner. Hangsleben has been playing with abandon and Neale says. &ldquo;If Alan can improve the accuracy of his shots, he&rsquo;ll turn out to be a 30-goal scorer for us.&rdquo;QUEBEC NORDIQUES: Paul Baxter has returned to the club and immediately scored a goal to lift the Nordiques to a victory. The former Winnipeg underage star has been having a hard time earning a regular spot with the talented Quebecers.Real Cloutier continues to have an unbelievable season and could surpass Bobby Hull s record total of 77 goals if he continues at his present pace&mdash;as could Hull&rsquo;s teammate Anders Hedberg of the Winnipeg Jets.Andre Boudrias isn&rsquo;t seeing much action for the Quebecers after an early-season row with coach Marc Boileau.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01382/4195384-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="588" height="894"><figcaption class="caption-body">RAY McKAY &hellip;One-Man Jury</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

McKay Takes Advantage Of Height; Neale Says Whalers Lack Bravery

<div class="byline">BY GREG NOBLE</div>CINCINNATI&mdash;The trade winds were blowing around the Stingers. A deal or two seemed to be in the offing.&ldquo;Were not going to sit back like last year,&rdquo; coach Terry Slater vowed. Slater indicated the club might be inclined to barter a forward or two for a defenceman or a goaltender. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of offensive firepower. What we might need is something defensive-minded,&rdquo; he said.The Stingers did not make any beneficial trades during the season last year and thus ended up out of the playoffs. The other Eastern Division teams all made deals or acquired top-notch players from the two teams that folded, Minnesota and Denver-Ottawa.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got some untouchables on this club, but not as many as the players think,&rdquo; Slater said. &ldquo;Guys on this club can&rsquo;t afford to get complacent.&rdquo;Two notable Stingers mentioned in trade speculation were Jacques Locas and Pierre Guite.Norm Lapointe, the club&rsquo;s 21-year-old goaltender, tied a WHA record by posting two straight shutouts. He followed an 8-0 victory over Phoenix with a 5-0 decision over Minnesota. &ldquo;I want to say thank you to my defence,&rdquo; he said after tying the mark. &ldquo;Everybody worked really hard. That&rsquo;s why we have two straight shutouts.&rdquo;Lapointe has made a big difference in the club&rsquo;s success this season, Slater noted. &ldquo;There are maybe five times a game when you need a big save, like against Minnesota when we&rsquo;re up 2-0 and Antonovich blasts one. If he scores Slater says, &ldquo;they&rsquo;re back in the game. Norm has been coming up with the big saves. That&rsquo;s something we didn&rsquo;t do last year.&rdquo; Lapointe lowered his GAA to 2.89 before losing the following game at Minnesota 4-3.The Stingers dropped their second straight road game at Edmonton 4-2. Although 13-2 at Riverfront Coliseum, the Stingers were 4-10-2 on the road. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worried yet about our road record,&rdquo; Slater said. &ldquo;Right now. But I see that pattern breaking up. The good teams are going to start winning at home and on the road.&rdquo;INDIANAPOLIS: Coach Jacques Demers was named to direct the Eastern Division team in the WHA All Star game Jan. 18 at Hartford, Conn. Just 33 years old, Demers is the youngest coach in major league hockey and one of the most successful. After building a division champion out of a last-place club last year, Demers led the Racers on an incredible streak this season that included 14 victories in 17 games. Indy threatened to move past Quebec into first place. The Racers, with three games in hand, trailed by the Nordiques by just one point.Demers&rsquo; club dominated the other teams in the division, winning 14 of 19 games against their rivals. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the four-point games that determine where you finish in the standings,&rdquo; Demers noted. &ldquo;Fall on your backsides there and you fall out of the league.&rdquo;Hugh Harris, a four-year veteran, is surely headed for his finest major league season. Harris&rsquo; previous season high for goals was 24, but the Racers&rsquo; captain had 17 after just 30 games.The Racers stayed unbeaten in overtime games with back-to-back sudden death victories over New England 6-5 and Birmingham 3-2. Al Karlander supplied the winning goal against the Bulls. Indy was 4-0-2 in overtime contests.BIRMINGHAM: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re that far from turning it around,&rdquo; coach Pat Kelly said after the Bulls completed a grueling six-game road trip. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got our goals-against average down. Our goals-for is about the same. But we&rsquo;ve got to start winning one-goal games.&ldquo;We seem to be stuck in the habit of losing those games,&rdquo; said Kelly.Remarkably, the Bulls, 15 games under .500, had lost 18 games by one goal. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting to be like a disease. If we could win a few by one goal we might break it.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve lost seven of eight games in overtime. If there&rsquo;s no overtime,&rdquo; he noted, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve got seven ties instead of seven losses. Then we don&rsquo;t have too bad a record.&ldquo;We need some size. We don&rsquo;t have a big team compared to other clubs in the league,&rdquo; said Kelly. &ldquo;To win hockey games you&rsquo;ve got to take the man in your end. You&rsquo;re not going to win many games stick checking.&rdquo;The Bulls picked up victories in the unlikeliest places, Houston and Winnipeg. They were the first club to defeat the Aeros on their home ice this season. &ldquo;I thought we should have come home 3-3, but we lost in overtime at Indianapolis,&rdquo; Kelly said. The Bulls played three games in different cities within 51 hours, the final game being the one at Indy.Kelly was especially pleased by the play of the club&rsquo;s newest additions. Tim Sheehy and John C. Stewart. &ldquo;Sheehy has made our right side strong and Stewart has made the Napier and Henderson line go,&rdquo; he said.Jeff Jacques scored four goals in the next few games after his No. 25 jersey was stolen. He switched to his old junior No. 10 and it seemed to pay off.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03206/4195436-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="584" height="792"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACQUE SLOCAS &hellip; On The Block?</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04160/4195429-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="576" height="586"><figcaption class="caption-body">HUGHHARRIS&hellip; Best Year Ever</figcaption></div><h2>Looking At WHA Goalers</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01368/4195422-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="660" height="3938"></div><h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02269/4195415-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="588" height="631"></div> &#9632;

f0028-03

Trade Winds Blowing For Stingers

SPRINGFIELD&mdash;The Springfield Indians, whos fortunes on the ice have not been as bright as their box office statements, showed some definite signs of putting it all together following back-to-back wins last weekend.The week started out like most other weeks for the Indians who have been cellar dwelling most of the season. Wins on the road have been hard to come by and this week started out the same for coach John Hanna s charges, losing by decisive scores at Hershey and ProvidenceOn Saturday, the Tribe returned to the friendly surroundings of the Eastern States Coliseum in West Springfield and they went on the war path against the same Rhode Island team, handling them easily in an 8-4 victory. The following night the Indians were back on the road and it was off to New Haven once again. This marked the 10th meeting of these Turnpike rivals and based on past performances, most Indians fans were thinking of two more points down the drain.But, the Indians showed the same enthusiasm in New Haven as they had the night before at home and turned the tables on the Hawks in a very satisfying 53 victory. Oddly enough that victory, only the first for Springfield, in New Haven, evened the year&rsquo;s record between the two clubs at five games apiece. Obviously, it had been a home-and-home series before this encounter.Armed with these back-to-back wins, which is only the third time this season that the Indians have been able to put i. two wins together, there was a renewed feeling of optimism around the Coliseum on MondayOffensively the Indians have been counting heavily on former Richmond players Andre Peloffy. Bob Ritchie. Steve Coates. Alex Forsyth and John Paddock.Peloffy is currently wrestling with Rochester&rsquo;s Doug Gibson and Gordie Clark for the league lead in scoring points and in goals as well. His current total of 22 goals ties him with Clark in that catagory and his total of 41 points leaves him third overall, five points off Clark&rsquo;s second-place pace. Gibson continued to lead the league for the sixth consecutive week.Peloffy has been teamed with his former Richmond mates Paddock and Ritchie, forming the Indians number one line. But their position as number one is being challenged by the line of Pete Laframboise. Brian Kinsella and Steve Coates. It would be very difficult to point to any one thing that has made the Indians turn around completely but the addition of Bart Crashley from Fort Worth, the signing of Mike McMahon and Laframboise along with the return of Jean Lemieux and the stellar goaltending of big Grant Cole have played a key role in the recent good fortunes of the Indians.NOVA SCOTIA: The Vees were faced with their toughest schedule last week with four games on tap. all on the road. Once again the defending Calder Cup champions proved why they are still on top gaining a split in the four games. A 21 squeeker at Providence in overtime set the Vees off on the right track on Tuesday. At New Haven the Vees fell to the Hawks in a wild one that saw a total 143 minutes in penalties called as the Hawks came away with a 6-2 win.The Vees recouped for a 5-2 win over the Bears at Hershey on Saturday and put up a valiant effort before losing the following night at Rochester. Rookie Rod Schutt has certainly regained his scoring touch. Last week Schutt scored in four of the Vees games, two of which were game winners, and collected a total of six points on the week moving him into sixth place among the top 10.Schutt made a real strong start early in the season and was among the top 10 scorers before falling off a bit late in November and early December. Pat Hughes also contributed to the offense again last week as he picked up three points.NEW HAVEN: The Nighthawks continue to dominate the scoring and goaltending statistics but have not yet been able to overcome the Vees which is of course their primary target. The Hawks have never been more than four points behind the Vees for the past few weeks and the two clubs have two games in Halifax coming up.Offensively the Hawks continue to dominate the leading scorer, this week with four players in the top 10 and six on the top 20. Blake Dunlop is the team leader with 36 points. That was good enough for fifth place in the top 10. Tom Colley. Jerry Byers. Eddie Johnstone, and Dale Lewis are also among the leading scorers. Paul Harrison remained the league leading goaler with a 2 42 average.ROCHESTER: Doug Gibson and Gordie Clark continue their personal see-saw battle for the league lead in scoring. Gibson managed to maintain his slim lead over his linemate with a total of 48 points. Clark had 46 at the same counting. The two combined for a total of 12 points in three games last week.While Gibson and Clark have been gathering in most of the glory, teammates Ron Garwasiuk. Earl Anderson and Rick Adduono have also been chipping in with some timely points. Clayton Pachal and Rene Drolet have also been a big help to the Amerks who. with a big win over the Vees last Sunday, moved into a second-place tie with New Haven.Dave Reece recorded his first shutout, blanking Hershey, 3-0.RHODE ISLAND: Coach John Muckier&rsquo;s charges grabbed back sole possession of fourth place last week by winning three of their four games despite being undermanned.The Reds, who have suffered several player changes due to injuries (Ken Murray. Bruce Landon and Dave Hynes) along with some untimely recalls due to injuries in Colorado, have made the best of it all as they have managed to stay close to Rochester and New Haven and ahead of Hershey for most of the seasonLarry Skinner was the offensive gun for the Reds last week as he registered his first three-goal hat trick in the Reds 7-4 win over the Indians. Altogether. Skinner had six goals in four games. Walt Ledingham has returned from a brief stay in New York with the Islanders and immediately picked up where he had left off scoring eight points in the Reds&rsquo; five games. In other player moves the Reds picked up Bob Sauve as Buffalo moved him out of Hershey and into Providence. Kelly Greenbank also moved from Nova Scotia to Providence and the move appears to be a good one at least for the Reds as he scored two goals in his first game with Rhode Island.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02254/4195481-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="577" height="851"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDRE PELLOFFY &hellip;Wrestles For Lead</figcaption></div><h2>Where AHL Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01322/4195474-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="589" height="1110"></div><h2>AHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03163/4195467-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="596" height="785"></div> &#9632;

