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.

February 25, 1977

The Hockey News February 25, 1977

<div class="byline">BY RON WEBE</div>WASHINGTON-It was good while it lasted. For the long-suffering Washington Capitals&rsquo; fans it was great.&ldquo;It&rsquo;&rsquo; was the unbeaten streak that reached club record proportions before it came crashing down in the lions den Jack Kent Cooke&rsquo;s Roman Forum.The Capitals skated into Los Angeles to start their February play on a high note. They had tagged a tie with the Flyers onto three consecutive wins to make January 1977 their best month ever, six wins and four ties in 16 trips to the well.Moreover, these feats had led them toward a Shangri-La where a victory over the Kings would leave them only four points short of the playoff spot currently occupied by Los Angeles.Alas, overdue for a bad game, the Caps picked a bad spot for it, and fifth place once again was closer than third. Butch Goring&rsquo;s hat trick on top of a quick lead left the Caps with their worst licking in 25 matches&mdash;this side of Montreal, anywayOne bright spot in the 7-2 trouncing was a goal by the newest Capital, the 67th to wear the red, white and blue. Craig Patrick, a third generation NHLer from hockey&rsquo;s most revered family, took passes from two other mid-season pickups (Bryan Watson and Bill Collins) and zinged a 20-footer past Rogie Vachon. It was the five-year veteran&rsquo;s 64th goal in the league.Patrick had signed a Caps contract two days earlier and became the quickest graduate of Tom McVie&rsquo;s concentration camp, the extra-hard workouts that go extra-hard with newcomers.McVie benched Tony White for the first time in two years and placed Patrick at left wing&mdash;with Ron Lalonde and Collins. They were on ice for the first two L.A. goals but those were their only two minuses for the sorry evening.Craig had played in three previous NHL cities. Accompanying him in the two earlier transers were Stan Gilbertson and Denis Dupere, both now ex-Capitals.The blond winger was in Oakland better than three years, getting his career highs in goals (20) and points (42) in the season ending in &rsquo;73. Then he bounced to St. Louis, Kansas City and finally wound up in St. Paul with the Saints of the WHA.Capitals&rsquo; general manager Max McNab almost prevented that hop to Minnesota. &rsquo;We talked,&rdquo; said Criag, &ldquo;I wanted to come but their wasn&rsquo;t room. The Rockies had gotten some players from Montreal (Ron Andruff, Sean Shanahan) and retracted their offer to me. That was in September.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01694/3947461-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="638" height="1221"><figcaption class="caption-body">CRAIG PATRICK &hellip; Man On The Move</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I called a lot of places,&rdquo; continued Patrick. &ldquo;After sitting home for two months I signed with the Saints on Oct. 27.&rdquo;Usually working on a line with Ray Adduono and Butch Deadmarsh, Craig played his way to six goals and 11 assists in 30 games. On Jan. 14 the club suspended operations.Fortunately for Patrick, the Caps were getting a heady whiff of a playoff scent and McNab saw his way clear to make room for the Detroit native. &ldquo;All I know right now is I&rsquo;m really happy to be here,&rdquo; smiles Craig. &ldquo;Tommy stresses conditioning and positive thinking and those are really important.&rdquo;Grandson of the legendary Silver Fox, Lester Patrick, Craig feels no special pressure from his lineage. With his Dad, Lynn, a coach with the Bruins, Patrick grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts, played end in football, pitcher and center fielder in baseball and center in hockey.He sharpened his ice skills with the Metro &ldquo;A&rdquo; team in Lachine, Quebec, then a final year with the Junior Canadiens where he began playing wing. From the start he liked both sides.&ldquo;On left wing,&rdquo; he explains, &ldquo;you can get your shot away easier. On right wing I can manipulate the puck better. I&rsquo;ve gotten used to taking the puck off the boards on either side.&rdquo;Craig went to college&mdash;Denver University-playing with George Morrison, Cliff Koroll, Mike Christie and Keith Magnuson. That group won two NCAA titles while he was getting his business administration degree with a major in economics.He preceded current Caps teammates Rick Bragnalo and Mike Lampman at D.U. Craig played for the U.S. National Team for two years while in the Army, also helping coach at West Point.Patrick, who will be 31 in May, names tennis and golf as his hobbies. He spends as much time as possible with Sue, his St. Louis wife of six years and their two-year-old daughter, Erin. Offspring number two is expected during the playoffs.Dutiful family man or not, Craig wouldn&rsquo;t mind being away on business around that time.ICE CAPS: The loss in L.A. opened a six-game road trip, the season&rsquo;s longest. Balancing that off is the fact that 13 of the last 19 contests will be at the Capital Center&hellip;Gerry Meehan scored in four straight games, and five out of six. That, plus some assists, earned him player-of-the-week accolades from the league&hellip;In the Philadelphia tie that followed three straight wins it was the Flyers who had to come from behind four times. &#9632;

f0017-01

IN THIS ISSUE

Patrick Gets New Lease On Life With Caps

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01961/3947399-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kings&rsquo; captain Mike Murphy raises arms in jubilation after scoring a goal. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Following a rotten road trip in which they lost six of seven starts, the Kings came back to win three games in a row and five out of six. The one they lost they outplayed and outshot Minnesota but lost to the goaltending of Gary Smith. It was one of those games in which great goaltending defeats a team which does well otherwise.Under the circumstances, the Kings were philosophical about being beaten and able to accept it, all except Mike Murphy. No one likes to lose, but Murphy may like it less than anyone on the team. He sits for a long time with his head hung, going over and over a losing game.This time he was asked why he was taking it so hard since the Kings had played so well and simply lost to a hot hand. Murphy looked up and said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t agree that we played well. We didn&rsquo;t play well in the first period, even if we did in the last two. A good team plays three periods of good hockey every game.&rdquo;He sighed and said. &ldquo;I agree Smith was outstanding tonight, but we could have been better. We got good shots, but we could have gotten better. They got some good goals, but if we hadn&rsquo;t let them have any we wouldn&rsquo;t have lost. I guess you&rsquo;ve got to lose games, but I can always see some ways we could have won&ldquo;I guess I don&rsquo;t handle defeat too well. I want to be a winner.&rdquo;Which is one reason he is captain of the club. At 26, the Toronto native is a mature young man married to a parttime model, the former Yvonne Horvat, and really respected by others on this team for which he has played four years after arriving from two years with the Rangers. He is not a great player because he doesn&rsquo;t have great talent, but he is a good one because he uses well what he has.A right winger who skates his wing and checks his foes, Mike has scored 30 and 26 goals the last two seasons. He got off to a terrific start this season when he scored 11 goals in the first 13 games, but then slipped into a slump.Hampered by one of hockey s worst injuries, a painful pulled groin muscle, he went without a goal almost the entire second quarter of the season, 19 straight games and 25 out of 26 games, of which the Kings won only six.Coming out of it, the captain for the second time this season tied the team record by scoring goals in five straight games, of which the Kings captured four. It does mean that when Murphy is making goals, the Kings are winning games.&ldquo;Maybe,&rdquo; Mike admits, &ldquo;but this is a team game and too much emphasis is put on the scorers. You need scorers, but you also need players who set up the scorers, who dig the puck out of the corners, who check, who clear opponents out of the goalmouth and clear the puck. Our return to fundamental defense has turned this team around.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s fun to be one of the scorers and I like to think that I&rsquo;II get 25 to 30 goals a season, but I think of myself mainly as one of the other guys who get the other things done that it takes to win games. I&rsquo;m hot now so I&rsquo;m attacking with confidence. When I went cold I was unsure of my shooting and hesitant. I like to think I did the other things that help even when I wasn&rsquo;t scoringMurphy really respects his linemate of last season. Bob Nevin, and says he learned a lot about hockey from him and has copied him. He missed him until he returned as an assistant coach and says his tips have helped. &ldquo;I believe Bob knows best how to make the most of yourself,&rdquo; comments Mike I believe as he does that linemates have to unselfish.&rdquo;Murphy has been playing with Tom Williams, flanking Butch Goring on the first line. Williams has 25 goals, Murphy 20 and Goring passed 20 for the sixth straight season with a hat trick in the season&rsquo;s 52nd outing Murphy and Goring have teamed as the top penalty-killers and 30 straight opposing power plays have been short-circuited.Murphy&rsquo;s line also plays up front on the Kings power play which is second in the league, converting an astonishing one out of four opportunities, exciting to watch and instrumental in the team&rsquo;s recent rival. Superb point play by Marcel Dionne and Gary Sargent triggers this success.Dionne also tied the team record with goals in five straight games for the second time this season. Marvellous Marcel has been playing with Marcel has been blazing with nine goals and I3 assists in the last 10 games, and. with 79 points after 52 games, was startlingly, in the league lead, despite playing regularly with poor shooters. &#9632;

f0015-01

Murphy’s Scoring Bursts Incentive For Kings

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01528/3947644-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01370/3947637-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="705" height="3346"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02245/3947630-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="1352" height="1453"></div> &#9632;

f0020-01

National League Summaries

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div>The beat goes on for Cliff Koroll, an oft-unnoticed right wing who can face the pay window with chin up. Sticks and stones have hurt his bones, but haven&rsquo;t broken them.It is a streak that he wears with distinguished modesty&mdash;when he played against the New York Islanders Jan. 12, it marked Koroll&rsquo;s 300th consecutive game in the National Hockey League.&ldquo;But all this streak means more that I&rsquo;ve been lucky,&rdquo; said Koroll. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud of it, naturally, but I&rsquo;m no iron man or anything like that.&ldquo;Guys on this team, on all teams, play with injuries and pain all the time. Some people may think that hockey players are getting softer because times have changed and the money&rsquo;s better, but I don&rsquo;t believe it. Everybody still has pride, and 95 per cent of the guys in this league will try to play when they&rsquo;re hurting.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just that my injuries have been bruises or pulled groins or things like that. Nothing serious. Other guys haven&rsquo;t been as fortunate. Look at Keith (Magnuson). Nobody cares more than him, but he&rsquo;s had terrible luck with broken bones. He&rsquo;s so aggressive, though, it&rsquo;s easy to see why he gets hurt.&ldquo;Then you look at a guy like Michel Dumas. He just starts to get in the lineup a little and an eye injury might cost him his career. I feel badly for him. He&rsquo;s been unlucky, I&rsquo;ve been lucky.&rdquo;The last time Koroll wasn&rsquo;t lucky was in St. Louis, Feb. 17, 1973, when he incurred a wrist injury. He suited up but didn&rsquo;t play the next game, suited up and did play the game after that, and hasn&rsquo;t missed since.&ldquo;And if I hadn&rsquo;t sat out that one, I&rsquo;d really have a good string going.&rdquo; offered the self-effacing eight-year veteran. &ldquo;The only one I had missed before that was more than a year before when I go hit by Sheldon Kannegiesser in Pittsburgh.&ldquo;Took a jolt in the head and sat out the game the next night. But I played the game after. With a helmet".Koroll&rsquo;s greatest career scare involved, of all things, a faulty negative. After experiencing some stomach problems around Christmas of 1972, he went for a complete checkup.&ldquo;The doctors took X-rays, and I just went home,&rdquo; recalled Koroll. &ldquo;When I got there, I got a call to return to the hospital. I asked them why over the telephone, and they said the pcitures showed that I had an enlarged heart.&ldquo;I thought I was finished. The first thing I thought of was Kenny Wharram, and how his career had ended because of a heart condition. Then I thought to myself that I hadn&rsquo;t even made out my will.&ldquo;Had the sweaty palms driving back to the hospital. But fortunately, it turned out to be a mistake. They had double exposure on the X-rays or something like that.&rdquo;Only four NHL players are working on longer consecutive game strings than Koroll&rsquo;s. As of his 300th, St. Louis&rsquo; Garry Unger had 685, Vancouver&rsquo;s Don Lever 361, Islanders&rsquo; J.P. Parise 360 and Billy Harris 356.Such consistency and evenness have been a Koroll corollary since he matriculated here from Denver University. In relative obscurity, he&rsquo;s averaged 23 goals a season. More importantly, though, when his shots are not clicking, he can usually be relied on to avoid depression and check his man.And to think that there was even a slim chance Koroll would be doing something else with his athletic prowess.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03161/3947675-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="640" height="1279"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLIFF KOROLL &hellip; Durable Hawk</figcaption></div>&ldquo;When I was in Denver, they had a minor league baseball team there and Billy Martin was the manager,&rdquo; remembered Koroll. &ldquo;I had played a little third base and some outfield, and Martin asked me to come for a tryout. &#9632;

f0021-03

Koroll Completes 300th Consecutive NHL Game

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01976/3946792-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ranger goaler Gillea Gratton has been experimenting with various face masks this season. Here&rsquo;s his latest creation&mdash;which if nothing else might scare some of the NHL shooters away from his net. Gratton has been under fire from coach John Ferguson for his sub-par goaling. For details see page 6. (Photo by Bruce Bonnett)</figcaption></div><h2>CANUCKS DROP APPEAL</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;What had started out as something of a showdown between the Vancouver Canucks and the NHL over a 10-game suspension to fiery defenseman Jack McIUhargey, petered out when the Canucks withdrew their appeal of Mclllhargey&rsquo;s penalty.NHL president Clarence Campbell set McIUhargey down for 10 games for his stick-swinging that opened a 28-stitch cut on the head of Red Wing forward J.P. Leblanc. Vancouver protested the ruling and broke precedent when they informed Campbell they were appealing his action. In a sense the Canucks were testing the NHL&rsquo;s authority to suspend players. McIUhargey was reinstated by Campbell pending a review of his case. The Canucks dressed him for a weekend home game, then announced they were withdrawing their appeal. Campbell said Mclllhargey&rsquo;s suspension will stand. There had been only one other case of an NHL team appealing the president&rsquo;s disciplinary action in league history and the decision of the president was upheld in that case.<h2>IHL GRABS AMATEUR</h2>KALAMAZOO&mdash;The International Hockey League took a bold step last week when they signed a Canadian player with junior eligibility. The Kalamazoo Wings put 18-year-old defenseman Behn Wilson of the Ontario Major League Windsor Spitfires under contract for a five-game trial and the IHL said they was considering signing more such players in the future.IHL commissioner Bill Beagan said his league falls under the jurisdiction of the AHA of the United States and the latter body has no agreement with the CAHA, under whose direction Wilson and the OHA Spitfires play. The Windsor team suspended Wilson, a 6&rsquo;2", 190-pounder for indifferent play. Scouts say Wilson is a sure fire professional. The IHL Wings said they will pay Wilson $200 per week. Beagan said he expected there will be flak from governing hockey bodies but he said &ldquo;if we can legally entertain 18 and 19 year olds from Canada who are currently playing junior hockey, we will certainly do so.&rdquo; Beagan said his league governors will decide in Detroit this week if the IHL will sign more junior players.<h2>JUNIORS REJECT HABS</h2>MONTREAL-Not all top junior player think playing for the powerful Montreal Canadiens is the utopia of hockey. Three leading Western Canada Hockey League players have expressed their wish to be drafted by any team expect the Canadiens.The three, defensemen Barry Beck and Brad Maxwell, and forward Mark Lofthouse, said the Stanley Cup champs are too strong and they would not get a chance to crack their lineup and would invariably end up in the minors. The Canadiens said they intend to draft the best players possible. Chief scout Ron Caron said two of the top Quebec League draft possibles, Michel Bossy and Jere Gillis, said they are not afraid of being selected by Montreal. Gillis, who is likely to go in the top five juniors in all of Canada, and Bossy said being drafted by Montreal and then being sent to Nova Scotia for grooming didn&rsquo;t bother them.<h2>MERGER RUMORS FLARE</h2>WINNIPEG&mdash;Those merger talks involving the NHL and WHA are circulating again. A Winnipeg newspaper said that the money the WHA teams would spend to buy their way into the National League is what is prompting plans for a merger.The newspaper quoted Howard Baldwin of the New England Whalers as saying the NHL needs and wants the money. He said there is a 50-50 chance the merger will happen before Oct. 1, 1977. The price of admission being discussed for eight WHA teams is reported to be $16 million. The paper also says NHL Players&rsquo; Association director Alan Eagleson is demanding half the sum, $8 million, to go to the association before any merger can come about. &#9632;

f0002-01

DEADLINE STOPPERS

<div class="byline">BY ALAN TRUEX</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01982/3946830-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tough Willie Plett has made abig impact on the Atlanta scene despite his late arrival. The fiery Flames&rsquo;winger has been a surprise as a goal scorer and NHL fans know he can handle himself when it comes to the rough stuff. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>ATLANTA&mdash;In some respects, Willi Plett fits the stereotype of the hockey goon. He&rsquo;s a ponderous six-foot-three, 210 pounds and an eager and devastating fighter. He may set an Atlanta Flames record for most penalty minutes in a season, despite missing the first 15 games playing in Tulsa.Yet unlike the rest of hockey&rsquo;s policemen or enforcers, Plett is one of the sport s most consistent scorers.After 36 games in the NHL this season, the right winger had 21 goals and 35 points. He was producing so regularly that the Flames have decided he deserves to challenge Don Murdoch for the Calder Trophy.The Flames&rsquo; publicity department pointed out that Plett actually is scoring at a comparable if not better pace than the much-publicized New York Rangers right winger. The difference is, though, that Plett will not get the benefit of a full NHL season.He started the year in Tulsa, where he scored 10 goals in 14 games, before the Flames called him up.What makes Plett&rsquo;s scoring success so remarkable is that he deprives himself of considerable ice time because of his frequent altercations. which land him in the penalty box. He has had games in which he has incurred more than 20 minutes in penalties.In a recent game against Boston, Plett was assessed 29 minutes in penalties, and for the only time this year, he lost a fight&mdash;to Bruins rookie John Wensink. Previously, Plett had battered several strongmen of the league, including Danny Maloney, Dennis Hextall and Dave Burrows.Boston&rsquo;s strategy clearly was to get Plett drawn into a fight with Wensink, who is a knockout threat but not a scoring threat.And the Flames now are facing the question: Can they afford for their top scoring force to spend vast amounts of the game sitting out?Flames coach Fred Creighton says the answer is yes. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m willing to accept the penalties he gets. If he restricts his aggressive play it will eliminate part of his contribution to the game.Creighton is still not willing to accept Plett as a major offensive performer. &ldquo;If he scores 40 goals or 50 goals or 60, Fine. But I have to feel his production will level out a little bit.&rdquo;So far, Plett has leveled out at a very high plateau. From his very first week in the league, he has scored at a pace of a goal every 1.5 games and a point every game.Creighton points out&mdash;and Plett agrees&mdash;that many of the rookie&rsquo;s goals have not been perfectly struck shots. &ldquo;If there was a record for goals scored on fanned shots,&rdquo; Plett smiles, &ldquo;I would be close to it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02846/3946823-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="642" height="1437"><figcaption class="caption-body">Atlanta coach Fred Creighton was waiting for Plett&rsquo;s scoring to level off. The only trouble is Plett has refused to slow down and Creighton has to be delighted by the rookie&rsquo;s offensive production.</figcaption></div>But of course, one reason Plett scores so many cheap-looking goals is that he positions himself so well. He cannot be forced out of the slot, and from there his quick and powerful wrist shot is lethal. From there, he is also able to score on deflections and rebounds with the goaltender out of position.Plett is not a finesse player. But then, maybe he doesn&rsquo;t need to be.FLAME NOTES: Larry Romanchych made immediate contributions upon his recall from Tulsa. He scored a goal in his first game back in the NHL, and he soon followed that performance with a three-assist game against Boston. He has been used as the fourth-line right winger.With Romanchych playing, team captain Pat Quinn was having to sit out frequently. &#9632;

