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.

April 22, 1977

The Hockey News April 22, 1977

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE BILYCH</div>EDMONTON&mdash;In the World Hockey Association, not necessarily do 80 games a season make. To make a playoff spot in the Western Division for the Edmonton Oilers, it took 81 games.That&rsquo;s the way the situation developed as Edmonton beat out Calgary in the final fateful week. The Oilers and Cowboys had been in a dead heat at 68 points for the fourth and final playoff berth in the Western Division with two games remaining. Both were at home with Birmingham Bulls and Winnipeg Jets the visitors.The Oilers decided to take the initiative and do the job themselves. They went out and thumped Winnipeg 6-2 and then toppled Birmingham 6-4 to nail down the fourth and last playoff spot. The double win, coupled with Calgary&rsquo;s crucial 6-4 loss at the hands of the Jets, enabled Edmonton to finish in fourth with 72 points, three more than Calgary, which ended the 1976-77 schedule by losing to Winnipeg for the second time in the week in the WHA&rsquo;s windup game.The much-ballyhooed weekend series between the Oilers and Cowboys failed to produce a clear-cut winner. Calgary got the early edge when they ambled up to Edmonton and surprised the Oilers 3-1 for what was only their fifth victory on the road this season. But 24 hours later the Oilers came into Calgary and forced the Cowboys to score a goal in the final 17 seconds to earn a 4-4 tie. That created the deadlock that left both clubs in a precarious position as they headed for the wire.While the games decided nothing in the standings they did prove that the Calgary-Edmonton rivalry is still very much alive. The game in Edmonton attracted a sellout crowd of 15,367, the largest ever to watch a WHA game in Edmonton. The following night they sold out in Calgary, the first full house the Cowboys have played in front of at home this season.In the three years in which they&rsquo;ve played at the Coliseum, the Oilers have only had eight sellouts. The first seven came in the initial year of operation when the building itself was as much an attraction as the action on the ice. Their biggest house last year was the 13,000 they drew for a playoff game against Winnipeg.There&rsquo;s little doubt that these Oilers have suddenly caught the fancy of the Edmonton audience. Earlier in the week they drew 14,200 for a game against Houston, one in which they excellend in whipping the Aeros 8-0. Not only was it the first Edmonton victory over Houston in a couple of years but it was the worst defeat in the Aeros history.Oilers have been the hotter of the two contending teams in the past three weeks. Through 16 games they were batting .500, winning seven, losing seven and tying two. In the same span the Cowboys won three, lost 11 and tied one. Much of their problems came during the course of a 10-game road losing streak.Coach Glen Sather had been employing all sorts of tactics to motivate the Oilers during the stretch run. Prior to the Houston game he arrived in the Oilers&rsquo; locker room with 4,400 $1 bills, spreading them around the room. It was a reminder to the players as to what a playoff berth was actually worth.It&rsquo;s working. Said winger Rick Morris, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got everybody relaxed and confident. There are some guys on this team who would skate right through a Zamboni machine for him.&rdquo;Sather, however, has taken it all rather quietly.&ldquo;The only thing I&rsquo;ve done, really, is get everybody believing they can play.&rsquo;Obviously, though, hes beginning to enjoy his new role. He&rsquo;s now giving serious thought to coaching beyond the end of this season.&ldquo;Yeah, I suppose I&rsquo;ve started to think that way now,&rdquo; admits Sather. &ldquo;At first, all I was thinking of was to get us into the playoffs. But if things work out well, I&rsquo;d like to.&rdquo;The Oilers&rsquo; two closing victories made those things work out just nicely for Glen Sather.Individually, the Oilers have had many stars down the stretch. Bill Flett, Wayne Connelly, Randy Rota, Brent Callighen, Gavin Kirk, Rusty Patenaude and others have all come together to spark Edmonton&rsquo;s closing kick that landed them in the playoffs. Callighen, Flett and Connelly, all pick-ups on early-season trades, have been more than worth the money and effort to get them into Edmonton uniforms. Flett closed with 31 goals in only 50 starts for the Oilers, a remarkable feat for the bearded ex-NHLer.CALGARY: The Cowboys wound up their 41-game road schedule exactly the way it started&mdash;on a losing note. But their 6-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets was particularly painful.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01340/3979059-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="504" height="1152"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL FLETT&hellip; Spearheads Oilers</figcaption></div>This was a game in hand they held over the Edmonton Oilers and with it went the possible advantage they held over the Oilers in the battle for fourth place.The Cowboys tied a league record for apathy by winning only five times on the road all season. They also had five ties, thereby picking up 15 of a possible 82 points. It&rsquo;s a miracle they stayed in the playoff hunt as long as they did.The Cowboys had been struggling since early March, winning only three of 15. Only once during that stretch did they manage to score the important first goal of the game.They held a seasonal edge over Edmonton, winning five, losing three and tying two but their failure to beat the Oilers on home ice in the final meeting between these two clubs ultimately cost them a playoff berth The Cowboys had beaten Edmonton four straight times at home but wound up settling for a 4-4 tie in the finale.At that they were fortunate to get the tie. The Oilers led 4-2 heading into the final period and the Cowboys got the equalizing goal in the final 17 seconds after goalie Smokie McLeod had been lifted for a sixth attacker.Rookie rearguard Joe Micheletti has been one of the bright spots in recent Cowboy outings. Signed from the University of Minnesota after the Gophers were eliminated in the WCHA playoffs in March. Micheletti has found himself a permanent home on the Calgary blueline. Solid defensively. he made big strides on offense in the crucial weekend series against Edmonton. His goal with less than two minutes remaining proved to be the winner in a 3-1 Calgary victory in Edmonton and the next night he scored twice, the second being the tying goal with only 17 seconds left.His contribution has been duly noticed by press box observers. In each of Calgary&rsquo;s last four starts his name has been included in the three-star selections. He&rsquo;s been the top star once, third the three other times.WINNIPEG: The Winnipeg Jets finished in second place in the Western Division, but they had plenty to say about the final standings.The Jets&rsquo; win over Calgary in their second-to-final appearance was the difference between Edmonton making the playoffs and Calgary not&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have anywhere to go.&rdquo; admitted coach Bobby Kromm, &ldquo;but we went out with the intention of winning every hockey game. That&rsquo;s easy for me to say but it sometimes becomes more difficult in trying to motivate 18 or 20 guys for games that in essence mean nothing&rdquo;Kromm indicated there were two very valid reasons why he didn&rsquo;t want his Jets to lay down for anybody.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s the matter of fair play,&rdquo; suggested Bobby. &ldquo;But we also have to get ourselves prepared for the playoffs. You don&rsquo;t do that by playing half-heartedly.&rdquo;The Jets, who have been beset by injuries all year, will have to do without defenseman Thommie Bergman for the rest of the season. Bergman suffered five serious shoulder injuries this year, a string of hurts that went back to September when he played for Sweden in the Canada Cup tournament. The last time out he re-injured the shoulder on his very first shift and now he&rsquo;ll have to take the summer to recuperate.The Jets met San Diego in the opening semifinal round of the WHA playoffs, while Edmonton tangled with Houston in the other Western Division series. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Oilers Clinch Final Playoff Berth

(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1733/3979399-1-eng-US/f0028-172.jpg" title="f0028-17" width="527" height="437"></div>(*Franchise disbanded)<h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><h3>Mon. April 4</h3>Winnipeg 2 at Edmonton 6<h3>Tue. April 5</h3>San Diego 1 at Houston 3New England 2 at Quebec 7Birmingham 4 at Calgary 4<h3>Wed. April 6</h3>Houston 5 at San Diego 3Birmingham 4 at Edmonton 6Indianapolis 3 at Phoenix 7Quebec 2 at Cincinnati 2<h3>Thu. April 7</h3>Winnipeg 6 at Calgary 4 &#9632;

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The WHA Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div>CLEVELAND&mdash;If there was any question as to whether there were enough people in Cleveland who really cared about the game of hockey, it has now been answered.For the first 34 games of the 1976-77 National Hockey League season, the Cleveland Barons played before an average audience of slightly more than 5,100.And Cleveland was a city that had clamored for the NHL since the 1940s when it was considered the seventh-best hockey city in the country.People around the NHL and country wondered if it was a good move to transfer the attendance-plagued California Golden Seals to the shores of Lake Erie. The people stayed away in droves.The team languished at or near the bottom of the Adams Division and was, for all intents and purposes, out of the playoffs by late January.Several financial crises and a threatened boycott later, the Barons&rsquo; brass decided to see if northeastern Ohio would respond to some public relations gimmicks. Gimmicks like reducing the price of certain tickets and Uberally papering the house.After all, the Colorado Rockies have been doing it all year and had been drawing nearly 10,000 people on an average to their games.The final six games of the season proved once and for all Cleveland wants hockey. The many turnstiles at the huge Richfield Coliseum clicked to the tune of nearly 11,000 a game, a figure certain to raise more than a few eyebrows around the NHL.Many owners would love to drop Cleveland from the rolls of the NHL. But there are just as many who oppose such a move.All agree the Coliseum here is &ldquo;the best building of its kind in North America.&rdquo;The February crisis that nearly saw the Barons go under in New York appears to be working in the club&rsquo;s favor&hellip;The people in the Greater Cleveland area are responding to the Barons&rsquo; plight.Club majority owner Mel Swig is attempting to sell the team to someone who will keep the team in Cleveland. He has had several offers to buy it from people who would move it.The best bet to keep the club here is a group headed by Sandy Greenberg, the Washington, D.C. financier who owns the Coliseum and stands to lose the most if the Barons either fold or move.Greenberg initially thought he had a deal with Swig a couple of months ago in Chicago, but that fell through at the last moment when Swig said no because it &ldquo;was locked in concrete&rdquo; and could not be changed.Greenberg since has come back with another offer, one that Swig is pondering. This one, however, is said to be more flexible than the original offer.BARONS&rsquo; BITS: Defenseman Len Frig, whose temper landed him a one-game suspension several weeks ago, picked up a three-gamer when he was thrown out of the March 25 game here against Vancouver. He broke three club records in that game&mdash;most penalty minutes in one period (32), most minutes in a game (41) and most penalty minutes in a season (213)&hellip;Gary Sabourin&rsquo;s knee still swelled on him well after surgery and the veteran right winger was excused for the rest of the season&hellip;Nine Barons were invited to play for Team Canada in the world hockey championships in Vienna&hellip;Dennis Maruk wound up as the club leader in goals with 28, in assists with 50 and in points with 78&hellip; Angie Moretto, called up from Salt Lake due to injuries, had an assist in his first NHL game against the New York Islanders and finished with a goal and two assists in five games&hellip;The Barons have lost well over 200 playergames due to injuries this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011007/3978181-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="544" height="1063"><figcaption class="caption-body">EN FRIG &hellip; Barons &lsquo;Bad Boy&rsquo;</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Fans Prove Cleveland Wants Hockey

<h2>MOST GOALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01704/3978447-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="533" height="393"></div><h2>MOST ASSISTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02601/3978440-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="531" height="457"></div><h2>POWER PLAY GOALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03481/3978433-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="531" height="355"></div><h2>GAME WINNERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04369/3978426-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="539" height="617"></div><h2>SHORTHANDED GOALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05290/3978419-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="543" height="173"></div><h2>GAME TIEING GOALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-06242/3978412-1-eng-US/f0017-062.jpg" title="f0017-06" width="531" height="175"></div><h2>MOST PENALTIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-07211/3978405-1-eng-US/f0017-072.jpg" title="f0017-07" width="531" height="383"></div><h2>TOPGOALERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-08178/3978398-1-eng-US/f0017-082.jpg" title="f0017-08" width="539" height="417"></div> &#9632;

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Season Leaders In NHL

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01985/3977646-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Team Canada has been strengthened for the World Cup tournament in Vienna with eight new players. Among the new faces are Mark Napier, above of the WHA Birmingham Bulls. For details see page 12.</figcaption></div><h2>CHARLIE 0 SUED AGAIN</h2>OAKLAND&mdash;Controversial Charlie 0. Finley, who appears to spend more time fighting lawsuits than anything else, has another on his hands. This time the baseball magnate is being sued by the Oakland Coliseum for moving the NHL Seals out of Oakland.The Coliseum is demanding $333,000 for damages already suffered and future unspecified damages for the remainder of the contract period, which it says extended through the 1977-78 season. The suit also contends that a licensing agreement was repudiated prior to the NHL season when the club was moved East to Cleveland.<h2>IIHF WANTS NHL WINNER</h2>VIENNA&mdash;The International Ice Hockey Federation is considering a plan that would lump the champions of the NHL and WHA and the European Cup champion and runner-up in an eight-game series.The plan calls for the NHL champion to meet the European Cup winner in November and December with four games in North America and four in Europe. The WHA champion would play a similar series with the European runner-up in September. Alan Eagleson said he didn&rsquo;t think the plan had any merit because it would clash with North American league schedules.<h2>BOMB SCARE IN RINK</h2>PITTSBURGH&mdash;It isn&rsquo;t very often an NHL playoff has been the center of a bomb scare. But it happened during the preliminary series between the Leafs and Penguins when someone telephoned the Penguins&rsquo; office at the Civic Arena and said that a bomb was placed in the rink.Officials received the call at 6.40 p.m., nearly a hour and a half before the third game at the best-of-three series was to begin. Police launched a search of the arena but failed to turn up any bomb.<h2>OTTAWA EYEING WHA</h2>OTTAWA&mdash;A group of Ottawa businessmen are making another bid to get the WHA in their city for next season. The 500-member Ottawa Professional Hockey Club is hoping to entice the WHA into transferring one of its franchises into the 9,000-seat Civic Center.WHA president Bill MacFarland will confer with Ottawa officials during a visit to the Canadian capital. Ottawa had a brief shot at the WHA a year ago when the league transferred the Denver Spurs into Ottawa as the Civics but the club disbanded for lack of financing. The Ottawa group says it now has the proper finances. The WHA wants $250,000 immediately and $750,000 in credit to establish a new franchise. &#9632;

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DEADLINE STOPPERS

<h2>NHL TEAMS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03668/3977736-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="491" height="757"></div><h2>WHA TEAMS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04458/3977729-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="489" height="459"></div><h2>OTHER LEAGUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05329/3977722-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="479" height="291"></div><h2>COLUMNISTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06233/3977715-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="483" height="133"></div><h2>OTHER FEATURES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07144/3977708-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="491" height="139"></div> &#9632;

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WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT ALL

<div class="byline">BY GARY McCARTHY</div>MONTREAL&mdash;To the winners go the spoils, as the saying goes. So, with the end of the 197677 National Hockey League season, some members of the Canadiens had a little time off to start counting some bonus money that they are already guaranteed.Guy Lafleur, for example, could earn as much as $28,000 in bonus money this season, which would go a long way to paying part of his planned four-week vacation on the French Riviera.Lafleur certainly didn&rsquo;t steal the bonus money he has already received this season. He certainly earned every cent of it. However, both the Canadian and Quebec governments will cut into it considerably.Lafleur was the winner of the Molson Cup, based on the three-star selections after each game, once again this season and he earned $2,000 as winner of the final segment of the balloting and also as the over-all trophy winner.That amount is added to the $2,000 he receives from the NHL as the over-all individual scoring champion. He gets $2,000 for winning the title and also two cheques of $500 each for being the winner in both the first and second half of the season.In addition, Lafleur and the rest of the Canadiens will receive $5,000 from the league for finishing first in the NHL&rsquo;s Norris Division and for also winning the Prince of Wales Conference championship.The rest of the money is based on speculation at this point. Lafleur seems to be a safe bet to make the first All Star team, which would be worth another $2,000. Should he top the voting for the Hart Trophy as the league&rsquo;s most valuable player, he would receive an additional $1,500. And, if the Canadiens are successful in their defense of the Stanley Cup championship, Lafleur and his teammates would receive $15,000 apiece.That kind of money will certainly help take care of some of the expenses he will face during his month-long vacation scheduled for July.However, Lafleur and the Canadiens had but 24 hours to themselves to count up the bonus money. After wrapping up the season with 11-0 and 2-1 victories against the Washington Capitals, the Canadiens had one day off and then it was back to work as they prepared for the Stanley Cup playoffs.The Canadiens enjoyed a week away from any action while the Stanley Cup preliminary rounds got under way, but after the one-day layoff following the end of the regular campaign, they began preparing for the quarter-finals.Claude Ruel, assistant coach to Scotty Bowman, said the Canadiens won&rsquo;t be able to sit back and enjoy the regularseason championship because of the pressure that is bound to mount.&ldquo;All the teams will try to come up with an extra effort because we&rsquo;re the champions,&rdquo; said Ruel. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll always be favored and that means our opponents will be playing without any pressure of any kind.&ldquo;They are aware that we can&rsquo;t afford to lose and because this is sports, anything can happen. Therefore, we&rsquo;ll just have to be good and ready.&rdquo;The Canadiens spent the entire week working on every aspect of hockey during the daily practices. They weren&rsquo;t able to prepare for any particular team because they could meet any one of three&mdash;Chicago Black Hawks, Minnesota North Stars or the St. Louis Blues.Ruel said that of the three teams, the Blues could be considered the most dangerous. He recalled that last season, the Blues defeated Buffalo in the first game of the quarter-final series and then forced two more games into overtime in that series.Despite the fact that the Canadiens lost only eight games during the regular season, they were gearing for what is commonly known in hockey circles as the &ldquo;Second Season.&rdquo;All of the team and individual records established by the Canadiens during the recently completed campaign were meaningless heading into the playoffs.The Canadiens commanded respect, no doubt about that, because of the absolutely incredible season the team enjoyed. However, it was a new ball game April 11 when they set out on the trail that would hopefully bring them a second successive Stanley Cup.HABS NOTES: Steve Shutt scored three goals in the final two games against the Capitals, raising his season total to a record 60 goals. He scored twice in the 110 romp at the Forum, breaking the record for most goals by a left winger in one season. Bobby Hull had the record of 58, set back in 1968-69 when he was with Chicago&hellip;Guy Lafleur had a goal and three assists in the 11-0 victory and then scored another goal the following night in Washington to wind up with the record of having scored at least one point per game in 28 successive games&hellip;The 11-0 romp over the Caps, highlighted by a sevengoal outburst in the third period, extended Montreal&rsquo;s record unbeaten streak on home ice to 34 games&hellip;Ken Dryden turned back 22 shots in the lopsided Saturday night win, giving him 10 for the season&hellip;Larry Robinson, the huge defenseman, had the best plus figure on the team this season. He finished plus 121&hellip;The Canadiens shot in front 3-0 before the game was five minutes old in the Saturday night rout.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02894/3977677-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="553" height="1177"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY LAFLEUR &hellip; It&rsquo;s His Year</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Canadiens’ Lafleur Could Pocket $28,000 In NHL Bonus Money

<h2>Thu. April 21</h2>West Germany vs Soviet UnionFinland ve CzechoslovakiaRomania vs SwedenCanada vs United States<h2>Fri. April 22</h2>Soviet Union vs FinlandSweden vs CanadaUnited States vs RomaniaCzechoslavakia vs West Germany<h2>Sun. April 24</h2>West Germany vs United StatesFinland vs SwedenRomania vs CzechoslovakiaCanada vs Soviet Union<h2>Mon. April 25</h2>Sweden vs West GermanyUnited States vs Romania<h2>Tue. April 26</h2>Czechoslavakia vs CanadaUnited States vs Finland<h2>Wed. April 27</h2>Romania vs West GermanyCanada vs Finland<h2>Thu. April 28</h2>Czechoslovakia vs Soviet UnionSweden vs United States<h2>Fri. April 29</h2>Soviet Union vs United StatesSweden vs Czechoslovakia<h2>Sun. May 1</h2>Canada vs RomaniaFinland vs Germany<h2>Mon. May 2</h2>Sweden vs Soviet UnionUnited States vs Czechoslovakia<h3>Thu. May 3</h3>Playoffs 7 vs 6, 8 vs 5<h3>Wed. May 4</h3>Playoffs 3 vs 2, 4 vs 1<h3>Thu. May 5</h3>Playoffs 5 vs 7, 6 vs 8<h3>Fri. May 6</h3>Playoffs 1 vs 3, 2 vs 4<h3>Sat. May 7</h3>Playoffs 8 vs 7, 6 vs 5<h3>Sun. May 8</h3>Playoffs 4 vs 3, 2 vs 1 &#9632;

Dates For World Cup Tournament

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01992/3977774-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ON THE SPOT: Goaler Vladimir Dzurilla, left, of Czechoslovakia is reportedly a question mark for the Vienna tournament.</figcaption></div>VIENNA&mdash;As the eight national hockey teams gather for the 1977 World Tournament, the main interest is in speculation as to how much of a challenge Team Canada can mount against the veteran Czechoslovaks and the partly old and partly new Soviets.&ldquo;In a sense the true test of hockey supremacy was the Canada Cup.&rdquo; says Czech co-coach Jan Starsi. &ldquo;Everyone had their best team there&mdash;although the Soviets chose to send some of their younger players. It is a shame the Canadians cannot again be represented by the same team we played last September. We beat Canada right in the Montreal Forum, and we feel we can do even better here with the rinks being 12 feet wider&mdash;and the game a more scientific one with skating and passing more paramount than in the narrow North American rinks.&rdquo;Soviet coach Boris Kulagin still maintains. &ldquo;The Canada Cup was strictly an invitational event It was useful in training our younger players. This is for the World championship and we are treating it accordingly. Our top line of Vladimir Petrov. Boris Mikhailov and Valeri Kharlamov will play in Vienna. They were held out of the Canada Cup. and played only part time against the WHA and in the Izvestia Cup Tournament.&rdquo;The eight nations set to send teams to the April 21&mdash;May 8 competition are Canada, for the first time since 1969. the United States. Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union. Sweden. Finland West Germany and Romania. The Romanian entrant is threatened because of the recent earthquake in that country and the West German team has been split by a recent internal dispute over a game in the German First Division.It&rsquo;s national team has been reduced in status since Xavier Unsin quit his coaching post, and pulled eight Berlin players with him. Other players quit also, and the new coaches. Hans Rampf and Bad Tolz. have their work cut out for them.Canada quit international play in 1969 in protest when the International lee Hockey Federation, then headed by John F Bunny&rdquo; Ahearne, refused to allow Canadian professionals to compete. In a straight deal. Alan Eagleson. the head of Team Canada, agreed to send a team of eliminated playoff performers when the HHF allowed professionals to enter the competitionThe Czechs are the defending champions. having defeated the Soviets last April, in Poland, after the Soviets had captured the 1976 Olympic title in a bitter confrontation at Innsbruck.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02856/3977767-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="553" height="1486"><figcaption class="caption-body">The hero of the Canada Cup series is said to be out of condition and may have to scurry to get into the World Cup championships as the result. Phil Esposito, right, is the captain and team leader of Team Canada and says the team will give a good account of itself in Vienna.</figcaption></div>A quick analysis rates the Czechs as number one. the Soviet Union as number two. Team Canada possibly number three, with Sweden fourth and a rebuilt Finland fifth The United States hopes to edge out the Finns, but this doesn&rsquo;t appear too likely. West Germany and Romania will bring up the rear.The Czechs are depending upon a veteran squad, headed by centers Milan Novy and Ivan Hlinka. defenseman Frantisek Pospisil and the knowledge they can play with anyone in the world. Their big question mark is who will play goal. Jiri Holocek. Vladimir Dzurilla or Jiri Chra? Dzurilla is out of shape and Holocek hasn&rsquo;t recovered from his double benching in the Canada Cup. The Czechs didn&rsquo;t have any playoffs this year in the Czech First Division, won by Dukla Jihlava&mdash;and that doesn&rsquo;t keep goalies sharp. Newcomer Pavol Svitana is a longshot possibility. The goalie question will be decided by co-coaches Starsi and Karol Gut. both veterans of international play.The Czech defense may line up with veterans in Pospisil. Oldrich Machac. Jiri Bubla and Milan Kajkl. The other pairing should be Miroslav Dvorak and Fran Kaberle.Up front. Novy centers for Peter Stastny and either Frantisek Cernik or Josef Augusta. Hlinka works with the veteran Jiri Holik, who skipped the Izvestia and the WHA tour, and Marian Stastny. Jiri Novak centers for Bohuslav Stastny and Vladmir Martinec. Sometimes the three Stastnys are thrown out together to create a skating fury. Kid brother Anton. 17, may be the best Stastny of all. but isn&rsquo;t ready for the World tourney yet.The Soviet Union has its largest and supposedly best ever squad, but it may not have shaken out the bugs of integrating youth with reluctant veterans. And can the Soviet high command seriously hope to play four lines and keep everyone happy?Other Soviet lines include Vladimir Shadrin, Aleksandr Yakushev and Victor Shalimov from the Wings. Victor Zhlutkov. Helmut Balderis and Boris Aleksandrov. Balderis. of Dynamo Riga took the place of Vladimir Vikulov on what was once an all Central Army trio. Steady veteran Aleksandr Maltsev works with Aleksandr Golikov and Petr Priorodin.In goal is the best in Europe. Vladislav Tretiak. The three basic Soviet defense pairings are still in limbo with Valeri Vasiliev likely to play a leading role. Aleksandr Gusev, the veteran who was dropped from last year&rsquo;s World tourney, but reinstated for the Canada Cup, is nursing an injury and is doubtful. Others are Yuri Liapkin. and Vladimir Krikunov as one pair, Vladimir Lutchenko and Sergei Babinov, a hard hitter on another, with still another coupling Alexandr Bilialetdinov and Vasiliy Pervukhin Youthful flash Sergei Kapustin is hopeful of playing despite a bad shoulder.Team Canada must mesh in a hurry, and hope that an air lift of players whose teams were eliminated in the opening best-of-three round in the NHL&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs, will reinforce their squad. Right now the goalies are John Davidson, Rangers; Gilles Meloche. Barons and Jim Rutherford, Red Wings. Meloche may finally get a chance to show his mettle under real pressure.Carol Vadnais and Dave Maloney, of the Rangers. Greg Smith. Bob Stewart and versatile Rick Hampton of the Barons plus Dennis Kearns of the Canucks are the defense squad. It looks a bit porous with too many attack types and not a real solid defender.Up front Phil Esposito of the Rangers, is the assistant to coach Johnny Wilson of the Colorado Rockies. Phil is the team&rsquo;s leader and captain. Espo has been there before, when he took charge of Team Canada in Moscow in 1972, and again in the Canada Cup this year. He played well in the second half, although his goal output. 34. isn&rsquo;t in the plus 50 stratosphere it used to be.Other forwards include Rod Gilbert, who can put the puck in the net. Washington&rsquo;s plugging center Guy Charron, a real good forechecker who will upset some of that fancy European passing. Walt McKechnie. Red Wings, Wilf Paiement, Colorado, Dennis Maruk. Al McAdam. Bob Murdoch and Wayne Merrick of the Barons, plus the Canucks&rsquo; Don Lever and Dennis Ververgaert. The Cleveland contingent may lend some early cohesion during pre-tourney exhibitions in Sweden and Finland.The Swedes, bereft without Borje Salming of Toronto and the two Winnipeg Jet super stars. Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg. have rebuilt with younger players. The New York Rangers are looking at goalie Hardy Aastrom, but he may not even be the regular. The Swedes other goalies are Goran Hogasta who has beaten the Soviet Union in international play, and Willie Lofquist of first-place Brynas. Defense players are Stig Salming. B.J.&rsquo;s brother. Matts Waltin. Lars Erik Sjoberg, Jan Olov Svensson and others.Mats Ahlberg of Laksand, the leading Swedish scorer in the regular season, is counted upon to score a lot, along with Tord Lundstrom. who tried out with Detroit, Lars-Goran Nilsson. Per Olav Braser and Kjell Arne Vikstrom. The Swedes may introduce some new junior talent, especially if they feel after the opening round that they cannot realistically hope to finish in the top two.The Finns, coached by Lasse Heikkila. have rebuilt after the loss of most of their better players to teams in the WHA. In some quarters, Finland seems unnecessarily deprived of people like the Boston Bruins reserve center Matti Hagman, or WHA types such as Hexi Riihiranta and Juhani Tamminen. all lost by the IFK of Finland.But there is hope that the juniors will be able to play with Sweden and Canada and perhaps beat Team USA. Risto Siltanen. a young 18-year-old rearguard is reported to be the new Bobby On of Europe and Martti Jarkko of Tappara broke the Finn record for scoring this year.Elsa Peltonen, a fast forward has to be watched Jukka Alkula and Jouni Rinne, a former Finnish scoring leader, are also in the ranks. Markus Mattsson and Antti Leppanen are the goalies.Team USA, under the direction of Johnny Mariucci of Chicago Black Hawk and University of Minnesota fame, will not have that many professionals to help out. They may surprise, but right now cannot even rate as dark horses.Most of their players will be of the collegiate variety which peopled the 1976 Olympic team. Steve Jensen, now a Minnesota North Star rookie did martriculate from that team, but for now, the United States has to get &ldquo;E&rdquo; for effort in entering.So, too, do the West Germans, whose association president. Gunther Zabetski, took over the leadership of the IIHF from Ahearne and allowed professional players. His own country is now out classed, but they do have the exciting six-foot, six-inch center star Erich Kuehnhoeckel. Romania is the best of the 1976 &ldquo;B&rdquo; group, and is also out of its class. &#9632;