f0029-02

Indians Showing Positive Signs; Vees Stay On Top With Road Split

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BOSTON-Into the clubhouse turn they go. It&rsquo;s exam time, holiday tournaments, then the long climb up the January back stretch for ECAC Division One teams.Going into the Christmas break, a couple of expected contenders, Clarkson and New Hampshire, led the 17-team ECAC Division One league standings. Following closely behind were mild surprise Cornell and eyebrow-raising Colgate. Last year&rsquo;s winner and runner-up. Boston University and Brown, each suffered three consecutive league losses before inching into the win column. The remaining teams in the division performed pretty much as expected, save for a few upsets here and there.Generally, no one pays much attention to Clarkson until February, when they make news in the stretch run. But with 10-1 overall record and a 6-0 league mark, the Techers have to the rated as the favorite. Their only loss was a 4-1 setback by Concordia University, and a solid 5-2 decision over second place New Hampshire reinforces the feeling that this may be Clarkson&rsquo;s year.Jerry York saw Dave Taylor, Sid Tanchak, and Kevin Zappia each score at a goal-a-game pace through exam time. Other highlights include nine shorthanded goals to the opposition&rsquo;s one. Power play production ran 46 per-cent for Clarkson to opponents&rsquo; 13 percent.&ldquo;We went four years before we won at Vermont, then we beat them 9-2,&rdquo; noted York, now in his fifth year on the Raquette River.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve turned the corner. It&rsquo;s taken us four years, but when you can break out of the gate so fast, it gives you confidence.&rdquo;Other keys to the Techers&rsquo; success are goalie Brian Shields with a 2.70 goals-against average and defender Bill Blackwood with four goals and 26 assists.For a while, it looked like a repeat of last year&rsquo;s horrendous start for the University of Vermont. The Catamounts lost five straight in &ldquo;friendly"&mdash;as Vermonters call it&mdash;or &ldquo;pit&rdquo; as visitors call it&mdash;Gutterson Field House. But road wins at St. Lawrence. Princeton, and Providence kept UVM above water until a 6-3 decision over a good Boston College team in Burlington made the hometowners happy again.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t been playing that badly,&rdquo; said Jim Cross. &ldquo;Nothing seemed to go right for us there for a while. &rsquo; Providence made early news with a 6-0 skein to open the season that mark also included a 4-0 league record The Wilson brothers. Ron. Brad and Randy, once again provided most of the artillery. But the loss to Vermont and a home and home sweep by BC over the Friars pushed PC back into the pack at exams.&ldquo;How do you eliminate nine teams from the playoffs?&rdquo; was Charlie Holt&rsquo;s question. The New Hampshire mentor had just seen his team bound out to a 61 lead and stave off a furious Harvard rush to outlast the Crimson 9-6. As expected, the return of Bob Miller has provided a big lift for the Wildcats but they&rsquo;ve been spreading the scoring around through three lines.Northeastern upset Boston College 54 at BC&rsquo;s McHugh Forum for their first win there since 1965. Freshman Mike McMillen tallied at 13:26 of the third period to put the game away for the Huskies, who also nearly tipped another crosstown rival. Harvard. The Crimson came from a 2-1 deficit in the final minutes to win 4-2.The Huskies are deep in the goal with Jim Bowman. Jim McElroy, and Jim Metz all performing capably. But Fer-me Flaman has freshmen everywhere else A total of 11 rookies skate regularly.Last year, and for the three previous years. Northeastern hockey was Charlie Huck, Jim Martel and Dave Sherlock. The big line is gone, and suddenly Northeastern is tougher than ever.&ldquo;Team of the future?&rdquo; asked junior defenceman Mike Sandford.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t wait for next year. It&rsquo;s this year.&rsquo;Anyone who thought Brown would start the year with three straight losses might have received a terse &ldquo;Take a couple of aspirins and call me in the morning.&rdquo; But that&rsquo;s just what happened&mdash;7-5 loss to Boston College at home, then a two game road trip which saw Cornell tip the Bruins 3-2 and Colgate edge them 6-5 the next evening.Dick Toomey shuffled his lines and reunited the waves comprising Bill Gilligan. Skip Stovern and Jim Bennett on one unit and Dave Roberts. Marc Charest and Wayne Lucky for another.&ldquo;Every time we make a mistake our opponents capitalize,&rdquo; moaned Toomey. But Brown finally came around with wins of 6-1 over Yale, 5-3 over Harvard, and 7-3 against Princeton. While this wasn&rsquo;t the iron of the league, the skein vaulted Brown into the thick of it. a ninth place berth, prior to the Brown Tournament.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01362/4195519-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="541" height="667"><figcaption class="caption-body">JERRY YORK &hellip; Leads The Way</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02287/4195512-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="704" height="1086"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

Clarkson, New Hampshire On Top After Surprising First EC AC Half

<div class="byline">BY JIM CAUCHON</div>EDMONTON&mdash;There&rsquo;s been a long-standing tradition with the University of Alberta Golden Bears hockey team. It&rsquo;s one which has always found them at or near the top of the Canada West standings. And one of the main reasons has again returned behind the Bear bench this year in the person of coach Clare DrakeDrake had led the Bears to 10 conference titles and three national crowns in his 17-year tenure before leaving to try his hand at the pro game last year.Without Drake at the helm in 1975-76, the Bears finished second in the CWUAA standings and lost out in the playoffs to the University of Calgary Dinosaurs. Since his return this year Drake has guided his club to first place with a 6-2 mark and a second ranking in the CIAU&rsquo;s top 10.&ldquo;It feels really great to be back,&rdquo; commented Drake. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always liked the college enviroment. &ldquo;Drake was coach of the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association last campaign before being fired by former general manager Bill Hunter. It was an abrupt ending which left the Yorkton. Saskatchewan native somewhat disillusioned.&ldquo;I was disappointed in the way the season ended and the way my association with the club ended. &ldquo;Despite having 11 new faces on the team and losing three key players upwards of six weeks to injuries, the Golden Bears are at the top.Performances from goaltenders Jack Cummings (3.83 goals-against average in six games) and Ted Poplawski (2.50 in two games) and forwards Jim Ofrim (410-14) and Kevin Primeau (6-6-12) have echoed the will and desire the players are putting out for Drake.Drake, therefore, is again pleased.&ldquo;One big difference between college players and the pros is the fact that college players are willing to look at different systems. The pros seem to think that since they have reached such a high level of ability that they couldn&rsquo;t learn anything new.&ldquo;I think the interest of the players is much higher There is a greater interest in learning new things. The pros are not quite as enthusiastic. The whole coaching and learning system is a lot more positive. They&rsquo;re (pros) satisfied with less than the best,&rdquo; said Drake.Following his dismissal from the Oilers, Drake has had some offers from other pro clubs but his attitude towards the pro ranks is still a cautious one.Drake&rsquo;s long-term goals are to remain coaching at the college level and you can&rsquo;t knock his results there, being one of the most successful in North America.In Drake&rsquo;s last year with Alberta (7475), his team won the national championship at home defeating the University of Toronto Blues in the final game of a best-of-three set.This year. Drake and his troops will again host the tournament and automatically draw a bye into the semi-final round. A lot of people at the Univeristy of Alberta see Clare Drake as one of the main reasons the CIAU championship is more than just a dream again.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03212/4195550-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="578" height="652"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLARE DRAKE</figcaption></div>Goaltending plays &rsquo;a major part in how far a given team will go come playoff time. And to prove how much success can be derived through strong netminding, let&rsquo;s look at the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union&rsquo;s top-10 poll at Christmas and point out where each club ranks defensively among the nation&rsquo;s 39 schools. Here&rsquo;s how the goalers rate with their respective goals-against averages:1. York University: Steve Bosco, Pete Kostek 3.00 2nd.2. University of Alberta: Jack Cummings, Ted Poplawski 3 62 8th.3. St. Francis Xavier: Fred Cuvelier 2.60 (2.70 overall) 1st.4. Toronto: Mark Logan. Ken MacKenzie 3.14 4th (tie)5. U. de Moncton: Jean-Guy Cote 2.79 (3.10 overall) 3rd.6. British Columbia: Ron Lefebvre 3.14 4th (tie)7. Concordia: Jean Millette, Mark Friesen 4.25 17th.8. UQTR: Daniel Coutu 3.86 Uth (tie)9. Manitoba: Terry Edwards 3 46 (3 90 overall) 14th.10. Waterloo: Bruce Morgan. Bob Clarke 3.87 13thCOLLEGE QUICKIES: University of Toronto Blues rolled to another win on their highly successful Oriental swing. They swamped a Japanese team from Seibu Railways 7-1 in Tokyo Dec. 21. A tougher challenge is still upcoming in a match against the Japanese college All Stars. They return after Christmas for some tournament action in Three Rivers, Quebec. Number-one-ranked York University will also be on hand&hellip;Concordia University continued to have little trouble with their Czechoslovakian counterparts. They rolled over a Junior Select team 4-0 Dec. 22 with Ken Sinclair and Al Westgate each scoring twice while Mike Griffin turned aside 29 shots. The Stingers&rsquo; record for their controversial trip is now at 2-0-1. &#9632;