f0003-01

FLAMES RATE PLETT ROOKIE SLEEPER

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011033/3946882-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="497" height="503"></div>&bull; JACQUES LEMAIRE needs one more goal to reach the coveted 300-goal mark in the NHL. He is in his 10th season with Montreal&hellip; Indianapolis Racers are leading the World Hockey Association in attendance with an average of 9,305 fans per game. The Racers recently drew over 8,000 fans to a home game that was being televised locally&hellip; Chicago Black Hawks are seriously worried about the drastic drop in attendance. The Hawks have played to crowds of less than 7,000 people on occasions this season&hellip; Doug Jarvis, youthful center of the Montreal Canadiens, has not missed a regularly-scheduled or playoff game since joining the team&hellip; Alan Eagleson is going all out to protect hockey players from unethical player agents. More and more hockey players are being ripped off by crooked agents&hellip; Bryan Watson of Washington Caps scored his annual NHL goal in a recent game. He&rsquo;s scored 14 goals in 14 years&hellip; Mrs. Jack (Helen) Adams presented a copy of a new book. &ldquo;If They Played Hockey in Heaven,&rdquo; the biography of her late husband Jack Adams, who led Detroit Red Wings to 13 NHL titles and four Stanley Cups during his 35 years as head of the club, to the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings players during a recent Sunday afternoon game in Detroit&hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02988/3946875-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="321" height="460"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Watson</figcaption></div>&bull; NEW YORK ISLANDERS have reunited the Long Island Lightning Company of Bryan Trottier, Billy Harris and Clark Gillies. The line was broken up early in the season when all three men were in a scoring slump at the same time&hellip; Philadelphia&rsquo;s Keith Allen has done one of the finest managerial jobs in hockey history over the last four seasons. There isn&rsquo;t a more popular man in hockey than Allen&hellip; Dune Wilson has been one of hockey&rsquo;s hottest goalkeepers with three shutouts in five starts. He blanked two of his former teams, Vancouver and New York Rangers, within a space of nine days and his five shutouts is more than 15 of the other 17 NHL clubs have been able to produce this season&hellip; Pittsburgh acquired the controversial Wilson as a stop-gap goalie but he&rsquo;s won the No. 1 assignment&hellip; Johnny Wilson has been doing a fine job coaching the Colorado Rockies. January was the best month so far for the Rockies with 5-6-3 record. Norm Coston, PR director of the Winnipeg Jets, is the fourth man to occupy the post in four years. He&rsquo;s lasted the longest. It will be two years in September for Coston&hellip; Dennis Murphy, former president of the Workd Hockey Association, would like to place a WHA team in San Francisco. Murphy gets a great kick out of life and will always do OK&hellip; One of hockey&rsquo;s most able play-by-play announcers is Joe Starkey who does the Colorado Rockies&rsquo; games over KLZ Radio and KWGN-TV, Denver&hellip; Joe was located in Oakland last season and wants to remain in the West. He was offered announcing jobs with four Eastern NHL clubs after Oakland bowed out of pro hockey&hellip; When Buffalo Sabres defeated Colorado. 6-4, earlier this month, Gerry Desjardins tied his own club record for goaltending victories in a season, 29. It was Gerry&rsquo;s 45th start in 50 Buffalo games&hellip; After Michel Plasse beat the Rangers, 5-2, with a spectacular 48-save display of goalkeeping, New York coach John Ferguson had this to say about the clever Colorado netminder: &ldquo;If he had kept quiet, he&rsquo;d still be in Montreal.&rdquo; Ferguson was referring to Plasse&rsquo;s griping at Scotty Bowman when Michel was with Montreal in 1973-74.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03883/3946868-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="332" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michel Plasse</figcaption></div>&bull; BUFFALO SABRES are worried about the eye injury to goalie Gerry Desjardins. He stopped a shot from Boston&rsquo;s Peter McNab recently and it cut his right eyelid. He may miss several games&hellip; Washington Caps report their attendance is up 1,573 per game and the average for 26 home dates has been 10,509&hellip; Duke University won a recent round robin hockey tournament played at the Greensboro, N.C. Coliseum. Duke downed University of North Carolina, 10 in the final while Wake Forest defeated North Carolina State, 7-5, in the consolation. The North Carolina colleges would like to form a conference with other universities in the area&hellip; Louisville is anxious to obtain a franchise in the International Hockey League for next season&hellip; Detroit Red Wings happy to sign Reed Larson, All-American defenseman from the University of Minnesota. He signed with the Wings one day after dropping out of university and just two hours before the Wings took the ice against the Minnesota North Stars&hellip; Scotty Bowman has coached NHL teams to 400 wins. In 690 NHL games, including four years with St. Louis, the shrewd Montreal mentor has a win percentage of 675 Bowman has the fifth best record among the history of NHL coaches. Only Dick Irvin, Toe Blake, Billy Reay and Jack Adams have won more games than he has.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04781/3946861-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="330" height="466"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scotty Bowman</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05642/3946913-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2>Stadium Ticket Prices Are Much Too High</h2>I think that ticket prices in the hockey arenas are much too high.I&rsquo;d like to go to more hockey games, but my parents simply can&rsquo;t afford it.If owners want more people to ge to hockey games, they had better lower the prices.ALFRED STICKER, Eighty-Four, Pa.<h2>All Star Game A Class Affair</h2>I would just like to say that the Vancouver All Star game was a real &ldquo;class&rdquo; affair.From the player introductions to the selection of the first star of the game, it held the true meaning of All Star.In these days of professional sports, it was really something to see Bobby Clark, the NHL&rsquo;s MVP, and Guy Lafleur the game&rsquo;s leading scorer, wheel a small boy out to center ice for the ceremonial faceoff, along with Fred (Cyclone) Taylor.As for the game itself, it had to be the greatest in a number of years with great performances by many, especially Bernie Parent, Lanny McDonald and of course Rick Martin.Hats off to Bill Hughes and all the people in Vancouver for a truly great affair.MARK LEO, Erie, Pa.<h2>An Open Letter To Bobby Orr</h2>Let me say at the start that there is no one who appreciates your contribution to hockey more than I. It is with a great deal of regret that I have followed the controversy over your health, and with sadness that I write this letter.Mr. Orr, your body, which has served you so well, is trying to tell you that it has taken all it can. Injuries come easily and often now that I believe you must have been coerced into playing this season, whether the price was $3 million or $30 million.You owe nothing to hockey. In fact, hockey owes you for making you suffer as you have and will continue to do.If you continue to play, it will almost surely result in your eventual confinement to a wheelchair and I will feel I and my fellow hockey fans put you there.Please Mr. Orr, for all our sakes, and for your future, don&rsquo;t return to the Chicago Black Hawks as a player. You would be helping no one, and hurting yourself irrepairably.CRAIG GREENLAW, Miami, Fla.<h2>IPWB Doing Great With Game Of The Week</h2>I would like to take this opportunity to publicly commend and thank the Iowa Public Broadcasting Network for their weekly coverage of the NHL Game of the Week.Words can not truely express the feelings of appreciation and gratitude that all hockey fans across Iowa feel for IPBN for its coverage when private network affiliated stations turned thumbs down to such coverage.DOUGLAS C. CARLSON, Cedar Rapids, Iowa<h2>Richfield Coliseum Not Properly Located</h2>As a former resident of Cleveland, I would like to reply to the letter of Robert Piechowski in the Jan. 7 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS. In his letter, Robert defends the location of the Cleveland Coliseum.I made my first visit back home in 11 years this past October. I attended the game at the Coliseum the night of Oct. 19 and saw the Cleveland Barons shutout the Chicago Black Hawks 3-0.As to the location of the Coliseum. I have to question it. I have to assume from reading the letter of Robert Piechowski that he does not have any problem getting to the building.If I were living in Cleveland today, I would have a problem as I do not drive. There is no public transportation to the Coliseum.I was told that the Coliseum management does not want buses coming out to the Coliseum, although when I was there I saw signs marked for buses.I had planned taking a taxi cab from downtown Cleveland (this could have cost me as much as $50 a round trip) until an aunt and uncle came to my rescue and went to the game with me, although we did not sit together as I had purchased my ticket by mail in advance. This is how I had transportation to the game.When the Barons plaved at the Arena in downtown Cleveland. I was a season ticket holder and member of the Cleveland Barons Booster Club. Getting to the hockey games and other events at the Arena was no problem as there was good public transportation.I have no way of knowing how many people are not going to the Coliseum simply because they have no way of getting there.I agree with Robert Piechowski when he says that the Cleveland sports fans will not support a loser. Having lived in Cleveland over half of my life, I know this to be true.It is my hope that the fans in Cleveland will start supporting the Barons. It is my further hope that the stadium management will relent in their opposition to public transportation to the Coliseum.BOB ALPERIN, Fresno, Calif.<h2>Missouri Hockey Fans Accept Trivia Challenge</h2>In the Jan. 28 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, Ken McKenzie said in his Passing the Puck column: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll match the team of Connolly and Patterson (of CFDR in Nova Scotia) against anyone when it comes to hockey knowledge.&rdquo;My cousin, Jim Rohde, and I would like to match hockey knowledge with Connolly and Patterson. We have yet to be stumped by any hockey quiz, whether issued by a publication or presented on Hockey Night in Canada. We have been considered by many to be &ldquo;experts&rdquo; in the field of hockey knowledge.We invite Connolly and Patterson to write or call us collect with any question they might have concerning hockey. We are confident we can answer it.RICHARD ROHDE, Sterling Heights, Mi. &#9632;

f0004-05

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY JACK MCCARTHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01900/3946944-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETER McNAB&hellip; Picking On His Father&rsquo;s Club (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;The Bruins, mindful of his muscle, bring burly John Wensink up from Rochester, and he gets a big goal; rookie Stan Jonathan rams in a pair of goals in another victory; Don Marcotte scores five goals in five games; Peter McNab runs his goal total to 35. This is what is known as spreading it around, and the teams that do this are the teams that win.Wensink is a 23-year-older out of Maxwell, Ont., who stands six feet and goes a muscular 200 pounds. He has a rep as a fighter. He was needed, of course, with the Bruins missing Wayne Cashman and big John Bucyk, and with Terry O&rsquo;Reilly down with the fluJohn was not called upon to get tough in his first NHL game, a 5-4 win over the St. Louis Blues. But he scored his first NHL goal in the game, breaking a 2-2 tie to give Boston a lead it never lost.Although the muscle was not in evidence that night, Wensink was in the thick of a bench-clearing brawl in his second game at Atlanta. This was precipitated by Willi Plett of the Flames, who took a run at goaler Gerry Cheevers when he came out to clear a puck.This was a mistake, as Brad Park went after Plett; followed by Jonathan, O&rsquo;Reilly, and before the evening was over, Mike Milbury and Wensink Zapping a goaltender, even a crease-clearing guy like Cheevers, is still a no-no in the NHL.Whatever, whether it was the presence of Wensink or a general urge to throw their weight around, the Bruins showed that they are ready, willing and able to mix it. This will not go unnoticed around the circuit, which should please coach Don Cherry.Jonathan, meanwhile, came up with two goals in a Boston victory over the Washington Caps, as did McNab. Jonathan was left out by Cherry to try for the hat trick, and although he didn&rsquo;t get it. Cherry said. &ldquo;I never worry about Jonathan, even though he is a rookie. He never does anything to hurt you. And more often than not, he helps you. He moves in the corners. He does a lot of nice things.Marcotte, of course, may be the quietest man in hockey, outside of his teammate, Dallas Smith, and his five goals in five games hiked his production to 17 goals. He is known mainly as a back-checking winger and has helped Boston to the NHL&rsquo;s second-best penalty-killing record. Says Cherry, &ldquo;Donnie Marcotte never has to score a goal and he&rsquo;s a valuable man. He does a lot of things.&rdquo;Last, but not, etc, McNab, who is having some kind of a season. He bagged two more goals against Washington to run his total to 35 on Feb. 6, no less. His father, Mac McNab, who is the GM of Washington, said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting sick of it, the way he&rsquo;s picking on us.&rdquo; Peter had four goals and seven points in five games against Washington, which also completed business for the season against Boston by Feb. 6. Rather early to complete a series, eh?BOSTON BEANS: The Bruins were considering a protest, or &ldquo;formal complaint&rdquo; against referee Dave Newell for his work in their 6-3 loss to the Flames in Atlanta&hellip;B&rsquo;s president Paul Mooney said he was going to review the game films before making any protests, which, he thoughtfully added. &ldquo;I doubt will do any good, but I want it on record how we feel about the officiating.&rdquo;The return of Bucyk (cranky back) was a day-to-day proposition, and Cherry was using Marcotte on the power play, which has been shuffled pretty well so far this season&hellip;Cherry can&rsquo;t seem to get the production he wants out of it, Marcotte got a goal on it, however&hellip; Washington, incidentally, had an 0-4-1 record against Boston&hellip; The Caps have never beaten the Bruins, with a three-tie record in 15 games. &#9632;

f0005-01

Hot Bruins Holding Lead In Division On Balanced Scoring

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;Pat Hickey is young, handsome, talented, and happy to be a New York Ranger.&ldquo;All I want is more ice time, so that I can show what I can do,&rdquo; plaintively suggests the 23-year-old, six-foot-one, 180-pound winger. &ldquo;When I get on I make things happen and that&rsquo;s my job. But I don&rsquo;t get on enough.&rdquo;Hickey started the season as the left wing on the Phil Esposito line. Ken Hodge is still the right side operative, but when general manager-coach John Ferguson had the chance to obtain former All Star Bill Goldsworthy from the Minnesota North Stars, he jumped at the opportunity and installed Goldy on the port side, despite the fact he is normally a right wing.&ldquo;Since then I have been spotted,&rdquo; grimaces Hickey. &ldquo;Sometimes I play left wing, sometimes right wing, sometimes even center on a fourth line.&rdquo;Usually, the Brantford, Ontario, native gets about five shifts a game, but he still has found time to squeeze 15 goals and 10 assists for 25 points through the first week of February. More than a few of them were individual rushes, with Hickey&rsquo;s personal stamp all over them.Hickey arrived in New York at the beginning of last year after two seasons with the Toronto Toros of the WHA. He had been drafted second and 30th overall in the 1973 amateur lottery by Emile Francis&mdash;and finally signed with the Rangers at the same time that center Wayne Dillon came over to New York.&ldquo;Hickey does a good job and has a lot of ability,&rdquo; says Ferguson. &ldquo;He has a place on this team.&rdquo;Pat. a bachelor who lives on the East Side of Manhattan in an area reserved for singles, drives to practice in a snazzy white Lincoln. He is following in the footsteps of Rod Gilbert, who always insisted on domiciling in Manhattan even though the practice rink and most of the team lived in Long Beach, Long Island.&ldquo;1 like Manhattan, that&rsquo;s all there is to it, &ldquo;says Pat. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a big thing, but I would rather live in New York. I have a super apartment filled with a collection of antiques.&rdquo;What is a big thing to Hickey is his status in limbo. The regular Ranger lines list Esposito with Goldsworthy and Hodge, Dillon with Steve Vickers and Gilbert and Walter Tkaczuk centering for Greg Polis and Donnie Murdoch. Hickey is the odd man out.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011065/3946982-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="657" height="1315"><figcaption class="caption-body">GILLES GRATTON</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I think Hickey might make a good center,&rdquo; opines one of the Rangers wingers. &ldquo;When he gets to play center he can lay down a pretty good pass.&rdquo;The Rangers have the dilemma of Pete Stemkowski, almost a permanent scratch these days, also a center, plus the long-range contract that Francis gave Dillon when he though the young man might be a budding superstar.Stemkowski wants very badly to play and feels that he can help the Rangers by playing regularly.One NHL coach, Freddie Shero of the Philadelphia Flyers, is watching the Stemowski situation with amazement.&ldquo;We have great depth but we have no one sitting out that has the ability level of Stemkowski,&rdquo; noted Shero. &ldquo;He can help someone in this league.&rdquo;With the Rangers desperately needing a goaltender, despite the great effort by rookie Dougie Soutaert in recording 36 saves and his first NHL shutout, 4-0, over the Islanders Feb. 6, a trade involving Stemmer might seem logical. Ferguson has indicated he doesn&rsquo;t want to trade Pete, but things might change in this area.Fergy, incensed by the poor goaling display that Gilles Gratton put on during the 6-3 loss to the Islanders Feb. 3, snarled, &ldquo;That wasn&rsquo;t NHL caliber goaltending, especially the long shot from the point by Denis Potvin that got by. We haven&rsquo;t had NHL goaltending for a month now, from Gratton.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02820/3946975-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="619" height="764"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAT HICKEY &hellip; Makes Things Happen</figcaption></div>BLUE CHIPS: The Rangers lead the NHL in power play goals with 47 at press time &hellip;Greg Polis played in his 500th NHL game Feb, 6 and scored a goal&hellip;Donnie Murdoch seems stalled at 31 goals, the result of closer second half checking&hellip;One of center Phil Esposito&rsquo;s superstitions is to stand by the side boards away from the main body of players during the playing of The National Anthem&hellip;Dan Newman is up from New Haven and is taking the odd shift with Esposito&rsquo;s line&hellip; Rangers have one win&mdash;that&rsquo;s right, one win&mdash;four losses and five ties versus their Patrick Division rivals. &#9632;

f0006-01

Rangers’ Hickey Produces Maximum With Minimum Amount Of ice Time

<div class="byline">BY GORAN STUBB</div>PRAGUE&mdash;Czechoslovakia&rsquo;s National hockey team will make very few changes from the one that played in the Canada Cup series as they prepare for the World championships in Vienna April 20-May 8.The Czechs, who battled Canada right down to overtime for the Canada Cup championship last fall, will try to defend its world championship title with almost the same lineup.Two stars from the Canada Cup series, Jiri Holik and goaltender Vlado Dzurilla, will probably not be on the Czech National team for the world championship.Holik has expressed a desire to remain with his own club, Dukla Jihlava, and Durzilla has been replaced by Jiri Chra as the backup to veteran Jiri Holicek.Karel Gut and Jan Starsi, the coaches of the Czech National squad, are putting the team together and bunched the squad off to Finland for a pair of exhibition games.The coaches had Holicek and Chra in goal. The defense was made up of Oldrich Machac, Frantisek Pospisil. Jiri Bubla, Milan Kajkl, Miroslav Dvorak, Frantisek Kaberle, Rudolf Tajcnar and newcomer Jan Neliba.The forwards included Vladimir Martinec, Jiri Novak, Bohuslav Statsny, Marian Statsny, Peter Statsny, Jaroslav Pouzar, Bohuslav Ebermann, Ivan Hlinka, Milan Novy, Vincent Lukac, Vaclac Hone and Pavel Richter.Novy, the 26-year-old star winger from Kladno, is in outstanding physical shape. He currently leads all scorers in Czechoslovakian hockey with 30 goals and 15 assists.Ebermann has 17 goals and 21 assists to rank a close second to Novy. Klapac also has 17 goals and 21 assists, followed by Hlinka, who has scored 22 goals and 14 assists.There was a feeling that the Czechs might have their hands full in their exhibition games against Finland later this month. The Finns are rebuilding their national team. Recently, the Finns played a pair of exhibition games against Sweden and there were eight new faces in the Finnish lineup.Sweden won the first game 3-1 in Oulu on goals by Nils-Olov Olsson, Lars-Erik Eriksson and Ken Nisson with Matti Rautiainen scoring for Finland.However, it was different the following night in Tampere as the Finns came out and skated to a 6-2 triumph. Esa Peltonen, Kari Makkonen (two), Risto Siltanen, Antero Lehtonen, and Tapio Levo were the Finnish marksmen. Rolf Edberg and Lars Lindgren replied for the Swedes.Teenager Risto Silanen, who has been picked by the National team from Ilves Tampere, was outstanding on defense for the Finns. He is only 18. Silanen was selected as the top defenseman at the junior world championship in Czechoslovakia in January and the Finns now feel he is ready for the national team.The smallest hockey league in the world has to be in East Germany, where two clubs battled it out for the league championship in a best-of-10 series.Dynamo Berlin won the title after playing to a 4-4 deadlock against Dynamo Weiswasser in the final game.An All Star team from the two clubs will be put together to represent East Germany in the B Pool of the world championships, scheduled for next month in Tokyo.In the Soviet Union, Central Army remains the No. 1 club. The team that boasts Valeri Kharlamov is leading the league with 39 points. Second is Dynamo Moscow, with 30 points and Tractor is third with 29.Aleksandr Yakushev is in trouble, and so is his team, Spartak. The line of Yakushev, Viktor Schalimov and Vladimir Shadrin did not do well when Spartak lost 6-1 to Tractor and then dropped a 7-1 decision to Dynamo Moscow.Yakushev was kicked out of the game against Tractor.In West Germany, Koln is still on top in the standings with big Eric Kuhnhackel and Mike Sarner of the United States the star players.Koln is on top with 49 points. Krefeld is in second place with 46 and Dusseldorf is third with 40.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01951/3947037-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="683" height="1566"></div> &#9632;

f0007-01

Czechs To Make Few Lineup Changes; Finns Rebuild For World Title Chase

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;Nick Libett, the steady, dependable left winger for the Red Wings, has been one of Detroits&rsquo; most dedicated and durable pro athletes of the last decade.Libett ranks with outfielders Willie Horton and Mickey Stanley of the Tigers and defenseman lineman Larry Hand of the Lions as the city&rsquo;s elder statesmen among athletes.Libett, 31, has been with the Red Wings longer than any player on the roster&mdash;10 years&mdash;and when you consider the wholesale changes the club has undergone during his career, it&rsquo;s a tribute to Libett that he&rsquo;s still is around. The very fact that he&rsquo;s survived coaching change after coaching change and trade after trade is proof of his value to the club.Libett certainly is the most unheralded of all the city&rsquo;s top athletes and that&rsquo;s not his fault. The blame lies in good part with the fact that the Wings are losers, and have been losers, for most of Libett&rsquo;s 12 years. Who pays much attention to losers, anyway?In Libett&rsquo;s case, it&rsquo;s unfortunate because he probably deserves better. Still, he has never complained&mdash;not about the situation as it pertains to himself, or about his losing hockey club, or about some of his teammates who seldom give it the kind of effort Libett puts into his game.Libett, who must be considered a strong candidate for the Masterton Trophy for his dedication to the game of hockey, earned some recogniation this season when he was selected to the Wales Conference All Star team as the Red Wing representative It was his first appearance in the classic.Now, you must be thinking, there are a lot of hockey players who always give it a big effort and that&rsquo;s true. But consider this: It&rsquo;s easy to work hard and be dedicated when you&rsquo;re playing for a winning team, where there is plenty of motivation and the rewards are plentiful But to perform that way for a loser, well that&rsquo;s an entirely different matter.&ldquo;The most important thing is, you have to be satisfied with yourself.&rdquo; Libett said. &ldquo;Ten years from now, when you look back at it, the only thing that&rsquo;s going to matter is if you did your best.&rdquo;Still, Libett admitted that it&rsquo;s hard to keep going on the ice and playing hard while everything around you is collapsing.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really hard,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s just the way I play, the way I&rsquo;ve always done it. I know when I play bad. I think this year I&rsquo;ve been a little more spotty than before. Maybe that&rsquo;s because the team isn&rsquo;t playing well and everyone is trying to do so much more than they should.&rdquo;Like everyone else, Libett is frustrated and baffled by the Wings&rsquo; troubles.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03802/3947068-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="635" height="974"><figcaption class="caption-body">NICK LIBETT &hellip; It&rsquo;s Not Easy</figcaption></div>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no excuse.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The other teams in the league, you see them improving, but we&rsquo;re still having our troubles.&ldquo;Our problem is that we don&rsquo;t have a lot of goal scoring. We have a sound nucleus but the leaders on this team (people like Libett, Walt McKechnie, Dan Maloney and Dennis Hextail) aren&rsquo;t great goal scorers and that&rsquo;s the difference between us and Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.&ldquo;Those teams have their 40-goal scorers to get them goals when they need them. We don&rsquo;t.&ldquo;Take Hextail. He&rsquo;s playing super and having a great season but he&rsquo;s not a real big goal scorer and never will be. And me, the best year I ever had (31 goals in 1971-72), I was on the checking line.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-03