f0003-01

Czechs, Soviets Seen As Title Favorites, Team Canada Underdogs For Vienna Play

<div class="byline">By Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011043/3977850-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="435" height="455"></div>&bull;BIRMINGHAM BULLS will make a multimillion dollar offer for Larry Robinson, Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; All Star defenseman. Robinson enters his option year next season. Canadiens, no doubt, will do everything possible to sign this year&rsquo;s probable Norris Memorial Trophy winner&hellip; Gilles Leger, general manager of the WHA Bulls, plans to make offers to five of the best players on the current Swedish National Team. The five Swedes are Stig Salming, brother of Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; star Borje, Kent Erik Andersson, Per Olav Brasar, Lars Lindgren and Lars Gunnar Lundberg&hellip; Pittsburgh fans accorded Toronto Leafs a stirring ovation after their beloved Penguins were ousted from the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Toronto players were touched by the splendid sportsmanship of the Pittsburgh people. A record crowd of 15,934 turned out for the game&hellip;Mohawk Valley Comets of the North American Hockey League are up for sale&hellip;Bernie Federko, star center for Kansas City Blues of the CHL, is expected to play an important role for St. Louis Blues in their series against Canadiens&hellip;Most hockey experts call Montreal Canadiens to meet Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup finals&hellip;Toughest series to pick is the one involving the New York Islanders and the Buffalo Sabres&hellip;Boston Bruins are heavy favorites to down Los Angeles Kings in their series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02998/3977843-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="273" height="375"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jacques Demers</figcaption></div>&bull;NEW YORK ISLANDER fans have made a lot more noise at home since coach Al Arbour blasted them a couple of weeks ago. The Isles&rsquo; bench boss had charged them with cheering only when the club was ahead&hellip;Billy Harris was the hottest scorer during the final weeks of the season for the Islanders. Originally selected as a scorer by the Islanders five years ago, Harris has developed into one of the best checkers on the team&hellip;Wilf Paiement. fine young player with Colorado Rockies, rates as one of hockey&rsquo;s most outspoken performers. Here&rsquo;s what he had to say about Sam Pollock and three former Canadiens now his teammates on the Rockies. &ldquo;That Pollock. He&rsquo;s sure generous all right. He sent us (John) Van Boxmeer, (Sean) Shanahan and (Ron) Andruff. Shanahan has absolutely no hockey sense at all. He never knows where he should be and what to do when he gets there. Andruff has no guts. He never goes anywhere near the net and he hasn&rsquo;t checked anybody all year, Van Boxmeer has a great shot but he always puts it too high and it&rsquo;s never on the net. Whenever he&rsquo;s shooting we&rsquo;re all afraid to stand in front of the net for fear we&rsquo;ll get hurt&rdquo;&hellip;Paiement&rsquo;s statements won&rsquo;t contribute to the harmony on the Rockies next season&hellip;It&rsquo;s a shame that the loyal Black Hawk fans weren&rsquo;t allowed to see their club play at home during the playoffs. In fact it&rsquo;s almost unpardonable&hellip;If you want to settle a lot of playoff arguments during the next few weeks there&rsquo;s no better way than consulting the updated NHL Stanley Cup Record and Statistics Book. The 1977 edition may be purchased through THE HOCKEY NEWS. See order form on page 21.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03893/3977836-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="295" height="495"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wilf Paiement</figcaption></div>&bull;JACQUES DEMERS, who has done such an outstanding coaching job with the Indianapolis Racers, had this to say: &ldquo;I think the merger with the NHL may come some day, but it&rsquo;s a long way off. It&rsquo;s just too soon to talk about it. The NHL has its problems to solve first. And the WHA has its problems to solve. Just joining the NHL isn&rsquo;t our answer&rdquo;&hellip;Phil Esposito, captain and assistant coach of the Team Canada entry in the World Championships, has been starring in exhibition games in Europe. &ldquo;I have no trouble getting up for these guys,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If only I could play like this in the NHL&rdquo;&hellip;Arne Stromberg, who is &ldquo;Mr. Hockey&rdquo; in Sweden, made one of his frequent visits to North America earlier this month. Arne coached the Swedish National Team for 11 years, longer than anyone else. He currently heads the number one club in Goteborg. Incidentally, Stromberg, has on file every issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS published since 1963&hellip;Bill Long tells us that Greensboro Generals lost money in 21 of the 22 home games the team played this season in the Southern Hockey League before it expired. He is very pessimistic about the Southern League ever getting off the ground again. &ldquo;I knew we were in trouble when only 2,560 turned out for the home opener in the beautiful 13,300-seat Greensboro Coliseum,&rdquo; Long advised&hellip; Gary Doak was named the ninth recipient of the WSBK-TV Seventh Player Award.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04791/3977829-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="281" height="501"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Doak</figcaption></div>The Hockey NewsOFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded October 1st. 1947Vol. 30 NO. 29 APRIL 22, 1977Published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd.. 1434 St. Catherine Street West, Montreal. Canada H3G 1R7. U.S. c/o W.C.C. Publishing. 150 E. 58th Street. New York. N.Y. 10022.Kenneth W. McKenzie President, PublisherDon Wall Associate PublisherCharlie Halpin Editorial DiractorKeith Lawton Administration Mgr.Anne Nelaon Advertising Co-OrdinatorCanadian Advertising Director: Graham Campbell, 11 Lotus Court, Toronto, Ont. M2H 1J6. Telephone: (416) 492-9191U.S. Advertising Representatives:NEW YORK: Tom lomberson, Notional Soles Director, ISO East 58th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022. Telephone (212) 593-2100.CHICAGO: Hooper Jones & Associates, 3322 W. Peterson Ave., Chicago, III. 60659. Telephone (312) 478-5544.NEW ENGIAND: Steve Ganok Ad Reps, Statler Office Bldg., Boston, Moss. 021160. Telephone (617) 542-6913.YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $11.95 in Canada $12.95 in the U.S.A, and $17.25 in foreign Countries. Sec ond class postage paid at New York. N.Y. 10001 and at additional mailing offices SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO 1434 ST. CATHERINE STREET WEST, SUITE 217, MONTREAL, CANADA H3G 1R7. Second Class moil Reg.strot.on No 1327 All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept, The Hockey News, 1434 St. Catherine St. W. Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7. Printed in Canada. &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05652/3977881-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg"></div><h2>Isles&rsquo; Potvin Deserves To Win Norris Trophy</h2>In reply to the letter from Mr. Peters in the April 1 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, I must question his statement concerning Denis Potvin.While both Borje Salming and Larry Robinson are excellent hockey players. I feel Potvin is more deserving of the Norris Trophy.Potvin is currently right up among the scoring leaders and ranks with the two mentioned players. He also has more goals. He is leading the Islanders in scoring and although not their captain, he is their team leader.He is a better passer than Salming or Robinson and has one of the best shots in hockey. Defensively, Potvin is at least the equal of both players.In closing, to say that if Potvin were to win the Norris, it would be because he won it last year is ridiculous. Denis Potvin is, unquestionably, the most deserving defenseman to win the Norris Trophy.JOHN MANDO, Massapequa, N.Y.<h2>Sticks Will Have To Be Checked</h2>In the March 25 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS. Frank Orr wrote that he thought measuring a player&rsquo;s stick right in the middle of a game was &ldquo;pure bush league,&rdquo; as it wastes time and can ruin an exciting game.Well, as long as the amount of curve one can have on a stick is restricted, the sticks will have to be checked.So why doesn&rsquo;t the National Hockey League just use common sense and if the stick is found legal, hand the measuring team a delay-of-game penalty?Teams might think twice if measuring a stick backfires.RICHARD WAGNER, Santa Monica, Calif.<h2>Leafs Aren&rsquo;t Guilty Of Anything Wrong</h2>I am writing in response to Mary Ann Smealbowski&rsquo;s letter in the April 1 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS. She states the &ldquo;Maple Leafs caused all the problems,&rdquo; in Philadelphia.Miss Smealbowski must have a one-track mind. Inge Hammarstrom was on a breakaway and Wayne Stephenson made the save, but when Hammarstrom turned the comer, he was pummelled into the boards by Don Saleski for no reason.Borje Salming was picked on all night. And, Mel Bridgman has to be the sneakiest instigator of trouble there is around.KEVIN BARRY, Hackensack, N.J.<h2>Why Shouldn&rsquo;t Bulls Be Part Of Merger?</h2>Over this past season, there has been a lot of talk about a merger or consolidation between the World Hockey Association and the National Hockey League.Personally, I would like to know why the Birmingham Bulls franchise has never been mentioned as a team to be included in such a deal?The Bulls have many assets going for them. They have the financial backing, a great arena and more important&mdash;fan support.So why has the franchise never been mentioned? Maybe because the NHL is too proud to admit there are teams and cities in the WHA that have these assets, other than the Canadian teams in the league. How about a southern franchise?MARK HEDRICK, Oklahoma City, Okla.<h2>Habs Robinson Superior To Toronto&rsquo;s Salming</h2>I feel that Larry Robinson of Montreal is better than Borje Salming. People are full of bologna when they say the voters are going to pick Robinson for the Norris Trophy because he is a native Canadian and Salming is not.A fan letter in the April 1 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS said that Robinson has no talent except that he can hit hard. This is wrong because Robinson has far more and better moves than Salming will ever have.He also mentions the fact that Montreal plays an offensive game and Toronto a defensive game. The only way to score goals is to have a good offensive game. Then when the offense makes a mistake, you should have a good defense to cover up for the mistake.Anyway, Toronto isn&rsquo;t all that hot on the ice. Salming probably would win the Norris Trophy if he did hit more often and take the man out of the play.DAVID FREDERICK, Sudbury, Ont.<h2>NHL Should Include Overtime Play</h2>I believe that the National Hockey League should include the overtime period in order to end tie games.This would definitely make games more exciting and increase attendance. Besides, the NHL is the only professional sports league that does not have such a period.WALTER KURTZ Hollywood, Calif.<h2>Esposito&rsquo;s Conduct Somewhat Shocking</h2>After attending the Rangers-Capitals game on March 25th, I left the Capital Centre with a couple of questions about what is happening to the good game of hockey.What has happened to Phil Esposito? After he thought he had scored a goal to cut the Caps&rsquo; margin to 2-1, and seeing the goal judge over-rule referee Bob Kilger by declaring that no goal had been scored, Espo launched into one of the most unbecoming displays of unsportsmanlike conduct that I have ever seen.After berating the referee, the linesmen, the goal judge and anyone else within shouting distance for five minutes, he further delayed the game by skating out of the face off circle just before play resumed, and pounded the glass in front of the goal judge with gloves and stick and continued his mouthing off.He also demonstrated his knowledge of gestures with a low level of social acceptability such as the &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to slit your throat&rdquo; made to the goal judge and raising an unmentionable digit to the crowd at the conclusion of the game.I would strongly encourage the NHL to find a different spokesman for the good of the game on the Monday night Game of the Week telecasts. Espo&rsquo;s credibility is forever tainted.This brings me to the second of my questions. Espo and his team suffered no penalty for this outrageous delay of the game. Yet Gordie Lane of the Caps incurred a game misconduct penalty for sassing Ranger Nick Fotiu (who himself is considered somewhat of a long shot for the Lady Byng this year).No punches were thrown, only a few seconds of words were said, and those were not to an official. Yet, out he went. How could this possibiy be reconciled with Esposito&rsquo;s odious behavior?SCOTT KINGSLEY, Brookeville, Md. &#9632;

f0004-05

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01904/3977912-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERROL THOMPSON&hellip; Shot No Longer Affected (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;Back in September, life was bright for Errol Thompson, the left winger of the Toronto Maple Leafs.In the 1975-76 National Hockey League season, Thompson had scored 43 goals and was set on the left flank of one of the NHL&rsquo;s top forward lines with center Darryl Sittier and right winger Lanny McDonald. A 50-goal season seemed well within his reach.Then, in the third game of the &lsquo;76-77 schedule, Thompson fractured his wrist in a routine collision with Ab DeMarco of the Los Angeles Kings. Surgery was required before the doctors were satisfied with the setting of the break.To regain the use of his hand demanded long therapy sessions and in late December, Thompson returned to the Leaf line-up following a 35-game absence.&ldquo;You have to remember that I&rsquo;d played only a few games of hockey in seven months&mdash;just training camp exhibitions and the first couple of the season,&rdquo; Thompson said.Those first games back were miserable because everything felt very strange My timing was off and I had no real &lsquo;feel&rsquo; for the game. My wrist and hand weren&rsquo;t right and I couldn&rsquo;t handle the stick or shoot properly.&rdquo;Thompson estimates that he needed 15 games to regain anything approaching a normal situation.&ldquo;It was a bit frustrating because my legs were in good shape but I just couldn&rsquo;t get into the swing of things,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Eventually, though, the wrist came around and the feeling came back into my hand, even though two fingers still are a bit numb. It no longer affects my handling of the stick or my shot.&rdquo;Thompson also missed five games in January when he was struck on the foot by a shot. He didn&rsquo;t pick any featherduster shooter to ring one off his boot. He stopped a drive by McDonald, one of the NHL&rsquo;s hardest gunners in practice.Thus, Thompson claims he&rsquo;s operated at peak efficiency and capability in only 25 games this season. But he has produced 20 goals and looms as one of the Leafs&rsquo; most important operators in the playoffs.Like everyone connected with the team, Thompson has problems attempting to analyze the club&rsquo;s remarkable inconsistencies this season. The Leafs have played strongly against top clubs, dropped games to the teams from the lower echelon and lost 13 contests at Maple Leaf Gardens, the biggest reason for their failure to rise above sixth place in the overall standings.&ldquo;That part of the season is tough to understand about this club.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played some great games against the Islanders, Canadiens and Philadelphia, then bombed out in games we should have won easily.&ldquo;If I knew why, I&rsquo;d tell the whole world and maybe we&rsquo;d stop doing it. I still think we can have a good playoff. There&rsquo;s just too much talent on this team for us to bomb out.&rdquo;NOTES: Hot-and-cold goaltending by Wayne Thomas and Mike Palmateer continued to bother the Leafs. They&rsquo;d be spectacular in one game, then ordinary in the next one&hellip;The Leaf brass decided not to publicize their injuries. The bruised shoulder which sidelined rookie defenseman Randy Carlyle was listed officially as a &ldquo;virus&rdquo;&hellip;The Leafs shifted Bob Neely, who had spent most of the season in the wing, back to defense. &#9632;

f0005-01

Thompson Comeback Seen Playoff Lift For Maple Leafs

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;The Buffalo Sabres approached the Stanley Cup playoffs in the same condition they were in through most of the regular season&mdash;with just a few injuries but to key personnel.Right winger Danny Gare, a 50-goal scorer last season, was sidelined indefinitely, perhaps until next season. Gare has been in and out of the lineup throughout the campaign because of a back injury suffered during Team Canada training camp.He played in only 35 games and never was in top shape. Never was he in the lineup for more than four consecutive games and his goal total was 11.The peppery right winger has been examined time and again by different physicians and the cause of his trouble cannot be determined.Goaltender Gerry Desjardins was back practicing with the club after his latestexamination at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary but didn&rsquo;t figure in playoff plans.The vision in Desi&rsquo;s right eye, struck by a puck in a March 17 game against Boston, still is impaired but is improving and he said he could play &ldquo;in an emergency.&rdquo;The veteran goaltender may not have to undergo surgery on the injured eye. after all. But he isn&rsquo;t expected to play in post-season action. The all-important net-minding job was in the hands of two 21-year-old rookies, Don Edwards, who has done almost all of it since replacing Desi in mid-February, and Bob Sauve.Defenseman Lee Fogolin, also hurt in a Boston game, March 17, still was sidelined by a mending shoulder separation but was hoping to return to action some time during the playoffs. In his absence, Ken Breitenbach, second-year pro, filled in and showed potential.Rick Martin, who had returned from a shoulder separation in early March, was out of the lineup again at the end of the month because of a freak accident.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011074/3977950-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="546" height="415"><figcaption class="caption-body">DANNY GARE</figcaption></div>Martin slipped on the shower-room floor after a game in Denver and suffered a deep cut on his left foot on a piece of protruding metal.He was sent back to Buffalo the next day, as was Gare, who had struggled through the game against the Colorado Rockies and was hurting again.They missed the game in Los Angeles the next night.That two-game western trip, a disappointment to Sabre fans, set up a game against Boston the following Wesnesday as the key game of the season. The Bruins won it 4-3, which turned out to be the final difference between the two clubs when the season concluded. Boston took the division title with 106 points. The Sabres closed with 104.The Rockies tied the Sabres, 2-2, when veteran goalie Doug Favell played a spectacular game. He blocked 50 Buffalo shots while his teammates were getting 23 on Edwards.The next night, with Rick Martin and Gare out of the lineup, the Sabres lost to the Los Angeles Kings. 6-4. That meant the Sabres went into the big game against the Bruins with a one-point lead in the Adams Division title race.The club announced Martin and Gare wouldn&rsquo;t play in that one but the afternoon of the game the brass changed its mind and the two marksmen were dressed and ready at game time.Each played a regular shift once the Bruins got off to an early lead but it was evident neither could skate all-out. Gare set up Buffalo&rsquo;s first goal, scored by Bill Hajt, and Martin passed to Gil Perreault on a goal that put the Sabres ahead, 3-2. But after the Perreault goal the Sabres lost their momentum and the game along with the division lead.The next day it was announced that Gare would be sidelined indefinitely. Martin missed practice but it was announced he would play in the weekend games, the season&rsquo;s last two against Toronto and St. Louis.Although Martin missed 14 games because of injury, he still was the club&rsquo;s No. 2 goal scorer. He finished up with 36&mdash;very good for anyone else but below par for a player who totaled 49, 52 and 52 the last three seasons. Gilbert Perreault led the Sabres in both goals, with 39, and points, with 95.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02822/3977943-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="541" height="1019"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK MARTIN &hellip; Freak Foot Injury</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0006-01

Desjardins Available In An ‘Emergency’

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01959/3977981-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">TIM YOUNG&hellip; Shatters Club Point Record</figcaption></div>TWIN CITIES&mdash;Before the season, each member of the Minnesota North Stars was given pen and paper and asked to jot down the number of goals and assists they thought they could score in the 1976-77 seasonThe preseason projections were filed away and forgotten, until just recently when the regular season wound down to a hectic finish for the Stars.Tim Young, the wiry talented center who has just completed his second season, let it be known that he did not exactly hit his predictions dead center.&ldquo;I put down 30 goals and 50 assists&hellip;80 points.&rdquo; disclosed the 22-year-old native of Scarborough. Ont. &ldquo;Guess I didn&rsquo;t make it.&rdquo;No, Young did not make 80 points. He shattered 80, a couple of weeks before the season concluded.Going into the final two games of the regular season, the six-foot-two. 180-pound Young had scored 28 goals and 64 assists for a Minnesota record scoring total of 92 points (10 more than Dennis Hextall&rsquo;s old mark).&ldquo;I may not make 30 goals,&rdquo; he said and added with a wry smile, &ldquo;but if I made 30. they&rsquo;d want me to get 40 Maybe I&rsquo;ll put 30 down again next year.&rdquo; Young ended the season with 29 goals and 66 assists for 95 points.By becoming the first Minnesota player ever to score in the 90s. Young not only became the second-highest-scoring second-year player in NHL history but he also had a lot to do with Minnesota&rsquo;s heroic comeback the last two months in their successful bid for a playoff spot in the Smythe Division.The North Stars closed out the schedule losing to both Los Angeles and Vancouver but still managed to finish in second place. The Stars ended with 64 points, Chicago and Vancouver with 63 each.It was fitting, then, that when the North Stars lined up across one of the bluelines at Met Sports Center before their final home game, they tapped their sticks in applause as Young skated up to receive a trophy as the team&rsquo;s most valuable player for 197677.Although the team&rsquo;s power play (three for 24 in a six-game span late in the year) sputtered toward the end. Young was the center on the unit which tied the team record for PPG in a season.And the slender Young also has to receive a major share of the credit in Ernie Hicke&rsquo;s takeoff at left wing Hicke set a career high of 30 goals and 20 assists playing with Young&mdash;really, quite an accomplishment since he went his first 20 games without scoring a goal.Young&rsquo;s greatest assests are his swiftness on skates and stickhandling abilities. &ldquo;There are few centers around who can handle the puck as fancy as Timmy can,&rdquo; said coach Ted Harris.Young&rsquo;s most sensational assists this season came on two goals by Hicke on two-on-one rushes. Young, boring in from the right side of the slot, zipped behind-the-back passes without looking to the left side. Both times, Hicke had the entire net to shoot for.If Young has a deficiency, it is concentration on defense when he is not carrying the puck to the other end of the ice, as his 29 showed in the plusminus statistics. But those figures do not reflect Young&rsquo;s contribution to Minnesota&rsquo;s 57 power play goals.There were at least two occasions this season, when Harris has been called upon to provide that little extra prod.Early in the season, the coach ran Young off the ice during practice for not following instructions. The next night. Young scored two goals in the final minutes as the Stars tied Philadelphia, 3-3.Then there was the night late in the season in an important game for the Stars against Cleveland, when Young lost a faceoff and made no move to check a Baron as he took the puck in for the tying score.Harris benched Young for two shifts, and the brash, young center was on fire when he returned to the ice. He was throwing checks in Minnesota&rsquo;s zone as hard as he ever checks in Minnesota&rsquo;s zone as hard as he has ever done, and finally drove from center ice to the corners in the Cleveland zone before passing off to Hicke for the tie-breaking score.When he plays like that, he shows why his teammates voted him MVP.STAR DUST: The acquistion of Young from Los Angeles for a second round draft choice before the 1975-76 season has to rank as one of GM Jack Gordon&rsquo;s wisest deals&hellip;Nick Beverley was honored as the team&rsquo;s outstanding defenseman on a vote of local media; teammates chose Roland Eriksson as their rookie of the year for leading all first-season NHL players in scoring and fans picked Eriksson as their most popular player.&hellip;The Swedish center, an eighth round draft choice in 1974, finished with 69 points to become the highest North Star rookie scorer in history&hellip;Doug Hicks played in 235 straight games without a miss since the opening night of his rookie season three years ago before Harris benched him for one game late in the regular season&hellip;After&rsquo;a slow start, the Stars finished with attendance of 363,325 compared with 386,229 a year ago &hellip;The team&rsquo;s play and attitude this season should have stopped the decline of season ticket orders which dipped to 5,500 this year&hellip;Beverley returned from a groin injury, assisted on a goal his first shift and then was reinjured late in that game, a 5-4 victory over St. Louis&hellip; Defenseman Dennis O&rsquo;Brien was playing outstanding hockey at the finish&hellip;Goalie Pete LoPresti worked every game but one in the final month&hellip;But Gary Smith stepped in for an important tie in his lone stand of March &#9632;