f0030-03

Drake’s Return Puts Alberta Back On Top

<div class="byline">BY MARY KAY DAVIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01335/4195581-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"></div><h2>&rsquo;Turnpike Twins&rsquo;</h2>Last month we brought you the &rsquo;Sister Clubs &ldquo;, the BUFFALO SABRES BOOSTER CLUB and the MINNESOTA STARGAZERS, whose members enjoy one another&rsquo;s company so much that they travel 800 miles just to visit and see their teams play one another&hellip;This month were featuring the &ldquo;Turnpike Twins &ldquo;, the PITTSBURGH PENGUINS BOOSTER CLUB and the CLEVELAND BARONS BOOSTER CLUB. The two friendly rivals will vie for a &ldquo;Turnpike Trophy&rdquo; based on the season&rsquo;s outcome between their two teams, and an actual trophy has been designed and selected by club presidents Jack Bauman (Pittsburgh) and Doug Archibald (Cleveland)&hellip;Becky Laird, the BARONS BOOSTER CLUB&rsquo;s editor and publicity person, reports that Rick Hampton and Len Frig guested at their first monthly &ldquo;Face-off Meeting&rdquo; of the season for an informal question-and-answer session followed by munchies&hellip;Sixty-eight Penguin fans wasted no time hustling down the turnpike to Cleveland, and were rewarded at an &ldquo;all-you-can-eat&rdquo; pre-game dinner hosted by the BARONS BOOSTER CLUB, followed by the presentation of a stuffed penguin to the Barons prexy&hellip;Club artists Kathy Soutar, Patty Ballek, and Connie & Dennis Moehring designed the two red Cleveland banners displayed at the Coliseum&hellip;players and fans mingled at the get-acquainted party Nov. 20&hellip;&ldquo;S.O.S. FROM SANTA,&rdquo; a play directed by PITTSBURGH PENGUIN BOOSTER CLUB member Rosey Baver, once again highlighted the club&rsquo;s annual Christmas party. Rosey was coaxed out of retirement for this final fling&hellip; WOW. Club members are in for a real treat when they stay at Toronto&rsquo;s spiffy new lakefront hotel. Harbour Castle, in February&hellip; The new booster club table at Chatham Center, courtesy of Penguin management, is manned by Marlene Breauninger and her fleet of volunteers ..Children&rsquo;s Hospital benefited at the annual &ldquo;Meet the Pens&rdquo; dinner. Door prize was a three-foot stuffed penguin made by talented stuffer Pat Snyder&hellip;Marathon drivers Nancy Dunlay, Chuck Belmont. Al Finney and Susie Ley motored to sunny, 70-degree Denver for a game and some rocky-mountain climbing. They paused in Cleveland on the return trip for another game complete with blizzard ..The &ldquo;official&rdquo; club trip to &rsquo;Cleveland found several more inches of snow, quickly melted by the hospitality shown by the CLEVELAND BARONS BOOSTER CLUB, who greeted them at the airport and the arena with &ldquo;Welcome Penguin Fans&rdquo; signs. Also featured were Alice and Harry Harkness&rsquo;s pizelles (no. I haven&rsquo;t the faintest idea what they are. but they&rsquo;re evidently delicious).<h2>Heart In Chicago</h2>BLACKHAWK STANDBY Mari Digangi may live in L.A.. but her heart&rsquo;s still back at the Chicago Stadium Mary returns at least once each season to see her friends in the first balcony and her Go-Go-Hawks &hellip;Ladies&rsquo; Luncheon devotees, led by Lynnae Koroll, will be delighted to know that the club&rsquo;s March 19 feminine bash is now on the drawing board. It&rsquo;ll be &ldquo;a little bit different.&rdquo; according to Ruth Schoenbeck and June Eppelheimer. With the irrepresseble Arlene Ashbach on the committee, you can bet on it One of the most popular dishes in the &ldquo;Shot and a Goal Cookbook&rdquo; published last year by the Standbys with the cooperation of the Hawk wives, was the one for &ldquo;Richard&rdquo; (Hungarian Vegetable Stew) contributed by Helen Varga, wife of Hawk trainer Lou Varga. It&rsquo;s Lou&rsquo;s own recipe&hellip;Standby thespian Jack Jaros has appeared in several plays in neigh boring Whiting. Indiana&hellip;Standby fotog Frank Karger took great pix once again at the banquet and they&rsquo;re still available at meetings&hellip; &ldquo;Mom&rdquo; Orzel had a super time at the banquet. Now she wants to hear from anybody who taped Jim West&rsquo;s speech (seems she didn&rsquo;t catch it all)&hellip;It&rsquo;s not too tuff to guess who Linda Lee&rsquo;s favorite Hawk is&mdash;her Labrador puppy is named. &ldquo;Stash&rdquo;.LOS ANGELES KINGS COURT members Diana Grif fiths, Michael Simpson, Ron Ross and Denise Piper have already made deposits on the Minnesota convention next i August and are busily stocking up on Kings souvenirs to i trade with other NHL hockey booster club members from i around the continent&hellip;It was &ldquo;Skate With The Kings and Their Doggy&rdquo; this year at the Forum on Dec. 19. Jeanne and Larry Brown brought their lovable pooch, but there&rsquo;s no report on what size skate he took. Kings Court again hosted the popular annual event and contributed door prizes. Cameras and autograph (paw-print?) books were the order of the day.&ldquo;Thanks. We Needed That&rdquo; Department&hellip;members of the VANCOUVER CANUCKS BOOSTER CLUB greatly appreciated the nice comments from &ldquo;class player&rdquo; Chris Oddleifson at this year&rsquo;s player/fan get-acquainted party. He thanked them for their support and for their hard work in making up the signs that appear at every game. It s always nice to know some of the players appreciate their fans, and vice versa&hellip;Club backbones include Mary Hordos, secretary and longtime fan Amy Bush, treasurer&hellip;Booths at the arena are manned by Laurie Ellis and Linda Senior, who&rsquo;ll be looking forward to meeting THE HOCKEY NEWS readers in the area&hellip;Much interleague fun was had by Canucks fans who joined members of the New Westminster Bruins Booster Club, who support junior hockey and the future NHLers. Over 200 fans, including Leslie Young, Laurie Ellis, and Ernie Vickers, journeyed to Portland for a game against the Portland Winter Hawks.Diane Jackson did a great interview with WTOP&rsquo;s Mike Wolfe in a recent issue of the WASHINGTON CAPITALS FAN CLUB NEWS&hellip;The club&rsquo;s Bob Knox heads up their Player Recognition Committee, which affords all its members an opportunity to vote for the player of the month. Their choices are based on performance, attitude, hustle, and effort&hellip;Those great posters around the arena are done by members George and Lucy Henschel&hellip;Washington&rsquo;s Joe Madison and Buffalo s Joe Arlotta have entertained back and forth after having hit if off at the convention in August.If you thought you saw a White Elephant carrying a &ldquo;for sale&rdquo; sign "round the Omni in Atlanta, it&rsquo;s quite possible. According to the ATLANTA FLAMES FAN CLUB&rsquo;s newsleter. Fireline, the White Elephant Sale is on&hellip; Tackiest person in all Atlanta is Hugh Pierce, winner of the Tackiest Person award at the Club&rsquo;s Hallowe&rsquo;en party. Ken Groom and Elaine Pierce appeared with biacked-out teeth. Rumor has it that all those fines that Ken collects for not wearing club badges are really going for his new bridgework&hellip;Curtis Havey and Helen Hickey are the big guns at the fan club&rsquo;s two brand-new booths at the Omni The club s December bash was the player/fan Christmas party held Dec. 13 at Fisherman s Cove and M.C.&rsquo;d by favorite Jiggs McDonald.<h2>Off To St. Louis</h2>All systems are &ldquo;go&rdquo; for the DETROIT RED WING FOR &rsquo;EM CLUB&rsquo;s trip to St. Louis in January (just hope the St Louis Blueliners have recuperated from their Jan 1 weekend visit from the Minnesota Stargazers)&hellip;Larry Zub is Detroit&rsquo;s trip chairman, and is it really true that Larry travels in style in a motor home, while everybody else has to fly? Donna Witkowski and her exhausted committee are the folks to thank for the great player fan banquet this season&hellip;And three super folks in the Red Wing office have been of great assistance to club members this year&mdash;Kathy Best, Budd Lynch and Al Coates&hellip;New For &rsquo;em Club president is Dave Szalony&hellip;NEW YORK ISLANDERS BOOSTER CLUB members flew to Pittsburgh for the Nov. 27 game and. aside from almost ending up in Harford on the way back, had a marvelous trip. Their thanks go to the PITTSBURGH PENGUINS BOOSTER CLUB for the great party given after the game at which the two clubs visited and mingled and exchanged hockey talk&hellip;Hard-working Isles club members Barry Bekoff and George Rabb handled the trip arrangements&hellip;Nassau Coliseum poster artists are Terry Geraghty and Jay Lupertin&hellip;Bob Bourne guested at the club&rsquo;s December meeting.Oktoberfest was the theme of the BUFFALO SABRES BOOSTER CLUB&rsquo;s get-acquainted party with the players and their wives, held at the Deutsches Haus. Sue Becker, Mary Needham, Paula Hartig, Ken & Arlene Rose, and a corps of unsung workers organized the German-style dinner and music. The evening was topped off by Hut Meisterschaft (Hat Championship), won handily by Jim Schoenfeld&hellip;Club members entertained visiting Penguins boosters in December, again at Deutsches Haus.. The club&rsquo;s new Activities Committee is headed by Ken Rose, who plans everything from skating parties to picnics. One of his early ventures was a jaunt to Rochester to see the Bears play the Amerks. You may have noticed that most true hockey fans are like homing pigeons&mdash;if there&rsquo;s a hockey game, they&rsquo;ll sniff it out&hellip; Now this is togetherness: Buffalo fans Tom and Dottie Nichter and their December baby were gifted, by the Minnesota Stargazers, with two hand-knitted baby hockey sweaters in (respectively) the Buffalo and the Minnesota colors, symbolizing the good cheer that exists between the two clubs.Anyone having any Fan Club notes on happenings should send to: Editor &ldquo;The Wigwam,&rdquo; 1530 East Northwest Highway, Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004. &#9632;