Club’s Elder Statesman, Libett Keeps Producing Despite Wings’ Troubles

<div class="byline">&#x2014; BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011055/3947106-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="464" height="522"></div>The Offensive Defenseman&hellip;IF IAN TURNBULL, the Montreal native who plays for Toronto, has been overshadowed before, he emerged into the limelight with his five goals in one game, a record for a defenseman, the first week in February. It is hard to believe Bobby Orr didn&rsquo;t do it, or Red Kelly, but they didn&rsquo;t and this husky, handsome 23-year-old did.The record before was four. It was first set almost 60 seasons ago, and it was tied six times, but the last time was almost 50 years ago. Harry Cameron did it twice and the well-remembered Newsy Lalonde a couple of times. Sprague Cleghorn did it. and Johnny McKinnon and the great Hap Day.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02949/3947099-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="921" height="1319"><figcaption class="caption-body">Leafs&rsquo; Ian Turnbull feels that proper NHL recognition will come to him in time. His record five-goal single-game performance last week is certain to enhance his status. (Photo by Rich Pilling)</figcaption></div>The last time was in November of 1929 and it has lasted since that time even though the new breed of modern defensemen are, rather than hitters, skaters who range up ice to go on offense, and defense be damned. Somehow no defenseman fired in five until Turnbull took the ice the night of Feb. 2 in Maple Leaf Gardens and destroyed Detroit.I don&rsquo;t know what there is about Toronto&rsquo;s blue- and-white togs but the uniform seems to touch off explosions. Last season you had Darry Sittler matching the modern regular-season record with six goals in a single game, then tying the playoff standard with five in one. Now, Turnbull, Oh, these are excellent players, but their explosions were remarkably out of the ordinary for their past performances.His last season as a junior, Turnbull played defense on Ottawa alongside Denis Potvin, the most spectacular and publicized prospect of those days. His first season as a pro, Turnbull was teamed in Toronto with Borje Salming, who may be the best defenseman, maybe the best player of today. Turn bull and Salming may be the best duo on defense these days.&ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t bothered me to be overshadowed,&rdquo; observed Turnbull the other night. &ldquo;It has helped me to play with players like that. I&rsquo;ve learned from them. I&rsquo;ve gotten plays made for me by them. I&rsquo;ve had openings I wouldn&rsquo;t have had if others weren&rsquo;t concentrating on them. I figure if I get to be good enough I&rsquo;ll get the good recognition.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s got it now.TURNBULL IS AN interesting young man. Married two years, he and his Inge expect their first child in March. I&rsquo;m looking forward to that,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something in life I&rsquo;ve always wanted to experience. I want to be a father. I want to be a good father. A good family can be a good experience. I&rsquo;m interested in all the experiences life has to offer, so long as they&rsquo;re good ones.&ldquo;I enjoy the hockey experience enormously, but I want to enjoy other things in life, too. I spend so much time with my team and my teammates that I want to get away from the game and the guys and get into other games and get with other kinds of people.&rdquo; he comments.Music moves him and he gives the guitar a lot of time. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting to be better at it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t sing, but I play. A lot of blue-grass, but a lot of other stuff, too. I play a cross-section of many kinds of music. I&rsquo;m interested in musicians and the nightlife they lead. It is a life-style not unlike hockey and one 1 might like, but whether I&rsquo;ll try it later I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;He might try a restaurant. He helped some friends from civilian life launch a Toronto restaurant. Grapes, for a Feburary opening. &ldquo;It was a lot of fun.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;They had to decorate the place and set up a menu and order supplies and hire help. I helped. Like any business, it&rsquo;s kind of complicated. You have to know what you&rsquo;re doing. I learned a lot. Whether I will use it later, I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;HE HAS HIS HOBBIES, including the restoration of a Rolls Royce he purchased in England and had shipped here. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a vintage machine of the highest quality. I work on it and drive it. I take a lot of pride in it. I like nice things,&rdquo; he says. Well, if he keeps firing in five goals a game he can buy the best from here on in.The six-foot, 200-pound Turnbull turned pro with the reputation of being big offensively, little defensively. He scored 59 goals his last two seasons as an amateur and Leafs made him the 15th pick in the draft in the summer of 1973. He scored eight goals his first season in the NHL, but tore up a knee when hipchecked by Blues&rsquo; Bob Plager early the following season.He came back last season to tally 20 goals, but was prouder of a big plus. &ldquo;Early on I had several run-ins with Red Kelly,&rdquo; admits the independent youngster. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been after me to do more defensively. I guess he knows best.&rdquo; In any event, Ian had gone 30 games without a goal this season until his explosion. Coach Kelly said, &ldquo;At times he has a tendency to go on offense and to hang with the defense. He was getting better about it, but this will probably ruin him.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011020/3947137-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENNIS VERVERGAERT&hellip; Has To Use His Size (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;While there have been mass lamentations on the team performance of the Vancouver Canucks so far this season, one man&rsquo;s performance has been pretty much constant and hasn&rsquo;t been noticed.Dennis Ververgaert, the man who made All Star game history last year, and also fell one short of the club record for most goals scored by a player in one season with 37, has hardly been noticed this year because of the losing ways of the club.Another reason why he&rsquo;s been laboring in relative obscurity is the fact that he hasn&rsquo;t been aggressive enough from his right wing position and also because he hasn&rsquo;t been on any one complete line for any more than three weeks.He&rsquo;s not setting the world on fire with goals this season, but with a little luck, the former London junior is hoping to finish with the same number of goals he had last season. He&rsquo;s got 19 with 28 games remaining, and he figures that the way the team is now going combined with the fact that he has finally realized that the shoulder he separated two seasons ago is completely healed, he&rsquo;ll make his personal goals.Further, with a more aggressive style injected into his mode of play, Ververgaert thinks that the goals will come much more easily, as will the cheers from the crowd, something that no Canucks player has heard too often this season.&ldquo;When I played junior in London, I got 58 goals and when I hit, the fans were behind me. But there were nights when I could get three goals and if I didn&rsquo;t hit, they&rsquo;d get on me. They think that&rsquo;s the way hockey has become and they&rsquo;re right. A big man has to use his size.&rdquo;Ververgaert was speaking in response to an excellent game he had just had against the Minnesota North Stars when he was knocking opponents all over the rink and in the process, setting up excellent scoring chances for himself and his linemates.&ldquo;Those guys I hit seemed more concerned about not being hit than retaliating,&rdquo; said Ververgaert. &ldquo;I found myself with more room and time to work with after that. I think it will help me the next time I go into Minnesota. I think I may get a little more time.&rdquo;What Ververgaert is just beginning to realize is that if he starts to lean on people the way he can, he&rsquo;ll be getting a lot more room from every team in the league. And now that the shoulder he injured isn&rsquo;t bothering him psychologically anymore, he&rsquo;ll probably start to hit more.&ldquo;It was the first time I had ever been injured and it took me a long time before I could follow through on a check,&rdquo; said Ververgaert. &ldquo;All my checking is with the shoulder and it took a while before I could make myself believe I wasn&rsquo;t going to injure it again.&rdquo;Ververgaert, who says that his personal goal every year is to do better than the previous season, feels he can still beat his 37 goal total of last year with a little luck.&ldquo;I had a bad start this year, but that&rsquo;s all past and I&rsquo;ve got 19 goals now, and I&rsquo;ve got 28 games to get another 19, it&rsquo;s that simple.&rdquo;The likelihood of the veteran right winger attaining his goals is bound up with the team reaching theirs, and that is now surviving the race of the slugs and beating Minnesota and Colorado for third place. But Ververgaert sees the race a little more optimistically.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re only 12 points behind St. Louis. That&rsquo;s only six games. If they go into a bit of a slump and we get something going, we can still catch them for first place. I don&rsquo;t think there is any question now that we are going to make the playoffs.&rdquo;One of the reasons for his sunny outlook is the arrival of defenseman Jack Mcllhargey, recently obtained from the Philadelphia Flyers in the trade for Bob Dailey.&ldquo;With Jack here, it will relieve the pressure on a couple of other guys who are expected to do the hitting,&rdquo; said Ververgaert. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to score goals to help the team. They expect me to score. But I also know that when I hit, the goals come more often. &#9632;

f0009-01

Ververgaert Returning To Aggressive Style Of Play

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03636/3947168-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">LOU NANNE &hellip; He Loves To Play</figcaption></div>MINNESOTA&mdash;So much has been said the last few months about the promising group of young players on the Minnesota North Stars that contributions of the veterans sometimes go overlooked.Lou Nanne, the old man of the North Stars at 35, is a good example.Now, the six-foot, 183-pound defenseman does not possess the elan of an Orr nor the power of a Larry Robinson nor does he carry impressive scoring statistics as his two goals and 13 assists in 40 games show.And Lou Nanne will be the first to admit that he is still making mistakes in his ninth full season with the North Stars.But the best quality which oozes from this quick-talking man from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., is his approach to the game of hockey. He loves to play this sport.He played a full schedule for the North Stars last year, joined up right away with a quickly assembled team of Americans (he&rsquo;s a naturalized citizen) for the world championships in Poland last spring and also performed in the Canada Cup with Team USA.The latter experience tacked an extra six weeks on his current season.It was no surprise, then, to see Nanne skating in the warmup before a recent game against Buffalo, just two games after his nose was broken and his face gashed in a collision with the boards.But there he was taking his regular defensive shift when the game began, his broken nose stuffed with padding and his face protected by a shield.&rsquo;The doc told me if my nose was bleeding i couldn&rsquo;t play.&rdquo; offered Nanne. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t too bad when they checked it in the afternoon and the doc gave me the go-ahead to play. If I looked like I was puffing out there, it was because I couldn&rsquo;t breathe too well.&rdquo;Nanne did put enough huff behind two passes to set up a couple of goals in a 4-3 upset victory over the Sabres.Talking about his facial equipment getup later, Nanne forgot to mention the stitches below his nose and the blackish-blue coloring on the right side of his face.&ldquo;The stitches are nothing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had so many needles in me now. I quit counting after 300 career stitches. No, it wasn&rsquo;t hard coming back after the injury. I feel no different now than when I was playing for the University of Minnnesota.. I&rsquo;m in shape and I weigh the same now as then. I hate to miss a game&mdash;I really do.&rdquo;Nanne won all-American honors at Minnesota as a defenseman and served as captain of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team, signing with the North Stars lite in the 1967-68 season.He had his best season with the North Stars as a right wing on a line with Dean Prentice and Murray Oliver when he scored 21 goals and 28 assists in 1971-72, back when the North Stars used to make the playoffs.That shows his versatility, he can play up front and back. But when this season opened, there was talk that perhaps Nanne was going to be a victim of the team&rsquo;s youth movement. Several others, such as Glen Sather and Craig Cameron, were farmed out.&ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; declared Nanne. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had to work my butt off every year I&rsquo;ve been with this team&mdash;I&rsquo;ve never been guaranteed a job. I wasn&rsquo;t upset when I didn&rsquo;t go with the team for the first exhibition game. The only reason I played in the second one was that Tom Reid came down with a rash. The only time I&rsquo;m upset is when I have to sit out a regular season game.&rdquo;Nanne scored a goal and an assist in that second exhibition game, showing he was ready for another season. With one year remaining on his current contract. Nanne plans to play again next year.&ldquo;Players on other teams give me a lot of heat about being the old man on this club.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;All I tell them is that the grey in my hair is for appearance only. It makes me look more dignified.&rdquo;A dignified statesman of the ice who loves to play.STAR DUST: If the North Stars fail to make the playoffs for a fourth straight season, they can blame their play on road (three victories in their first 27 away games) or losses against teams in their own division (2-7-3)&hellip;Play in the third period didn&rsquo;t help much either on a three-loss road trip to Vancouver. Colorado and Pittsburgh&hellip;Defenseman Fred Barrett was knocked out of action for several games with a pulled groin muscle and Jerry Engele was summoned from New Haven to replace him &hellip;Bill Fairbairn continued to have back problems and Pierre Jarry, although improving still had not skated in trying to come from knee surgery in November&hellip;Steve Jensen had two shorthanded goals in three games&hellip;Glen Sharpley left the team in Pittsburgh after playing two periods to stand in a preliminary hearing on charges stemming from a fight in junior hockey in 1975-76&hellip;Stars were first NHL team to pass the 200 figure in goals allowed&mdash;a great reason why everyone on the team is a minus player. &#9632;

f0010-03

Nanne Fights For Job—Even After Nine Seasons

<div class="byline">BY GARY MCCARTHY</div>MONTREALThe Canadiens, or more of them at least, are a happy bunch of athletes these days. The Canadiens never really have much to get upset about primarily because this team doesn&rsquo;t lose very often. And. the chances of them losing very often between now and the end of the 1976-77 National Hockey League schedule are remote.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01998/3947237-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="643" height="661"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK CHARTRAW &hellip; Hot Over Treatment</figcaption></div>The Canadiens are back in town after completing their final lengthy road swing of the season&mdash;a trip that earned them five out of a possible six points&mdash;and they face a favorable schedule in their remaining 25 games before the playoffs get under way.Of the remaining 25 games the Canadiens have on their schedule, 14 of them are set for the Forum, where the Canadiens have gone 20 games without a loss. During that stretch they have won 15 and tied five. The last time they lost on Forum ice was Oct. 25 when the Bruins came to town and won 4-3.The Canadiens have not lost three games in a row since January, 1975. They have had only a pair of two-game losing streaks&mdash;one in March 1975 and the other in March. 1976.The players, naturally, are delighted at having picked up five out of six points on the last road trip &mdash; victories in Cleveland and Vancouver and a tie in Los Angeles. However, they are also encouraged by the fact that they don&rsquo;t have to travel to the west coast anymore this season.In fact, the Canadiens are through travelling to Vancouver. Los Angeles, Colorado, Cleveland, St. Louis and Chicago for this year&mdash;unless they should meet one of those teams in the playoffs.Canadiens&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman feels that if the team can win 17 of their remaining 25 games, it would give the club about 120 points in the standings and should be enough to clinch the over-all NHL championship.At this writing, the Canadiens hold an 11-point edge over their nearest rivals&mdash;the Philadelphia Flyers. The Habs have beaten the Flyers three times in as many meetings this season and the fourth game in the grudge series is scheduled for the Forum.It appears as though the Canadiens will be healthy for the stretch run to the championship as well.Rejean Houle, who suffered a slight shoulder separation against the Buffalo Sabres Jan. 29, has resumed skating and hopes to rejoin the team next week. He missed the road trip and took some good-natured ribbing from his teammates when they returned&ldquo;The guys kept telling me how much they missed me on the road trip, but look what they did.&rdquo; he laughed while the Canadiens held a workout at a suburban arena.Jacques Lemaire, who centers Montreal&rsquo;s top line that has Steve Shutt at left wing and Guy Lafleur at right wing is also healthy. At first, it was feared that Lemaire had suffered a broken toe after stopping a shot with his foot on his first shift against the Kings. However, X-rays revealed only a bruise and no fracture.The Habs&rsquo; line has been flying. Shutt leads the NHL in goals with 45, Lafleur tops the league in points with 89 and Lemaire is in the leading 20 with 58 points. 27 of them goals, Lafleur has 40 goals, second only to Shutt.If there are any unhappy members in the Canadiens&rsquo; organization, it would have to be Pete Mahovlich and Rick Chartraw. Mahovlich had expressed displeasure with his reduced amount of ice time lately and had indicated he might play out his option next year.Bowman had said the Canadiens would have a talk with Mahovlich but later told writers during the road trip that he doubted whether general manager Sam Pollock would try and work out a trade before the end of the current season.Chartraw also is very unhappy at being left on the bench more often than not. On several occasions, he works out with the team during the pre-game warmup but then takes off his equipment and occupies a seat in the press box during the game.Here again, though. Bowman feels that a trade isn&rsquo;t likely just yet because Pollock would prefer to keep the team intact at this stage of the season. Bowman did say, however, that if the situation were to reach critical stages, something might be worked out.Chartraw was dressed for the pre-game warmup against the Kings, but was told after the warm-up that he would not be playing against Los Angeles.&ldquo;A few of the guys exploded when they saw me taking off my equipment.&rdquo; Chartraw mentioned. &ldquo;I was so hot at that guy I went out of my way to avoid him.&rdquo;A week earlier, Chartraw had been scheduled to dress against the New York Islanders for a game against the Forum. Apparently, Chartraw advised the club he couldn&rsquo;t play and that was followed by a discussion between himself and Bowman.The Canadiens were down to 16 players because of injuries to Houle and Bouchard, but apparently Chartraw told the Canadiens he didn&rsquo;t feel right and added he didn&rsquo;t think he could be of any help to the team.HABS NOTES: Guy Lafleur scored two goals and added six assists on the three-game road trip. That gave him 83 points and moved him back into first place in the individual scoring race. His closest rival, Marcel Dionne of the Kings, was held off the scoresheet by the tough-checking Canadiens&hellip;Steve Shutt, who missed a practice when the team returned from the west coast because of a sore throat, was greeted with a new son when he got home. Wife Ninon presented him with a nine-pound, one-ounce baby. He has been named Jason John&hellip;Bill Nyrop played well on the road trip and is back in the starting lineup. Bowman said of Nyrop: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not hesitating as much now. That&rsquo;s probably because he has more confidence.&rdquo; Nyrop is usually paired with Guy Lapointe. &#9632;

f0011-01

Habs Happy With Rest Of Schedule

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;Allan Stanley, one of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s most respected defensemen for a score of years, has joined the coaching staff of the Buffalo Sabres.Stanley, who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs with the Sabres&rsquo; coach Floyd Smith, signed with Buffalo as defensive coordinator and assistant coach.The 50-year-old former NHL All Star played many years for Punch Imlach. the Sabres&rsquo; general manager, when Punch was coaching the Toronto club. He put in 10 years with the Maple Leafs, helping them to four Stanley Cups.Imlach emphasized that the hiring of Stanley in no way affects Smith s position with the club. &ldquo;Stanley was hired at Smitty&rsquo;s request,&rdquo; said Imlach &ldquo;Since Smitty talked to me about an assistant some time ago, we have been looking for one, one who would specialize on defense, because of the collective youth of the Sabre defensemen.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very pleased to have Allan Stanley join the organization. He was a great defenseman with Toronto and other NHL clubs and always was known as a very brainy player.&rdquo;Since the death of Tim Horton, who was Stanley&rsquo;s backline partner with the Leafs for many years, the Sabre defense has lacked a seasoned veteran. Horton acted as advisor and anchor for one of the biggest and youngest backline corps in the league.Stanley played 21 seasons in the NHL, finishing in 1968-69 with the Philadelphia Flyers. Besides his 10 years with the Maple Leafs, he served with the New York Rangers. Chicago Black Hawks and Boston Bruins.He played in 110 Stanley Cup playoff games and eight NHL All Star games. He ran a hockey school in Fenelon Falls. Ont., in recent years.His first opportunity to watch the Sabres as an employee of the club came in a road game against the New York Islanders and the new coach must have seen many ways the defense could improve.The Sabres lost that game. 6-3, with the Islanders scoring three times in the final period when Buffalo defenders were caught up ice to allow three-on-two and two-on-one breaks. The game-breaker was a shorthanded goal by Bryan Trottier.The Sabres Stanley was seeing, however, was a team that had not skated for three days and had gone through a series of travel difficulties because of Buffalo&rsquo;s worst snowstorm in history.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02846/3947268-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="595" height="652"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALLAN STANLEY &hellip; Defensive Coordinator</figcaption></div>After tying Atlanta on a Thursday night, the Sabres practiced the following morning with no idea of what troubles lay ahead. While they were working out, a snowstorm hit the area and left people and cars stranded on all major highways and closed off side streets for more than a weekThe scheduled flight for a trip to Montreal and a Saturday game with the Canadiens was cancelled. Players had a difficult time driving to their homes from the practice site and a more difficult time getting to the airport for a chartered flight to Montreal the afternoon of the game.Right winger Gary McAdam was involved in five accidents on his way home from practice and now is known to his teammates as &ldquo;Crash.&rdquo; A car stopped in front of McAdam&rsquo;s vehicle during a blinding storm and he bumped into it. While he was talking with the other driver, his car was hit from the rear four different times.Four of the Sabres were unable to travel from their homes to the airport for the Montreal flight and Gil Perreault arrived just as the plane was about to depart at 3:40 PM. His arrival gave the club three full forward lines for the game that night.Rick Martin, the team&rsquo;s leading goal scorer, didn&rsquo;t make it and neither did forwards Brian Spencer and Jim Lorentz and defenseman Lee Fogolin.The club arrived in Montreal too late for a pre-game meal and just in time to go directly to the Forum. Once the game began, however, the undermanned Sabres played one of their best games, twice coming from behind for a 3-3 tie.While in Montreal, they learned their home game the next night against Los Angeles had been postponed.Another storm hit Monday when they were scheduled for a morning practice and an evening trip to Long Island for a game against the Islanders Tuesday.The practice was called off and the players summoned to the airport for an early afternoon charter flight.That flight was cancelled and the airport was closed down. The team checked into a nearby motel, then checked out two hours later when a bus was acquired for the trip to Long Island.The bus left at three PM and arrived in Westbury, L.I., where the Sabres were staying, 10 hours later. For about half a dozen of the players&mdash;who never were in the minor leagues&mdash;it was a new experience.Rick Martin gave the Sabres an early lead with his 30th and 31st goals of the season but the Islanders dominated the late stages of the game.The next day the Sabres flew to Denver, where there was no snow at all. They had an hour skate the day of the game and then beat the Rockies, 6-4, to end a winless streak at six games (two ties).From there they went to St. Louis, where they had their first normal practice in a week and Stanley finally had a chance to work with the defense. &#9632;