f0007-01

Young’s Prediction ‘Off’ But Makes It To Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02958/3978019-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="393" height="453"></div><h2>Small Town Boy At Heart</h2>AFTER CHORES on their farms outside Ontario, he and his friends would go to the school rink and one would water the snow, while the others would tramp it flat and hard, Larry Robinson remembers. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d go all night in shifts,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;When our shift would finish, we&rsquo;d go inside the school, play cards, get warm, maybe sleep a bit, and wait for the next shift.&rdquo;He always wound up with some older guy&rsquo;s old, outsized skates and he&rsquo;d wear eight extra pairs of socks to stuff them so they&rsquo;d fit. When the puck went over the sidelines they&rsquo;d beat the snow with their sticks, as if they were cutting hay, to find it and dig it out. On some of the river rinks if the puck got past the goalkeeper it would slide seemingly forever and have to be chased down. They played into darkness, except for the lights on passing cars.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011065/3978012-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="799" height="1438"><figcaption class="caption-body">Big Larry Robinson of the Canadiens stands to be the NHL&rsquo;s No. 1 defenseman this season but it hasn&rsquo;t dulled his memories about the past. He still remembers playing in 20-below weather on river rinks in oversized skates.</figcaption></div>It was cold, maybe 20 below, but they didn&rsquo;t mind. There was a sort of sharp, frosty taste to the air, he remembers, and it reminds him of being a boy. He remembers the sound of the snow squeaking and the trees creaking. He remembers getting home and looking in the mirror and seeing his hair and eyebrows frosted white. He associates it all with living in small town and farm communities and&rsquo; he thinks that with all the artificial-ice, enclosed arenas there are today the boys of today seldom experience this. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;re missing,&rdquo; he says.Yet he is only 25, born in June of 1951, in the Ontario Valley, one of five children, the youngest of whom is now a promising player in junior ranks. Their father was a dairy farmer and the kids did the chores all farm kids all over the world do, Larry Robinson loved farm life and he has bought an uncle&rsquo;s farm to return to and work summers.Today he is a six-foot-two, 200-pounder, with a mustache, but there remains a lot of the little boy within him. He remembers sitting in his pajamas, eating toast and drinking cocoa, warm and snug, in his living room listening to Foster Hewitt&rsquo;s Toronto Maple Leaf broadcasts over the old wooden radio they had. He says, &ldquo;There was always static, I remember, and it made the game sound far away, and gave it all a sort of enchanting aura.&rdquo;Today he is in those games, and other boys listen to his exploits. He is a member of the mighty Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; trio of stellar defensemen, including also Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard. All three are at least six feet in height and 190 pounds in weight, but he is the biggest, the youngest, and maybe the best of them. He was voted that last season, though there is something to be said for the others. He may be the best in the entire league and probably will be voted that this season, though there is something to be said for Borje Salming of Toronto or Denis Potvin of the Islanders or Brad Park of Boston, certainly.DESPITE HIS SIZE, he may be the most mobile of defenseman. He was a forward as an amateur and has been used on the wing at times by Canadiens&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman, who says he is the best bodychecker in the business. He has a long stride and a long reach, stickhandles well, and shoots hard. He says, &ldquo;My game is controlling the puck.&rdquo; However he has come&rsquo;on as a shooter the last several seasons and this season figured to wind up with about 20 goals and 60 assists.Larry played amateur with the Brockville Braves and Kitchener Rangers, but he was awkward and reluctant to use his size. All the big league teams passed over him a time or two in the summer, 1971, draft before he was the 20th player picked. Montreal had four picks in the first two rounds and drafted Guy Lafleur, Chuck Arnason and Murray Wilson before him.After a season-and-a-half learning to be a defenseman in the minors at Nova Scotia, he made the big time; now in his fifth season in the majors he has become one of the best in the business. Not mean, but tough, he became more aggressive, won a few fights that scared foes off, and developed into a team leader. Philadelphia&rsquo;s Fred Shero says, &ldquo;The Canadiens are the same, except Robinson has blossomed into a star and made them better.&rdquo;THEY HAVE BECOME the best. He was their best player as they dethroned Philly to capture the Stanley Cup last season and he is one of their key men as they seek to keep it this season. &ldquo;We want it again as much as we did last season,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We believe we&rsquo;re the best, but we have to keep proving it. But it&rsquo;s the pride that pushes me, not the profits of it. It&rsquo;s still a game to me, not a business. When it stops being fun, I may stop playing. I can always go back to the farm and enjoy life.&rdquo;&ldquo;He is,&rdquo; says Scotty Bowman, &ldquo;like a lot of farm boys, decent and considerate.&rdquo; He is a gentle giant, a husband and a father now. He and his wife Jeannette, his teenage sweetheart, have one child, Jeff, six, and another on the way. But, as Larry approaches the fabled Forum for pressure-packed playoff play before big crowds, he remembers how it was when he was small and hiking through the snow to one of those rare outdoor rinks that had lights. &ldquo;The lights made it stand out in the dark. I couldn&rsquo;t wait to get on,&rdquo; he sighs. He still can&rsquo;t. &#9632;

f0008-02

Hockey AdLib

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03811/3978050-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BERT MARSHALL&hellip; Fitted With Knee Brace (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Most people will agree that you need more than just talent to put together a great season in the National Hockey League. For one thing, you&rsquo;ve got to get the breaks, and secondly, you have to remain free of injuries.For the most part, the N.Y. Islanders have enjoyed a bit of each over the course of the past three seasons. They&rsquo;ve had their share of enemy shots glancing off goal posts and the like, but most important, they&rsquo;ve remained relatively free from the injury bug.Let&rsquo;s emphasize the word relatively. Earlier this season the Isles lost Bryan Trottier for a few games with a knee injury. Then Garry Howatt went out with the same malady, followed by Clark Gillies&rsquo; bout with mononucleosis.But by and large, the Islander hospital list was far from frightening this season, especially when compared with that of the Cichago Black Hawks, for example.There&rsquo;s no such thing as a good time for an injury, but the worst time of all is right before the playoffs. And as luck would have it, that&rsquo;s when steady defenseman Bert Marshall turned up with sprained ligaments in his knee.The Isles had looked forward to the March 29th game at Philadelphia as the game of the year. And as it turned out, they trailed the Flyers by only two points going into the contest, and a victory would have kept their dreams of first place alive.The Flyers were up for the game, and that presented bad news number one for the Islanders. Bad news number two came mid-way through the first period when Bert Marshall contorted himself along the boards and limped his way to the bench.Bert sat down for a couple of moments, but it didn&rsquo;t take long before he was escorted to the dressing room. Five minutes later, the press box corps heard the announcement that his left knee had been placed in a temporary cast, and that he would be examined the following day in New York.As if the loss of Marshall wasn&rsquo;t enough, Garry Howatt was granted an early shower by referee Bob Myers for being the third man in a minor altercation. That left coach Al Arbour minus one defenseman and one forward for the rest of the contest, which was lost 3-1.&ldquo;It was a funny thing,&rdquo; said Marshall. &ldquo;I really wasn&rsquo;t in any pain. I turned and felt a little something, and then I turned again and it was as if the knee wasn&rsquo;t there.&rdquo;The official diagnosis by Dr. Jeffrey Minkoff the following day was a &ldquo;mild sprain of ligaments,&rdquo; and the defenseman was immediately fitted with a brace. The prognosis could have been much worse, although even Marshall was a bit skeptical as to just how long he would be out of the lineup.&ldquo;I hope it works,&rdquo; was just about the only bit of optimism that Bert expressed during the exam.With first place gone officially the following night when the Flyers tied the Cleveland Barons, the Islanders had to settle down to the task of trying to outdistance Buffalo for the best record among the second-place finishers. Total points can mean an awful lot; not only determining whom you are going to meet in the preliminary round, but also potential pairings and home ice advantage for the semi-final and final rounds, assuming, of course, that you&rsquo;re still around by that stage of the game. The Islanders closed with 106. two more than Buffalo and drew Chicago in the preliminary round.As far as Bert Marshall was concerned, his playoffs (at least as a 100% participant) would have to be in the later rounds. As general manager Bill Torrey hurriedly scouted his Fort Worth farm for a replacement, he knew full well that without his veteran rearguard in the lineup, summer vacation could well arrive sooner than expected.ISLAND SOUNDS: Arbour&rsquo;s first move in light of the Marshall injury was to transfer Jean Potvin back to full-time duty on the blue line. The elder Potvin had been taking a regular turn on right wing with Garry Howatt and Andre St. Laurent&hellip;Younger brother Denis was on his hottest scoring tear of the season in the closing weeks. It was no coincidence that the Islanders began filling the net regularly as a result&hellip;The Islanders finished the season with 106 points, breaking their old record of 101 set last year. The club has improved its point total every year it has been in the league. &#9632;

f0008-03

Injury To Marshall Hurts Isles’ Hopes

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011030/3978081-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ILESTONE MAKER: Boston captain John Bucyk, out most of the second half of the season with a back injury, presents a silver tray to veteran center Jean Ratelle to commemorate Ratelie&rsquo;s 1,000th NHL game. Ratelie also reached 400-goal plateau and 600-assist mark in NHL play this season (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>By JACK McCARTHYBOSTON&mdash;There is just no way around it. You have to go back to coach Don Cherry&rsquo;s early assessment of his Bruins and the way they played his style of hockey&mdash;&rdquo;We are grinders and trampers. We forecheck and play the body&hellip;&rdquo; This they were, and are, and thus anyone who beats them in the Stanley Cup playoffs will have to play hard, tough hockey all the way.There is no question that stars Jean Ratelie and Brad Park had great years, and were the keys, but how can you not talk about the rest&mdash;guys like Wayne Cashman, Don Marcotte, and Gregg Sheppard? Truly, everyone on this Bruin team had a hand in their great finish that earned them the championship of the Adams Division over Buffalo.Ratelie, oft-honored by Boston fans and media this season, got his 1,000th NHL point and 600th NHL assist in the last games of the season, a 7-4 victory over Toronto in Boston Garden. He got his 400th goal the previous night in a 5-3 win over the Islanders.Said Jean, &ldquo;We pulled together, worked hard all the way. We stayed together as a team.&rdquo; Sheppard added, &ldquo;We had our ups and downs, but we kept working and things fell into place. Particularly at the end. It came at a good time, eh?&rdquo;The Bruins finished the season with five straight wins; were unbeaten in their last eight (7-0-1) on the road, and 15-2-2 in their last 19 games.In their last 18 games, they faced 16 playoff-bound teams and were 14-2-2 against them.And, 10 days before the end of the season, they were five points behind Buffalo, and wound up beating the Sabres by three points.Said Park, who at one point in the season was suspected of having knee trouble after his operation, &ldquo;This is one of the most satisfying moments of my life. But, everybody worked, and&hellip;&rdquo;In retrospect, the Bruins had more ups and downs than a yo-yo during the long season. They started like gang-busters, going 18-3-1 through Nov. 25. They then took a nose-dive, going 2-7-1 through Dec. 18, and fell out of first place on Dec. 23. They were becalmed through about 40 games, playing so-so, .500 hockey, but then rallied under the gritty Cherry, and came on in the stretch to win it.But as rookie Stan Jonathan said. &ldquo;We worked hard all year, and we ll have to work even harder in the playoffs.&rdquo; Stan wound up with 17 goals.This is a pretty solid hockey team. In the stretch they went into the Maple Leaf Gardens, saw an early lead vanish, and then scored three goals in 1:45 to win; they beat the Sabres in a key game in Buffalo and forechecked so Buffalo did not have a shot on goal in the last eight minutes; they went into Long Island and beat the Islanders before winding it up with the win over Toronto to clinch the title. That is doing it when the chips are down.BOSTON BEANS: Gary Doak, veteran defenseman who has been a steady grinder all season, was voted by the fans as &ldquo;The Seventh Player&rdquo; and received his trophy and a new car from TV executives of Channel 38, which televises the Bruins with Johnny Pierson and Fred Cusick&hellip;The station conducts the balloting every year. Doak got a standing ovation from 14,597, a sellout for the final game against the Leafs&hellip;The sellout was only the Bruins&rsquo; fourth, however, in 40 home games&hellip;Bruins GM Harry Sinden was reported to be miffed that Dallas Smith, who left the club near the end of the season, had been selected for Team Canada&hellip;Harry didn&rsquo;t see how a suspended player from an NHL club could qualify when his team was playoff-eligible &hellip;Said Harry, &ldquo;There are certain procedures, that through courtesy, at least, should be followed&hellip;&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-01

Grinding, Tramping Key To Bruins’ Division Title

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011052/3978119-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div><h2>They Need Help</h2>THE CHANCES OF THE NATIONAL Hockey League staging an 3 intra-league draft at their annual meeting in June which will help the have-nots is very remote. The &ldquo;haves&rdquo; simply won&rsquo;t vote for it and, in a way, no one can blame them.After all, the top teams which have built up a storehouse of players did it by drafting carefully, trading wisely and thorough management. Their view seems to be &ldquo;Why should we be penalized for being smart?&rdquo;But perhaps it&rsquo;s time that attitude was changed. The enormous financial problems faced by the NHL (six teams of 18 will break even or make money this season) should have alerted everyone that a much less provincial approach and less of the &ldquo;I&rsquo;m all right, Jack !&rdquo; is needed.The NHL never has been noted for its largesse towards teams in trouble. If a club were losing its shirt, the others tried to steal its pants.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02854/3978112-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="456" height="552"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jack Vickers</figcaption></div>Of course, the intra-league draft isn&rsquo;t the answer to the disparity in the NHL&mdash;Montreal Canadiens 78 points in front of last-place Detroit Red Wings and 44 up on second-place Pittsburgh in their own division. But it would help.There&rsquo;s been a dumb attitude in the NHL that if the load of good players which the Canadiens have hidden in Nova Scotia is spread among the have-nots the NHL will have instant parity with an 18-team race for the overall pennant.The problem is that the NHL has wide gaps between teams, too few good attractions coming into the rinks and nobody is doing much about it. Of course, teams can build back to respectability through wise draft selections, good trades and sound coaching methods. But that takes time and before some teams reach a level of competence which will attract fans, they&rsquo;ll be belly-up in a sea of red ink.However, the problems the NHL faces are of such a magnitude that some radical changes are the only solution. Some division of talent is a must because the NHL has too many teams with little talent which are about as exciting to watch as seeing a tree grow.<h2>Rockies An Example</h2>LAST SUMMER, the Kansas City Scouts were so close to extinction that the back door of the hearse was open. Then Colorado oil-man Jack Vickers came to the rescue, purchased the team and moved it to Denver. Vickers is committed to a three-year program in an attempt to make &ldquo;Rockie Hockey&rdquo; work in mile-high country. He&rsquo;s expecting to lose $2.5 million this seasonBecause oil-men are accustomed to getting things done quickly. Vickers finds that the NHL&rsquo;s board of governors moves at an excruciatingly slow pace on the matter of big decisions which are needed in a time of trouble.Vickers would like to see an intra-league draft of some substance to help his team.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard it said that we can&rsquo;t penalize Sam Pollock, the Montreal general manager, for being smart and retaining a good crop of talent,&rdquo; Vickers said.&ldquo;But the way things are going, the top teams in hockey will still be smart but they&rsquo;ll have no one to play against,&rdquo; Vickers said.<h2>But How Long?</h2>THE NHL, OF COURSE, should realize that it&rsquo;s a trifle fortunate to find a man like Vickers, willing to sink his loot into hockey. But Vickers didn&rsquo;t drill too many dry oil wells and he&rsquo;s not very likely to stick with the Rockie shaft unless there&rsquo;s some hint that he&rsquo;ll find crude.&ldquo;I know that an intra-league draft is not the solution to the league&rsquo;s problems but it would help,&rdquo; Vickers said. &ldquo;We have to build through the amateur draft to get our stars. But that takes time.&ldquo;We need a competitive team as the main ingredient in making hockey work at the gate in Denver. But I can&rsquo;t go on losing money forever waiting for the team to develop. So any help the league can give would be welcomed. I&rsquo;m sure there are other teams which feel the same.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-01

FRANK ORR SAYS

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03639/3978150-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARRY UNGER&hellip; Feeling Less Pressure</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Emile Francis knew his St. Louis Blues, titlists in the Smythe Division, would not have an easy time in the Stanley Cup playoffs.So, in the final week of the regular season the St. Louis coach and general manager shook up his team with a series of moves.First of all Francis put the Blues on a training-camp schedule of two practices a day. He also spoke some stern words to his athletes and told them quite clearly that any success in the playoffs would come only with a full effort from each man on the team.And Francis also made two startling changes involving individuals. He removed Garry Unger as captain and asked Barclay Plager, player-coach at Kansas City, to rejoin the Blues.The Blues had been running comfortably ahead of the second-place Chicago Black Hawks, and Francis said, &ldquo;Competition is always healthy; that&rsquo;s what brings out the best in a player. We didn&rsquo;t have anyone pushing us for the last month or two. We&rsquo;d probably have had more points in another division just because of the competition.&rdquo;Asked whether his players were responding to the harsh treatment, Francis said, &ldquo;They either respond or they&rsquo;re going to be fired.&rdquo;The Blues finished below 500, so Francis had his first losing season as a coach in the National Hockey League. In nine seasons as coach of the New York Rangers Francis never had a losing season, although in those nine seasons he never won a division title as he did with his losing record as coach of the Blues.Stripping Unger of his captain&rsquo;s title was not primarily a disciplinary action for Unger, although apparently Francis and Unger are disappointed in one another as player and coach this season. But rather the removal of Unger was intended to relieve him of some pressure Francis made the move after he heard grumbling from other players about the captain&rsquo;s responsibility for the team&rsquo;s losing&ldquo;I&rsquo;d given it a lot of thought,&rdquo; Francis said, &ldquo;because there was an inclination on the part of some to point the finger at the captain.&rdquo;Unger was somewhat wistful about losing the distinction but said he was relieved.&ldquo;Francis is the boss, and it&rsquo;s better this way.&rdquo; said Unger. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s really no use for a captain these days because you can&rsquo;t talk to the referee. Being captain is just an aggravation. Now I feel a lot less pressure.&rdquo;With no replacement named for Unger, Francis began using a designated captain for each game, and Larry Patey, Claude Larose and Chuck Lefley served in that role. Presumably they were playing to Francis&rsquo; standards.The Blues played with some revived spirit in a 5-4 loss to the Minnesota North Stars, then forechecked the Chicago Black Hawks and hammered Tony Esposito with 36 shots for a 4-1 win. The Blues matched their all-time goal-scoring high, and Bernie Federko got his third hat trick in a rousing 9-2 victory over the Cleveland Barons. The final St. Louis game was a 7-3 loss to Buffalo Sabres.Plager joined the team for the last two games against Cleveland and Buffalo, while Larry Giroux coached the final Kansas City game of the season.Francis didn&rsquo;t explain fully why he called on Plager, although the Blues lost Bob Plager with rib and hip injuries suffered in a collision with Bryan Trottier of the New York Islanders.Gilles Marotte joined the Blues for two games, then returned to Kansas City before Plager left for the parent team. The Blues finished the season with six healthy defensemen. Rod Seiling. Bob Gassoff, Bare Plager. Bruce Affleck, Bob Hess and Jamie Masters. &#9632;

f0010-03

Francis Shakes Up Blues, Unger Removed As Captain

<div class="byline">BY LARRY BORTSTEIN</div>DENVER&mdash;Along with all the games the Colorado Rockies lost this past season, their first in the National Hockey League, they lost approximately $2,700,000&mdash;about $1.2 million more than expected.In pointing this out recently, majority owner Jack Vickers, the 51-year-old president and board chairman of Vickers Energy Corporation, explained that there were several unexpected expenses which came up during the course of the season and contributed heavily to the club&rsquo;s large bath in red ink.&ldquo;We spent $500,000-$600.000 to buy out player contracts,&rdquo; Vickers said. &ldquo;Of course, this will be a non-recurring loss.&rdquo; Among the players who began with the Rockies last fall as holdovers from the Kansas City Scouts, but whose contracts were bought out, were Phil Roberto, Steve Durbano, and Henry Boucha.The Rockies, Vickers went on. also spent heavily on promotions, particularly the costly &ldquo;Puck Bucks&rdquo; giveaways, in which patrons drew numbers to win cash prizes, and many two-for-one ticket offers and other discounted or free ducats to games. Colorado&rsquo;s average attendance for 40 home games was nearly 8,000, but that was not a true reflection of paying customers.Furthermore, &ldquo;There are some league problems that are going to have to be resolved, specifically the player salaries and a network TV package,&rdquo; Vickers added. He noted that player salaries accounted for approximately 57 percent of the Rockies&rsquo; total expenses.&ldquo;The attendance problem is the one we feel we have the-most control over,&rdquo; the Rockies&rsquo; majority owner said. &ldquo;Everyone knows we got a late start. We didn&rsquo;t even know we had the franchise until August, and we didn&rsquo;t have a general manager or coach until late in the month. Obviously, those things hurt us. We didn&rsquo;t have time to launch a ticket-selling campaign, and all the money we spent on advertising and promotions didn&rsquo;t help as much as we thought it would. It was simply too late to get everything rolling.&ldquo;Overall, though, I think we&rsquo;ve had a pretty good response,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;Even with all the free tickets and the two-for-one nights, you have to consider that if people didn&rsquo;t want to be there, they wouldn&rsquo;t come. I really look at some of our expenses as franchise costs, necessary to get the club off the ground. But going into next year we intend to be organized with a top-flight sales group. We need a minimum of 7,500 season tickets to give this thing a chance of going.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s entirely possible, Vickers and some other Rocky executives concede, that Denver is not the hockey town they had believed it to be. For years the University of Denver and the minor league Spurs were &ldquo;in&rdquo; attractions in the Mile High City, with attendance at games ranking with top social events of the seasons.&ldquo;Weekend games at the University of Denver would draw crowds of people dressed up in suits and ties, and the won beautiful dresses and coats,&rdquo; recalls one long-time Denverite. &ldquo;But it wasn&rsquo;t just the hockey itself that brought all the people in. Going to the games was just the thing to do. Pro basketball wasn&rsquo;t big here yet. and there really wasn&rsquo;t all that much for pie to do besides going to the hockey games.&rdquo;It also could be pointed out that prices for tickets were lower during those years, although the Rockies&rsquo; scale of prices this season&mdash;$5. $6.50, and $8&mdash;was one of the lowest in the league.Vickers had maintained before the 1976-77 season that he expected the Rockies would lose $1.5 million this year, about $1 million next season, and about $800,000 the third season. Instead, Colorado lost almost all of that amount in the first season alone. He claims this is part of an alarming trend in hockey.&ldquo;Only six of the 18 NHL teams made money this season,&rdquo; says. &ldquo;The New York Rangers, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Buffalo Sabres, and the three Canadian teams. When teams like Boston and Chicago who have been tremendously successful in the league for years are looking at break-even seasons or deficits, you can&rsquo;t just pass it off as bad management.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question that the player salaries have gotten out of hand,&rdquo; Vickers said. &ldquo;I believe they should be tied to attendance figures. The players&rsquo; salary thing has gotten of hand in all pro sports. If the trend continues, the athletes are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. But we&rsquo;ve got a five-year collective bargaining agreement with the players&rsquo; association, so our league and our sport are taking steps to put the NHL on a solid footing, along with the other major league sports.&rdquo;Still, it remains to be seen whether major league hockey does indeed have a future in the Rockies. &ldquo;We probably overestimate Denver&rsquo;s interest in pro hockey,&rdquo; says Bud Palmer, the team&rsquo;s vicepresident and a long-time hockey broadcaster and telecaster.&ldquo;Jack Vickers can afford to lose the kind of money he sent on the Rockies this season,&rdquo; Palmer adds. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s not a stupid man. If he continues to lose money like that, he obviously won&rsquo;t go on indefinitely. That would be like taking money and throwing it in the street.&rdquo;ICE PEBBLES: Johnny Wilson was named to coach Team Canada &lsquo;77 in the world hockey tournament in Vienna, beginning April 21. Wilf Paiement was chosen as one of the 20 players for the Canadians. Players from NHL and WHA teams not involved in post-season playoffs make up the squad. &ldquo;We knew we had the best coach in hockey,&rdquo; said Ray Miron, Colorado&rsquo;s general manager, of the choice of Wilson. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an honor for him to be picked to coach Team Canada, and it&rsquo;s an honor for us.&rdquo; &#9632;

Rockies Estimate Losses To Hit $2.7 Million Mark

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011026/3978243-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERIC VAIL&hellip; Flames&rsquo; Ace Joins Team Canada</figcaption></div>GOTEBURG&mdash;Team Canada 77 appears to need some help and it&rsquo;s on the way. The Team Canada roster has swelled to 31 with the addition of six more players from the National Hockey League and two from the World Hockey Association.Originally, Team Canada was made up from players whose teams were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs. Since then, additional players have been airlifted to Europe from teams eliminated from the preliminary round of the Stanley Cup action.The latest additions to the Team Canada roster include goaltender Tony Esposito of the Chicago Black Hawks and teammate Phil Russell, a defenseman.Eric Vail of the Atlanta Flames, Glen Sharpley of the Minnesota North Stars and Pierre Larouche and Jean Pronovost of the Pittsburgh Penguins were also picked from NHL rosters.Mark Napier, high-scoring star of the Birmingham Bulls and goaltender John Garrett, also of the Bulls, were picked from the World Hockey Association.Team Canada officials were hoping to add defenseman Dave Burrows of Pittsburgh and another defenseman. Barry Gibbs of Atlanta, to the current roster.The addition of these players will create other problems for Team Canada officials in Europe. For the World hockey championships in Vienna. Team Canada will be forced to cut its roster to 20 players.The additional players were added because of their respective club&rsquo;s elimination in best-of-three preliminary rounds for the Stanley Cup.The Black Hawks were eliminated in two games by the New York Islanders, the Buffalo Sabres knocked off the Minnesota North Stars in two straight games, Atlanta went the limit against Los Angeles before being ousted and the Penguins were eliminated by the Toronto Maple Leafs.The Finnish National team proved that Team Canada needed strengthening when they held the Canadian team to a 33 tie in Turku.The Canadians were guilty of a sloppy defense, erratic shooting and poor passing. The recent acquisitions could take away some of those problems from the Canadian squad.However, sparked by assistant coach and captain Phil Esposito and goaltender Jim Rutherford, who shared the net-minding duties with John Davidson, Team Canada erased a 3-1 deficit to gain the tie.Team Canada was outshot 31-26, took four of the five minor penalties and trailed 2-0 after only four minutes of play after allowing the Finns two breakaway goals.The tie gave the Canadian squad a record of no wins, one loss and two deadlocks on its eight-game exhibition tour of Europe.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02867/3978236-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="1160" height="1153"><figcaption class="caption-body">PIERRE LAROUCHE&hellip; Scoring Punch For Team Canada</figcaption></div>Johnny Wilson, the coach of the Colorado Rockies who accepted the job as coach of Team Canada, said he wasn&rsquo;t upset with the team despite its performance.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting in on goal but we&rsquo;re sort of hesitating and probably making their goaltenders look good. In the second period tonight, we were a little disorganized. I thought our defensemen were holding onto the puck too much.&rdquo;The Finns, who lost previous exhibitions games 4-0 and 7-1 to the Soviet Union, led 2-1 after the first period against Canada and carried a 3-2 lead into the third period.Esposito scored a shorthanded goal at 4:22 of the second period to narrow a 3-1 Finnish lead to one goal.Don Lever of the Vancouver Canucks scored the tying goal with 50 seconds remaining in the game during a scramble in front of Finnish goaltender Markus Mattson. &#9632;

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Tony Esposito, 7 Others Fly To Aid Of Team Canada