f0031-01

NHL BOOSTER CLUB NEWS

<div class="byline">BY BILL ADLER</div>FORT WORTH&mdash;Three rookies continue to provide a great deal of excitement in Fort Worth and for that matter all around the Central Hockey League. Richie Hansen. Steve Clippingdale and Mike Kaszycki rank as the top three Texans scorers and their solid overall play has paced the Texans to four straight victories, moving the team into third place.Clippingdale, the former New Westminster Bruin (WCHL), has moved into a tie for the most goals with another rookie, Bernie Federko, of Kansas City as both have 18 goals for the season. The six-foot-four, 215 pound left winger scored twice in the Texans recent 5-2 win in Oklahoma City. Clippingdale has been extremely effective on the power play unit this season, having tallied eight of his goals. This matches Jan Popiel&rsquo;s total for best in the CHL in this category.Goaltender Don Cutts recorded his second shutout of the season and only the fourth overall in the first 90 league games as the rookie goalie stopped the Salt Lake Golden Eagles 2-0 in Salt Lake City. The Texans managed only 15 shots in this contest but first-period goals by Brad Anderson and Neil Nicholson provided Cutts with his margin for the evening and the youthful netminder responded with a flawless performance.Hansen was the star of the Texans&rsquo; 7-4 win over Oklahoma City. The 21-year-old center, who played with Erie (NAHL) last year, scored the first goal of the game while assisting on three others. Kaszycki, the rookie center from St. Catherines (OHA), tallied twice along with a pair of assists to share the spotlight with Hansen.It was the same Kaszycki two nights later who scored in the opening minutes of the third period to break a 3-3 deadlock with the Tulsa Oilers and lead the Texans to a 6-4 home-ice victory. Hansen and Clippingdale each scored in this contest while the Texan offence also received goals from Dave Salvain, Bob Lorimer and Russ Walker.Injuries have defenceman Dave Miglia (bruised back) and forward Lome St&auml;nder (eye injury) on the shelf but both are expected back within the next 10 days. Defenceman Steve Short arrived from Springfield (AHL) in time for the Tulsa game and his presence will help strengthen the blueline corp.KANSAS CITY: The league-leaders are proving to be tough opposition in any rink but on Kemper Arena ice they have been next to impossible to defeat this season. The Blues have won 12 and tied another in their first 14 home games, including victories in their last seven at home.Another area which provides strength lies in the fact that 18 times this season the Blues have scored the first goal of the game. On 15 of these occasions Kansas City has gone on to win the game along with tieing two other times. Obviously, the solution then to beating Barclay Plager s team is to not let them score first. How simple! Now all the CHL coaches have to do is get this message across to their players.Goaltender Doug Grant came within one minute of recording his second shutout against Dallas. Leading the Black Hawks 4-0 with only one minute left in the game. Grant and the Blues&rsquo; defence became careless and the Hawks countered with two goals within 12 seconds. The Blues did all their scoring in the first six minutes of this contest with Doug Palazzari netting a pair along with one each from Don Martineau and Ken Richardson.SALT LAKE: Consistency has been the biggest problem of the Golden Eagles this season. Despite the frequent recalls by the Cleveland Barons, which has most recently seen Frank Spring, Brent Meeke, and rookie Ken Kuzyk leave Salt Lake City, the Golden Eagles have a youthful but talented hockey club. The team, however, has been unable to put together a good winning streak, but with the return of a few key players from Cleveland, the Eagles could prove most troublesome during the second half of the season.Gary Holt and Lyle Bradley, a pair of the veterans, provided the offence in the 5-2 win over Dallas. Both tallied twice while Bradley assisted on two others and Holt one.The following evening the same two teams collided again in the Salt Palace but on this occasion the Hawks emerged with a 5-2 victory. John Martin, who had not been receiving much ice time prior to the recent recalls, scored both goals for the Golden Eagles in the initial period.In Tulsa the Golden Eagles rallied with two late third-period goals, only to come up one goal short in a 5-4 defeat at the hands of the Oilers. Trailing 5-2 late in this contest, Martin and Charlie Simmer engineered a pair of power-play goals and Salt Lake continued to provide the pressure but could not get the equalizer.DALLAS: The ranks seem to get thinner and thinner but the Hawks continue to battle their opponents. Blair Mackasey, the rookie defenceman for Toronto, has played his last game for the season. Mackasey is set to undergo a spinal fusion operation within the next several days.The Hawks did receive one piece of good medical news as another top rookie Alain Belanger will not face surgery or his knee and in fact should return to the Hawk lineup by the middle of January This is the same proposed date of the return of defenceman Randy Holt who has been sidelined for two months following knee surgery.Center Bruce Boudreau maintains hi: goals-a-game scoring pace of recen&rsquo; weeks (16 goals-17 games) with his se cond hat trick of the season in the Hawi 5-2 win in Salt Lake City.TULSA: With Orland Kurtenbach gone to Vancouver as coach of the Canucks, the Oilers continue to hold to their second-place rating.In Tulsa, the Oilers defeated the league-leading Blues 7-4, Glen Richardson and Brad Gassoff each scored twice while Larry Romanchyck. Syd Veysey and Rob Flockhart tallied the other goals.Two nights later the Oilers edged Salt Lake City 5-4. Richardson tallied two more goals while Gassoff, Pat Ribble and Veysey added the other Oiler goals.With the recall of goalie Bruce Bullock by the Vancouver Canucks, Atlanta has reassigned Lome M&ouml;lleken (Philadelphia Firebirds) to back up Michel Belhumeur.OKLAHOMA CITY: Adding to his problems is a back injury that will slow the comeback of 38-year-old playercoach-general manager Murray Davison. After appearances in two games. Davison developed a sore back from several bodychecks that will keep him in civilian clothes for several games.Lost to the Blazers were Mike Hobin (Phoenix, WHA), Ron Hansis and Don Larway (Houston WHA) and Brad Rhiness (San Diego, WHA) on recall. Injuries are keeping Jan Popiel, Mike Stevens, Jim Chicoyne and Davison off the ice. Despite all the hardships, the Blazers continue to make their presence felt even though they have managed only two wins in their last 15 games.Gary Donaldson, Rhiness. Terry Smith and Steve West scored goals in a 7-4 defeat at the hands of the Fort Worth Texans in a game that saw the Texans outshoot the Blazers 40-18.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02264/4195626-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="571" height="903"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE KASZYCKI &hellip; Flying Texan</figcaption></div><h2>CHL Team Scoring</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01342/4195619-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="1224" height="1865"></div><h2>Where CHL Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03182/4195612-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="578" height="808"></div> &#9632;

f0032-02

Rookies Propel Texans Into Third; Leading Blues Too Hot On Home Ice

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01307/4195664-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="588" height="1090"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM McRAE &hellip;Sparked Knights</figcaption></div>ST. CATHARINES&mdash;St. Catharines Eincups departed for the world junior hockey championships in Czechoslovakia with the highest point total in the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior &ldquo;A".But the Fincups by no means headed overseas on a happy note.The Fincups reached the Christmas break (there were no league games scheduled between Dec. 20 and Jan. 1) with a 27-5-1 won-lost-tied record and led second-place London Knights by one point in the Emms Division.Two of the Fincups&rsquo; five losses came in the final week before they departed for Czechoslovakia, 7-1 in London and 7-4 in Kingston. Only a 6-1 home-ice victory over the Knights enabled St. Catharines to hang on to first place.As far as his team (which will be bolstered by pickups from other Major Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; teams for the world tournament) looking ahead to going overseas and having trouble preparing for regular league games, coach Bert Templeton said: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a bit of a problem that way but I think that&rsquo;s only natural. It&rsquo;s hard to say what kind of an affect it&rsquo;s having on them.l&rsquo;m not looking ahead to that. To do anything like that we re just making excuses. If you get beat, you get beat and you have to go and try to do your best the next time. &ldquo;&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t want to go overseas in second place and second best,&rdquo; said Fincups&rsquo; captain Dale McCourt. &ldquo;If we slumped over there people would probably have said we shouldn&rsquo;t have been the team to go.&rsquo;&rsquo;Rie Seiling scored the Fincups&rsquo; lone goal in London while Seiling. Dennis Houle, Brian Anderson and Jay Johnston scored a goal apiece in Kingston.Steve Hazlett scored twice in home-ice victory over the Knights with Seiling. Al Secord. Willie Huber and Joe Contini adding one each.Before leaving for the world tourney Templeton said: &ldquo;In general the team is not playing as well as it can right now.&rdquo;The Fincups had a number of key personnel out of the lineup with injuries, the latest being center Danny Shearer with a neck injury that could keep him out of the world tournament.LONDON: Knights moved to within one point of Emms Division leading Fincups with two wins in three games. Jim MacRae scored twice as Knights defeated St. Catharines 7-1 in London before a crowd of 5,629 persons&hellip;Two nights later the Fincups got a measure of revenge by beating Knights 6-1 in St. Catharines&hellip;Larry Riggin scored the lone London goal&hellip;Steve Stockman scored three times (his 28th, 29th and 30th) en route to 6-1 home-ice win over Sault Ste. Marie ..The Knights began their holiday with a 27-8 won-lost record.KITCHENER: Rangers lost two straight to fall into fourth spot but that wasn&rsquo;t the worst of the bad news&hellip;League scoring leader Red Laurence is out for the season after breaking his right leg in 5-4 loss in Ottawa Laurence had 88 points (43 goals and 45 assists) in 35 games this season&hellip;He was threatening league goals (81) and points (170) records&hellip; The Rangers first game without the 19-year-old center was disastrous as Windsor embarassed them 10-3 right in Kitchener&hellip;Laurence was a big man in the Rangers&rsquo; lineup and it remains to be seen to what extent the Rangers will be able to overcome his loss.WINDSOR: Spitfires won two of three games to retain four-point lead over last-place Niagara Falls&hellip;Tim Kerr and Ken Campbell scored two goals apiece in 10-3 win in Kitchener. Spitfires acquired Behn and John Wilson from Ottawa and it paid instant dividends as Behn scored two goals and added four assists and brother John had a goal and an assist in 97 home-ice win over Sault Ste. Marie. Brad Smith scored lone Windsor goal in 8-1 loss to Toronto.NIAGARA FALLS: Flyers won two games to start week but then lost twice and stayed four points behind Windsor. Lou Franceschetti scored three times as Flyers beat Sault Ste. Marie 7-3 in Niagara Falls. Mike Gartner scored two goals as Flyers dumpted Peterborough 85, also on home ice&hellip;Gartner again scored twice as Flyers lost 7-3 in Peterborough&hellip; Brent Armstrong and Bill Stewart scored in 3-2 home-ice loss to Sudbury.KINGSTON: Canadians won two games and moved to top of Leyden Division, one point ahead of Sudbury&hellip;Ken Linesman scored five times as Canadians defeated Generals 12-4 in Oshawa&hellip;Linesman then scored three goals to lead Canadians to a 7-4 home-ice victory over St. Catharines&hellip;Canadians represented OHA Major Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; in Western Canada Hockey League international tournament based in Calgary during Christmas break.SUDBURY: Wolves picked up five points in four games to take over sole possession of second place&hellip; Mike Foligno scored two goals as Wolves edged Flyers 3-2 in Niagara Falls&hellip;Foligno and John Walker scored twice each in 7-4 win in Oshawa Mike McFarland and Wes Jarvis scored two goals apiece as Wolves and Marlboros tied 7-7 in Toronto. Dave Hunter had two goals in 8-5 loss in Sault Ste. Marie &hellip;Wolves lost one of their leading scorers, defenseman John Baby, for an indefinite period with a kidney ailment. Baby had scored 18 goals and added 35 assists.TORONTO: Marlboros picked up five points in three games to move into third spot, two points in front of Kitchener&hellip;John Anderson with three goals and Neil Labatte. Gary Dillon. Lynn Jorgenson. Rob Garner and Steve Harrison with two each led the Marlies to 15-2 win over Oshawa&hellip; Dillon and Anderson scored two goals apiece in 8-1 win in Windsor&hellip;Anderson and Garner scored twice each in 7-7 home-ice tie with Sudbury.OTTAWA: &rsquo;67s won once in two outings and fell four points back of division leading Kingston. Tim Higgins. Steve Marengere. Bob Smith. John Wilson and Behn Wilson scored a goal apiece in 5-4 win over Kitchener&hellip;Tom McDonell. Higgins. Yvan Joly and Smith scored in 64 loss to Peterborough.PETERBOROUGH: Petes won two of three games to remain in third-place tie with Ottawa&hellip;Keith Acton. Mark Kirton and Ron Mason scored two goals apiece in 6-4 win in Ottawa. Acton and Mason scored two goals apiece in 7-3 home-ice win over Niagara Falls&hellip;Gary McMonagle and Acton scored two goals each in 8-5 loss to Flyers in Niagara Falls.SAULT STE. MARIE: Greyhounds won once in four games &hellip;Dan Cormier scored twice to lead Greyhounds to 8-5 home ice win over Sudbury&hellip;Craig Hartsburg and Cormier scored twice each in 9-7 loss in Windsor. Paul Mancini scored lone goal in 6-1 defeat in London&hellip;Tim Coulis had two goals in 7-3 loss to Flyers in Niagara Falls.OSHAWA: Generals lost three straight and were outscored 34-10 in the process&hellip;Ian Gilbride and Stelio Zupancich scored in 15-2 loss to Toronto in Brantford&hellip;Chuck Durocher with two and Joe Campagnola and Zupancich with one each scored for-Generals in 7-4 home ice loss to Sudbury. ..Diego Odino. Les Campbell. Bob Dolman and Kevin Street scored in 12-4 home ice loss to Kingston.<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02228/4195657-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="637" height="2226"></div> &#9632;