f0011-02

Stanley To Help Sabre Kid Stars As Defense Coach

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011016/3947299-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE PALMATEER &hellip; Being Touted For Calder</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;The Toronto Maple Leafs have discovered this season that there&rsquo;s nothing like a good road trip to place their show back on the rails in the National Hockey League.The presence of ice shows at Maple Leaf Gardens twice this season has forced the Leafs to hit the trail for extended periods. On both occasions, the team was in slumps when it departed but strong showings on foreign turf straightened things out.Early in the schedule, the Leafs had four wins and a tie in six road games to snap out of a slow start. In late January, they were playing below 500 hockey when they went travelling again. They got the trip started poorly, losing at Los Angeles in a game when their top gunner Darryl Sittler was sidelined with torn rib cartilages.The Leafs took a two-day break at Las Vegas and then, minus their captain and a fair amount of money, they grabbed three wins and a tie in their next four games. The victories came at Vancouver, Minnesota and over the Islanders at Uniondale plus a tie against the Bruins in Boston.While the Leafs were delighted with the road-work, some opponents weren&rsquo;t too happy to have them drop into their arenas.Don Cherry, the Bruin coach, complained that the Leafs played dull hockey, slowing down the pace of the play and icing the puck repeatedly.&ldquo;I heard that they iced the puck 41 times in the game against the Islanders, which isn&rsquo;t a great way to put on a show. &ldquo; Cherry said. &ldquo;When they got the tie against us, they played a very conservative, defensive style of play which wasn&rsquo;t very entertaining for our fans.&rdquo;Leaf coach Red Kelly, who doesn&rsquo;t care if wins, especially on the road, aren&rsquo;t things of beauty, chuckled when Cherry sounded off.&ldquo;I&rsquo;II coach my team; tell him to coach his,&rdquo; Kelly said. &ldquo;Were not a high-scoring team which can go on the road and open things up We just don&rsquo;t have the shooters to challenge anyone to a goal-scoring match, especially with Sittler out of the lineup.&ldquo;Our best hockey is a tight, controlled defensive game and that&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;ve had some success on the road this season Getting points is what matters. Besides, how many teams try to open up and entertain people when they come into our rink?&rdquo;One important Leaf who probably plays better away from Maple Leaf Gardens is defenseman Borje Salming. He claims that the team tries to play entertaining hockey at home to please the fans by opening up on the attack.&ldquo;On the road, when we get in trouble in our own zone, we aren&rsquo;t afraid to ice the puck to get out of it.&rdquo; Salming said. &ldquo;If we ice the puck a lot at home, the fans boo us and that throws us off our game We don&rsquo;t play the way we go best.&ldquo;On the road, I think we&rsquo;re more relaxed and that&rsquo;s why we have a pretty good road record. &ldquo;Kelly s plan of alternating goalies Mike Balinateer and Wayne Thomas worked well on the road jaunt. Palmateer had a rough night at L A. but played well at Vancouver and was a standout in the victory over the Islanders. Thomas was solid in the games at Minnesota and Boston.In fact, following Palmateer&rsquo;s extraordinary game against the Islanders in which he stopped 40 of 41 shots, some members of the Leaf administration were touting the little rookie as a candidate for the Calder Trophy.Palmateer played down any mention of contention for the rookie award.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a guy in New York (Don Murdoch) who has 30 goals already,&rdquo; Palmateer said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d say he had his foot in the door of the trophy room.&rdquo;Important to the Leafs was winger Errol Thompson&rsquo;s regaining of top form after a 34-game absence with a broken wrist. He had the winning goals against the North Stars and Islanders and counted twice in the tie at Boston. &#9632;

f0012-01

Leafs’ Travelling Show Puts Club Back On Track

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;The next time you&rsquo;re at the Nassau Coliseum, take time out to ask a vendor what he considers to be the worst item sold there, at least from his point of view.The odds are, he&rsquo;d tell you it&rsquo;s programs. This, of course, is not a knock on Goal Magazine, the official program of the NHL, and an excellent one it is. It&rsquo;s just that patrons at the Coliseum sometimes didn&rsquo;t find the need to purchase a copy.First of all, almost all of the 15,317 seats belong to season subscribers who are familiar with what&rsquo;s going on around the league. And second, even those who are casual Islander fans felt they didn&rsquo;t need one because once you learned the New York lineup once&mdash;that&rsquo;s it. The only change they&rsquo;d made in the roster since October, 1975 was the addition of Pat Price.But all that came to end on February 1, The early birds who move down to ice level during practice were startled to see some new uniform numbers out there going through their paces.&ldquo;Who&rsquo;s number 22?&rsquo;&rsquo; they asked. &ldquo;And who&rsquo;s that kid wearing number seven. Where&rsquo;s Westfall?&rsquo;&rsquo;Eddie Westfall was out of the lineup with a bruised thigh, answering that question, but the two new numbers were Bob Lorimer, a defenseman, and Richie Hansen, a center, up from Fort Worth of the Central Hockey League.And they weren&rsquo;t just there as emergency replacements, either. They were on their way up even before Westfall was injured at Montreal on Jan. 30. They were there to inject some new blood to a team that was fizzling its way through a three-game losing streak after briefly tying the Philadelphia Flyers for first place in the Patrick DivisionThe Isles moved into the lofty position after winning in Denver on Jan. 23 by the convincing margin of 7-1. But four nights later they ran into the hot glove (and pad, and blocker) of Toronto&rsquo;s Mike Palmateer, dropping a 2-1 decision in a contest in which they had a decided territorial advantage.But that&rsquo;s the sort of thing that losing streaks begin with. Two nights later they played perhaps their worst game in two years as they were blanked by Los Angeles, 4-0. Glenn Resch was the only white shirt alive that night as his mates were mesmerized by the beauty of purple and gold uniforms moving around them. Add on a 2-1 loss in Montreal the following evening, and you have a first-class slump.Clark Gilles, who had been out for eight games with a mild case of mononucleosis, was back in the lineup for the game against Buffalo on the 1st. Rookies Hansen and Lorimer were also dressed, but Jude Drouin and Bill MacMillan were not: they were benched.Lorimer wasted no time in getting his name on an NHL scoresheet when he picked up an assist on a goal by Gerry Hart early in the game. Then some of the veteran hands began to pick up the new spirit, as the Isles ultimately pulled away from the travel-weary Sabres, 6-3. It was clearly the club s best effort in some time.Lorne Henning and Bryan Trottier each scored twice, but the biggest smile in the dressing room belonged to the rookie Hansen. For young Richie, the moment was the culmination of a dream-come-true.Richie, you see, is the Isles&rsquo; first real &ldquo;Islander,&rdquo; born in the Bronx, but raised in Northoort, a short drive from the Coliseum. He spent his boyhood rooting for the Rangers from the side balcony in the old Garden, and journeyed from rink to rink, watching his father Max referee Eastern Hockey League and local amateur games.Hansen starred in the Metropolitan Jr. Hockey Ass&rsquo;n, with Brooklyn, and then chose to finish his junior career in the OHA. He was drafted by the Islanders, spent last season in the NAHL, and opened this season with Fort Worth.&ldquo;I&rsquo;II never forget this.&rdquo; said the happy young man after his debut. &ldquo;I got a call Sunday night that I&rsquo;d be reporting to the Islanders, and that&rsquo;s when my stomach starting turning. The first thing I did was call everybody at home. And I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve calmed down yet.&rdquo;&ldquo;We saw a lot of talent in Richie when we drafted him,&rdquo; said general manager Bill Torrey. &ldquo;We knew that he was at somewhat of a disadvantage because he got started rather late, but this didn&rsquo;t mean that he, or any U.S. player, couldn&rsquo;t make it in the NHL.&rsquo;&rsquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a lot of guts,&rdquo; added coach Arbour. &ldquo;h reminds me a lot of Doug Jarvis of Montreal. Not too big, but he makes up for it with hard work. &ldquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01979/3947330-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="630" height="657"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICHIE HANSEN &hellip; First Real Islander</figcaption></div>Hard work is a message that Arbour has had some trouble conveying to some of his veterans lately. &#9632;

f0013-01

Homebrew Hansen Gives Islanders Lift

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Ever since their rise to hockey prominence four years ago, the Flyers have been a unique group.All who love &rsquo;em or hate &rsquo;em agree that the team Keith Allen built and Fred Shero runs is always entertaining. If those who hate the Flyers had seen them at the Spectrum earlier this mongh, they would have rubbed their eyes in disbelief. Dressed in their civilian uniforms, the Flyers were laughing and joking with their admiring public.Reggie Leach smiled as he splashed into a tank of heated water more often than he&rsquo;s lighted the red goal-light this season. Moose Dupont was a friendly shuffleboard bowling game supervisor. Wayne Stephenson was helping preschool children with their putting, and Bernie Parent and Gary Inness were stopping shots&mdash;sometimes.Wherever the crowd of about 8,000 went&mdash;on the Spectrum floor or in the corridors&mdash;Flyers were imitating carnival barkers.The occasion was the Flyers&rsquo; Wives Fight-for-Lives, an annual charity event that is organized by the Mrs. Flyers. On this night, 8.000 or so would pay $6 per person to enter, then cough up thousands more playing such carnival games as &ldquo;Riing Your Animal&rsquo;&rsquo; (no snickers), glass pitch and shooting gallery.&ldquo;I must have raised $200 for them, a smiling Leach said, toweling off from his frequent dips, courtesy of accurate throwers who paid $1 each to toss two baseballs at the Conn Smythe Trophy winner.Early estimates of the proceeds that go to Philadelphia&rsquo;s Hahnemann Hospital were in the $70,000 range. Part of the proceeds will come from an auction that raised $6,025. The most expensive item was $1,055, for Bobby Clarke&rsquo;s Team Canada jersey. Another fan paid $700 for a Team Canada stick used by Leach. Even Harvey Bennett&rsquo;s skates went for $175.If there is another team in sports that enjoys donating its time as much as the Flyers, the news hasn&rsquo;t filtered into Philadelphia yet.Long-time Flyers are accustomed to their fans&rsquo; devotion, whether it&rsquo;s at a charity carnival or dinner-dance or a Veterans Stadium softball game. Harvey Bennett and his wife, Tricia, are newcomers and they were amazed at turnout.Only an hour after the four-hour carnival began, Tricia admitted she was exhausted from continally picking up the hula-hoop type rings at her booth. She was also flabbergasted when people asked for her autograph.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01997/3947368-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="629" height="1782"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB KELLY &hellip; Hits Career High</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I think this just shows again what a great sports town Philadelphia is,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Harvey. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think something like this would draw, for example, in Boston.&rdquo;Nearby, Flyers&rsquo; board chairman Ed Snider and GM Keith Allen were perspiring as they kept busy at their booths. The involvement of Snider and Allen was another example of the Philadelphia organization&rsquo;s willingness to mingle with its fans.Maybe if more NHL teams increased their community interest, there wouldn&rsquo;t be as many empty seats in the league&rsquo;s arenas. Shero has always recommended that his players become involved in the cities where they play. Winning helps attract fans, but so does human warmth shown by players and management.Typical of Flyers&rsquo; fans reaction at the opportunity to have fun with their favorite players was a letter to Snider from Frank J. Kwasizur:&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never be able to explain the feelings of my eight-year-old son as his shot went through Bernie&rsquo;s legs and into the goal. Bernie&rsquo;s smile and congradulation&rsquo;s (sic) to my boy was no doubt the highlight of his young life&hellip;&ldquo;In a time when people are becoming so cynical of athletes and sports in general you and your people exhibited a touch of warmth and kindness that we shall never forget. &ldquo;Any more questions about why the Flyers have had such an impact on Philadelphia?FLYERS FOLLOWERS: Bob Kelly s three assists in Bernie Parent&rsquo;s 44th career shutout, 6-0 over Chicago, were his NHL game high. Kelly&rsquo;s 3-4-7 scoring streak in three games produced consecutive No. 1 star-of-the-game honors for the colorful &ldquo;Hound &rsquo;&hellip;Rick MacLeish hit the 30-goal level for the fourth time in the past five seasons and was four games ahead of his 50-goal pace from 1972-73&hellip;Good news on Ross Lonsberry: he was expected to only miss five games. Vision in his right eye, which absorbed an accidental stick poke from Bob Plager, was back to normal.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02831/3947361-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="662" height="1199"></div> &#9632;

f0014-01

Frolicking Flyers Forget Hockey Wars In Raising Nearly $70,000 For Cancer

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01803/3947430-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

NHL SCORING and PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY BILL HEUFELDER</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;In a bewildering stretch, the Pittsburgh Penguins have lost enough defensemen to be forced to dip into the International League for a 24-year-old amateur who has split the season between right wing and defense.Steve Lyon arrived from the Columbus Owls with no expectations to remain in Pittsburgh definitely. But the situation regarding another youngster, 22-year-old Mario Faubert, is considerably different.After three years of making hurried trips between here and the Hershey farm club, Faubert is giving an excellent account of himself in what promises to be his longest stint ever with the Penguins.Recalled for his usual brief appearance in early December, he returned shortly after Christmas with a promise that his only traveling the remainder of the campaign would be with the big club.&rsquo;This is the first time I&rsquo;m up for another reason besides somebody being hurt,&rdquo; he said happily. &ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m wanted. There are certain things I&rsquo;ve tried that I wouldn&rsquo;t have done before. I don&rsquo;t feel as tight out there.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01712/3947506-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="637" height="797"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARIO FAUBERT &hellip; Gets His Chance</figcaption></div>A smooth skater and impressive playmaker, Faubert loosened up the enemy with five assists in six games recently, all the points coming on the power play. Defensively, he&rsquo;s handled his position with an authority that was lacking on previous abbreviated trips from the minors.If Faubert hadn&rsquo;t been recalled on merit several weeks ago, it&rsquo;s a cinch he&rsquo;d be with the Penguins now out of necessity.Veteran Don Awrey, who has been a stabilizing influence on the Pittsburgh defense, Dave Burrows and Dennis Owchar dropped out with injuries.Awrey missed only one game due to a bruised shoulder, but Owchar, tripped in mid-ice against Boston, wound up in a cast on his right leg. He&rsquo;ll be sidelined with a damaged knee for a minimum of two months, although no surgery will be required.Burrows was expected to miss a maximum of two weeks with an injured knee, but the healing process has taken longer than expected and his absence continued into the Penguins&rsquo; week-long road trip at the start of February.The most alarming shortage on defense occurred in the second period of a 5-2 win over Minnesota When Russ Anderson was in the dressing room applying ice to a swollen hand after blocking a first-period shot.Lyon stepped in to give the Penguins four defensemen, but Anderson recovered sufficiently to play the final period.Despite the adversity, the Penguins continued to have a firm grip on second place in the Norris Division and were pressing Toronto and Atlanta for homeice advantage in the opening playoff round.They put together a 9-4-4 record and Faubert was pleased to make whatever contribution possible for a very good reason. He&rsquo;s on the option year of his contract.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02573/3947499-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="713" height="2443"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03431/3947492-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="668" height="908"></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

Pens’ Faubert Has Feeling Of Being Wanted

Leafs&rsquo; captain Darryl Sittler appears to have shaken off the effects of a rib injury that kept him sidelined for seven Toronto games. In fact, the way Sittler has been scoring since returning to the lineup, you would think he hadn&rsquo;t been away at all.In Toronto&rsquo;s three games last week, Sittler produced eight scoring points as he counted two goals in each of the games to boost the Canada Cup series&rsquo; scoring hero from 19th place in the individual race to seventh spot.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04313/3947537-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="613" height="761"><figcaption class="caption-body">DARRYL SITTLER &hellip; Toronto Leafs</figcaption></div>The Leafs buried the Washington Caps 10-0 and Sittler produced four scoring points. He also had two in a 51 win over Atlanta and came back to collect two of the three Toronto goals in a Sunday night 8-3 drubbing by the Rangers. Sittler now has 24 goals as he attempts to close the gap on his career high of 41 set last year. &#9632;

f0018-04

NHL’S… Player of the Week

<div class="byline">BY LARRY BORTSTEIN</div>COLORADO&mdash;The old question about which came first, the chicken or the egg, came up again recently when Gary Croteau ended up on the Colorado Rockies&rsquo; top scoring line.During nine seasons in the National Hockey League, Croteau has been a hardworking plugger, known for his solid fundamental positional play rather then for his point production.But lately he&rsquo;s been playing left wing on a line which also includes Wilf Paiement on right wing and Paul Gardner in the middle. And Gary&rsquo;s point production continues to rise.Inasmuch as left wing has been the Rockies&rsquo; weakest offensive position this season, and inasmuch as Croteau has been the team&rsquo;s only consistent scorer from the left side, the thought arises: did Croteau earn his way on to the club&rsquo;s top scoring line because of his work earlier in the year, or is he now benefiting from being on a line with Colorado&rsquo;s two best snipers?&ldquo;Gary&rsquo;s always been a hard-working guy,&rdquo; says Johnny Wilson, who coached Croteau at Springfield in 1969, which was Gary&rsquo;s first pro year, when he scored his personal one-season high of 24 goals.He&rsquo;s one of our best defensive forwards, but he&rsquo;s always had as many shots as any forward as a result of his hard work. The big difference now is that the puck&rsquo;s going in for him here, whereas he always used to have bad luck with his shooting.&rdquo;Through the first of February, Croteau had 17 goals and 18 assists. With Kansas City last year he scored 19 goals, his NHL high, and in 1971 with California he achieved his highest one-year point total with 15 goals and 28 assist. He seems a cinch to top both his previous one-year highs this season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll start shooting for 20 goals as my first ambition and go on from there,&rsquo; says the thinking man&rsquo;s forward, who is three summers away from a master&rsquo;s degree in guidance and counseling. He admits he can&rsquo;t remember ever working on a team&rsquo;s No. 1 scoring line before, during NHL stops in Los Angeles, Detroit, California and Kansas City. But he likes, the feeling.&ldquo;Paul&rsquo;s (Gardner) a very easy center to work with,&rdquo; Croteau points out. &ldquo;He has great anticipation in the offensive end and he forechecks well. When you&rsquo;re working with a centerman like that, you&rsquo;re going to get a lot of good scoring opportunities. The whole line seems to be working together well.&rdquo;Croteau, who is one of three over-30 Rockies&mdash;Simon Nolet, 35, and Tracy Pratt, 33, are the others&mdash;smiles easily and has a good laugh, but is a seriousminded guy who reads books about the religions of the world and on various forms of meditation. He&rsquo;s a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and takes his membership seriously, speaking before groups of youngsters and other gatherings whenever he can.Gary carries his religious feelings onto the ice with him. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of the reasons I play hard,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I feel if I don&rsquo;t,I&rsquo;m cheating my Creator. Of course,&rdquo; he laughs, &ldquo;even He might find that 80-game schedule a little tough.&rdquo;Croteau hopes that Denver will be his last NHL stop. &ldquo;My wife Jill and our three children thought that Kansas City would be our last stop,&rdquo; says the 30-year-old. &ldquo;Our house is still there because we couldn&rsquo;t sell it. So we&rsquo;ll go back there this summer and I&rsquo;ll continue taking courses at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Then we&rsquo;ll see what happens about moving here or whatever.&rdquo;The owner of a bachelor&rsquo;s degree in sociology, the result of four years of schooling at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., where he also captained the hockey varsity, Gary says he&rsquo;d like to coach college hockey someday.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01683/3947568-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="620" height="1260"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY CROTEAU &hellip; Aiming For 20</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I started out taking my master&rsquo;s degree in physical education,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But I feel that a trainer will know all about the anatomical and physical part of the sport, so my degree will be in guidance and counseling, which has a lot to do with coaching young players? &#9632;

f0019-01

Croteau’s Goal Production Soaring

<div class="byline">BY GREG NOBLE</div>CINCINNATI&mdash;Stingers executive vice-president Bill DeWitt Jr. has acknowledged that he is eager to place his team in the National Hockey League and in fact, the club has been gearing up to make the move from the World Hockey Association.&ldquo;I think there&rsquo;s a real possibility some teams in the WHA could be playing in the NHL next year, including our own,&rdquo; DeWitt told the Cincinnati Post, while expressing his hope that the Stingers could join the older, established league.Previously, DeWitt, who has been promoting ties between the two leagues, had maintained that the Stingers would be content to operate in the WHA.DeWitt acknowledged that the Stingers have been signing top players to long-term contracts with the idea the club will eventually join the NHL. Richie Leduc was recently signed to a four-year pact. &ldquo;Everything we do with the players,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we do think of that position. We are aware of the quality of team we should have to compete in the NHL.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve looked to improve the hockey club as best we can for the rest of the year, and for the future. We make awfully sure players we sign to long-term contracts are capable of performing in either league. As it is,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we think we have a nucleus of players who can play anywhere.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not to say we think the players who don&rsquo;t have long-term contracts can&rsquo;t play in the NHL,&rdquo; DeWitt insisted. However, that is easily presumed.DeWitt said Leduc, Rick Dudley, John Hughes, Norm Lapointe, Claude Larose, Ron Plumb, Blaine Stoughton, Dennis Sobchuk, Peter Marsh, Bryan Maxwell and Grey Carroll have contracts that extend at least through the 1978-79 season.Gene Sobchuk. Barry Melrose and Jamie Hislop have another year left on their contracts. The contracts of Pierre Roy, John Kiely, Billy Steele, Barry Legge and Dale Smedsmo expire at the end of the current season.Early this month, the Stingers shook up their roster. They dealt center Jacques Locas to Calgary for future considerations and defenseman Dave Inkpen to Indianapolis for a third-round draft choice.In addition, the club reobtained Smed-smo&rsquo;s contract from Calgary. Goaltender Hoganson was sent to Binghamton in the North American League and the Stingers picked up goalie Jacques Caron from Syracuse in the same league.DeWitt admitted the club is losing money but he insisted that none of the trades, including the deal that sent Pierre Guite to Quebec, were financially-motivated.The Stingers, it was learned, will pay a large chunk of Locas&rsquo; salary as part of the deal that sent him to the Cowboys. He was rumored to be making about $100.000 a year.The club traded Guite for Roy and both players make about the same salary, DeWitt said. Guite&rsquo;s contract, though, has several years left to run. Inkpen was thought to have one of the lowest salaries on the Stingers.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re losing about as much money as we thought at the beginning of the year,&rdquo; DeWitt said.The players&rsquo; contracts do not bind them to the WHA, so the Stingers conceivably could move intact to the NHL. Asked, DeWitt replied, &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t rule anything out.&rdquo;That kind of move, though, would probably encounter legal opposition from the WHA. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a provision in the WHA that says you can&rsquo;t take your team out and play in another league,&rdquo; DeWitt said.Of course, some top NHL officials oppose merging with the WHA or allowing any WHA team to enter the NHL. Cincinnati, though with its major league image, has appeal to the NHL. Riverfront Coliseum is one of the finest facilities in North America and the Stingers have a bevy of outstanding young players.Meanwhile, on the ice, the club showed signs of breaking out of a long slump with an 8-3 victory over New England. Dudley scored four goals and Leduc added two. Caron, in his first start, gave indication that he will be a capable backup for Lapointe.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02309/3947713-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="621" height="864"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL DeWITT &hellip; Looking Ahead</figcaption></div>Previously, the Stingers had only won six of their last 20 games. They looked forward to playing 17 of the final 30 games at home.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01402/3947706-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="665" height="1633"></div> &#9632;