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01988/3978274-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Missing 50 No Disappointment For Flyer Ace Rick MacLeish (Photo by Bernie Moser)</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;When Bobby Clarke speaks, the Flyers usually listen.Clarke&rsquo;s opinions also carry considerable clout with Flyers&rsquo; management and Philadelphia media. Therefore, when the Flyers&rsquo; captain says Rick MacLeish has been the club&rsquo;s most valuable player this season, only the devout skeptics shake their heads and whisper, &ldquo;There goes Clarke again, trying to build up a teammate.&rdquo;As valuable as the three-time Hart Trophy winner is to the Flyers, Clarke is probably right about this season. The record-breaking Clarke&mdash;Bill Barber&mdash;Reggie Leach line of a year ago hasn&rsquo;t exactly been scintillating although Clarke&rsquo;s 90-point total is certainly distinguishing.&ldquo;Our line hasn&rsquo;t been too consistent,&rdquo; Clarke said as the Flyers rested for their quarter-final series. &ldquo;We had too many bad games. Take away Ricky&rsquo;s goals and we&rsquo;d have been in a lot of trouble. He has to be our most valuable player.&rdquo;MacLeish&rsquo;s 49-goal season was a delight to everyone connected with the Campbell Conference champions, including MacLeish&rsquo;s immediate supervisor. Squire Mike Nykoluk.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d agree with Bobby that Ricky was our MVP,&rdquo; said the assistant coach and potential thoroughbred racing tycoon. &ldquo;Coming back from his knee surgery, we thought 30 or 35 goals would have been a good year. What he&rsquo;s done is just tremendous.&rdquo;&ldquo;What impresses me about Ricky is he gets so dangerous the second half of the season and into the playoffs,&rdquo; said Nykoluk. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s just deadly. With guys like Reggie and Bobby Hull, a goaltender never knows what he&rsquo;s going to do.&ldquo;Ricky&rsquo;s in the same category as (Guy) Lafleur: no one can really cover him because he&rsquo;s such a tremendous skater. Most checkers usually aren&rsquo;t the best skaters.&rdquo;MacLeish, 27, is one of hockey&rsquo;s best skaters. And his wrist shot may be the most devastating in the league. Some critics insist he doesn&rsquo;t show much imagination on the ice. citing his familiar right-to-left cut before shooting. But it&rsquo;s one thing to criticize MacLeish for an assembly-line approach and another thing to stop it. Example:Philadelphia is leading the Rangers, 3-1, in the Flyers&rsquo; final regular-season home game when MacLeish carries the puck across the New York blue line. Carol Vadnais is waiting to escort MacLeish and, as &ldquo;Rick the Quick&rdquo; makes his familiar left turn, the veteran defenseman moves accordingly. Then MacLeish accelerates and Vadnais is left flailing at the deserted space.MacLeish&rsquo;s shot on this occasion was stopped by Gilles (What, Me Worry?) Gratton, but he scored two other goals to push his season total to 49. Unfortunately the next day, in the season finale at Atlanta, MacLeish shot zero-for-five against Phil Myre.Predictably, MacLeish reacted as if he had only 39 goals instead of the oh-so-close 49.&ldquo;Why should I be disappointed? I&rsquo;ve had 50 before and there&rsquo;s always next year.&rdquo;MacLeish did assist on two goals by Paul Holmgren, but the Flames checked him closer than the Rangers did.Many people, including ex-Flyer Bill Clement and Rangers&rsquo; GM John Ferguson, expect MacLeish to give Philadelphia a substantial boost in its pursuit of another Stanley Cup. They both remember how MacLeish led all playoff scorers during the Flyers&rsquo; championship seasons of 1974 and &lsquo;75.&ldquo;Ricky&rsquo;s always good for a lot of clutch goals in the playoffs,&rdquo; said Clement, who was one of MacLeish&rsquo;s shadows in Atlanta.&ldquo;The guy can do everything.&rdquo; said an admiring Ferguson. &ldquo;He skates, shoots, kills penalties, plays the power play. They talk about Perreault and those guys: well, MacLeish is right in there with them. &ldquo;As Clement said, &ldquo;Getting 50 goals would have been nice, but 49 isn&rsquo;t far behind.&rdquo; &#9632;

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MacLeish’s 49-Goal Year Draws Raves From Flyers

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011007/3978305-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">NICK LIBETT&hellip; Poor Season Overshadows Milestones (Photo by Steve Babinea)</figcaption></div><h2>Special To The Hockey News</h2>DETROIT&mdash;Following last year&rsquo;s dismal National Hockey League performance, the Detroit Red Wings must have thought things couldn&rsquo;t get much worse. Unfortunately, they were wrong.The 1976-77 season was the poorest showing ever by a modern-day Detroit hockey team. Posting only 16 victories and a league-leading 55 losses, the Red Wings well earned the title of the NHL&rsquo;s worst team The Washington Capitals, who finished last year 30 points behind the Wings, ended this season 21 points in front of Detroit and only Colorado&rsquo;s 54 points came anywhere near the Wings, 41-point mark of futility.Newly-appointed general manager Ted Lindsay has vowed to make changes in the Red Wing line-up in order to reestablish a winning tradition in Detroit. The Wings have not made the Stanley Cup playoffs for the last seven years.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have one player in the top 25 scorers and our defense allowed over 300 goals,&rdquo; said Lindsay. &lsquo;There&rsquo;s going to be some changes made.&rdquo;One of the major reasons the Wings did so poorly was their lack of scoring power. As a team, Detroit scored only 185 goals, another league low. Center Walt McKechnie finished with the lowest teamleading point total, 59, of any club in the NHL. Dan Maloney, Michel Bergeron. Nick Libett and even McKechnie all failed to equal their 1975-76 marks.Last season Maloney tallied 27 goals for 66 points but managed only 13 goals and 13 assists in his limited 34 appearances. Likewise, Bergeron&rsquo;s 32-goal performance of 1975-76 fell to 21 with only 12 assists.One-time 50-goal scorer Danny Grant suffered through his worst season notching only two goals in 42 games. Plagued by injuries. Grant has scored only 15 times in the past two years.Libett played in his 700th career game with the Red Wings but he, too, slumped, falling six goals short of his previous season&rsquo;s effort of 20. Both Libett and teammate McKechnie managed to score their 200th career assists.Detroit scored only 36 power-play goals with Dennis Polonich getting six and Dennis Hextali five. Polonich also led the team with 274 minutes in penalties helping Detroit finish second to Philadelphia with 1.332 team penalties.Defensively, the Red Wing statistics were equally poor Both Ed Giacomin and Jim Rutherford played the year with nagging injuries and their inconsistent goaltending showed.Detroit&rsquo;s goals-against record. 3.86 per game, was the third worst in the NHL, ahead of only Minnesota and the Rangers. Injuries to Maloney and blueline stalwart Terry Harper allowed opposition forwards the luxury of strolling into the Red Wings&rsquo; zone virtually unmolested.If the Red Wings are to improve at all they must tighten their defense, cut down on the number of injuries and help their big goal scorers find their offensive touch. If the Wings fail on all three counts, things may get even worse in Detroit. &#9632;

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Wings Hold Dubious Honor Of Being NHL’s Worst Club

<div class="byline">BY ALAN TRUEX</div>ATLANTA&mdash;Two months ago, Randy Manery was submerged in a depression that showed no signs of lifting. The Atlanta Flames were playing poorly, and Manery was playing poorly when he was playing at all.&ldquo;It was so bad,&rdquo; he recalls, &ldquo;that I didn&rsquo;t feel like going to the rink.&rdquo;Manery, in his fifth year on defense for the Flames, started off the season well. But he suffered a separated shoulder in December, and it took him two months to regain his physical strength and his self-assurance.&ldquo;I get down on myself very easily,&rdquo; he realizes. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m my own worst critic. I was way down. I was very heavily a minus player,&rdquo; he said, referring to the plusminus ratings which are hidden from the public but carefully observed by hockey players.&ldquo;I knew I wasn&rsquo;t playing well,&rdquo; Maner, said. &ldquo;When I came back from the injury, Dave (Shand) was playing well, and I wasn&rsquo;t, so I started getting the odd shift. I couldn&rsquo;t blame Fred (Creighton). I didn&rsquo;t deserve to be playing.&rdquo;When he did play, he was not advancing the puck, and his defensive performance also lapsed. And soon he began receiving special citation from disapproving and vocal fans. &ldquo;I was developing quite a following there,&rdquo; Manery remembers.&ldquo;I was just killing myself trying to get myself straightened out. I feel better now. I&rsquo;m back to a plus.&rdquo;Manery did straighten himself out, and just in time. If he hadn&rsquo;t, the Flames might not have been able to hold on for a playoff berth.For with Shand and Barry Gibbs weakened by mononucleosis, the Atlanta defense faltered drastically in February.Ed Kea had an exemplary season in 1975-76, but he has been undistinguished this year. Richard Mulhern, a high-scoring rookie through the first half of the season, was ineffective most of the second half. Pat Quinn at age 33 was just hanging on. Rookie Pat Ribble belonged in the minor leagues but was called on for regular duty while Gibbs and Shand were ill.But to a commendable degree, Manery held the defense somewhat together. General manager Cliff Fletcher noted, &ldquo;When Shand and Gibbs got sick, Randy started playing his best hockey of the season.&rdquo;Manery is not a forceful player and rarely attracts attention. But few defensemen are quicker coming back to cover two-on-ones than he is. And few are more effective at breaking them up.Throughout the final two months of the season, he has played consistently fine defense. His turnaround came at a time when the Flames needed it the most.FLAMES NOTES: Omni attendance, aided by massive ticket purchases by Atlanta businesses, has averaged over 12,100 for the season, an increase of some 200 from last season.Willi Plett took the lead in goal-scoring among NHL rookies, when he scored his 33rd goal, with one game left in the season. The New York Rangers&rsquo; Don Murdoch was second in rookie goalscoring, with 32.During the final 10 games of the season, the line of Tom Lysiak, Plett and Eric Vail scored 20 goals and 43 points.Flames coach Fred Creighton was not optimistic about his team&rsquo;s playoff chances. Asked if Creighton thought his club had more potential for playoff success this year than it had last year, he answered, &ldquo;No, to be quite honest about it, I don&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;s our inconsistency.&rdquo;Last year the Flames were eliminated from the playoffs in two games. In their other playoff appearance, in 1974, they lost four straight to eventual Stanley Cup winner Philadelphia.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01971/3978336-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="577" height="713"><figcaption class="caption-body">RANDY MANERY &hellip; &lsquo;Plus&rsquo; Once Again</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Manery Straightens Out Just In Time

<div class="byline">BY RON WEBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01813/3978367-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ACE BAILEY&hellip; Reaches 100-Goal Milestone</figcaption></div>WASHINGTON&mdash;Four in a row.That may not seem like a lot to a pro bowler, a skeet shooter or the Montreal Canadiens. But for Washington Capital fans it is something to cherish, if not forever, at least through the long, hot summer.Until this season the Caps were incapable of winning in succession at all. Then, in early November they followed a victorious hosting of the North Stars with a conking of the Canucks. Two straight!Moreover, they journeyed to New York and, playing for the third time in four nights, outscored the Rangers. It stopped there, though, the Caps squandering a 2-0 lead over Chicago in the following game.Late in January the Caps improved that by half a game, so to speak, beating the Blues twice around a triumph over Detroit. The half? They tied the Flyers in the next contest.But four fully favorable scores had to wait another two months.The Capitals began the windy month of March like a lamb, winning only one of their first seven games. Two of the losses were to Los Angeles, and with that went their slim hopes of making the playoffs.Then on March 18 the D.C. icemen began their transformation into lions by tumbling the Rockies 5-0. They misplaced their roar against Buffalo two days later, but that was the last game in March they didn&rsquo;t win.First it was the Rangers, coached by Tom McVie&rsquo;s old buddy, John Ferguson. A five-goal second period dispatched the New Yorkers handily, 7-2. Two nights later the Caps rolled the same number for themselves in beating a better team, Toronto, 7-4, for the most Washington goals in two consecutive games.More offensive fireworks made it the most in three as they didn&rsquo;t need the extra point in walloping their third straight visitor, Detroit, by 6-1. The 20-goal splurge in the three games assured the Capitals of finishing over the .500 mark for home games and brought them within hailing distance of surpassing last year&rsquo;s 224 mark for total goals&mdash;a figure considered virtually out of reach just a week before.But, as chronicled in this corner several weeks ago, tis much easier to win at home, and the longest and most succesful stand at Capital Centre (4-2) was over with the Red Wing game.The call of the road came from Pittsburgh where the Penguins figured to benefit from history. While they had beaten the Caps last time there, they could remember the final Saturday of last season when an upset by Washington cost the Pens home-ice advantage for the opening round of the playoffs&mdash;and contributed to their early exit from the Stanley Cup chase.Surely, the Penguins would be ready.If they were, the Caps were more so.D.C. lost the early lead provided by Bob Sirois&rsquo; tip-in, let Pierre Larouche and Rick Kehoe provide the Pens a 3-1 advantage, and roared back.The first bite into the Penguin lead goals and 15 shots between them. Newsy had three assists and four plusses&mdash;and missed a fifth plus because he had just stepped off the ice when Ace scored&hellip;Collins and Gerry Meehan were among those who voiced their displeasure over the initial selections for the Canadian team that competes for the world title in Vienna. Meehan, solid all year and outstanding since January, was quoted as saying he&rsquo;d refuse to go if added as a fill-in. Collins cited the choices as typical NHL politicking. They did seem a bit curious, containing nine Barons and only Charron from Washington&hellip;In the three home wins in a row, Capitals fans could have left early assured of a win, but not many did. They had waited too long to miss counting down the final seconds of those three and five-goal victory margins. With one game to go their number averaged 10,820&mdash;up over 1,100 from last year. That is the biggest increase in the league. &#9632;

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Capitals’ Fans Cherish Four-Game Win Streak

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-09" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-09160/3978485-1-eng-US/f0017-092.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROGIE VACHON&hellip;Barrier For Bruins</figcaption></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;It&rsquo;s hard to believe or even think about Marcel Dionne not being included on either the first or second All Star teams for the 1976-77 National Hockey League season. But, a move made by the Los Angeles Kings late in the regular season may cost Dionne an All Star berth.The Kings advised NHL headquarters late in the season that they would prefer to have Dionne listed as a center for All Star voting purposes, despite the fact that earlier in the year, they had listed him as a right winger.The sudden shift could be confusing to the voters&mdash;so much so that Dionne could pick up some votes at right wing and some votes at the center position.Since the NHL does not total up the combined points for a grand total, it is possible that this past season&rsquo;s second-leading point-getter could find himself on the outside looking in.Dionne has split the season at right wing and at center. He played for Team Canada in the Canada Cup series at right wing on a line with center Gilbert Perreault of the Buffalo Sabres and Bobby Hull of the WHA Winnipeg Jets at left wing.The Kings decided to experiment with Dionne at right wing during the season and at one point, that&rsquo;s where they officially had him listed.Then came the decision to shift him back to center, realizing that he would never be able to outpoll Montreal&rsquo;s Guy Lafleur for the first team All Star right wing position.Dionne, who did it all for the Kings during the regular season, was voted to the first All Star team at center in the annual HOCKEY NEWS All Star voting by the fans, beating out such other centers as Perreault, Bobby Clarke and Rick MacLeish of Philadelphia and Darryl Sittier of Toronto.Meanwhile, the Kings advanced to the quarter-finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs after beating the Atlanta Flames two games to one in the preliminary round of the post-season action.The Kings clinched the series by beating the Flames 4-2 in the deciding game at the L.A. Forum and then prepared to meet the Boston Bruins in the quarter-final series.The Kings will be relying heavily on Dionne and goaltender Rogatien Vachon in their bid to overhaul the heavily-favored Bruins, who finished with 106 points in the regular-season standings.However, Butch Goring, often overlooked because of the star status given to Dionne and Vachon, could play a major part in the Kings&rsquo; success.In the deciding game of the preliminary series against the Flames, Goring scored three goals and Dionne had the other. Vachon turned aside 25 shots.The Bruins will certainly remember Goring. The five-foot-nine forward scored two overtime goals against the Bruins last year.&ldquo;Vachon is an excellent goaltender, but we ll also have to think about Goring,&rdquo; said one member of the Bruins. &ldquo;He (Goring) does a lot of things and in the playoffs, he reminds me of our own Greg Sheppard.&rdquo;While Vachon is expected to get the call as the starting netminder for the Kings, the Bruins will likely go with experienced veteran Gerry Cheevers.Both teams have competent backup netminding strength as well. Gilles Gilbert has proven himself in the NHL while Gary Simmons was noted for giving the Bruins fits when he was with the former California Seals.Cheevers compiled a record of two wins and two losses in the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Kings last season. Both of his losses came in the overtime games.During this past season, the Kings and the Bruins were pretty well even. Both teams won two games each and the other game ended in a tie. The only edge in the five-game series went to the Kings, who outscored the Bruins 14-12.KINGS THINGS: Marcel Dionne was L.A. stop scorer in the three-game series against Atlanta He had two goals and three assists&hellip;Butch Goring was the second-highest producer for the Kings in the series with four points&mdash;all goals&hellip;Glenn Goldup, who returned to action late in the season after a severe leg injury, displayed his talents in the Atlanta series and came away looking good. Goldup had two goals and an assist in the three games&hellip;The Kings left almost immediately after their clinching win over Atlanta and headed for Boston for the first two games in the best-of-seven quarter-final series. The third and fourth games in the series were scheduled for L.A. Friday. April 15. and Sunday, April 17&hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-10148/3978478-1-eng-US/f0017-102.jpg" title="f0017-10" width="540" height="1307"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARCEL DIONNE&hellip;Fans Picked Him</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-09

Kings Jeopardize Dionne’s Chances For All Star Spot By Switching Ace

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02579/3978516-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">TONY ESPOSITO&hellip; He Hates To Lose (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario &ldquo;Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario &ldquo;Sold in U.S and CanadaCHICAGO&mdash;First and foremost, the man is a perfectionist.&ldquo;You should never pattern yourself after another person.&rdquo; he philosophizes &ldquo;If you copy somebody, you&rsquo;ll always be second-best.&rdquo;The man who hates being second-best at anything is Tony Esposito.For the last eight years he has been The Goaltender of the Chicago Black Hawks.During the last five months he has been dwelling in an icy purgatory. In his mind, winning is the beginning of perfection. And, for the first time since he entered the National Hockey League, Tony Esposito has been losing more than he has been winning.He derives no solace from the fact that he has stopped more pucks this season than ever before and that he is probably the primary reason that the Hawks are in the playoffs and not last place.Tony chooses to forget about the staggering 2,131 saves.But he can&rsquo;t forgive himself for the 234 that got away.&ldquo;I honestly don&rsquo;t remember much about the big games that I&rsquo;ve played in that we&rsquo;ve won down through the years,&rdquo; he reflects. &ldquo;But I still remember the big games we lost and the mistakes I lost.&rdquo;As always, Esposito still goes more places than a preposition to prevent pucks from entering the Chicago net.But his defensive protection has gone the way of the 10 cent cup of coffee.&bull; In 1970-71 Esposito averaged 18.98 saves in 56 games.&bull; This year he averaged 30.88 saves in 69 games.Translated in terms of flying pucks, the difference is 1,068. You don&rsquo;t have to be a weatherman to know that an ill wind has been blowing gale force in the direction of the Chicago goal this season.&ldquo;If you win 8-7 that&rsquo;s great because you won and that&rsquo;s what you&rsquo;re out there for,&rdquo; says Esposito. &ldquo;But you don&rsquo;t want to play in a lot of high-scoring games because it means you&rsquo;re making a lot of mistakes on defense. And when you do that you&rsquo;re going to lose a lot.&rdquo;His team&rsquo;s current depression gives you an insight into just how much of a perfectionist Esposito is. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve watched Bobby Orr,&rdquo; he confides. &ldquo;My brother (Phil) told me Orr hated to lose. He&rsquo;s right&mdash;Orr hates to lose more than I do. And I hate it with a passion.&rdquo;The fixation with perfection has been lifelong.&ldquo;After I got to be 15 or so nobody ever really did anything to help me as a player,&rdquo; Esposito recalls.&ldquo;If you grow up with a sport the way I did and really work at it and you&rsquo;re conscientious and have some ability, all you need is experience.&ldquo;I never set out to be a goalie. When I was just horsing around and having fun as a kid in Sault Ste. Marie (Ont.) I never played goal. Nobody did. We all played forward. But when I started playing goal, I tried to pick up the best points of every goaltender I saw and use them to the best of my ability.&ldquo;As a professional I think the biggest thing I have going for me is my concentration. A forward or defenseman has to rely more on physical strength or natural abilities. With me it&rsquo;s concentration.&ldquo;You rely on your team, naturally. But you have one job to do and that&rsquo;s to stop that puck and if you think only of that everything else is just a natural reflex action.&ldquo;I honestly think I could sit out two or three years and come back and play like I never left.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s precisely what Tony did as a teenager.&ldquo;When I was 17 I just quit.&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;I had a chance to play junior hockey. But it would have meant having to leave town and quit school and knowing you were going to end up in hockey and just hoping everything would work out.&ldquo;I decided to stay in school and get an education. Then, when I was 19. they started a junior team in Sault Ste. Marie. My dad was part owner along with a good friend of mine and they kept bugging me to play and I said &lsquo;no, I&rsquo;m not playing!&rdquo; &ldquo;The team wasn&rsquo;t too hot and I didn&rsquo;t like the idea of playing. It&rsquo;s the same if you&rsquo;re playing for cash or for nothing&mdash;you lose and everybody looks at you like you&rsquo;re a jerk.&ldquo;It was just too much pressure and I didn&rsquo;t want it. But they kept after me and said: &lsquo;Look, if you don&rsquo;t like it, you can just walk off.&rsquo;&ldquo;They talked me into it. I was going to play for just a week or so. But we started rolling and I stayed with it and then I got a scholarship to Michigan Tech and I realized I could use hockey to get an education.&rdquo;Now. with his 34th birthday a few days and untold playoff pucks away, Esposito wonders what he will do with his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s one thing to have an education and another to get a decent job,&rdquo; he points out. &ldquo;When I finish playing hockey I plan to keep playing hockey as long as I can play it well. I can&rsquo;t afford not to.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen the sport change because of expansion and because of the trend toward more offense that came with the advent of Orr. He completely changed the game around Before him. defensemen never carried the puck.&ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s a harder game for guys like me who make their living as goaltenders but I think it&rsquo;s a better game. You just have to do your best to&rsquo; stop the puck&mdash;it&rsquo;s that simple.&rdquo;The quest for perfection is an always demanding and often disappointing pursuit. Esposito has been aware of that fact for his entire hockey life.&ldquo;When I quit as a kid I did it because of the pressure of the thought of losing,&rdquo; he repeats. &ldquo;It just wasn&rsquo;t fun. &ldquo;It still isn&rsquo;t fun.&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s my living and when something is your living you do it the only way you can: you give it the best you&rsquo;ve got. &#9632;

f0018-02

Esposito A Perfectionist, Second-Best Just Won’t Do

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01721/3978547-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"></div>GP &mdash; games played; MIN.&mdash;minutes; GA&mdash;goals against; AVG.&mdash;average goals against; SAVES; AVG.&mdash;average saves. &#9632;

f0018-01

Espo’s Career Record

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been getting full production out of their big line this season of Lanny McDonald, Darryl Sittier and Tiger Williams. After the first round of the 1977 Stanley Cup playoffs were over it was the Leafs&rsquo; top line that left the Pittsburgh Penguins in a state of shock.McDonald came up with a four-goal performance in the three-game series and climaxed the windup game by scoring a hat trick to help the Leafs push the Penguins to the sidelines and enable Toronto to advance against the Philadelphia Flyers.McDonald, a 46-goal scorer over the regular schedule, was superb in the Pittsburgh series with four goals. He and Sittier combined to pick up 16 scoring points between them as the Leafs began the playoffs with a rather auspicious offense.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03435/3978578-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="501" height="549"><figcaption class="caption-body">LANNY McDONALD &hellip;Toronto Leafs</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-03

NHL’S… Player of the Week

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01691/3978623-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="549" height="1025"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02562/3978616-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="545" height="832"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM LORENTZ&hellip;Four-Goal Series</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;The National Hockey League moved towards its first serious playoff test with the opening of the Stanley Cup quarterfinals on four fronts.But to make it to the quarter-finals, four of the eight teams had to wade through a preliminary round and as expected, all four best-of-three series pretty well ran true to form.Possibly the closest thing to an upset occurred when the Toronto Maple Leafs lost their only home ice start and went on to take two from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Pittsburgh ice to win their series 2-1 in games.But aside from the Leafs&rsquo; stumbling slightly, everything else went as expected.The New York Islanders swept the Chicago Black Hawks 5-2 and 2-1, Buffalo Sabres also swept past Minnesota 4-2 and 7-1 and Los Angeles Kings had to go the three-game limit before polishing off Atlanta Flames. The series turned out to be a homer affair with the Kings winning 5-2 and 4-2 in L.A. and the Flames prevailing 3-2 in Atlanta.Four players turned in outstanding individual playoff scoring performances in the preliminary games. Butch Goring of the Kings scored four times in the Atlanta series with his hat trick in the third game eliminating the Flames. Jim Lorentz also came up with a four-goal series, scoring three times in one game.But most prolific playoff start was turned in by Toronto linemates Lanny McDonald and Darryl Sittier, who combined for 17 scoring points in the three games against Pittsburgh.Sittier figured in nine of the Leafs&rsquo; 13 goals against Pittsburgh and McDonald scored four of them, three coming in the windup game which the Leafs won 5-2 after taking the series opener 4-2. The Penguins won the second game 6-4 in Toronto but they couldn&rsquo;t muster enough offense in the third game and went out losers before a packed home crowd of 15,934, which set a single game attendance mark for the Pittsburgh Arena.While goalers Denis Herron of Pittsburgh and Toronto rookie Mike Palmateer dueled through an 82-shot game, in which each handled 41 shots, the Leafs went on top early 2-0 on goals by two defensemen&mdash;Ian Turnbull and Borje Salming. Then McDonald took over and scored the Leafs&rsquo; next three goals with Sittier&rsquo;s help. The climax came in the final seconds of the game with Herron out of the Pittsburgh net for an extra attacker. Sittier broke up a Pittsburgh ganging play and broke away with the open net facing him. With McDonald trailing on the play. Sittier unselfishly passed the puck backwards to McDonald, who shot it into the unguarded Pittsburgh goal to complete his playoff hat trick.The Pittsburgh fans gave the Leafs a rousing ovation for their performance. The win was the first Stanley Cup playoff victory ever for young Palmateer, who could hardly restrain his jubilation at the end of the game.The series win allowed Toronto to advance against the Philadelphia Flyers in the start of the cup quarter-finals. It marked the second year in succession the two teams clashed in the playoffs. In last season&rsquo;s fight-filled seven-game series, the Flyers won 4-3, capturing all four games played in the Spectrum.While the Flyers and Leafs squared off in their series, other quarter-final matchups sent the St. Louis Blues against Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres against the Islanders and Los Angeles Kings faced the Boston Bruins.History repeated itself in the quarterfinals in three of the four matchups. In addition to the Leafs and Flyers resuming their playoff rivalry of last season, the Islanders and Sabres went six games last year before the Islanders won out in six games and the Boston Bruins had to go the full seven games last season to eliminate the L.A. Kings.Ironically, Kings&rsquo; scoring star Goring had the distinction of winning two of the Kings&rsquo; games last year against Boston with overtime-period goals.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03436/3978609-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="1164" height="1304"><figcaption class="caption-body">BUTCH GORING&hellip;Hat Trick Ousts Flames (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-01

Islanders, Kings, Leafs, Sabres Win As Expected In Playoff Start

Semi-Finals (All best-of-seven)<h2>SERIES &lsquo;E&rsquo;</h2><h3>ST. LOUIS vs MONTREAL</h3>Mon. April 11 at MontrealWed. April 13 at MontrealSat. April 16 at St. LouisSun. April 17 at St. LouisTue. April 19 at MontrealThu. April 20 at St. LouisSat. April 23 at Montreal<h2>SERIES&rsquo;F&rsquo;</h2><h3>TORONTO vs PHILADELPHIA</h3>Mon. April 11 at PhiladelphiaWed. April 13 at PhiladelphiaFri. April 15 at TorontoSun. April 17 at TorontoTue. April 19 at PhiladelphiaThu. April 21 at TorontoSat. April 23 at Philadelphia<h2>SERIES &lsquo;G&rsquo;</h2><h3>BUFFALO vs ISLANDERS</h3>Mon. April 11 at Long IslandWed. April 13 at Long IslandFri. April 15 at BuffaloSun. April 17 at BuffaloTue. April 19 at Long IslandThu. April 21 at BuffaloSat. April 23 at Long Island<h2>SERIES &lsquo;H&rsquo;</h2><h3>LOS ANGELES vs BOSTON</h3>Mon. April 11 at BostonWed. April 13 at BostonFri. April 15 at Los AngelesSun. April 17 at Los AngelesTue. April 19 at BostonThu. April 21 at Los AngelesSat. April 23 at Boston &#9632;