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Fincups Depart On Unhappy Note; Knights Edging Closer To First

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>PORT HURON&mdash;Harmony. Family atmosphere. To Port Huron coach Bobby McCammon, these are two ingredients for a team to find success.Now in his fourth season as the Flag coach (&ldquo;It seems like 100&rdquo;) McCannon believes he has things turned around for the Flags now&mdash;who struggled through 11 games without a victory.&ldquo;When you are having trouble, there are two things you can do.&rsquo; Bobby said following a key victory at Fort Wayne. &ldquo;You can change your personnel. Or you can sit down and talk things over. When you&rsquo;ve got 16 or 18 hockey players around, somebody is bound to be unhappy &ldquo;McCammon chose to &ldquo;talks things over. &ldquo; The Flags did not make any changes in personnel as a result of the losing streak. &ldquo;Rick Fraser came back off the injury list. That was the only change.&rdquo; Bobby pointed out.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think we were playing all that badly. We were in most of those games. The guys just are putting things together. We have played more defensive-minded That&rsquo;s a key. too.&rdquo; McCammon pointed out.The winless streak came to an end with a 3-1 triumph at home against dangerous Flint. Tight checking was the key weapon. &ldquo;We came out checking. That&rsquo;s what you have to do when your losing. The more you lose, the more you press,&rdquo; Bobby said.Len Fontaine, the Flags&rsquo; leading scorer who has been slowed a little by a Charley horse, echoed McCammon&rsquo;s remarks. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been pressing for four or five games. Everybody has been trying to bust in and score the goals This time (against Flint) we kept a man back and waited for the breaks,&rdquo; Fontaine commented.The revitalized Flags have now gone four games without a loss, three wins and a tie. And the surge&mdash;still modest compared with the recent opposite trend&mdash;has pulled the Flags back into contention in the North Division race.The Flags and Muskegon are just a stride apart at the bottom of the heap&mdash;but first place is within easy reach.&ldquo;The league is so balanced this year that you have to pick up some wins on the road. The first team to put together some road victories will break free. &rsquo; McCammon said.MUSKEGON: The Mohawks have started to put things together, too. And the success was spawned on the road&mdash;a convincing. 5-2 triumph in Port Huron&mdash;which proved to be the next-to-last-link in the Flags&rsquo; winless chain The Mohawks also won a big one in Kalamazoo. 5-2. and followed with a 4-3 squeeker at home before losing to the Flags in a return match in Port Huron by the same. 5-2 score.Reggie Malinoski played a key role in the victory at Kalamazoo&mdash;where he started the current season Malinoski set up the decisive fourth goal. Malinoski&rsquo;s pass to Ollie Steward pushed the Mohawks into a 4-1 lead&mdash;more than the K-Wings could overcome.&ldquo;I knew if we could get a few goals up on them early we could let them use the European style of theirs all night.&rdquo; said Muskegon coach Bryan McLay. He added. &ldquo;This was our fourth game in a row on the road and I thought we played well.&rdquo;Ted Tucker, obtained on loan from Toledo, has made a major difference for the Mohawks as well. He&rsquo;s playing solid in goal. He had 30 saves in the victory at Port Huron and followed with 26 more at Kalamazoo.KALAMAZOO: The K-Wings scored another first during the week as they managed to hang onto first place by a skate blade. The K-Wings scored their first victory ever at Fort Wayne. 6-2. The best Kalamazoo had accomplished in six previous trips was a 2-2 tie.In addition to the win at Fort Wayne, the K-Wings whipped another South Division club&mdash;Toledo&mdash;at home, 6-1. Slumps by several players have become a concern. Kenny Mann has not scored a goal in the last 11 games and Emile DeMoissao has just one in the last 22.The K-Wings are eagerly awaiting the appearance of the Russian Spartak team on Jan. 5.FLINT: The Generals had their sevengame winning streak snapped at Columbus but rebounded with a couple of triumphs at home to keep pressure on front-skating Kalamazoo. The sevengame winning streak equalled a club record. Feature of the week was a 9-4 thrashing of South Division leader Dayton. Jim Koleff led the assault with his first hat trick of the season. Mike Powers, a recent acquisition from Columbus, has scored at least one goal in each of the four he has played with Flint.SAGINAW: The Gears have run into some serious injury problems. Captain Gordie Malinoski is out for 21 days with a pulled hamstring muscle in his right leg. Kevin Kemp dislocated his shoulder and required surgery. He&rsquo;ll be out for at least two months.To help fill the gap. coach Don Perry has reactivated right wing Jean Marie Nicol and obtained on loan defenseman Marc Gaudreault from Toledo.On the ice. defenseman Mike Ruest was the main attraction He scored the three-goal hat trick&mdash;first ever for a Saginaw defenseman. in an 8-2 romp over Fort Wayne.DAYTON: The Gems went 2-1 during the week with the victories coming over South Division rivals Fort Wayne and Toledo. The lone loss was a 9-4 bombing at Flint. But the Gems continue to head the class in the South and have been the most consistent club since shaking early-season problems.TOLEDO: The Goaldiggers suffered an unexpected loss when their leading goal scorer&mdash;Dave Johnson&mdash;left the team. Johnson, who has scored 25 goals&mdash;tops in the IHL&mdash;was suspended by coach Ted Garvin for leaving but has left the door open for his return. &ldquo;If he wants to come in and talk with me. he has a place on the team,&rdquo; Garvin said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03199/4195709-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="565" height="781"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE POWERS &hellip;Stars For Flint</figcaption></div>The reason for Johnson&rsquo;s leaving was not clear but his sister was seriously injured in an automobile accident and his departure followed after that But Johnson said that was not the only reason. &ldquo;My sister is not the main reason or even a primary reason. It&rsquo;s probably just me. I&rsquo;m a little screwed up right now. But it&rsquo;s not a spur-of-the-moment decision.&rdquo;COLUMBUS: The Owls continue to have their troubles at home. The most recent reverse was a 5-1 thrashing by Toledo in a game which followed a nearmiss in Muskegon the night before. The Owls lost at Muskegon. 4-3. on Saturday and then faced a 335-mile bus trip back home&mdash;where they took on the Diggers on Sunday.&ldquo;You can think of excuses if you want them.&rdquo; said coach Ron Ullyot. &ldquo;We got back at five in the morning and they spent a nice, restful night in Dayton (where they had played on Saturday night).&rdquo;FORT WAYNE: The Komets continued their current tailspin with four more losses, three on the road. In the only home start the team dropped a 6-2 decision to Kalamazoo. In addition to the losing streak, the Komets lost goalie Brian Holderness for three to four weeks because of an injury suffered in the 8-2 loss at Saginaw. Defenseman Terry Pembroke returned following a two-week absence with a pulled hamstring.<h2>Where IHL : Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01337/4195702-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="577" height="998"></div><h2>IHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02270/4195695-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="588" height="670"></div> &#9632;

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Harmony, Family Feeling Key For Port Huron