f0022-02

DeWitt Suggests Stingers’ Build-Up Could Be Prelude To Joining NHL

Andre Lacrois is a journeyman hockey performer who likes to let people know every once and a while that he&rsquo;s around. Rated one of the WHA&rsquo;s best playmakers, Lacroix turned it around this past week and became a goal scorer as well.Lacroix turned in an incredible 11-point week to spark the San Diego Mariners to three straight victories and a share of first place in the WHA&rsquo;s West Division. The highlight of the week was his three-goal effort as the Mariners won a weekend home-and-home series from the slipping Phoenix Roadrunners. Lacroix scored three and helped set up the game-winner by Rick Sentes.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03259/3947744-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="466" height="512"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDRE LACROIX &hellip; San Diego Mariners</figcaption></div>In all he scored four times and added seven assists to increase his overall season total to 72 scoring points putting him in eighth place in the individual race as the Mariners rebounded from an extended losing streak. &#9632;

f0022-03

WHA’S… Player of the Week

<div class="byline">BY GREG NOBLE</div>BIRMINGHAM&mdash;Those cotton-pickin&rsquo; Birmingham Bulls. At once they were hustling and brawling and drawing almost as big crowds as the University of Alabama football team.Coach Pat Kelly s club put together six straight victories and moved toward a playoff spot in the Eastern Division.For the time, Kelly seemingly blended all the elements on his club. John Garrett and Wayne Wood supplied outstanding goaltending. Tim Sheehy, Mark Napier, John C. Stewart and Lou Nistico provided plenty of offense. Dale Hoganson and Jean-Guy Lagace sparked a strong defense and Nistico, Gord Gallant and Gilles Bilodeau gave the team muscle. In one week the Bulls were involved in three bench-clearing brawls.&rsquo;&rsquo;That gives a team a lift 100 per cent, &ldquo;Kelly said. &ldquo;These guys have come together as a team.&rdquo;They shared their greatest hour of glory with the largest crowd ever to see the World Hockey Association game. Inspired by an overflow crowd of 17,489 in the Jefferson County Civic Center, the Bulls scored an eye-popping 7-0 victory over first-place Quebec for their sixth straight win.In that game, Garrett handed the highflying Nordiques their first shutout of the season. Surely, he will be a great asset for the Bulls down the stretch. &rsquo;I&rsquo;ve got to classify John as one of the best goaltenders in the league.&rdquo; praised Kelly.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01377/3947789-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="632" height="870"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARK NAPIER &hellip; Among Hot Snipers</figcaption></div>Sheehy scored two goals, giving him 30 for the season. Napier picked up his 38th. A handful of players had hot streaks. In seven games, Sheehy had six goals and four assists; Stewart had six goals, Napier had five goals and six assists and Nistico had five goals and four assists.In a game at Cincinnati, the Bulls demonstrated they had learned to play Kelly&rsquo;s close-checking system. While only taking 19 shots, the Bulls picked up a 3-2 victory. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t open up at all. We picked up our men and waited for the breaks,&rdquo; Kelly noted.In the third period, Napier scored the winning goal with a hard shot from an almost impossible angle, near the goal line. Discussing the shot, Kelly shook his head. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the greatest scorer one-on-one against the goaltender I&rsquo;ve ever seen. He can put in from anywhere,&rdquo; the coach said.And Wood, playing for the first time in two weeks, came up big, stopping 32 shots. The Bulls also beat New England 4-3 before losing to Indianapolis 5-2.INDIANAPOLIS: Led by Reg Thomas and Jim Park, the Racers kept winning and strengthened their hold on second place despite injuries that sidelined key players.Thomas picked up the scoring load after Hugh Harris was knocked out for the year After scoring nine goals in the: first 33 games. Thomas went on a binge and contributed 13 goals in 18 games. He became the Racers&rsquo; all-time leading goal: scorer with 45, including 23 last year.With Michel Dion hospitalized, goalie Park played six straight games, winning three and tying one. Thomas. Park and Bob Sicinski starred as the Racers snapped Birmingham&rsquo;s six-game winning streak with a 5-2 victory The Bulls were pounding on the Racers, then Birmingham&rsquo;s Gilles Bilodeau challenged Kim Clackson In the ensuing fight. Biledeau lost three teeth and acquired a wound that needed nine stitchesExcept for three one-goal losses to Quebec, coach Jacques Demers&rsquo; club would be right at the top of the Eastern a Division The Racers, who had held a 4-3 edge in games on the Nordiques, dropped a 5-4 decision at Quebec.The Racers acquired defenseman Dave Inkpen from Cincinnati. Defenseman Ken Block was wearing a brace after suffering a severe back injury. His status like the club&rsquo;s other injured defenseman. Bryon Baltimore, was still in question.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02291/3947782-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="1323" height="1986"><figcaption class="caption-body">REG THOMAS&hellip; On Scoring Binge</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03219/3947775-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="1314" height="1072"></div> &#9632;

f0023-01

Bulls Close To Playoffs; Thomas Solidifies Racers

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02306/3947820-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0024-02

WHA SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01390/3947858-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"></div>HARTFORD&mdash;The New England Whalers came alive last week and they received an unexpected helping hand from new-comer Mike Antonovich, who scored a game winning goal as the Whalers wound up with two wins in three starts to climb back into contention for the Eastern Division race.Whalers stopped the crippled Winnipeg Jets 6-3 and finished off the week with a 5-4 decision over the hot Cincinnati Stingers as Antonovich scored the deciding goal with only 58 seconds remaining in the game and overtime imminent.The Whalers, who dropped a 5-1 decision to Indianapolis in between their two victories, pulled five full points ahead of the Birmingham Bulls, who had been threatening them in the last 10 days. But the Bulls went winless last week and the Whalers were able to gain valuable ground.The arrival of Antonovich and defenseman Bill Butters from Edmonton Oilers in a straight two-for-two trade that sent Whalers Brent Callighen and defenseman Ron Bunsniuk west, gave the New Englanders six players from the defunct Minnesota Fighting Saints. Earlier, the Whalers picked up Dave Keon, John McKenzie and the Carson brothers, Steve and Jack, from the Oilers after the Minnesota folded up.The Quebec Nordiques continued to maintain their wide first-place margin over the Indianapolis Racers despite the fact they won only once in three starts last week. The Nords lost to Winnipeg 7-2 and bowed to Houston 7-3, beating Indianapolis in between 5-1.Young Real Cloutier turned in another spectacular sowing week for the Nordiques as he scored five times raising his season total to 46 and putting him just five behind 51-goal leader Anders Hedberg of the Jets, who is sidelined for 10 days with a knee injury. Cloutier took advantage of Hedberg&rsquo;s absence to pull into a first place tie for the scoring lead with Hedberg. Each has 92 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03219/3947851-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="566" height="1265"><figcaption class="caption-body">RONBUSNIUK</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

Whalers Rebound With Pair Of Wins

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE BILYCH</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Clear the tracks. The Swedish Express is on the rails.Anders Hedberg, a 25-year-old Swede who makes Winnipeg his adopted home and hockey his profession, is making his mark as one of hockey&rsquo;s all-time outstanding goal scorers.On Feb. 6 at the Winnipeg Arena, Anders etched his way into immortality by being the first major leaguer to score 50 goals in under 50 games. At the rate he has been blitzing enemy goaltenders, he could well rewrite all the major league scoring records.One of Rocket Richard&rsquo;s most cherished records was his feat of 50 in 50. It was matched later by Bobby Hull.But they all take a back seat to the Swedish Express. A three-goal spurt by Hedberg against the Calgary Cowboys that fateful night at the Winnipeg Arena were goals Nos. 49, 50 and 51. All that in just 49 games.For Anders, it really amounted to only 47 games. A week earlier he suffered a cracked rib in a game in Houston and was forced to sit out a couple of outings. What it means in reality is that Hedberg has clicked for 51 goals in just 47 personal starts.The forced holiday came at a time when the Winnipeg Jets were reeling on the road with four consecutive losses. Hedberg was thrown back into the world of the working and responded with four goals and two assists as the Jets snapped their skid with an 11-1 conquest of the Oilers in Edmonton. Three nights later he duplicated the feat against the San Diego Mariners.What is all added up to was a spectacular week in which he fired 11 goals and four assists while recording three consecutive hat tricks. He had another four-goal game earlier in the season. The production vaulted Hedberg into first place in the individual scoring race over Quebec&rsquo;s Real Cloutier with 92 points in the Jets&rsquo; 49 games.&ldquo;No matter how you slice it, this is just a tremendous feat,&rdquo; said Winnipeg coach Bobby Kromm. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to take anything away from the Rocket but you have to remember he got his 50 during the war years when a lot of the world&rsquo;s better hockey players were preoccupied with more important things. Hull&rsquo;s record doesn&rsquo;t compare either.&ldquo;For my money, Hedberg s accomplishment rates at the very top. I consider it a privilege just to be associated with as great a player as Hedberg. His accomplishment is something they&rsquo;ll be talking about long after most other scoring feats have been forgotten.&rdquo;Winnipeg&rsquo;s three consecutive victories moved the Jets back into a contending position in the Western Division. They were still eight points back of the Houston Aeros but had three games in hand. They were only three behind runner-up San Diego although the Mariners had played four more games.&ldquo;We can still make a run at them if we can stay close until such time as our injuries clear up.&rdquo; contended Kromm &ldquo;Those last six weeks could really be interesting.&rdquo;Veteran Ted Green sat out the game against Calgary with a tender ankle, the same one that was fractured against Houston in the playoffs last spring, but it wasn&rsquo;t considered serious. Lars-Erik Sjoberg is expected to return after knee surgery during the third week of February.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02242/3947903-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="566" height="578"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDERS HEDBERG &hellip; &ldquo;Tremendous Feat&rdquo;</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03168/3947896-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="621" height="686"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG BARRIE &hellip; Briefly Unemployed</figcaption></div>The Jets added some depth up front with the acquisition of Ron Ward from the defunct Minnesota Fighting Saints. Minnesota&rsquo;s third-leading scorer at the time of the club&rsquo;s dispersal, he scored a goal in his first appearance as a Jet against Calgary.CALGARY: The Cowboys picked up only three of a possible 10 points during a road trip through the Western Division but they didn&rsquo;t lose any ground to the fourth-place Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers maintained their two-point lead in the race for the final playoff spot, continuing a situation that has been virtually unchanged during the previous 10 weeks.Their mastery of the Phoenix Roadrunners has been the major factor in enabling the Cowboys to stay close. The Cowboys won another game in Phoenix, their third in four tries, as they dropped Al Rollins&rsquo; Roadrunners 4-1. The other game ended in a 3-3 tie.The Cowboys have managed but four victories on the road this year and all have come in the South-West. Their only other triumph was achieved in San Diego.In a move to add some scoring punch, the Cowboys acquired Jacques Locas from the Cincinnati Stingers in trade for Dale Smedsmo. Locas made his first start in San Diego and contributed a goal and two assists in being selected the Calgary star.EDMONTON: The Oilers were back at the trade table last week, dispatching winger Mike Antonovich and defenseman Bill Butters to New England for defenseman Ron Busniuk and left winger Brent Callighen.Both Antonovich and Butters had played in only 10 games with the Oilers since their purchase from the defunct Fighting Saints. They now join former Saints Dave Keon, Johnny McKenzie, Jack and Steve Carlson with the Whalers. Only Lou Levasseur remains from the seven players purchased by the Oilers at the time of the Saints&rsquo; folding.There were some anxious moments in Edmonton when veteran defenseman Doug Barrie was on the &ldquo;unemployed&rdquo; list for several hours following a dispute with coach Bep Guidolin.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01331/3947889-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="1333" height="1799"></div> &#9632;

f0025-02

Hedberg Could Rewrite All Records; Cowboys Add Punch By Getting Locas

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01341/3947941-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02194/3947934-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="646" height="1828"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

World Hockey Association Summaries

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div>SAN DIEGO&mdash;The rebounding San Diego Mariners suddenly found themselves bounced.Rebounding from a string of seven losses in nine games, the Mariners put together a three-game winning streak.Then, they ran into the Winnipeg Jets and the hot stick of Anders Hedberg.Hedberg scored four goals for the second consecutive game as the Mariners were wiped out, 8-2.The Mariners had turned things around a week before with a 5-3 victory over the Jets on San Diego ice.They followed with a 5-1 whipping of the Phoenix Roadrunners as Andre Lacroix scored his 14th and 15th goals of the season and goalie Ken Lockett gave a virtuoso performance, making several big saves although he faced just 22 shots.Then came a 6-4 victory over the Calgary Cowboys as Don Burgess broke open a 4-4 tie with his second goal of the game.Tony Cassolato, a member of the Mariners new &ldquo;Kid Line", scored a pair and assisted on another, his second goal clinching the victory with two minutes remaining.Coach Ron Ingram had put the line of Brad Rhiness, 20. Kevin Devine, 22, and Cassolato, 20, together for the Winnipeg game in San Diego.They responded immediately, Rhiness scoring a pair with Cassolato and Devine assisting.&ldquo;I thought about the line for a long time before I finally tried it,&rdquo; said Ingram. &ldquo;I really wasn&rsquo;t sure how it would work out. I&rsquo;d have to say I was pleased with what happened.&rdquo;The Mariners have high hopes for Rhiness, who had been recalled from Oklahoma City due to the Mariners&rsquo; rash of injuries.&ldquo;I was really glad to see a couple go in for him,&rdquo; added Ingram. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been working really hard in practice and you know it just has to be a matter of time before he puts it all together.&rdquo;HOUSTON: The Aeros lost the WHA&rsquo;s leading goaltender for a week to 10 days but the loss didn&rsquo;t cause general manager and coach Bill Dineen great concern.He also has the WHA&rsquo;s second-leading goaltender.Ron Grahame and Wayne Rutledge ranked one-two among WHA goaltenders with 2.82 and 2.87 goals-against averages.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01323/3947979-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="598" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRAD RHINESS &hellip; Lifts Mariners</figcaption></div>Grahame turned the nets over to Rutledge early in the third period on the way to a 6-1 victory over the Calgary Cowboys, leaving with a pulled groin.Lynn Zimmerman was recalled from Erie of the North American Hockey League as backup goaltender.Cam Connor fired his 23rd and 24th goals of the season against Calgary as the Aeros ran their team record winning streak to nine games, during which they outscored the opposition 46-16.The Aeros had the streak snapped a couple of nights later, 5-3 at Phoenix with Robbie Ftorek getting loose for two goals and two assists and rookie netminder Clay Hebenton turning aside 40 shots and earning Dineen&rsquo;s praise: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great young goaltender and came up with some fantastic saves.&rdquo;It was a shortlived letdown. The Aeros were back home the following night and stopped the New England Whalers 4-1 as Rutledge turned aside 31 shots.The Aeros are virtually unbeatable at home, losing just once while winning 20 and tying four this season.&ldquo;I have to like our chances,&rdquo; said Dineen. &ldquo;Were healthy again, The adversity of those early season injuries seems to have pulled our club together.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing as well right now as we have all season and I think we&rsquo;ve got the best hockey club we&rsquo;ve ever had.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02249/3947972-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="585" height="788"><figcaption class="caption-body">CAM CONNOR &hellip; Fires Two Goals</figcaption></div>Dineen, the only coach to survive with one club since the WHA was founded five years ago, has led the Aeros to two Avco World Trophies and to the finals three times.The revived Aeros, probably the best balance team in the WHA, are on top of the Western Division race by five points over San Diego. 10 over Winnipeg.PHOENIX: Roadrunner coach Al Rollins was at a loss for an explanation.His Roadrunners had posted back-to-back home-ice victories over the Winnipeg Jets. 8-5, and the Houston Aeros, 5-3, but were solidly beaten by the Calgary Cowboys.The victory over Houston had broken the Aeros&rsquo; nine-game victory streak. It was the first loss the Aeros&rsquo; had suffered since Jan. 12, when they lost 4-2 to Phoenix.The Cowboys have won only four road games but three have come in Phoenix and in six meetings the Cowboys have won five and tied one. &#9632;

f0027-01

Mariners’ Comeback Try Bounced By Hedberg

<div class="byline">BY JIM CAUCHON</div>MONCTON&mdash;Two weeks from now, Canada&rsquo;s five conference champions will be decided. And the first to attain an answer will be the Maritimes&rsquo; Atlantic Universities&rsquo; Athletic Association.Banking on no miracles taking place within the final week of the campaign ending Feb. 16, the playoff format has already been laid out.Feb. 18-20 is the weekend set aside for the best-of-three semi-finals with the final being contested the following weekend in another two-out-of-three series.If the past three months of hectic competition have been a true indication, then fans in the East will be treated to real action.And if the current situation holds up, the surprising underdogs. Prince Edward Island Panthers (10-6-1) will have to be excellent in toiling with the St. Francis Xavier X-Men from Antigonish, ranked in Canada&rsquo;s top 10 all year. The X-Men are 14-2-2 at press time.The other battle, which should be a true classic, pits the Universite de Moncton Blue Eagles (12-4-1) against the consistently powerful St. Mary s Huskies (13-3-1).Because of the closeness of their race for second spot, home-ice advantage is in jeopardy even though the Huskies appear on their way to obtaining it.In the first pairing you&rsquo;ve got to really search to find a way the homestanding X-Men of Wayne Synshin can bite the dust in the opening round.Through Feb. 8, the Panthers were winless in six league starts against the three teams ahead of them. They dropped a pair of decisions to the X-Men, 4-2 at St. F.X. and 7-3 at home. The numbers game isn&rsquo;t in their corner.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01305/3948017-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="625" height="672"><figcaption class="caption-body">WILLY WARNER &hellip; Fired Hat Trick</figcaption></div>Still riding the crest of last year&rsquo;s stunning AUAA crown, St. Francis Xavier has big things planned for their guests. Armed with the deadly accuracy of Mike Melanson, Bob Stephenson and Greg Keating and the oustanding net-minding of Fred Cuvelier, carrying a league-leading 2.67 goals-against mark, only a major catastrophe can keep the Antagonizes from Antigonish&rsquo; out of the league final.However, there will be no runaway between SMU and U. of Moncton.The Huskies have the confidence of a recent 5-1 pasting of the X-Men as the impetus for a strong first-round showing. Against the formidable Eagles, Bob Boucher&rsquo;s clan earned a season&rsquo;s split, by bombind Moncton 7-2 in the clubs&rsquo; most recent meeting of Jan. 15. It made up for a wild 8-7 road loss two months earlier.Jean Perron&rsquo;s Monctonites have now rebounded after a serious skid which found them losers to St. Mary&rsquo;s. Acadia and Mt. Allison in three straight games. Games which followed a long six-week layoff from hockey during Christmas.Moncton has firepower in the likes of Jean Beaulieu and Jules Boivin Backed by the quality goaltending of Jean-Guy Cote, a major contributor to the club&rsquo;s 3.29 goals against Les Aigles Bleus must be given serious consideration for a title shot.GREAT PLAINS: Last season&rsquo;s GPAC rookie of the year, Willy Warner got back in the groove in grandiose style last week by notching a hat trick in helping himself and his teammates to another convincing Great Plains title.Manitoba&rsquo;s 13th straight league victory, raising their overall mark to 16-2-0, was a monumental one in the Bisons&rsquo; record books, according to informant Brock McGinnis.Scintillating Al Hilton, whose return has made this team a true title contender, polished a few more points to topple the all-time Manitoba total of 160 by Rod Linquist. The following night, in completing the sweep of the Lakehead Nor Westers, veteran Mike Bruce went over the 160 total to rival Hilton for the scoring honors the rest of the way.CANADA WEST: Alberta&rsquo;s Golden Bears, supposedly the best in Canada at this moment, and with home ice advantage in the national finals to prove it, set some records of their own.By registering another doubleheader sweep of British Columbia by scores of 32 and 7-3, the Bears rang up their 12th and 13th consecutive wins breaking the previous mark of 11.Darrell Semenuk, who knows about such things, informs that during the 3-2 overtime game, a penalty minute mark was set with 197 minutes being dished out.The last record set was the longest shutout streak by one goaltender. Alberta&rsquo;s Jack Cummings went 155 minutes and 25 seconds before he was finally beaten.ONTARIO: The OUAA made their playoff plans known. The University of Toronto Varsity Blues have been given a slight advantage, should they proceed into the semi-finals, because the semis and finals will both be played at Varsity Arena (their home rink).If everything holds up the way it should in the final week and a half, the play downs, which will feature the four quarter-final matches Feb. 22, are all one game sudden-death affairs.Ryerson (9-3-1), the Central winner, faces Canada&rsquo;s second-ranked York Yeomen (12-1-1) the Eastern champs, at York Laurentian (6-7-3) or Ottawa (6-9-0) will travel to Varsity to play the Blues (10-3-1) to decide the East&rsquo;s runnerup representative. Toronto split with Laurentian this past weekend, winning 41, before being nudged 4-2.The other contests are so confusing to figure out that pairings are impossible to decide. Ontario West, with Western (20pts), Laurier (19), Waterloo (18) and Guelph (18) is anyone&rsquo;s pot of gold. Many pivotal clashes still remain with the champion hosting the Central runnerup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02224/3948010-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="676" height="2038"></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