Stanley Cup Semi-Final Series Set

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01536/3978776-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"></div>Warning: Health and Welfare Canada advises that danger to health increases with amount smoked-avoid inhaling. Av. per cigarette: Regular: 16mg. &ldquo;tar&rdquo; 1.2mg. nicotine. King: 18mg. tar 1.4mg. nicotine.<h2>SERIES &lsquo;A&rsquo;</h2><h3>Tue. April 5</h3>CHICAGO 2, ISLANDERS 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02384/3978769-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="593" height="499"></div>(lalandsrs lead best-oMhrea serlas 1-0)<h3>Thu. April 7</h3>CHICAGO 1, ISLANDERS 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03309/3978762-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="591" height="403"></div>(Islanders win best-of-three series 2-0)<h2>SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;</h2><h3>Tue. April 5</h3>MINNESOTA 2, BUFFALO 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04212/3978755-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="585" height="453"></div>(Buffalo leads best-of-three series 1-0)<h3>Thu. April 9</h3>BUFFALO 7, MINNESOTA 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-05122/3978748-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="591" height="503"></div>(Buffalo wins best-of-three series 2-0)<h2>SERIES &lsquo;C&rsquo;</h2><h3>Tua. April 5</h3>ATLANTA 2, LOS ANGELES 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0695/3978741-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="597" height="425"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0787/3978734-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="593" height="89"></div>(Los Angelas laads best-of-thraa series 1-0)<h3>Thu. April 7</h3>LOS ANGELES 2, ATLANTA 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0878/3978727-1-eng-US/f0020-082.jpg" title="f0020-08" width="589" height="341"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0958/3978720-1-eng-US/f0020-092.jpg" title="f0020-09" width="589" height="249"></div>(Best-of-three series tied 1-1)<h3>Sat. April 9</h3>ATLANTA 2, LOS ANGELES 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1048/3978713-1-eng-US/f0020-102.jpg" title="f0020-10" width="589" height="187"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1136/3978706-1-eng-US/f0020-112.jpg" title="f0020-11" width="581" height="329"></div>(Los Angeles wins best-of-three series 2-1)<h2>SERIES &lsquo;D&rsquo;</h2><h3>Tue. April 5</h3>TORONTO 4, PITTSBURGH 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1232/3978699-1-eng-US/f0020-122.jpg" title="f0020-12" width="587" height="453"></div>(Toronto leads best-of-three series 1-0)<h3>Thu. April 7</h3>PITTSBURGH 6, TORONTO 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1322/3978692-1-eng-US/f0020-132.jpg" title="f0020-13" width="595" height="589"></div>(Best-of-three series tied 1-1)<h3>Sat. April 9</h3>TORONTO 5, PITTSBURGH 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1421/3978685-1-eng-US/f0020-142.jpg" title="f0020-14" width="587" height="527"></div>(Toronto wins best-of-three series 2-1)<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1520/3978678-1-eng-US/f0020-152.jpg" title="f0020-15" width="1763" height="1828"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Denis Potvin and the Islanders proved too much for the Hawks in playoff start. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-01

Stanley Cup Playoff Summaries

Preliminary Round<h2>SERIES&rsquo;A&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01379/3978842-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="577" height="89"></div>(Islanders win best-of-three series 2-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 5Chicago 2 at Islanders 5Thu. April 7Chicago 1 at Islanders 2<h2>SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02250/3978835-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="582" height="87"></div>(Buffalo wins best-of-three series 2-0)<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03164/3978828-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="1168" height="1131"><figcaption class="caption-body">LANNY McDONALD &hellip;Four Goals In Playoffs (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 5Minnesota 2 at Buffalo 4Thu. April 7Buffalo 7 at Minnesota 1<h2>SERIES &lsquo;C&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04126/3978821-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="577" height="83"></div>(Los Angeles wins best-of-three series 2-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 5Atlanta 2 at Los Angeles 5Thu. April 7Los Angeles 2 at Atlanta 3Sat. April 9Atlanta 2 at Los Angeles 4<h2>SERIES &lsquo;D&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-05107/3978814-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="579" height="81"></div>(Toronto wins best-of-three series 2-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 5Toronto 4 at Pittsburgh 2Thu. April 7Pittsburgh 6 at Toronto 4Sat. April 9Toronto 5 at Pittsburgh 2PLAYOFF SCORING<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0691/3978807-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="589" height="1427"></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

Stanley Cup Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY BILL HEUFELDER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01412/3978873-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DUNC WILSON&hellip; Missed Playoffs (Photo by Rich Pilling)</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;The player most responsible for keeping the Pittsburgh Penguins afloat early in the season was doubtful of being able to help them for the sweetest portion of the campaign&mdash;the Stanley Cup playoffs.Goaltender Dune Wilson was bothered by pulled ligaments in his left knee and was practicing only spasmodically with the Penguins when they went down to the wire in their pursuit of second place in the Norris Division and a homeice advantage for the opening round of the playoffs.The 29-year-old netminder had revealed earlier that he sustained the injury March 8 against St. Louis in the same game that the Penguins lost rookie center Greg Malone with damaged ribs and a collapsed lung.Malone was lost for nine games, but Wilson continued with the club, although his movement became increasingly restricted.&ldquo;I stretched the ligaments a little bit,&rdquo; Wilson said, &ldquo;then I reinjured the knee against the (New York) Rangers. The knee kept getting worse. When we practiced in Minnesota, 1 went down a couple of times and couldn&rsquo;t get up.&rdquo;By the time the Penguins reached the final weekend of the regular season, his condition was discouraging. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t move laterally at all,&rdquo; he said, taking a dim view that he would be available for the opening playoff round.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what really disappoints me,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been looking forward to the playoffs all year.&rdquo;When Denis Herron went out with a broken arm in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s season opener, the Penguins were looking at a lengthy stretch in which they would depend on young Gordon Laxton to handle the goaltending.The burden appeared to be too much for Laxton, with only one pro season behind him, so the Penguins acquired Wilson from the Rangers.Wilson not only became a stopper, but earned a spot alongside Herron as the two shared the goaltending the remainder of the campaign. Not surprisingly, Wilson, who registered five shutouts and a 2.95 goals against average, was named the team&rsquo;s most valuable player.But the reward of making his first playoff appearance was in serious jeopardy, an indication that Herron might be left to carry the entire load.Herron lost his unbeaten Civic Arena record in a 4-3 defeat against the Washington Caps during the final week in a game that gave the slipping Penguins an uphill fight to stay ahead of the pressing Los Angeles Kings and maintain the edge to open at home in the playoffs.A year ago, the Caps beat Pittsburgh on its home ice in a similiar situation, forcing the Penguins to begin their first-round series at Toronto. The Leafs went on to win the round in three games.Herron, although he performed brilliantly, could not hold off the Caps this time. They came back from the short end of a 3-1 score to jump in front before the second period ended.A thorn in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s side all season, the Caps dominated the series, 4-1-1.The only bright spot in the dismal outcome was that Lowell MacDonald, who contributed 134 goals in four years before being sidelined with a knee injury in pre-season, made a long-awaited return to the lineup.Playing the power play and spotted occasionally, MacDonald gave some hope that the Penguins&rsquo; recent scoring slump would disappear.PENGUIN NOTES: In other club awards, the Penguins honored Herron as &ldquo;the player&rsquo;s player&rdquo;&hellip; Malone was named the club&rsquo;s top rookie. &#9632;

f0022-01

Ligament Troubles Hamper Pens’ Goalie

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;The experience of the Vancouver Canucks in their last week of the regular schedule is enough to demonstrate to anyone in the National Hockey League that complaining about officiating is like complaining about the law of averages.The previous week, Vancouver was buzzing about a call made by Alf Lejeune in a game against Philadelphia. The referee had ruled that a goal scored by Hilliard Graves was not to be counted because Graves had his stick too high. The Canucks complained for a couple of days over the call, but precisely one week later their complaints almost retroactively embarrass them.In a crucial home game against the Los Angeles Kings, the Canucks were trailing 3-2 late in the third period, and desperate for at least one point in the race to see who qualifies for the playoffs in the Smythe Division.Don Lever tied the score on a play similar to the Graves goal, but this time referee Bruce Hood ruled the goal legal and the Canucks were able to gain their point. In fact, all three of the Vancouver goals were of the fluke variety, and it left the homers in town saying&mdash;it&rsquo;s about time the team got a few breaks.But the lesson is valuable in that over an 80-game schedule, you are going to win some and lose some. You never hear NHL coaches saying &ldquo;We deserved to have a few bad calls in our favor,&rdquo; just the whining about mistakes made in the opposition&rsquo;s favor.Bob Pulford seems to have learned the lesson well, as he said that he thought the stick was high, but blamed his club for not winning, not the referee.But while the Canucks may have learned something on Lever&rsquo;s goal, it cost them control of their own destiny. Going into the team&rsquo;s last three games, all at home, all they had to do was win them and they would have automatically qualified for the playoffs. As things turned out the Canucks didn&rsquo;t make it. A 6-3 loss at the hands of the Colorado Rockies did the Canucks in. The ironic part of it all was that the loss put Chicago into the playoffs on the strength of that game and the Hawks ended up losing their last two games to Atlanta and Cleveland.If you think that&rsquo;s crazy look at how the Canucks finished. They beat Minnesota 63 but the North Stars had already wrapped up second place. That left Chicago and Vancouver tied with 63 points each. The Hawks got the nod to move into the playoffs because they won more games than Vancouver.General manager Phil Maloney, who was at the coaching helm when things started going poorly, has a year left on his contract, but a team that has just shelled out $160,000 for the services of Derek Sanderson would hardly balk at dumping the GM at a year&rsquo;s salary cost. They have to save face with some fans, who have already been insulted by a local television deal which shows eight more home games on TV as well as those already seen on Hockey Night in Canada.And Orland Kurtenbach&rsquo;s contract is valid only until the end of this season, so the managers could sacrifice him at no cost.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02319/3978904-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="535" height="798"><figcaption class="caption-body">ORLAND KURTENBACH &hellip; Job In Jeopardy?</figcaption></div>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way I wanted it when I took the job from Tulsa,&rdquo; said Kurtenbach. &ldquo;I could be here or elsewhere next year.&rdquo;The most interesting case is that of Maloney, who through what must be considered a pretty good trading sense, had brought the club back to life enough to make a run at the playoffs. They went undefeated in between trips to Philadelphia, a 10-game span, only to lose their edge in the last week ot the season.But whether the Mcllhargey and Goodenough for Dailey trade and the one that brought Larry Carriere and Hilliard Graves for John Gould will stand the test of time remains to be seen. Normally, two for one trades are not a great way to build a winner unless you pull off a steal. And further, two salaries for one is not always the best way to maximize revenue and minimize expenditures. &#9632;

f0022-02

Vancouver Gets Break But Misses Playoff Berth

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01386/3978935-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BODY BUILDERS: Right winger Ken Hodge of the New York Rangers, left, and Boston Red Sox slugger Carl Yastrzemski get together during a recent banquet in honor of Gene Berde, a well-known trainer and body builder who has helped many athletes. Hodge and Yastrzemski both were students of Berde&rsquo;s training program. (Photo by Leo Muise)</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Frustration is the word for the New York Rangers situation, from general manager John Ferguson down to rookies Don Murdoch and Nick Fotiu and extending to the grass roots level&mdash;the Madison Square Garden rate payers who pay the freight and feel they have the right to boo and curse and wish evil on those home players they feel have let them down.Phil Esposito, the Rangers captain, said, &ldquo;It is tough to take when the fans feel the way they do. I don&rsquo;t know if the Rangers can ever win under those conditions.&rdquo;It was the final game of the second non-playoff season in a row in MSG&mdash;and the Rangers were hosting their archrivals, the crosstown Islanders, still locked in a death struggle for either third or fourth in the final over-all NHL standings.The crowd was heavily on the Rangers side, especially when they scored the first goal, a neat tally by unbenched Peter Stemkowski. And they roared and hooted the Islanders when Carol Vadnais and Garry Howatt of the Isles renewed hostilities in the first three minutes. Midway in the period Vadnais checked the Islander into the Ranger bench. When Howatt bounced off the bench he clubbed Vadnais over the head. Carol went down, and Nick Fotiu came off the Ranger bench to the rescue. Both benches emptied and a pier six brawl threatened. Even the stick boys on both sides were jawing at each other.Fifteen minutes later, referee Wally Harris had things under control. He assessed Howatt with a minor, a fighting major, and a misconduct, gave Vadnais a major and a misconduct, tagged Fotiu with a double minor and a game misconduct for coming off the bench first, hit Don Murdoch with a third-man-in sentence, and tagged both goalies, John Davidson and Billy Smith, with minors for leaving the crease.Vadnais had been suspended five games for belting Howatt over the noggin in a February game at the Nassau Coliseum.&ldquo;You could sense it coming,&rdquo; said Davidson, later. &lsquo;The tension was in the air.&rdquo;The Islanders took charge of the game, eventually winning 5-2. As early as the second period fans were leaving the sold-out Garden, muttering, &ldquo;Next year will be the same as this. The team needs a goalie and an All Star defenseman.&rdquo;With under two minutes left. Bob Nystrom&rsquo;s bullet shot hit Davidson between the eyes and he fell to the ice as is shot. As he was being half-carried, halflifted off the ice, a fan in the loge area near the Rangers penalty box bellowed. &ldquo;I hope you die, you stiff.&rdquo;It was the fan&rsquo;s total frustration at watching 310 goals against the Rangers this year, tied for worst in the league, that was speaking. But Esposito, himself frustrated by two non-playoff years in a row, skated to the side boards and pointed the offender out to security police.Suddenly. Murdoch and Fotiu. by now in civilian clothes, were in the midst of the fans. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, but it was broken up before anything really happened.Howatt, the target of the Rangers ire earlier, sympathized with the Blueshirts. &ldquo;That has to be a sick person, who would want Davidson to die,&rdquo; said Garry.The Islanders also have been under attack by the less than patient New York fans in the Nassau Coliseum. Many of the Islander faithful are former Ranger fans, who switched when the Rangers failed to win the Cup since 1940. The whole love-hate deal between the fans and the two teams in New York is boiling.Ferguson, upset over the 310 goals against, has vowed &ldquo;we will change the system next year, concentrate on defense and cut the goals against down. We have to do this. We are going after a veteran defenseman&mdash;and the forwards will have to come back more in a better disciplined system. That&rsquo;s where we fell down this year.&rdquo;Before the final game, Dave Maloney was awarded the West Side Association Trophy as the team MVP. THE HOCKEY NEWS had reported this previously. The voting was done by the members of the New York press, radio and TV corps.Maloney, a fine defense prospect, is still eligible for the rookie award. In a sense the vote was a &ldquo;no&rdquo; vote on controversial Phil Esposito, who got my nod. The captain received one of two Players Player awards, the other going to class guy John Davidson Rod Gilbert received the Frank Boucher Trophy as the most popular Ranger, which he certainly is.BLUE CHIPS: Phil Esposito played his 1,000th NHL game against Atlanta March 30. He ranks third in career goals, behind Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull., Phil has 596 with Howe at 786 and Hull 604.&hellip;Goalie Gilles Gratton doesn&rsquo;t expect to be back next year&hellip;Esposito had the worst plus-minus on the club, one reason he didn&rsquo;t win the MVP&hellip;Walt Tkaczuk led the team in plus-minus, with Don Murdoch and Ron Greschner also plus. Greg Polis was even, everyone else minus&hellip;Many fans felt that Greschner had become the defense leader towards the end, not Carol Vadnais or Maloney&hellip;Don Murdoch, out since Feb. 13 with a torn tendon in his left ankle, insisted on playing in the finale, then was ejected in the first period&hellip; &#9632;

f0023-01

Love-Hate Relationship Boiling Over Again

<div class="byline">BY GREG NOBLE</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY. LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY. LTD Arnold Street. Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaCINCINNATI&mdash;There was Ali and Frazier, and then there was the Cincinnati Stingers and the Indianapolis Racers.People who observed the fierce rivalry between the Stingers and the Racers the last two seasons eagerly anticipated the same kind of knock-down, drag-out fight once the two teams squared off in their first-round playoff series.&ldquo;It ought to be a great series,&rdquo; Stingers coach Terry Slater said.The best-of-seven affair matched the explosive scoring power of the Stingers against the strong defensive style of coach Jacques Demers&rsquo; Racers.The Stingers seemed to have a couple of advantages in the series. First, they narrowly beat out the Racers for second place in the Eastern Division, Thus winning the home ice advantage. The Racers, meanwhile, would probably have to play without Hugh Harris, who was still recovering from a knee injury.On the other hand, the Stingers had not found the secret to winning at Market Square Arena. They had only won one game at Indianapolis in two seasons. And the Racers held a 5-4 edge in victories over the Stingers this year. One game was a tie.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01400/3978973-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="571" height="739"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN GARRETT</figcaption></div>The Stingers concluded their best season ever winning 39 of their 81 games but most significantly they finished as the No. 2 offensive club in the overall WHA and headed their own Eastern Division with a team total of 354 goals, one more than the powerful Quebec Nordiques.The Stingers were the only team to finish with two 50-goal scorers. Rich Leduc and Blaine Stoughton each scored 52 with Stoughton winding up with the team scoring title with 104 points, one ahead of Leduc.Dennis Sobchuk closed in a hero&rsquo;s role for the Stingers scoring his 43rd and 44th goals in the final game against Quebec. The goals were important since the Stingers tied the Nordiques 2-2 with 7,232 fans looking on. Many felt they were sitting in on a possible preview of the division finals.While the Stingers engaged Indianapolis, the Nordiques faced New England Whalers in the other semi-final. The Quebecers were top-heavy favorites with the Stingers and Racers a toss-up to win their series.At the same time they were preparing for their playoff series with the Racers, the Stingers made a bold move to shore up for future seasons by purchasing star center Robbie Ftorek, left winger Del Hall and rookie goaltender Clay Hebenton from the Phoenix Roadrunners.BIRMINGHAM: Although the Bulls missed the playoffs, the team&rsquo;s surge under coach Pat Kelly, the outstanding play of Mark Napier and John Garrett, among others, and the strong support the club received from the citizens of Birmingham are positive signs that major league hockey could have a bright future in AlabamaKelly, a successful minor league coach for 12 years, stepped into his first major league coaching job on Nov. 27 and guided the Bulls to a near .500 record the rest of the season.One of the top young stars in hockey, Napier scored over 50 goals to lead the club in scoring. Garrett, voted the team&rsquo;s most valuable player, compiled a remarkable record for a goaltender considering the Bulls&rsquo; last-place finish in the Eastern DivisionBirmingham&rsquo;s rabid sports fans supported the team faithfully and in large numbers. The club&rsquo;s average home attendance, about 8,500. was one of the highest figures in the league. Fans overflowed the huge Jefferson County Civic Center on several occasions, and the Bulls can boast they drew the largest crowd ever to see a WHA game, 17,849.The uncertain health of owner John Bassett, talk that Napier would jump to the NHL and the uncertain status of merger talks did cast a shadow on the future of hockey in Birmingham. But Bulls&rsquo; officials talked encouragingly.The word was Bassett would recover from a second cancer operation and Napier still had a year left on his contract. The Bulls also insisted if there was consolidation or merger with the NHL, they would not be left out.On the ice, the Bulls improved by 15 points over the 1975-76 season. New players like Tim Sheehy, John C. Stewart. Dale Hoganson and Jean-Guy Legace accounted for much of the improvement. On the minus side, goal production was down Vaclav Nedomansky&rsquo;s output decreased by 20 goals. Of course, a knee injury kept Frank Mahovlich out of the lineup most of the season and cost the club about 30 goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02314/3978966-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="547" height="960"><figcaption class="caption-body">BLAINE STOUGHTON &hellip; Stingers&rsquo; Top Scorer</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

Stingers Hold Slim Edge Over Indy; Hockey Future In Alabama Is Bright

QUARTER-FINALS(Best-of-seven series)<h2>NEW ENGLAND vs QUEBEC</h2>Sat. Apr. 9 at QuebecTues. Apr. 12 at QuebecThurs. Apr. 14 at New EnglandSat. Apr. 16 at New EnglandTues. Apr. 19 at QuebecFri. Apr. 22 at New EnglandSat. Apr. 23 at Quebec<h2>INDIANAPOLIS vs CINCINNATI</h2>Sat. Apr. 9 at CincinnatiTues. Apr. 12 at CincinnatiThurs. Apr. 14 at IndianapolisSat. Apr. 16 at IndianapolisSun. Apr. 17 at CincinnatiWed. Apr. 20 at IndianapolisSat. Apr. 23 at Cincinnati<h2>EDMONTON vs HOUSTON</h2>Wed. Apr. 13 at HoustonFri. Apr. 15 at HoustonSun. Apr. 17 at EdmontonWed. Apr. 20 at EdmontonFri. Apr. 22 at HoustonSun. Apr. 24 at EdmontonTues. Apr. 26 at Houston<h2>SAN DIEGO vs WINNIPEG</h2>Sun. Apr. 10 at WinnipegTues. Apr. 12 at WinnipegSat. Apr. 16 at San DiegoSun. Apr. 17 at San DiegoWed. Apr. 20 at WinnipegFri. Apr. 22 at San DiegoSun. Apr. 24 at Winnipeg &#9632;

WHA Playoff Cup Dates

The Winnipeg Jets are in full flight for the start of the Avco Trophy playoffs and Bobby Hull appears to have picked up where he left off on early in the 1976-77 season.Hull, who missed most of the season with wrist injuries, has become the Jets&rsquo; best scorer in the final weeks of the WHA season and has continued the momentum right into the playoffs.Hull banged in two goals for the Jets as they whipped San Diego 5-1 in the start of the WHA playdowns. The two goals ignited the Winnipeg attack and the Jets quickly skated away from the Mariners in the series opener.Hull, who has always been a prolific playoff scorer over the years, has regained his scoring touch and coupled with Anders Hedberg, should make the Jets tough to handle in the playoffs ahead.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03222/3979028-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="469" height="576"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY HULL &hellip; Winnipeg Jets</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-03

WHA’S… Player of the Week

(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01351/3979111-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="535" height="753"></div>(*-Won last playoff spot because of more victories).<h2>NHL Leaders</h2>Final Scoring Leaders<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02281/3979104-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="592" height="903"></div><h2>NHL Rookies</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03240/3979097-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="604" height="589"></div><h2>Final NHL Team Penalties</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04185/3979090-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="565" height="679"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

The NHL Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</div>SAN DIEGO&mdash;The San Diego Mariners fell behind 4-1 and although they rallied, including Andre Lacroix&rsquo;s 31st and 32nd goals of the season, fell short for a 5-4 home-ice loss to the New England Whalers.Joe Noris got the second of his two goals and 30th of the season with just 26 seconds left to knock off the Winnipeg Jets 4-3. Bobby Hull had tied the game with his second of the game with less than three minutes left.HOUSTON: Bobby Hull scored three power play goals and the Winnipeg Jets ended the Houston Aeros&rsquo; 21-game home-ice victory streak at a record 21 with a 5-3 setback.The Aeros came right back on Rich Preston&rsquo;s two goals and goaltender Ron Grahame&rsquo;s 100th career victory for a 5-2 victory which clinched the Western Division title right in Winnipeg.The letdown that followed could be expected but the 8-0 whipping at Edmonton behind Ken Broderick&rsquo;s 28-save goaltending was a little embarrassing.Back home in Houston, the Aeros started a new victory streak building a 5-1 lead and holding on for a 5-4 win over Cincinnati, which got a hat trick from rookie Peter Marsh.PHOENIX: The Calgary Cowboys stayed unbeaten by the Phoenix Roadrunners this season, taking the series 7-0-1, by sweeping a pair at Calgary, 5-4 and 9-5.Warren Miller and Lynn Powis each scored in the last two minutes to come from behind in the first victory.The Cowboys, surrendering four consecutive goals to the Roadrunners to trail 5-3, then struck for six unanswered of their own in the second game.The Roadrunners continued to wilt in the late going, holding the New England Whalers to a 2-2 tie after two periods but surrendering four goals, including Mike Antonovich&rsquo;s 39th and 40th of the season to absorb a 6-2 licking at home. &#9632;

Late Goal By Noris KO’s Jets

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNELL</div>PHOENIX&mdash;The Phoenix Roadrunners will close their doors for good after the final game of the 1976-77 World Hockey Association season.Karl Eller, chairman of the board, made the announcement with &ldquo;a great deal Of sadness, pain and personal regret.&rdquo;Eller also confirmed the sale of three players&mdash;center Robbie Ftorek. left wing Del Hall and goaltender Clay Hebenton&mdash;to the Cincinnati Stingers to begin play next season.He discounted as &ldquo;not true&rdquo; a report in Canadian newspapers that defensemen Serge Beaudoin. Jerry Rollins and Duane Bray had been sold to the Edmonton Oilers.Eller said no Roadrunner had ever missed a paycheck, that they would all be paid and efforts would be made to place team members with other clubs in either the WHA or the National Hockey League.Eller said he and the club&rsquo;s only other active partner, Dr. Herbert (Tim) Louis, could &ldquo;no longer withstand the cash drain. It is not fair to our families.&rdquo;Eller said the club has lost more than $6 million in the three years it has operated in the WHA.Eller said he thought Phoenix would some day be back in a major hockey league, whether it is the WHA, the NHL or a merged league, in about five years.Mike Leonard, former captain of the Providence College hockey team and owner of a Phoenix spotting goods store who has also been associated with Roadrunner broadcasts, heads one group interested in operating a Central Hockey League team in Phoenix.Bill MacFarland, former president of the Roadrunners and current president of the WHA, has also admitted some interest after being approached by &ldquo;several people including Stephen Craig, legal counsel for the Roadrunners.&rdquo;MacFarland has maintained his home in Phoenix, operating the WHA the past season out of his briefcase.The Coliseum Club, in the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, has been operated by the Roadrunners, but &ldquo;we don&rsquo;t know what will happen with it,&rdquo; said Eller.&ldquo;We tried,&rdquo; said Eller. &ldquo;We gave it our best shot, but the amount of money we lost&mdash;it must have been sheer stupidity on my part.&ldquo;We should have closed down a year ago.&rdquo;Eller had been in the forefront of a move to bring the National Football League to Phoenix and although admitting his interest in any sports venture has cooled, said he did not think the failure of the WHA in Phoenix would affect the city&rsquo;s chances of getting an NFL team.&ldquo;The economics are different,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;In football, there are eight to 10 home games, but in hockey there are 40 home games.&ldquo;A hockey season ticket costs about $300 and a football season ticket maybe $80 or $90.&rdquo;Reading from a prepared statement, Eller said:&ldquo;I want to thank the fans who bought season tickets, the media and everyone else who has supported the Roadrunners.&ldquo;I particularly want to thank the players, who have gone beyond their contracts and have worked so very hard in extra promotional activities, deferred salary payments and helped us in other ways to make a go of it.&ldquo;Our support from the dyed-in-the-wool hockey fans has been tremendous. One of our problems is that there simply were not enough of them.&rdquo;Repeating he and Dr. Louis could not &ldquo;afford to continue absorbing sevenfigure losses,&rdquo; Eller added:&ldquo;All I can say is we tried we gave it our best shot.&ldquo;We wanted to give Phoenix hockey fans an exciting brand of play a team to which they could relate; one they could support; one which was successful on the ice and at the box office.&ldquo;I believe we achieved all those goals except the last and most important.&rdquo;When Eller and Louis decided last summer to keep the franchise operating for a least one more season, they set a 7,500-season ticket base as a necessary goal.Eller said the sale topped 5,000 but about 1,500 cancelled before the season began.The club&rsquo;s average attendance in the 12,474-seat Coliseum has been under 6,900 this season.The 10 remaining franchises in the WHA indicated at a meeting in San Diego two weeks ago that they planned to operate next season.Brian O&rsquo;Neill, who served as team president the past year, will return to his former post as vice-president of marketing for Combined Communications Corp., of which Eller is president.Eller said Bob Goldwater Jr., director of operations, would also likely be offered a post with CCC but the rest of the office staff, including broadcaster Joe Daggett and public relations director Dave Weiser, would be looking for new jobs<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01333/3979173-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="550" height="571"><figcaption class="caption-body">KARL ELLER &hellip; Heavy Cash Drain</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02255/3979166-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="556" height="709"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL MacFARLAND &hellip; Shows An Interest</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