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div>MEDICINE HAT&mdash;As they say when the Medicine Hatters come skating onto the ice for each Western Canada Hockey League home game: &rsquo;And&hellip; Here Come the Tigers.&rdquo;Here they come alright&hellip;up the ladder in the Central Division standings. Once again. Jack Shupe&rsquo;s got a winner on his hands.The Tigers have been the Turnaround Team of the 1976-77 season. In early November, they were 5-10-3 and languishing at the bottom of the division. Now, thanks to just one loss in 13 games, and an eight-game undefeated streak, the Tigers are tied for the lead with the Lethbridge Broncos.But Medicine Hat has an advantage: the Tigers have been to the unfriendly surroundings of the West Coast, where victories don&rsquo;t come easy; the Broncos haven&rsquo;t.&ldquo;We thought we had the players to make a go at winning this year,&rdquo; said Shupe earlier this year. &ldquo;But for some reason, we just couldn&rsquo;t get untracked. But now things are looking a lot better.&rdquo;At the beginning, the Tigers had trouble scoring, a problem Shupe admits may have been partially his fault. &ldquo;I really concentrated on playing a defensive game,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;because we lost a lot of firepower last year.&rdquo;There is more truth than fiction in that statement. The big three graduates from the 1975-76 Tigers&mdash;Don Murdoch (now with New York Rangers). Morris Lukowich (Houston Aeros) and Greg Carroll (Cincinnati Stingers) accounted for 215 goals, a one-season total sometimes accumulated by one team.As an example. Shupe said, center Tom Bast, a 36-goal man last season and the team captain this year, took it upon himself to set a defensive example to his mates.&ldquo;But he went overboard with the - defensive play,&rdquo; Shupe said, &ldquo;and as a result, he hasn&rsquo;t been scoring enough.&rdquo;One player who Shupe can&rsquo;t knock for his offensive play is winger Brian Hill, a three-year vet who had 22 goals last season. With this year not even half-way completed, Hill already has 28 goals and is on a 60-goal pace.Potentially the highest draft choice on the Tigers is 19-year-old center Ron Areshenkoff, who had 25 goals and 60 points in his rookie season last year. This year, Areshenoff, despite some nagging injuries, has hovered among the loop&rsquo;s top 20 scorers most of the season.But on the night the Tigers vaulted into a division-tie with the Broncos (a 4-2 Tiger win), Areshenkoff suffered yet another injury, banging up some tendons in his right leg, and is out for an indefinite period.&ldquo;Some guys come back in two weeks from those injuries and other kids need six weeks.&rdquo; Shupe siad. &ldquo;I hope he&rsquo;s back for the international tournament anyway (in late December) &ldquo;Holding a hot hand for the Tigers during their recent winning streak has been goalie Pete Peeters, a second-year man. He has been getting ample defensive support not only from the forwards, but from the defence too, led by veterans John Hilworth, Owen Llovd and Darrell Durrand. Over-age Rick Durston. late of Victoria Cougars, and 17-year-old rookie Ken Oulton have also lent a hand on defence.LETHBRIDGE: Center Steve Tambellini had a nine-game goal-scoring streak snapped in the Broncos&rsquo; 4-2 loss in Medicine Hat. But he got back on the beam in Kamloops, scoring his 27th as Lethbridge won 5-2 over the Chiefs. Three Bronco goals in a 22-second span in the second period broke a scoreless tie.CALGARY: The Cents played leapfrog with Winnipeg in and out of the Central Division cellar, ending the week ahead of the Monarchs with an 11-5 thumping over Victoria, as left-winger Paul Enquist had a career-high five goals, four in the third period. Kevin Willison, just back from a month-long injury, picked up four assists against the Cougars.WINNIPEG: After an 11-4 loss in Flin Flon and a 5-2 home-ice defeat to Saskatoon, Monarchs&rsquo; coach Gerry Brisson sat out goalie Tim Steele, high-scoring winger Guy Lash and defenceman Keith Johnson in favor of Tier II players for the rematch with the Blades. The move paid off in a 5-4 victory, as goalie Jay Rodgers and forwards Mickey Sklepowich and Ray Savard, up from the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, played key roles. With his benched players back, the Monarchs made it two straight with a 4 win at home over hapless Regina. Defenceman Ray Mawhinney got three goals in the 11-4 loss to the Bombers, and sophomore Tom Roulston hit the 20-mark in the 5-2 loss to Saskatoon.REGINA: The Pats tied, then broke, the WCHL record for futility, stretching thier winless streak to 28 games (four ties and 24 defeats). Their last win came Oct. 17. 2-1 over Saskatoon. Losses to Brandon by 3-1 and 10-2 scores tied and snapped the record of 26 straight, set in 1972-73 by Vancouver Nat&rsquo;s, and a 6-4 loss in Winnipeg made it 28 in a row. Gerry Minor scored a goal in each of the three games to brighten the Regina week.FLIN FLON: Coach Mickey Keating was upset that his high-scoring center, Kim Davis, was left off the 29-man roster for the Christmas international tournament. involving a WCHL All Star team. Davis, with 32 goals and 27 assists, was third in the league scoring race. A three-goal. Two-assist performance by Davis led the Bombers to an 11-4 win over Winnipeg, stretching the team&rsquo;s unbeaten streak to six games, a season high.BRANDON: The Wheat Kings suffered their worst loss of the year, 8-1 to the rejuvenated Tigers, but then picked on poor Regina for two wins, 3-1 and 10-2, to add to their Eastern Division lead. Ray Allison had four goals and two assists in the 10-2 win, while scoring leader Bill Derlago scored twice and helped on four. Danny Bonar, the Wheaties&rsquo; over-age sensation, increased his shorthanded total to seven, the best in the league, with one against Regina. Derlago had an 18-game point streak broken in the loss to Medicine Hat.SASKATOON: Rookie Ken Federko had successive two-goal games to take over the Blades&rsquo; point lead with 41, including 20 goals. Young Federko is well ahead of the pace his brother Bernie set when he was the same age as Ken. 17. &rsquo; The elder Federko, who broke the WCHL one-season point mark last year with 187, got just 50 points in his rookie year.KAMLOOPS: Reg Kerr, the 19-year-old defenceman-turned-leftwinger, was the Chiefs&rsquo; man of the hour in Portland. Squandering a 7-3 lead over the Winter Hawks, the Chiefs found themselves tied 7 in the third period before Kerr&rsquo;s third goal of the game made it an 8-7 win. It was Kamloops&rsquo; second straight road win, following a 5-4 triumph in Victoria, as Ryan Walter and Anthony Thomas put together four and three-point performances. The week ended on a sour note, though, with a 5-2 home-ice loss to Leth bridge.PORTLAND: Dale Yakiwchuk has been the hottest Winter Hawk of late, moving into the top 25 scorers, but his three-point performance was in vain against Kamloops, as Portland lost 8-7. The Hawks lost their only other start of the week, 7-2 to the touring Moscow Selects in an exhibition game.NEW WESTMINSTER: The Bruins&rsquo; highlight was a 3-1 win over the Selects, two days after the Moscow team had hammered the St. Catharines Fincups, reportedly the power in Ontario, 11-2. In league play, the Bruins got two goals from speedy rookie Ray Creasy in a 5-3 win over Victoria. New West&rsquo;s eight losses this year is the second-best in the league. Another top rookie, John Paul Kelly, called &ldquo;the closest thing to a young Bobby Hull,&rdquo; by the late Scotty Munro, suffered an arm injury and is sidelined until at least Jan. 6. coach Ernie McLean said.VICTORIA: Cougars haven&rsquo;t won since the three-for-three trade with Regina which brought Ron Trafford. Keith Hertz and Rick Odegarde to the Island. Especially embarrassing was an 11-3 loss in Calgary. Gregg Anderson and Gary Lupul, the hot scorers at the first of the season, have suddenly dried up. and starry winger Curt Fraser&rsquo;s nagging knee problems have obviously hampered the Cougars&rsquo; attack.<h2>HOW THEY STAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01316/4195740-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="631" height="1784"></div> &#9632;

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Medicine Hat Playing Like Tigers; New West Bruins Turn Soviets Aside

MILWAUKEEWilliam J. Chimo. president of Championship Hockey Ltd., which owned and operated the Milwaukee Admirals hockey team announced that the United States Hockey League club has been purchased by PBC Productions Incorporated. Lloyd Pettit is the president of PBC Productions.Pettit, a former Milwaukee radio and television personality, was the voice of the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League for 18 years.Chimo has signed a contract to be general manager of the admirals through the 1978-79 season. Morley Howe, commissioner of the USHL, has announced that the sale has been approved by the league board of governors.Meanwhile, the Grand Rapids Blades defeated Sioux City twice to move within three points of leading Green Bay in the Northern Division.In Southern Division play, Waterloo Black Hawks posted 11-3 win over Milwaukee, an Admiral victory would have moved club into top spot.Veteran Gary Ford of Grand Rapids collected 12 points in Blades double win weekend. The six goals, six assists effort advanced the clever playmaker into second place in overall scoring derby.In player movements, Green Bay placed goalie Dave Legree on the reserve roster after being recalled to Fort Wayne (IHL).Traverse City moved defenseman Bill Slewidge to the active roster and signed goalie Kim Krouch and forward Jerry Fortier. They released Bob Schlitts, Larry Derda and Bob Anderson.Milwaukee placed injured Pierre Allard on the reserve roster. &#9632;

Around The USHL

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE JAWORSKI</div>BEAUCE-The Beauce Jaros, a team that literally ravaged the North American Hockey League last season, has folded its tent just past the halfway mark in the 1976-77 season.Beset with poor attendance at home and the fact the team was unable to move the franchise to another home base without the approval of the town of St. Georges de Beauce, the Jaros suspended operations Dec. 22 after they failed to ice a team for a game against the Mohawk Valley Comets.The visiting Comets arrived in St. Georges for a regular NAHL game only to find the Jaros had folded their team earlier in the same day.Andre Veilleux. president of the Jaros, made the announcement with the team resting in last place in the eight-team NAHL race with only six wins in 30 starts. Injuries and player transfers had reduced the once mighty Jaros to a mere shadow of their old selves when they terrorized the league last season with a record 450-goal offence.Dispersal of Beauce team players and a revised league schedule were to be announced by commissioner Jack Timmins in the next week.While the Jaros were having their troubles on the home front the Maine Nordiques were encountering difficulties on the road Nordiques&rsquo; coach J.C. Gravel admitted his travelling show is a pretty costly venture.&ldquo;I will say that travelling will cost us about 7-10 points in the course of a season.&rdquo; said the 37-year-old coach whose red. white and blue-clad players must be getting a case of the rumbles from riding so much.It&rsquo;s not that the Nordiques are the travellingest in the eight-team loop, but pretty close to it. But they certainly do have one of the wildest schedules. And at the end of the season, if the Nordiques finish near but not at the top of the standings. the reason may be road weariness.The closest trip for the Nordiques was St. Georges de Beauce, Que.. 189 miles. The Beauce Jaros were the Nordiques&rsquo; designated rivals.At the other extreme of the league map is Johnstown, but it isn&rsquo;t in title contention so far either. The Jets do have three Pennsylvania neighbors, the other two Philadelphia and the Erie Blades, tlie latter Nordiques longest trip in miles, at 659.As a matter of fact, the Blades rival Maine and Beauce for tough road trips at the western end of the league map. But no team matches Maine&rsquo;s brutal road scheduling early in the season Consider:The weekend of Dec 10 the Nordiques were in Syracuse, N.Y on a Friday night, at home on Saturday and back in Binghamton. N.Yon Sunday In midNovember, the Nordiques were in Utica. N.Y, on Wednesday, in Erie on Friday and home on Saturday. In late Octoberearly November. Maine was home on a Saturday and in Binghamton on a Sunday to kick off a four-game road trip. The following Wednesday they opened a four-game in four-night span, going from Johnstown, to Utica, back to Erie and home to Lewiston.With a schedule like that, you don&rsquo;t need enemies.After an uncharacteristic 4-1 start in light of last-place finishes the previous two seasons, injuries and road trips hurt greatly.But the Nordiques appear to be finding their winning ways again, as evidenced by only losing once in an eight-game span from early to mid-December. And better news is that Maine will play at home during the holidays until Jan. 2. with the only interruption a trip to Philadelphia.In the midst of what could be a turnaround, the Nordiques acquired 31-year-old Murray Kuntz and the rights to Paul Daigle who quit Beauce in exchange for three youngsters, brothers Pierre and Gilles Quintal (both in the U.S. League last year I and Craig Crawford.Kuntz is a veteran of the American League and has had two 51-goal years, in 1969-70 with New Haven of the old EHL and in 1973-74 with Rochester of the AHL.&ldquo;We tried to improve our team, &ldquo;said Gravel. &ldquo;We hated to get rid of the kids, all of them were 21, but if you&rsquo;re sentimental in this business, you&rsquo;ll finish last.&rdquo;The folks in Maine know what that&rsquo;s like, and so does Gravel, the former Laval University coach who also guided the Nordiques in 1974-75.That season, he took over the team in November 1974, and they&rsquo;d lost their first 16 games. They missed the playoffs after giving Long Island a run. Gravel with a 27 - 30 - 1 record after taking over for Michel Harvey. But Gravel didn&rsquo;t return, saying the money offered was not enough and last season worked for a company that sells a method of teaching hockey in Quebec.After dipping under the .500 mark this season, the Nordiques finally squared their record at 13-13-2 in the least likely of places-Binghamton Maine ended the Dusters unbeaten home-ice streak at 16 on John Cunniff&rsquo;s overtime goal at 2:02. Yvan Bouillon got the goal that tied the game. 4-4, with just 45 seconds left on a feed from Gary Coalter.That win against the Dusters didn&rsquo;t surprise Maine general manager Maurice Ducharme who is vehement in his protests that tough road trips are just &ldquo;a state of mind &ldquo;BINGHAMTON: &ldquo;Were human.&rdquo; was Duster coach Larry Kish&rsquo;s response after the 5-4 loss in sudden death to Maine. The Dusters were 12-0-1 this season at the Broome County Arena going into the game and rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the third period before losing.Maine tried to pull a fast one in the game. Because of a defensive gem by Duster Neil Clairmont, the Dusters broke out 2-on-0 against Maine goaler Jim Corsi. All of a sudden. Gravel said it was defenseman Larry Johnston who hopped over the boards as a seventh man in an of fort to stop the two-player Duster blitz. But, Ken Davidson scored on a pass from Randy MacGregor, nullifying any chance of a penalty shot that ref Steve Horney said he would have called.League-leading scorer Rod Bloomfield got his second hat trick of the season in a 4-2 win over Erie and even assisted on what stood as the winnerERIE: Though unable to stay atop the 500 mark, the Blades have played impressively by beating Philadelphia and Syracuse on home ice and losing a close one in Binghamton after rallying from a 3-0 deficit to lose 4-2. A goal that appeared to go in the net by Greg Neeld was disallowed, but Neeld scored later in the third period anyway. The defenseman s play has certainly been one of the bright spots for coach Nick Polano.SYRACUSE: Gerry Teeple had a goal and an assist in his first three games as a Blazer. The 24-year-old Teeple came to Syracuse from Springfield where he hadn&rsquo;t been playing regularly after three seasons in Providence. He&rsquo;s still property of the New York Rangers. Goalie Jacques Caron recorded his 21st career shutout in a 2-0 beating of Maine, but on the next night goalie Norm Tesluck had his unbeaten streak snapped at 11 games bv the Mohawk Valley Comets.MOHAWK VALLEY: Bryan McSheffery. Brian Coates and Mike Zuke. three of the four Comet leading scorers, got two goals each in the 8-5 win over Syracuse. In that game new general manager Ian Anderson got his first taste of working behind the bench as playercoach Bob Woytowich took a shot on the ankle and had to leave the game. Anderson. 38. is a former EHL star defenseman with the old Clinton Comets, where he played from 1965-71 He also played with the Quebec Aces. Cleveland Barons and Providence Reds. Anderson succeeds Brian Conacher who has taken the GM post with the Comets&rsquo; parent club. Indianapolis.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02227/4195802-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="586" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">MURRAY KUNTZ &hellip;Joins Nordiques</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA: Goaler Loren Molleken was re-assigned by the Atlanta Flames to Tulsa temporarily. Thus. Rejean Lemelin will be backed up by trainer Dave Settlemyre who last season had a 20 record and a 3.24 goals against average while playing 92 minutes in the nets for the Lockhart Cup champs. Coach Gregg Pilling was suspended for three games and fined $300 for conduct detrimental to the league. Enraged at a penalty call and a subsequent unsportmanlike conduct penalty to Dean Boylan. Pilling put his entire team into the penalty box in a game at Erie. Blades&rsquo; coach Nick Polano then followed suit when no delay of game penalty was called against Philadelphia.<h2>Where NAHL Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01298/4195795-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="591" height="804"></div> &#9632;