X-Men Eyeing Playoffs; Manitoba Champs Again

Special To The Hockey NewsPROVIDENCE-Ross Brooks is back in the American Hockey League again. No. Brooksie is not the man behind the mask. He is the man behind the bench in Providence, Rhode Island where he spent the first six years of his 12-year career as a professional goaltender.Brooks, who wound up his career in Rochester last season, was named bench coach of the Rhode Island Reds last week, taking over the reigns from his old coach John Muckier.Muckier, the man who can lay claim to keeping pro hockey in Providence after the franchise nearly went under last summer, will now be able to devote full time to his job as the Reds&rsquo; general manager.Although Ross has no previous coaching experience, he was by far the &ldquo;man&rdquo; for the job as the Reds&rsquo; management sought to keep Providence team in the playoff race by making the dual change.Upon retiring as an active player last season, Brooks made it clear he would like to remain in the game in some capacity. He makes his home in Lincoln, Rhode Island, a short drive from the old Main Street building where he started his pro career with the Reds.That was during the 1964-65 season. He remained with the Reds through the 1969-70 season and although his goals-against average was not all that impressive he was nonetheless regarded as a solid netminder around the AHL. In the 1970-71 season, Ross bounced from Phoenix, in the old WHA, to Providence and then to Oklahoma City in the CHL.Ross got his first big break the following season when he moved into Boston Garden as a member of the Braves entry in the AHL. During the 1971-72 and 73-74 season Brooks came into his own, compiling averages well under the three-goal mark in both seasons and sharing the Harry &ldquo;Hap&rdquo; Holmes Trophy with teammate Dan Bouchard in 71-72.The Boston management was so impressed with Ross they promoted him to the Bruins and for the next four years he played most of his games with the Bruins in the NHL, His last season as a pro. Brooks finished with a 3.00 goals-against average in Rochester. His lifetime goals-against average in the NHL is a very respectable 2.64.But, as most hockey people know, goaltenders spend a lot of time on the bench and are assigned several duties to help the coach during the game. This experience will be a big help to Brooks as he launches a new career in hockey.The Reds management viewed the change as a promotion for Muckier who has been saddled with the dual role as coach and GM. It didn&rsquo;t take John long to tackle the problem that has been plaguing the Reds all season as he immediately went to work on the Reds&rsquo; roster in an attempt to give Brooks the best team possible. The Reds have been hanging tough despite a heavy injury list and a shuttle service between New England and Colorado.Although not overly happy with the change Muckier has proven himself as a good, loyal and solid hockey man over the years so it&rsquo;s a safe bet to say the Reds will be in the playoff race.NEW HAVEN: The Hawks won two of their three games last week and the two wins were real big ones as they defeated Rochester and Nova Scotia to remain four points behind the Vees. The New Haven fans have been turning out in great numbers in support of the Hawks&rsquo; efforts. Their two home contests last week drew over 11,000 putting the Hawks near the top in attendance through the first week in February.The Hawks&rsquo; power-packed offense has now produced 73 power play goals and they lead the league in goals scored, assists and scoring points by a wide margin.New Haven players in the top 20 scorers include Eddie Johnstone and Blake Dunlop, currently tied for second place&mdash;a single point behind Rochesters&rsquo; Doug Gibson, Tom Colley with 67 points, Dale Lewis with 56, Jerry Byers with 51, Larry Sacharuk with 49 and John Bed-narski with 44. With all those impressive stats on offense the Hawks are also tough on defense with the second-lowest goals-against average.HERSHEY: The Bears continued their drive to the top last week moving into third place a single point ahead of the Rochester Americans. Derek Smith appears to be back on the track as he picked up five points in the Bears&rsquo; three games.Smith had been among the top 10 scorers for most of the early part of the season but his point production has fallen off in the last month. Jacques Cossette, Jacques Richard, Alex fidey and Steve Andrascik had big games for the Bears last week. And goalie Don Edwards registered his fifth shutout to enhance his average and league-leading total in shutouts.SPRINGFIELD: Coach Gary Dineen has to be shaking his head these days. Just when his Indians seemed to be putting it all together, he was faced with more roster changes.The Philadelphia Flyers cut deeply into the Indians&rsquo; ranks last week recalling Bob Ritchie and Drew Callendar. Defenseman Pete Scamurra has returned to Washington to have his injured ribs looked at by the Washington doctors and Dineen himself was forced to sit the team&rsquo;s leading scorer. Andre Peloffy, out for disciplinary reasons.ROCHESTER: Mike Byers returned to the Amerks&rsquo; lineup Sunday night and scored the game winner as they rebounded from an earlier loss to New Haven with a 5-0 win over Hershey. Jim Pettie was in the goal for his first shutout.NOVA SCOTIA: The Vees managed a split in their four road games last week which will tell you a lot about the team&rsquo;s character. After losing in Rochester on Wednesday the Vees came back with wins in Rhode Island and Springfield and missed by only inches in New Haven in the weekend wrap-up.<h2>AHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01264/3948055-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="648" height="847"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02216/3948048-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="688" height="1246"></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

Brooks Hoping To Keep Reds In Playoff Race

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BOSTON&mdash;The Eastern College Athletic Conference&rsquo;s Division One hockey race refuses to define itself. Thirteen teams remained in the running for the eight playoff berths through February&rsquo;s first week, and near-upsets spiced much of the action.One such near-upset was the ECAC televised game of the week, which for the third Saturday in a row featured an overtime contest. This time, however, heavily favored Harvard prevailed. 5-4, after trailing through much of the game to last-place Princeton.The Tigers hadn&rsquo;t beaten Harvard at home in 25 years, and were struggling at a 2-14 clip when they invaded Watson Rink for the Feb. 6 afternoon tilt. Harvard, idle in 19 days for exams, still should have had little trouble. But it took a power play goal by Bill Hozack at 4:33 of the extra session to give the Crimson the win, after a much-protested holding penalty against Henry Lane. Defenseman Jack Hughes let fly from the point, goalie Fred Cherne made the save, and foiled one Hozack rebound attempt. The second poke by the little center finally went through, breaking the hearts of Jack Semlers underrated charges.The Tigers took a 3-2 lead by the second intermission, but Harvard tied the game on a goal by Bryan Cook at 5:47 of the third. The Crimson appeared to have it won at 18:11 when Gene Purdy, returning from a month&rsquo;s layoff, poked a loose puck by Cherne. Semler pulled Cherne almost immediately after, and Craig Tresham tied the game up once again before time ran out.Yale very nearly did the same thing to second-place New Hampshire. The Elis came from a two-goal deficit in the third period and tied the game at 18:46 on a goal by Dave Harrington. But Bob Gould beat fresh goalie Keith Allain from in close with Yale&rsquo;s Bobby Wheeler in the sin bin to squeeze UNH by in overtime. Earlier in the week, UNH topped contender Boston College 6-3 at BC, as Ralph Cox and Bob Miller each scored twice. Miller&rsquo;s breakaway tally at 16:05 gave the Cats the needed cushion and their seventh win over Boston College in the last eight outings.The Eagles snapped back with a 4-3 triumph at Dartmouth two nights later. Rob Riley, who played for Dartmouth coach George Crowe at Exeter, drove home a slapshot with 7:07 to play to top his former coach&rsquo;s crew, who find themselves suddenly in danger of dropping from playoff contention. Each team had scored two power play goals, and the Greenies survived seven shorthanded minutes before Riley&rsquo;s game breaker.Two evenings later, Cornell invaded Thompson Arena and took a 6-3 decision. Steve Napier had 34 saves for the Big Red, and Rick Box scored twice. Kevin Fullan&rsquo;s breakaway score at 7:40 was the key, boosting Cornell into third place at 11-5 in the division, just a hair ahead of BC at 11-5-1. Dartmouth, via their two home ice losses, fell from eighth to 13th at 6-8-1.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01301/3948114-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="643" height="789"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARK WENDA &hellip; Shares Accolades</figcaption></div>Brown also returned from exams and showed some signs of life with wins of 5-3 over Providence and 8-4 at Penn. These victories sandwiched a 9-2 rout of the Bruins by Boston University, though, which kept the pre-season favorites below the 500 mark at 6-7. Rick Meagher scored a hat trick for the Terriers, improving the record to 9-5-1. At least for the moment, BU, BC. Cornell, New Hampshire, and Clarkson loom the main contenders for the home ice berths, although just two losses in a row could jeopardize any such possibilities.Individually, in addition to Meaher&rsquo;s hat trick, junior Mark Wenda, who hails from South St. Paul, Minn., came up with four goals and an assist in the three Brown games to share some of the ECAC honor roll accolades with Meagher. Harvard&rsquo;s Purdy, goaler Dan Magnarelli of New Hampshire, RPI&rsquo;s Dave Jack, Bill Blackwood of Clarkson, Cornell&rsquo;s Jim Vaughan and forward Bob Miller, also of UNH.The remaining contenders for playoff spots seem to be Providence (9-7), Harvard (7-6), Northeastern (8-7), RPI and Vermont (8-8 each), and Colgate (7-9) in addition to Brown and Dartmouth. Only Penn, Yale, St. Lawrence and Princeton are singing &ldquo;Wait &rsquo;til next year.&rdquo; and even then they have had plenty to say about the final standingsLeon Abbott took his St. Lawrence sextet into BU&rsquo;s Walter Brown Arena after defeats of 10-2 by Clarkson and 10-4 by BC. The Larries turned around and edged the Terriers 8-6, an especially sweet victory for Abbott who&rsquo;d been fired in December of 1973 as Terrier coach.It was his first return to his old school, made successful by third period scores from Dan Walker and Paul Gallagher. They broke a 5-5 deadlock, and Dan Weir&rsquo;s empty net tally ensured the victory. Harry Aikens had 32 saves.Not much has been heard from Pennsylvania this year either, but no one can take them lightly. Up at Vermont&rsquo;s friendly Gutterson Field House, Penn took a 5-4 victory thanks to Tom Whitehead&rsquo;s goal with 15 seconds to play. Vermont held &aacute; 4-2 lead early in the third frame, but Jamie Hodge tallied at 4:23, followed by Earl Jessiman at 6:56, to set the stage for Whitehead. Carl Jackson had 29 saves to Peter Reynolds&rsquo; 25. Reynolds a senior has taken over full time in the UVM nets after the scholastic departure of fellow senior Tom McNamara.After a postponement for snow, Vermont handed St. Lawrence a 5-2 setback, also in Gutterson, to even the record once again. The Larries could not get out of Canton on the Tuesday the game was to be played because of snow, so they waited a couple of evenings for Ed Hill to score twice and Tom Colby to add a goal and three assists for UVM, a good playoff possibility with a home oriented late season schedule.Northeastern lost 3-1 to Bowdoin, then absorbed a 9-3 defeat at Cornell in their first trip ever to Ithaca. Jim McElroy, the NU goalie, had to leave the game early in the second period after an injury, and the Ithacans proceeded to score six more goals.The previous week, NU lost 4-2 at Colby, giving Jack Kelly his 300th career coaching victory in the college ranks. NU remained at 8-7 in Division One, although it&rsquo;s indiciative of the quality of Division Two ECAC hockey that the Huskies, an upper bracket playoff possibility, have lost three games to Division Two schools.Providence burst a 3-3 third period deadlock with five unanswered tallies to whip Colgate 8-3 in Schneider Arena. After Mike Dosdall and Dave MacKenzie tied the score in the first 2:05 of that frame, Brad Wilson, Randy Wilson, Tom Byers, Tom Bauer and Jim Korn beat Drew Schaefer.Clarkson retained first place with a 7-6 squeaker over RPI in Potsdam. Defenseman Bill Blackwood s goal at 2:28 of the third period proved to the winner, though RPI&rsquo;s Don Armstrong narrowed the gap to 7-6, the final score, with 15:50 left to play. The Engineers could get not closer, despite Ian Harrison s 35 savesto Brian Shields&rsquo; 33. RPI had actually held a 5-3 lead in the second period, behind freshman John Emerson&rsquo;s two goals, but couldn&rsquo;t maintain it.The Engineers bounced up the following night to nail St. Lawrence 7-4 and keep pace at 500.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03179/3948107-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="1987" height="1613"><figcaption class="caption-body">New Hampshire netminder Mark Evans faces a lot of traffic in front of his net during a recent game in which RPI upset New Hampshire 4-3 in overtime.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02238/3948100-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="702" height="2821"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04127/3948093-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="629" height="1586"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01278/3948086-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="721" height="3321"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

EC AC Race For Playoffs Wide Open; Lowly Princeton Frightens Harvard

<div class="byline">BY BILL BROPHY</div>HOUGHTON&mdash;It&rsquo;s February so of course Michigan Tech has started winning games in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.The Huskies, perenially near the top of the WCHA, started its late season surge a little late this year&mdash;in mid-January. But now they&rsquo;ve won five in a row and climbed to fifth place after sweeping Colorado College 5-3 and 6-5 in the annual Winter Carnival series in Houghton, Mich.After a horrendous start that had people whispering Tech was going to be a factor in the league, the Huskies have compiled a 12-3-1 record since mid-December. Going into a key series with runaway leader Wisconsin, the Huskies had 25 points in the WCHA and were just two points out of third place.An unheraled freshman center, Rodger Moy of Rochester, Mich, has been one of the keys in the surge. After the Colorado series&mdash;where he was named the outstanding player of the series and awarded the Blue Key&mdash;Moy tied junior center Stu Ostlund as the team&rsquo;s leading scorer with 35 points.Moy had two goals and three assits in the series. One of those goals fuelded a second period tally that broke a 2-2 tie and provided the win, Dave Joelson and Moy&rsquo;s linemate, Gordon Salt, also had goals in the barrage. Dana Decker got the game-winner in Saturday&rsquo;s finale.But while Tech has streaked one way, Michigan had developed a string of its own&mdash;seven straight losses. Wisconsin added to that downward spiral by outscoring the Wolverines 3-2 Friday and outscoring the Wolves 11-8 Saturday.A closer look at the league:WISCONSIN: Mike Meeker took passes from freshman phenom Mark Johnson and Les Grauer to score the game-winner in the final seven minutes against Michigan Friday. Dave Lundeen had a goal disallowed in that game when it was found he scored with an illegal stick, but the Badgers went wild with goals the next night in winning 11-8. Meeker had five goals over the weekend.MINNESOTA: Jim O&rsquo;Neil, a sophomore transfer student from St. Thomas College in St. Paul, made his first WCHA goal a big one to give the Gophers a 3-3 tie with Notre Dame and salvage a point in their weekend series at Williams Arena. Mark Lambert and Tom Vannelli gave the Gophers a 2-0 lead Friday, but the Irish came back to win 32. Freshman Paul Joswiak, Mahtomedi, Minn, was brillant in goal with 32 saves Friday and 43 Satruday. The Gophers will have to get along without defenseman Reed Larson the rest of the way. The highly-touted Minnesota rearguard took the easy way out when he was suspended by the WCHA for his disrupting role in a recent league game. Rather than face a season-long suspension, which he could have appealed but didn&rsquo;t, Larson jumped to the pros and signed an NHL contract with Detroit Red Wings ending abruptly his brilliant college hockey career.NOTRE DAME: The Irish have not lost in 10 games and are 12-1-1 since early January to move into the league&rsquo;s runnerup slot. Don Fairholm&rsquo;s goal with 1:33 left rallied Notre Dame into Friday&rsquo;s win over Minnesota after freshmen Greg Meredith and Ted Weltzin tied it. Brian Walsh had a goal and two assists to remain the WCHA scoring leader with 57 points.MICHIGAN STATE: The Spartans&rsquo; first home WCHA sweep moved it into place and they owed it all to Dave Kelly who had seven goals in a 6-3 and 8-3 win over Minnesota-Duluth. Kelly, a senior from Toronto, had three goals Friday when State jumped off to a 4-0 lead. He had four goals Saturday and linemate Russ welch had two.DULUTH: The Bulldogs saw their playoff hopes go down the tubes despite two goals by Mitch Corbin&mdash;one in each game at State. With six of their last eight games at home, the Bulldogs are hoping to avoid last place.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02219/3948145-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="631" height="983"><figcaption class="caption-body">REED LARSON</figcaption></div>COLORADO COLLEGE: The Tigers, with only one win on the road all year, started a horrendous late-season road schedule and lost two toughies at Tech. Dave Feamster had two goals for the Tigers. &#9632;

f0031-02

Michigan Tech Rolls After Sweep; Meeker Hotshot Wisconsin Scorer

ST. LOUIS&mdash;The St. Louis Billikens have returned to their familiar No. 1 role in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and coach Bill Selman is feeling pretty good about it all.The Billikens, who swept two games from the Ohio State Buckeyes in St. Louis, now have a 19-10 record, 8-2 in CCHA, while the Buckeyes slipped to 1614 and 7-5 in league play.&ldquo;I was very pleased with our effort last weekend,&rdquo; Selman said. &ldquo;We have now played six games with the two top teams in the league and won all six.&ldquo;We passed exceptionally well and our movement was very good,&rdquo; Selman said. &ldquo;Other than the first period on Friday, we completely dominated the games &ldquo;In defeating the Buckeyes 8-3 and 9-1 the Bills outshot their opponents 77-45.More College Hockey On P. 28With their two losses in league play the Billikens are now three losses ahead of both Bowling Green and Ohio State.&ldquo;The loss column is the one you have to look at,&rdquo; Selman said. &ldquo;You can make up the wins but it is the losses that kill you. I think that we are in pretty good shape to win the league championship now.&rdquo;It marked the first time this season Ohio State had been out of the CCHA lead. Players like Bob Keeler, Doug Lawton, Grant Goegan, Gary Murphy, Terry Kitching, George Kryzer and Scott Pitcher spelled doom for the Buckeyes with their scoring exploits. Lawton had a hat trick in one game and young Pitcher, a freshman, scored his first career goal and it proved to the game winner&rsquo;.The Bowling Green Falcons won their only CCHA game easily as they trounced Western Michigan 8-4. They also swept a pair of non-conference starts from York University of Toronto 6-2 and 4-3. York came to Bowling Green with an impressive 28-2-2 record in Canadian college ranks. John Marked was the big man for the Falcons against Michigan with two goals and two assists. &#9632;

St. Louis No.1 In CCHA With Sweep Of Ohio State

<div class="byline">BY BILL ADLER</div>OKLAHOMA CITY-With the patience of a minister and the courage of the proverbial lion, general manager-coach Murray Davison of the Oklahoma City Blazers heads into the final two months of the regular season hoping that the improved play of his team in recent weeks will produce rich dividends at the box office.Both on the ice and at the gate, the 1976-77 season has not been the most successful of seasons in Oklahoma City but Davison firmly believes that a successful finish will remove some of the current pressure and add to the interest for future hockey plans in Oklahoma City.To exemplify some of the strange events in Oklahoma City this season, one needs to look no further than the roster for the season. At the present time no less than 42 hockey players, including Davison, have worn the blue and white Blazer colors so far this season. Also included in that list are six goaltenders.The fate of one such goalie, Pierre Hamel, is most disheartening. This second-team All Star goalie last season has managed only four wins in 25 decisions. Hamel stopped Tulsa 4-3 on Thanksgiving night and then 10 weeks elapsed before this native of Montreal recorded another victory. Once again it was in Tulsa by a 53 count with Hamel making 41 saves.Despite the Thanksgiving night victory, the game proved costly as the Blazers lost the services of Jan Popiel, who suffered a broken jaw at the expense of Oiler rookie Ri&eacute;k Hodgson. Popiel, the league&rsquo;s leading scorer at the time, was sidelined for eight weeks during which time the Blazers won only three games.Goalie Bill McKenzie arrived from Colorado in early January sparking the team to three wins in four games with some strong goaltending. However, McKenzie suffered a severe groin injury and has since returned to Colorado for treatment of the injury.However, there have been bright moments. The fans have maintained a loyal vigil for the Blazers as the team has averaged in excess of 2,500 fans per game.SALT LAKE CITY: The hottest team currently in the CHL looks like they have finally put everything together, recording seven wins along with three ties in their last 11 games.Despite the financial burdens that have nit the Cleveland management, the young Barons have perfomed remarkably well in the face of the adverse conditions. In a recent meeting with Salt Lake City president-general manager Art Teece, CHL president Bud Poile and acting player representative Tim Jacobs, all parties vowed to keep the Salt Lake City operation intact through the balance of the season no matter what the decision from Cleveland.Salt Lake fans responded to both the favorable decision and the outstanding play of the team as 7,118 fans (largest CHL crowd of the season) turned out to watch the Golden Eagles battle the league-leading Kansas City Blues to a thrilling 2-2 tie on Feb. 4. Power play goals by Denis Meloche and Charlie Simmer offset Kansas City goals by Mike Korney and Ken Mann. Second-year pro Larry Hendrick continued his brilliant goaltending with 27 saves to extend his undefeated string to six games.KANSAS CITY: Concern is the best word to describe player-coach Barclay Plager&rsquo;s feelings as he watched his team equal their season high winless streak of three games.Even more frustrating for Plager and Kansas City was the fact that the Blues suffered back-to-back home-ice losses to Oklahoma City and Salt Lake City by identical 5-3 margins. The Blues had lost only three times in 23 prior starts on home ice.If one is looking for a reason behind this sudden change in the Blues, one needs to look no further than the fact that Plager has lost the services of his outstanding &ldquo;kid line&rdquo; as Bernie Federko. Rick Bourbonnais and Brian Sutter have been called up by the St. Louis Blues. So far this season these three players had combined for 65 goals along with 86 assists while playing in Kansas City. Federko had been leading the CHL in scoring for most of the season and his 30 goals is still the best in the league.Chances of seeing these players return look very slim as they have made an immediate hit in the big leagues. In only his second game in St. Louis, Federko demonstrated his scoring ability with a hat trick as the Blues downed Buffalo 6-5 in St. Louis.DALLAS: One might think that al! would be well for a team that currently rides a five-game unbeaten streak that has carried them from fifth place to fourth and only five points from second However, all is not that joyous for coach Roger Neilson and the Dallas Black Hawks.Center Bruce Boudreau, the team s leading scorer, has been summoned to Toronto by the Maple Leafs to fill in for injured George Ferguson. Boudreau s absence for any extended period of time will severely damage the Hawks chances for a playoff berth.The injury list at the same time has three key members. All Star defenseman and most valuable defenseman in the CHL for the past two years, lan McKegney is currently sidelined with i serious groin injury. Rookie hotshoi Alain Belanger has returned to the sideline following a recurrence of his knee injury that has limited his activities all season. Completing the list of the injured is penalty-killing specialist and all-round checker Greg Hubick who is currently hobbled by a sore ankle. Perhaps if the Hawks are seeking some replacements, they should look for a medic.On the ice there was some good news for the Hawks as center Duane Wylie emerged from his season-long scoring slump with a three-goal effort in the Hawks&rsquo; 5-3 win over the Forth Worth Texans in Dallas on Feb. 4. The win marked the sixth time this season that the Texans have travelled to Dallas and the sixth time in which they have failed to come away with a victory.TULSA: The Oilers have barely played .500 hockey since the departure of coach Orland Kurtenbach to Vancouver in late December. Since then the Oilers have won eight, lost six and tied three games in maintaining their second-place position. With some key games against the league-leading Kansas City Blues facing them in the next two weeks, the Oilers are now in a good position to move closer to the top spot.The two new players have arrived in Tulsa as Frank DeMarco and goalie Dan Brady have joined the team following the premature completion of the Southern Hockey League season. DeMarco could prove very valuable to the Oilers as this 26-year-old was the International League&rsquo;s rookie-of-the-year in 1973-74 when he scored 49 goals while playing for Des Moines.In his first two games in an Oiler uniform DeMarco tallied once in each contest. His early second-period goal against Fort Worth on Feb. 5 snapped a 1-1 tie and led the Oilers to 5-1 win over the Texans. Ralph Stewart. Dan Gloor, Rob Flockhart and Cam Botting added the goals for the Oilers in this easy win over the TexansStewart has been perhaps the second most prolific scorer in the CHL this season, next to Kansas City&rsquo;s Bernie Federko. The veteran NHL center has been averaging almost a point and a half per game since joining the Oilers in mid-November. Stewart&rsquo;s on-ice skills provide the young Oilers with the necessary leadership to repeat as Adams Cup champions.FORT WORTH: There are serious problems brewing in Fort Worth and coach John Choyce is certainly well aware of the situation. His Texans have now lost nine and tied one other game in their last 11 starts which has seen them slip from second place to fifth, eight points behind the second-place Oilers.The problem has been simple, an inability to score goals. Following back-to-back shutouts inflicted on the Texans they erupted for a 7-2 win in Oklahoma City. After this outburst the Texans managed only five goals in their next three games, all losses.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02212/3948214-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="625" height="931"><figcaption class="caption-body">RALPH STEWART &hellip; Torrid Scoring Average</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01281/3948207-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="626" height="1014"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03150/3948200-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="640" height="839"></div> &#9632;