Runners Should Have Closed Down One Year Ago, Claims Club Owner

<h2>Sun. April 3</h2>CALGARY 4, WINNIPEG 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01315/3979316-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="595" height="587"></div>QUEBEC 0, SAN DIEGO 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02229/3979309-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="587" height="475"></div>INDIANAPOLIS 7, HOUSTON 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03172/3979302-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="579" height="115"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04135/3979295-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="597" height="431"></div><h2>Mon. April 4</h2>WINNIPEG 2, EDMONTON 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05116/3979288-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="589" height="525"></div><h2>Tue. April 5</h2>NEW ENGLAND 2, QUEBEC 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0699/3979281-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="599" height="319"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0789/3979274-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="593" height="273"></div>SAN DIEGO 1, HOUSTON 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0881/3979267-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="597" height="355"></div>BIRMINGHAM 4, CALGARY 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0975/3979260-1-eng-US/f0028-092.jpg" title="f0028-09" width="599" height="525"></div><h2>Wed. April 6</h2>BIRMINGHAM 4, EDMONTON 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1072/3979253-1-eng-US/f0028-102.jpg" title="f0028-10" width="579" height="87"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1164/3979246-1-eng-US/f0028-112.jpg" title="f0028-11" width="605" height="427"></div>HOUSTON 5, SAN DIEGO 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1260/3979239-1-eng-US/f0028-122.jpg" title="f0028-12" width="597" height="515"></div>INDIANAPOLIS 3, PHOENIX 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1354/3979232-1-eng-US/f0028-132.jpg" title="f0028-13" width="595" height="533"></div>QUEBEC 2, CINCINNATI 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1447/3979225-1-eng-US/f0028-142.jpg" title="f0028-14" width="591" height="571"></div><h3>Thu. April 7</h3>WINNIPEG 6, CALGARY 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1546/3979218-1-eng-US/f0028-152.jpg" title="f0028-15" width="595" height="169"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1639/3979211-1-eng-US/f0028-162.jpg" title="f0028-16" width="581" height="397"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1832/3979204-1-eng-US/f0028-182.jpg" title="f0028-18" width="563" height="827"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARK HOWE</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

World Hockey Association Summaries

<h2>SERIES&rsquo;A&rsquo;</h2><h3>Sat. April 9</h3>NEW ENGLAND 2, QUEBEC 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1929/3979368-1-eng-US/f0028-192.jpg" title="f0028-19" width="585" height="691"></div><h2>SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;</h2><h3>Sat. April 9</h3>INDIANAPOLIS 4, CINCINNATI 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2025/3979361-1-eng-US/f0028-202.jpg" title="f0028-20" width="607" height="699"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2125/3979354-1-eng-US/f0028-212.jpg" title="f0028-21" width="595" height="173"></div><h2>SERIES &lsquo;D&rsquo;</h2><h3>Sun. April 10</h3>SAN DIEGO 1, WINNIPEG 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2223/3979347-1-eng-US/f0028-222.jpg" title="f0028-22" width="603" height="451"></div> &#9632;

f0028-19

Avco Trophy Summaries

CINCINNATI&mdash;Gene Peacosh has scored more than a few goals during his five-year World Hockey Association career but it is doubtful if the one he dumped into the Cincinnati net in the start of the 1977 Avco World Trophy playoffs ever had more significance.Peacosh dramatically scored in the third overtime period to enable Indianapolis Racers to edge past the Cincinnati Stingers 4-3 after nearly five hours of playoff action. The win gave the Racers first blood in their best-of-seven Eastern Division semi-final series and the outcome will keep the hockey enthusiasts talking about this one for a long time.The winning goal came at 1.15 a.m. after 48 minutes and 40 seconds of overtime when Mark Lomenda of the Racers fired at shot at the Cincinnati net and missed. The puck caromed out in front of Stinger goaler Normand Lapointe. Peacosh, standing alone to one side of the net, scooped up the rebound off the boards and shot it past a startled Lapointe.&ldquo;I just tried not to fumble it at that point.&rdquo; said Peacosh. &ldquo;I knew that it was over if I didn&rsquo;t get nervous.&rdquo;The Indy veteran said he &ldquo;didn&rsquo;t think the game was ever going to end the way the teams were playing. There were 111 shots on goal and it seemed the volleying was going to last all night.&rdquo; cracked Peacosh.The marathon game was the longest in professional hockey in 41 years.One of the oddities of it all was that both goaltenders&mdash;Lapointe of Cincinnati and Paul Hoganson of Indianapolis&mdash;went all the way without a rest.The long, drawn-out playoff was also full of ironies.Eight members of the Racers had played in the previous longest WHA game. That game, played April 10, 1976 lasted 17 minutes and 45 seconds before Ralph Backstrom scored to give New England a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cougars.Winning netminder Hoganson. who stopped 56 shots, was obtained from Cincinnati in a trade last month. It was only his 13th appearance of the season.Losing goaltender Lapointe, a rookie, was tossed into the breach at the last minute, after Jacques Caron suffered a freak injury during the warmupNo penalties were called during the last 45 minutes of overtime after 58 minutes of infractions was assessed in the first four periods.&ldquo;I think we got stronger as the game went along,&rdquo; said defenseman Pat Stapleton.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0597/3979437-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="547" height="714"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARKLOMENDA &hellip; Two Playoff Goals</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0676/3979430-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="1128" height="1409"><figcaption class="caption-body">NORM LAPOINTE&hellip; Went Distance In Overtime Thriller</figcaption></div>The Stingers got goals from Rich Leduc, Dennis Abgrall and Claude Larose while Lomenda scored the first two Indy goals and Reg Thomas came up with the third at 18:56 of the third period to send the teams into their marathon overtime session.While the Racers won their series opener, the Quebec Nordiques responded to a between-periods tongue lashing from coach Marc Boileau to come back and defeat the New England Whalers 5-2 after being tied with them 2-2 following the second period. It was at this point that Boileau told his Nordiques the Whalers were stealing the game away from them. They came out fighting in the final period and won going away with three goals.Francois Lacombe, Real Cloutier and Pierre Guite were the Quebec scorers in the final period as the Nordiques grabbed the first game of their best-of-seven Eastern semi-final series.The Western Division playoffs began in Winnipeg where Bobby Hull and the Jets put on a show for nearly 9,000 Winnipeggers. Hull scored twice to pace the Jets to a 5-1 romp over the San Diego Mariners in the first game of their best-of-seven semi-final series.Anders Hedberg. Danny Lawson and Willy Lindstrom also scored for the Jets.The Houston Aeros and Edmonton Oilers didn&rsquo;t open their best-of-seven Western semi-final series on the weekend, opting for a mid-week start instead. &#9632;

f0029-05

Racers Nip Stingers In 5-Hour Playoff; Nordiques, Jets Win Avco Trophy Starts

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01274/3979489-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="545" height="1097"></div><h2>EASTERN DIVISION</h2><h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02222/3979482-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="571" height="82"></div>(Quebec leads best-of-seven series 1-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. April 9New England 2 at Quebec 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. April 12New England at QuebecThu. April 14Quebec at New EnglandSat. April 16Quebec at New EnglandTue. April 19New England at QuebecFri. April 22Quebec at New EnglandSat. APril 23New England at Quebec<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03145/3979475-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="577" height="82"></div>(Indianapolis leads best-of-seven series 1-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. April 9Indianapolis 4 at Cincinnati 3<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. April 12Indianapolis at CincinnatiThu. April 14Cincinnati at IndianapolisSat. April 16Cincinnati at IndianapolisSun. April 17Indianapolis at CincinnatiWed. April 20Cincinnati at IndianapolisSat. April 23Indianapolis at Cincinnati<h2>WESTERN DIVISION</h2><h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04109/3979468-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="572" height="82"></div>(Winnipeg leads best-of-seven series 1-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. April 10San Diego 1 at Winnipeg 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. April 12San Diego at WinnipegSat. April 16Winnipeg at San DiegoSun. April 17Winnipeg at San DiegoWed. April 20San Diego at WinnipegFri. April 22Winnipeg at San DiegoSun. April 24San Diego at Winnipeg<h2>EDMONTON vs HOUSTON</h2>Wed. April 13Edmonton at HoustonFri. April 15Edmonton at HoustonSun. April 17Houston at EdmontonWed. April 20Houston at EdmontonFri. April 22Edmonton at HoustonSun. April 24Houston at EdmontonTue. April 26Edmonton at Houston &#9632;

f0029-01

Avco Trophy Scoreboard

<div class="byline">JOHN ARNOLD&#x2019;S</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01311/3979520-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div><h2>ACROSS</h2>1. Every team would like to have a couple.4. One of the Canucks. (Init.)5. High-scoring North Star.7. Pictured player.10. 10 down used to be one.14. One of the Flyers. (Init.)15. A U.S. state.16. Initials for former Hawk Balfour.18. First name of one of the Barons.19.One of the Flyers.21. First name of 11 down.23. Gordie Howe has one on his line.24. Initials of a former Hawk forward.25. Every player does this.27. Avenue, (abbr.)28. 2nd overall pick In 1974 amateur draft.<h2>DOWN</h2>1. 19 across won this trophy last year.2. Number worn by Ian Turnbull.3. An NHL captain answers to this.6. One of the Rangers.8. Former forward with San Diego in WHL.9. Ex-NHL forward Davis. (Init.)10. Former NHL defenseman.11. A Cleveland forward.12. Number worn by Bobby Hull.13. Initials of a Vancouver forward.17. Former Penguin goaltender.20. Initials of one of the Canucks.22. One of the Bruins, (first name)26.Precious stone.27.1st and 9th letters of the alphabet.<h2>SOLUTION IN APRIL 29 ISSUE</h2><h2>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S ANSWERS</h2><h2>ACROSS</h2>1. VICKERS.8. E.C.9. EAST.10. NEIL.12. EEL.13. H.L.14. S.W.15. LYSIAK.17. K.D.19. XRAY.20. YOUNG.22. O.L.24. E.H.26. R.E.27. R.L.28. IVAN.30. NEVIN.32. GREEN.<h2>DOWN</h2>1. VENASKY.2. ICE.3. KELLY.4. EA.6. STEWART.7. HULL.11. I.H.L.14. SIX.16. K.A.18. D.O.21. GORING.23. LEVER.24. ERNIE.25. H.L.29. AVE.31. N.N. &#9632;

f0030-01

HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNELL</div>HOUSTON&mdash;The Houston Aeros purchased Irv Kaplan&rsquo;s 49 per cent of the stock in Arena Operating Co., the firm which leases the city-owned Summit.The purchase, allowing the Aeros to share in the profits of the sports arena&rsquo;s operation, provides no immediate shortterm financial relief for the troubled franchise, said the club&rsquo;s executive vicepresident, Harrison Vickers.&ldquo;But we have gone a long way in reestablishing our credibility,&rdquo; he said.Aeros&rsquo; players&rsquo; pay checks, deferred Feb. 15 and March 17, remained unpaid. Deferred playoff monies from one year ago reamain unpaid and Vickers said there has been no schedule set up for repayment.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve still got to be conscious of cost and eliminate overspending,&rdquo; said Vickers. &ldquo;Right now we&rsquo;re faced with a tough settling-out period to get things into the proper perspective.&rdquo;Vickers, who refused to reveal the sale price, said the Aeros will reap no immediate profits from their share.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if our share would have made anything in the first year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen projections that it&rsquo;s going to make some reasonable money. In my best estimate, it will be at least one year and maybe a maximum of two before we actually start receiving income.&rdquo;Meanwhile, Colleen Howe wanted to know: &ldquo;How did they pay for the stock when they can&rsquo;t even pay the players&rsquo; salaries?&rdquo;The Howes, Gordie, Mark and Marty, said Mrs. Howe, will not remain in Houston after this season but apparently they will not be going to Detroit, either, she said.Mrs. Howe said she was hurt at what she considered shabby treatment from new Detroit general manager Ted Lindsay.&ldquo;Mr. Lindsay took a few cheap shots about things he doesn&rsquo;t even know about,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;He says there&rsquo;s not room for anyone on his team who takes checks when others are not paid&rdquo;The Howes have received their pay checks regularly from the Aeros while the other players missed paydays.Lindsay said he would not trade the Red Wings&rsquo; No. 1 draft pick to Boston for the rights to Mark. The Wings had obtained the rights to Marty from the Montreal Canadiens before Lindsay took over.&ldquo;Since those are his feelings,&rdquo; said Mrs. Howe, &ldquo;then well, I don&rsquo;t know (about signing with Detroit).&ldquo;Mr. John Zeigler asked us to come to him and be part of his organization. They&rsquo;ve got a leader now and I don&rsquo;t know how many leaders they need.&ldquo;I&rsquo;II guess we&rsquo;ll remove that possibility, that is go to the Wings unless we hear something from Mr. Bruce Norris to the contrary.&rdquo;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand the situation or Mr. Lindsay. If I wanted to hire someone, I wouldn&rsquo;t take pot shots at them. This is very sad.&ldquo;We are very, very disappointed. We don&rsquo;t tolerate his attitude.&rdquo;Mrs. Howe said other possibilities for the Howes were Boston and the New England Whalers of the WHA. The Howes become free agents July 1&ldquo;If the Howes aren&rsquo;t worth more than first-round, unproven draft choices, fine,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand his (Lindsay&rsquo;s) thinking. Obviously, he thinks I should go back to the kitchen and mind my own business.&rdquo; &#9632;

Aeros’ Credibility Rises By Purchasing Arena Stock

<h2>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02247/3979596-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="592" height="1080"></div><h2>FINAL GOALING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03187/3979589-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="571" height="79"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04130/3979582-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="571" height="502"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0587/3979575-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="499" height="523"><figcaption class="caption-body">REAL CLOUTIER &hellip; Quebec Nordiques</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0030-02

Final WHA Leaders

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLE RICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLE RICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01287/3979641-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="549" height="828"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDRE PELOFFY &hellip; Scoring Champ</figcaption></div>ROCHESTER&mdash;The New Haven Nighthawks had been conceded a better than even chance of ending up in the Calder Cup finals against the powerful Nova Scotia Voyageurs. When the Hawks started out the semifinal round by winning the first two games of the best-of-seven series, the experts were convinced it would be New Haven and Nova Scotia in the championship final.But the experts didn&rsquo;t reckon with the upstart Rochester Americans, who came along and upset the Hawks and spoiled the proposed cup final.The Americans instead have advanced into the final series against the winner of the Nova Scotia-Hershey semi-final and there wasn&rsquo;t any definite assurances that the Voyageurs would make it either. They were getting more opposition than they expected from the fourth-place Bears in their best-of-seven series.After spotting New Haven a 2-0 series lead, the Americans roared back with a vengeance and came away with four straight playoff wins without a reply from New Haven. The Amerks put together wins of 5-2, 6-3, 6-4 and 5-4 to eliminate the Hawks after six games in recording the first upset of the 1977 playoffs.The ironic part of the Rochester romp was that two of the victories came on New Haven gave them the momentum up a presentable 27-10-3 record at home. On the other hand the Americans were only 16-22-2 on the road and winning in New Haven gave them the momementum to carry them to a series victory in the windup sixth game in Rochester.While the Americans were finishing off the Nighthawks, the cup favorites, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, were getting a tussle from the Hershey Bears. The Vees saw their hopes for an early series win vanish in game two when the Bears won 6-2 in Halifax. They regained their edge, however, in game three when they went into Hershey and Mike Walsh blanked the Bears 1-0.After swapping home ice wins, the Vees were on top 3-2 with game six in Hershey and if they had to go the limit to decide the series, it was set for Halifax ice in game seven.Meanwhile, the AHL regular season has gone into the record books with the league&rsquo;s new scoring champion not involved in the post-season round. Andre Peloffy of the last-place Springfield Indians won the title in the last game of the 1976-77 schedule when he scored a goal against Nova Scotia in a 5-2 loss that gave him 99 points for the year, one more than New Haven&rsquo;s Eddie Johnstone, who was idle on the AHL&rsquo;s closeup night.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04135/3979634-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="540" height="669"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE ELENBAAS</figcaption></div>Peloffy won the points title but he was overshadowed in both the goal and assists department. Pierre Mondou of the Voyageurs led all goal snipers with 44 while Blake Dunlop of New Haven emerged as the AHL&rsquo;s foremost playmaker with 60 assists.Other league leaders included Jerry Byers of New Haven, who produced 15 power play goals; Bob Ritchie of Springfield. Jacques Cossette of Hershey and Peloffy led in shorthanded goals with five each; Rod Schutt of Nova Scotia had the most game-winning goals with nine and Rochester&rsquo;s Doug Gibson had the distinction of scoring the first goal of the game 11 times, a league high.On the dubious side of the ledger, Nova Scotia&rsquo;s giant-sized defenseman Gilles Lupien was the AHL&rsquo;s bad man&rsquo; with 215 penalty minutes. Lupien also led the loop in minor penalties with 65 and his Voyageur teammate, tough Pat Hughes was the leader with 12 major penalties. Chris Ahrens of Rhode Island won&rsquo;t forget the past season in a hurry. The American-born defenseman was far and away the leader in misconduct penalties with six.The Nova Scotia goaling duo of Dave Elenbaas and Walsh was the best in the AHL this past season winning the Holmes Trophy. Elenbaas, who shared shutout honors with Don Edwards of Hershey, each with five before Edwards&rsquo; recall by Buffalo, posted the best goals-against average in the AHL with a 2.61 mark. Walsh was 2.91 and Edwards 2.90.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05120/3979627-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="552" height="672"><figcaption class="caption-body">ED WALSH &hellip; Blanks Bears</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0031-01

Rochester Knocks New Haven Out; Voyageurs Get Battle From Bears

<h2>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02223/3979679-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="581" height="901"></div><h2>GOALING RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03173/3979672-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="587" height="707"></div> &#9632;

f0031-02

Peloffy Wins Scoring Title

<h2>FINAL LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02222/3979790-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="575" height="303"></div><h3>SCORING BY TEAMS</h3><h2>DALLAS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03157/3979783-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="593" height="569"></div><h2>KANSAS CITY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0495/3979776-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="589" height="535"></div><h2>SALT LAKE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0558/3979769-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="589" height="593"></div><h2>FORT WORTH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0640/3979762-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="583" height="653"></div><h2>OKLAHOMA CITY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0729/3979755-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="587" height="489"></div><h2>TULSA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0825/3979748-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="581" height="511"></div><h2>FINAL GOALING RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0916/3979741-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="581" height="435"></div> &#9632;

f0032-02

Final CHL Scoring

<div class="byline">BY BILL ADLER</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLE RICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLE RICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01290/3979710-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="514" height="706"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE WEST &hellip; Another Scoring Title</figcaption></div>KANSAS CITY&mdash;November 25. 1976 was Thanksgiving Night in the United States and it was also the evening on which the Kansas City Blues took permanent possession of first place in the Central Hockey League. The Blues then maintained their lofty position through the final four months to capture the Emory Jones Cup, finishing 15 points ahead of runner-up DallasAlong the way the Blues placed their name in the CHL record book and established themselves as one of the best teams in the 14-year history of the league.The Blues rewrote the record book when they defeated Oklahoma City 4-1 in their next-to-last game of the season, recording their 46th victory of the season, more than any other team in the history of the league. The total eclipsed the old mark of 45 set during the 1970-71 season by the Omaha Knights. The Blues also tied the mark of 101 points in a single season set by the same Omaha team.Kansas City has become the most productive offensive team in CHL history, surpassing the previous total of 317 goals shared by Dallas (&rsquo;71-&rsquo;72) and Salt Lake City (&rsquo;74-&rsquo;75). With a final offensive burst the Blues pushed the total to 322 goals in a single season.On the opposite end of the ladder, the Oklahoma City Blazers established a record for most goals allowed in a single season. The Blazers defense allowed 416 goals for an average of 5.47 goals per game. With their defensive weaknesses the Blazers tied another CHL record of 53 losses by a team in a season.A single game record for most goals by teams in a game was set on Jan. 1, in a game in Salt Lake City. The Blazers were involved in this record performance coming out on the short end of a 13-6 decision.The Salt Lake City Golden Eagles achieved the dubious distinction of tieing the CHL mark for most consecutive home ice losses. The Golden Eagles dropped seven consecutive home games before tieing Tulsa and defeating Dallas in their last two home games of the season.At the individual level only one record was set this season. Center Mike Kaszycki of the Fort Worth Texans established the mark for most assists in a single season, recording 55 assists which is three more than the previous record set by Ray Cullen of the St. Louis Braves during the 1963-64 season.Perhaps the most surprising move before the playoffs occurred when the St. Louis Blues recalled player-coach Barclay Plager before the final regular season game for the Kansas City team.In St. Louis, Emile Francis noted that the move was simply to take one further look at the veteran defenseman before the Blues begin play in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. As Francis pointed out, he had taken a good look at all the defensemen in Kansas City this season at one time or another and Plager was the last man to make the trip to St. Louis.With St. Louis drawing a first-round bye, Plager was set to rejoin his Kansas City team in time to begin their best-of-seven semi-final series against the Fort Worth Texans. However, it was still not certain as to how long Plager would remain in Kansas City and whether or not when St. Louis began their Stanley Cup playoffs the 36-year-old defenseman would return to the National Hockey League.Plager has had a most spectacular season as both a player and a coach in the CHL and is a contender for several postseason awards, including coach of the year, most valuable defenseman, most valuable player and the All Star team.Barclay was the key ingredient as the Blues swept to the regular season title while establishing two CHL team records and tieing another. Without the leadership and inspiration that this 10year National Hockey Leaguer supplies the Blues would have a most difficult task in front of them if they are to bring the Adams Cup to Kansas City for the first time.Two coaches found the end of the regular season somewhat comforting as both Marv Edwards (Salt Lake City) and Murray Davidson (Oklahoma City) watched a peaceful conclusion to rather dismal seasons for both clubs.Ironically, both teams squared off against each other in their final game of the season and the Golden Eagles were the victors, defeating the Blazers 7-2 in Oklahoma City on April 2 behind the first professional hat trick of Bob Geoffrion The win enabled the Golden Eagles to conclude on a bright note as they finished with a two-game winning streak. The Blazers finished with a share of the league mark for most losses in a single season.For Edwards the future remains clouded since the fate of the Cleveland Barons still remains in question. The franchise in Salt Lake City, considered by many as the soundest in the league, now looks up for grabs with seemingly many National Hockey League takers. If nothing else is certain it would seem that the Golden Eagle franchise would have an entirely new look before the first puck is dropped for the 1977-78 season in early October.In Oklahoma City, the Blazers started the season on solid footing but after the departure of a couple of key performers to callups it became a rather quick downhill slide During the rough times, coach-general manager Murray Davison was forced out of retirment as a player in order to fill the void on the blueline.Davison performed admirably as both a player and a coach but in the final analysis the Blazers weren&rsquo;t able to supply their goaltenders with the necessary defensive support. Once the goals started pouring through the defense, it became a most disastrous year for the Blazers.What then does the future hold for Oklahoma City in the way of hockey? Well, Davison is not very certain as he notes that this season didn&rsquo;t help very much toward solidifying professional hockey in the Oklahoma City area. However. Davison has been seeking National Hockey League support for next season and with the proper balance of players Oklahoma City can and will return to its lofty position as one of the outstanding CHL franchises.There was little suspense in the scoring chase through the final weeks of the regular season, especially after the departure of Bernie Federko from Kansas City to St. Louis. Oklahoma City&rsquo;s Steve West captured the title, the second scoring title of his career. He won the American Hockey League scoring chase three years ago, with the eighth-highest single season scoring total in the 14-vear history of the CHL.West and Federko had waged a season-long battle for the scoring lead with the rookie Federko holding the edge through the early months. After Federko&rsquo;s departure, West finished strongly for the Blazers to take the crown by nine points over runnerup Mike Kaszycki of Fort Worth. Despite his departure to St. Louis in early February. Federko still finished as the ninth-leading scorer in the league with 69 points in only 42 games.One of the interesting and more pleasant features of the scoring leaders list this season is that five of the top 10 scorers were rookies.Beside the runner-up Kaszycki and Federko (ninth), other first-year professionals to finish in the scoring elite were Syd Veysey, Tulsa (third). Richie Hansen, Fort Worth (fourth) and Rick Shinske. Salt Lake City (eighth).Of noteworthy importance, defenseman Mike O&rsquo;Connell finished in the top 10 scorers in the league which is a rather valid distinction for a defenseman The second-year professional from Boston finished the season with 15 goals and 53 assists for 68 points. His assist total enabled him to finish second in that category to West who gathered 63 assists.Despite several nagging injuries O&rsquo;Connell has impressed with his performance this season and looks to be one of the brightest blueline prospects in the league.Dallas center Bruce Boudreau edged Fort Worth Texan Dave Salvian for the goal-scorer title. Boudreau registered 37 goals while playing in only 58 games this season to beat the Texans&rsquo; little leftwinger. For Salvian, it was his second straight highly-productive offensive season as the former St. Catharines Hawk tallied 36 goals after scoring 38 during his rookie season last year.The &ldquo;bad man&rdquo; honors this year went to leftwinger Gary Holt of the Salt Lake City Golden Eagles, who amassed 226 minutes in penalties to finish 32 minutes ahead of defenseman Larry Giroux of the Kansas City Blues.Top individual goaltending honors was decided by .02 of a point when Gord McRae of Dallas edged Yves Belanger of Kansas City 2.71 to 2.73.Interesting enough both goaltenders were injured during the final 10 days of the regular season and neither saw action in their team final five games. Belanger (groin) and McRae (neck) are recovering and both of their coaches are hopeful they will by in top form when the playoffs get underway.For two teams and about 35 players, the season ended April 4. but for Kansas City. Fort Worth. Dallas and Tulsa the real season has just begun. The matchups for the opening round are ideal. Each team was prepared to begin the drive to the Adams Cup with a full squad of healthy players. &#9632;