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Troubled Beauce Jaros Withdraw From NAHL

<div class="byline">BY GARY McCARTHY</div>The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League was enjoying an over-extended midseason holiday while an all-star team made up of players from the entire league took part in the Major International Junior Hockey tournament in western Canada.The league enjoyed a two-week break during the international tournament involving teams from Quebec, the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior A circuit, the Western Canada Hockey League and a team from the Soviet Union.The league didn&rsquo;t get back into action until Jan. 6 with a pair of games on the schedule.The Quebec team, featuring such stars as Jean Savard of the Quebec Remparts. Richard Dalpe of Trois-Rivieres and Sylvain Locas of Chicoutimi, played a couple of warm-up games prior to the start of the tournement and they were successful each time&mdash;beating the Kingston Canadians of the OHA twice. The Canadians are the OHA representatives in the international tournament.The Quebecers continued their winning ways by easily defeating the Soviet Union 7-4 in their opening game of the tournament in Edmonton.Despite such a high offensive output against the Soviets, the key to the game for the Quebec All Stars was the club&rsquo;s defense. An indication of how good the defense was in the game against the Soviets was the fact they played two men short for two minutes mid-way through the third period and the Soviets were unable to score at all.The Soviets enjoyed 10 power play apportunities during the game and managed only one goal.The Soviets had 31 shots at Quebec goalie Tim Burnhardt, but many of them were from difficult angles and were not of a hard variety. Quebec, on the other hand, had 49 shots at two Soviet netminders&mdash;Konstantin Gavrilov and Dimitri Kuroshun.Prior to the start of the tournament, the Quebec players were treated to agiant Christmas night supper in Edmonton. The players, most of them strangers to each other just a couple of short weeks ago, gathered for the dinner at the Calgary Inn and then held a party after that.&ldquo;That night was worth 100 practice sessions.&rdquo; said Rodrigue Lemoyne, owner of the Sorel Black Hawks and the man in charge of the Quebec delegation during its trip to Western Canada.Several of the players displayed some of their &ldquo;hidden&rdquo; talents.Floyd Lahache did an Indian snow dance and Danny Geoffrion did an imitation of his famous father, who does a beer commercial on television.With no games having been played in the league since before Christmas. Trois-Rivieres continues to lead the Frank Dilio Division with 50 points&mdash;one more than the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.The Quebec Remparts are a close third with 47 points, followed by Shawinigan with 27 and Sorel with 19.The Sherbrooke Beavers are on top in the Bob LeBel section with 47 points, two a head of the Cornwall Royals, who have a game in hand on the front-runnersThe Montreal Juniors hold down third place with 37 points, the Hull Olympics have 36 and the Laval Nationals are last in the division with 26 points.When the league does get back into action. the Laval Nationals will travel to Cornwall to play the Royals and the Quebec Remparts will be in Sorel to take on the Black Hawks. &#9632;

Quebec Stars Impressive Against Soviets

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01258/4195857-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div>The goalie has made the best of the situation by steering the puck off the side. But he&rsquo;s down, out of his net and will be slow to recover.If there&rsquo;s a defenceman to the side, there&rsquo;s little chance of an attacker taking a quick shot behind the goalie. If not, our man is in trouble.Too, there could be a passout by a deep attacker to one of his teammates just sitting on the doorstep like a vulture &mdash; waiting at the open side of the net.A TIP: If you&rsquo;re a goaltender, try to stay on your feet. If you&rsquo;re a forward, keep hoping the goalie will go down and out of position. &#9632;

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The Downed Goalie

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD POLLAK</div>RICHMOND&mdash;With the birth of the World Hockey Association came many new inspirations to that well-known game played on frozen water with a little piece of rubber and wooden sticks. The game of hockey to many fans was in a low period of time and the WHA created the red hockey puck, pajama stripped referee shirts and no icing on penalty killing situations to improve the sport But one item which the WHA did not plan to turn on hockey fans was a player-owned hockey team.It happened in the windy city of Chicago where former NHL stars who had earlier jumped to the WHA for piles of money ended up owning their own hockey club.Now in the SHL. a minor league circuit which is fast becoming the top development grounds for future WHA players, has copied those brave hockey players in Chicago and have banded together to run their own hockey club.Can you imagine a 215-pound defenseman at a reception desk answering the phone, typing letters and taking short hand?The Wildcats of Richmond are doing it. And the fans of Richmond love it. Ever since the player take over, attendance for home games has been on the upswing.Fans have been volunteering to help the club and even pay for the teams&rsquo; bus trips.Richmond players have responded with an improved record heading for the top of the SHL just a few points behind their rival Virginia opponents in Hampton and Tidewater.Richmond has had a brief history of hockey since the day the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL brought their farm club down from Quebec City. For most, hockey was the new game in Richmond but not until this season has there been such a one to one relation with fans and players working and enjoying the game of hockey together.RICHMOND: Colorful center Bill Goldthorpe has been indefinitely suspended after biting an SHL linesman. Despite Richmond s success with the players operating the club, both Ed Smith and Wayne Spooner have left the club for greener pastures. Spooner announced his retirement and Smith has gone down to Dayton in the IHL.BALTIMORE: The Clippers have lost but one game at the Baltimore Civic Center this season. Former Richmond (AHL) defenseman Norm Barnes leads the club in penalty minutes. Larry Wilson has been successful with a youthful squad of defenseman and besides the veteran Barnes, Baltimore&rsquo;s defense consists of Rick Peters, Dan Blaquiere, Murray Cawker and Dave Elliott. The promotions staff of the Clippers headed by long time Baltimore hockey man Woody Ryan has created a number of promotions never tried before. Their office party night is planned and attract ladies working in the downtown area.CHARLOTTE: Defense has been the Checkers brightest spot all season. Especially in the nets where Dave Tataryn has been holding the Checkers opposition to under 2.75 goals against per game. The Checkers have outscored their opposition 112 to 102 in their first 30 games. Under new coach Barry Burnett, the Checkers lost three out of their last four home games with their only victory being again at home over Greensboro 8-2.WINSTON-SALEM: Right winger Tom Dahlheim, has been on a see-saw all season long. The Twins have put him on waivers twice and returned him to the roster after Dahlheim admitted to a plaguing injury which has prevented Winston from releasing him. Dahlheim, a former Shark spent a week back in Tidewater and skated with his former mates before joining the Twins. Goalie Brian Cousineau, who has been so consistent. had to be replaced against Tidewater after allowing four goals in the first period.GREENSBORO: Generals&rsquo; owner Bill Long threatened to pull out of the SHL after his son-in-law, GM-coach John Voss was suspended for two games for throwing a stick at linesman Jim Lane for disputing a two line pass not called against Hampton. Voss was suspended for two games and the Generals&rsquo; coach was replaced by their PR man Kevin Johnson. The former Tidewater Sharks GM coached the Generals past his former employers 4-2 after losing his first game behind the bench in Baltimore 8-1. Last season Johnson coached the Sharks for three games when former Sharks&rsquo; coach John Hanna was ill. Johnson&rsquo;s overall record as an SHL coach now stands at 2-11. Former Roanoke Rebel Jerry Butler returned to the Generals&rsquo; lineup in time to have a fighting altercation with Sharks&rsquo; Dave Kryskow.TIDEWATER: The Sharks added former SHL All Star Andre Deschamps from Calgary. Deschamps holds the SHL record for most goals in a single season at 59. This will be the first action for Deschamps this season after he was accidentally shot in the leg this summer. Calgary player personnel director Al Millar was in town to see his future Calgary prospects. Under the new ownership of the Sharks, the public relations department has purchased video-tape equipment to film game action for review at practice sessions. The &ldquo;pro&rdquo; line of captain Tom Serviss. Dave Kryskow and Bernie Lukowich is currently the hottest scoring line in the SHL. accumulating 51 points in the last 10 games.HAMPTON: The Gulls are the hottest team in the SHL jumping from fifth to second place with a record tieing eight game winning streak. The (7-8-9) line of Claude Chartre. Paul O&rsquo;Neil and Ron Morgan have turned on to be the Gulls leading scoring line with Chartre leading the club with 34 points and O&rsquo;Neil right behind him with 33. The Gulls turnaround is due to an improved defense which has allowed only 18 shots on goal or less in their last three games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02244/4195895-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="577" height="980"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILLY GOLDTHORPE &hellip;Banned For Biting</figcaption></div><h2>SHL Leaders Where SHL Teams Play</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01308/4195888-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="585" height="1611"></div> &#9632;