f0032-02

OC Hopes To Lure Fans In Stretch; Eagles Assure They’ll Finish Year

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div>SUDBURY-The Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; All Star game here, the first since 1965 when it was held in Niagara Falls, has been termed a success by league commissioner Clarence (Tubby) Schmalz.While the final decision will not be made until the league governors&rsquo; meeting March 7, Schmalz said he expects the All Star game will be continued next season.Bill Long of London Knights, who coached the Emms Division All Stars to a 5-4 win over the Leyden Division, said: &ldquo;As an All Star game, you&rsquo;re not going to find a much better played game. There were some awfully good goals.&ldquo;I think they (the Leyden Division) had a little advantage with the hometown boys from Sudbury, especially in the first period.&rdquo;Sudbury Wolves players scored three of the four Leyden Division goals.St. Catharines Fincups captain Dale McCourt scored his third goal of the game at 1:25 of the first sudden-death overtime period to give the Emms Division the victory.McCourt, who was chosen the most valuable player in the world junior tournament in Czechoslovakia, was named the player of the game and the most valuable forward.The other Emms Division goals were scored by Jim Hamilton of London Knights and Ric Seiling of St. Catharines.Sudbury forward Randy Pierce scored two goals for the Leyden Division while teammate Dave Hunter and Tony McKegney of Kingston Canadians scored a goal apiece.London goaltender Pat Riggin, who played in the first period and in the overtime for the Emms Division, was selected as the top netminder in the game. Riggin made 15 saves in the first period when the Leyden Division held a decided edge in play despite trailing 1-0.Craig Harstburg of Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds was chosen the most valuable rearguard in the game.The OHA Major Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; Hockey League board of governors voted unanimously prior to the All Star game to award the 1978 Memorial Cup tournament to the cities of Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury.Sudbury, which attracted 3,489 spectators for the All Star game, will be the site of four Memorial Cup games, including championship games.Three games will be staged in Sault Ste. Marie.The Sudbury team and city officials, including Major Jim Gordon, and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound representatives, made their presentation to the league governors prior to the start of the All Star game.Sudbury made an unsuccessful bid to hold the 1975 Memorial Cup tournament, which was awarded to Kitchener.NOTES: St. Catharines captain McCourt scored three goals in a recent 83 victory over Ottawa &ldquo;67s to give him a career total of 442 points. The scoring record is currently held by Peter Lee of Ottawa, who had 444 points before graduating to professional ranks at the beginning of this season.When Steve Stockman scored to give London Knights a 2-1 victory over the Wolves in Sudbury, he became the fourth London Major Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; player to score 50 or more goals in a season. Stockman&rsquo;s goal, his 50th, enabled him to join the Knights&rsquo; 50-goal club which includes Reg Thomas (52), Dennis Ververgaert (58) and Dennis Maruk (66). Stockman has 15 games remaining in the schedule to break Maruk&rsquo;s club record.OHA MAJOR HOCKEY LEAGUEEarlier in the season Knights&rsquo; coach Long said he felt this year&rsquo;s edition of the team is the best team he&rsquo;s coached in London. Now the statistics have proved his point.The Knights now have 40 wins for the season and 80 points, the most a London team has recorded in 12 seasons of Major Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; competition. The 1973-74 Knights had 79 points and finished fourth with 36 wins and eight ties.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01251/3948252-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="662" height="3177"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02195/3948245-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="643" height="809"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

OHA May Continue All Star Games

Special To The Hockey NewsGREEN BAY&mdash;The Green Bay Bobcats won two out of three games last week, including a split in a two-game series against Grand Rapids, to move back into a tie for first place in the United States Hockey League&rsquo;s Northern Division.The Bobcats went into Grand Rapids and won 5-3 but lost 7-4 the following night back on home ice. The Bobcats then shaded Waterloo, cellar dwellers in the Southern Division, 3-2, to move back into the deadlock in the Northern Division.Sioux City maintained its firm hold on first place in the Southern Division with two victories last week. Sioux City dumped second-place Milwaukee 6-1 on Feb. 5 and then repeated against them 2-1 the very next night.Tom O&rsquo;Brien, Green Bay&rsquo;s scoring leader with 25 goals and 45 assists, was handed a one-game suspension by league commissioner Morley Howe.O&rsquo;Brien and teammate Bob Purpur share the lead in game-winning goals in the league with five apiece. Purpur also has eight power play goals this season.Close on O&rsquo;Brien&rsquo;s heels in the Northern Division scoring race are three players from Grand Rapids&mdash;Nel Leclair, Gary Ford and Rick Kramp. Leclair and Ford have 69 points apiece and Kramp has 67.Steve Colp is the top sniper in the Southern Division with 75 points. His statistics are fairly even, having scored 37 goals and earned 38 assists.Colp also leads the league in power play goals with 12. Behind Colp in the Southern Division&rsquo;s individual scoring race is Dan Lecours of Milwaukee with 62 points (33-29) and Rick Clubbe, also of Milwaukee has 61 (2437). &#9632;

Around The USHL

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>FORT WAYNE&mdash;Even the frigid temperatures and blowing snow has failed to cool off the torrid race for first place in the International Hockey League&rsquo;s South Division. And the team which has stoked up the fire has been the Komets&mdash;a tailender most of the season.The Komets have been on a winning streak of late and reached the ultimate by pulling into first place. But the Komets had a lot of company&mdash;like all three South Division rivals.A 6-4 victory in Columbus capped the Komet comeback. The victory gave Fort Wayne 47 points&mdash;the same total carried by Columbus, Dayton and Toledo. Seldom in history&mdash;if ever&mdash;has a league enjoyed the competition now being displayed in the IHL. This is especially true of the south.So close are the teams it could produce a divisional champion with a below 500 percentage Komet coach Ralph Keller isn&rsquo;t surprised by the Komets&rsquo; surge. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been hampered by injuries most of the season. We still have some key personnel out (right winger Brian Walker and defenseman Marty Gateman) But we are healthier now than at any time in the season And we&rsquo;re proving what kind of club we are on the ice,&rdquo; Keller says.The Komets are looking at a critical four-game road trip but if the team can pick up a few points, it could be all downhill after that. Following the road swing, the Komets will have 14 of their final 22 games at home. &ldquo;If we can stay in there on this trip, they better open the door to first because we&rsquo;ll be coming.&rdquo; Keller challenged.The cold weather did have an effect on the league, however. One complete Friday night program was snowed out. A few other single-game nights also were victims. And it almost threw Columbus out of the Fairgrounds Coliseum.Columbus officials were notified they would have to vacate the building because of the natural gas shortage in Ohio. The building was going to be closed to conserve fuel.Owner Sal Savill and GM Moe Bartoli protested, citing the financial bind it would place on the club. &ldquo;It could mean he end of hockey in Columbus,&rdquo; Savill said. The problem was solved when an oil conversion unit was put in the building. The heat will not be sufficient to warm the building, but it will permit water and rest room facilities to remain open. The Owls will be able to complete their home season&mdash;and any playoff dates they may earn.There was no lack of heat in the Owl dressing room following the 6-4 loss to Fort Wayne which produced the four-way tie for first. Rookie coach Ron Ullyot was sizzling. The Owls blew a three-goal lead. He meted out fines to most of the players and promised only the players who wanted to work would be playing in the future. The Owls rebounded the next time out, whipping Saginaw, 6-1.TOLEDO: Toledo s Ted Garvin was another who warmed the wintery breezes with hot words about the play of the Goaldiggers. Garvin has been upset by the Diggers&rsquo; lack of consistency.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m at the end of my rope. We have the highest payroll in the league I&rsquo;m not proud of it, but I thought I was building this town a top hockey club.&ldquo;But right now I think we&rsquo;re very fortunate to be where we are. We&rsquo;re not in the stronger division you know.&ldquo;This team has been inconsistent from day one. There&rsquo;s no reason for it because we have enough talent and veterans that we should be easily leading our division.&rdquo;DAYTON: Coach Larry Mickey has his problems with the Gems, the defending Turner Cup champions he inherited. The Gems are fine at home&mdash;but haven&rsquo;t been on the road. And even the home-ice magic was dented when Flint nipped the Gems. 5-4, That loss cost Dayton sole possession of first place and contributed to the four-way tie.And the Gems are not warming up at the box office, either. The 5-4 loss to Flint was witnessed by just 935 fans. Of course, Dayton has been one of the hardest-hit cities by the cold spell. Mickey hopes things will warm up on the ice&mdash;if not outdoors&mdash;pretty soon.KALAMAZOO: The K-Wings continue to sit on top the North but haven&rsquo;t been able to shake the persistent challenge of the Flint Generals. An opportunity to open up some daylight&mdash;the danger of losing ground was present also&mdash;was still another casualty of the frigid winter. A critical date with the Generals in Flint was postponed. The two teams are just a point apart.Off the ice, general manager Bob Lemieux has named Pete Slater as his assistant coach. The 28-year-old Slater retired from hockey at the conclusion of the 1975-76 Turner Cup playoffs to obtain his masters degree in counseling from Western Michigan University. Slater was appointed coach of the USHL&rsquo;s Traverse City Bays at the start of this season but resignedFLINT: Ted Bulley starred in the 5-4 road victory at Dayton Without a goal in 15 road games. Bulley scored the hat trick to trigger the Generals&rsquo; important victory. Bulley s goals came in success to wipe out a 4-2 Dayton lead.A point slipped away in a subsequent road test at Saginaw when a General rally which produced a 4-4 tie ended in a one-goal loss as Paul Evans scored the winner for the Gears on a power play with but 58 seconds remaining.SAGINAW: The Gears matched their season&rsquo;s longest winning streak with a 5-4 thriller over Flint. And Paul Evans who got the winner in the final 58 seconds, set a club record by scoring points in his 14th consecutive game Dennis Desrosiers boosted his club-leading goal total to 28 in the victory.MUSKEGON: The weather wrecked havoc with the Mohawk schedule just when it appears they were ready to make a move. Before the storm hit, the Mohawks turned in one of their most impressive showings of the season&mdash;certainly the most impressive on the road&mdash;by bombing Columbus in Columbus, 8-1. Veteran winger Bob Tombari reached a personal milestone in the Columbus breeze, picking up his 400th regular season assist.Because of the weather, however, the Mohawks were prevented the opportunity to take advantage of the momentum. Two weekend games were postponed which will leave Muskegon idle for a week. And they won&rsquo;t have another home game for two-and-a-half weeks.PORT HURON: The Flags are in immediate danger of dropping out of the post-season playoff picture. Of the nine IHL clubs, only one will not be invited to the post-season party and the Flags as of now are playing like they won&rsquo;t get the invitation.But should the injury jinx fade away, coach Bobby McCammon might still get the Flags in gear. A total of 75 games have been missed by various players during the season because of injury. The most critical casualty was to leading scorer and All Star veteran Len Fontaine who suffered an arm injury. Fontaine is out indefinitely. Left winger Larry Gould is still a bright spot for the Flags. He has 73 scoring points and ranks fourth overall in the IHL scoring race.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02217/3948321-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="630" height="815"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARRY GOULD &hellip; High-Flying Flag</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01273/3948314-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="654" height="1304"></div><h2>IHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03164/3948307-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="652" height="965"></div> &#9632;

f0034-02

Ko mets Arrive At Ultimate Position

<div class="byline">BY MIKE LYNCH</div>TRAIL&mdash;The Trail Smoke Eaters, the busiest team in the Western International League as January competition drew to a close, had only middling success, but managed to depart the circuit&rsquo;s cellar.The Smokies, who contended for the championship all last season, have struggled this year but recently put together a seven-game winning streak.Trail s latest schedule called for four games in five days and the Smokies managed just one win and a tie. However, Trail moved past Nelson and into fourth place by a single point. Trail has played three more games than Nelson.Cranbrook won two of three, dropping a one-goal game to Trail on the road to maintain first place. Kimberley broke even in three games with a win and a tie with the key win over third-place Spokane. Kimberley trails Cranbrook by only three points and has a three-game bulge on Spokane.Spokane divided a pair of games, losing in Nelson and winning 7-5 at home over Trail in a wild game that included two disputed Spokane goals. Trail protested the game to the league. Officials may look more closely at a match penalty to team captain Gary Johnson for his run-in with the referee in the debate about the goals.Moving out of last place, Trail could be helped by a league decision on the protest. However, the Smokies still trail Nelson by two games in the loss column The Smokies are playing physical hockey and have the size to make it work.Through Jan. 23, Trail boasted the top two scorers in the league. Brian Debiasio, last season&rsquo;s top rookie, had 38 goals and 28 assists for 66 points in 38 games. Kevin Knibbs ranked second at 16-41-57.Nelson divided a pair of games, the win a 9-2 laugher that ended Trail&rsquo;s win streak. Ted Hargreaves, recently back with the club, was injured in a freak accident&mdash;a thrown piece of discarded tape hit him in the eye after a workout and scratched the eyeball.Hargreaves scored the winning goal in a 5-4 win over Spokane shortly after rejoining the club. Another veteran in a new role is defenseman Ken Uzeloc, a Trail product skating with Kimberley, further improving the defense. Kimberley playing coach Murray Flegel has been playing with a protective mask because of cheekbone fracture.Records through January: Cranbrook 23-15-1, Kimberley 21-16-2, Spokane 19-22, Trail 17-23-2, and Nelson 17-21-2. &#9632;

The WIHL Scene

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div>NEW WESTMINSTER&mdash;&rsquo;There are a number of reasons why New Westminster Bruins are threatening to win their third straight Western Canada Hockey League championship, but for starters, two good ones are Blaine Peterson and Carey Walker.The two players comprise the Bruins&rsquo; goaltending tandem and presently, they&rsquo;re making a mockery of the goaltending race in the WCHL.While last year&rsquo;s edition of the Bruins broke records in most of the league&rsquo;s offensive categories, Peterson and/or Walker just may establish a record for goaltending stinginess this time around.And Ernie McLean has the same end result in mind: a trip to the Memorial Cup.Before embarking on a 11-game eastern journey (plus two exhibition games against the Bruins&rsquo; Tier II aff&iacute;late in Estevan, Sask.) Walker and Peterson had given up just 32 goals in the Bruins&rsquo; 17 previous games.On the season, Walker&rsquo;s goals-against average was 2.26, a shade under the record of 2.37 recorded by John Davidson, then with Calgary Centennials, in 1971-72. (A goaltender must play in 40 per cent of his team&rsquo;s games to qualify for the goaltending award).Peterson, the team s over-age player acquired from Brandon Wheat Kings last season, has an average around the 2.50 mark.Both goalies, ironically, were unwanted commodities during the summer of &rsquo;76.Peterson, hopeful of being drafted by a pro club, wasn&rsquo;t selected, so he agreed to return when McLean beckoned.Walker, meanwhile, was on the trading block.&ldquo;When Blaine and I both knew we were coming back, we didn&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;d get enough work to keep us both happy,&rdquo; recalls Walker. &ldquo;So I went to Ernie and asked to be traded. But nothing happened.&rdquo;It was a bad summer to be talking trade, with goalies as bait. Only two teams&mdash;Regina and Flin Flon&mdash;didn&rsquo;t have their regular goalies from the year before coming back, and those two clubs didn&rsquo;t have much in the way of suitable compensation.The Bruins ran off an incredible streak of just one loss in 25 games&mdash;that a 3-2 defeat in Portland&mdash;between Nov. 14 and Feb. 2 to open a comfortable lead in the Western Division.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pleased with my goaltending now,&rdquo; said McLean. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t give Carey much work early in the season because I told him he didn&rsquo;t deserve it. But he seems to be concentrating better now.&rdquo;It appears a virtual cinch that the Bruins will advance to the league final and take on Brandon Wheat Kings, Peterson&rsquo;s old team. At the time of this writing, Brandon had nine losses in 51 games while the Bruins had lost 10 games in 45 starts. Eighteen losses, by Victoria, was the next best record.&ldquo;I know Brandon has all the big scorers, but we can do it,&rdquo; Walker claims.Peterson, meanwhile, credits his sharp play of late to the 10-game stint with Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League. Peterson was an emergency callup when Cesare Maniago was injured. Although he didn&rsquo;t get into any game action, the practice sessions&mdash;where he faced harder, more accurate shooters than he is used to in the WCHL&mdash;was a definite help.The Bruin goaltending tandem isn&rsquo;t hurt one bit either by the best defense in the league, which happens to wear Bruin jerseys. Barry Beck and Brad Maxwell, both rated in the top five among Canada&rsquo;s graduating juniors, combine with Miles Zaharko and Brian Young to form a solid wall on the blueline.VICTORIA: Curt Fraser has emerged the Cougars&rsquo; biggest scorer since the All Star break. In two 4-2 victories over Lethbridge last week, which pulled the Cougars back into second place in the Western Division ahead of Kamloops, Fraser scored twice and set up three others. Gary Lupul, the rookie speedster, has also been hot, centering Fraser and getting a goal and three assists in the two games.KAMLOOPS: Chiefs beat New Westminster for the first time in 11 tries, getting goals from five players in a 5-2 victory as the Bruins opened their long road trip. Elsewhere, Reg Kerr&rsquo;s two goals aided in Chiefs&rsquo; 3-3 tie in Calgary. Of Kerr&rsquo;s 34 goals, 28 have been of the &rsquo;clutch&rsquo; variety, a classification statistician Bob Strumm has devised to calculate important goals. Still in Alberta, Kamloops fell 5-2 in Medicine Hat and lost a chance to move ahead of Victoria.PORTLAND: The Winter Hawks got consecutive two-goal games from 18-year-old Wayne Babych in a doubleheader sweep, 8-3 and 6-3, over touring Lethbridge. Portland has signed big winger Elmer Ray as the team&rsquo;s over-age player. Ray was drafted in the fourth round from Calgary Centennials by the NHL&rsquo;s Vancouver Canucks last summer.CALGARY: The Cents, with the remainder of their schedule favorable for a run to overtake either Lethbridge or Winnipeg for a Central Division playoff spot, got a 3-3 home-ice tie with Kamloops, giving up a third-period goal to Al Young. Cents are one of two WCHL teams with two players over 200 minutes in penalties. Grant Morin leads the league (293) and Gary Rissling is among the leaders with 230 minutes. Lethbridge is the other club with two 200-plus men.LETHBRIDGE: The Broncos ran into a horrid streak, losing five straight West Coast games to run their winless streak to 10 in a row. The worst loss was 11-0 in New Westminster, but coach Mike Sauter saw the promise come back in consecutive 4-2 defeats in Victoria. Portland then twice took the measure of the Broncos, 6-3 and 8-3. Once a first-place club, Lethbridge is now three games below 500 and Sauter is worried about goalie Rollie Boutin, a much better performer than he has shown lately.MEDICINE HAT: Defenseman John Hilworth, the friendly giant playing the best hockey of his three-year career, had three assists in a 5-2 Tigers&rsquo; win over Kamloops before the team lost to Brandon 7-3 in the Manitoba city. It was Medicine Hat&rsquo;s first loss to Brandon in two years. Center Ron Areshenkoff is tied for the league lead with Brandon&rsquo;s Bill Derlago in power play goals, each with 16. The scoring stats might not indicate as much, but speedy Tom Bast, pointman on the Tiger power play, makes their extra-man combination click.Western Canada Hockey LeagueREGINA: After victories over Portland and Winnipeg snapped the Pats&rsquo; record 36-game winless streak, Regina dropped three in a row, being outscored 25-6. Saskatoon beat them twice, 9-2 and 7-3, and Brandon was victorious 9-1. Dirk Graham had two goals in the 7-3 homeice loss to the Blades, putting him at 20 for the season, the first Pat at that figure. Gerry Minor, returning to top form, had three of the other four Regina goals for the week.SASKATOON: Blades had a 10-game unbeaten streak snapped with a 9-4 home-ice loss to New Westminster in the first 1976-77 meeting of last year&rsquo;s finalists.BRANDON: Danny Bonar scored eight goals in two games (five in a 9-6 win over Flin Flon), making him the league&rsquo;s second 50-goal man. The 175-pound overage centerman trails only teammate Bill Derlago. Defenseman Wayne Ramsey, blossoming as a star in his final year, picked up nine assists in three games, as the Wheaties dumped Medicine Hat 7-3 and Regina 9-1 in addition to the win in Flin Flon.WINNIPEG: Owner-coach Gerry Brisson welcomed the return of 20-year old center Gord Blumenschein, left without a team when Baltimore Clippers of the Southern Hockey League folded. Blumenschein was a 39-goal man (in just 54 games) with the Monarchs (formerly the Clubs). The announcement came the day Winnipeg downed Flin Flon 5-2, behind Dave Stekler&rsquo;s three goals, but the next night, the Bombers clobbered Winnipeg 14-5.FLIN FLON: Bombers scored 22 goals in three games, five each by Glenn Hicks and Kim Davis, but came out with only one win. 14-5 over Winnipeg as Davis, with six points, and Ray Markham, Jordy Douglas and Ray Neufeld romped in with five-point games. &#9632;