f0032-01

K.C. Rates Among All-Time CHL Best; Rookies Prominent In Scoring Derby

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2><h3>PLAYOFF GAMES</h3>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01260/3979933-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="524" height="83"></div>(Nova Scotia leads best-of-seven aeries 3-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. April 3Hershey 4 at Nova Scotia 7Tue. April 5Hershey 6 at Nova Scotia 2Wed. April 6Nova Scotia 1 at Hershey 0Sat. April 9Nova Scotia 4 at Hershey 5Sun. April 10Hershey 0 at Nova Scotia 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. April 12Nova Scotia at HersheyThu. April 14Hershey at Nova Scotia<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02197/3979926-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="524" height="83"></div>(Rochester wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. April 2Rochester 1 at New Haven 2Sun. April 3New Haven at Rochester 1Wed. April 6Rochester 5 at New Haven 2Fri. April 8New Haven 3 at Rochester 6Sat. April 9Rochester 6 at New Haven 4Sun. April 10New Haven 4 at Rochester 5<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2><h3>PLAYOFF GAMES</h3>Quarter-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03147/3979919-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="523" height="81"></div>(Best-of-seven series tied 3-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 1Muskegon 1 at Saginaw 3Sat. April 2Saginaw 2 at Muskegon 5Sun. April 3Muskegon 3 at Saginaw 2Wed. April 8Saginaw 5 at Muskegon 3Fri. April 8Muskegon 3 at Saginaw 4Sat. April 9Saginaw 1 at Muskegon 3<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. April 13Muskegon at Saginaw<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04120/3979912-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="524" height="80"></div>(Best-of-seven series tied 3-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 29Columbus 2 at ToledoJlTue. April 5Columbus 1 at Toledo 4Wed. April 8Columbus 7 at Toledo 6Fri. April 8Toledo 1 at Columbus 2Sat. April 9Columbus 3 at Toledo 6Sun. April 10Toledo 8 at Columbus 2GAMES TO COMETue. April 12Columbus at Toledo<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0596/3979905-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="526" height="76"></div>(Kalamazoo wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 1Flint 5 at Kalamazoo 8Sat. April 2Kalamazoo 3 at Flint 2Sun. April 3Flint 3 at Kalamazoo 10Wed. April 6Kalamazoo 2 at Flint 3Fri. April 8Flint 2 at Kalamazoo 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0677/3979898-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="519" height="82"></div>(Fort Wayne wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. April 2Fort Wayne 5 at Dayton 3Sun. April 3Dayton 1 at Fort Wayne 7Wed. April 6Fort Wayne 4 at Dayton 1Sat. April 9Dayton 2 at Fort Wayne 7<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2><h3>PLAYOFF GAMES</h3>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0768/3979891-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="529" height="76"></div>(Fort Worth leads best-of-seven series 2-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 8Kansas City 1 at Fort Worth 3Sat. April 9Kansas City 3 at Fort Worth 4GAMES TO COMETue. April 12Fort Worth at Kansas CityFri. April 15Fort Worth at Kansas CitySat. April 16Fort Worth at Kansas CityTue. April 19Kansas City at Fort WorthThu. April 21Fort Worth at Kansas City<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0858/3979884-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="524" height="79"></div>(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 8Tulsa 2 at Dallas 3Sat. April 9Tulsa 4 at Dallas 1GAMES TO COMEWed. April 13Dallas at TulsaFri. April 15Dallas at TulsaSat. April 16Tulsa at DallasTue. April 19Dallas at TulsaWed. April 20Tulsa at Dallas<h2>NORTH AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2><h3>PLAYOFF GAMES</h3>Quarter-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0949/3979877-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="577" height="81"></div>(Maine wins best-of-five series 3-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. March 20Johnstown 3 at Maine 7Fri. March 18Johnstown 1 at Maine 6Sun. March 20Johnstown 3 at Maine 7Tue. March 22Maine 6 at Johnstown 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1045/3979870-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="579" height="76"></div>(Binghamton wins best-of-five series 3-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. March 19Mohawk Valley 3 at Binghamton 6Sun. March 20Binghamton 2 at Mohawk Valley 4Tue. March 22Mohawk Valley 1 at Binghamton 5Thu. March 24Binghamton 4 at Mohawk Valley 6Fri. March 25Mohawk Valley 2 at Binghamton 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1143/3979863-1-eng-US/f0033-112.jpg" title="f0033-11" width="581" height="82"></div>(Erie wins best-of-five series 3-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 22Erie 6 at Philadelphia 5Wed. March 23Philadelphia 1 at Erie 4Sat. March 19Erie 3 at Philadelphia 4Sun. March 20Philadelphia 4 at Erie 5Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1242/3979856-1-eng-US/f0033-122.jpg" title="f0033-12" width="520" height="83"></div>(Syracuse wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. March 26Erie 3 at Syracuse 8Sun. March 27Erie 4 at Syracuse 6Tue. March 29Syracuse 1 at Erie 6Fri. April 1Syracuse 5 at Erie 4Sat. April 2Erie 2 at Syracuse 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1331/3979849-1-eng-US/f0033-132.jpg" title="f0033-13" width="528" height="81"></div>(Maine wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. March 27Binghamton 2 at Maine 4Mon. March 28Binghamton 0 at Maine 5Wed. March 30Maine 5 at Binghamton 2Thu. March 31Maine 4 at Binghamton 9Sat. April 2Binghamton 6 at Maine 8Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1428/3979842-1-eng-US/f0033-142.jpg" title="f0033-14" width="526" height="82"></div>(Syracuse wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 5Maine 2 at Syracuse 8Thu. April 7Maine 2 at Syracuse 4Sat. April 9Syracuse 6 at Maine 3Sun. April 10Syracuse 5 at Maine 1<h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2><h3>PLAYOFF GAMES</h3>FINALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1524/3979835-1-eng-US/f0033-152.jpg" title="f0033-15" width="573" height="85"></div>(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. April 2Milwaukee 5 at Grand Rapids 6Sun. April 3Grand Rapids 3 at Milwaukee 8Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1619/3979828-1-eng-US/f0033-162.jpg" title="f0033-16" width="529" height="79"></div>(Grand Rapids wins best-of-five series 3-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. March 18Sioux City 4 at Grand Rapids 8Sat. March 19Grand Rapids 2 at Sioux City 5Sun. March 20Grand Rapids 3 at Sioux City 7Fri. March 25Sioux City 2 at Grand Rapids 10Sat. March 26Sioux City 1 at Grand Rapids 9<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1719/3979821-1-eng-US/f0033-172.jpg" title="f0033-17" width="521" height="83"></div>(Milwaukee wins best-of-five series2-0 with two ties)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. March 19Green Bay 2 at Milwaukee 4Wed. March 23Green Bay 2 at Milwaukee 8Fri. March 25Milwaukee 3 at Green Bay 3Sat. March 26Milwaukee 2 at Green Bay 2<h2>Who They&rsquo;re Affiliated With&hellip;</h2><h3>NHL TEAMS</h3>1&mdash;Montreal2&mdash;Detroit3&mdash;Boston4&mdash;Rangers5&mdash;Chicago6&mdash;Toronto7&mdash;Los Angeles8&mdash;Pittsburgh9&mdash;Cleveland10&mdash;Philadelphia11&mdash;Minnesota12&mdash;St Louis13&mdash;Vancouver14&mdash;Buffalo15&mdash;Islanders16&mdash;Atlanta17&mdash;Colorado18&mdash;Washington<h3>WHA TEAMS</h3>19&mdash;Calgary20&mdash;Cincinnati21&mdash;Birmingham22&mdash;Quebec.23&mdash;Edmonton24&mdash;Houston25&mdash;Indianapolis27&mdash;New England28&mdash;Phoenix29&mdash;Winnipeg30&mdash;San Diego &#9632;

f0033-01

Minor League Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLE RICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLE RICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaTOLEDO&mdash;Ted Garvin&rsquo;s record in playoff competition in the International Hockey League is spelled success. The rotund, fiery skipper used playoff success at Port Huron as a ladder to a short-term assignment as coach of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League. Garvin is back in the IHL playoff picture again this season&mdash;but with a different look which many observers believe stamps the Toledo Goaldiggers as top-heavy favorites for the coveted Turner Cup.Garvin&rsquo;s path to playoff championships at Port Huron in 1971 and at Toledo just two years ago was more like an obstacle course. His 1971 Port Huron champions started from sixth place. Two years ago. Garvin led an expansion team to the trophy room from a third-place finish in the South Division.Garvin and his Diggers have a much better starting post this time out. In fact. Garvin is celebrating his first division championship ever in the IHL. And he just missed a run at the over-all title.Finishing first in the South gives Toledo the home-ice advantage through the first two rounds at least. But what makes Garvin and Toledo even more confident are the dates for the opening series with Columbus, fourth-place finisher in the SouthBecause of complications involving dates at both Toledo and Columbus, the schedule finally agreed upon for the Toledo-Columbus series has four of the first five games in Toledo. The first three games will be played at Toledo, the fourth at Columbus and the fifth back in Toledo again. Should the series go the full seven games. Toledo would have home ice for five.Garvin admitted to the advantage, but also could see some danger&mdash;overconfidence. &ldquo;I gave the team a pretty good advantage. Now it&rsquo;s up to them to take advantage of it.&rdquo; Ted commented.Reaction from the Columbus players was somewhat negative. They felt Columbus general manager Moe Bartoli had &ldquo;sold them out&rdquo; in favor of larger gate receipts. Coach Ron Ullyot reacted more positively. &ldquo;If you think we&rsquo;ve already lost, go home,&rdquo; Ron challenged.The other quarter-final playoff series in the South matches Fort Wayne and Dayton in a repeat of last season&rsquo;s South Division finals. The Komets whipped Toledo in four straight in the first round last season before falling to the eventual Turner Cup champion Gems in five games.The Komets feel more confident this season, citing the club&rsquo;s record in the last three trips to Hara Arena. The Komets won two and tied one. The Komets also trimmed the Gems, 9-3, on the last visit to Fort Wayne.Matchups in the North Division weren&rsquo;t decided until the final game of the season when Saginaw cemented the North Division crown as well as the club&rsquo;s first Huber Trophy championship in its short history. The Gears beat Flint, 7-2, on the final Iunday of the season while second-place Kalamazoo was losing at Toledo, 7-4.The victory over Flint climaxed a string of four unbeaten games which closed out the Gears&rsquo; best season ever. Kalamazoo made a strong run at the crown, twice coming from behind to post critical victories on the road&mdash;at Muskegon and at Flint. The young K-Wings trailed Flint, 3-2. after two periods but rallied for a 5-3 victory. At Muskegon, the K-Wings were down, 5-1, but rallied for a 6-5 victory, triggered by Mike Wanchuk&rsquo;s three goals.The second-place finish is the highest in Kalamazoo&rsquo;s three-year history. The Wings&rsquo; success story was started a year ago in the playoffs when the K-Wings, the wild card entrant, extended Dayton to six games before finally bowing out with an overtime loss.Saginaw launches its playoff bid against Muskegon, the fourth-place finisher in the North. It will mark the third time in as many seasons the two have been playoff rivals. And it&rsquo;s been a hectic battle most of the time.The Gears eliminated Muskegon in five games last year but two years ago the series went the full seven games before Saginaw finally survived. Muskegon can point to the season series between the two clubs (5-3-4 for the Mohawks) as a confidence builderKalamazoo and Flint complete the quarter-final playoff pairings in the North. Off the season records, the K-Wings rate as favorites. Kalamazoo won the season series, 7-4-1. In addition, Flint has four regulars on the injured list&mdash;Mike St. Cyr, Tim Williams, Jeff McDill and Mike Clarke.On the outside looking in this season is Port Huron, the surprise of last season&rsquo;s post-season party. The Flags finished second to Saginaw in the North last season, whipped Flint in four straight in the first round and then upset Saginaw in the finals, winning three games in Saginaw.One statistic sums up coach Bobby McCammon and the Flags&rsquo; 1976-77 season. Injuries. The Flags had a total of 182 games missed by players because of injury during the course of the season.Individual honors clinched as the season ended included: Scoring championship, Jim Koleff, Flint, with 114 points. Dave Johnson (Toledo), goals with 61. Mario Lessard, Saginaw, top goalie average with a 3.47 mark.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02226/3979971-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="552" height="606"><figcaption class="caption-body">TED GARVIN &hellip; It&rsquo;s Up To Players</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03169/3979964-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="552" height="666"><figcaption class="caption-body">MOE BARTOLI &hellip; Comes Under Fire</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0034-02

Garvin Engineers Big Home Ice Edge; Gears, Hawks Playoff Rivals Again

<h2>PLAYOFF SCORING</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01283/3980002-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="580" height="412"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

IHL Leaders

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div>CALGARY&mdash;Playoff hockey. A new season. All teams are once again equals.On any given night&hellip;blah, blah, blah&hellip;And Montreal Canadiens are worried about Minnesota North Stars, too.These days, people in Medicine Hat, Alta., are having a hard time believing that those corny phrases are not for real.For fans of the Western Canada Hockey League Tigers, they are TOO real.The Tigers, pennant-winners in the WCHL&rsquo;s Central Division, played host to the divisional tail-enders, Calgary Centennials, in the first two games of the league&rsquo;s preliminary playoff round.And unceremoniously, but through concerted effort and sharp goaltending by Jerry Price, the Centennials went back to Calgary with a 2-0 series lead.Wes Phillips, the coach who took over from Fred Hilts when the latter was fired with one month to go in the regular schedule, predicted beforehand that the Centennials could throw a wrench into somebody&rsquo;s playoff plans in the first round.It appears, after 2-1 and 8-3 victories by the Cents in Medicine Hat, that Phillips&rsquo; assessment was correct.&ldquo;The spirit on this team is tremendous,&rdquo; Phillips said about a week before the playoffs. &ldquo;The players believe they can win.&rdquo;Team scoring champ Doug Lecuyer quit the Cents with two weeks to go in the season and his departure may have had a steadying influence on the rest of the players.In Calgary&rsquo;s 2-1 win, Glenn Wylie&rsquo;s goal in the third period snapped a 1-1 tie and Price&rsquo;s goaltending the rest of the way earned the visitors the victory. Price was especially effective in the final minute when the Tigers went with six attackers with Calgary one man short.The next night, center Dave Morrow, who is looking more and more like a first-round draft choice since he moved up from defense (where he was an all-star), scored once and added five assists as the Cents won with ease.MEDICINE HAT: The two Tiger defeats to Calgary came with once-deposed coach Jack Shupe again behind the bench. He was returned there the day before the playoffs began, amidst a team power struggle which resulted in the resignation of president and one-third owner Rod Carry. Joe Fisher and George Maser, the other two shareholders, now each own 50 per cent of the club. Perhaps indications of the Tigers&rsquo; playoff troubles were their final two regular-season games, identical 5-3 losses to Lethbridge and Winnipeg.LETHBRIDGE: The Broncos won twice to close off the season, 5-3 over The Hat as Grant Eakin scored his 40th goal and Dean Solheim supplied his 25th of the year, and 8-5 over Winnipeg as rookie Rocky Saganiuk hit the 60-mark with a pair of goals. Goalie Rollie Boutin also helped offensively against Winnipeg, getting two assists. But the offense slowed down markedly as Lethbridge opened the playoffs in Saskatoon, losing 6-1 and 3-1 to fall behind in the best-of-seven series.SASKATOON: Saskatoon hockey writer John Cherneski, says that if the Blades are to advance far along the playoff trail, 19-year-old goalie Dave Parro will have to play a vital role. And in four games last week, Parro had a 0.75 goals-against average, back-stopping the Blades to 8-1 and 6-0 wins over Flin Flon to wind up the regular season, and 6-1 and 3-1 victories over Lethbridge to open the playoffs. Rookies Bill MacNaught and Darry Erickson had two goals apiece in the first game against the Broncos and big Wes George fired all three in the second-game win, all on the powerplay. Bruce Hamilton led the team in goals during the season, scoring twice in the final game to finish with 36. Rookie Ken Federko hit the 30-mark in the final game.PORTLAND: The Winter Hawks gained some revenge on Kamloops, which overtook Portland for second place in the Western Division during the final week of the season. Portland ended the schedule by slamming the Chiefs 10-2 in the Oregon city and then eked out a 3-2 overtime win in Kamloops to open the quarter-finals. Defenseman Jeff Bandura scored the OT goal in the eighth minute of sudden-death. Chiefs out-shot Portland 20-1 in the first period of that game, and led 2-0. In the 10-2 seasonending game, Tony Currie lifted his goal total to 73 with a hat trick, tying the team record for most tallies in one season, previously set by Darcy Rota. Currie&rsquo;s 125 points led the team while teammates Wayne Babych and Brent Peterson were also over the 100 mark, both with 112.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01274/3980033-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="543" height="823"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE MORROW &hellip; Sparks Calgary</figcaption></div>KAMLOOPS: An outstanding final week of regular-season play gave the Chiefs second place in the West by one point over Portland. Kamloops scored six powerplay goals and two short-handed to gain an 8-8 tie in Victoria, as Reg Kerr hit the 100-point plateau with a goal and three assists. The next night, over-age center Al Young set up three goals as Kamloops edged hometown New Westminster Bruins 4-3. Alas, it ended dismally, with a 10-2 season-capping loss in Portland, and a 3-2 overtime defeat at home to Portland to start the playoffs.NEW WESTMINSTER: The Bruins opened defense of their two straight WCHL titles by whipping Victoria 10-2 in the opener of a Western Division best-of-seven semi-final. Mark Lofthouse, a 54-goal, 112-point man during the season, got an early lead in the playoff scoring race with two goals and three assists. Defenseman Brad Maxwell, who clicked for his 20th goal in a 4-3 loss earlier in the week to Kamloops, set up four goals in the playoff tilt. The Bruins finished off the 72-game schedule with a 5-3 win in Victoria, as rookie Randy Betty scored his 35th and 36th goals.VICTORIA: The Cougars, the third-lowest-scoring team in the league this season, rattled off eight goals, four by Bill Jobson, but could garner only an 8-8 tie at home against Kamloops. In the same game, Gary Lupul became the WCHL&rsquo;s third rookie to soar over the 100-point mark, as he picked up four assists. Three days later, Cougars lost their season-ender, 5-3 to New Westminster, then were blasted 10-2 in the playoff opener by the same Bruins.BRANDON: The Wheat Kings broke one league record and tied another with their 12-4 schedule-ending win over Regina, helped by a 10-goal explosion in the second period. The victory was Brandon&rsquo;s 54th, tying the record set last year by New Westminster, and their 10 defeats for the year was a new mark. Bill Derlago ran his one-season goal-record total to 96 by scoring four times and over-age Danny Bonar had three for a final total of 75. Derlago&rsquo;s line-mates also hit goal plateaus&mdash;Brian Propp scored his 55th and Ray Allison his 45th. Brandon finished with 116 points, the best mark in WCHL history. Glen Hanlon won the league&rsquo;s goaltending award with a 3.09 average.WINNIPEG: The Monarchs clinched second place in the Central Division with a 5-3 win over Medicine Hat, as defenseman Greg McPhee set up three goals. Monarchs lost their other two road games to conclude their schedule, 10-7 in Calgary and 8-5 in Lethbridge. But star defenseman Kevin McCarthy frolicked, getting a goal and eight assists in the three games to run his season totals to 22105&mdash;127, new assist and point records for a WCHL defenseman. Winnipeg, which will meet Brandon in the first playoff round, wound up with four players in the top 22 scorers&mdash;McCarthy, Tom Roulston (109 points), Dave Stekler (89) and Guy Lash, who missed the last month (88).REGINA: &ldquo;I enjoyed the job more than I thought I would,&rdquo; said Pats&rsquo; coach Lome Davis of his half-season tenure as coach of the league&rsquo;s worst team. Regina completed a winless season on the road by dropping their final game, 12-4 in Brandon. The team&rsquo;s eight wins was the lowest total ever, and their 464 goals against was the highest ever. &ldquo;If the divisions remain the same, we could&hellip;challenge for first place (next year),&rdquo; Davis said Only three players, Greg Tebbutt, Greg Ing and Glen Rolfe, graduate this season. Pats&rsquo; scoring leader was Ing, with 72 points, while goal champ Dirk Graham, only 17, finished with a respectable 38.FLIN FLON: The Bombers, the only other team besides Regina out of the playoffs, were out-scored 14-1 by Saskatoon in their final two games, 8-1 and 6-0. &#9632;

f0035-01

Hot Goaling Helps Calgary Cents Pull Playoff Upsets On Mad Hatters

MILWAUKEE&mdash;The United States Hockey League championship series between Milwaukee Admirals and Grand Rapids Blades remains tied at one game apiece despite a protest by Milwaukee general manager Bill Chimo.Chimo protested that referee Leroy Albrecht allowed Blades&rsquo; forward Rick Loe out of the penalty box two minutes too early during the third period after Loe had received a two-minute minor and a 10-minute misconduct late in the second periodOn returning to the ice, Loe set up the Blades&rsquo; winning goal in a 6-5 victory over Milwaukee to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five league finals.USHL commissioner Morley Howe agreed with Chimo and Admiral coach Gen Ubriaco that the referee had erred but turned down the protest quoting the USHL constitution which states, &ldquo;All decisions by referee and game officials will stand.&rdquo;Commissioner Howe also blamed the penalty time-keeper for allowing Loe&rsquo;s premature return to the game.Despite losing their appeal as well as the first game of the series, Milwaukee came back to down Grand Rapids 8-3 in front of their home town fans in game two.Game three was scheduled in Grand Rapids with the fourth, and if necessary, fifth game back in Milwaukee. The Blades have no home ice beyond game three with a rock concert booked into Grand Rapids.Blades&rsquo; Dave White leads all playoff scorers with seven goals and 10 assists. Teammate Rick Kramp also shares the top spot with 17 points on six goals and 11 assists.Milwaukee&rsquo;s Jean Trottier is his club&rsquo;s leading scorer with five goals and seven assists followed by Dan Lecours with four goals and six assists.The Admirals placed only four players in the top 10 playoff scorers which were dominated by six Blades but have the best goalie in postseason play. J.M. Pominville has played in three games posting a 2.34 goals-against average. &#9632;

Around The USHL

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE JAWORSKI</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLE RICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLE RICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaSYRACUSE&mdash;The Syracuse Blazers are NAHL champions again.After six months, supremacy came down to two teams&mdash;Syracuse and Maine Nordiques. After it was all over the Blazers had won the Lockhart Cup four straight. A surprise ending indeed.The Blazers won by scores of 8-2. 4-2 in Syracuse and 6-3 and 5-1 in LewistonIt was the first time in the NAHL&rsquo;s four-year history that the cup matchup involved the teams that finished 1-2.It&rsquo;s never happened before in the three prior battles for the Cup&mdash;and you&rsquo;ll remember Syracuse and Maine also finished 1-2 the first season the league was in operation, 1973-74.Both teams had an easier than expected time getting into the finals, Syracuse ousting Erie and Maine downing the Binghamton Dusters, both four games to one.The league-champion Blazers won their first two games against the Blades on home ice, 8-3 (Jim Cowell getting two goals) and 6-4 (Gary Sittier breaking a 4-4 tie in the third period).However, as you might expect, the story was quite different in Erie, Pa., when All Star goalie Lynn Zimmerman was outstanding in kicking aside 50 of 51 Syracuse shots as the Blades skated to a 6-1 win and new life in the series.Two days elapsed before the crucial fourth game and Syracuse went home and evidentally came back with something they forgot the first time in Game three.The Blazers got a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period and Peter Mara&rsquo;s second goal of the game made it 4-3 for the Blazers at the end of two. Mike Haworth, who picked up 29 minutes in penalties in the series, also picked up the eventual winning goal in a 5-4 victory. The only good news was the turnout of 3,907. largest ever to see an NAHL game in Erie.The game also left Erie coach Nick Polano with his heart in his mouth, as following Don Grierson&rsquo;s goal which made it 5-4, one Blades&rsquo; shot went off the crossbar and a shot by Dave Syvret with 18 seconds left hit the goal post.The Blazers then didn&rsquo;t disappoint a turnout of 3,168 in the Onondaga County War Memorial, as Allie Sutherland scored two third-period goals to break a 2-2 tie for a 5-2 win.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01249/3980102-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="552" height="532"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM COWELL &hellip; Sparks Victory</figcaption></div>&ldquo;If we would have been healthy, it would have been different,&rdquo; said Polano whose Blades were without the services of top scorer Robbie Neale for the last three games. Neale couldn&rsquo;t play because of knee problems, while Polano said Billy Plager, Ric Jordan and George Pesut were all operating at less than 100 per cent.Syracuse coach Dan Belisle, coach of the year the last two years in the NAHL, had plenty of respect for the Blades, who finished the regular season as the league&rsquo;s hottest team by only losing once in their last 10 games. Erie then went on to oust injury-riddled Philadelphia, the defending Lockhart Cup champs, in four games.There was plenty of reason to believe that the Blades would stand a good chance of upsetting the league champs who sat around idle for a week because of their bye in the first-round of the playoffs. But maybe the rest helped.&ldquo;They just wore us down,&rdquo; said Polano &ldquo;The first game they caught us flat, we were so high we beat Philadelphia.&rdquo;Still, Polano had a lot of praise for the well-balanced attack of the BlazersThey&rsquo;re just a hard-working hockey team. They just don&rsquo;t quit.&rdquo;Against the Nordiques they&rsquo;ll meet another well-balanced squad that had an easier-than-expected time in ousting the Broome Dusters.Maine&rsquo;s Richard Grenier was the series&rsquo; leading scorer with seven goals and four assists and John Cunniff and Gerry Pinder each had six goals.Maine won the first two games easily at home, 4-2 and 5-0, then quite surprisingly scored five goals in the first 25 minutes of the game and held on for a 5-2 win in Binghamton. It was the Nords&rsquo; 10th straight win&mdash;and goalie Jim Corsi&rsquo;s 10th in a row, his goals-against average down to 1.81. After allowing only 11 goals in six playoffs games, the 23-year-old Corsi had his problems coping with a Duster attack in Game four. The 9-4 win saved humiliation in front of the home fans.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02188/3980095-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="561" height="548"><figcaption class="caption-body">GERRY PINDER &hellip; Six Goals In Series</figcaption></div>The series then switched back to the Central Maine Youth Center where based on past record, the Dusters had little chance. They&rsquo;d only won two games in four seasons in Lewiston, Me., but it looked as though Game five would be different as Gerry Methe and Randy MacGregor gave them a 2-0 lead.But, to the delight of 3,096 fans, largest crowd since the beginning of the season, the Nords struck back with four unanswered goals. Ther Dave Staffen and Rick Pagnutti again squared the game for the DustersBut goals by John Danby and Grenier gave Maine too much momentum, and the series was theirs.&ldquo;In the first eight minutes it could have been 5-0, us,&rdquo; said a disconsolate Duster coach Larry Kish who praised the effort of his team.The Dusters weren&rsquo;t 100 per cent physically either, as captain Rod Bloomfield&rsquo;s play was hampered by a bruised inner forearm near the elbow In 10 playoff games, he had two goals and six assists, hardly in keeping with his 173-point season as runaway NAHL scoring champDuster center Joe Hardy was also hampered in the playoffs by a severely pulled groin. Despite the injury, Hardy led the Dusters against the Nords with two goals and four assists, while Pierre Laganiere led the team through the playoffs with nine goals and seven assists.Though league champion for three of the four years the league has been running, it is only the Blazers&rsquo; second appearance in the championship series. In the league&rsquo;s first season, Syracuse blasted Long Island. 4-0, in games for the Lockhart Cup. The following season, the Blazers lost to Johnstown in seven games in the semi-finals after drawing a first-round bye. Last season, Syracuse was eliminated by Beauce in the semis.To get that far, the Jaros eliminated Maine in the first round, 3-1, in games. The year before, Maine finished last and did not make the playoffs and the year before it was the only team to be knocked out in round robin play. Though finishing second during the regular season, the Nords wound up last in round robin play among the first five teams.Needless to say, it is a quite unfamiliar position the Nordiques have found themselves in.Maine had always been synonymous with losing since that playoff disaster the first year of the league. No more, and deservedly so.During the regular season, each finalist dominated on its own pond as you might expect. Syracuse won the series, 6-4-1, with a 5-1 record at home and was 1-3-1 in Lewiston.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03139/3980088-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="553" height="764"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAN BELISLE &hellip; NAHL&rsquo;s Top Coach</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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No Surprises In Lockhart Cup Final As Syracuse Sweeps Maine For Title