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Richmond Fans Get Behind Players; Clippers Maintain Home Win Streak

<div class="byline">JOHN ARNOLD&#x2019;S</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01287/4195957-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">By Bill Hilts</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02210/4195988-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="355" height="417"></div><h2>Southern Ontario League</h2>Guelph Platers lead Southern Ontario Jr. League with 93-0 mark and 18 points. Collingwood Blues are close with 16 points as are Mount Hamilton A s with 15 points. Owen Sound Greys have five points&hellip;John Tavella and Terry Gregory of the Blues lead scoring race with 25 and 23 points respectively Dave Brazel and Joe McKenna of A s are next with 23 and 22 points. Myles McCauley of Blues has 21 points. George McPhee and Mike Yosurak of Platers-18 points each. Don McLeod of Greys 17 points. Scott Vanderburgh of A s. along with Platers&rsquo; Mark Toppazzini, Phil McKenzie and Tom Riech, all with 16 points each&hellip;Mike Blake of Guelph leads goalies with a fine 2.61 GA average. Rick Wamsley of Hamilton has a 3.21 GA average. Scott Machesney of Guelph-3.56 GA average and Floyd St. Cyr of Collingwood-4.29 GA. average.<h2>N.Y. Metro League</h2>The Suffolk Royals defeated the New York Americans for the second time in two weeks with a 7-5 victory on their home ice. The Royals came back from a two-goal deficit in the second period and a tie score in the last period for the win to strengthen their hold on first place. Amerks Joe Kelly and Scott Abbenda opened the scoring in the first period. Mike Labianca posted his first of three goals in game with a marker from Gerald Forest to start the second period. Labianca put Suffolk ahead for the first time in the game in the second minute of the last period after Rich De Stasio and Eric Broecker scored for the Royals in the middle period. Jeff Bloom gave N.Y a two goal lead again 13 seconds after Labianca&rsquo;s first tally. Andy Yaciuk tied the score in the third but Artie Kempner put Suffolk ahead for good on a goal at 7:23 from Broecker and Dave Drew.<h2>Midwest League</h2>The Bloomington Junior Stars added a couple of milestones to the Midwest Junior Hockey League record book via outstanding performances by Terry Houck and Dave Wilkens. Houck scored six goals to lead the Jr. Stars&rsquo; 6 effort over Austin, while Wilkens added six assists. Both are league records. For Wilkens and Jim Penningroth, who got the hat trick against Hennepin, it was an 11-point week; Houck picked up nine points. This line has accounted for 37 of Bloomington&rsquo;s 80 goals in 15 games. Rookie defenceman Bob Bergloff paces MJHL blueliners in the scoring department with 15 points in 15 outings. The Jr. Stars are four points out of first place&hellip; Third-period comebacks figured in all three of the Austin Mavericks contests. Hennepin had them down 3-0 after two periods, then Austin turned it on and set up a seven-goal barrage in the final period making it a 7-3 finale&hellip;The following night found the Mavs leading Bloomington 7-5 in the third period Two Jr. Star goals, the tying tally by Bergloff with two seconds remaining in the game, sent the contest into overtime. Bob Mancini came through with the winner for the home crowd at 7:06 to give Austin the MJHL&rsquo;s first overtime victory this season. Rookie Doug By mark put in three of Austin&rsquo;s goals.<h2>New Brunswick League</h2>The big talk around the New Brunswick Jr. League has been the poor showing by the usually high-flying Beavers from Moncton. They have only one game under the win column. The Cape Pele Fishermen have once again climbed into a tie for first spot with the flying Fredericton Red Wings. Both clubs have registered a 7-2 record. The Fishermen and the Jayvees of the University de Moncton went into the third stanza of a recent game deadlocked 3-3. Both clubs dented the mesh after 15.28 of the third. Then the Fishermen went to work and fired four unanswered goals within 1:50 seconds. It all started at 17:03 when Allard LeBlanc scored. Then at 17:43 Victor LeBlanc got one, followed at 17:53 by Andy Mitton and Maurice Melanfant fired his fourth goal of the evening at 18:53&hellip;The individual scoring race is still a two-man effort, captain George Besroches of the Fishermen and captain Keith Allaby of the &Igrave; Red Wings tied with 25 points each. Desroches leads with &Igrave; 13 markers while Allaby has 21 helpers. The penalty leader i is Bobby LeBlanc with 59 minutes&hellip;<h2>New England League</h2>Coach Jeff Kravitz&rsquo;s defending champion Springfield Olympics grabbed sole possession of second place in the &iacute; New England Jr. Hockey League by shading the Tyngsboro Huskies 2-1 and fighting the league-leading Fitchburg Wallopers to a 6-6 standott. Mark Veto scored the winning goal and assisted on the other as the Pics slipped past the Huskies. Jim Browder lost the goaltenders duel despite stopping 34 drives. Chip Bettencourt netted his just goal for the Huskies against Fitchburg, the Pics three times forged two-goal leads, but failed to hang onto the margin each time and had to settle for the tie as Mickey Rego, the NEJHL&rsquo;s leading scorer (23-28-51), and defenceman Billy Orr scored power-play goals in the final six minutes for the Wallopers. Steve Palazzi set up three goals for Springfield, while Mike Boucher scored twice&mdash;his first goals since the opening two games of the season&mdash;and Craig Boutillier had three assists for Fitchburg&hellip; The Wallopers protected its 11-point bulge, however, by ripping the Tri-Valley Squires 103. Tom O&rsquo;Neil, Mark Levasseur and defenceman Billy Orr each netted two goals for the Wallopers as Don Leger recorded 32 saves. Joel Procaccini scored a goal and assisted on the other two for Tri-Valley&hellip; The South Shore Braves won twice, wiping out a 4-1 deficit en route to a 10-7 conquest of Tri-Valley and then turning back the Great Bay Vikings 6-3.<h2>N.Y. - Penn League</h2>Jeff Brownschidle, the high-scoring. All Star defenceman from the Amherst Knights of the New York-Penn Jr. Hockey League was invited to play on the U.S. National Junior Team, which is playing in the World Junior Hockey championship tournament in Prague, Czechoslovakia ..The Rochester Monarchs have opened up a little light in the very tight race this season for the league title. At mid December. Rochester leads the seven-team pack with 22 points on a 10-3-2 record, followed by the Syracuse Stars with 19 points. South town Cougars have 17 points. Amherst Knights-16 points, Buffalo Blades-15 points. Binghamton Barons-14 points and Niagara Falls Mang Sharks-13 points&hellip;The Monarchs embarassed the Sharks in their Niagara Falls arena by a decisive 5-1 scored. Rochester goals were netted by Jim Brown, Rick Kozlowski, Ron Weathers, Clint Campbell and John Case. Dan Nolan scored the lone Shark goal.<h2>West Coast League</h2>West Division: The N.S. Canadians continue to lead the West Coast Jr. Hockey League with 33 points followed by New Westminster with 26 points. Mission Pilots-13 points and North Shore W.C.-ll points. East Division: The Northwest Americans lead with 29 points&rsquo;followed by Richmond Rebels with 27 points, Surrey-Newton Rangers-14 points and Chilliwack Jets-five points&hellip; Jim Bissett of Amerks continue to lead scorers with 53 points (16-37) and he&rsquo;s followed closely by Hugh Cameron of Canadians with 52 points (24-28). Skeet Flake of Americans is next with 43 points; J. McPherson of Canadians-42 points Jim Kilburn of Richomd-41 points; R. Davies of Richmond-40 points: John McEown of Canadians-40 points; G. Gitzer of Canadians-39 points; J. Horne of New Westminster-38 points and B. Gruntman of Canadians-37 points.<h2>British Columbia League</h2>Nanaimo Clippers lead the Coastal Division of the British Columbia Jr. League with 19 wins and 10 losses for 38 points, followed by Bellingham Blazers with 31 points. The Langley Lords have 28 points. Maple Ridge Bruins-27 points and Abbotsford Flyers-18 points. The Interior Division is led by Penticton Vees with a 22-7-2 record and 46 points, followed by Kelowna Buckaroos with 41 points. Vernon Vikings have 27 points. Merritt Centennials 16 points and Kamloops Braves-20 points&hellip;Jim Scammell of Penticton leads goalies with a 3.58 GA average. John McKerrow of Kelowna is next with a 3.90 GA average. Keith Ferner of Vernon has a 4.20 GA average; Pat Murphy of Vees-4.31 GA average; Steve Hanna of Nanaimo-4.33 GA average; Larry Lozinski of Abbotsford-4.42 GA average; Harri Kari of Bellingham-4.49 GA average and Andy Moog of Kamloops-4.49 GA average&hellip;The Vees&rsquo; Kevin Maxwell is pulling away in the scoring race with 30 goals and 41 assists for 71 points. A pair of Kelowna players. Rick Benningshof and Scott MacLeod are tied for runneup spot with 56 points each John Ogrodnick of Maple Ridge has 55 points. Gord McKay of Penticton-54 points, Jari Lindgren of Bellingham-54 points, Jari Viitala of Bellingham-53 points. Rod Danchuk of Kelowna-53 points, Erkki Lehtonen of Bellingham-53 points. Barry Pederson of Nanaimo-52 points. John Oliver of Kelowna-50 points and Terry Kirkham of Maple Ridge-50 points. &#9632;

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January 7, 1977

PASSING THE PUCK

Minor League Scoreboard

Wilson Remains Patient With Rockies

Rangers Touting Rookie Murdoch For NHL All Star Team Selection