‘Unwanted’ Goalies Key For Bruins

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE JAWORSKI</div>UTICA-The Mohawk Valley Comets were the first team to change coaches in midstream this season, but they&rsquo;ve merely followed a trend in making wholesale player changes.And they did it with dramatic flair.Coach Ian Anderson, 0-2 since taking over from Bob Woytowich, brought in six new players and put five on waivers as the team was mired in a five-game losing streak, their longest tailspin of the campaign.&ldquo;With the new people I think I can really effect the changes.&rdquo; said Anderson who is giving pro coaching his first his &rsquo;&rsquo;We&rsquo;ll go from here, see what happens.&rdquo;And he doesn&rsquo;t have an easy job with the Comets, who are the most scored-upon team in the NAHL and consequently gave four blueliners their walking papers.Gone from the scene are defensemen Grant Rowe, Bim McFall, Jim McCrimmon and Ron Pronchuk as well as team captain Kerry Bond who was recalled by Indianapolis. These casualities are joined by 42-goal scorer Mike Zuke and Brian Coates, also called up to the Racers leaving Randy Wyrozub as the lone Indy property heading into February.Joining the Comets are left wing Ron Morgan who had 21 goals before leaving Hampton of the SHL; right wing 25-year-old tough guy Ted Scharf who&rsquo;s logged more than 225 games in the WHA; right wing Jeff Carlson, eldest of the three brothers, who had 11 goals and one assist in 21 games at Greensboro; 22-year-old defensemen Paul Heaver who played most of last season with the old Toronto Toros; defenseman Mike Keeler who had 29 points in 44 games with Charlotte, and, goalie Dave Tataryn, a member of the Canadian national team in 1974-75, who had a fine 3.07 goals-against average with Charlotte.When this six-pack of players takes the ice, it will mean a total of 25 players have made the jump to the NAHL following the folding of the SHL on Jan. 29.SYRACUSE: The league-leading Blazers were rocked when goalie Jacques Caron&mdash;first team All Star netminder last season&mdash;couldn&rsquo;t come to contract terms and left the team. He was picked up by the Cincinnati Stingers. &ldquo;I felt bad after leaving, but I couldn&rsquo;t live on nothing,&rdquo; said the 37-year-old netminder who became a free agent with the folding of the Minnesota Fighting Saints. He was on the second year of a two-year pact, had received his last paycheck on Jan. 1 and claimed he was owed back pay by both the Saints and Blazers.Coach Dan Belisle hated to lose such a formidable goalie at such a critical juncture, but couldn&rsquo;t give in to Caron&rsquo;s salary demands. The six-foot-one, 185-pound goalie played in 22 Blazer games and had a 3.63 goals-against average with a 13-8-1 won-lost-tied record. Belisle moved quickly, though, by picking up rookie pro Bob Mears who was leading the SHL with a 2.71 goals-against average in 15 games with Hampton.ERIE: The Blades really got a good look at Syracuse after losing a 5-1 matinee game. Coach Nick Polano & Co, were stranded here for three nights, unable to get home because of the horrid weather ravaging the areas to the west and north of Syracuse. Because goalie Lynn Zimmerman got tagged under the eye during practice for eight stitches, newcomer Eddie Mio made his debut in the loss to the Blazers.BINGHAMTON: It was a stroke of luck that saw the Dusters acquire 27-year-old goalie Paul Hoganson from the Cincinnati Stingers. Cincinnati had reacquired the rights to Dale Smedsmo, who had only played two games and was counted on to give Binghamton some physicalness. In the same telephone conversation that took Smedsmo, the Dusters learned Hoganson was available and grabbed him as Bob Johnson left the team.Johnson had been plagued by a hand injury received when he was in training camp with Minnesota. The Dusters started to close the gap on first-place Syracuse with a big 4-3 win at the Onondaga County War Memorial. The winning goal was scored with just 1:33 left, and most fans left the rink thinking it was Joe Hardy who did the damage.However, it took a day before Archie King got credit for the goal, as he defelected Hardy&rsquo;s deflection of Rick Paqnutti&rsquo;s point shot. It was only King&rsquo;s second game back from an October knee injury, and the rookie pro&rsquo;s second goal of the season.PHILADELPHIA: Jim Sherritt, who centered the Gordie Howe line in Houston for two seasons beginning in 1973, joined the team. He was put on waivers by Erie, claimed by Johnstown and then sold to the Firebirds. Also added was defenseman Don Peart due to the league increasing its roster limit to 17.Peart started the season with Philadelphia, and after playing nine games went to the Butte Copper Kings. Gone is forward Mike Bradbury, waived through the league with 18 goals and 15 assists. He joined Toledo of the IHL. Don&rsquo;t forget the Firebirds play 17 of their last 27 games at home at the end of the season.MAINE: Goalie Jim Corsi is playing well. His record of 14-15-4 is a marked increase from the first two months of the season. Corsi not only beat the Blazers in Syracuse, but stopped 39 shots to whip the Jets in Johnstown. Richard Grenier has been a welcomed addition, 22 points in 17 games, and Gary Coalter had back-to-back two-goal games in wins over Mohawk and Syracuse. Norm Gratton is still on the shelf with a chipped bone in his heel, and Michel Dubois has been recalled by Quebec.JOHNSTOWN: A three-game winning streak was the longest of the season mustered up by the Jets, but it was quickly followed by a pair of consecutive home-ice defeats.The winning streak included home-ice wins over the Dusters and Maine and a win at Erie. But then Jets then couldn&rsquo;t find enough of the net in home-ice losses to Maine and Philadelphia which was backstopped to a 3-1 decision by the excellent 45-save goaltending of Reggie Lemelin.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03131/3948421-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="625" height="867"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACQUES CARON &hellip; Joins WHA Stingers</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0484/3948414-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="620" height="876"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM SHERRITT &hellip; Bought By Firebirds</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01239/3948407-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="656" height="962"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02179/3948400-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="659" height="839"></div> &#9632;

f0036-03

Comets’ Coach Makes Vast Changes; Caron Leaves Blazers Over Contract

<div class="byline">BY GARY MCCARTHY</div>TROIS-RI VIERESHockey has a well-travelled road these days. lt is a stretch of road that is unpaved, extremely rough and full of potholes, primarily because it has seen an awful lot of traffic in the last few years. It starts on the ice and winds up on the steps of a courthouse.It seems as though every time a hockey game is played, a pending court appearance follows. The situation has reached a climax in the last few years and it show no signs of dwindling.Another court appearance looms in the near future. It is not likely to help clear up the situation. It may create more animosity. It may not. Who knows?Michel Bergeron, the coach of the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, says he plans to take legal action against a fan who hit him during a recent game in Chicoutimi.Bergeron is sporting a black eye these days after being hit by a fan seconds after the opening faceoff of a game between his team and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.&ldquo;I have a little blood in the eye, but it doesn&rsquo;t appear to be too serious,&rdquo; Bergeron said shortly after he and his team returned to Trois-Rivieres.He added that he intends to start legal proceedings against the fan, who was carted off to the Chicoutimi jail&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t even know the name of the guy, but you can be sure he hasn&rsquo;t heard the last of this,&rdquo; Bergeron warned.The game was three seconds old when a general brawl broke out between the two teams. Referee Pierre Gibeau tossed 13 players out of the game and handed out a total of 205 minutes in penalties.Ironically, just 24 hours earlier, league president Aime Constantin appeared on a French television sports show and told his audience that &ldquo;violence was almost monexistent in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.&rdquo;CHICOUTIMI: The Saueneens, hanging onto first place in the Frank Dilio Division of the league, have lost the services of left winger Alain Cote. He was rushed to hospital with a high fever (103 degrees) and missed the brawl. Sylvain Locas, second in the individual scoring race with 128 points&mdash;including a leagueleading 79 assists&mdash;says that his goal this season is to play in the Memorial Cup in Vancouver.QUEBEC: The Remparts had to settle for a 4-4 homeice deadlock against lowly for a 4-4 home-ice deadlock against lowlying up into a tie for first place with Chicoutimi in the division standings. The Remparts had to score four times in the third period to gain the tie. Pierre Lacroix scored with 17:22 to go to earn the standoff. Eddy Godin had two goals and Pierre Lagace one. Jean Savard is still on top in the scoring race with 132 points, including 65 goals.TROIS-RIVIERES: The Draveurs have lost the services of Brent Tremblay for a few games. He was injured in the brawl at Chicoutimi. The Draveurs have dropped five points behind Chicoutimi in the standings. Richard Dalpe is still the team&rsquo;s leading scorer with 48 goals and 70 assists. Seven points behind him in the team scoring is Yves Richer with 37 goals and 74 assists.SHAWINIGAN: The Dynamos surprised the Quebec Remparts and a Quebec City crowd of 2,031 when they skated to a 2-0 first-period lead. However, they couldn&rsquo;t hold on for the victory. Marc Audisio scored twice for Shawinigan and Rene Hamelin and Ga&eacute;tan Rochette added one each.SOREL: Coach Michel Belisle was anxiously awaiting X-ray reports on his best defenseman, Gary Platt. It is believed that Platt is suffering from mononucleosis. His loss in the lineup would just add further to a dismal year by the Black Hawks, who have only won 10 of 55 games.SHERBROOKE: It&rsquo;s hard to explain the sudden collapse of the Beavers. Just a couple of weeks ago, they held an eight-point lead in the Robert LeBel Division. Today, they are back in a tie for the division lead with the Cornwall Royals. The Beavers were shut out 3-0 by Laval, the team&rsquo;s second loss in 24 hours. Coach Ghislain Delage said he had never spent a longer night in his life than he did during that game. Delage added that some of his players acted like &ldquo;big spoiled babies.&rdquo; Delage also had some harsh words about Ray Carter, a 61-goal man. The coach said he is not a team player and only thinks about his personal record. Carter is the leading scorer on the team with 61 goals and 37 assists. Right behind him is captain Jere Gillis with 37 goals and 59 assists.CORNWALL: With the absence of Tim Bernhardt, who was voted the outstanding goaltender during the Major International tournament in Alberta during the Christmas holidays, the Royals are forced to go with No. 2 netminder Barry Borrett. Should he play his part in keeping the Royals in contention for the division honors, it will surely increase his chances of being drafted by the pros this summer. The Royals have the third-highest number of wins in the league this season with 30, one less than Quebec and three fewer than Chicoutimi.MONTREAL: The Juniors are still fighting to hang onto third place in the division standings. They have been battling Hull most of the year for the third spot. The difference between the two teams is that Montreal has one more win and one less tie. Normand Dupont, despite being injured lately, is still the team&rsquo;s leading scorer with 48 goals and 59 assists for 107 points.HULL: The Olympics are still touting Daniel Metivier for rookie-of-the-year hon:rs in the Quebec League. The Olympics are a young hustling club that could be a serious threat next season. If they ever manage to improve their goals-against, they could give a lot of teams plenty of trouble next year. They have scored 207 goals in 52 games this season, but have not had a player among the top 10 scorers all season long.Quebec Major Hockey LeagueLAVAL: Michel Bossy guided the Nationals to their big win over the Beavers before 2.954 hometown fans. Bossy scored two goals, giving !&rsquo;!m 57 for the season. Serge Menard had the other goal. Richard Sirois turned back 28 shots to register the shutout. Coach Jacques St. Jean of the Nationals called it a perfect game and was pleased with the way his players came up with the big effort after being annihilated 11-1 by Cornwall the day before.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01213/3948452-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="672" height="1464"></div> &#9632;

f0037-01

Bergeron Plans Suit After Attack

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01246/3948483-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

Minor League Scoreboard

<div class="byline">&#x2014; By Bill Hilts</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02170/3948514-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="391" height="480"></div>Midwest LeagueDave Wilkens of the Bloomington Jr. Stars leads the Midwest Jr. Hockey League individual scoring race with 16 goals and 23 assists for 39 points. Right on the heels of his skates is Mike Stoltzner of Austin Mavericks with 38 points on 13 goals and 25 assists. He&rsquo;s followed by another Mav, Ross Dahi with 35 points (15-20). Jim Penningroth of the Stars also has 35 points (7-28) and his teammate Terry Houck has 32 points (20-12). A pair of St. Paul Vulcans, Tom Rhody and Tony Jelacie are next, each with 30 points (10-20)&hellip;Frank Serratore of Vulcans leads goalies with fine 3.28 GA average. A pair of Austin puck-stoppers are next, Tom Hasenzahl-3.49 and Scott Kolquist-4.32. Mike Boniarczyk of Hennepin Nordiques has a 4.84 GA average and a pair of Bloomington goalies follow, Chuck Heath-5.04 and Bob Sween-5.18.Great Lakes LeagueA Division: Three goals Jr. Wings put together in three and a half minutes in second period were not enough as Fraser topped Detroit 5-3. Scott Tarkowski scored game winner for Fraser at 19:10 of second period and Bob Daniels added insurance tally in final stanza. Frank Maiorana opened scoring for Fraser in first period and George Mimikos was other Highlander marksman. Three goal-getters for Detroit were Bob Bishop, Keith Zoldak and Mido Indunante. Cleveland Jr. Barons beat the Wayne Chiefs 3-2, Bill Binnie netted winning goal at 10-minute mark of final period after Mark Jackson tied score for Wayne. Greg Coyle got Cleveland off to good start by firing other two goals, his 30th and 31st of season. Dave Simonetti had other goal for Wayne. A total of 101 penalty minutes were called in bruising game&hellip;Dave Ross bagged his seventh game-winning goal of season for Paddock Pools Saints as they dumped Detroit 11-3. Saints now undefeated in last six games, winning five and tying one. Fourteen different players shared in Saints&rsquo; victory by getting at least one point. Fred Bahna had hat trick for Saints to go along with two assists. Paul Gottwald added his 36th and 37th of season as he continues to lead league in that department. Leo Bienik had two goals and Bob Bishop other for wings&hellip;Fraser beat Barons 8-7. Had it not been for Barons netminder Pete Andrews the score could have been bigger. Pete took over for starting goalie Jeff Coyle and turned back 40 shots in last two periods, giving up two goals. Final Cleveland goal by Bill Binnie came with 13 seconds left in game. Mimikos and Bob Daniels had two goals each for Fraser and Mimikos added three assists. Jim Fritsche had hat trick for Barons and now has 19 goals&hellip; B Division: Berkley and Waterford will be traveling to St. Louis for St. Louis Invitational Jr. B. Tournament in late February. The teams that have been invited are two from Toronto, one from Atlanta, Los Angeles, Alabama, two from Texas and four from St. Louis area&hellip;Berkley Bruins beat Flint 7-4. Paul Kile had game winner in getting his hat trick to lead win. John Spihazze got two goals for Berkley. Tim Depp had a pair of goals in losing effort for Flint&hellip;Lansing got two goals in final period to upend league-leading Waterford Lakers 5-3. Five Lansing goals were distributed as Steve Bohner, Brian Carron, Bobby Clarke, Brian Higgins, and Tom Grahamme were the scorers. Game-winner was fired by Clarke at 7:10 mark of final period. Laker scorers were Ed Crozier, Brad Dredge and Jeff Kemezis&hellip;Berkley exploded for five goals in middle period as they dumped Lakers 8-7. Paul Kile for second game in row had hat trick for Berkley. John Kerr had two goals for Berkley. Ed Crozier had two goals for Lakers.New Brunswick LeagueIt&rsquo;s that time of year for teams to submit protected lists to the New Brunswick Jr. A. League and there have been; surprises. Cape Pele Fishermen have given Bobby LeBlanc; his unconditional release, also goalie Terry Saulnier&hellip; Moncton Beavers left Claude Gallant off their list but added 16-year-old Raoul Boudreau. Raoul was with Hull Olympics of QMJHL but has returned to his old team; and he did it in fine style, arriving home on Tuesday night one hour after the game had started but was on the lineup; and was suited for the start-of second period in a scheduled game with U de M. The Flattails were down 4-0 at the 2:20 mark of middle stanza. Raoul connected at the 7:03 mark for the first Beaver goal of four in the second, which ended 4-4. The Beavers went ahead 6-4 in final period but U de M i came back to tie 6-6 at the 13:15 mark. U de M took the; lead again at 14:33 but the Beavers then tied it at 17:58 with Gary Ryan notching it unassisted, thus setting up the winning counter by Vaughn Porter at the 19:36 mark.New England LeagueCoach Bob Sylvia&rsquo;s resurgent South Shore Braves closed to within two points of third-place Tyngsboro by coming from behind twice last weekend to deadlock front-running Fitchburg Wallopers 4-4 and then nip the Tyngsboro Huskies 3-2 to highlight New England Jr. Hockey League action&hellip;South Shore trailed Fitchburg 4-2 entering final period and Jim Quirk netted game-winner with 3:30 to play. Hutchinson and Frank Silva 1:55 apart early in session to earn the stalemate. Silva netted his 30th and 31st goals of season for Braves while Pete Conway had a goal and two assists. Mickey Rego (27-36-63), who took over NEJHL scoring lead from teammate Tom O&rsquo;Neil, set up all four Fitchburg goals, while Don Leger came up with 32 saves. Leger had his personal nine-game winning streak snapped just one short of league record&hellip;The Braves then raced from behind again with two goals in final period to shade Tyngsboro. Chuck Murpby tied it up midway through the period and Jim Quirk netted game winner with 3:30 to play. Jerry Fortier tallied both goals for Huskies and Jim Browder steered away 33 shots&hellip;Springfield Olympics picked up a point on Fitchburg by slipping by Tri-Valley Squires 3-1 and then blanking Great Bay Vikings 7-0. Against TriValley, the Olympics snapped a 1-1 tie on third period goals by Dean Lombardi and defenseman Dennis Whittimore. Dale Henderson had lone Tri-Valley goal. Dan Shepard and Tom Gentile each scored two goals&hellip;Great Bay gave Fitchburg a battle before losing 3-1 on third period goals by Wallopers Mike Boucher and defenseman Craig Boutilier. Walt Landry scored for Vikes. Jim Mastalerz, the NEJHE&rsquo;s top goalie (2.19 GA average, 923 save percentage), smothered 28 shots for Wallopers&hellip;Wayne Pike scored one goal and set up three others to pace Tyngsboro past Tri-Valley 8-6. Bill McLaughlin scored twice for Huskies. Dennis Sholes pumped in a hat trick for Squires, and Jack Goggin netted twoN.Y. Metro LeagueJersey Rockets moved up on the second-place Bergen/Rockland Rangers, who were idle in N.Y. Metropolitan Jr. League action, with convincing 11-0 blanking of White PLains Plainsmen. Rockets, who average a respectable 3.80 goals per game by the opposition, used the talents of both Gil Peters and John McCarthy in net, with each man playing 30 minutes. Rockets&rsquo; scored the eventual game-winner in the opening minutes of contest on an effort by Dan May, May picked up another goal and three assists, along with John Sheeran, who collected four goals and one assist. On just seven shots Jersey scored two goals in the second period&hellip;Coach Paul Gillis led his Rangers against the Kent School varsity team. Though undermanned due to illness and injuries, the B/R team beat Kent 5-4 on the school&rsquo;s ice. The Rangers trailed 4-1 after two periods, but rallied for four goals in final period. Matt Gillis, the Met League&rsquo;s fifth-leading scorer, fired hat trick in final period, including winner&hellip;Met League All Star game was played early February at Superior Ice Rink in Kings Park, Long Island. Game featured West Squad, composed of B/R. Jersey, White Plains and N.Y. Westsiders, coached by Paul Gillis against East Team of Suffolk coach Norm Ryder with players from N.Y. Americans, New Hyde Park Arrows. Oyster Bay Gulls and Suffolk Royals&hellip;Westsiders knocked off Oyster Bay 9-1 with Ryan Boyd gaining hat trick&hellip; Suffolk is unbeaten in 10 straight games&hellip;Westsiders topped Amerks 3-2 to even season series 2-2.Pacific LeagueRichmond continues to set pace in Pacific Jr. A League with a 27-4-0 mark for 54 points. The only contenders are Surrey with 43 points and Vancouver with 42 points. Coquitlam is a distant fourth with 29 points&hellip;Surrey&rsquo;s Don Fraser leader scorer with 83 points (35-48). His closet contenders are Mark Schnarr of Coquitlam with 61 points (2338), Darrel Goodwin of Richmond with 55 points (35-20), Terry Dennis of Vancouver with 54 points (27-27), Don Davis of Richmond-52 points, Kerry Gladson of Surrey-51 points, Bob Atkinson-51 points. Cliff Lane of Surrey-51 points and Erie Wolf of Richmond-50 points&hellip;Richmond&rsquo;s two goalies Ron Peterson and Tom Frame lead net-minders with 2.53 GA average and 3.02 GA average respectively Andy Mendel of Vancouver has a 3.17 GA average. &#9632;

f0039-02

JUNIOR JOTTINGS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03131/3948552-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="703" height="603"></div>The Curved StickThe curved stick is a potent weapon but has as many disadvantages as plus marks for it.The curved stick acts on a puck the way a lacrosse stick acts on a ball. There&rsquo;s a whipping action which adds spin and speed, but the shooter doesn&rsquo;t know exactly what&rsquo;s going to happen when he unwinds a shot.Particularly with the slap shot, you can never tell exactly which part of a curved blade is going to hit the puck. If it&rsquo;s in the centre, your shot will probably go where you alm It. If the puck catches the heel or toe of the blade (where there&rsquo;s more curve) your shot may be up and away to the back wall or low and wide of the net.We could say the curved stick Is like a shotgun: You&rsquo;re going to hit something, but what?<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01231/3948545-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="1395" height="2809"></div> &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

February 25, 1977

Patrick Gets New Lease On Life With Caps

Murphy’s Scoring Bursts Incentive For Kings

National League Summaries

Koroll Completes 300th Consecutive NHL Game