<div class="byline">BY GARY McCARTHY</div>MONTREAL&mdash;It looks more and more as though the two powers of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League&mdash;Sherbrooke and Quebec&mdash;will meet to decide which team will represent Quebec in the Memorial Cup playoffs.The Sherbrooke Beavers and Quebec Remparts each hold leads of 3-1 in points in their semi-final series and should not have any trouble winning the eight-point series they are involved in.The Beavers travelled to Cornwall last Sunday and held the Royals to a 4-4 tie while the Remparts, who captured the over-all championship for the regular season, clipped the Montreal Juniors 5-3.The Juniors should consider themselves fortunate, in a way, to find themselves in the semi-final series after almost blowing what appeared to be an insurmountable lead in the quarter-finals against Chicoutimi.Montreal had a 7-1 lead in the eight point series and then allowed the highly-favored Chicoutimi Sagueneens to come back and tie the series with three successive wins before finally clinching the series.The Remparts played an almost perfect game against the Juniors for their 5-3 victory and even drew praise from the losing coach, Roger Bedard of the Juniors.&ldquo;The Remparts proved to everyone here tonight that they have a great hockey club,&rdquo; Bedard said. &ldquo;Personally, I think we lost the game when we let up after taking a 2-0 lead.&rdquo;The Juniors took a 2-0 advantage after only 2:30 of the first period, much to the delight of the 9,543 fans on hand at the Montreal Forum.However, Jean Savard narrowed Montreal&rsquo;s lead to 2-1 when he scored at 5:33 of the opening period.Savard then scored back-to-back goals in the second period to put the Remparts out in front 3-2 but Normand Dupont tied it up with 1:50 to go in the second period.The start of the third period may have been where the Juniors lost the game and allowed Quebec to grab a 3-1 lead in points in the series.Quebec&rsquo;s Michel Vachon was penalized for charging and defenseman Mario Marois was given a minor for unpolite remarks to referee Tom Keeble. Both penalties came at 19:41, giving the Juniors a two-man advantage for 1:41 at the start of the third period<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02164/3980133-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="555" height="808"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK VAIVE</figcaption></div>However, goalie Grant McNichol was outstanding and he kept the Juniors off the scoreboard. Montreal was never able to recuperate from that and wound up losing the game.Yvan Boudreau and Pierre Lagace scored less than three minutes apart in the third period to give Quebec the win.Despite Savard&rsquo;s individual scoring outburst, the game belonged to the goalies. McNichol stopped 37 of 40 shots while Robert Holland in the Montreal net faced 43 shots by the Remparts.The Remparts played the game without players Nelson Burton and Vai James. They were also without coach Ron Racette, who was handed a suspension the day before by the league.Racette ran from the press gallery after Lagace&rsquo;s goal and ran to the dressing room to congratulate his players. He was replaced behind the bench by Pierre-Paul Blouin.The Royals, forced to play without Danny Geoffrion (son of former National Hockey League star Bernie Geoffrion), missed his work on the power play and had to settle for the draw against the Beavers.Geoffrion, out for the rest of the season because of a knee injury, is the man who makes the Cornwall power play work and he might have made the difference in the game.The Royals found themselves with a two-man advantage right at the start of the game, but failed to score. The Royals had 22 shots at Sherbrooke goalie Richard Sevigny in that first period and only Rick Paterson managed to score.The first period of the game was rough with referee Jean-Guy Desrochers handing out 64 minutes in penalties, including a 10-minute misconduct to rookie Rick Vaive of the Beavers and a gross misconduct to Steve Johnson.&ldquo;I think it is safe to say that we missed Geoffrion,&rdquo; said Cornwall coach Orval Tessier. &ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t score on the power play but you also have to give credit to Sevigny. He was brilliant.&rdquo;After Bob Crawford had put Cornwall ahead 2-0 early in the second period, the Beavers came back with goals by Ron Carter, Ray Roy and Daniel Chicoine to take a 2-0 lead going into the third period.Jamie Conroy and Bill Smith put the Royals back on top in the first six minutes of the third period but Roy came back with his second goal of the game at 13:48 to force the tie.&ldquo;The referee might have been a little too severe in that first period, but we came out of it well,&rdquo; said Sherbrooke coach Ghislain Delage.&ldquo;Ron Carter and Ray Roy finally played a game to my liking, something neither one had done for a long time.&ldquo;Now, we&rsquo;ll have to make sure we don&rsquo;t lose that third game on our own ice like we did against Laval. I hope that game gave us a lesson.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Sherbrooke-Quebec Showdown Looms For Quebec’s Major League Title

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01220/3980164-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="511" height="1048"><figcaption class="caption-body">kevin McCarthy</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Defenseman Robert Picard of the Montreal Juniors is the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League&rsquo;s nominee as Canada&rsquo;s top junior player of the year.He joins defenseman Kevin McCarth of the Winnipeg Monarchs and Dale McCourt of the St. Catharines Fincups as the finalists for the top award.The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association announced that the winner will be announced in Vancouver May 14 during the Memorial Cup playoffs involving teams from the Ontario Hockey Association Junior A circuit, the Western Canada Hockey League and the QMJHLPicard, McCarthy and McCourt were selected from 22 players nominated by major junior teams in the three leagues. The finalists were picked by a group of sportswriters.Picard is a 19-year-old native of Verdun, a Montreal suburb. He was named the QMJHL&rsquo;s most valuable player for the 1976-77 season and was also selected to the league&rsquo;s first All Star team.He scored 32 goals and added 60 assists in 70 league games.Previous winners of the top player award in the country were goaltender Ed Staniowski of the Regina Pats and former Peter Lee of the Ottawa 67s.Staniowski, who won the award in 1975, now plays for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League. Lee, winner last year, now plays for the Nova Scotia Voyageurs of the American Hockey League. The Voyageurs are the farm team of the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL. &#9632;

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‘Major’ Juniors Name 3 For MVP

<div class="byline">BY RALPH BRIDGLAND</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLE RICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGER HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLE RICH & BRADSBY LTD Arnold Street Wallaceburg Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLONDON&mdash;A quartet of teams are still in the running for the Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; League title.St. Catharines Fincups will meet London Knights in the Emms Division final while Ottawa &lsquo;67s hold a 2-0 lead in their eight-point Leyden Division final with Kingston Canadians.The Fincups earned a berth in the league semi-finals by eliminating Windsor Spitfires 8-4 in their eight-point quarter-final.The Spitfires, who finished 55 points behind the Fincups in the regular season standings, gave the defending Memorial Cup champions all they could handle and had the puck bounced the other way a couple of times the Spits could have found themselves in the division final.The Fincups took a 4-2 lead in the series with a 4-0 home-ice victory.Mike Keating, Dale McCourt, Ric Seiling and Scott Vanderburg scored for the Fincups while Al Jensen recorded his first playoff shutout and third of the season.St. Catharines took what appeared to be a commanding 6-2 lead in the series with a 6-2 win in Windsor.McCourt. Dennis Houle, Keating. Steve Hazlett, Dan Shearer and Tim Coulis scored for St. Catharines while Brian Ellacott and John Barrett replied for Windsor.The Spitfires kept their hopes alive by edging the Fincups 5-4 in game five in St. Catharines.Windsor scored twice in the final 4:38 of the game to force the sixth game in the series.Ellacott, Terry Porter, Brad Smith, George Kotsopoulos and Joel Quenneville scored for Windsor.Seiling scored twice for the Fincups while Vanderburg and Hazlett added singles.The loss was only the Fincups&rsquo; third on home ice this season.Seiling&rsquo;s goal with 26 seconds left in the sixth game in Windsor gave the Fincups a 5-4 victory and the berth in the division final.It was Seiling&rsquo;s second goal of the game and Vanderburg also scored twice. Houle got the other St. Catharines goal.Quenneville and Ron Friest scored two goals apiece for the Spitfires.The Knights advanced to the Emms final by eliminating Toronto Marlboros 93 in their eight-point division semi-finalWith the Knights leading the series 7-1, the Marlboros staved off elimination with a 5-4 win in London in game five.Gary Dillon and Mark Murphy scored two goals apiece for the Marlies while John Anderson had the otherJim MacRae, Steve Stockman, Dean Hopkins and Jim Hamilton replied for the Knights.Three nights later at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, the Knights wrapped up the series with a 3-0 victory.Dan Eastman, Stockman and Scott Campbell scored for the Knights while goaltender Pat Riggin was outstanding in blocking 31 Marlboro shots.Ottawa wrapped up its Leyden Division semi-final series by winning three straight games and ousting Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 9-1 in the eight-point series.The &lsquo;67s defeated the Greyhounds 6-4 in Ottawa to take a 5-1 lead in the series.Warren Holmes scored two goals for Ottawa while singles went to Shane Pearsall, Bob Smith, Tom McDonnell and Jeff Geiger.Paul Mancini scored twice for Sault Ste. Marie and Art Rutland and Ted Nolan had one each.The &lsquo;67s took a commanding 7-1 lead with a 5-1 victory in Sault Ste. Marie.Tim Higgins led the &lsquo;67s with three goals while Smith and Ron Davidson added singles.Blaine Thurston scored the lone Greyhound goal.The &lsquo;67s then wrapped up the series with a convincing 8-1 win in the nation&rsquo;s capital.Pearsall scored twice for Ottawa and Steve Marengere, Holmes, Doug Wilson, Smith, Davidson and Dave MacQueen got one each.Gerry Rioux scored for the Greyhounds.The Canadians qualified for the Leyden final with a 7-2 home-ice victory over Sudbury Wolves which gave them the eight-point series 9-3.Ken Linseman led Kingston with three goals while Mike Crombeen scored twice. Rob Plumb and Daryl Benjamin had a goal each.Hec Marini and John Walker scored for the Wolves.The Canadians scored 90 fewer goals than the Wolves during the regular season but outscored them 30-18 in the six-game series and outshot them in all but one game.The &lsquo;67s got off to a fast start in the eight-point Leyden final by beating the Canadians 4-2 in Ottawa in the series opener.Smith scored twice for the winners while Marengere and Holmes chipped in with singles before a home crowd of 7,225 persons.Brian Sproxton and Crombeen replied for the Canadians.The &lsquo;67s finished first in the Leyden section regular season standings while the Canadians were seven points back in third spot.The Enuns final puts the first-place Fincups, with 105 points during the regular season, against the runner-up Knights, who were just one point behind the Fincups. &#9632;

Ottawa Proves Surprise Of Leyden Division

<h2>Quarter-Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01256/3980268-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="578" height="85"></div>(Windsor wins six*point series 6-0)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02202/3980261-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="576" height="82"></div>(Sault wins six-point series 6-2)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03150/3980254-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="575" height="85"></div>(London wins eight-point series 9-3)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04101/3980247-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="571" height="91"></div>(Kingston wins eight-point series 9-3)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0573/3980240-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="570" height="89"></div>(Ottawa wins eight-point series 9-1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0657/3980233-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="568" height="87"></div>(St. Catharines wins eight-point series 8-4)St. Catharines 5, Windsor 4<h2>Semi-Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0751/3980226-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="568" height="85"></div>(Eight-point series tied 3-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Ottawa 4, Kingston 2Kingston 5, Ottawa 2Ottawa 4, Kingston 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0836/3980219-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="568" height="82"></div>(Eight-point series tied 2-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>St. Catharines 5, London 3London 5, St. Catharines 0 &#9632;

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Looking At OH A Race

<h2>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE</h2>PLAYOFF GAMES<h3>Quarter-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01241/3980383-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="586" height="79"></div>(Lethbridge wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Saskatoon 6, Lethbridge 1Saskatoon 3, Lethbridge 1Lethbridge 4, Saskatoon 2Lethbridge 3, Saskatoon 2Lethbridge 10, Saskatoon 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02177/3980376-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="583" height="81"></div>(Portland wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Portland 5, Kamloops 4Portland 7, Kamloops 0Portland 5, Kamloops 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03135/3980369-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="580" height="78"></div>(Calgary wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Calgary 2, Medicine Hat 1Calgary 8, Medicine Hat 3Calgary 4, Medicine Hat 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04111/3980362-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="578" height="83"></div>(New Westminster wins best-of-seven sorios 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Now Westminster 10, Victoria 2Now Westminster 4, Victoria 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0586/3980355-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="580" height="81"></div>(Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Winnipeg 5, Brandon 3Brandon 8, Winnipeg 5Winnipeg 5, Brandon 2<h2>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</h2>PLAYOFF GAMES<h3>Quarter-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0670/3980348-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="579" height="84"></div>Quebec wins eight-point sorios 8-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Quebec 6, Hull 4Quebec 4, Hull 3Quebec 8, Hull 3Quebec 3, Hull 2<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Montreal 4, Chicoutimi 4Montreal 6, Chicoutimi 2Montreal 5, Chicoutimi 3Montreal 10, Chicoutimi 1<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sherbrooke 10, Laval 1Sherbrooke 4, Laval 2Laval 4, Sherbrooke 3Laval 7, Sherbrooke 4Sherbrooke 5, Laval 0Laval 3, Sherbrooke 0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0759/3980341-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="583" height="81"></div>(Cornwall wins eight-point eerie 8-4)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Trois-Rivieres 6, Cornwall 1Cornwall 6, Trois-Rivieres 2Trois-Rivieres 5, Cornwall 3Cornwall 3, Trois-Rlvleres 2Cornwall 5, Trois-Rivieres 4Cornwall 5, Trois-Rivleres 3<h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0853/3980334-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="575" height="83"></div>(Sherbrooke leads eight-point series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sherbrooke 4, Cornwall 3Sherbrooke 4, Cornwall 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0945/3980327-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="575" height="80"></div>(Quebec leads eight-point eeries 3-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Montreal 3, Quebec 3Quebec 5, Montreal 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1040/3980320-1-eng-US/f0039-102.jpg" title="f0039-10" width="580" height="79"></div>(Montreal wine eight-point eeries 9-7)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Chicoutimi 4, Montreal 1Chicoutimi 7, Montreal 4Chicoutimi 10, MontrealMontreal 5, Chicoutimi 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1137/3980313-1-eng-US/f0039-112.jpg" title="f0039-11" width="578" height="81"></div>(Sherbrooke wine eight-point eeriee 8-6)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sherbrooke 7, Laval 0<h2>WESTERN INTERNATIONAL</h2><h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1234/3980306-1-eng-US/f0039-122.jpg" title="f0039-12" width="577" height="82"></div>(Kimberley wine beet-of-eeven eeriee 4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Kimberley 7, Neleon 6Kimberley 5, Neleon 2Neleon 6, Kimberley 1Neleon 7, Kimberley 4Kimberley 9, Neleon 2Kimberley 5, Neleon 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1330/3980299-1-eng-US/f0039-132.jpg" title="f0039-13" width="582" height="83"></div>(Spokane wine beet-of-eeven eeries 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Spokane 9, Cranbrook 8Spokane 5, Cranbrook 4Cranbrook 4, Spokane 3Spokane 4, Cranbrook 2Spokane 5, Cranbrook 1 &#9632;

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Looking At The Races

<div class="byline">&#x2014;By Bill Hilts</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1427/3980414-1-eng-US/f0039-142.jpg" title="f0039-14" width="345" height="418"></div><h2>Midwest League</h2>Jim Wilbur sends us word that the St. Paul Vulcans walked away with all the marbles in regular season competition in the Midwest Jr. A Hockey League. The Vulcans settled the debate over whether Bloomington or Ausin would finish first when they defeated the Hennepin Nordiques 7-3 to vault past both the Jr. Stars and Mavericks to win the title by a single point. Linemates Tom Rhody and Perry Bonk scored two goals apiece for the Vulcans, who never led the league all season long&mdash;until the final game of the regular season. Austin, the defending champs, and Bloomington had matching 29-19 records and the Stars got the tiebreaking nod because of more goals scored in games between the two. The Vulcans finished 29-18-1 for 59 points. John Alexander had two goals for Hennepin, including one at 0-22 of the first period. The Vulcans broke a 1-1 tie with three second period goals.<h2>Manitoba League</h2>Final stats for the Manitoba Jr. League show the following players taking the scoring titles on each of their teams. Assiniboine Park Monarchs: Greg Whyte-92 points, Ralph Krueger-56 points and Kerry Goulet-34 points. Brandon Travellers: Paul Bruno Rogger-73 and Brent Donnelly-72 points. Dauphin Kings: Jim Misener-121, Bob Genoway-102 and Lyle Stokotelny-101 points. Kenora Thistles: Jim Snodgrass-75, Kim Marchuk-56 and Mike Allison-52 points. Kildonan North Stars: Anthony Gurniak-85, Jim Flett, Kim Koswin and Rick Peters all with 61 points. Portage Terriers: Mark Johnston-67, Jim Bereza-66 and Brian Miller-52 points. St. Boniface Saints: Rick Loeb-91 points. Carrey Candy-58 and Ray Savard-55 points. St. James Canadians: Jack Brown-65, Pat Falconer-58 and Keith Grant-56 points. Selkirk Steelers: Ken Krentz-128, Dale Maksymyk-103 and Randy Leclair-52 points. Thompson King-Miners: Chris Jette-78, Wayne McLellan-78 and Al Zielke-47 points.<h2>Alberta League</h2>Darryl Sutter of Red Deer won the individual scoring title in the Alberta Jr. League with 133 points on 55 goals and 78 assists. Next were Calgary&rsquo;s Robin Laycock with 58 goals and 70 assists for 128 points, Marty Achtymichuk of Ft. Saskatchewan with 116 points, Mendel Vysohlid of Calgary-111 points. John Ewasiuk of Ft. Saskatchewan-102 points, Kelly Kisio, Bruce Small and Dale McMullen all of Red Deer with 101, 101 and 96 points respectively, Terry Lowe of Taber-90 points, Todd Scott of Calgary-90 points, Brian Hatton of Calgary-82 points, Terry Oakes of Ft. Saskatchewan-80 points, Don Renner of Taber-80 points, Steve Lee of Taber-79 points, Kelly Bunn of Spruce Grove-76 points, Randy Ruff of Taber-76 points and Keith Brown of Ft. Saskatchewan-75 points.<h2>New England League</h2>Coach Jean-Guy Gagnon&rsquo;s Fitchburg Wallopers, who have won more New England Jr. Hockey League games than any other club (123) but never finished first, wrapped up their initial NEJHL regular season championship by posting 12-1 and 7-3 wins over Tri-Valley Squires sandwiched around a 6-3 loss to deposed champion Springfield Olympics. Mickey Rego, NEJHL&rsquo;s leading scorer (60-63-123), and Jack Lapointe each scored three goals and set up two others as Wallopers crushed Tri-Valley 12-1 to clinch tie title. Defenseman Gene O&rsquo;Donnell added two goals and fenseman Dave Anderson notched his 10th of the season. Buddy Santella had lone goal for the Squires. Rego, who has scored at least one goal in each of his last 12 games, totaling 24 in that stretch, then got his 60th goal of the year in a rematch against the Squires. Tom O&rsquo;Neil also picked up his 50th goal of the campaign&hellip;Springfield inched within three points of clinching second place by stunning Fitchburg 6-3 and tying Tyngsboro Huskies 5-5. Bill Derosia kicked out 46 shots in brilliant effort as the Pics ended personal 17-game unbeaten streak of Fitchburg goalie Don Leger. Leger had not lost since Oct. 8, going 14-0-3 during that stretch to set a new NEJHL mark. The loss also ended the Wallopers 10-game unbeaten streak. Tony Trase fired in two goals for the Pics and Bob Hess netted his 30th. Rego scored twice for the Wallopers&hellip; Olympics led Tyngsboro with little over 10 minutes left, 5-2, but had to ssettle for a tie. Dean Lombardi and Nigel Barton each had a goal and an assist for Springfield, while Chip Bettencourt had a goal and an assist for the Huskies&hellip;South Shore Braves won twice to retake third place from Tyngsboro, drubbing Great Bay Vikings 9-3 and following up with an 11-3 conquest of Tri-Valley. Frank Silva pumped in three goals while Mike O&rsquo;Melia notched his 20th and 21st goals and Dick Hammell also scored twice against the Vikes. Bob Sullivan tallied twice for the Vikings and assisted on the third goal&hellip;Charlie Ryan registered his 29th, 30th and 31st goals and assisted on two others as the Braves ripped the Squires 11-3. Tom Colbert and Hammell also scored twice and Silva notched his 50th of the season to become the third NEJHL player this season to crack that barrier. Jim Stewart had 36 saves to become first NEJHL goalie this season to win 20 games. Dennis Sholes netted his 20th goal of the season for the Squires and assisted on another.<h2>Great Lakes League</h2>In &ldquo;A&rdquo; Division playoff action in the Great Lakes League, after being down 2-1 when the second period started Fraser Highlanders made good on their many power play chances and collected six goals to defeat champion Paddock Pools Saints 10-4. No other team scored more than eight goals on the Saints during the entire season. Jeff Bond and Frank Mairona led the attack as they collected a pair of goals each&hellip;Detroit Jr. Wings rebounded from 4-3 overtime loss to Wayne in the first game and beat them 6-3. Detroit built up a 5-0 lead before Dennis Schrader beat Larry Suarex early in the third period. Dave Simonetti had the last two Wayne goals to make the game closer. Detroits goals were shared by three different players as each had a pair&mdash;Dan Collard, Dave Gandini and Chris Guertin&hellip;The Saints broke a close 2-2 battle open in third period by getting three markers to defeat Highlanders 5-2. Dave Ross the Saint captain had two first period goals with the first coming at 0:17 second mark to get the Saints off on the right track&hellip;Jr. Wings hosted Wayne Chiefs and the game lasted almost four hours as Detroit, on a goal by Keith Zoldak, bested Wayne 5-4 in tue third overtime period&hellip;Guertin had the game winner and two other goals as Detroit beat Wayne 9-1 to win the playoff series 3-1. After losing the opener in overtime, Detroit club came back and won three straight with the key win being 5-4 triple overtime victory. Guertin led the Jr. Wings in the four games against Wayne with six goals and three assists and Ron Shiner set up six goals for Wayne to lead his team with six points&hellip; The Saints and the Highlanders battled for two periods to a 1-1 stand-off when Craig Lakian of the Saints got a goal at 0:44 mark of the third period to ignite his team to a 5-1 win. Fred Bahna of the Saints and Bond for Fraser had traded goals in the second period for a 1-1 deadlock. Leading point getters for the Saints in series were Paul Gottwald with four goals and two assists, Jack McKinch with three goals and three assists and Bob Smith who had two goals and four assists. Mairona had a point in every game for Fraser in getting six goals and two assists for eight points to lead both teams in scoring&hellip;<h2>N.Y.-Penn League</h2>Rochester Monarchs made a clean sweep of New York Penn League, first by running away with the league title early, then sweeping the Empire Cup playoffs without losing a game. They wiped out the Binghamton Barons in four straight games and then they eliminated the defending champion Niagara Falls Mangs Sharks in four straight. Clint Campbell, the fine young center for Andy Laing&rsquo;s Monarchs, almost beat the Sharks by himself by piling up 19 points in just four games on 12 goals and seven assists. Pete Dawes was the Rochester team&rsquo;s second-leading scorer with 13 points on four goals and nine assists. The Sharks&rsquo; Mike Richardson was next with three goals and seven assists for 10 points, followed by the Monarchs&rsquo; big. young defenseman Jim Brown who fired three goals in the short series and collected five assists for eight points. Mark Burgholzer of the Monarchs also had eight points as did the Sharks&rsquo; Dan Nolan. Rochester scored a total of 31 goals in the four-game series while giving up 21 goals.<h2>U.S.A. League</h2>The MassCqnn Twins swept all three of their opponents to end regular season with 11 consecutive wins and an incredible 33-4-1 record. The 67-point production thus gave the Twins the 1976-77 regular season championship in the U.S.A. Jr. Hockey League&mdash;by 19 points over runnerup Western Mass Pioneers&hellip; &ldquo;Second Season&rdquo; now underway and all teams begin as equals in quest for USA League playoff title. Playoff format will see the first-place Twins face sixth-place Central Mass Prospectors. Second-spot Western Mass will take on fifth-place Beverly Flyers while third finisher Framingham battles the Berlin Maroons who ended up fourth in the circuit&hellip;Twins pelted Pioneers 8-2 and 3-1 in Chicopee. In the latter game, a hockey rarity, as Western Mass goalie Steve Hudyka was credited with Pioneers&rsquo; lone score. &#9632;

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JUNIOR JOTTINGS

TWIN CITIES&mdash;Roland Eriksson of the Minnesota North Stars has become the first-ever European-born player to win the National Hockey League&rsquo;s rookie scoring title.Eriksson, a native of Sweden, finished the 1976-77 regular season with 25 goals and 44 assists for 69 points.The 69 points erased the previous club record of 68 points by a rookie, set in 1970-71 by Jude Drouin, who now plays with the New York Islanders.Eriksson was voted by his teammates as rookie of the year on the North Stars squad and Met Center fans also voted the young Swede as the most popular player.Paul Gardner of the Colorado Rockies was runner-up to Eriksson among the top rookie point-getters this season. &#9632;

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April 22, 1977

Oilers Clinch Final Playoff Berth

The WHA Scoreboard

Fans Prove Cleveland Wants Hockey

Season Leaders In NHL